TINSELTOWN IN THE RAIN



The 80s was a disquieting period for me for a number of reasons. First and foremost, i couldn't get behind the way the music industry had become so homogenised and bloated with its own self-importance. Too many good people had died in the 1970s for me want to jump in and flagellate myself into a stupor in the spotlight of an economically driven fit of hysteria.

I hated the self-congratulatory stench of delusion. I hated the graphics. I hated the cheap looking suits and shady haircuts. I hated the flippancy of the music foisted on me in every bar and nightclub. And, above all else, by the end of the decade i wanted to grab Brett Easton Ellis by the scruff of his Armani Wall Street jacket and jam a copy of "American Psycho" right up his smugly winking arse.

It wasn't all bad of course. America had thrown up Dinosaur Jr and, even better, Thin White Rope - led by bona fide paleontologist and criminally underrated Guy Kaiser (i believe he's a university lecturer these days; no issues with that) - and as the 90s grew close here in the U.K. the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays were a waxing moon of defiant antipathy. Nevermind Seattle.

In hindsight, obviously, things take on a generally rosier glow. The tendency is to keep a lid on your misgivings and watch your belly grow exponentially as you slowly sink into the cushioned sofa of middle-age. But wait, fuck it, it was always like this: that's why you blithely stamped your heels together and turned your back on Kansas in the first place.

Bo Diddley. It's still there in your gut, twitching like a tumor.

I'm still on the shore with the tide sucking on my shoes. Still kissing the wind with a watering eye. And, no matter where i choose to rewind the tape, there are always songs that make me want to kick up the sand.

Even stillborn in the 80s.



Make mine a double.

download: THE BLUE NILE: TINSELTOWN IN THE RAIN
download: THE BLUE NILE: A WALK ACROSS THE ROOFTOPS

posted by ib