Brody Dalle Is ‘Proud’ of Alex Turner’s Speech
REMEMBER when Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys made that speech about rock ‘n’ roll at The Brits and everyone who wasn’t a guitar-loving 14 year old, just shrivelled up and died of awkwardness on the spot?
Well, Distillers honcho Brody Dalle has said that she’s “proud” of Turner for speaking out on behalf of rock’n’roll, because obviously, rock ‘n’ roll was in danger of not being represented all the bloody time on TV and radio. We’ve noticed the collective fawning over 90s indie music, folk-rock-pop cover versions on adverts, Royal Wedding-levels of blanket TV coverage of Glastonbury ever bastard summer and the national press ignoring pretty much every release that isn’t a rock LP and so on and on.
At The Brits, Turner stood up for rock ‘n’ roll in a large room filled with industry arseholes, at an event shown on ITV and presented by someone off Gavin & Stacey. Which is very rock ‘n’ roll, obviously.
Speaking to MTV, Dalle said: “I don’t get it, I don’t understand what the big deal was. I heard there was a kerfuffle about what he said and then I read what he said and – is it just me? – there’s nothing wrong with what he said!”
She added: “More people need to say what he said, I reckon. I’m proud of you Alex Turner, wherever you are.”
Alex Turner, when remembering his speech, said: “I suppose on some level, in that environment, rightly or wrongly, it almost feels like we were representatives of guitar music, or rock’n’roll. And while I don’t see getting any trophy as a great victory, in some sense it’s a victory for our music. But I can’t go up and gush about how I dreamt about picking up a Brit Award all my life, because it just isn’t the truth.”
While Turner and Dalle are perfectly allowed to say as they please, you’d hope that rock ‘n’ roll might try and represent itself with the old fashioned idea of making exciting, forward-thinking records that make old people feel out of the loop, rather than piddling out catholic numbers that either lean on punk, blues or ‘classic rock’.
Pop, hip hop and dance music have moved on and pushed the envelope while gobbling up all the influences under the sun. Meanwhile, rock music hasn’t done anything particularly fresh in decades. Naturally, there’s some records out there that are great, but they’re currently swamped by beige dreck.
There’s a reason Turner felt the need to defend rock ‘n’ roll because, frankly, the body’s started to bloat and attract flies.
Posted: 1st, May 2014 | In: Music Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
