Mmm.
I like The Stones. Which is the equivalent of saying: "I like white bread." One can't get that exited about it, but life without them would be poorer. And maybe you think they are a boil on the bottom of culture, and that the only sensible starting point of culture is P.I.L's "Metal Box" well yadda yadda yadda!
But consider this. The Stones, when they were at their peak (Aftermath->Exile) really mattered in the USA in a way NOTHING which comes out of Britain does anymore. I can quite easily get all nostalgic for that in the same way Tony Blair does. My pal Paul Kennedy (a big shot if you read between the lines) fixes up the Tower chain stateside with UK imports. He harangues all the Tower outlets across America (and that's an independent store didn't you know...one boss!) to stock British records. Man he's got his work cut out! In the early seventies he'd have had a fleet of limos.
I had a copy of Exile which I sold in 1996 when I decimated my collection. I showed up at the M&V with (I think) 31 boxes. Yikes! It was one of a few records which I mildly regretted passing on, others include Little Feat's "Sailin Shoes", The Band "The Band", Earth Wind & Fire "That's the way of the World" and Sonic Youth's "Sister", not obscure stuff, though there was plenty of that that got flushed, but just plain old nice records.
I was visting San Franciso in January 2000 and spent some time in Amoeba records, which is a pretty vaste second-hand store at the end of Haight street by the park. I don't care what people say, that area still has a vibe of excitement and danger. I came across a copy of "Exile on Main Street" for $1.95. Perfect condition, original pressing, lovely thick cardboard sleeve and, what sold it to me (again) was what was written on the sleeve. CIAPPONI. Some guy, and I imagined some working class, no fuckin' nonsense American-Italian dude who liked his pasta, drove a chevvy, went to the disco, looked a bit like an ugly Travolta, had loadsa fuckin bruddas, first name Tony, owned this record. And he'd written his name on it. You think I'm guessing wrong? Well I reckon middle class WASPS don't tend to write on their records, and they don't tend to sell them, they'll stow them away in their oversize appartments. That's the level The Stones got to. Why is Britain now so parochial that it can't produce culture which can cross these divides? You hear this desire to "Break America" being spouted all the time by tawdry greedy saddos. "Breaking America" is not about PR or hard gigging it's about the artists having an encompassing vision*, and nowadays they're such pygmies. Yunnuh! America is an invention! Don't forget that!
I'm now gonna hastle all the West coast bloggers to buy the Dizzy Rascal record....fat chance HE stands stateside. Like Reynolds says it'll be just like The Streets, unless we get lucky (fingers crossed).
*like Dido fer chrissakes!
Posted by Woebot at July 7, 2003 09:36 PM