What is it about a good local parody that brings out the (virtual) crowds? Uploaded to Youtube on Tuesday, it is now Friday and already there are features in the Metro, talk about it on Welsh TV and endorsements from local celebrities like Rob Brydon. I am of course talking about “Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind)”, a cover of Alicia Keys and Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind”, replacing “New York” with the Welsh city “Newport”.
Like the Goldie Lookin’ Chain before them and Taff Wars, who did a series of film parodies in the Valleys, the video has had massive success – being viewed over 300,000 times in just three days – 150,000 views in 12 hours from Thursday evening to this morning. Even as I am sat here on a train writing this post, just pulled out of Newport station, somebody has the song as their ringtone.
What makes a parody so successful is that they appeal to what a person knows; where most people share a common knowledge and it almost always comes down to where a person lives, where they feel most comfortable.
Like a rock band who rouses a crowd by shouting the name of the city that they are performing in, a campaign can be successful by letting people know that you know what they know, it makes a person feel like they are a part of something (unlike David Camerons “Big Society”).
There have undoubtedly been parodies of songs and films about other parts of the country, or the world, but I have heard of hardly any of them – simply because they are not targeted at me – being from Wales, I would not feel the same about a parody of Leicester or Glasgow as I do of a song about Swansea or Merthyr.
My obsession with trying to time portal back to the Hacienda on July 6th 1983 is seemingly endless.
Clwb Ifor Bach was taken over by quiff-sporting addicts looking for a way to get back, just like me. A Smiths tribute band is an odd phenomenon, the good ones will emulate particular eras of the bands brief history, using dress to map the time-line. The Smiths Indeed did not disappoint in this.
The first half of the show, “Morrissey” sported a trademark flowery shirt, no doubt picked up at a hospice care shop not unintentionally. This was the main part of the show, the reason The Smiths Indeed are on tour, to perform a full rendition of the epic album “Meat is Murder”. Released 25 years ago on valentines day, perhaps not totally ironically with romance inspired tracks like “I want the one I can’t have”, the band took on the challenge and succeeded in their attempt to beautifully emulate the great masters of the pencil and quiff. Their rendition of “Barbarism Begins at Home” was every bit as humorous and danceable as it was in 1985 when Morrissey and Marr did their amazing jig (see video), “Andy Rourke” captured it perfectly and I was certainly moving around in a very similar fashion, which may have looked very odd if to any other band.
Finishing off with the title track, the haunting “Meat is Murder” which was cut short, missing out the leading 3-minutes of abattoir noises which probably doesn’t work as well live the song was perfectly executed and a fitting tribute to a track that was so controversial 25 whole years ago.
After the break the band came back on to raucous applause, seeming to have completely won over the crowd. This half would be dedicated to the bands other work, with classics like “How Soon is Now?” and “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” and to my surprise, a song that was recorded as part of The Smiths very first recording sessions with Troy Tate but is not on any of the original albums (but which has since appeared on compilation albums), “Jeane”, this was a delight to hear.
So, overall a very good night and I would definitely recommend that any Smiths or Morrissey fan does not pass up the chance to see The Smiths Indeed if they come within 50 miles of their town during their tour, details of which can be found on their website, http://www.thesmithsindeed.co.uk
Thank you for all the joy that you have brought to me and countless others over the past 26 years. Can you believe it has been so long? I can’t.
I’m very worried about you at the moment, Steven. You seem to be pushing yourself to do things that you do not want to do, primarily performing on a stage.
Correct me if I am mistaken, but you are clearly not enjoying it right now. You need to take a break.
If you were to retire we would not blame you, we have so many fond memories to look back on, you can only damage your reputation from here on. Please don’t push yourself so far that you become branded a hack, only continuing for the sake of the record companies wishes.
Remember Wolverhampton ’88? The fans queued for days and you let them in for free, as long as they wore one of your t shirts. You enjoyed that gig.
Remember Finsbury Park ’92? Yes, it was controversial but you fought them off and won. You enjoyed that gig too.
Can you remember the last gig that YOU enjoyed? Of course, we enjoy every single one, but I’m asking you the question. When did you last turn up to a venue and really relish the fact that you were going on stage? Albert Hall ’03 possibly, during your hiatus?
I say this in kindness and sadness, you need to take some time off. Kick back, relax, perhaps even go back to your old haunts in L.A? Hang out with Nancy [Sinatra]. Do whatever you have to do to enjoy it again, because if you don’t it will consume you and it will all be over.
October 17, 2007 at 13:03 · Filed under Entertainment
Is there anything that hasn’t been said about the decision made by Radiohead to release their latest album download only, and to apply a psuedo-honesty box programme to the payment system?
