Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
They don't have proper tunes and you can't hear the words. Not like the good old days is it Grandad?
An old pal (ex Bookseller, now Times columnist) James Marriott has written a truly excellent piece on the Wellcome rubbish in tomorrow's Times (available online now).
Education. We got a lock on the door of the Unit today. Still none on the bathrooms. Quiet, settled week thus far. Staff all well and moderately sane. If not physically unharmed.
For those who may be interested and who didn't already know: Dillibe Onyeama's famous (and excellent) autobiographical book, "N***** at Eton", has been republished under a new title, "A Black Boy at Eton". It's currently in bookshops.
The story is that the headmaster apologised to him - about half a century after he had left the school and after it had tried to stop his book coming out - and told him he wasn't banned any more ... as if after he'd left he'd ever wanted to visit them anyway. He then said he was prepared to visit to accept their apology in person, so long as they paid his fare. As far as I know, he hasn't actually visited yet. He should have insisted on keeping the original title, but presumably the publisher wanted to avoid giving people ideas and fuelling anyone's anger by making it more lucid. But perhaps he needs the money. Anyway it's a great book. (I've only read the original. The latest effort may possibly be different in other ways than just the title.)
Hey HYUFD, maybe someone will soon write "Chav-Faced Full-Fee Award Recipient at Charterhouse"?
A great example of meritocracy I am sure
Argh, you've brought that word into the discussion! In the book in which he coined it, "The Rise of the Meritocracy, 1870-2033", Michael Young wrote (briefly) of the psychological damage inflicted at English boarding schools and how it afflicts some survivors throughout their entire lives.
He sent Toby to a state school, a perfect example of no psychological flaws at all Toby Young I am sure we agree
Labour moving the culture war debate away from ‘what is a woman’ to ‘private schools shouldn’t get tax breaks’ is a pretty smart move by anyone’s measure. Take the initiative while your enemy is disorganised. If they are of choleric temperament - irritate them.
This is true, until they are in government and bump into the drawbacks.
That's for future Labour to worry about. When did we last have a government which looked more than 5 minutes ahead?
For the avoidance of doubt - it is something analogous to a wormhole, rather than a wormhole. But the fact we can explore this duality experimentally is huge.
One of the issues I find with this debate is those of us who have been privately educated explain all the public good that is done by private education:
- scholarships ** Education ** - outreach ** Education ** - donation of equipment/time/space to local state schools and other voluntary orgs ** Education/Community ** - building of facilities that can be used by community ** So, community ** - custodianship of historic buildings ** s/of/of their attractive brochure-worthy/ ** - freeing up spaces in state schools ** I guess ** - training of staff who may go into state sector ** Or might not **
And yet those who want to tear anything that isn't state provision down just ignore us.
Not ignore, very much wonder why it is VAT-free and charitable. Some vague maybe/maybe-not and CoE-esque 'look at our pretty buildings' isn't really cutting it for me. If we give VAT/tax breaks to everyone and everything that may or may not go on to work in the state sector or lives in a Victorian or Edwardian building then that would level the ground a little.
Education isn't a charitable endeavour these days?
God, the state of left wing thinking.
God, the state of right wing thinking.
Is that the level of debate and engagement your private education gifted us? It's no wonder you need charity.
So do you think education is a charitable endeavour, or not?
It is only charity if it goes to someone who otherwise couldn't get educated, otherwise it is a paid for service.
And yet, as you said, private therapeutic care isn't VATable.
Physician, heal thy own sector before preaching about others.
I think VAT on private medical services, with the money raised going to the NHS would be another good policy for Labour.
Christ, I'm definitely moving if they do that.
Where to?
Anywhere there aspiration is supported rather than scorned.
Aspiration my arse. Private education is all about protecting and perpetuating privileges down the generations.
No it is about choice which the left want to remove as far as possible, including nationalising most business and industry if they were allowed the chance
Please enlighten me as to how my parents had that choice when it came to my education.
Not everyone can afford to shop at Harrods and Fortnum and Mason either, doesn't mean we shut them down or nationalise them.
Not everyone can afford to buy a Ferrari, doesn't mean we ban Ferraris.
So in their heart of hearts most leftwingers would ban it if they got the chance
The Rich and Aspirational Elitists buying their children life chances through our fee paying Public Schools is just fucking unjustifiable..unforgiveable, shameful and just fucking depressing....
Until this changes, sadly nothing changes....so, a good start with VAT
No just makes them even more elitist, reduces bursaries, reduces sharing facilities with state schools and closes some cheaper private schools
The centralisation of power in Scotland over the last 20 years is a large part of that. Too many people too focused on playing court to a very small number of people; too much patronage in the hands of too few.
That can feel great for people on both sides of the equation, powerful, rewarding, cosy, freezing out the untoward. But it's bad for both. And sometimes an issue comes along where the system has no idea how far it is overreaching, because it has cut out all its external feedback.
At the point they lose control of what is sayable and reportable, the people focussed on courting power then look remote, arrogant, spoilt, entitled, petulant, resentful - and fearful. It's a bog-standard historical phenomenon.
The suggestion that taking away a state subsidy for the wealthy is somehow anti-aspirational is one of the more interesting arguments for a middle class perk I've heard tonight.
By taking their kids out of the state education system and paying for their education while still paying taxes, "the wealthy" are actually subsidising the state education system - in effect, paying twice.
I've got nothing against private education and setting up viable businesses to supply the considerable demand for it. I just don't understand why those businesses should get a subsidy? Surely market forces should prevail?
