Sinister: epigones of the epic

[Nick.Dastoor at xxx.uk]

Joseph asked about some song Looper covered:

> <something> Johnston," perhaps?  Help me out, fans...

Daniel Johnston?

****'That' single****

Not sure if I approve of this latest development in B&S titling.  I mean now
they're smuttifying their own songs there's nothing left for us to do.  'Slap
Your Cock Around' seems strangely prescient (it wasn't me who made that up, by
the way, whoever put © my name a while ago).  Mind you, they started it, what
with 'Cock Fun' and all. Maybe we can call it 'Judy Has A Cat Nap' instead.  I
certainly don't approve of having to pay about 7 quid for four tracks and an
extended dick slap.

As I understand it, 'Legal Man' is a group collaboration mainly written by
Stevie.  The lunatics have taken over the asylum.

Someone asked what they thought the best song on the album would be.  I reckon
'The Chalet Lines' might take it.  'I Fought in a War' is bound to be a wistful
affair, starting the album with Stuart's wispy unaccompanied tones, if previous
form is any guide.  It will be OK, but no 'The State I Am In'.  'Beyond the
Sunrise' is sure to be epic in sound and scope.  I can't wait.

I kind of understand what Joe means when he calls 'Late Night, Maudlin Street'
epic.  A contributor to 'Smiths Indeed' (the Sinister of its day? Not really)
once lamented what he saw as Morrissey's dwindling politicism and quoted that
song as an example.  He said it was a sign of Morrissey  switching to an
uncommitted, documentary style of lyric, as if he was now on the outside looking
in.  I didn't really agree with this, but it is tempting to see the song as the
centerpiece of the album, Morrissey closing a chapter on his own involvement in
the world he describes.   I am moving house, a half-life disappears today.

What does 'epic' mean nowadays?  How can we have an epic in our times?  A broad,
sweeping work that defines our civilisation; where we're from and where we are?
Come off it.  When people talk of 'Loveless' as epic, I think they really just
mean monumental. There are very few examples of this kind of work that impress
me.  Somehow you have to have the authority to carry it off, and maybe Kevin
Shields just about has.  The rest of the shoegazing pack didn't.  They just
seemed like silly middle class boys and girls who thought it was terribly modern
to drown whatever tunes they had in effects pedals. 'Tomorrow Never Knows' seems
to be the template for all this, and much as you might resent him as a pampered
wife-beating swine, when John Lennon did it it really mattered.

I think I'm just embarrassed by the whole indie scene, and believe that it is at
it's best when it's concentrating on the small, the detail.  Maybe that's what
some call anorexic, or unambitious.  But it fits somehow.  There's a defiant
thrill to be had in the small making the big look overblown and stupid.  God,
next I'll be supporting Man City.  Look, I don't know.  I just don't think pop
music is an appropriate vehicle for the BIG.  I'd sooner read a book or watch a
film.

> Goth? Maybe. Sounds was a bit more gothic, wasn't it?

Nah, Sounds was more metal.  MM definitely put the Cure on the front cover an
awful lot, and was preferred by the Mission fans in my school.  MM liked
shoegazing more too.  Anything a bit 'arty'.  The NME was always more P!O!P!,
cynical and posture-puncturing, which I appreciated at the time.  That was the
way I saw it in the late 80s and early 90s, anyway.  I was impressed with MM's
2-part interview with Morrissey in 1988 though. (Can't remember the writer's
name.  Something very ordinary like Dave or Alan).  At that age (14) it struck
me as the most intelligent piece of music journalism I'd ever read.  I must have
another look at it.

I just came across this personal account of why the weeklies used to matter.
I've only skimmed it, but it looks interesting:

http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~tewing/maker1.html


Nick xx








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