Sinister: obscure music vs mainsteam

[rachel tucker]

i don't often emerge blinking out of luckerdom, but the debate over whether
listening to obscure music makes you a 'better' person with a more valid
opinion has got me stirring.

i never got into music before 1994, not even kylie and jason like everyone
else, but at the age of 13 i launched in and became that most irritating
type of music fan - a teenage indie snob. how i came out of that period with
any friends at all is a miracle - or just proof that music isn't always that
important.

the extremely confused point that i think that i am trying to make ( i still
don't have it sorted in my head, and i've been debating it against myself
for three years), is that music is enjoyed on an individual basis, and
no-one should EVER be laughed at, humiliated, or worse of all, dismissed,
for the music they listen to.

yes, go ahead and try to introduce people to bands that you love, god knows
i've tried to convert people to b&s (recent conversation with placebo
obsessed mate: hey, rachel, would you make me a tape?   me: yeah,
definitely.   friend: but don't keep sneaking that shit happy clappy(!) band
on like you always do.), and disagreement is healthy. but i don't see why i
should be put down for owning albums by five and ant and dec, or for rating
the charlatans way, way over radiohead (something that's hard to do while
living in oxford).

i'm ashamed of my time as a sneering, cynical music snob. all i can say in
my defence is that i was very insecure back then and desperate to feel
better than my peers through a 'superior' record collection. which, looking
back, was in itself, a joke. 1994 saw the explosion of britpop so i have
everything heavy stereo ever released, and an awful lot of stuff by shed
seven. but y'know, they do have nostalgia value, some great choruses, and
i'm well chuffed about gem joining oasis...

ahh, i feel much better after that rant, though i'm sure none of you out
there do. i'm sorry.
anyway, since i'm here, i'd like to share some cheerful news.

i listened to the stone roses for the first time in nearly two years last
night (well, bar druckenly dancing to 'fools gold' in various cowley road
pubs), and fuck me were they breathtakingly brilliant. the shivers were
already creeping down my spine by the time ian was whispering that he wanted
to be adored, and i had to remind myself to breathe in 'made of stone'. it
was even better than hearing them for the first time, the forgotton
familiarality heightening the experience.

 i'm hoping that the same thing will happen with b&s; i haven't played
anything by them for over a month as gorky's, death in vegas's 'the contino
sessions' and the new charlatans album have been fighting over my stereo.
poor stuart, but absence is definitely making the heart grow even fonder
 it'll burst soon, and then i won't even be able to lurk!). and i have been
getting my fix from the guardian column....ooh stuart, i'll play scrabble
with you anyday!

oh well, my time is up, i'm wilting in the bright lights of the list, so
i'll slither, not bleat, my way back to lurkerdom. see you all in another 6
months,

lots of love

rachel xx








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