Agreed. It’s a pretty modest proposal - as I said upthread, I doubt many people were even aware private schooling was zero-rated for VAT. Seems silly.
It appears to be an excellent political issue for Labour, as you have to be really interested in the subject to get worked up over what looks pretty minor.
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
Rap was mainstream twenty years before the end of your golden age.
Rap was OK at the beginning (Grandmaster Flash) and interesting without ever being noble or profound, now it is dreck
Mannerism is actually a pretty good analogy
I saw a chart that suggested that the number of key changes in top 10 hits basically collapsed circa 2005 and never recovered.
Some possible statistical evidence for your thesis, then.
I’m which case the analogy is not mannerism but perhaps “the international style” in architecture.
Found this that shows what you were talking about. Amazing to see the decline of popular music so clearly illustrated.
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
They don't have proper tunes and you can't hear the words. Not like the good old days is it Grandad?
It's undeniable that there are peaks and troughs in culture, so you can't turn your own feelings towards the generation before you into a universal rule.
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
They don't have proper tunes and you can't hear the words. Not like the good old days is it Grandad?
I'm right, you're wrong
Unfortunately you CAN hear the words to that mega-selling King Von track that I linked below. Here's a stanza
That new Porsche it's built like a horse, colors like the 'fo He got a ring, I guess he ain't divorce, wife probably a whore Now she walk up, she struttin' her stuff, this bitch thick as fuck Got in the truck, kissed him on his lip, he cuffin' her butt
And this from the first verse of Aretha's marvellous song of the heart:
The moment I wake up.... Before I put on my makeup (makeup) I say a little prayer for you While combing my hair now I'm wondering what to wear now (wear now) I say a little prayer for you (for you, ooh) Oh, baby...
Neither is Shakespeare, but one truly lifts the heart with glad yearning - and the other is a hymn to misogyny, consumerism and violence. And one has an immortal melody and speaks of hope, love and happiness, and the other is painful. And one will be listened to in 100 years and the rap shite will be dead and forgotten, thank fuck, bitch
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
Rap was mainstream twenty years before the end of your golden age.
Rap was OK at the beginning (Grandmaster Flash) and interesting without ever being noble or profound, now it is dreck
Mannerism is actually a pretty good analogy
One of my favourite songs is a rap — The Crown by Gary Byrd and the GB Experience, from 1983. Lasts about 10 minutes. The first few years of rap music were interesting. Late 70s/early 80s.
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
Rap was mainstream twenty years before the end of your golden age.
Rap was OK at the beginning (Grandmaster Flash) and interesting without ever being noble or profound, now it is dreck
Mannerism is actually a pretty good analogy
I saw a chart that suggested that the number of key changes in top 10 hits basically collapsed circa 2005 and never recovered.
Some possible statistical evidence for your thesis, then.
I’m which case the analogy is not mannerism but perhaps “the international style” in architecture.
I've been researching this for a Knapper's Gazette article, and it is absolutely true. Music hasn't merely declined anecdotally, you can measure it. It has got less complex, with fewer key changes and more simplistic melodies, and lyrics have also got simpler, and also more crude and brutal (lyrical terms are more likely to be centred around hate and violence rather than love and joy, for instance)
It's a damn shame, but it is the case
We have gone from the exquisite cadences and human happiness of Aretha Franklin and Say A Little Prayer
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
They don't have proper tunes and you can't hear the words. Not like the good old days is it Grandad?
Whilst your statement may be right on the general sentiment that drives many opinions about it, I fear Leon actually has some backup on the idea modern music is getting less complex, and more homogenised. Far less colourful characters have analysed the idea, and whether that is correct or not, it isn't simply people getting old and saying things suck now, even if that clearly happens too.
One of the issues I find with this debate is those of us who have been privately educated explain all the public good that is done by private education:
- scholarships ** Education ** - outreach ** Education ** - donation of equipment/time/space to local state schools and other voluntary orgs ** Education/Community ** - building of facilities that can be used by community ** So, community ** - custodianship of historic buildings ** s/of/of their attractive brochure-worthy/ ** - freeing up spaces in state schools ** I guess ** - training of staff who may go into state sector ** Or might not **
And yet those who want to tear anything that isn't state provision down just ignore us.
Not ignore, very much wonder why it is VAT-free and charitable. Some vague maybe/maybe-not and CoE-esque 'look at our pretty buildings' isn't really cutting it for me. If we give VAT/tax breaks to everyone and everything that may or may not go on to work in the state sector or lives in a Victorian or Edwardian building then that would level the ground a little.
Education isn't a charitable endeavour these days?
God, the state of left wing thinking.
God, the state of right wing thinking.
Is that the level of debate and engagement your private education gifted us? It's no wonder you need charity.
So do you think education is a charitable endeavour, or not?
It is only charity if it goes to someone who otherwise couldn't get educated, otherwise it is a paid for service.
And yet, as you said, private therapeutic care isn't VATable.
Physician, heal thy own sector before preaching about others.
I think VAT on private medical services, with the money raised going to the NHS would be another good policy for Labour.
Christ, I'm definitely moving if they do that.
Where to?
Anywhere there aspiration is supported rather than scorned.
Aspiration my arse. Private education is all about protecting and perpetuating privileges down the generations.
No it is about choice which the left want to remove as far as possible, including nationalising most business and industry if they were allowed the chance
Please enlighten me as to how my parents had that choice when it came to my education.
Not everyone can afford to shop at Harrods and Fortnum and Mason either, doesn't mean we shut them down or nationalise them.
Not everyone can afford to buy a Ferrari, doesn't mean we ban Ferraris.
