Saturday, June 23, 2007

Iggy and the Spice Girls

Iggy Pop on the Jonathan Ross show last night... What was that about? A grotesque old man stripped to the waist, attempting to perform the same schtick as 40 years ago, and looking more like one of the Tennants-drinking, outdoor-living 'characters' on a sink estate. Even if he'd managed to pull it off, IT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN THE SAME. That was then, this is now (same river twice, etc). Rock musicians and their audiences seem incapable of grasping this point - blinded, respectively, by fame and money, and by nostalgia. The much-hyped Velvet Underground reunion concert a while back was a case in point - bored, metronomic, only-here-for-the-money-and-adulation performances, hailed as a blow-you-away historic event, genius reborn, etc, etc.
Still - it's good to hear the Spice Girls are re-forming. That's more like it.

7 comments:

  1. I've never got Iggy, and I've never got why he turns up so frequently on the cover of magazines as a supposed aid to sales.

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  2. Well, it depends, we are living in a dry spell of originality and originality, wont be the first or the last time in history, but when this happen people tends to look for sanctuary in nostalgia lane instead of being creative and original and you see the results.

    Obviously is not only Television, just look at glastonbury, youngsters (and sometimes in company of their own parents) just repeat the "etiquette"of padding in the mud "just because is tradition", however I dont blame them, I rather will be deep in the mud than listening to any of the bands on show.

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  3. Just saw the 3d "Pirates of the Caribbean" last night (much as I love Bill Nighy, I only went 'cause teen son wanted to see it). Okay, you wanna see old and scary? Check out Keith Richards as Johnny Depp's dad. He looks like the worm in the tequila bottle -- thoroughly pickled, then dried to a leathery consistency. Scary.

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  4. Too right Susan - but the difference is he's got more sense than to take his top off any more!

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  5. Well did anyone watch him at Galstonbury? He invbited the audience onto the stage to the consternation of the security peeps. He at once became a Tennants drinking, sink estate version of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. He was singing 'Real cool time' - it was a cool moment too, about acceptance and fellowship and love. Iggy is not going gently into that good night. That's why the man is a geriatric legand.

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  6. he's photogenic, that's why he probably features in magazines - okay, photogenically ugly but still interesting.

    Hasn't Jonathan Ross had his day yet? Come on, you pop culture peeps, get on with it! Haven't you noticed that the bands on Ross aren't very good? I'm not suggesting the bands are crap, just that they don't perform like top acts on Ross's show. I'm not convinced music is an integral part of JR's life and that has something to do with it.

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  7. Quite right, Ian, Jonathan Ross is no music lover _ just like most of the iPod generation, who use music as aural wallpaper and are devoid of all critical faculties.
    Used to love JR. But he's turned into a monster of the LOOK AT ME variety.
    Someone should tell him that just because its vulgar, doesn't mean its funny.

    J Cheever Loophole

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