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- Why Adam Ant is not the first pop star who likes to be beside the seaside
Adam Ant's decision to tour Britain's coastal towns marks a welcome revival of a historic pop tradition
In June, Adam Ant will embark on a five-date tour of seaside towns – and revive a long lost tradition in the process. As an astute observer of pop culture, the Antman must know that British coastal towns provide the quintessential homegrown music experience, what with the fading Victoriana and the licence for blustery fun and – even better – anarchy.
The big cities might think they're at the cutting edge, but it's the seaside where British pop first thrived – from postwar gigs to seaside brawls between mods and rockers. The mix of showbiz, cheap pills and even cheaper thrills combined to forge an English pop vision far more vivid than that created by art schools.
Growing up in Blackpool, I felt cut off from the epicentre of pop action. But if I had been a teenager in the 60s I could have seen endless Beatles gigs, watched Jethro Tull, or witness Jimi Hendrix set fire to his guitar on stage (one of only two occasions this actually happened).
The 60s was the last decade that Blackpool could be considered the second city of showbiz; even Frank Sinatra would think nothing of playing there. A few decades earlier, George Formby, the UK's biggest homegrown star, would happily live in Blackpool and perform there for months on end. He even recorded songs about the place, such as the lascivious and censor-baffling Little Stick of Blackpool Rock.
Back then, seaside towns captivated the public imagination. The Beatles would dress up for pantomime pictures on the beach in Margate and play residencies in coastal townssuch as Bournemouth. It was a huge part of the pop conveyer belt and probably a cheap thrill in the days before LSD and touring America. The Beatles never left behind the inspiration of the seaside, though. Paul McCartney is believed to have thought up Magical Mystery Tour while looking at one of Blackpool's illumination trams.
Unfortunately, by the time the Specials fell apart on their own seaside tour, the tradition was dying along with the towns themselves. Perhaps they were too old fashioned for the amphetamine-driven cynicism of the era. Morrissey, of course, wrote one of his best songs, Everyday Is Like Sunday, about a visit to Borth in Wales.
Since then, Brighton has become a hip enclave and Blackpool has bravely soldiered on as a piss-up paradise. Elsewhere, other seaside towns have become fascinating curios ignored by the showbiz and entertainment culture that was once part of their DNA. Maybe Adam Ant's jaunt will revive this tradition and more artists will feel the need to be beside the seaside.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - Arctic Monkeys – Suck It and See: album stream
Your chance to hear the fourth Arctic Monkeys album in full, a week ahead of release
During a recent interview with the Observer's Barbara Ellen, Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner mused over what it was that made his band so special. It was, he concluded, the fact that "whatever it is that makes us sound like us is built into the four of us. Josh [Homme] said it, too: 'Whatever happens, it will always sound like you guys.'"
Like the best bands, from the Beach Boys to the Smiths, Arctic Monkeys have a signature sound that's instantly recognisable whether they're playing their debut album's sticky dancefloor indie or third album Humbug's beefed-up desert rock. It should be no surprise to hear, then, that Suck It and See is a record that only Arctic Monkeys could have made. But is it any good?
Well, for those who thought the band had lost their way with the experimental Humbug, there are plenty of pop melodies to placate you here (often ones with a 60s feel to them). Opener She's Thunderstorms shows their nifty way of surprising the listener with an off-kilter chord change, while later on Turner can be found doing his best Richard Hawley impression: "She's been loop the looping, around my mi-i-i-i-nd." Elsewhere, Piledriver Waltz's pretty guitar lines dissolve into a chorus about having "breakfast at the heartbreak hotel".
The band are still determined to rock out, though, and their evolution into a beefier proposition hasn't stalled. Brick By Brick, the first track the band previewed from the album, came across as a sluggish, pub-rock affair, but the haywire riffing on Library Pictures unleashes a more agile, unpredictable noise.
We'll have a full review later in the week, but for now let us know what you think of Suck It and See in the comments section below.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать
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