On the one hand he had to lead his audience, but on the other he has to have an audience – so the reaction to an unsuccessful move can be a ruthless change of tack, which is what we saw now. Like all of us, though, he can be a prisoner of his own contradictions. Weller soon afterwards seemed to disown the show, and put it all down as a mistake. A Greatest Hits LP had just come out, and many may be have been expecting something more traditional. The gig has gone down in legend as a disaster, with fans ripping up their programmes in protest. It was one of the bravest shows I have ever seen – and also one of the best.
#The style council modernism a new decade mod#
The thinking behind it was that the garage sound then coming out of the US was the new mod music, and the band embarked on this new direction. I well recall the Albert Hall gig in July 1989 when that album was showcased. There were flirtations – extremely poor it has to be said – with rap, and in 1989 came the promise of ‘Modernism: A New Decade’ – the album which the record company refused to release, effectively ending the band. Popular modernism was a child of the NHS, council housing and so on, and The Council warned of the consequences of a world in which public was bad and private was good.Īnd while there were flirtations with jazz and Northern Soul, The Council avoided the all too predictable trap of the territory – they did not become conservative modernists. Like an alternative newspaper of the times, they registered the breakdown of the post-war consensus and the start of the process whereby neo-liberalism sought to strip back the conquests won by the mass of the population. South East England’s finest were the new Europeans, a Paris to record stuff that made them sound like a local version of The Isley Brothers.Īll of this 50s and 60s cultural effervescence had, of course, been made possible by post-war prosperity, by a country giving up its empire to spend on its people – which made The Council all the more important. The Style Council, above all else, were a celebration of the three separate components that made up the movement – black American music (modern jazz originally), southern European style and British context and attitude.
#The style council modernism a new decade mac#
Discovering ‘Absolute Beginners,’ reading and re-reading the Colin Mac classic (and who among us has not fallen into the same habit?) had taken him back to the egg.
Some of the parka-clad hordes, perhaps confused by power pop and Quadrophenia, appeared to equate popular modernism with crashing guitar chords and lyrics of teenage confusion. The Style Council were firmly in that traditionīut it was a tradition, bizarrely enough, not understood by many who had come out of the Mod revival. With that priceless combination of humility and arrogance, British musicians have both paid homage to black American influences, and also thrown in other elements, creating something new in the quest to tell our story.
Because for more than 6 decades the basic building block of all great British music has been black America, or Jamaica. The main criticism aimed at The Council – that of inevitably doomed attempts to play black music – could hardly be more ignorant. But if you don’t, then the past is not your knowledge and the present will always be your mistake. If you know you’re history, sing the football fans…. They were Italian style and British swagger made vinyl and live show (or ‘Council meeting’), an indispensable way of getting through the 80s and an inspirational memory. Usually dismissed as some kind of wacky interlude between The Jam and Paul Weller’s solo career, perhaps The Council might be better viewed not only as a highpoint in themselves, but also as a pertinent comment on the best of our mistreated island. Now that so many of those long hot and disappointing damp squib summers have passed us all by, the time has come, I claim, to have another look at The Style Council. (Tim sporting his Pellicano ‘Paolo’ Navy Polka Dot Shirt) – click here to browse. A Fresh Look at Weller’s Greatest Modernist Incarnation (?)īy Mr Tim Vickery – South American football correspondent for the BBC & friend of the Pellicano Funksters!
0 kommentar(er)
