douglasdouglas

Just saw this after forgetting to post my reply for half an hour and you have clarified things.

I would say, though, that the real issue is who makes the music, as that provides the 'product' [and 'product'it is, whether good or bad] for the industry to work with. Tracking back through to the 60s, those in charge of bands were very often middle-class [Epstein is a good example], as they could [as you noted] get into the industry by interning or promoting / developing their own acts with the funds to which they had access and a working-class manager / promoter might have found more difficult to source.
There have also been many middle-class musicians, again from the 1960s on. The principle difference now is that [and as no industry-census is available and would probably be difficult to determine with any accuracy being that showbiz depends upon factual airbrushing for mystique / danger or similar perceived qualities in acts] there seem to be fewer non-middle class acts breaking through, which is because of what has happened to the market i.e. with sales down, 360 deals taking hold and more financial & creative pressure than ever on the actual musicians, one almost, it seems, has to be in the same position as a would-be industry worker intern, in order to actually make something of a band / solo project. Basically, with the music-maker dole program which Labour introduced in 1997 for a while now gone, the dole in general being tougher to get and keep getting, most people in bands have to keep up jobs in tandem. This is not entirely impossible, as shown by bands as far back as, say Black Sabbath. However, it is more difficult. Bands who have financial support from parents will have more time and energy to devote to their music, which will and does give them an edge. Hence so very many middle-class bands about, particularly in England. The fact that critics [very often,as you said, middle-class themselves] connect with such bands is little-surprising. The real issue, though, is who are the musicians, and, in sum, more and more [it seems - stress on 'seems'] of those who gain success are middle-class. That determines the music and debate surrounding same. The cost of it to music is difficult to estimate, but where an artform becomes effectively posh-ghettoised, it may become samey and less likely to surprise. After all, seeing a public-school educated girl from an artistic, comfortable family produce music that is fairly richly encultured and accomplished is no great surprise. Where is the mystique? Where is the danger?

Establishes, beyond doubt, that Lanegan is one of the finest voices to come from American contemporary music.

To do AF so faithfully takes skill [even when using their producer] and they have got talent, but should really say what they want to say and not what they think win butler forgot to mention on his last lp..

Did i miss the memo?
I think not.
These guys are fake.Please have the honesty to acknowledge rip-off merchants.Silly verdict, silly score.

Glad you're back in the clown shoes, for our amusement.

Mad as a hat made of AIDS.

Seems fair and reasoned. Bravo, mr. wale

So angry that i missed the show [sad face].

[they are].

Is it just me..?

That said, there is no-one better at doing dirty druggy wounded rock than he.Bubblegum is his magnum opus, thus far. Who knows though?I hate to say it, but he may need some fresh tragedy in his life to bring out the genius anew..

WTF? Is dis.com taking bjs from the editors now?

Glad to hear something new [and good] from him. He is never worth seeing on the decks - he is infamously lazy with a crowd.

Then he really has to be put down. Stick with the band, Dicky.

adding slabs of monolithic grey to slabs of monolithic grey; so and on they come - magicians of ennui les pigeons defectif.
utter, utter wank.

My life is enriched. Can we have some photogalleries of quadroplegic kittens too, please?

is guff.

Especially Greg Dulli doing his crooner routine for 'Front Street' - he made the song even more horrible / amazing.
Anyone who does not go to this gig is indeed a penis.

thanks

It was very funny though and somehow he got away with it.They were Awesome - they are what primal scream want to be when not doing their electronic-tinged stuff - a super-sleazy MC5 / stones for the 21st century..

Sob.They were so good at the 100club years ago.

Mind you, that moloko comment was absurd - they were leagues ahead of morcheeba and don't even count as trip-hop, surely?

such is my consideed response.cunts.

amazing album.

where has it gone?

perhaps white noise keeps you young.

holy shit they were good

The world of fashion / media / pr is a circle-jerk in a pigpit. Fuck this bint and shame on anyone who does not call it for what it is - wrong.

Beautiful lyrics and shockingly emotive music underpinned by highly-developed melodicism.

Nice guys, it would seem. Interesting perspectives, too.

sorry - meant to write, 'money-hyped 'buzz''

terrific review. fine writing. it is so heartening to hear some sense about crackerty. his flimsy, purely referential and unfelt pseudo-working class schtick makes the eyes run dry. maybe, if peter is so fond of the wartime entertainment aesthetic and wishes to emulate very lynn and such, he should go entertain troops in helmand.
joe lean is another sham and his money-hyped perhaps more keenly symptomatic of how desperately out of touch the record industry is - particularly in london. both of these poseurs will fade from view eventually, and take their place in the pantheon with the yazoos and senseless things which posterity sensibly chooses to ignore.