So in their heart of hearts most leftwingers would ban it if they got the chance
The Rich and Aspirational Elitists buying their children life chances through our fee paying Public Schools is just fucking unjustifiable..unforgiveable, shameful and just fucking depressing....
Until this changes, sadly nothing changes....so, a good start with VAT
No just makes them even more elitist, reduces bursaries, reduces sharing facilities with state schools and closes some cheaper private schools
If you close all the private schools in this country, then the super rich will just educate their children abroad. Meanwhile the middle class will play the state school catchment area game even more
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to
rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by
Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
They don't have proper tunes and you can't hear the words. Not like the good old days is it Grandad?
I'm right, you're wrong
Unfortunately you CAN hear the words to that mega-selling King Von track that I linked below. Here's a stanza
That new Porsche it's built like a horse, colors like the 'fo He got a ring, I guess he ain't divorce, wife probably a whore Now she walk up, she struttin' her stuff, this bitch thick as fuck Got in the truck, kissed him on his lip, he cuffin' her butt
And this from the first verse of Aretha's marvellous song of the heart:
The moment I wake up.... Before I put on my makeup (makeup) I say a little prayer for you While combing my hair now I'm wondering what to wear now (wear now) I say a little prayer for you (for you, ooh) Oh, baby...
Neither is Shakespeare, but one truly lifts the heart with glad yearning - and the other is a hymn to misogyny, consumerism and violence. And one has an immortal melody and speaks of hope, love and happiness, and the other is painful. And one will be listened to in 100 years and the rap shite will be dead and forgotten, thank fuck, bitch
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
Rap was mainstream twenty years before the end of your golden age.
Rap was OK at the beginning (Grandmaster Flash) and interesting without ever being noble or profound, now it is dreck
Mannerism is actually a pretty good analogy
I saw a chart that suggested that the number of key changes in top 10 hits basically collapsed circa 2005 and never recovered.
Some possible statistical evidence for your thesis, then.
I’m which case the analogy is not mannerism but perhaps “the international style” in architecture.
I've been researching this for a Knapper's Gazette article, and it is absolutely true. Music hasn't merely declined anecdotally, you can measure it. It has got less complex, with fewer key changes and more simplistic melodies, and lyrics have also got simpler, and also more crude and brutal (lyrical terms are more likely to be centred around hate and violence rather than love and joy, for instance)
It's a damn shame, but it is the case
We have gone from the exquisite cadences and human happiness of Aretha Franklin and Say A Little Prayer
I don't disagree with you but I'm troubled by the thought that maybe we're all just getting old?
I am pretty sure many of my parents' generation would have felt similarly depressed about the emergence of punk back in the 70s.
But this is quantifiable, that is the difference, There are musicologists measuring this stuff, and pop music has become cruder, sadder, nastier and less intelligent; likewise the lyrics
If you want a different metric, the most streamed artist over 2010-2020 (on Spotify) is Ed Sheeran
If streaming had existed in earlier decades, it is reckoned the most streamed artists would have been the Beatles in the 60s, Elton John or Simon & Garfunkel in the 70s, and Michael Jackson in the 80s
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
Rap was mainstream twenty years before the end of your golden age.
Rap was OK at the beginning (Grandmaster Flash) and interesting without ever being noble or profound, now it is dreck
Mannerism is actually a pretty good analogy
I saw a chart that suggested that the number of key changes in top 10 hits basically collapsed circa 2005 and never recovered.
Some possible statistical evidence for your thesis, then.
I’m which case the analogy is not mannerism but perhaps “the international style” in architecture.
I've been researching this for a Knapper's Gazette article, and it is absolutely true. Music hasn't merely declined anecdotally, you can measure it. It has got less complex, with fewer key changes and more simplistic melodies, and lyrics have also got simpler, and also more crude and brutal (lyrical terms are more likely to be centred around hate and violence rather than love and joy, for instance)
It's a damn shame, but it is the case
We have gone from the exquisite cadences and human happiness of Aretha Franklin and Say A Little Prayer
I don't disagree with you but I'm troubled by the thought that maybe we're all just getting old?
I am pretty sure many of my parents' generation would have felt similarly depressed about the emergence of punk back in the 70s.
But this is quantifiable, that is the difference, There are musicologists measuring this stuff, and pop music has become cruder, sadder, nastier and less intelligent; likewise the lyrics
If you want a different metric, the most streamed artist over 2010-2020 (on Spotify) is Ed Sheeran
If streaming had existed in earlier decades, it is reckoned the most streamed artists would have been the Beatles in the 60s, Elton John or Simon & Garfunkel in the 70s, and Michael Jackson in the 80s
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
They don't have proper tunes and you can't hear the words. Not like the good old days is it Grandad?
Whilst your statement may be right on the general sentiment that drives many opinions about it, I fear Leon actually has some backup on the idea modern music is getting less complex, and more homogenised. Far less colourful characters have analysed the idea, and whether that is correct or not, it isn't simply people getting old and saying things suck now, even if that clearly happens too.
Yes, Leon is probably on to something, regrettably.
Tax changes - unless carefully thought through - tend to create loopholes and have unintended consequences. Whether these proposals will be carefully though through and avoid these consequences is another matter.
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
They don't have proper tunes and you can't hear the words. Not like the good old days is it Grandad?
Whilst your statement may be right on the general sentiment that drives many opinions about it, I fear Leon actually has some backup on the idea modern music is getting less complex, and more homogenised. Far less colourful characters have analysed the idea, and whether that is correct or not, it isn't simply people getting old and saying things suck now, even if that clearly happens too.
