On the 80's, Mahler and a man called Lance

I don’t know whether it’s just my generation or not, it could possibly be me looking at the era through rose-coloured glasses but I firmly believe that the 80’s was the last decade when music was, by and large, fun. Nobody really seemed to take themselves too seriously. Oh sure, there were serious performers like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan etc, but when you hear the popular music of the day it was largely about having a good time and the good things in life.
Last year I bought two 80’s compilations- “101 80’s Hits” and “101 More 80’s Hits”. This compilation, more than anything, proved that creativity in music really died after the 80’s. It was during this time that artists really felt the cold hard hand of the accountants. It’s fair to say that record company pressure had been around for ages before then, but by this time there was a lot more experience under the belt so that execs thought they knew how the public responded. When I think about the bands I liked in the 80’s I think of artists like Europe (“The Final Countdown”), Adam And The Ants, The Bangles and more established bands like Queen, ELO and Kiss. But when you hear songs from that era it all just seems a much simpler and happier time. Recently I’ve been listening to Bucks Fizz. Prior to about 2008 my sole song of theirs that I knew from my childhood was “Land Of Make Believe”. It was a song that got me through some pretty sad times at primary school. To this day, as cheesy at it is, it still makes me smile. But now I’ve listened to a lot more of their material and am amazed at just how good this band was. Their songwriters were outstanding and they have an amazing ability to harmonise. Remember this was an era when there was no protools. Harmonies had to be spot on (even if recorded separately) and this band were outstanding at that.
At the risk of sounding old and fuddy-duddyish I truly believe that the music that is pumped out today is nothing more than marketing. There’s little creativity- certainly in the mainstream market. Artists have to write singles and do videos- not to mention look good. Sadly, ability to actually sing seems to be secondary to how good you look. Imagine Buddy Holly rocking up to a record company today (“Ok geekboy- get your rid of your glasses and stop writing songs about Peggy Sue”) or even Bill Haley (“Dude, stop eating the Christmas hams, you’re becoming one of them. And sheesh, we need to do something about your hair!”). What’s also lacking is fun. Music today is either downtrodden and angry or saccharine sweet treacle. There’s virtually no middle ground at all.
There was a time when I religiously watched the top 40 countdown and knew all the movements in and out of the charts but after about 1992 I just couldn’t be bothered. Ask me to name a top ten song in this weeks chart and I’ll flounder. There are some good artists out there for sure, and many of the more established artists are making great music so I’m not totally in the dark, but it’s still sad that the joys of discovering new music are well and truly over.

=============================================================

Over the next 6-7 weeks I am going to be involved in something I never thought would happen to me. I’m singing in the Eighth Symphony of Gustav Mahler. Mahler’s music has been a very special part of my life. Ever since I was about 16 I have been listening to his music both in the concert hall and on CD. Of course, being in Adelaide the chances of seeing the symphonies performed live are few and far between. It wasn’t until last year that I saw his Third Symphony live. To this date I still haven’t seen either the 2nd or the 7th Symphonies live either. But the 8th....that’s the granddaddy of them all. It’s not called the “Symphony Of A Thousand” for nothing. Two massed choirs, boys choirs, 120-piece orchestra and eight soloists make a rather loud and truly awesome sound. What has made this experience so special for me is that I will be singing in the choir as part of the Adelaide contingent that is going to Sydney. We’ll be performing the work with arguably Australia’s greatest orchestra- the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and legendary conductor/pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy at the Sydney Opera House. Oh. My. GOD!!! I haven’t been to Sydney since January 1991 when I was at National Music Camp at King’s College (I still have the t-shirt and cap) so I can’t wait to see what the city has to offer. But as excited as I am to be going to Sydney, it’s the realisation that I’ll be singing this amazing work in two different cities that really excites me. Not only that, but I’ll singing with some of Adelaide’s finest talents. If you’re either in Sydney or Adelaide do everything in your power to get along and see this once in a lifetime event.

================================================================

Lance Armstrong has undoubtedly raised the profile of the Tour Down Under throughout the world. I don’t deny that this man is an inspiration both on and off the race course. But when he arrived this week he did something enormously stupid. He was asked at his press conference whether he would vote for Mike Rann in the election if he could. It was probably one of those cheeky questions reporters ask thinking that it would make great copy on the news that night. Well they would have been right. He said he would- even though he had no idea about who his opponents were or what they stood for. Naturally enough, the Libs weren’t too impressed. I wonder if Izzy hopped on the phone to Lance’s people and asked to meet him? It would seem to me that if you were going to be asked on record about something like that you would politely decline by saying you didn’t follow local politics and it wasn’t your place. If I was a powerful and influential man and went to the US as the guest of someone and was asked which guy I’d vote for in the next election and I said- for example- the Democrat candidate, I’d be willing to bet the Republicans would go ballistic. What does this ridiculous Aussie know about our country and the intricacies of its politics? Unless Lance has studied our politics over the 51 weeks in the year when he’s elsewhere, or more importantly, applied for citizenship to Australia and then settled in Adelaide then I would humbly suggest he keep his nose elsewhere. Nothing pisses me off more than other countries or international celebs telling us what to do in our own backyard. Especially when the countries can hardly brag on the same issue themselves. When the whole Red Faces debacle blew up last year and all those Americans jumped up and down calling us racist I wanted to ask them how they knew what we did to the indigenous people here? Had they seen the way we try and help them? More importantly, why brand 21 million people racist over the actions of half a dozen men- who incidentally are not even Australian. So with respect to Mr. Armstrong- stick to cycling and cancer awareness. Leave the politics to us.