"There has always been crap pop music. I remember when we had all the crap boybands in the 90s - stuff like that has always been around. The lack of money in the music industry created a crisis. Record companies don't have the resources to take a gamble, so these pop stars are created by committee."
'NOW THIS WAS AT THE HEIGHT OF WHAT WAS BRITPOP AND MAINSTREAM INDIE. RECORD COMPANIES DON'T/DIDN'T HAVE THE RESOURCES TO GAMBLE?
I THINK NOT …
ANY QUARTER-DECENT 3 CHORD KNOBHEADS COULD AND DID GET A DEAL IN THE 90'S …. I WON'T NAME NAMES COS IT WOULD BE UNFAIR ON ECHOBELLY, SHED 7, SYMPOSIUM, MENSWEAR, SLEEPER, HURRICANE NUMBER 1, RIDE, THE BLUETONES (APART FROM THAT ONE SONG), OCEAN COLOUR SCENE (APART FROM THAT ONE SONG...HANG ON NAH NOT EVEN THAT SONG), NORTHERN UPROAR, CHAPTERHOUSE, CURVE, SALAD, ADORABLE, CUD, SPACEHOG, KULA SHAKER, THE AUDIENCE, POWDER, KING MAKER, GENEVA ...'
Phew!
Quite correctly, it has been pointed out that Rob would have sold his heavily tattooed right arm to have been in Shed 7 or Ride. Or, preferably Oasis. Let's not forget his overly keen and utterly cringeworthy shot at being Noel and Liam's best pal. Whatever he might say now, in the late nineties, Williams was desperate to disown his boyband colleagues and carve out a 'credible' rock career.
But the faint whiff of hypocrisy aside, does Mr.W have a point? Were all those indie kids just a waste of bar space in the Good Mixer - benefiting from nothing more than good timing? Were the boybands (Take That, East 17, Back Street Boys and the rest) actually the superior talent?
Well, the answer is no. And yes. And actually Robbie is making a fundamental mistake. He's stereotyping, pigeon-holing and unashamedly compartmentalising. It's no more logical to say nineties indie bands were rubbish and nineties boybands were ace, than it is to say all red cars are better than silver ones. Robbie's taking us back to the playground and inviting us to join in a 'My favourite music's better than your favourite music' name calling scrap.
Time, I think, for a friendly teacher to take him aside and explain how this stuff works. When assessing the quality of popular music, genres are meaningless.
Steely Dan have produced some of the wittiest, most delicious and brilliantly executed records of the last fifty years. Into which genre are we to slot them?
Most of us spot this pretty quickly. As a young punk, I adored Secret Affair's 'Time For Action' - and still do. When I was a bit gothy, I was buying albums by The Commodores and Prince. In my 'crusty' phase I had a thing for Pet Shop Boys 12" singles. It always struck me as preposterous that the niche an act had occupied should define my ability and prerogative to enjoy their records.
Dip into any musical genus and you're guaranteed to pull out both gemstones and pebbles. Disco offers up Chic and The Dooleys; metal gives us Thunder and Motorhead; glam is home to The Glitter Band and T-Rex. Which of these, or the hundreds of other acts in the bran tub, is a diamond and which is just pond grit, is entirely up to you.
That's Brett Anderson of Suede. He was speaking to The Sun (I know) about the late nineties and the ludicrously named Britpop. Always a provocative bugger, Brett will be delighted to know his opinions have stirred up a hornet's nest, particularly as they appear to be swarming in the head of Robbie Williams.
Almost as soon as the comments were published, Williams took to his blog to become very animated. Here's a flavour of his repost (caps author's own):
'NOW THIS WAS AT THE HEIGHT OF WHAT WAS BRITPOP AND MAINSTREAM INDIE. RECORD COMPANIES DON'T/DIDN'T HAVE THE RESOURCES TO GAMBLE?