I will say, however, that I don’t believe that it is an honesty box in it’s true form, as many punditshavebeendeclaring. As in essence there is no set price, it isn’t relied upon that people use their concience to decide whether or not to short change the box, which is the true concept behind the technique.
How the band have benefited from this idea so far is still to be released, but it is the talk of the blogosphere, and beyond, so I cannot believe that they have done too badly.
I have spoken to a few friends who have partaken in this experiment and the amounts given have varied wildy, from £15 right down to the obligatory £0.00. From my findings I have deduced that the amount given will increase with the age of the person and will also fit in with their current downloading habits.
Ie. If they normally download illegally, being allowed to pay what they think the music is worth will not necessarily coax them into actually handing over their card details, but if they are regular downloaders from legal sources, they will dip into their pockets.
To say that this is typical of all who have downloaded In Rainbows would be a gross estimation, but I can imagine not to be far wide of the mark. We’ll have to wait and see if any statistics or trends are published any time soon.
Best movie ever!
OK, maybe not ever.
Maybe the best movie this year … apart from The Last King of Scotland. (Was that this year?)
I was lucky enough to get to go to the ‘Welsh Premiere’ of the film, held at the Odeon Cinema in Cardiff Bay, in aid of Help a South Wales Child, Red Dragon FM’s own charity.
The place wasn’t quite awash with celebrity as was promised, but, it was still able to mingle with the likes of Welsh International (and all round bloody good rugby player) Colin Charvis and the one and only Goldie Lookin’ Chain.
Onto the picture itself, I’m a big fan of the Die Hard franchise, having watched each movie around about 15 times each, perhaps more (I kid you not). I just can’t get enough of them, and I don’t know why. I’m not a particularly macho kind of guy, and I wouldn’t class the action genre as my favourite, but something about Bruce Willis and the frantic heroics he finds himself performing hits a spot for me, and as I’m led to believe, quite a lot of other people.
Perhaps it’s the ‘everyman’ character that he plays? He isn’t ‘the last action hero’ by far.
By the third instalment he is a divorced, borderline alcoholic with a major attidude problem. But despite this, With a Vengeance is my favourite of the first three.
Die Hard 4 starts tamely enough, setting the story up to follow through later in the movie, by introducing John McClane’s daughter, Lucy, who we had already met once, albeit briefly, back in 1988 in Die Hard as a 4 year old.
Then John gets the call, the one he will obviously regret for a long, long time. Of course, he is sent by his commanding officer to the wrong place at the wrong time and gets caught up in a fire fight of epic proportions. The rest, you can kind of figure out yourselves, but it is pretty spectacular.
At no point does this movie drag on, it’s punchy but at times over the top, but what do you expect? If it wasn’t a little OTT, fans would complain about that instead. I firmly believe that Die Hard 4.0 was made as an end to the series. Bruce Willis has said that this is it, that he wants to finish off his run as Detective McClane, and who can blame him?
Since the first Die Hard movie thrust Willis into the big time as a star, he has gone on to act in films of a far higher calibre and show his skills as a truly great actor who is able to adapt to the character in many different scripts.
But as with anything, the initial success will undoubtedly be in the forefront of many peoples minds, especially if sequels are produced and received to acclaim. It becomes almost like the actor is obliged to do another. Willis has said previously that he had been hounded by press and fans, with their first questions to him being about Die Hard and if or when there will be another one.
The plot is enthralling, but also, quite scarily, plausible.
A group of hackers gets into the infrastructure of the American goverment and from there, work their way outwards, wreaking complete havoc and causing chaos.
With complete control over gas, electricity, phones, satellites, traffic lights, television and much more, they have the entire United States in their hands, not knowing which way to turn or what is going to happen next.
How can McClane fight these cyber-terrorists, when we learned a long time ago that he used to not even understand fax machines, I hear you ask? With the help of a sidekick of course. He picks up Matt at the beginning of the movie, during the first shoot-out, of course, Matt is a convicted hacker, with knowledge of pretty much everything. A good guy to have around, considering who McClane is up against.
How has this movie affected the order in which I rank each instalment of the Die Hard series?
Quite significantly, I must say, and I can only imagine becoming fonder of it as time goes by.
My table will now stand as shown below;
1. Die Hard: With a Vengeance
2. Die Hard 4.0 (Live Free or Die Hard)
3. Die Hard
4. Die Hard 2: Die Harder
I would recommend this feature to anybody who even remotely enjoyed any of the other Die Hard movies and fans of Bruce Willis himself, if you want to see him jumping out of moving cars, even at the ripe age of 52. Though it would seem that hasn’t affected his ability to stay sharp and handle a weapon with the greatest of accuracy. 7/10.
