Paint a vulgar picture

It may seem silly to get annoyed about something that is wrong on the Internet, but there is a picture that has recently been doing the rounds on social media sites that I have found particularly irritating. You may have seen it yourself; it is the one below.

It is a picture designed to provoke outrage and if it had the intended effect you no doubt would have thought it an absolute disgrace that the majority of our MPs care more about their pay than they do about the effects of the Government’s welfare reforms on sick and disabled people. Unfortunately, the picture it paints is a false one. There was indeed a debate on 27 February about the effects of welfare reform on sick and disabled people (it was a debate on a motion put forward by the Backbench Business Committee and not on a Bill as some people assumed) and it looks like the top picture is a screen grab from BBC Parliament. The bottom picture doesn’t look like a screen grab, so its source is not entirely clear. What it almost certainly is not is a picture of what the caption claims it is, for there was no such debate and/or vote on MPs pay on 11 July 2013. It’s quite easy to check this by looking at Hansard for that day. There were questions to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the Leader of the House gave his business statement and the main business of the day was a debate on Syria followed by a debate on the 25th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster. MPs did not debate a proposed pay rise. What did happen is that the Leader of the House, Andrew Lansley, dealt with some questions about the report published by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authroity (IPSA) on the same day which contained recommendations for MPs pay and pensions. This suggests where the date of 11 July 2013 may come from. Here is a screen grab I got from the BBC’s Democracy Live website of business questions on that day.

You can see that the House of Commons chamber is a bit fuller than it was for the debate on 27 February but it’s nowhere near as full at is in the picture that is allegedly of 11 July 2013. So what is that a picture of? The one time that you can guarantee that the chamber will be that full is at Prime Minister’s questions and it looks suspiciously like a stock photo of PMQs. It should also be pointed out that MPs don’t get to vote on their pay and allowances anyway. IPSA sets this.

The thing is, the Government doesn’t care about the effects of its welfare reforms on sick and disabled people, but misleading things like this spread around the Internet just undermine the argument. Why the need to manufacture further outrage? Someone somewhere initially posted this picture up knowing it was a manipulation of reality. Our democracy is in a bit of a fragile state at the moment. To mislead people to create further cynicism seems irresponsible.

Why “Unless You’ve Got a Reason”?

I thought I’d revive this blog to explain why I’d titled it thus. I initially started it after a conservation on Twitter with my siblings about the Festive 50s we used to compile. When I said I’d found all my old lists of these, one of them suggested I should put them on a blog, so that is what I did. Anyway, the phrase “Unless You’ve Got a Reason” is taken from a quote by Mark Hollis of the band Talk Talk. In an interview he gave at the time of the release of his one and only solo album in 1998, he remarked “Before you play two notes learn how to play one note – and don’t play one note unless you’ve got a reason to play it.” I like to think he said something profound about the nature of his art, although what he actually meant is not entirely clear. Still, the idea that you need a good reason to do something as simple as play one note suggests that creative acts need to be justified. And so it is with writing a blog. The Internet is full to way beyond bursting point with people sharing their thoughts, so I must consider whether it’s worth writing anything at all. Do I have a good reason for writing this blog?

The career of Talk Talk and Mark Hollis has got to be one of the oddest in the history of British pop music. Their journey from synth-based New Romantic outfit to weird post-rock act has now been fairly well documented. There’s a good brief account of it in the book Electric Eden by Rob Young. Since Mark Hollis released his solo album in 1998 there have been no further releases by him. I like to retain the romantic notion that Hollis’ silence is in itself an artistic statement. He hasn’t found a good reason to play any more notes. Fittingly, that album ends with nearly 2 minutes of complete silence.

 

My Festive 30 from 1998 – the final one

1998 was the last time my siblings and I gathered together some time around Christmas and read out our Festive 50 lists to each other. I can’t remember if compiling Festive 50s for 1999 was ever considered, but I doubt I would have even been able to come up with a Top 30. I think I only bought one new album in 1999 and that was Apple Venus Volume 1 by XTC, who are more of a 1980s band anyway. So here’s that final Festive 30. Why are Gomez in there, I wonder. Bring it On is possibly the album purchase I am most embarrassed by. The lesson is never buy an album just because it’s won the Mercury Music prize.

