No Rock And Roll Fun

MAPLE LEAFING: A hybrid of sense and nonesense from the Canadian National Post about British music - apparently enjoying a "resurgence" in the former colonies (i.e. Coldplay have got to number five with their dirge-collection in America.) Rightly scornful of plans to open an official Office of Pop in New York - Bunf of the Super Furry Animals snorting "You just don't want to be on that list of bands that they're going to promote through that office. People are just going to laugh" - it then goes on to suggest a half-arsed rifling of the clippings library and a spatchcock of ideas, such as the low profile of British acts since 1997 has been " perhaps lulled by the ultimately anodyne nature of their Prime Minister." Yeees... that'll be it, then. Except, of course, Tony isn't anodyne - he's ruthlessly lining himself up slots at the EU and UN, and any bloke who'll happily warble out that, yes, he really does think the nation who put him in charge should pay a "blood price" to support America in Iraq can hardly be described as watery. Wrong, perhaps, but not anodyne in his incorrectness. If only Brit bands had marketed themselves as global brands half as effectively as Blair has, by now Fred Durst would be waiting tables at Wendy's and Slipknot footage would be rolled out for young people to laugh at on prime-time TV shows.
Then, of course, they turn to radio one. What do they tell Canada? "BBC Radio 1, which sometimes features independent music late at night, feeds the populace a steady diet of synthetic pap during the day. " No, no, no - if that was the case, the battle to save the Evening Session would have been lost ages ago. And pap during the day? The top ten most played acts on Radio One last week were Jurgen Vries, Underworld, Truth Hurts, Ash, Sugababes, Liberty X, Eminem, Oakenfold, Appleton and Miss Dynamite - the odd piece of pap, sure, but on the whole pretty damn impressive. (If rather dance-heavy - see yesterday's piece on the Evening Session). So where does the paper get the idea that Radio One is wall to wall Pop Idol and Atomic Kitten? Step forward Tom Gray from Gomez: ""People running our public radio ... are not really music people. They are more news people ... We've become lifestyle-obsessed and dull." Anyone who has ever heard the monstorously bad Newsbeat on Radio One will know that that's just not true - the reason for the poor support for Gomez (and Tom's subsequent sour grapes) is firstly, Gomez aren't very good (although critically acclaimed), and, second, Radio One offers more daytime support to dance acts. It's not, in short, that Radio One doesn't take risks; it's that its musical heart isn't with guitars anymore. Whatever, its a grievous insult to claim that Radio One is pumping out "pap" - that would be the commercial stations (top 10 most played being Sugababes, Atomic Kitten, Coldplay, Darius, Milky, Liberty X, Vanessa Carlton, Enrique, Oakenfold and Madhouse).
We musn't lose sight that Radio One still has a soul to fight for.