the gaps maketh the man

[mozy]

Martin Wheatley wrote:

> Of course not.  It's to play things that we might not know from areas that
> interest Peel musically and which comes from the cutting edge of the time
> And may will surprise you to know that Music Hall was not mainstream - it was
> working class at the time when most music was middle class - the punk of its
> day.  It doesn't seem that way now because most of the rest of the music
> has been forgotten and Music Hall has retained a following so people still
> know it

Are you sure punk can truly be described as working class movement? I
was there and I distinctly remember nice middle class kids going off on
shopping trips to London to buy Westwood designs from Sex/World's End.
Many of those making the music or pulling the strings were middle class,
e.g. Mclaren, Strummer, Siouxsie. It was more an urban concept that cut
across the socioeconomic boundaries.
 
> There was the same width of music available in the 20s, 30s and 40s as there
> is now.  All the way from ethnic to serious classical with popular in between
> There were no LPs or CDs so tracks had a length limit but there were a great
> many 78s put out.  Peel has access to all of these via the BBC Gramophone
> Library
> For what it's worth some of the tracks he's played so far have been common
> ones
> in that they have been reissued on albums but some have not and must have been
> put on the minidiscs he plays from original copies in the library.  Since the
> researcher on the Peel show is Stig's generation I'd guess there is an expert
> in the library who has prepared them for him.  Later on Peel will no doubt
> select the tracks himself
> 
I should like to imagine that what is being selected by whomever is
intended to reflect what Peel might have played if the occupation of DJ
had been around then. It may not sound radical to our ears, but would
have the same novelty then as his choices do now. I may know nothing
about the variety and range of music around at the turn of the century,
but I can't conceive how there would have been the same diversity as
there is now. I assume that this is why so many labels have been coined
to try and categorise the astonishing number of genres. Now, people have
access to so much more in the way of recording and music-making
technology,that experimentalism has to be more rife.

> >The
> >interesting thing of course is that by the time we get into the era of
> >Peel's own career we'll be positively overwhelmed with possibilities.
> >Look at the breathtaking eclecticism of any single Peel programme of
> >this year and compare it to the distinct lack of musical and stylistic
> >variety in the records being produced in the early decades of the
> >century.
> 
> The true mark of the scholar.  Comparing something you know
> with something you know bugger all about.  You'll go far!
> There is a career in journalism awaiting you :-)
> 
That's a bit cruel, isn't it? I thought this was a discussion list, not
an arena for hurling insults.

Maureen