Keith wrote: "I don't care on the grounds that if XFM's idea of "Our Music" are bands like Snowpatrol then frankly they can keep them. I'd rather Fleetwood Mac than Jack at this juncture. Another "Indie failure" is a natural problem in that 99.9% of the music simply isn't good enough. It's definitely a good thing having people broadcast new music - I mean, I for one am all for the likes of John Peel playing anything and everything on his show. But frankly haven't been able to actually listen to his program since having to sit through a Terminal Cheesecake session in 1988. In any case, for the few years that XFM's been running, all I've really seen happening in the music scene in Britain is a great big thing called britpop when loads of bands from London copied loads of bands from the sixties... Grrreat. I haven't seen any great improvement in the scene at all. I'm afraid though that I'm just not of the opinion that if you get some bloke on the radio who'll play absolutely anyone - that they're some sort of a hero. You say Radio 1 won't be playing these bands before midnight, well they've certainly played plenty of Belle and Sebastian, and I can't say I really care about them not playing the other bands. Anyway again I'm not having a go - I just can't say I care about a radio station going down when it's a) shite (what I've heard of it) b) I don't get it anyway (like 50 million others) and c) has had no noticable positive effect on the "scene" at all. Thanks, Keith" I'm sorry, Keith, but writing such a negative piece and saying "I'm not having a go" doesn't make it inoffensive. Seb wrote a genuine and passionate letter about something that has been an innovative and positive thing in his life and the lives of many others - you, on the other hand, see fit to patronise us with a posting based on nothing but petty parochialism and ignorance. Don't you think that there might be some of us who have just a few more emotions about XFM, both good and bad, than you? Your letter also manages to contradict itself time and time again. "XFM has had no noticeable effect on the scene" - and yet is responsible for the proliferation of Britpop, a "great big thing", as you say? Your letter says nothing of any positive worth; pretty much every statement you make could be laughed out of town. "99.9% of the music...isn't good enough"? Then the amount of decent swingbeat and handbag house that we'll be getting on CapitalXFM is going to be less than negligible. Perhaps it's ironic that a good proportion of the music that's made me swoon over the last year or so has come from Scotland - but I wouldn't have heard any of it if it hadn't been for Keith Cameron, John Kennedy or Paul Anderson. Fundamentally, Keith, we don't care that you don't care - it's important to us because we DO. Drop us a line when you've thought of something constructive to say. And you've missed a hell of a lot on John Peel over the last decade. Cheers, Mark +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +---+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+