If it is true, in part it is because the audience has got old. The main music audience is no longer teens and early twenties, as the Median age in the population rises inexorably.
A second factor is the disintegration of popular culture as broadcasting shifted to narrow casting via streaming. We don't have to listen to the same stuff on the radio any more. It is the same with the movies, either it's superhero public or interesting small budget independent stuff.
There is lots of interesting new music out there, but, you do need to search for it, not just rely on what the streamers want to promote.
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
Rap was mainstream twenty years before the end of your golden age.
Rap was OK at the beginning (Grandmaster Flash) and interesting without ever being noble or profound, now it is dreck
Mannerism is actually a pretty good analogy
I saw a chart that suggested that the number of key changes in top 10 hits basically collapsed circa 2005 and never recovered.
Some possible statistical evidence for your thesis, then.
I’m which case the analogy is not mannerism but perhaps “the international style” in architecture.
I've been researching this for a Knapper's Gazette article, and it is absolutely true. Music hasn't merely declined anecdotally, you can measure it. It has got less complex, with fewer key changes and more simplistic melodies, and lyrics have also got simpler, and also more crude and brutal (lyrical terms are more likely to be centred around hate and violence rather than love and joy, for instance)
It's a damn shame, but it is the case
We have gone from the exquisite cadences and human happiness of Aretha Franklin and Say A Little Prayer
I don't disagree with you but I'm troubled by the thought that maybe we're all just getting old?
I am pretty sure many of my parents' generation would have felt similarly depressed about the emergence of punk back in the 70s.
But this is quantifiable, that is the difference, There are musicologists measuring this stuff, and pop music has become cruder, sadder, nastier and less intelligent; likewise the lyrics
If you want a different metric, the most streamed artist over 2010-2020 (on Spotify) is Ed Sheeran
If streaming had existed in earlier decades, it is reckoned the most streamed artists would have been the Beatles in the 60s, Elton John or Simon & Garfunkel in the 70s, and Michael Jackson in the 80s
It’s arguably more of a technological and market failure. Decades ago, record companies were at the forefront of technical innovation in how music was recorded and distributed. They got lazy and surrendered that to the tech companies, who don’t really care about music at all.
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
They don't have proper tunes and you can't hear the words. Not like the good old days is it Grandad?
Whilst your statement may be right on the general sentiment that drives many opinions about it, I fear Leon actually has some backup on the idea modern music is getting less complex, and more homogenised. Far less colourful characters have analysed the idea, and whether that is correct or not, it isn't simply people getting old and saying things suck now, even if that clearly happens too.
Yes, Leon is probably on to something, regrettably.
There is pretty low uptake of the boosters. 60% of over 50's, 67% of those in care homes, and 14% of care home staff.
Fortunately Omicron isn't as nasty as the original version, but *who knows what winter brings*.
In fairness (and I might be missing something) how are they supposed to vaccinate against a hypothetical future strain of flu/covid/whatever?
By maintaining the vaccine infrastructure, and active virologist surveillance here and abroad. Flu is easy as most time we get what Australia had six months before.
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
They don't have proper tunes and you can't hear the words. Not like the good old days is it Grandad?
Whilst your statement may be right on the general sentiment that drives many opinions about it, I fear Leon actually has some backup on the idea modern music is getting less complex, and more homogenised. Far less colourful characters have analysed the idea, and whether that is correct or not, it isn't simply people getting old and saying things suck now, even if that clearly happens too.
If it is true, in part it is because the audience has got old. The main music audience is no longer teens and early twenties, as the Median age in the population rises inexorably. A second factor is the disintegration of popular culture as broadcasting shifted to narrow casting via streaming. We don't have to listen to the same stuff on the radio any more. It is the same with the movies, either it's superhero public or interesting small budget independent stuff.
Yet saying it (may) be happening because people are getting older is not the same as implying someone raising the possibility of it happening is only doing so because they are getting older and it is not a real possibility.
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
They don't have proper tunes and you can't hear the words. Not like the good old days is it Grandad?
Whilst your statement may be right on the general sentiment that drives many opinions about it, I fear Leon actually has some backup on the idea modern music is getting less complex, and more homogenised. Far less colourful characters have analysed the idea, and whether that is correct or not, it isn't simply people getting old and saying things suck now, even if that clearly happens too.
If it is true, in part it is because the audience has got old. The main music audience is no longer teens and early twenties, as the Median age in the population rises inexorably. A second factor is the disintegration of popular culture as broadcasting shifted to narrow casting via streaming. We don't have to listen to the same stuff on the radio any more. It is the same with the movies, either it's superhero public or interesting small budget independent stuff.
Yet saying it (may) be happening because people are getting older is not the same as implying someone raising the possibility of it happening is only doing so because they are getting older and it is not a real possibility.
As ever, what is selling well is not always the most interesting or innovative.
Ballet classes are currently VAT exempt under the same legislation
Should they be taxed if privately run?
Well, using Labour's logic - and that of some posters on here - yes. There is no reason why private ballet classes or other private tuition should be subsidised by the state. If Winchester is to charge VAT why not a ballet school or a music school or an arts school or a language school etc etc.?
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
They don't have proper tunes and you can't hear the words. Not like the good old days is it Grandad?
They don't have an intro now, because apparently, Da Yoof has such a lack of attention span they need to hear lyrics to know it is a song.
Compare with 1972, when The Temptations single Papa Was A Rolling Stone didn't end the intro until almost two minutes in. And it is utterly brilliant, but will never get heard by future generations...
There is pretty low uptake of the boosters. 60% of over 50's, 67% of those in care homes, and 14% of care home staff.
