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Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

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"I hate the blues."
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IanB
IanB
6761 posts

Edited Nov 07, 2009, 11:39
Re:
Nov 07, 2009, 11:23
Well yes. My older brother and sister were part of that Beatles/Stones thing but by the time I was buying records The Beatles were done and the red/blue doubles were out.

I hated the Please Please Me, Love Me Do sound and and I only got into them via the psych rock records in maybe 78 or 79 (alongside the Nuggets revival, Pebbles and the Radar reissues of Red Crayola and the Elevators) but no, they never felt like they were anything to do with me. First Bowie, Alice, Sparks, Roxy & Lou and a little later LZ, Yes, Genesis and Purple felt like they belonged to me in some way and even the Stones were still fairly believable until after Tattoo You. All a delusion of course. None of these people were interested in their audiences except as a money machine.

Beatles and Jimi already felt like ancient rock history in 1973. And I hated it when Capital Radio used to blitz on the Beach Boys which just sounded like ball-less sacharine shit to my 12/13/14 year old self. But I loved Motown cos my brother's wife worked for them so we got loads of free Temptations, Originals,Rare Earth and Stevie records. Free records seemed like the best thing in the world when it took weeks to save up for an album or else you gave up going to football for a month or two. Access inevitably freames your taste. Like inheriting a load of 50s and early 60s jazz records in 1975. A total accident can change everything.

Anyway at 15/16 I took the punk rock covers of Beatles tunes as an ironic joke rather than an homage but then at 15/16 you tend to believe the nonsense that is printed in the music press.

The first rock deaths that genuinely made me sad were Lowell George, Gary Thain and Koss. And later on Malcolm Owen. I felt nothing much of anything on a deep level when Lennon or Bolan or Bonham died. Too big. Too distant. Too iconic. I felt bad for George Harrison but then death is much more real in your 40s and chances are you have buried a few people by then.

Which, to cut a long story short, is why saying "I hate" anything is closing a door you may want to open later. And to use that kind of dogma as a critic is encouraging others to do the same. There are better ways of cutting a cultural opponent down to size than hate. Like pity ....
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