This is a very brief post to wish Bee GeeRobin Gibb all the best in his continuing recovery from colon cancer. he said ‘Well, it’s all simple. I was diagnosed with a growth in my colon. It was removed. And I’ve been treated for that by a brilliant doctor, and in their own words ‘the results have been spectacular’.
he is also preparing to release his first classical composition based on the story of the Titanic and called ‘Titanic Requiem’. He collaborated with his son RJ on the project and will lead a performance of the work with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on 10th April. Which is the 100th anniversary of the launch of the doomed cruise liner.
this man is a Knight of the Realm................ no seriously, he is!
I think it would be fair to say that there is one area of my life that my Mother may be disappointed in me. That is my dislike of the institution of the British Royal family and all condescending pomposity it has. Yes in case you hadn’t noticed I am very much a Republican (not in the US political sense obviously) and most definitely not a Royalist. Having posted recently about Mick Jagger (aka Sir Michael Philip Jagger) turning down afternoon tea with ‘Call Me Dave’ Cameron and Boris Johnson it’s strangely appropriate that a story about those who turned down Royal Honours appeared in the news today. Following a freedom of information request by the BBC a list of those now deceased who have turned down various Royal Honours form 1951 and 1999 has been published. There are 277 people on the list including artists Henry Moore, Francis Bacon and LS Lowry and authors Roald Dahl and Aldous Huxley. There are no rock or pop stars on the list. Read the full story on the BBC site by clicking here.
Sir Tom shows off his first house
However it got me thinking about those rock and pop stars who have accepted honours and those that haven’t. The obvious list of those who have are the rock and pop ‘Sirs’ Paul McCartney, Cliff Richard, Elton John, Mick Jagger, Tom Jones and Bono and Bob Geldof who as Irish citizens are Honorary Knights of the British Empire (KBE). Add to that list Dame Shirley Bassey. A large number of British musicians have received the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), which is the highest honour a British subject can receive below a knighthood or damehood. Those include: Annie Lennox, Roger Daltrey, Eric Clapton, Sting, Robert Plant the Bee Gees and Rod Stewart. It was alleged that at the time of Elton receiving his knighthood Rod was just a little jealous.
Macca ponders his failure to win top score in Rate My Mullet
What really interests me though are those rock and pop stars who turned down Royal honours. David Bowie turned down a CBE in 2000 and a knighthood in 2003 and was quoted as saying that “was not what he spent his life working for”. George Melly and Paul Weller also turned down the offer of a CBE in 2001 and 2007 respectively. Thankfully Keith Richards also turned down a CBE; I’d have been gutted if he had accepted! His comment on Jagger’s knighthood was that he felt it was ludicrous. Influential guitarist and stalwart of the Shadows Hank Marvin turned down an OBE as did Dub Poet Benjamin Zephaniah. At the time Zephaniah publicly stated ‘I get angry when I hear the word ’empire’; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds me of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised’ An MBE was offered to John Lydon who turned it down. I’m pretty amazed that they offered him one really.
Never a Knight of the realm but the only one who came close to looking the part as opposed to looking like an anagram of part
The four Beatles all received the MBE in 1965. John Lennon later returned his to the Queen in 1969 accompanied by a note which read ‘I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam, and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts’. It has been alleged that his Aunt Mimi who brought him up and upon whose mantelpiece the award lived was not amused!
Sir Michael Philip Jagger has turned down an invitation to partake afternoon tea in Davos, Switzerland with ‘Call me Dave’ Cameron and Boris Johnson among others. The meeting was allegedly set up to help promote Britain and British industry. However Sir Mick has claimed that inaccurate comments and suggestions have been made about his political allegiances. This is the reason he has subsequently declined the offer.
