tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1930103.post174185150879550399..comments2024-03-28T09:33:26.444+00:00Comments on No Rock And Roll Fun: Brits 2014: The morning afterSimon Hayes Budgenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084524317888577404noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1930103.post-88360056975554970122014-02-20T21:39:03.831+00:002014-02-20T21:39:03.831+00:00re. Arctic Monkeys / Scotland, I'd *guess* tha...re. Arctic Monkeys / Scotland, I'd *guess* that their political inheritance is socialist simply because they're from Sheffield (unless, of course, they're from the Hallam constituency - I've never cared about them enough to find out) and that, therefore, they might be opposed to Scottish independence because it would weaken their politics. But - befitting the age in which they emerged - they've always seemed so *post-political* that maybe they really don't care.Robin Carmodyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05825645880870474801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1930103.post-2102293875233927522014-02-20T21:37:13.302+00:002014-02-20T21:37:13.302+00:00I think I know what Bowie was saying (or had said ...I think I know what Bowie was saying (or had said for him). He is worried, as I am, about Scottish independence from the English perspective because he fears that it might make England pettier, narrower, more fearful, more reactionary, less supportive of the pluralism he has always stood for (and did a great deal to pioneer in the first place, during the withering years of the old order). Despite all his mis-steps and misjudgements, Bowie has always seemed to me to be quite smart on this front, quite aware of the geopolitical rules and pressures here.<br /><br />Arctic Monkeys seem to have come back to something closer to their old popularity with the current album and the singles from it, but maybe that's down to a certain set of people's desire to have A Big Guitar Band after the genre's overall decline, and their last couple of albums were (or appeared to be) exaggeratedly unsuccessful because they came when everyone was (I hate myself for using this phrase) guitar banded out, like 'Standing on the Shoulder of Giants' ten years earlier. They're being rewarded for having survived into the era of Rudimental and Disclosure and others not considered Proper British Music by the aforementioned set of people.<br /><br />That decline of the guitar band might have *slightly* damaged Scottish music at the UK level, but Emeli Sande and Calvin Harris are among the UK's best-selling acts of the last couple of years, and if the former had released a *new* album last year ... (you don't need me to complete this sentence)Robin Carmodyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05825645880870474801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1930103.post-80653643217703142842014-02-20T09:57:33.436+00:002014-02-20T09:57:33.436+00:00Maybe "Scotland, stay with us" wasn'...Maybe "Scotland, stay with us" wasn't a pro-union message from Bowie. Maybe the Brits producer hastily scrawled it on the end of the speech after seeing how the viewing figures were doing north of the border. Jamesnoreply@blogger.com