Sinister: Re: fame...who needs it?

[duke of harringay]

ps115 wrote:

> As nice as the idea is of sending Belle and
> Sebastian on a tour of
> primary and secondary schools is, I feel that
> maybe this is the wrong
> direction for them to take. Before we know it
> there will be Belle and
> Sebastian dolls, maybe a saturday morning
> cartoon show (New Kids On
> The Block anyone?) their latest single will only
> be available to those
> people who collect 50 gin bottle labels and they
> will be doing the
> advert for UK Gold, dressed in short skirts and
> wearing too much
> make-up. This is not the future I envisage for
> B&S,

with respect, i think you miss the appeal of Pop.
i used to feel the same, and maybe it's age and
mellowing that makes me feel different, i dunno,
but i really don't see why belle & sebastian
shouldn't go ahead and play the Pop Game (by their
own rules as much as possible) and win.  At least
win to some extent, i mean, they ain't gonna bring
down the walls of established music biz, but
hey...  I HATE the idea that b&s will be some
wanky safe little cosy 'respected' group, talked
about in hushed reverence.  I get a shiver if i
think about them being given big features in 'Q'
saying how worthy and artful they are...  Sure,
discuss the social and political implications of
Pop (and that's important i feel, because, um, i
like the idea that people investigate and think
about what they consume, but that's another
matter..), but don't forget that important point
you seem to be maybe missing, and which i try to
point out in my recent review of 3,6,9 : 'They
sound fucking great!'  See, don't talk about b&s
in hushed tones in your little cliques, go shout
it on the high street, go write their name in the
sand, paint it on walls, grafitti your school,
your bus shelters.  B&S rule the school.  Make
posters yourselves and flypost your town (we used
to do this in troon with Sarah records...), make
some homemade badges and give them to strangers.
I don't care, but just DON'T make them a group
that you keep locked away in your closet.

keep the faith,

the duke of harringay, Pop Evangelist.

--
Tangents On-Line
http://www.virtual-pc.com/tangent/
Tangents On-Paper: PO Box 102, Exeter, EX2 4YL, UK

tangent at mail.zynet.co.uk




-----------------------------------------------------------------------
.     This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list.
.        To send to the list please mail "sinister at majordomo.net".
.  For subscribing, unsubscribing and other list information please see
.            http://www.majordomo.net/sinister
. For questions about how the list works mail owner-sinister at majordomo.net
-----------------------------------------------------------------------