Hide your kids, this discussion is gonna get blue.
For a start, you should read this article by Paul Bernal. It covers the main points of the issue I'm addressing far more intelligently than I could and fairly succinctly highlights all the issues such a motion could raise beyond the "well-meaning" original intentions. I am fully in agreement with what he says and I don't think I'll look to cover any of these points here.
But there is something I want to add regarding the "moral pressure" apparently present that has brought forward this push.
Our Glorious Leader has made his bold and totally vapid stance in the name of protecting children from corruption. The outcries of parents everywhere for a safer world for their kids has been heard, and it has been taken on board. Kids will no longer have to fear the necrotic and toxic presence of pornography online. Thank God.
But who is it that has worked so tirelessly to secure such a bright future for our young ones. Which champions of decency have brought forth salvation to our decrepit lands. What's that? The Daily Mail and The Sun?
It's been mentioned a lot in my online social circle. The irony... no, wait. That's far to light hearted and innocent a term. The SHEER-FUCKING-HYPOCRISY of these two bastions of sleaze shutting down the presence of naked peeps on the Internet is too much to bear. Can we so simply overlook The Sun's daily breasts on Page 3? Or The Mail's horrendously creepy stories that tend to centre on how attractive infants are becoming? Quite frankly, if we're taking moral advice from these bastards, I don't want to be innocent.
But this is not the time to be debating the morality of pornography, (Summary: It has dodgy parts. But, for the most part, it's just people having sex. Are we back to saying sex is immoral again? Because, no.) Now is the time to be questioning just why people should have to take an extra effort to partake in a fairly normal endeavour with absolutely no moral questionability whatsoever, just so lazy, half-arsed parents don't want to put any extra effort into bringing up the kids they are so clearly unsuited to raise.
Because there is yet more depressing irony to the notion that a Prime Minister who spent so much time claiming he would bring discipline back to the younger generations would be doing so much to actually alleviate the responsibility of those who actually need to be sorting this out. Parents. It's not all parents. It's obviously not all parents. Dad's all
across the country are probably feeling a bit uneasy right now. But I
also assume/know there will be a lot of parents who don't want this. But
no-one listens to the majority. They don't need to complain.
I was lucky. I had sensible (well... ish) parents who understood that kids will do all the things that they have done, and the best means of "protecting" children from inevitable experiences is to actually explain these things reasonably and sympathetically.
Sadly, this is not a universal trait. There is that minority of parents who just leave their kids in the dark, and assume its everyone else's job to keep kids in check. This has been felt in schools, where parents blame teachers for the behaviour of their own kids, and in the rise of aggression in kids today (admittedly an assumption, but hard to deny). So when these parents take that rare and fleeting moment to actually take notice of their kids and find that they have seen a pair of boobs on the Internet, then it's obviously Google's fault. Nothing to do with a lack of attentiveness on their part. It's the same argument that was bandied about against gay marriage: "How do I explain this to my kids?" Maybe just by talking to them for once.
As a gamer, this is nothing new. Every week, it seems, there's some parent group bemoaning Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty for teaching their kids to be violent. This is, of course, utter bullshit. I've played GTA since the London edition, and all it's taught me is that, after 7 or 8 games, GTA gets kind of tired. But still, you get the same, tired Mums Groups that write in to say video games should be banned; never seeing the fact that, if they just stopped buying them the damn things, there wouldn't be a problem.
But no, they have ranted and raved for tougher action and so now everyone has to be labelled a perve for having to stick up their hands and ask for porn. I await with baited breath for the inevitable news story that suggests someone is guilty of a crime based purely on their having "opted-in" to mature content. Our Fearless Overlord even went as far to take a stab at Internet providers and search engines for not doing enough, despite filters already being in place for this very purpose and the ever adapting procedures for taking down and filtering abuse-based content from search results. Yet, at the same time, you can guarantee that The Sun will keep tits on Page 3 and The Daily Mail will continue to salivate over 8-year old girls because El Presidente won't want to bother his press pals any more after the mild inconvenience caused by Levenson.
In short, this whole issue has made me irate, infuriated and just a little nauseated. I can only hope that this news will shortly be followed by the now traditional Tory U-turn, or by the revelation that, in practise, nothing will be changed and all this was just a cheap PR exercise. But I fear the threat of censorship, I fear the potential scapegoating and, above all, I fear for a future that takes us back to the dark ages of 'no sex please, we're British,' of kids that get confused because they grow up with an understanding that sex is all shady and immoral.
I thought we had made an advance since those days.
