Sounding Off
By Warren Neil
As I said in the last issue, I have only recent became a member of the iPod fraternity.
Not because I craved to be part of the fashionista or that I couldn’t live without having this particular piece of modern functionality, it was because I had to pay for my ticket into the Public Transport Nightclub. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not about to moan on about the youth of today (well, maybe a bit) or that you can’t get a bit of peace and quiet on ones chosen mode of transport (um, just another bit). I actually think there is a wider effect, which will hopefully come across as you read further.
Like a lot of cultures/sub-cultures/fashions that have occurred in modern times, they have come full circle. There is resurgence, then the next comes along. To take a musical example: everyone likes rock and guitar bands now, everyone has always liked Led Zeppelin, everyone didn’t get their Motorhead t-shirt from Topshop and everyone says they were rockers when they were kids, when in reality their early teens were spent in bedrooms trying to sing as high as Jimmy Summerville.
Twenty five years ago, Sony released ‘The Walkman’ and these wondrous devices enabled you listen to music on the move, accompanied by a backpack of 25 tapes. However, you may as well have had a couple of speakers taped to your head, as the headphones were of ‘open’ design and of a very low quality (unlike today where almost all are ‘closed’ or ‘in-ear’). I even remember seeing this new intrusion into our lives reported on the news, and made a mental note to ensure mine was low enough for only me to hear. It started to take over my life, however: spending hours deciding what tapes to bring, enough batteries, is my favourite tape going to get mangled? So I stopped using it. Public transport became a time to read, walking became a time to think and contemplate my surroundings rather than staring at the floor rushing to my destination. I looked forward to getting home to listen to a new record or a radio show. Music is my life but it became slightly devalued due to this machine controlling many aspects of my life – a bit like hearing a great song flogged to death on commercial radio so much you eventually hate it. Cue MP3 player. Full circle.
MP3/4s are only just mildly aurally annoying to fellow passengers because £20 will get you vastly superior headphones to the junk supplied with your player and, if you are stupid enough not to, you’re actively seeking to get beaten and mugged. So, not content with having a high-tech item that will provide personal musical pleasure with minimum annoyance to fellow passengers, (warned you!), the youth of today insist on playing music (which is shit anyway and would sound shit through a Bang & Olufsen system) as loud as it can get on a tinny mobile phone. I’m not against the hustle and bustle of riding the bus or tube in London but we shouldn’t have to listen to this racket. I shouldn’t have to pay £60 for a seat in the quiet carriage of a train to listen to P feckin’ Diddy. Conductors should be brought back to reclaim our public transport. Plus didn’t the contentious Criminal Justice and Public Orders Act outlaw the playing of repetitive beats to groups of two or more persons? (Ok, this applies to raves on land but it is a pertinent point as it is an attempt to dissuade ‘antisocial behaviours’).
The resulting feeling is that of hatred. Hatred for these phones, hatred for the selfishness of others but more worryingly, hatred of music. It’s fine to hate certain music as a matter of opinion or if it’s blasting through your bedroom wall at 3am, but to sit somewhere and actually get fed up with hearing ‘music’ is an extremely sad emotion.
So six months ago I succumbed and bought an iPod. Feel free to slap me if it’s too loud.
Ticket to Write
Chris Singleton comes from Dublin and lives in Stoke Newington. Influenced by classic acts such as Bowie, The Beatles, The Stone Roses, The Who and Pink Floyd, his music is characterised by great melodies and an engaging production technique which combines traditional rock and pop instruments (guitars, organ, drums, piano) with contemporary sounds – dirty drum samples, crunchy electronica and digital effects.
For the past couple of years Chris has been recording an album called Twisted City. Written on the back of tube tickets, boarding cards and newspapers found abandoned in railway stations, the record is conceived as a tube journey through London. Each song is a stop on the line and deals with a different 'place', whether a London location or an experience. Twisted City is an album clearly made on – and about – a move. The songs are inspired by London (both the good bits and the bad) and the album reflects the excitement of getting to know the city and the struggle to make it there.
‘Some of the best pop/rock you are likely to hear this or any year’ Irish Times
www.myspace.com/chrissingleton |
