So, having lined up for hours to get the best seats for the Taylor Swift concert; finally got them. Turned up at the ACC, row eight. What a magical concert! Her song writing really blows me away.  No, not really, not even on a dare. I would prefer to play twister with Rob Ford while listening to Stephan Harper recite the complete works of Chaucer in Urdu than go and see Taylor Swift.  Seriously, that would be my choice.

 Listening to Songza and hearing Norman ‘Hurricane’ Smith come up on the playlist prompted this little collection of thoughts.

http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Oh+Babe+What+Would+You+Say/58Z76k?src=5

 Go on, hit the button, I’ll wait.

See what I mean. This is a pop song, great melody, great hook, beautifully arranged and produced. That’s not to say that Swift and her ilk’s music is not well produced, it is just well produced for an appeal to a target audience. A great deal of money and time is invested into delving into the psyche of the demographic and the music is tailored (haha) to fit that. Quite obviously, it works. However, the reason why Normans jolly tune still sounds wonderful today is that it was recorded for no other motive than the guy who wrote it thought it was good. Norman Smith did have a bit of a pedigree though. He was George Martin’s engineer from sixty-two to sixty-five. Which means he engineered the first five Beatle records. He was then promoted by EMI to an A&R and production where he signed Pink Floyd and produced their first two albums. He then produced a little gem called ‘SF Sorrow’ by the Pretty Things. This was one of the first real concept pieces and used the mellotron and early synthesisers. He then decided he would like to make music himself. He came up with “Oh babe, what would you say”.  He sadly passed away in two thousand and eight.

 I was musically fortunate growing up, my father had these Time-Life boxed sets of big band records. The music of Artie Shaw, the Dorsey brothers, Glen Miller and Jack Teagarden filled our house. Not too loud though, remember we have neighbours. Then added to that was my cousin Simon who was four years older than me, in the early seventies while I was being seduced by T.Rex, Bowie, The Sweet and Slade, he was playing me records by Zappa, Jeff Beck, Taj Mahal, The Beatles and Stones. These were the bits that led me on my own musical and literary journey.

 So, what hearing Norman Smith got me thinking was, being thirteen now would put you born in the year two thousand. While I know there was a fair amount of not very good music……wait a second.

Defining ‘good’ music. Now, there’s a thing. All arts are certainly, to a degree, subjective. The secret is being objective and not allowing popular appeal or peer pressure dictate how you feel about any word, picture or note. Nobody likes to be ridiculed in his or her teens, (try playing “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It” at a house party and see what reaction occurs) but we would never had had any of the artistic progressions we have had if certain individuals hadn’t said, “Fuck you, this is good.” I cannot imagine most of today’s ‘superstars’ ever saying that. “Will it sell?” Probably. That’s as far as I get with that.

I went away for a while, came back and read what I’d written. I am getting myself into a PHD style thesis situation. I am definitely not remotely qualified for that kind of action.

 I think what old Hurricane Smith, bless his little cotton socks, made me think about was Top of the Pops and all the truly great bands and singers I saw on that show when I was growing up. Top of the Pops was an event not just a television show. Thursdays at seven pm. Thirty odd years since I last watched that and I still remember the time and date. I won’t even get into The Old Grey Whistle Test, a show whose mandate was, you had to play live. I miss the volume of great music on mainstream radio. Radio 1, Capitol radio, and the pirate stations, Caroline, London and Luxembourg and for the most part the disc jockeys had a fair degree of autonomy. (I know there was and still is payola but lets put that discussion aside for the moment) Now Clear Chanel are telling their audience what to listen to, the same with Corus Entertainment, (or are they Clear Chanel too?)

 Yes, that’s it. I miss the variety of music I could listen to by just turning on the radio. The instant when a new record got played and you went, “Holy fuck, who the hell is this?” That would be hearing, Maggie May, Starman, Seven Seas of Rye, and so many others for the first time. When was the last time you did that from listening to the radio?

 I really do not think that Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber will be listened to in thirty years time. Message ends.