Monday 22 July 2013
Thursday 18 July 2013
Music Through the Ages
A friend of mine (Chris Slight. You should check him out, he does all kinds of fun awesome stuff here) put forward an interesting question via the magic Twitter tree. It was about music, and I like music, and I also like personal development, which this question also addressed. Hence why I liked the question.
He asked the world (how magical Twitter is) to suggest the very moment, as symbolised by a particular musical track, where, essentially, your musical mindset got blown right open.
Can you see why I liked it?
But I instantly found it difficult to answer. Not because I couldn't think of one, but because I could think of too many. My whole life has been a train of various musical explosions that have left me changed somehow. It's still happening.
But it left me inspired, so I thought I might pass on a collection of the biggest alterations. I don't think I could really be able to highlight any specific song, but here, instead, is a chronological list of musical incidents that changed everything.
1: Pink Floyd
Bit vague, but you'll see.
Pink Floyd were pretty much my earliest sonic experiences. My family will often dwell on the various occasions where, as a small, semi-conscious being, I would recite and demand highlights from pretty much the entire Floyd back catalog. Money may well have been my theme tune.
My first ever live gig was seeing them, aged 7 (or, at least, I'm pretty sure it is. It might have been Status Quo a year or so before). And, when I think about the music I listen to today, it all stems from what Pink Floyd were doing. Strong, complex melodies, evocative lyrics, experimental traits. Pink Floyd shaped what I liked and I've followed through with that to this day.
2. Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This (Then Your Children Will Be Next)
Typically, despite my father's influences, I passed into a phase of just tagging along with the 90s pop music that littered my generation. Backstreet Boys, B*Witched, Oasis, etc. Fun tunes, but hardly nourishing. Then, I heard If You Tolerate This by the Manics. It was like a jump start. My brain still snaps whenever I here that acid-edged first chord. It was so far removed from the saccharine beats of the Top of the Pops fare and reconnected me to the idea of music being a conduit for deeper sensation and emotion.
3. Nirvana - Nevermind
I really didn't want to say this, because I'm sure everyone who lived through the ages of 13-18 felt this, but Nirvana really did mean everything to me. Nevermind was an obvious progression on the idea of music being of the emotions and something so raw and powerful as this album was always going to be a teenage gospel. At the age of 25, angst is a bit of a laughable attitude for someone who hadn't ever lived under a bridge and had, in fact, just woken up from a nice nap, but there's something about wanting that feeling of anguish when your brain and body is physically mutating. But, of course, underneath that, is a massively strong pop mentality. Cobain always said he loved the Beatles, and Nirvana, themselves, were absolutely huge. It was telling us that, actually, 'Popular,' as a concept, is a hugely flaky one. Nirvana made it popular to be unpopular, to be outcast. They didn't set out to do that, but they filled a void that an age group needed, will always need. They were the support group.
4. Blur - Think Tank
It should be stated that I always loved Blur. They were always more interesting to me than Oasis and I always had more fun with stuff like Parklife and Country House than I ever did with Wonderwall. They were a happy fun-time band of joy. Then, Out of Time was released from the imminent Think Tank album and I felt my heart burst.
Perhaps, the departure of Graham Coxon led to an inevitable release for Damon Albarn to approach this album somewhat more selfishly, but the result was breathtaking. It was totally different to Blur as I knew them, but at the same time they seemed so much more solid, more engaging. A very heartfelt and diverse album, ranging from the madcap We've Got a File On You to the mournful and melancholy Battery in Your Leg interspersed throughout with an eclectic fusion of unfamiliar cultures that would become a very prominent part of another Damon Albarn group's finest works. I remember not really knowing what to feel about the album when I first got it, other than that I loved it. I see now how it helped me Blur up the dividing lines between what had always seemed to be wholly disparate notions of genre in music.
5. Radiohead - Kid A
I'm not sure this needs explaining, really. Everyone remembers when they first heard Kid A and then went, '...right...' before hearing it for the fourth or fifth time and uncovering the sheer marvel of what had been acheived. Even now, I can listen to it and find something new, discover a new level that suddenly changes my favourite song on the album. The depth to an album created with electronic instruments is unfathomable and, suddenly, it wasn't enough to me to just be a guitar and drums band. It was all about an entire aesthetic and a soniscape to the music you created. Half of the experience of listening to Kid A is getting lost in the feedback aura that underlies the melodies and vocals that; typical of all Radiohead work, do the work of snaring you once you get sucked in. It changed my approach to music so much and left me wondering where exactly we could go from there.