Fortunately Omicron isn't as nasty as the original version, but *who knows what winter brings*.
In fairness (and I might be missing something) how are they supposed to vaccinate against a hypothetical future strain of flu/covid/whatever?
By maintaining the vaccine infrastructure, and active virologist surveillance here and abroad. Flu is easy as most time we get what Australia had six months before.
It was you who said “who knows what winter will bring”, implying we haven’t a clue!
I haven’t bothered with a flu jab ever before - is there much point if you are generally fit and healthy (there might be but it doesn’t seem clear)?
Meanwhile I have had an annoying common cold for the past few days, which is extremely rare for me (I haven’t had one for years). I do wonder if my immunity might have suffered from months of lockdown, but it’s probably just bad luck.
Wasn’t there an interesting statistic, huge disparity between batsmen and bowlers, the batsman from posh schools in the south, the bowlers working class northerners?
Meanwhile - “Labour would end tax breaks for private schools and invest in thousands more teachers, more mental health support in every school and professional careers advice to ensure young people are ready for work and ready for life”
I hate this gimmicky politics, and Labour leading the field in shit like this now Boris is out the game - that statement reads like a brexiteers magic money tree promise, because even at Labours best estimate it nets treasury £1.7bn, to prove how pathetic the game Labour are playing a reminder the current education budget is £100bn. And what about the obvious inherent vice of it not being paid at all nowhere near 1.7bn but creates new government costs instead as children switch to state schooling? At the moment is the better scenario of the wealthy subsidising education with their own money rather than dumping those costs on the state. Economically illiterate Labour think we are stupid.
I’m pleased my mum and dad didn’t send me away to a posh boarding school, I would have hated it and run away, and outrun the school leopard what wouldn’t have caught me - especially when someone, Jos or Driver posted this afternoon there’s no bullying in posh public schools. Me and my gang loved bullying, especially when we could isolate them in girl bogs and extract all their dinner money as protection money.
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
They don't have proper tunes and you can't hear the words. Not like the good old days is it Grandad?
Whilst your statement may be right on the general sentiment that drives many opinions about it, I fear Leon actually has some backup on the idea modern music is getting less complex, and more homogenised. Far less colourful characters have analysed the idea, and whether that is correct or not, it isn't simply people getting old and saying things suck now, even if that clearly happens too.
If it is true, in part it is because the audience has got old. The main music audience is no longer teens and early twenties, as the Median age in the population rises inexorably.
A second factor is the disintegration of popular culture as broadcasting shifted to narrow casting via streaming. We don't have to listen to the same stuff on the radio any more. It is the same with the movies, either it's superhero public or interesting small budget independent stuff.
There is lots of interesting new music out there, but, you do need to search for it, not just rely on what the streamers want to promote.
That new Porsche it's built like a horse, colors like the 'fo He got a ring, I guess he ain't divorce, wife probably a whore Now she walk up, she struttin' her stuff, this bitch thick as fuck Got in the truck, kissed him on his lip, he cuffin' her butt
It seems to me to be very simply to differentiate in law between a school (i.e. where you do your daily academic learning as children) and a ballet class.
(Not that I have any personal interest in ballet but I realise others do)
Wasn’t there an interesting statistic, huge disparity between batsmen and bowlers, the batsman from posh schools in the south, the bowlers working class northerners?
Meanwhile - “Labour would end tax breaks for private schools and invest in thousands more teachers, more mental health support in every school and professional careers advice to ensure young people are ready for work and ready for life”
I hate this gimmicky politics, and Labour leading the field in shit like this now Boris is out the game - that statement reads like a brexiteers magic money tree promise, because even at Labours best estimate it nets treasury £1.7bn, to prove how pathetic the game Labour are playing a reminder the current education budget is £100bn. And what about the obvious inherent vice of it not being paid at all nowhere near 1.7bn but creates new government costs instead as children switch to state schooling? At the moment is the better scenario of the wealthy subsidising education with their own money rather than dumping those costs on the state. Economically illiterate Labour think we are stupid.
I’m pleased my mum and dad didn’t send me away to a posh boarding school, I would have hated it and run away, and outrun the school leopard what wouldn’t have caught me - especially when someone, Jos or Driver posted this afternoon there’s no bullying in posh public schools. Me and my gang loved bullying, especially when we could isolate them in girl bogs and extract all their dinner money as protection money.
You don’t seem particularly remorseful or contrite that you stole off the other girls in your school and probably made many of their school lives a misery.
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
They don't have proper tunes and you can't hear the words. Not like the good old days is it Grandad?
Whilst your statement may be right on the general sentiment that drives many opinions about it, I fear Leon actually has some backup on the idea modern music is getting less complex, and more homogenised. Far less colourful characters have analysed the idea, and whether that is correct or not, it isn't simply people getting old and saying things suck now, even if that clearly happens too.
If it is true, in part it is because the audience has got old. The main music audience is no longer teens and early twenties, as the Median age in the population rises inexorably. A second factor is the disintegration of popular culture as broadcasting shifted to narrow casting via streaming. We don't have to listen to the same stuff on the radio any more. It is the same with the movies, either it's superhero public or interesting small budget independent stuff.
Yet saying it (may) be happening because people are getting older is not the same as implying someone raising the possibility of it happening is only doing so because they are getting older and it is not a real possibility.
As ever, what is selling well is not always the most interesting or innovative.
Then please give examples. I’d love to find several more albums of decent new mixed dance music but it’s not that easy to source. There is some: but nothing like the wealth of great stuff that was around in the 1990s.
No to VAT on charitable enterprises. Which covers most private schools.
