Rocking around the digital clock?

The year is 1968. Jude was the name on everyone’s lips, while Mick Jagger and co. made the leather jacket the must-have clothing accessory. Neil Armstrong was on the cusp of achieving groundbreaking history, and England were football world champions.

Fast forward to the present day and oh, how times have changed. A lady whose name far more resembles a baby’s first words is the music sensation that has swept the globe, whereas plimsolls are not just worn for school PE anymore. Mars is now the focus of space exploration to see whether humans could live there after all, while English footballers are better at scoring with prostitutes than for their national team.

To match our ever-changing society, the music charts has altered dramatically in the past 50 or so years. At a first glance you could easily be led to think that rock and roll has been left in the dark. Even though rock and roll emerged into the mainstream in the late 1950s, it was even more popular during the 60s During this era bands such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones dominated the music scene, whilst The Kinks also had their music listened to all day and all of the night. In 2010, R&B and pop seems to be filling the top 40, with Taio Cruz and Flo Rida churning out number ones like there’s no tomorrow. Even X Factor manufactured stars always claim the coveted Christmas top spot, with only a social networking inspired group forcing Rage Against The Machine to battle to the peak in order to spice things up.

I know it may seem like it, but by no means am I complaining. I love all sorts of music, and if you rifle through my iPod then you will find albums by Kanye West, Kasabian, Pendulum, Lady Gaga, and ashamedly, the odd song by Miley Cyrus. The current trends that can be found in music do reflect the society that we live in, with the club scene being stronger than ever, and artificially created beats being more chart-friendly than crunching guitars.

So as a result, has rock and roll already enjoyed its golden age in music, and should everything after the 1950s and 60s be considered an Indian summer? I mean, if The Beatles were around in the 21st century, would they mastermind 27 number ones and have several hit albums over the course of ten years? We will never know the answer, but I fear that they would get lost amongst the Tinie Tempah’s and Pixie Lott’s of today.

You only have to go back about 15 years to see two other British rock and roll heavyweights fighting it out to be top of the charts, with Oasis and Blur ruling over the UK music scene during the 1990s. With the exception of a certain ‘Spice fever’, rock and roll music left a lasting impression in that decade, and while bands such as Biffy Clyro and Kings Of Leon have tasted success to a degree, and are inevitably popular, they are not always consistently in the charts.

The truth is, all of the above bands have cited rock and roll artists such as The Beatles and The Who as major influences, as well as inspiring a whole new legion of indie and alternative bands like Coldplay and Franz Ferdinand. In this respect rock and roll music can be seen as timeless, and a genre that will live on through the songs of others. Rock and roll music has had such a profound effect, so does it really need to be sailing into the top 40 every Sunday afternoon?

Each decade, or generation, has had a clear cut genre that has either emerged or been more popular than the others. In the 1950s and 60s it was rock and roll, in the 70s it was punk, in the 80s it was bands who heavily used synthesizers, in the 90s it was what is now referred as ‘cheese’ music, and finally in the 2000s it has been R&B and indie.

In effect every decade’s music has reflected the way that society has transformed and changed. So who knows, it could be rock and rolls time again in the future, and although I can’t see it happening soon, there isn’t any reason as to why it shouldn’t creep out of the shadows again.

So in answer to the title of this article, I personally don’t think rock and roll is dead, but it is not as popular as it used to be. Then again, it doesn’t need to be, as even though I was born near on twenty years after rock and roll mania started to subside, The Beatles and Elvis Presley well and truly remain household names. I am fully confident that these bands, as well as others from that era, will continue to fascinate future musicians and lead them to similar success. I don’t think it will ever go out of fashion, and even in generations to come, when music will probably be made from the sound of your mind, people will be listening to rock and roll eight days a week.

RA

music is my radar

I thought I'd post a fairly irrelevant-to-anything blog post on the tunes that I'm loving right now. Some are old, some are brand new, some are bands, others are solo artists. A complete mismatch of tunes from a variety of genres. So here goes, in no particular order:

Fairytale Lullaby - Bombay Bicycle Club
Total Life Forever - Foals
Roslyn - Bon Iver
Us - Regina Spektor
No More Flowers - Cherbourg
Send My Fond Regards to Lonelyville - Elvis Perkins in Dearland
All the Lovers - Kylie
Dog Days are Over - Florence & The Machine
Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons
Just be good to Green - Professor Green (feat. Lily Allen)
Oh No - Marina & The Diamonds
40 Day Dream - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Atlas - Fanfarlo
No Sound but the Wind - Editors
How can you swallow so much sleep - Bombay Bicycle Club
Life on Earth - Band of Horses
What you know - Two Door Cinema Club
Foreground - Grizzly Bear
Are you satisfied - Marina & The Diamonds
1901 - Phoenix

So there we have it, simple as. LR

Hard Rock Calling 2010: A night of rock that will be hard to forget.

