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It is 1969 and the
world is on fire. Everything is happening and the music scene is new, raw
and flowing with beautiful colours. People are united against war and
pleading for peace. Ponchos are in fashion. Love is all around, helped
along by heaps of mind-bending drugs.
It is 2005 and the world is a disgusting
pile of dead, sodden ash. The music scene is still hot, but nobody is
taking any notice. Somewhere, underground, tonight, there is a live act
that will one day blow the world away with their fresh new sound - if the
big cheeses give them a chance.
The problem is that the big corporations own
the market these days, and they are simply there to sell music and make
profit. Rather than appeal to certain groups, they want to appeal to the
big group that rakes in the dosh. Music has always been about money, but
it’s also always been about having fun...
and I’m not having fun anymore with the shape the music industry
is in.
Apart from destroying the current
generation with their dazzling marketing techniques and helping to
eradicate the origins of music, they are also giving us no anthems to
remember this decade by. Do we really want to recall the current decade by
singing, “I believe in a thing called love”? I know I don’t.
I live just outside Leeds, a city that has
only just been recognised as a true place of bubbling musical activity.
There are around 600 established bands in Leeds and an average of 100 live
acts play every night. Thanks to a few of these bands, especially and most
recently Kaiser Chiefs, Leeds is now on the map and is no longer ‘That
little town next to Bradford.’
Now, I know that hardly any of these 600+
bands will ever experience fame on a large scale, and I also recognise
that a lot of these bands aren’t worthy of fame, but I do see a lot of
potential - and they at least deserve a chance to prove that they can’t
pull it off, surely?
So
why is the music industry only very recently taking notice of these bands?
Has the word not been spread, is there deeper prejudice against the little
scenes? Or have
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they
only just evolved to a stage where it is worth the big companies
taking an interest in what there is to offer? The latter, I think,
is more likely. That is why I think it is important they are
informed, properly, about the lively and ever evolving atmosphere of
scenes such as this one. So:
Walking around the city centre you
are greeted by t-shirts bearing the phrase 'Everything is brilliant in Leeds!' And that’s because it is. Honestly, everything within
the city of Leeds is great, and you’ll search in vain for a more
apt word. It’s fucking ace, to be frank, and I think
people are missing out.
I know it mostly comes down to
making money, but to repeat myself: music isn’t all about money.
The industry is ignoring its true fans. The fans that get obsessed
and buy everything, see every gig, stalk the band members and
eventually try and murder the band in a gun powder plot. These are
the people that music truly appeals to, these are the people that
have music tattooed on their souls and these are the people that you
are ignoring.
I feel, somewhat, stabbed in the
back. Unless you live in London, finding alternative music is quite
difficult. Leeds has finally reached a stage where it is fair to
say, ‘Yeah, its worth been around here at the moment’ and I can
only think of three bands that have anything to do with this city:
The Music, Embrace and Kaiser Chiefs – even these three bands are
all so, so different. There is something in this city for everyone.
Huge dances scenes, a big underground and plenty of places to grab a
snack at 2:30 in the morning. What more could one want?
Come to cities like this and sell
our music; you are missing out. You can make money here, you can
find something that appeals to a lot of people and you might even
find something that will go as far as to revolutionise the radio.
Then you’re really going to make some money. Give the future a
chance.
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Daniel Hill |
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