Having said that charitable private schools might need their own code which forces them to be provide more info on their charitable activities (typically bursaries).
Charities pay VAT, this is a quite separate point.
Wasn’t there an interesting statistic, huge disparity between batsmen and bowlers, the batsman from posh schools in the south, the bowlers working class northerners?
Meanwhile - “Labour would end tax breaks for private schools and invest in thousands more teachers, more mental health support in every school and professional careers advice to ensure young people are ready for work and ready for life”
I hate this gimmicky politics, and Labour leading the field in shit like this now Boris is out the game - that statement reads like a brexiteers magic money tree promise, because even at Labours best estimate it nets treasury £1.7bn, to prove how pathetic the game Labour are playing a reminder the current education budget is £100bn. And what about the obvious inherent vice of it not being paid at all nowhere near 1.7bn but creates new government costs instead as children switch to state schooling? At the moment is the better scenario of the wealthy subsidising education with their own money rather than dumping those costs on the state. Economically illiterate Labour think we are stupid.
I’m pleased my mum and dad didn’t send me away to a posh boarding school, I would have hated it and run away, and outrun the school leopard what wouldn’t have caught me - especially when someone, Jos or Driver posted this afternoon there’s no bullying in posh public schools. Me and my gang loved bullying, especially when we could isolate them in girl bogs and extract all their dinner money as protection money.
You don’t seem particularly remorseful or contrite that you stole off the other girls in your school and probably made many of their school lives a misery.
It’s a good point you raise.
Did it really make their lives that much a misery, you insist.
And if it did, to what extent should any of us hold our 12-14 year old selfs responsible when we are still children, developing and growing into decent adults? I was the tallest in my year group. And it was fun being bad, bunking off, doing graffiti, snogging and groping in trees etc. Happy Days.
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
Rap was mainstream twenty years before the end of your golden age.
Rap was OK at the beginning (Grandmaster Flash) and interesting without ever being noble or profound, now it is dreck
Mannerism is actually a pretty good analogy
I saw a chart that suggested that the number of key changes in top 10 hits basically collapsed circa 2005 and never recovered.
Some possible statistical evidence for your thesis, then.
I’m which case the analogy is not mannerism but perhaps “the international style” in architecture.
I've been researching this for a Knapper's Gazette article, and it is absolutely true. Music hasn't merely declined anecdotally, you can measure it. It has got less complex, with fewer key changes and more simplistic melodies, and lyrics have also got simpler, and also more crude and brutal (lyrical terms are more likely to be centred around hate and violence rather than love and joy, for instance)
It's a damn shame, but it is the case
We have gone from the exquisite cadences and human happiness of Aretha Franklin and Say A Little Prayer
I don't disagree with you but I'm troubled by the thought that maybe we're all just getting old?
I am pretty sure many of my parents' generation would have felt similarly depressed about the emergence of punk back in the 70s.
But this is quantifiable, that is the difference, There are musicologists measuring this stuff, and pop music has become cruder, sadder, nastier and less intelligent; likewise the lyrics
If you want a different metric, the most streamed artist over 2010-2020 (on Spotify) is Ed Sheeran
If streaming had existed in earlier decades, it is reckoned the most streamed artists would have been the Beatles in the 60s, Elton John or Simon & Garfunkel in the 70s, and Michael Jackson in the 80s
It’s arguably more of a technological and market failure. Decades ago, record companies were at the forefront of technical innovation in how music was recorded and distributed. They got lazy and surrendered that to the tech companies, who don’t really care about music at all.
Something went wrong with music in about 1998. I can't think of many great pop songs since then.
Watching these great talents from the Golden Age of Pop Music (1955-2005, as agreed by PB) I get a sense of what it must have been like in Italy, watching Raphael, Michelangelo and Da Vinci (and Donatello and Botticelli and all the rest) drop off the perch
Standing in the piazza in Firenze you'd have said "Heh, no worries, we've got more on the way"... except they weren't on the way. That was it. The Renaissance. The High Renaissance, indeed
After 300 years of continual artistic improvement and endless new talent, suddenly there was a great falling off, and people started listening to rap and drill. Or buying Mannerist paintings by Parmigianino while pretending they were as good as Piero della Francesca
Rap was mainstream twenty years before the end of your golden age.
Rap was OK at the beginning (Grandmaster Flash) and interesting without ever being noble or profound, now it is dreck
Mannerism is actually a pretty good analogy
I saw a chart that suggested that the number of key changes in top 10 hits basically collapsed circa 2005 and never recovered.
Some possible statistical evidence for your thesis, then.
I’m which case the analogy is not mannerism but perhaps “the international style” in architecture.
I've been researching this for a Knapper's Gazette article, and it is absolutely true. Music hasn't merely declined anecdotally, you can measure it. It has got less complex, with fewer key changes and more simplistic melodies, and lyrics have also got simpler, and also more crude and brutal (lyrical terms are more likely to be centred around hate and violence rather than love and joy, for instance)
It's a damn shame, but it is the case
We have gone from the exquisite cadences and human happiness of Aretha Franklin and Say A Little Prayer
I don't disagree with you but I'm troubled by the thought that maybe we're all just getting old?
I am pretty sure many of my parents' generation would have felt similarly depressed about the emergence of punk back in the 70s.