(This is maybe just me throwing in an honourable mention, but as a stark contrast to this, it was around this time I also first heard Manchild by the Eels, which always floors me because of how simple and sparse it is. But, I don't necessarily think it changed my perceptions of anything, it just impressed me as to how much it achieved with so little. It does, however, lead into this...)
6. Eels - Electro-Shock Blues
I had to mention this album. As much as Kid A is a technical triumph, it will always, for me, lose out to the emotional masterpiece that is Electro-Shock Blues. It's a return to that idea of the raw, unharnessed emotional power of music, and this album packs absolutely everything in. It plays with you, bats you up, drags you down, scrapes you along the floor. And all with a very restrained ensemble. Much of the album is limited to just a man and his guitar. It's the light moments of embellishment to a track that suddenly hit a feeling home. But, why is it so game-changing, you ask? It's that moment, after several listens; when you've gotten used to the ride, where you realise that it's a concept album. It's one long story, told as subtly as possible.
It wasn't that this was my first exposure to the idea of a concept album. I knew of 2112 and Sgt. Pepper, but these examples, and others like it, were showcases; big operatic pieces designed for staging. Electro-Shock Blues was like a private story; like reading a diary. It was so personal, so intimate, and yet so well crafted that it could send you on a ride with so sparse a sound. It made me fall in love with 'albums' as an art piece.
7. Tom Waits - Kommienezuspadt
It was kind of tempting to say Little Drop of Poison instead, just for the reason it was how I found Tom Waits, but that wouldn't really be what made me find him so game changing. Because, the first album I got was Alice, and its one of his slower works. And, to a certain degree, his more traditional. And, as it was, when I first took a listen to it, it seemed a fairly standard, soulful blues/jazz affair. It was good, but I could feel it slipping into the obscurity of my iPod. And then Kommienezuspadt came on.
If you haven't heard the song, I can sum it up fairly easily. It's mental. And it is pure Tom Waits. The unusual, squeaking gravel of his voice, the rag-tag sounding band throwing in a Polka feel into a walking jazz rhythm. Surreal lyrics in what I assume is German but may well just be made up. It was an unbridled horror show and it was fantastic. THIS song, got me into Tom Waits, and Tom Waits doesn't do music any other way but his. And that turns out to be pretty important to me.
And that probably sums me up. I keep thinking of ways to fit other examples in, but they would really just be albums or songs that I really like. These were definite instances where I felt my mind absolutely change. Not necessarily in a U-turn, or anything, just a tweak of the wheel along a different line, but a definite shift which gave me reason to change my habits.
He asked the world (how magical Twitter is) to suggest the very moment, as symbolised by a particular musical track, where, essentially, your musical mindset got blown right open.
Can you see why I liked it?
But I instantly found it difficult to answer. Not because I couldn't think of one, but because I could think of too many. My whole life has been a train of various musical explosions that have left me changed somehow. It's still happening.
But it left me inspired, so I thought I might pass on a collection of the biggest alterations. I don't think I could really be able to highlight any specific song, but here, instead, is a chronological list of musical incidents that changed everything.
1: Pink Floyd
Bit vague, but you'll see.
Pink Floyd were pretty much my earliest sonic experiences. My family will often dwell on the various occasions where, as a small, semi-conscious being, I would recite and demand highlights from pretty much the entire Floyd back catalog. Money may well have been my theme tune.
My first ever live gig was seeing them, aged 7 (or, at least, I'm pretty sure it is. It might have been Status Quo a year or so before). And, when I think about the music I listen to today, it all stems from what Pink Floyd were doing. Strong, complex melodies, evocative lyrics, experimental traits. Pink Floyd shaped what I liked and I've followed through with that to this day.
2. Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This (Then Your Children Will Be Next)
Typically, despite my father's influences, I passed into a phase of just tagging along with the 90s pop music that littered my generation. Backstreet Boys, B*Witched, Oasis, etc. Fun tunes, but hardly nourishing. Then, I heard If You Tolerate This by the Manics. It was like a jump start. My brain still snaps whenever I here that acid-edged first chord. It was so far removed from the saccharine beats of the Top of the Pops fare and reconnected me to the idea of music being a conduit for deeper sensation and emotion.
3. Nirvana - Nevermind
I really didn't want to say this, because I'm sure everyone who lived through the ages of 13-18 felt this, but Nirvana really did mean everything to me. Nevermind was an obvious progression on the idea of music being of the emotions and something so raw and powerful as this album was always going to be a teenage gospel. At the age of 25, angst is a bit of a laughable attitude for someone who hadn't ever lived under a bridge and had, in fact, just woken up from a nice nap, but there's something about wanting that feeling of anguish when your brain and body is physically mutating. But, of course, underneath that, is a massively strong pop mentality. Cobain always said he loved the Beatles, and Nirvana, themselves, were absolutely huge. It was telling us that, actually, 'Popular,' as a concept, is a hugely flaky one. Nirvana made it popular to be unpopular, to be outcast. They didn't set out to do that, but they filled a void that an age group needed, will always need. They were the support group.
