Given the chance, people like good music. I’ll stand by this, and defend it to the death. Well, maybe not that far, but I’d have a good stab at it. My issue with mainstream media is simple: the general public is fed what is popular. Just because it’s popular doesn’t mean that this is the […]
Category: James Poole
Maybe it’s the curse of the support act. Maybe they had just been blown up out of proportion to my ears. I’ve used this blog as a way of explaining (admitting, confessing) that I made a snap judgment about bands before – a judgment that was just wrong. Well, it seems like an appropriate time […]
A few people have been asking for mixes, so here we go… A lot of this music you’ll know. Some of it you won’t. Our goal is simple. Good music rules. It’s not just about playing music which you won’t have heard before – it’s about bringing it all together, and hopefully giving you a […]
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Give the drummer some
There are few statements which you can make which are beyond any doubt, despite the fact that there’s no documentary evidence to prove your point. Words which blur the line between fact and opinion. Statements such as: The Beatles changed the world. They did. Next… Ultravox’s ‘Vienna’ shouldn’t have been kept from the number one […]
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Yes, we turned down Oasis
Staggering onto the stage, in front of 1,000 other students experiencing the effects of advanced alcohol consumption, one of my mates came out with a cracking line. One of the best. He was introducing Mancunian dancefloor pioneers 808 State. For a period in the mid 90s, Lancaster University had an annual set of outdoor end […]
People often write off ‘the 80s’ as a barren period in music. It wasn’t. Likewise, the entire decade is referred to by some as a genre in its own right. It wasn’t. Q: ‘What kind of music do you like?’ A: ‘80s’ I find this really hard to get my head around. It’s a decade […]
You’ve got to tread very carefully with Marvin. I get protective. From his early, chart-friendly soulful pop music through his re-invention as a social commentator, and his emergence as a disco-stomping legend – I could take just about any of this and have my desert island discs right there. Just Marvin. I’d be happy. The […]
This isn’t going to be easy. I know near on nothing about the subject of this blog post. I say that, but what I mean is that I know nothing about the artist. Other than the fact that she’s responsible for one of my favourite pieces of music. Ever. So – it’s worth having a […]
‘Everything they ever recorded was either on, or about, drugs’ I’d love to know where that quote came from. Sadly, I don’t. It’s the kind of quote which is often attributed to a band – and you pretty much know that the stories are overbaked. With The Small Faces, you can’t help but think that […]
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Elbow. That is all.
From my last post celebrating one of Manchester’s overlooked bands, it seems appropriate to turn my attention to one of their finest current exports. OK, technically they’re from Bury. And OK, their studio is in Salford. But when I’m sitting here a few thousand miles away, it seems academic to draw too fine a distinction. […]
My love of Manchester is no secret. It’s a great city. Second only to New York in ‘places I want to live’. It’s a close second, at that. I totally acknowledge that I have the capacity to bore people with my paean towards the heart of the Industrial North. So, I won’t go down the […]
In the history of human evolution, there have been some big questions. Questions which have occupied the minds of the great and good. Questions which have demanded serious thought, and have warranted prolonged debate. Questions like: Is there a God? What’s the meaning of life? Here’s one such question: Thriller, or Off The Wall? It’s […]