The whole thing smacks of hypocrisy to me. Why take a knighthood in the first place if you are not prepared to be a tool of the highest order for the government, the royal family and associated flunkies? What has happened to the anti-establishment, rebellious nature of rock n roll? Would Mick argue that he is trying to change things from within? Maybe, but turning down a chance to imbibe warm milky drinks and crust free sandwiches with a bunch of toffs is not that rebellious is it? It’s hardly like depicting the Queen with a safety-pin through her nose or emptying an ice bucket over John Prescott.
What happened to the Stones of old? What about some “Sympathy For The Devil” or “Gimme Shelter” instead of ‘Sympathy For The Coalition’ and ‘Gimme Earl Grey’. Mick you chose to wear the ermine robes you must have known this kind of thing would happen. Keef would never have found himself in this position he remains a true rock n roller who would almost certainly publicly turn down a royal award if it were ever offered!
Does rebellion still have a place in rock music? I believe it does, what do you think? In the meantime click here to read more about it on the BBC site.
Is Youssou N’Dour just seven seconds away from becoming Senegal’s new president? Well the elections aren’t happening until February, so it will be slightly more than seven seconds if he is successful. He is standing against his former friend Abdoulaye Wade who has been president of the country since 2000.
Despite having little education N’Dour has become a very successful musician fusing African music with Jazz and other western influences. He is also owns a number of broadcast companies in Senegal. Which may help his campaign.
Wade communicated plans last year to change the country’s constitution. This was not well received by the Senegalese people who took to the streets in violent protest. Tensions are still running high with one prominent politician having been accused of murder. This is quite significant for Senegal as it is now the only country in West Africa never to have suffered a military coup.
Wyclef Jean failed in his attempt to stand for the Haitian presidency last year, more for technical reasons than popularity and actors have made it to the top in US politics (Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan). So why can’t Yousso N’Dour become senegal’s new president? Clearly he will have to make sure that convinces all the fans of his music to vote for him along with millions of others among the country’s population of 12.5 million.
Click here to read the BBC report of the upcoming elections in Senegal and enjoy Youssou’s biggest UK hit in which he was joined by Neneh Cherry;
OK this is the third and final post about the missing footage of David Bowie doing “The Jean Genie” on Top of the Pops in 1973. Click here and here to see the earlier posts. The reason for this last post is that the video has now thankfully found its way onto YouTube. You can see it below.
This whole episode brought back one memory about the similarity between Bowie’s “Jean Genie” and the Sweet’s “Blockbuster“, in particular the riff. The latter made it to the top of the chart whilst “Jean Genie”, which only made number two, was still in the top ten. The Sweet‘s single, which was written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman was released shortly after the Bowie song. As a teenager and a big Bowie fan I could never bring myself to like “Blockbuster” but I have mellowed with age and I’m ok with it now, although I obviously prefer “Jean Genie” to “Blockbuster”.
Nicky Chinn has said that all the writers, including Bowie, were convinced that the whole thing was a coincidence. However Chinn has mentioned a conversation with Bowie about the coincidence. He said Bowie “looked at me completely deadpan and said ‘Cunt!’ And then he got up and gave me a hug and said, ‘Congratulations’.
Anyway now you can enjoy that clip (along with the Sweet and an old clip of Bowie doing “The Jean Genie” on the US TV Special ‘The 1980 Floor Show’ recorded in 1973 which regular readers will have seen before) and I promise I won’t post about it again………probably!
Regular readers and Bowie fans who have found their way here by accident will know that footage of Mr Bowie performing “The Jean Genie” on Top Of The Pops in 1973 has recently been unearthed. I posted about it on December 13th, just click here to read that one.
Anyway, first reports said that the BBC would air the film on BBC4 next year. Then last week some news reports suggested that it would be shown today at 19.30 UK time on BBC4. Then on Monday it was confirmed that it would be included in the Top Of The Pops 2 Christmas special broadcast at 19.30 on BBC2 earlier today.
