Watching ‘Twenty’ – the Pearl Jam film last night on BBC4 reminded me of not only how amazingly carnal alternative music used to be but of a time far less serious – my teens!
Hearing bands like Nirvana, Sugar, Dinosaur Jr, Pearl Jam et al makes me long to be 16 again. Confident, unabashed & and in love, the world was my oyster / for the taking …all manor of soppy clichés. Sure I was cynical (I think I was born cynical and shall remain so till the day I die!!); but there was an underlying hopefulness underneath that lumberjack shirt & battered converse.
Of course my boyfriend at the time fitted the bill too! Clad always in a band T, hair like Keanu, a swagger like Mark Lanegan - he made THE greatest mix tapes – some of which I still have several years later!
Unlike now – all the music at the time made me v happy – which I guess in hindsight is slightly strange given the dark & bleak nature of it all. Hearing Kurt Cobain scream his way through ‘Negative Creep’ or Billy Corgan go crazy at the end of ‘Rhinoceros’; perving over Eddie Vedder or bowing down to the epitome of cool that was (and still is) Kim Gordon….life seemed good and no matter how it manifested itself, the future was there for the taking! Inspiring and wonderful times that had long been forgotten!
So thank you empty bank account – for making me stay in last night and taking me back to a time of greatness in my life…now where’s my copy of ‘Bleach’
You can still catch both Cameron Crowe’s ‘Pearl Jam Twenty’; along with The Late Show’s ‘No Nirvana’ featuring a selection of grunge’s finest on the BBC iplayer - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/
Lana Del Rey - The Ruby Lounge - Fri 4th Nov 2011
"I don't trust you" was the response from Lana Del Rey following the excited applause after her performance of Video Games. Whether this was a genuine or staged response, it is yet another factor that adds to the whole Starlet venerability of the package that is Lana Del Rey, which kind of makes you think - would Lizzie Grant have felt the need to say the same sentence? It's sad that on the whole music consumers aren't happy hearing the voice and enjoying the songs, we need to be fed the whole package in order to appreciate it... But that's another debate.
Those that were there at The Ruby Lounge on Friday will know that Lana Del Rey does live up to the hype, a voice that is effortlessly haunting, with songs that ease you into a past that you've never known and then plummet you back to the present, its easy to see why she is where she is today - obviously doing what she does best! This coupled with the beautiful elegance of Lana Del Rey you could just sense that all the guys in the room wanted her (and probably already had in their minds!) and all the girls wanted to be just like her - all in all the perfect ingredients for musical success ;)
If you missed her, have no fear its inevitable that you will get plenty of opportunities to see her in the not so distant the future...
Those that were there at The Ruby Lounge on Friday will know that Lana Del Rey does live up to the hype, a voice that is effortlessly haunting, with songs that ease you into a past that you've never known and then plummet you back to the present, its easy to see why she is where she is today - obviously doing what she does best! This coupled with the beautiful elegance of Lana Del Rey you could just sense that all the guys in the room wanted her (and probably already had in their minds!) and all the girls wanted to be just like her - all in all the perfect ingredients for musical success ;)
If you missed her, have no fear its inevitable that you will get plenty of opportunities to see her in the not so distant the future...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)