The jukebox of cringe and the sound of the stars

There has been some talk round these parts about liking music that is embarrassing, uncool or otherwise shameful. It started on here with the Mariah Carey Christmas song business a while back and it has been bubbling about in the comments boxes ever since. I believe someone mentioned Showaddywaddy (Sorlil?), there was a whiff of Westlife (Señor Armstrong?) and let's not even get started on the great Hallelujah debate (Barbara Smith!). I find I am liking the big H song less and less as the days go by (but as you may remember I am not one of the poets-who-particularly-love-Cohen...I'm fairly indifferent).

Anyway, with all this in mind I was interested to read the feature in Friday's Independent supplement 'Records of the Year (by the people who should know). Kate Rusby (perhaps the best known of the current working English folk singers and a big favourite of mine) picked Noah and the Whale's self-titled album (bit alternative, weird nu-folk business) but she also named Coldplay's 'Viva la Vida' (huge, mainstream, almost a cliché of modern stadium rock wiv a conscience) as one of her favourites. I was interested that Rusby chose Coldplay of all the bands and artists she could pick. She could have picked lots of cooler music – in fact it would have been hard to pick anything less cool because whilst Coldplay have been very, very popular in the past their current status (in Britain at least) is fairly 'past their sell-by-date' and their latest CD is quite likely 'CD least likely to impress your friends if left lying around the house' (except of course the way fashion works they may be so out they're back in).

When this last album came out though there was a definite Coldplay backlash in the media - I lost count of the big features in the press telling us exactly why they were such a bag of pants as a band. We were told they were unoriginal, whingey, untalented, spoilt rich boys...mostly by rock critics who could probably be described in similar terms... but either it worked or the public were just bored of them because the album has not made much of a mark (that I'm aware of anyway). I have managed to get to this point of the year without having heard a single track from it (although that might be to do with the fact that I have been listening to less and less music radio). I've never been a particular fan of theirs but I've no axe to grind into their backs either. I liked one song on their first album 'Parachutes' (the song called 'Everything's not Lost' I think) and him indoors was quite keen on them a while back so I have heard a fair bit (especially of albums one and two). I quite enjoyed watching them (on TV) at Glastonbury that year when everyone sang along with the yellow song and the one about the spider (or is that the same one...I don't pay their lyrics a huge amount of attention I'll be honest).

Some might say that Rusby has a record of uncool music moves...last year she recorded a duet with Ronan Keating (formerly of pop band Boyzone) and that upset some hardcore folk fans no end. I didn't like that song but I still rate her very highly – she is a really brilliant singer, a lass who's been out there performing for years and years and who, really, has the right to like and record whatever the hell she wants. Also (and this doesn't get mentioned as much as her voice) I think she is a really good songwriter so I am kind of interested that she likes songs on the new Coldplay CD. Most of her own CDs contain a couple of K Rusby compositions and I think they're all very, very good. In all honesty I would have to say I even prefer her own songs to a lot of the traditional material she records (and I like her performances of traditional songs a lot so it's no slight on them). Such blasphemy would probably upset Rusby (a huge folk fan herself), never mind serious folk fans who would probably want me tarred and feathered or something.

When I saw her live a couple of years ago Rusby sang hardly any of her own songs (despite one of them, 'Underneath the Stars', getting perhaps the biggest cheer of the night as her encore...to which she responded 'I almost feel like a proper songwriter or something'!). Well, if she isn't a songwriter I don't know who is! There are a couple of versions of 'Underneath the Stars' on YouTube (live and otherwise) but here's one with some stars to look at too. I almost put on the live clip but sometimes Rusby is just so precious to look at (that hair, that lovely sweet face!) that I wonder if her look doesn't almost distract from just how good her sound is. This song comes from her 2003 CD also titled 'Underneath the Stars'.



And here's another of her own songs – 'My Young Man' from the 2001 CD 'Little Lights'. Another perfect song – this time about her Grandad who was a miner. All this makes me think...I have a ticket for the event at StAnza 09 about song lyrics and poetry. I hope we don't only have to listen to people talking about Leonard Cohen! Oh and Bob Dylan....If we do I might just have to put on my headphones and listen to our Kate.

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