Iggy Pop’s mistake

“In the interview, the singer launched into a long anecdote about visiting “Paki shops” in Camden.” BBC News.

I’m not really that familiar with Iggy Pop, but can I just say something: calling someone a Paki is essentially similar to calling a British person a Brit and an Australian an Aussie. I do know that Paki has a history of being used as a derogatory term but you have to look at the context.
Iggy said he learnt this questionable saying from some English friends – whether they’re racist or not I don’t know – and video footage shows Iggy saying this with no malice at all, neither any hint of subtle bigotry. In fact alarm bells would ring if he said the PC “Pakistani shops” but with the tone of an NF supporter.

Paki is an entirely different word to the N word, but similar to Paddy which too can either be affectionate or derogatory dependent on tone. It’s not saying it that makes you racist it’s how you say it. And you don’t have to be another South Asian to qualify using it to someone, but just in case, it’s worth knowing what the person feels about the word. I admit at times it feels wrong but I also understand it’s short hand to relax the tongue. The same goes for the N word to a black person. I however do not like that word and do not wish to type it.

The Verve – The Thaw Session

Over at NME.com (good news reportage overall, but usually poor promotion of poor bands you don’t hear about next year.) you can download The Verve’s first new music in 10yrs; a 14min psychedelic jam reminiscent of ‘89-’93, vintage Verve.

I loved The Verve quite a bit back in ‘97 for the obvious singles (and their b-sides). But I enjoyed the older albums much more than Urban Hymns. I also hold some of what they do to be equally as important as Radiohead (maybe more if I’m really honest), with both bands dwarfing the boring Blur and Oasis. None of those two are in my album collection.

Richard Ashcroft has an engaging voice and good lyrics, but once he was severed from the amazing sounds emanating from Nick McCabe’s guitar…well, let’s just say this band was meant to be, even if it meant 2 splits. Hopefully there won’t be another one.

I had no plans to get their reformation album but if it’s like this 14min jam I’ll be quite up for it!…I wonder will they make it free? I promise to pay you more than 80p if you do!

In Rainbows

I paid 80p (+ 45p card fee = £1.25) for the download version of the new Radiohead album.

Why that fee? It works out at about 8p per each of the 10 songs – which is a price a certain Russian site offered for high quality mp3s of albums. I have no idea if there’ll be downloadable artwork, and I don’t particularly care too much.

I don’t understand why some people feel inclined to pay full retail prices for the download album. Bands only get a small portion of the CD pie money, the rest goes to label, distributor and retailer. In fact I’m dead sure Radiohead don’t care what you pay, but if you give something for the busker’s tin they’ll give you a greatful nod. And if you decide to share these DRM free files, that’s up to you. They obviously aren’t scared of the quality of their work and hope you’ll spread the word, come to a show or buy some merchandise. They have enhanced their chances of a wider audience.

The reason I didn’t pay £40 for the discbox is I don’t really care for vinyl or the packaging as I’m not a hardcore fan. I haven’t seen them live although I own all the albums (not the singles) from The Bends onward. My favourite album was actually the last one, much more than the quickly tiring OK Computer.

Besides, at 80p I’m not worried if I won’t like it! If I do like it, the probable CD release may tempt me into wanting a reasonable priced store copy with printed CD and inlay etc. 80p’s like when I gave friends of mine cassettes at school to tape me albums they wanted to share with me. I got some good ones – that I eventually bought the CD versions of.

My email program is open until sometime after midnight, to see if I’ll get the activation codes before waking up. If I don’t get jammed by traffic I’ll get to go to sleep with the new album in my Creative Muvo.

I’m not going to review the album – there’ll be tons of people doing that. Even people who never bothered to even glance at Radiohead artwork before.

Well done though, Mr Radioheads – you understand the nature that the industry should be.