But this is quantifiable, that is the difference, There are musicologists measuring this stuff, and pop music has become cruder, sadder, nastier and less intelligent; likewise the lyrics
If you want a different metric, the most streamed artist over 2010-2020 (on Spotify) is Ed Sheeran
If streaming had existed in earlier decades, it is reckoned the most streamed artists would have been the Beatles in the 60s, Elton John or Simon & Garfunkel in the 70s, and Michael Jackson in the 80s
It’s arguably more of a technological and market failure. Decades ago, record companies were at the forefront of technical innovation in how music was recorded and distributed. They got lazy and surrendered that to the tech companies, who don’t really care about music at all.
The reasons pop isn't quite what it used to be are definitely technological. Firstly, there hasn't really been any technological leaps forward since the wide availablility of production software in the 2000s. And that wide availability ha led to homogeneity and solo artists becoming the norm rather than bands. Artists and record companies can also monitor what 'works' on say Spotify - i.e. hooks people in, in a far deeper way than before when there was a certain art to predicting and discovering what audiences would go for. Pop songwriting is now an industrialised process - there are even people hired to create vocal hooks without lyrics that can then be repurposed according to the artist. Compare that to the pre-digital age where you got some absolute dross but the highs were higher and weirder because were more unvarnished. You'd never know what would strike a chord and capture a moment until it was out there. Sheeran in many ways is the archetypal artist as he's more artisan than artiste - producing highly effective and calculating pastiches that are streaming and radio friendly. I think a few years ago he even released two singles at the same time, one written for a Radio 1 audience, the other for Radio 2. Then there's the feedback loop of streaming which means it's just much more difficult for outsiders to get a look in to the singles chart. Conversely (and more positively) there is a space for weirder bands who can build a niche audience by reaching more people and then selling to them, but they're just going to stay in that niche rather than break the mainstream because it's no longer the goal. A great indie band just don't dream of being on TOTP anymore and shooting up the charts and breaking through to wider fame. They know their audience and stick with it - that's good in some ways as there's some really interesting music being made if you look beyond the charts. It's just a loss to pop as a brilliant but odd act just isn't going to crossover into pop as may have done 30 years ago. In conclusion then, music hasn't got worse, it's just that pop has a bit as how we consume and make music has changed to make the top of the charts more sanitised and predictable, even as interesting stuff is going on elsewhere.
Ballet classes are currently VAT exempt under the same legislation
Should they be taxed if privately run?
Well, using Labour's logic - and that of some posters on here - yes. There is no reason why private ballet classes or other private tuition should be subsidised by the state. If Winchester is to charge VAT why not a ballet school or a music school or an arts school or a language school etc etc.?
There is no logic to it. It's red meat to the Labour base.
From reading the prejudiced posts of the left-wing crowd on here last night it will probably work to satiate them.
Wasn’t there an interesting statistic, huge disparity between batsmen and bowlers, the batsman from posh schools in the south, the bowlers working class northerners?
Meanwhile - “Labour would end tax breaks for private schools and invest in thousands more teachers, more mental health support in every school and professional careers advice to ensure young people are ready for work and ready for life”
I hate this gimmicky politics, and Labour leading the field in shit like this now Boris is out the game - that statement reads like a brexiteers magic money tree promise, because even at Labours best estimate it nets treasury £1.7bn, to prove how pathetic the game Labour are playing a reminder the current education budget is £100bn. And what about the obvious inherent vice of it not being paid at all nowhere near 1.7bn but creates new government costs instead as children switch to state schooling? At the moment is the better scenario of the wealthy subsidising education with their own money rather than dumping those costs on the state. Economically illiterate Labour think we are stupid.
I’m pleased my mum and dad didn’t send me away to a posh boarding school, I would have hated it and run away, and outrun the school leopard what wouldn’t have caught me - especially when someone, Jos or Driver posted this afternoon there’s no bullying in posh public schools. Me and my gang loved bullying, especially when we could isolate them in girl bogs and extract all their dinner money as protection money.
You don’t seem particularly remorseful or contrite that you stole off the other girls in your school and probably made many of their school lives a misery.
It’s a good point you raise.
Did it really make their lives that much a misery, you insist.
And if it did, to what extent should any of us hold our 12-14 year old selfs responsible when we are still children, developing and growing into decent adults? I was the tallest in my year group. And it was fun being bad, bunking off, doing graffiti, snogging and groping in trees etc. Happy Days.
@anabobazina You got me thinking, but I still think I’m right. Unlike the Tory ministers accused of bullying civil servants, I can claim I was still a child.
I was thinking of Flex Bex the little toadette sitting in pigtails in front row in front all the teachers. Before Miss Carter got into class I scrawled “Miss Carter cock sucker” on the board. (Actually it might have been ruder)
Miss Carter demanded who done this owned up. She asked again who done it, and I said Bex Miss. As Bex looked round, me and the Gang were all looking back at her normally. And Bex owned up, not loudly but by nodding when asked and and going beetroot 🙂
Here’s the twist - being teachers pet she was bound to get off with it. So what’s the crime here? Low level bullying between 13 year olds, or how bent and bias the teachers always were, with their favourites, and self fulfilling prophecies for the rest?
Comments
We got a lock on the door of the Unit today.
Still none on the bathrooms.
Quiet, settled week thus far. Staff all well and moderately sane. If not physically unharmed.
How exactly have the Tories buggered up the vaccine programme, allegedly deliberately?
And they already have lateral flow tests ready for the bird flu pandemic?
That can feel great for people on both sides of the equation, powerful, rewarding, cosy, freezing out the untoward. But it's bad for both. And sometimes an issue comes along where the system has no idea how far it is overreaching, because it has cut out all its external feedback.