I THINK NOT …
ANY QUARTER-DECENT 3 CHORD KNOBHEADS COULD AND DID GET A DEAL IN THE 90'S …. I WON'T NAME NAMES COS IT WOULD BE UNFAIR ON ECHOBELLY, SHED 7, SYMPOSIUM, MENSWEAR, SLEEPER, HURRICANE NUMBER 1, RIDE, THE BLUETONES (APART FROM THAT ONE SONG), OCEAN COLOUR SCENE (APART FROM THAT ONE SONG...HANG ON NAH NOT EVEN THAT SONG), NORTHERN UPROAR, CHAPTERHOUSE, CURVE, SALAD, ADORABLE, CUD, SPACEHOG, KULA SHAKER, THE AUDIENCE, POWDER, KING MAKER, GENEVA ...'
Phew!
Quite correctly, it has been pointed out that Rob would have sold his heavily tattooed right arm to have been in Shed 7 or Ride. Or, preferably Oasis. Let's not forget his overly keen and utterly cringeworthy shot at being Noel and Liam's best pal. Whatever he might say now, in the late nineties, Williams was desperate to disown his boyband colleagues and carve out a 'credible' rock career.
But the faint whiff of hypocrisy aside, does Mr.W have a point? Were all those indie kids just a waste of bar space in the Good Mixer - benefiting from nothing more than good timing? Were the boybands (Take That, East 17, Back Street Boys and the rest) actually the superior talent?
Well, the answer is no. And yes. And actually Robbie is making a fundamental mistake. He's stereotyping, pigeon-holing and unashamedly compartmentalising. It's no more logical to say nineties indie bands were rubbish and nineties boybands were ace, than it is to say all red cars are better than silver ones. Robbie's taking us back to the playground and inviting us to join in a 'My favourite music's better than your favourite music' name calling scrap.
Time, I think, for a friendly teacher to take him aside and explain how this stuff works. When assessing the quality of popular music, genres are meaningless.
Steely Dan have produced some of the wittiest, most delicious and brilliantly executed records of the last fifty years. Into which genre are we to slot them?
Most of us spot this pretty quickly. As a young punk, I adored Secret Affair's 'Time For Action' - and still do. When I was a bit gothy, I was buying albums by The Commodores and Prince. In my 'crusty' phase I had a thing for Pet Shop Boys 12" singles. It always struck me as preposterous that the niche an act had occupied should define my ability and prerogative to enjoy their records.
Dip into any musical genus and you're guaranteed to pull out both gemstones and pebbles. Disco offers up Chic and The Dooleys; metal gives us Thunder and Motorhead; glam is home to The Glitter Band and T-Rex. Which of these, or the hundreds of other acts in the bran tub, is a diamond and which is just pond grit, is entirely up to you.
For my money, Girls Aloud will always be a fantastic group and Northern Uproar pointless copyists. Then again, One Direction strike me as rather dull and prosaic, while Suede's stylish archness is the stuff of dreams. But that's just me.
Once we get into setting one 'type' of music against another, we trap ourselves in a futile feedback loop. Try telling a pre-teen yelling her throat raw at a Justin Bieber show she has it wrong and should be listening to 'Rubber Soul' and she'll rightly throw you a death look. You don't know better than her, you just know your own tastes. It's all relative, all subjective, all a matter of freedom of choice.
So, next time Robbie Williams spots a fellow artist slighting Take That in his daily rag, he'd be much wiser to shrug and say 'Hey! Who cares? It's all pop music.'
Once we get into setting one 'type' of music against another, we trap ourselves in a futile feedback loop. Try telling a pre-teen yelling her throat raw at a Justin Bieber show she has it wrong and should be listening to 'Rubber Soul' and she'll rightly throw you a death look. You don't know better than her, you just know your own tastes. It's all relative, all subjective, all a matter of freedom of choice.
So, next time Robbie Williams spots a fellow artist slighting Take That in his daily rag, he'd be much wiser to shrug and say 'Hey! Who cares? It's all pop music.'