The third day of Hard Rock Calling, an annual music event held in London, already had the perfect ingredients to be memorable before it had even started. Across the UK, it was proclaimed the hottest day of the year so far, and with this came a sizzling line-up against the backdrop of Hyde Park.

As I walked through Hyde Park, amongst the normal hustle and bustle of London life, a devoted section of people made a beeline for “Entrance X9”, the gateway to Hard Rock Calling. There seemed a touch of happiness in the air, after the fresh memories of acts such as Stevie Wonder and Pearl Jam performing over the previous two days, and this anticipation could be seen in everyone, regardless of whether this was their first day at the event or not.

By the time I had entered the arena, the atmosphere was strangely tense, although this was as a result of the large mass of people following the football, rather than listening to Elvis Costello belting out his huge hit, ‘Pump It Up’. I did feel a bit sorry for Elvis, especially with the dismal performance that the England team put out, and I know that if people knew the result before the game started, the ratio of spectators would have swung much more in Costello’s favour. I was starting to wonder if this would be the most animated the crowd would be the whole day after the disappointment of England’s exit from the World Cup, but my doubts were extinguished as soon as Crowded House stepped on stage.

They had heard the England result, and managed to do what they wanted, get the crowd forgetting about the football, and religiously singing the words to numbers such as ‘Fall At Your Feet’ and ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’. Before long the audience found themselves fist pumping to the Australians, while also practicing a Mexican wave several times at the request of the band. This seemed to bring the crowd closer together, as the chanting to ‘Weather With You’ reverberated around Hyde Park. I wouldn’t be surprised if it startled the Queen and all her Corgies in nearby Buckingham Palace.

The time quickly passed by, and suddenly before I knew it the star attraction was due on stage, Sir Paul McCartney. He made a fashionably late entrance, but my goodness he was worth it. Mixing up songs from his solo career and also his time with Wings and The Beatles, he performed an eclectic set that lasted just under three hours. Not bad for a man who’s old enough to collect a pension, but that shouldn’t cast a shadow over a man who has been a legend for the last fifty years. The highlight for me was the double hit of ‘Live and Let Die’ and ‘Hey Jude’ straight after one another, with an extraordinary fireworks display during the first exemplifying the pulsating nature of the song. I’ve got to say that during ‘Hey Jude’, it was the best atmosphere I’ve ever experienced, I thought there’d be a huge sing-a-long, but not a togetherness that feels more at home in families.

Such was the attention on Paul, a girl who was desperately crying out for her partner promptly got the response; "Shut up woman, we've come to hear Macca, not you whinging!" This atmosphere lingered well after the gig had finished, with people reciting several lyrics from the day's artists, also frequently joined by a half drunk, half adrenaline-rushed choir.

This experience will live long in my memory, and from the amazing time I had on the Sunday, I’m slightly disappointed with myself that I didn’t go on the Saturday to see another name in music folklore, Stevie Wonder. Next year for sure though, I will definitely consider Hard Rock Calling as a festival to attend.

However, Oxegen festival in Dublin is calling my name...

RA

Finally! A less guilt-inducing time-waster

Can you name the 47 countries of Europe? Name all 23 members of the England World Cup Squad? Recall 22 words with a suffix ‘cle’? or even type 1 to 100 in a mere 1 minute? These are just some of the few (of what appears to be millions) of interactive quizzes online that you can take when life is getting you bored. Marketing itself as a ‘mentally stimulating diversion’, Sporcle is a trivia quiz website which was set up in 2007 by whizzkid, Matt Ramme. Initially set up aiming toward the older market, it seems it has had more of an effect on the youngens, thirsty for knowledge and lets face it, the biggest procrastinators in the land.

A lot of basic knowledge is lost when you leave your education years as people tend to dismiss the subjects they don’t find appealing. But ultimately, a deeper understanding of the world, (even if it is being able to recount the 47 countries of Europe) is useful, prompting people to take a greater curiosity in things they once deemed irrelevant or ‘not applicable’ for their careers.

So now, all thanks to Sporcle, I consider myself vaguely geography literate (even though I often am left feeling quite humbled as most of the quizzes are impossible). Sure there are those games which are just for fun with no real educational purpose. I mean I really don’t think knowing the opening lyric to 22 of Lady GaGa’s songs is going to get you far in life but there’s no doubt about it, its a good way to kill time. Surprisingly, it has this remarkable ability to get you frustrated when the game doesn’t play your way.

It’s addictive and inexplicably fun deceptively tricking you into learning. LR

Is it a bee? Is it a plane? No, it’s a Vuvuzela.