At the point they lose control of what is sayable and reportable, the people focussed on courting power then look remote, arrogant, spoilt, entitled, petulant, resentful - and fearful. It's a bog-standard historical phenomenon.
https://twitter.com/LucyHunterB/status/1598030324994215936
Unfortunately you CAN hear the words to that mega-selling King Von track that I linked below. Here's a stanza
That new Porsche it's built like a horse, colors like the 'fo
He got a ring, I guess he ain't divorce, wife probably a whore
Now she walk up, she struttin' her stuff, this bitch thick as fuck
Got in the truck, kissed him on his lip, he cuffin' her butt
And this from the first verse of Aretha's marvellous song of the heart:
The moment I wake up....
Before I put on my makeup (makeup)
I say a little prayer for you
While combing my hair now
I'm wondering what to wear now (wear now)
I say a little prayer for you (for you, ooh)
Oh, baby...
Neither is Shakespeare, but one truly lifts the heart with glad yearning - and the other is a hymn to misogyny, consumerism and violence. And one has an immortal melody and speaks of hope, love and happiness, and the other is painful. And one will be listened to in 100 years and the rap shite will be dead and forgotten, thank fuck, bitch
I am pretty sure many of my parents' generation would have felt similarly depressed about the emergence of punk back in the 70s.
There is pretty low uptake of the boosters. 60% of over 50's, 67% of those in care homes, and 14% of care home staff.
Fortunately Omicron isn't as nasty as the original version, but who knows what winter brings.
… what *dress* to wear now
Come on.
If you want a different metric, the most streamed artist over 2010-2020 (on Spotify) is Ed Sheeran
If streaming had existed in earlier decades, it is reckoned the most streamed artists would have been the Beatles in the 60s, Elton John or Simon & Garfunkel in the 70s, and Michael Jackson in the 80s
(Even if he did misquote Aretha)
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-on-education-and-vocational-training-notice-70130#section-4
Tax changes - unless carefully thought through - tend to create loopholes and have unintended consequences. Whether these proposals will be carefully though through and avoid these consequences is another matter.
A second factor is the disintegration of popular culture as broadcasting shifted to narrow casting via streaming. We don't have to listen to the same stuff on the radio any more. It is the same with the movies, either it's superhero public or interesting small budget independent stuff.
There is lots of interesting new music out there, but, you do need to search for it, not just rely on what the streamers want to promote.
Decades ago, record companies were at the forefront of technical innovation in how music was recorded and distributed. They got lazy and surrendered that to the tech companies, who don’t really care about music at all.
Compare with 1972, when The Temptations single Papa Was A Rolling Stone didn't end the intro until almost two minutes in. And it is utterly brilliant, but will never get heard by future generations...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXiQtD5gcHU&ab_channel=RETROVISOR
I haven’t bothered with a flu jab ever before - is there much point if you are generally fit and healthy (there might be but it doesn’t seem clear)?
Meanwhile I have had an annoying common cold for the past few days, which is extremely rare for me (I haven’t had one for years). I do wonder if my immunity might have suffered from months of lockdown, but it’s probably just bad luck.
Cricket players (men) 43%
Wasn’t there an interesting statistic, huge disparity between batsmen and bowlers, the batsman from posh schools in the south, the bowlers working class northerners?
Meanwhile - “Labour would end tax breaks for private schools and invest in thousands more teachers, more mental health support in every school and professional careers advice to ensure young people are ready for work and ready for life”
I hate this gimmicky politics, and Labour leading the field in shit like this now Boris is out the game - that statement reads like a brexiteers magic money tree promise, because even at Labours best estimate it nets treasury £1.7bn, to prove how pathetic the game Labour are playing a reminder the current education budget is £100bn. And what about the obvious inherent vice of it not being paid at all nowhere near 1.7bn but creates new government costs instead as children switch to state schooling? At the moment is the better scenario of the wealthy subsidising education with their own money rather than dumping those costs on the state. Economically illiterate Labour think we are stupid.
I’m pleased my mum and dad didn’t send me away to a posh boarding school, I would have hated it and run away, and outrun the school leopard what wouldn’t have caught me - especially when someone, Jos or Driver posted this afternoon there’s no bullying in posh public schools. Me and my gang loved bullying, especially when we could isolate them in girl bogs and extract all their dinner money as protection money.
He got a ring, I guess he ain't divorce, wife probably a whore
Now she walk up, she struttin' her stuff, this bitch thick as fuck
Got in the truck, kissed him on his lip, he cuffin' her butt
(Not that I have any personal interest in ballet but I realise others do)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41GsS3jldOI
Then please give examples. I’d love to find several more albums of decent new mixed dance music but it’s not that easy to source. There is some: but nothing like the wealth of great stuff that was around in the 1990s.
Did it really make their lives that much a misery, you insist.
And if it did, to what extent should any of us hold our 12-14 year old selfs responsible when we are still children, developing and growing into decent adults? I was the tallest in my year group. And it was fun being bad, bunking off, doing graffiti, snogging and groping in trees etc. Happy Days.
From reading the prejudiced posts of the left-wing crowd on here last night it will probably work to satiate them.
I was thinking of Flex Bex the little toadette sitting in pigtails in front row in front all the teachers. Before Miss Carter got into class I scrawled “Miss Carter cock sucker” on the board. (Actually it might have been ruder)
Miss Carter demanded who done this owned up. She asked again who done it, and I said Bex Miss. As Bex looked round, me and the Gang were all looking back at her normally. And Bex owned up, not loudly but by nodding when asked and and going beetroot 🙂
Here’s the twist - being teachers pet she was bound to get off with it. So what’s the crime here? Low level bullying between 13 year olds, or how bent and bias the teachers always were, with their favourites, and self fulfilling prophecies for the rest?