[kj] OT: Billy Bragg: Proud to meet the Queen, have symphonic works performed w/ his lyrics

[B. Oliver Sheppard]

Brendan wrote:

> Olly do you venture out of punk / post-punk much? I'm trying to draw a

> mental line from Punk to Classical. It's a bit convoluted, and I'm sure

> there's many ways you could do it...I'll give it a stab:

>

>   



That's a fair question, and the honest answer really is "no," I don't 
venture out of punk or post-punk much. I have tried many, many times, 
and am never satisfied.

It's not that I'm narrow minded, as I have heard and have, honest to 
God, tried my damnedest to like other types of music. I briefly thought 
I could like folk music in the original sense of labor folk a la Woody 
Guthrie, Pete Seeger, etc, -- but that holds on for so long. I just 
can't like much outside what I think of as the hardcore punk spectrum.

Seriously, swear to the almighty, I just cannot seem to like anything 
that falls out of some musical constellation that doesn't have something 
to do with post. Post-punk, punk-influenced metal, proto punk, no wave, 
some avant noise and noise rock (arguably related). Even liking Killing 
Joke was sort of going out on a limb for me at first, compared to what I 
prefer, which is straight up American purist hardcore ala Poison Idea 
"Feel the Darkness" & "Pick Your King"  -- but Killing Joke were great, 
I one day realized, influential in a variety of genres, and in the last 
few years they've definitely won me over. I also have had a fondness for 
death rock -- the original guitar-driven gloomy post-punk of bands like 
45 Grave, early Christian Death, The Superheroines, UK Decay, so that's 
related, too.

I really would like to be able to sit down and listen to classical stuff 
and enjoy it. Just can't. Same for world music. I'm just being honest.


-Oliver