OFF: Johnny Ramone

[Jon Jarrett]

On Fri, 17 Sep 2004, Carl Edlund Anderson wrote:

> On 16/09/2004 20:49, nick at THECOMPLETESHEET.COM wrote:
>
> I mean, since when have kids not listened to whatever was surrounding
> them and been influenced by it.  How could people who were kids when the
> first Green Day album broke big _not_ be influenced by it?  If this is
> _so_ different than anything that's happened before?

        Green Day are one of the more forgivable skate punk bands. Not
only have they always correctly denied that they're punk, but they also
actually have some talent. Apart from making pop music with guitars that
comes in at about two and a half minutes I don't really see how they've
stolen the Ramones' crown. They're not about the same thing at all, even
if they are starting from the same basic set-up.

        I was just hitting university when _Dookie_ broke big; it hit my
four-years-younger brother a lot harder but I liked it then and I still
like it. They keep producing albums that show a little bit of change and
don't stay quite the same, and they tour regularly. I don't have any
problem with this band being successful nor do I think they were somehow
keeping the Ramones or the other groups that have influenced them out of
the spotlight.

        To pick a contemporary example, did Kula Shaker destroy the
exposure of sixties psych? Not where I noticed...

> Sure, its unfortunate that so much money and effort is spent to ensure
> people hear stuff that isn't very good, but that's true for the
> mass-marketing of anything.  The gourmets just gotta work a bit harder ....

        The industry may some day realise that there are savinhgs to be
made with music that sells itself more easily than the pap it's currently
spending most on, but they've picked up on the Microsoft designed-in-
obsolescence business model for now and I'm not sure either large-
scale audience nor industry really have the attention span for a new band
with staying power just now... Yours,
                                        Jonathan

--
                Jonathan Jarrett, Birkbeck College, London
    jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk/ejarr01 at students.bbk.ac.uk
  "As much as the vision of the blind man improves with the rising sun,
       So too does the intelligence of the fool after good advice."
       (Bishop Theodulf of Orleans, late-eight/early-ninth century)