He’s a legend but I don’t agree with DJ Tony Blackburn on this one. The headline reads: “BBC radio legend Tony Blackburn says, ‘modern music won’t last’ 60 years[1]”. Maybe it’s newspaper click bait but there’s a sentiment in those words that will resonate widely.
To me, every new generation does something different. To even think that you or I can predict what’s going to be listened to in 2084 is way off the scale. One hundred years from the infamous 1984.
Stepping back 60-years there’s a nicely curated version of 1964 to entertain us. I’ll bet there are those long gone, whose tapes and vinyl records have been trashed, who thought they would echo down the generations and haven’t. To match that there’s those who’ve had a few unexpected days of fame but that we still listen to their music with great affection.
Tony, in his Radio One role inspired me. I remember trying to put on a school disco and even proposing a school radio station. I found that our “modern” 60s built secondary school had been wired for an audio system but that it was never used. Probably for the best, the headmaster at the time was not so enthusiastic. As a 14–15-year-old who’s hobby included dismantling electrical bits and pieces, wiring up an audio system wasn’t a big deal.
It’s almost Halloween. That’s a time for the spooky singles of the past start to surface from the crypt. The first one to rise from the dead is the one that I played in my teenage school days. The Monster Mash[2] got a re-release. It came out in 1962. I’m sure it was charting around 75 too. Boris Pickett and The Crypt Kickers have stood the test of time, as all good monsters should.
Next on my horror list is the Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon[3]. Ah-hoo. Better not let him in. Comic and scary at the same time.
Having started a list, I suppose I’d better keep going. Don’t Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult has to be up there, on the top[4]. Although strangely this song has an upbeat feeling about it.
The video is as B movie lookalike as possible. Made by a man who did transform throughout his life. Michael Jackson left us with a seminal music video, half of which no one needs to watch[5]. “Thriller” has to be part of a Halloween list. Zombies have never been so popular. They ought to have their own prime time Stickly Come Dancing show.
For number five, for all its devilish despair I call up: “Paranoid[6]“. Black Sabbath, just the name of the band is enough to qualify. So, the line goes: Happiness, I can’t feel. The sound is enough to explode any gramophone. The louder the better. It will wake the dead.
POST: Here the AI generated image is bizarrely spooky. In the gloom, the tone arm of the record player hovers over the disk playing. Is that because the AI was being clever or is it because the AI hasn’t got a clue how a recorder player works? I think maybe the later.
[1] https://metro.co.uk/2024/10/26/bbc-radio-legend-tony-blackburn-says-modern-music-wont-last-60-years-21843219/
[2] https://youtu.be/-tHyRQOdqf0
[3] https://youtu.be/c6M89iDabwM
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-4G18t5se8
John Vincent 