1. Sunrise – The Divine Comedy
2. Way Over Yonder in a Minor Key – Billy Bragg & Wilco
3. God Give Me Strength – Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
4. The Day After the Revolution – Pulp
5. Window Shopping for Blinds- The Beautiful South
6. Generation Sex – The Divine Comedy
7. Mulder and Scully – Catatonia
8. Tsunami – Manic Street Preachers
9. The Unwelcome Guest – Billy Bragg & Wilco
10. Daysleeper – R.E.M.
11. The Ballad of Tom Jones – Space featuring Cerys Matthews
12. This is Hardcore – Pulp
13. In the Darkest Place – Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
14. Game On – Catatonia
15. Get Myself Arrested – Gomez
16. How Long’s a Tear Take to Dry – The Beautiful South
17. Painted From Memory – Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
18. Gone ‘Til November – Wyclef
19. National Express – The Divine Comedy
20. International Velvet – Catatonia
21. Glory Days – Pulp
22. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will be Next – Manic Street Preachers
23. The Certainty of Chance – The Divine Comedy
24. California Stars – Billy Bragg & Wilco
25. Here Comes the Flood – The Divine Comedy
26. Bad Old Man – Baby Bird
27. The Table – The Beautiful South
28. The Rockafeller Skank – Fatboy Slim
29. 78 Stone Wobble – Gomez
30. Avenging Angels – Space

Curiously, the only act that is in both my first Festive 50 of 1990 and this final one is The Beautiful South.

My Festive 35 from 1997

What was once a list of 50 favourite songs, was reduced to just 35(?) this year (and the following year it was only 30), so I wonder if even then I was beginning to lose interest in contemporary pop music. I was only 22 when I compiled this, but I think it marked a time when the pop music of the past became as important to me as the pop music of the present. This is somewhat reflected in the appearance of Prefab Sprout in this list. Prefab Sprout are essentially an 80s band, and I’d only properly discovered them the previous year, but in 1997 they released their first album in 7 years. I am the sort of person who considers the 80s to be a far superior decade musically to the 90s even though the 90s could be considered my formative years and are also the decade in which I took the effort to compile these Festive 50s.

1. No Surprises – Radiohead
2. Bachelorette – Bjork
3. Always Been With You – Idha
4. Electric Guitars – Prefab Sprout
5. Song 2 – Blur
6. Summertime – The Sundays
7. Into My Arms – Nick Cave
8. Everybody Knows (Except You) – The Divine Comedy
9. Best Bit – Beth Orton
10. Nothing Lasts Forever – Echo and the Bunnymen
11. Novocaine for the Soul – Eels
12. Tomorrow – James
13. It’s Clear – Dubstar
14. A Prisoner of the Past – Prefab Sprout
15. Paranoid Android – Radiohead
16. Western Eyes – Portishead
17. Undressed – White Town
18. Hey Honey – Idha
19. Help the Aged – Pulp
20. Someone – The Divine Comedy
21. Andromeda Heights
22. The Boy Done Good – Billy Bragg
23. 86’d – Subcircus
24. Sunday Shining – Finley Quaye
25. The View From Here – Dubstar
26. What Do You Want From Me – Monaco
27. Airbag – Radiohead
28. Ain’t That Enough- Teenage Fanclub
29. Mourning Air – Portishead
30. Magic Piper of Love – Edwyn Collins
31. Swans – Prefab Sprout
32. Electricity – Spritualized
33. Sun Hits the Sky – Supergrass
34. Just Moved In – Idha
35. Play It Cool – Super Furry Animals

I’m wondering if No. 18 is the most obscure song to ever appear here. It was only ever a b-side.

My Festive 40 from 1996

I went back to compiling a mere Top 40 this year and I think my choice of no. 1 is kind of surprising. These Festive 50s/40s tended to be dominated by indie-rock (a genre of music I barely have any interest in these days), so to have a pop-soul number as my favourite song of the year is not necessarily what you’d expect. But I loved it at the time and still like it now. Reflecting on my tastes in music in the 1990s, there’s probably not an awful lot of the artists in these lists I would still listen to with any degree of regularity, or even buy the new releases of if they’re still producing music. One exception to this is The Divine Comedy. Casanova, which came out in 1996, is an album I listen to quite a lot even these days. It may be my favourite album of the 1990s. So, here’s the top 30.

