Richard Hawley

I'm a firm believer that everything in popular music has now been done, that everything that comes henceforth will either be a weak facsimile or an excellent hybrid of a diverse bunch of bands that have gone before - MGMT are currently really floating my boat & are an ideal example of the latter.

I suppose there'll always be the avant garde edge that'll push things a bit forward but it's very hard for me to see how they can come up with something that'll have the impact of the case in point, Hendrix.

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new websites!
- http://www.chrismsaunders.com

- http://www.chrismsaunders.co.uk

Yup, me too. Agree with a lot of what's been said elsewhere in the thread too - but even if you do believe that the language of rock music is now more or less finished there's plenty still to be said with it. Or in other words, while there's still new stuff that's good enough for me to fall in love with, I'm happy. I'm currently listening to the new Slow Down Tallahassee album over and over like a giddy teenager.

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I'm not scared of robots


http://www.soundsxp.com

i think there's loads of boss music around to be honest,i always think that somewhere there is a kid listening to Elvis or the velvet underground or whatever for THE FIRST TIME IN THEIR LIVES,and that is exciting,i see the look in my childrens eyes a lot of the time when you can see the synapses in their minds connecting just the same way i did once i try very hard to take the time to listen to demo's in particular that folk send me cos thats the future,they might be skint and wide eyed about everything now but give em a couple of years and they'll be the one's changing everything you got to keep an open heart,even though i love older music there is hope and it rests with the young to not be afraid and irreverent thats important

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now,then!

For me, there's no end to musical possibilites. Yeah, maybe all the sounds have been done, but as time change, people change, new ideas come up. People come along with new ways to say things, new outlooks on the world.

They then take the same 3 chords that Hank, Buddy, Muddy, Elvis, Bob, John, Paul, Jimi... etc. used and they make something totally new out of it. It's the ideas that people put behind music that makes it exciting and fresh, and as long as the world keeps changing, and news ideas keep coming up, there will always be some kid out there somewhere ready to do something with music that will amaze us.

It may at times seems bleak for music, but there's always something exciting waiting to happen with music. How could ever have predicated Dylan or the Beatles? Or for that matter, the Artic Monkeys. I for one had never heard lyrics put together in quite the same way.

To paraphrase Bob, the reason why there is so much good old stuff is that there is so much old stuff. We forget the dross, we remember the great stuff. In fifty years time people won't be listening to the shite of this era, they'll be looking back on the stuff that trancends the time that it was being made in and truely connects with people.

Apologies if I seemed to get carried away there, but I just love that feeling of buying records and finding new sounds that excite me. There always something to be found, new or old, that just makes life seem that much better.

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We deal in lead, my friend.

Yeah.......my thinking is the same......

When I started this thread..I did mean it as a continuation from the thread about giving up on music.

The Blur reference was and is still really on my mind. Hence the comments about my local football ground..I really could go on...and I'm sure most people here could as well. Well done Portsmouth by the way!

Like I said on the other thread, there always will be really amazing fuck off music about...there always will be.

But in my own personal life what I have indeed found over the past 10 years is in general music is very, very flat to say the least.

I do very much agree with snappers post and I think that is a very good observation of why things keep basically repeating themselves...but in a slightly different format.

I know this sounds a bit pretentious, but the vast majority of bands that come off the NME conveyor belt e.t.c and of course beyond ..chart fodder..kerrang land e.t.c. at first seem like a classic painting. From a distance it views totally fantastic...but get up close and you can't see any brush stokes or layers of texture.

ie. flat as a fart.

I do very much blame it on modern day culture.

I would very much go so far to say that despite everything been done ( I don't think it has by the way!!) music would be a 100% better if we we're not living in this present post Thatcher climate. I also don't really blame the PlayStation age either..with kids into other things.

....well that my perspective anyway...maybe I'm throwing a few questions up in the air there..but thats the way I see it.

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"Come back tomorrow night and try it again"

Iv'e got myself very excited about the new B52s Stuff.................

I listen to this program on the local radio calle 'Alternative Rock'.........its a mix of new and bands that have been together quite a while but with kind of an edgy sound that is not mainstream charts albeit a few that do slip through.....................I find some of it really fresh sounding and good.........its a real mix..........Elbow is played a lot ...........................and also Reverend and the Makers.................another one I heard on there the other day is Tindersticks!!!!!!!..... ....................but there are a lot of names I have never heard of but are really good to listen to............i

my post probably made me sound very jaded & unenthusiastic about modern music but actually the opposite is the case, I'm always searching out new stuff & often find something to really enjoy because irrespective of influences or whatever it's the *quality of the song* that counts overall - if that is right then I couldn't care less what it's derived from or how much. After all Richard's music (and I hope he wouldn't mind me saying this) is very heavily indebted to past music but I personally much prefer his stuff to the majority of artists I've heard that he's obviously influenced by, it fact it pretty much trounces them. That's enough smoke blown up his arse from me for a bit..

Same with what kids today are listening to, for example The Enemy. Fairly good indie band, good shoutalong tunes, obviously Jam influenced. But I can understand kids responding to them more than The Jam because they're speaking to them, now, in a manner which they can directly relate to.

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new websites!
- http://www.chrismsaunders.com

- http://www.chrismsaunders.co.uk

Heartily agree with you there Palerider. I hate this thing where, if you buy something from Amazon, you are then the victim of "others who bought this CD also bought ...." Half of the time it's a totally irrelevant 'choice' - I always want to reply along the lines of "it wasn't for me, it was for my mum nah nah na na nah!". Should teach me to buy in shops instead of on line I guess?!

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Always be a first rate version of yourself, instead of a second rate version of somebody else (Judy Garland)

half of what you want you can't get in shops these days anymore music wise, at least for me, that's the problem

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http://www.myspace.com/lukemurcott

Very true. Where I live we don't even have a record shop anymore..

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The heartbeat doesn't change, only the faces surrounding it.

Your right about going into a shop and browsing around.

When I lived in Sheffield, FOP was a revelation. I was such a sucker for the 5 quid CD's. The stock would change most days..so the first thing I would do when down town was check out FOP for a fix. Some CD's were 3 quid...amazing price at the time and real quality stuff as well. Even if you were not into it.

It was a good time to buy quality music I would not normally buy at full price but still very much appreciate. Re-buying some of my old vinyl that was not in Sheffield..the odd album I never bought....I'll try that Funk album e.t.c. I used to love it in there.

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"Come back tomorrow night and try it again"