Comments on: Lists by Committees and Hipster Beards

By: PaulE

PaulE — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 16:02:13 +0000

I might also suggest that the concept of “a generation’s music” is disintegrating.
The Beatles stopped recording before I was born, but their music going onto streaming services (which are apparently favoured by the young) is newsworthy.

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 15:21:59 +0000

Those of us who have been though our mid-life crises and come out the other side understand that the world doesn’t revolve around our generation’s music, but our music is still as valid and relevant as anyone else’s.

The 40-something hipsters have yet to reach this stage of enlightenment. In their minds they’re still as they were when they were 17 and started reading the NME.

By: PaulE

PaulE — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 15:05:17 +0000

It is a shame that trying to be young and cool means excluding people who do not qualify. Fashion can be very elitist.

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 12:16:57 +0000

The Guardian really needs more people like Dom Lawson, who lives and breathes music, and doesn’t give a four letter word about being “cool”.

By: Carole

Carole — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 11:47:35 +0000

There is nothing polite that I can post about Ian Gittins, so I won’t post anything.

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 11:23:47 +0000

Yep, I do get the impression that The Graun is targetting the 25-45 age group, and the message they send to anyone older than that is “It’s not for us”.

Both Ian Gittins’ sneering dismissals of Steve Hackett and Kimg Crimson, and the impending demise of Readers Recommend can be seen in that context.

By: Carole

Carole — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 08:36:11 +0000

I saw that The Guardian was doing an Albums Of The Year list but I didn’t bother looking at it, for the simple reason that I just knew it would be stuffed with oh-so-achingly-fashionable, hipsterish and much-hyped names.

Let’s face it, most of the music writers on The Graun are only really interested in what is going to make them look “cool”, whatever that might mean. The Graun’s rock and pop music coverage is really only about getting clicks from a certain demographic these days, it appears to me, and I doubt that either you or I will ever be in that group.

Also, sorry, Tim, but I cannot agree with you about Joanna Newsom. It is her voice, I find her totally unlistenable. Her voice is like fingernails running down a blackboard.

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 12:32:10 +0000

There *will* an angry blog post about that later today….

By: PaulE

PaulE — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 12:25:13 +0000

The aggregated lists are effectively a poll where only an elite can vote … An odd thing for the Grauniad to endorse
Mind you, when they do open it up to a poll, if they aren’t pleased with some people’s responses, then they disqualify those votes.