1. Give Me a Little More Time – Gabrielle
2. Brickbat – Billy Bragg
3. A Design for Life – Manic Street Preachers
4. Female of the Species – Space
5. Songs of Love – The Divine Comedy
6. Little Blue – The Beautiful South
7. Corner Shop – Baby Bird
8. Be Mine – R.E.M.
9. Your Woman – White Town
10. Lovefool – The Cardigans
11. Have Fun – The Beautiful South
12. Everything Must Go – Manic Street Preachers
13. The Space Race is Over – Billy Bragg
14. Dead Bird Sings – Baby Bird
15. Killing Me Softly – The Fugees
16. Forbidden City – Electronic
17. Se a vida é – Pet Shop Boys
18. The Frog Princess – The Divine Comedy
19. Innocent – Addis Black Widow
20. Patio Song – Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci
21.One God – The Beautiful South
22. 6 Underground – Sneaker Pimps
23. Everybody Loves You Babe – Billy Bragg
24. So Fast, So Numb – R.E.M.
25. Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand – Primitive Radio Gods
26. Been It – The Cardigans
27. Baby Bird – Baby Bird
28. All Surface No Feeling – Manic Street Preachers
29. The One – Tracy Bonham
30. Don’t Marry Her – The Beautiful South

No. 25 is one of those great one hit wonders. I spent the summer of 1996 in the US and it seemed to be on the radio all the time.

 

My Festive 50 from 1995

1995 was something of a watershed year. Britpop was at its height and it was the year of that silly Blur v Oasis rivalry. I went back to compiling a full top 50 this year, and I’ve taken the effort to type the whole thing out this time (I’m reproducing handwritten lists here). It was actually a good year for music; my top 2 are, I think, two of the great pop songs of the 1990s. One thing I will say about this list is that it shows how much of an influence the DJ Mark Radcliffe had over my choices. A fair number of the artists in it, such as The Cardigans, Edwyn Collins, Tindersticks and Pizzicato 5 are in there because I first heard their music on Radcliffe’s late evening show that was broadcast on Radio 1 in the mid 1990s. John Peel may be cooler, but Mark Radcliffe has probably had more influence over my tastes in music than any other DJ. This may still continue, as Radcliffe is about to take over the Wednesday evening folk show on Radio 2 from Mike Harding. (Even though Harding’s sacking seems to be another recent example of the idiocy of BBC management.)

1. Common People – Pulp
2. Yes – McAlmont & Butler
3. Olympian – Gene
4. Glory Box – Portishead
5. Seal My Fate – Belly
6. Miss Sarajevo – Passengers
7. Carnival – The Cardigans
8. Strange Currencies – R.E.M.
9. If You Could Love Me – Edwyn Collins
10. Anywhere – Dubstar
11. Something Changed – Pulp
12. Fader – Drugstore
13. Beautiful One – The Cardigans
14. High and Dry – Radiohead
15. Puberty – Belly
16. Perfect – Lightning Seeds
17. Pretenders to the Throne – The Beautiful South
18. It’s Lulu – The Boo Radleys
19. I Spy – Pulp
20. The Love You Save – Madder Rose
21. Dream a Little Dream – Terry Hall and Salad
22. Tell Everyone – The Charlatans
23. Hyper Ballad – Bjork
24. Back for Good – Take That
25. Acquiesce – Oasis
26. Hunch – Sleeper
27. Just a Girl – Dubstar
28. Wake Up Boo! – The Boo Radleys
29. History – The Verve
30. Judas My Heart – Belly
31. No More Affairs – Tindersticks
32. Street Spirit – Radiohead
33. Baby Love Child – Pizzicato 5
34. Disco 2000 – Pulp
35. Sick and Tired – The Cardigans
36. What Do I Do Now? – Sleeper
37. Planet Telex – Radiohead
38. ’74 – ’75 – The Connells
39. Wilder – The Boo Radleys
40. Universal Heartbeat – Juliana Hatfield
41. Wonderwall – Oasis
42. Daddy’s Car – The Cardigans
43. Gold – Prince
44. Just Lookin’ – The Charlatans
45. You and Me Song – The Wannadies
46. Untitled and Unsung – Belly
47. This Summer – Squeeze
48. Solitary Party Groover – Drugstore
49. Lucky – Radiohead
50. Sorted for Es and Wizz – Pulp

No. 43 is possibly Prince’s last great moment, so let’s all enjoy that.

 

My Festive 40 from 1994

Like with 1993, my list of favourite songs for the year was only a Top 40. Looking at it, my reaction is “Uh-oh! Here comes Britpop.” There are entries for Shed Seven and Echobelly! I was back living in the UK when I compiled this Festive 40 and had just completed my first term at Hull University. I felt a bit out of step with the direction British popular culture had taken at that point. Blur were suddenly very popular. How did that happen? It seemed like everybody in my University Halls of residence had Parklife. I couldn’t see the appeal myself. I viewed them as a bunch of chancers and didn’t like the way a band from Colchester seemed to be pretending they were from East London. I’m less hostile to Blur’s music these days but I still find the song ‘Parklife’ irritating. Needless to say there’s no Blur in this list (and no Oasis either). I’ve reproduced the top 22 this time as I think no. 22 is worth mentioning.

