Friday, August 30, 2002

Back to the future

We were recently asked to DJ at a wedding but the bride and groom wanted to know what kind of music we would play. As it happened, I had a mix on CD, which I had put together for Penny and Mike’s wedding. The CD put the kibosh on the gig for the following reason; the mix was, apparently, too modern. It wasn’t a mix of Gabber Jungle Trance (vocal or dub), it had 8 number 1’s and not one record that failed to break the top 10. Nor was it particularly ‘modern’ the average record was six years old.

It seems they wanted 60’s and 70’s stuff, which is, by my calculations 30-40 years old. Put into context, if my parents listened to 40-year-old music at their wedding reception, they’d be dancing to the Charleston, and I’ve checked, they didn’t.

Last night we went to see the Ralph Little Show recorded for the BBC. No real reason other than it’s a kind of fun thing to do. As we walked into the Auditorium they were playing Parklife by Blur, followed by a stream of mid nineties Britpop classics. McCalmont and Butler, a duo whose brief peak was at least four years ago, played out the show. Ralph Little’s dire questioning of Rocket Ronnie O’Sullivan asking how “Mad” things were, or, fawning over Ronny O’Sullivan’s Loaded style laddism, very 1997.

When we got home, the Stereophonics were on telly, and the drummer looked like he was some really bad 70’s rock cliché. As opposed to a really bad 21st Century rock cliché.

What I’m saying is that is the world moving too quickly for people? It seems to me that people began falling off the treadmill in about 1995 unable to keep up with changing music and fashion trends. It’s not my age, Ralph Little can only be 22-23 yet ever he is stuck in 1994. Is it not time that we stopped modernising for a bit to let us all catch up. Give me six months to master Crash Bandicoot on the Playstation, then I’ll buy a Playstation 2.... I'm coming, I'm coming.

Like hiking in the hills, modernisers should sit on a rock with their sandwiches and enjoy the view, whilst others’ catch up. Me, I’m stuck around 1998 and I admit I enjoy it, maybe I don’t want to modernise, and therefore maybe none of us do. Maybe it’s just time to stop.

Yep, let's stop being modern.

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