...

i was walking about campus the other day & saw a flier that said, "Depressed and have low self esteem? Listen to (radio station) playing Morrissey, The Smiths & Belle & Sebastian"

I thought that was rather funny that they said that B&S is low self-esteem music.

Ailsa wrote:

Doesn't anyone else think this? Maybe they're not low-self-esteem "I hate myself and I want to die" stuff, but as a long-term bullying victim with chronic self-esteem problems I identify far too much with certain lyrics, especially "Mary Jo", "the one thing that I learned when I was still a child was to take a hiding, if there's one thing that I learned when I was still at school was to be alone", parts of "She's losing it" and "Expectations", OK, maybe not what you'd all call low self esteem music but I see myself in a lot of (especially earlier) Belle and Sebastian lyrics and that's part of why I started to listen to them. I'm pretty sure there must be a couple more people who see them that way too? Yes? No? I mean there are a million other reasons I love them too, but that's my view on the low-self-esteem thing anyway.

Sometimes we get a bit overly flippant on this list. It's nice to find someone drawing attention to the sad side of the songs for a change. I wonder whether people are shy of it because 'angst-ridden teenager' is such a looming, uncool stereotype. Even when you're 26. Or 43. Oh dear, I think I'm heading down a road where I'll have to put my finger on what Belle and Sebastian are about, or why they're unique, and I don't feel up to the job. But here goes. I suppose ever since I was about 14 I've felt uneasy about any dark and doom-laden music, especially that made by contemporary white indie bands. It always just seemed so ridiculous. Pretentious, I suppose. (Maybe it says something bad about me, but I never felt the same way about misery-laden deep soul music). Even if I told myself they really did have pain in their lives, their way of expressing it just did nothing for me. Or it just embarassed me. I don't know. Which is why I always preferred music that dealt with life's knocks in a more playful, or at least detached way. What the detractors might call clever-clever. There's something about the observational, third person nature of most of Stuart Murdoch's lyrics, along with the smallness of his voice and the fragility of the music that makes all the tales of persecution and awkwardness that Ailsa mentions so bloody affecting. But some people will never see it. I pissed myself laughing at Steve Sutherland's quote in this week's NME Verve eulogy. It's a brave man who allows: "Blur release an album called 'Modern Life Is Rubbish' and The Verve release an album called 'A Storm In Heaven'. It's a matter of scale" to be blown up in big letters across the pages of the paper he edits. Especially when the quote continues ".. A matter of dimension. A matter of embracing the anti-matter, if you like". Tee hee. Different strokes, different strokes, man. Not that I'm wanting to closely identify Blur with Belle and Sebastian, you understand... Anyway, Ailsa soon reverted to smut:

Oh, and Big Stu said

...

(more Economy Tarts anyone?),

which is no way to talk about Nick Dastoor in my opinion, even if he does behave like an inordinate slut for under a pound :)

Wishing I had sold myself more effectively for a couple of listcrush votes,

Look, I'm not sure I like this Sinister slut label anymore. There was a lovely 24 hour period between Saturday and Sunday night at Camber Sands in which I was 'Sexiest boy on Sinister'. That was much better - can't we go back to that? I would just like to set the record straight that NONE OF THE SLUTTISH BEHAVIOUR at Bowlie was initated by me. I was always the passive partner lured astray by others. I've donated all my ill-gotten gains to charity. Filthy lucre. And I completely refute the suggestion that it was a cheap listcrush vote-winning exercise. I had three votes in the old count so at least one person's gone off me as a result of all this nonsense. Nicholas xxx +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+