4. Blur - Think Tank
It should be stated that I always loved Blur. They were always more interesting to me than Oasis and I always had more fun with stuff like Parklife and Country House than I ever did with Wonderwall. They were a happy fun-time band of joy. Then, Out of Time was released from the imminent Think Tank album and I felt my heart burst.
Perhaps, the departure of Graham Coxon led to an inevitable release for Damon Albarn to approach this album somewhat more selfishly, but the result was breathtaking. It was totally different to Blur as I knew them, but at the same time they seemed so much more solid, more engaging. A very heartfelt and diverse album, ranging from the madcap We've Got a File On You to the mournful and melancholy Battery in Your Leg interspersed throughout with an eclectic fusion of unfamiliar cultures that would become a very prominent part of another Damon Albarn group's finest works. I remember not really knowing what to feel about the album when I first got it, other than that I loved it. I see now how it helped me Blur up the dividing lines between what had always seemed to be wholly disparate notions of genre in music.
5. Radiohead - Kid A
I'm not sure this needs explaining, really. Everyone remembers when they first heard Kid A and then went, '...right...' before hearing it for the fourth or fifth time and uncovering the sheer marvel of what had been acheived. Even now, I can listen to it and find something new, discover a new level that suddenly changes my favourite song on the album. The depth to an album created with electronic instruments is unfathomable and, suddenly, it wasn't enough to me to just be a guitar and drums band. It was all about an entire aesthetic and a soniscape to the music you created. Half of the experience of listening to Kid A is getting lost in the feedback aura that underlies the melodies and vocals that; typical of all Radiohead work, do the work of snaring you once you get sucked in. It changed my approach to music so much and left me wondering where exactly we could go from there.
(This is maybe just me throwing in an honourable mention, but as a stark contrast to this, it was around this time I also first heard Manchild by the Eels, which always floors me because of how simple and sparse it is. But, I don't necessarily think it changed my perceptions of anything, it just impressed me as to how much it achieved with so little. It does, however, lead into this...)
6. Eels - Electro-Shock Blues
I had to mention this album. As much as Kid A is a technical triumph, it will always, for me, lose out to the emotional masterpiece that is Electro-Shock Blues. It's a return to that idea of the raw, unharnessed emotional power of music, and this album packs absolutely everything in. It plays with you, bats you up, drags you down, scrapes you along the floor. And all with a very restrained ensemble. Much of the album is limited to just a man and his guitar. It's the light moments of embellishment to a track that suddenly hit a feeling home. But, why is it so game-changing, you ask? It's that moment, after several listens; when you've gotten used to the ride, where you realise that it's a concept album. It's one long story, told as subtly as possible.
It wasn't that this was my first exposure to the idea of a concept album. I knew of 2112 and Sgt. Pepper, but these examples, and others like it, were showcases; big operatic pieces designed for staging. Electro-Shock Blues was like a private story; like reading a diary. It was so personal, so intimate, and yet so well crafted that it could send you on a ride with so sparse a sound. It made me fall in love with 'albums' as an art piece.
7. Tom Waits - Kommienezuspadt
It was kind of tempting to say Little Drop of Poison instead, just for the reason it was how I found Tom Waits, but that wouldn't really be what made me find him so game changing. Because, the first album I got was Alice, and its one of his slower works. And, to a certain degree, his more traditional. And, as it was, when I first took a listen to it, it seemed a fairly standard, soulful blues/jazz affair. It was good, but I could feel it slipping into the obscurity of my iPod. And then Kommienezuspadt came on.
If you haven't heard the song, I can sum it up fairly easily. It's mental. And it is pure Tom Waits. The unusual, squeaking gravel of his voice, the rag-tag sounding band throwing in a Polka feel into a walking jazz rhythm. Surreal lyrics in what I assume is German but may well just be made up. It was an unbridled horror show and it was fantastic. THIS song, got me into Tom Waits, and Tom Waits doesn't do music any other way but his. And that turns out to be pretty important to me.
And that probably sums me up. I keep thinking of ways to fit other examples in, but they would really just be albums or songs that I really like. These were definite instances where I felt my mind absolutely change. Not necessarily in a U-turn, or anything, just a tweak of the wheel along a different line, but a definite shift which gave me reason to change my habits.
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