FROM FRIENDS ELECTRIC (Part 2011-1)

One of the things I want to do on TVV throughout 2011 is draw attention to articles written by other bloggers in the hope of bringing their contents to a wider audience.

I happened to be browsing through some places listed on the right hand side of this blog....I didn't get all the far going down them in alphabetical order when I found something at Armagideon Time that Bitter Andrew put together on 5th January.

Its a brilliantly articulated attack on the media's obsession with lists that was inspired by his reading of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Rock Songs published back in 2004 but updated for 2010. There's so much in his article that struck a chord with me.....and I couldn't helped being sucked in with his intro.....

Lists have become the format of choice in a world that’s hungry for content but unwilling to expend much effort on giving or receiving it. Depth and detailed exploration are passe; it’s far easier to dole out superficial data in easily digestible lumps that pander to humanity’s obsessive need to qualify and quantify subjective material in an psuedo-objective manner.

Andrew goes on to dissect all that is wrong with this sort of journalism that far too often nowadays fills what used to be enjoyable and informative music magazines. Now I know that music journalism has always been slanted towards opinions rather than facts, but it has got progressively worse in recent years. It wasn't that long ago that I would buy up to three music magazines a month....in 2010 I bought the grand total of one....and that was simply because I fancied the cover CD. It was reading the contents of the rundown of the '30 greatest songs ever recorded by Nick Cave' that I finally twigged how much of a charade it all is.

The list was nowhere near realistic. It had tracks from throughout his career encompassing early Birthday Party right through to something off Grinderman 2. It ticked all the boxes, or as Andrew puts it in terms of the Rolling Stone list...

(they) follow the standard script for this kind of affair. Reknowned classics? Check. Critical darlings? Check. Historically important stuff? Check. Recent favorites elevated out of a misguided need to stay “current?” Oh, yeah.

I know I did a list a few years back of my favourite 45 singles. But I'd like to think that sort of thing was a bit different from claiming these were the greatest songs of all time. As I tried to convey over the weeks of that rundown, these were songs that had a place in a personal chart based partly on my personal views and also the impact the songs may have had on me at a particular time in my life. Anyway, mini-rant over. I didn't expect to be typing a post tonight....and its delayed me reading what other great folk have written elsewhere in the past couple of weeks.

Do yourself a favour. Read Andrew's piece in its entirety.

Oh and here's the #327 and #437 songs in the Rolling Stone guide. But just how the FF boys got so far ahead of Mick, Joe, Topper and Paul is beyond belief.

mp3 : Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
mp3 : The Clash - (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais

Seemingly, there's nothing by The Smiths anywhere in the Top 500.....but Kelly Clarkson has made it. You won't be all that surprised to learn that the entire top ten from 2004 was the exact same in 2010. Within the top 100, the only new entry was Gnarls Barkley with Crazy ................. at number 100!!!