I’m pleased to say that the song appeared reasonably early in the 90 minute show and it was superb. It was recorded live in the BBC studios on January 3rd 1973 and broadcast the following day. Bowie was backed by the Spiders; Mick ‘Woody’ Woodmansey, Trevor Bolder and the late great Mick Ronson. Bowie wore something far less loud than you might expect for the period; a very glam era jacket and trousers combo. Ronson had the jump suit and Bolder had those amazingly ridiculous sideburns. Mr Bowie also showed his prowess on the harmonica, even throwing in a short burst from a Beatles tune. Was it “Love Me Do“. It’s amazing that this is almost 39 years to the day that the single entered the UK charts. It went on to become his biggest hit up to that point when it peaked at number 2.
Bowie was sporting the classic Ziggy cut, the only time a slightly mullet style has ever been cool in my opinion. Was this the last TV appearance by the Spiders? Does anyone know? Bear in mind that this was just a few months away from the famous Hammersmith Odeon gig ‘retired’ and broke up the band. I’d love to hear what you thought of the clip and hopefully if you’re not in the UK you won’t have too long to wait. In the meantime click here to hear an interview with cameraman John Henshall (apologies for saying that he was retired in my earlier post about this story, apparently he isn’t) on BBC Radio Oxford and the audio of “The Jean Genie” from that show.
I would like to congratulate Tracey Emin on her elevation to Professor at the Royal Academy. Her title will be Professor of Drawing which to be fair sounds a bit simple doesn’t it? many people will remember her more for some her installations like ‘Unmade Bed’ but she clearly is a talented line drawer as well. Here is her line drawing to commemorate the 2012 Olympics. Fiona Rae was appointed Professor of Painting at the same time. Amazing the pair are the first female Professors at the Royal Academy since it began in 1768.
Tracy is still waiting for her Professors robes to arrive
The Royal Academy payroll system wasn't working quite the way it should!
Click here to read the full story on the BBC site. As I have said many times before, this is a music blog so let me finish by taking the opportunity to play out with a classic bubblegum hit from 1969; “Tracy” by the Cuff-Links. All vocals were provided by the former Carmine Granito who was better known as Ron Dante. He was a prolific session singer and also provided the vocals for cartoon band the Archies.
John Henshall was the cameraman when Bowie and the Spiders recorded the clip on January 3rd 1973. It was broadcast the following day and hasn’t been seen since. Henshall had kept a copy because he had used a number of new techniques and some new equipment during the shoot. Notably the fish eye lens. Click here to read the story on the BBC.
The film will now be shown in full on BBC4 next year. Along with many other Bowie fans I am a little excited by this news. Enjoy this clip of the song taken from the 1973 US TV Special ‘The 1980 Floor Show’ while you wait for that elusive Top Of The Pops footage to air next year.
In response to a formal request from the We The People website where any petition gaining 5,000 or more signatures will be considered, the US Government has stated that they have never had any contact with extra terrestrials. They went so far as to say that “no evidence that any life exists outside our planet”.
But there appears to be no formal denial of the existence of the Men In Black, although to be fair that question wasn’t asked! Personally, given the diversity of life on our little planet, I can’t believe that there is no life elsewhere in the universe. Remember people, ‘The Truth Is out There’ Click here to read about it on the BBC.
By the time you read this it is likely that the largest asteroid to pass close to the Earth since 1976 will have already been closer to us than the Moon. Apparently it doesn’t pose a serious threat, but of course if no one ever gets to read my latest drivel then maybe those threat assessments were wrong! Remember this piece of rock is as big as an Aircraft Carrier.
The closest that Asteroid 2005 YU55 will get to us will be 202,000 miles and the next close encounter with an Asteroid, assuming we survive this one, will be in 17 years. Then in Aril 2029 Asteroid Apophis will pass even closer at a miniscule 18,300 miles. Apophis has been seen as a major threat of collision before but has now been downgraded.
Click here to read about it on the BBC and then enjoy a couple of Asteroid related songs (well more rocks than asteroids really!)
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 