“Most of all, I love Manchester. The crumbling warehouses, the railway arches, the cheap abundant drugs. That’s what did it in the end. Not the money, not the music, not even the guns. That is my heroic flaw: my excess of civic pride.” – Tony Wilson. That is a “Heroic” quote taken from 24-Hour Party People and, contrary to his civic pride claim, the true focus of the film, Tony Wilson himself. The film is an indulgent, tedious “celebration” of…
When David Bowie died last year my heart sank, not just because we had lost one of the last truly innovative artists, who was still producing relevant music in his sixties, but because I knew what was about to come. A few months later and it was Prince. I’m not that enamoured with Prince, but it was clear that the world would be that much greyer without his particular shade of purple colouring my periphery. The initial sense of sadness…
“Paul Weller – The Modfather,” so say the types that hang around record fairs, exchanging other’s ideas from poorly written books that now frequent half the shelves of charity shops. I remember one such book on The Manic Street Preachers telling me that people in London were affecting Welsh accents in the 90’s following the success of various bands from the region. No, no we weren’t, but I digress. LICK KWISH – MUSICAL ROYALTY – …
By Lick Kwish Do we ever need another Punk documentary? How many times must we watch the same footage being talked about by the same talking heads, saying the same things? Strikes, Bill Grundy, fuck the establishment, we got the gist now thanks. It’s with no little irony that mainstream TV and media in general still can’t get enough of a scene they had consigned to a dustbin marked “violent racists” for fifteen years after it imploded. Over the past…
I Hate Myself And I Want To Die – By Lick Kwish – The easiest way to write is from a negative position, anyone with a half decent vocabulary can do It. If You dislike something, add a large dollop of hyperbole and let It rip, It practically writes itself. This doesn’t make critical writing any less important of course, after all, how can We improve society in general if We greet each problem with patient optimism all the time?…
THE NEW MUSIC GRAVE ROBBERS – Some time ago, I stopped watching live and commercial TV due to the arrival of streaming sites and boxsets. Only occasionally will I see adverts for general products and I feel as if I have been freed from some dreadful Clockwork Orange torture as a result. When I am confronted with such bile, it always comes as something of a shock to my system and I find myself swearing at the bulletproof screen in impotent…