It's not that I am an expert on documanteries, but I do enjoy a nice interview, or an historical account of some band, a song. It might show how intrically musical lines sometimes are linked. And as I mentioned earlier (in Casparsong blog #1) that I was influenced by Britpop from the nineties, I didn't want to miss the docu on pop music form Sheffield in the Eighties, shown last night in the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam.
It's called 'The beat is the Law: Fanfare for the Common People'. Okay, I got it, Common People is the big hit of Pulp, and Pulp is form Sheffield. When we got to know Pulp, it was clear that the band had been togethere for a long time, before they got succesful. The docu showed what had happened in those obscure years, the eighties, sometimes called the lost decade...
As a contextualizer, it is good to know that those early eighties were not very happy ones in industrial Britain. Mrs. Thatcher took on the out-moded mining industries for a fight, responded by endless strikes from the part of the unions. Sheffield was one of those cities that was seriously hit by this social unrest. At the same time, there was nothing, no infrastructure what so ever, for youngsters with an interest in music, or the arts. So, there was no future but the doal, even if you had some kind of talent. Now for all those complaining about the budget cuts by the Dutch government, let this come as a consolation; when there is nothing, you have to create it yourself, and if you are talented, you'll make it anyway. As was done in Sheffield, some frontrunners started their own studio in an old abondened warehouse, called Fon. The docu showed clearly that there were some talented musicians around. Especially a band called Chakk sounded really good with a nice cross over of industrial, electronica, and new wave. Unfortunately, there was not enough of it in the docu, so let's all start looking for their obscure debut, and apparently only real studio album, called '10 Days in an Elevator'. Anyone that can give me a hint on how to get this album, is more then welcome!
Meanwhile, this not so very well known, nor succesful band called Pulp, is still part of the Sheffield scene. There are no serious remarks about them. Someone in the docu calls them 'a good band', but it is more likely they will split up due to a lack of succes. As the end of the docu draws to a close, all of sudden there is talk of two britpop bands: Pulp and the Longpigs. One is succesful, the other promising, but without the necessary succes and is not heard of again. The big question then is why? Why was Pulp, being a mediocre band, turned into a succes, why don't others make it? Was it the talent, or luck, of producing a hit single? Something lacking with Chakk (or so said the people at their record company), and Longpigs, but Pulp hit the jackpot with Common People? The documentary doesn't answer that question, and understandably so. I mean: if a hit single is all there is to it, it might make the scene where it all happende less important, and that was what the docu was all about, or was it? It looks to me the director wanted to tell the story of the impossibiities of the music scene of Sheffield, but needed a big name to make it more interesting for financiers and viewers. To me, it would have been better if they had made a clearer choice from the start to portray Pulp, from their waisted years in the eighties to their headlining Glastonbury festival in 1995. (ranking? 2 out of 5)
Ps. here's a clip from Pulp at Glastonbury. Too much violin, but that doesn't stop the crowd (wow!). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWaHnlt2I3U.
And, I found some Chakk on youtube.com as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWaHnlt2I3U. The search for their album is still open!!
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