Home Truths

Prog — which was an anti-canonic cross-class space in the late 60s and early 70s — was aggressively de-working classed by punk, a younger-sibling-rival strand of anti-canonic cross-class bohemianism.

(very early prophet of where peel was always headed = julie burchill) (both now shill for difftly shrill versions of normalcy, of course)

1. I came to Peel in the late 80s when he was already domesticated. His show was the first place where I heard reggae, techno, experimental pop musics and any kind of African musics. Yes admittedly at the time I endured these while waiting for that next Weddoes session track but I'm still grateful. Crucially he also played all this stuff with constant asides about Flossie and William and The Pig. Doing this he was setting out an inspiring having-it-all style model to me - he can have the comforting intimacies of family life and still be collecting thousands of records and reaching across the airwaves to shape the tastes of geeks like me, hooray!

2. I want to have children so I can make up stories for them, red others, embellish still more. A huge huge part of the imaginative and artistic tradition, certainly in the West and no doubt elsewhere, is born out of 'normal life'/'family life'. Next to religion it's the biggest artistic motor going - you told stories to entertain the family; you learnt to play, or compose, music in a family setting. So perhaps Momus misunderstands the problem - not one of elites vs normals but a change in the idea of what 'family life' is, one which downplays the self-created family experience in favour of the shop- bought one.

3. I think people are underestimating the wish for individuality, or at least the wish to define one's own environment - it's a motive force for 'creatives' but also for 'normals', too. What Momus is really talking about isn't elitism so much as cliquism, the desire to find a bunch of mates who share similar interests and disinterests. Momus producing art which gets consumed mostly by other artists or wannabe-artists doesn't seem too dissimilar to Pete or Emma or me or John or Tim or Sarah producing jokes in the pub which get consumed by other jokers.

Urgh! Those lines make me shudder. I hope he didn't mean for them to sound the way they do to me. Apparently, this argument is about John Peel but that just made me imagine a row of pretty but moronic girls, knees spread, crying "Impregnate me because I could never hope to achieve anything else in life!". It seems hateful of the housewife, a male disdain for the drudgery, the "less important" role of raising children. Can mothers and fathers not produce some of the most beautiful pieces of art, even more beautiful because it deals with their children? I am thinking of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder and Schumann's Scenes from Childhood. Flemish art that depicted domestic life (specifically female roles such as laceworkers and spinners) or Caravaggio's fortune tellers and local peasants were both considered controversial because it deviated from the 'high art' of the typical classical, elevated heroic mode. Jesus, I don't know how old John Peel is but he must be getting up there. He can't be dealing with bouncing girls and perfumed sex gardens forever, can he? That would be incredibly depressing. Everyone else will eventually have to deal with liver spots/sagging breasts/wrinkled penises which will not impress the cute girl/boy out there unless we happen to be fabulously wealthy. By then, will perfumed sex gardens even matter? No, you'll be hoping that you have grandchildren to take care of, tell stories to, admire their potential. Well, that is what I will be hoping anyways. Oh I am letting this thread frustrate me, sorry!

'what things are' is quite open to debate, is not not? what things are depends on what context you are looking from.

'SOMETHING GOOD ON TELLY ALERT' thread: 1 post. Mmm Pies: 76.

Come on, admit it, you love it!

Oh but I think there are several who HAVE heard his music and consider that also.

Ethan, what the fuck.

lol home truths