For the past week millions of households across the UK, or even the world for that matter, could have been forgiven for thinking that a swarm of bees had nestled in the back of their TV sets while they watched the World Cup. This has consequently put a sting in the tail of the British public, who have found this incessant droning quite irritating, and made the competition not as entertaining as they’d hoped.

However, as we all discovered, it was not a giant frenzy of bees hidden inside the stadium, it was a mass of people playing an African horn called a vuvuzela. I mean, I had heard of them before the tournament started but did I think you’d be able to hear them right throughout the match?! No, is the answer. Neither did I think they’d cause so much controversy that a request was sent to FIFA to get them banned, although this was declined.

Most people can’t stand the noise, my mum and sister included, and it would be so easy to agree with them. I have to admit it’s not the most pleasant of sounds, and if you’re like me who aims to watch most of the matches, it threatens to make your viewing of the World Cup pretty tedious. It also gives my mum some ammunition to convince me that the Coronation Street theme tune would be much better to listen to in the evenings, however I’ve started to forget the vuvuzelas are even there.

I’m all for tradition as well, and if this is how South Africa expresses itself throughout football matches, then let them. This is the first World Cup on African soil, so we’re bound to experience something new and different during matches. Even though you may not be able to hear fans chanting throughout World Cup matches, I think the vuvuzela adds a new dimension to the atmosphere.

Anyway, what are us Brits complaining about?! Thousands of us have already bought the plastic version that has been exported over here, and are quite happy to test it out in our homes and on the streets. Even my good friend Lou magically found one lurking in her house, so who knows, you may also find a vuvuzela under your stairs or in your garden shed.

The vuvuzelas have also given us an opportunity to crack endless jokes at our own nations expense. After the game against Algeria, lots of quips surfaced, some of my favourites being, “That’s not vuvuzelas, that’s the grass snoring”; or, “That’s not vuvuzelas, that’s the sound of a whole nation booing”. So, the vuvuzelas in a sense have given us some comedic relief from England’s poor performances on the pitch.

It seems that slowly everyone is warming to the African horn, and hopefully this World Cup will be remembered for the right reasons on the field, and not just for that annoying noise that got on everyones nerves.

We’ve spent enough time blowing our own trumpets about England’s World Cup chances, so why not let Africa blow theirs?

RA

You are live on Channel 4, please do not swear

I’m quite the sucker for reality television. From watching beautiful people with ugly lives in The Hills to the search of Sir Alan’s (or should I say Lord Sugar) next employee on the Apprentice. I watch them all. So it comes as no surprise that my first blog post should be about this year’s (and final) Big Brother. It finishes after 11 series and over 1000 episodes with 182 people competing for that ‘all important’ 30 seconds of fame.

So is it your big brother or all just a big bother?

I have always been told not to watch it by disapproving parents and friends who think better. All in all, they’re probably right. I mean, you’re essentially spending hours and days watching 12 or so unknown fame seekers in a house. I like to tell them that I watch it out of mere curiosity to justify myself. I still to this day believe it to be a social experiment like no other and as a psychologist and linguist at university, I can’t help but be fascinated.

The housemates are selected based on how ‘interesting’ they appear when really we all know it’s how ‘weird’ they are. This naturally, makes for better viewing. This year is no exception with 14 budding eccentrics with a desperate desire for their claim to fame entering the house.

Episode 1 saw 81 hopefuls standing outside the circus themed house (how appropriate) based in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. Big Brother then proceeded to announce the 13 who had made it with the remaining candidate being picked randomly from a tombola like draw.

And what a bunch they are. There’s ever so posh Ben, 30 (or is it 27?) from London. Irish beauty Caoimhe (pronounced Kee-va), 22 from Dublin. Katie Price lookalikey Corin, 29 from Stockport. Drunk on love man, Dave, 39 from South Wales. Serial gossip Govan, 21 from Leicester. Gorgeous Aussie, John James, 24 from Melbourne. Country girl (with the best accent ever), Josie, 25 from Bristol. Dancer (with a superb collection of wigs), Ife, 25 from Milton Keynes. Mario, 28 from Essex who entered as ‘the mole’ (a story for another time, non?). Noel Gallagher look a like, sporting a 6 inch eyebrow, Nathan from Yorkshire. Shabby, 24 the straightalking lesbian from London. Father of 8, ex BA soldier, Steve, 40 from Leicester. Sunshine, a whiney 24 medic student from Peterborough. Not forgetting, curvaceous and self proclaimed beauty and Beyoncé look a like, Rachael, who sadly, has left us already.

So far, we’ve had rows, blossoming romances, twists and turns like no other and of course the inevitable backstabbing and bitching. And that’s only after week one. 


So there you have it, your circus is complete. With the promise of imminent twists and even a rumour that Davina, BB royalty, is set to enter the house herself, it looks like this summer is set to be a good one. LR