Just before Covid broke, I saw TV Smith play at the 100 Club. He said that when he wrote songs like 'The Great British Mistake' he couldn't have imagined that 40 years later, he'd be looking back at the late 70's and early 80's as a brighter time than 2019. So many of the songs of the late 70's and early 80's are more relevant than they were back then. I don't like being old, but I'm glad that I'm not young now.
I was talking with a friend the other night and we got to talking about Billy Bragg and how in spite of how he was seen by many, myself included as a modern day Dylan back in the 80's that no one appears to have come along to follow his lead and become a 21st Century version of him. I know he's still fairly active both recording and playing live but I'm sure if you're a twentysomething person you're more likely to identify with someone your own age than a 60 year old musician however relevant whatever he's saying still is. Is it that too many young people today are too wrapped up in their latest Tik-Tok videos to care about anything or anyone else? I don't know, although I do know that whilst Thatcher may be dead, the greed and general selfishness we had to endure back then doesn't seemed to have got any better! "I kept the faith and I kept voting, not for the iron fist but for the helping hand. For theirs is a land with a wall around it and mine is a faith in my fellow man"
I saw Billy at The Roundhouse a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, it was very noticeable that the audience was very much of 'a certain vintage'. I see a lot of bands from the 70's and 80's who pull a significantly higher proportion of younger fans. It's a real shame, because he's a great artist, whose political beliefs in some of his music, have resulted in him being side lined by the mainstream media. I see a lot more youngsters at gigs by The Undertones ,The Damned, Ruts DC, etc.
Yes I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity in the audience when I saw Weller in November, whilst I can't deny that I was in the the demographic that provided the largest % of the audience the numbers of younger people (and women) surprised me.
Both my daughters' interests in bands from the 60's onwards is really increasing. My youngest is a big fan of The Stones, Joy Division and Bowie. There are a lot of movies that feature stuff like that and Spotify points you in the direction of other stuff, but I couldn't hide my surprise when I heard some reasonably obscure stuff from The Runaways blasting out from her room. She's also developed a growing interest in Pulp and The Smiths. The Damned has yet to feature....
I think it is my duty a a grand parent / uncle to open the eyes and ears to the alternative music options available to the kids today , any time the come round the older ones love to look through the music collection and put on tracks from album covers the like the look of or the will hear something different to what is in the charts or on the TV
After a wait of 2 years, 3 months and 1 week...Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you...The Damned's new drummer... Mr Will Taylor... please log in to view this image ...formerly of Spy Catcher, and currently teaching drums in Wembley. He's a great technician...I wonder if he'll reprise Rat's setting the cymbals alight and punching the bassist? Probably not... Good luck to him, he might need it...he looks like Dave's Butler....