1. Prettiest Eyes – The Beautiful South
2. Your Favourite Thing – Sugar
3. Kinder Murder – Elvis Costello
4. Your Ghost – Kristen Hersh
5. Do You Remember the First Time? – Pulp
6. Bang and Blame – R.E.M.
7. One Last Love Song – The Beautiful South
8. Believe What You’re Saying – Sugar
9. Insomniac – Echobelly
10. Sunflower – Paul Weller
11. What’s the Frequency Kenneth? – R.E.M.
12. Babies – Pulp
13. Sometime Always – Jesus & Mary Chain
14. This is Hell – Elvis Costello
15. Today Tomorrow Sometime Never – Echobelly
16. Big Star – Letters to Cleo
17. Especially for You – The Beautiful South
18. Houdini Blues – Kristin Hersh
19. Speakeasy – Shed Seven
20. I Don’t Sleep I Dream – R.E.M.
21. Can’t Get Out of Bed – The Charlatans
22. Saturday Night – Whigfield

My Festive 40 from 1993

One of the nice things about looking at these lists of my Festive 50s is that they remind me of pop songs that I’d almost completely forgotten about, as is the case with the entry for Digable Planets on my Festive 50 for 1993. Looking it up again on YouTube, I’ve found that it does actually stand the test of time. It’s also reflective of the obvious American slant to my list. I was still living in the Boston, MA area back then and I seem to recall the video for ‘Rebirth of Slick’ getting played a lot on MTV. It was a fairly big hit but I think it barely made a dent in the UK charts. So here’s the Top 20 for 1993. Curiously, I only compiled a Festive 40 that year. I guess there just weren’t enough good songs.

1. Regret – New Order
2. Into Your Arms – The Lemonheads
3. Mario’s Cafe- St. Etienne
4. Anchor Song – Bjork
5. Untogether – Belly
6. Hobart Paving – St. Etienne
7. If I can’t Change Your Mind – Sugar
8. Laid – James
9. Rebirth of Slick – Digable Planets
10. Cannonball – The Breeders
11. It’s About Time – The Lemonheads
12. Full Moon, Empty Heart – Belly
13. Everyone Everywhere – New Order
14. The Theatre – Pet Shop Boys
15. Someone in Love – Bjork
16. Can’t Fight It – Bob Mould
17. Today – Smashing Pumpkins
18. You’re in a Bad Way – St. Etienne
19. Feed the Tree – Belly
20. Serve the Servants – Nirvana

James and St. Etienne are a surprisingly enduring aspect of these Festive 50s from the early 90s.

My Festive 50 from 1992

I was going to put the top 20 of my Festive 50 from 1991 next but it seemed mildly embarrassing. (It had ‘Size of a Cow’ by The Wonder Stuff at no. 18!) So, let’s move onto my top 20 from 1992. Madchester is now long gone and there’s a fair amount of what could be considered American alternative rock in the list. This is not surprising, considering I was living in the US at the time. No. 6 on this is, I think, one of the great pop songs of the 1990s.

1. Sweetness Follows – R.E.M.
2. 36D – The Beautiful South
3. People Get Real – St. Etienne
4. One – U2
5. The Act we Act – Sugar
6. My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It) – En Vogue
7. Man on the Moon – R.E.M.
8. Tennessee – Arrested Development
9. Winona – Drop Nineteens
10. Helpless – Sugar
11. Old Red Eyes is Back – The Beautiful South
12. Motorcycle Emptiness – Manic Street Preachers
13. Next Lover – James
14. Ignoreland – R.E.M.
15. Join Our Club – St. Etienne
16. People Everyday – Arrested Development
17. Friday I’m in Love – The Cure
18. Born of Frustration – James
19. Lithium – Nirvana
20. Blue Eyes – The Wedding Present

Festive 50s

Back in the 1990s (it seems so long ago), my siblings and I used to compile our own Festive 50s, inspired by the concept on John Peel’s radio show, in which we’d make a list of our 50 favourite songs of the year. Amazingly, I have actually kept the lists I made, which span the years 1990 to 1998. I guess they provide an interesting insight into changing musical tastes across the decade. By way of an example, here’s my Top 10 from 1990:

1.Perfume – Paris Angels
2. Kinky Afro – Happy Mondays
3. Come Home – James
4. My Rising Star – Northside
5. She Comes in the Fall – Inspiral Carpets
6. Kiss and Make Up – St. Etienne
7. How was it for You – James
8. Dennis and Lois – Happy Mondays
9. There She Goes – The Las
10. All Together Now – The Farm.

Obviously this was from when Madchester was at its height. I still think my choice of no. 1 is a great song.

I may put up more of these lists later.