David Bryant

Bored of hearing about "Zack Polanski's new policies" from politicians and social media bods who either DO know or should know better. Policies are voted on by party members, not the leader.

Thinking of forming a prog band called Zack Romanski's Fictitious New Policies and having done with it.

YouTube video by myriver74 Eddy Adamberry ‎– 1.I Am The People

Imperial Wizard also reminds me a bit of this earlier 70s flop. I suppose they were both drinking from the same Lennon-esque stream.
youtu.be/RjddpumiNLA?...

I hate to sound like Mr Discogs Review Guy, but the general quality of the last five or so vinyl records I've bought has been disappointingly varied - clicks, pops and distortion. Given how much I pay for the damn things, I really wish record companies and pressing plants could get this right.

I just don't think you can spend time on Twitter and not slowly go this weird.

I see Squeeze have a new album out based on material they wrote as teenagers. I wonder if I could look back at my notebooks from that period and retool... (*looks*) oh God. No. NO NO NO NO NO NO. This kind of trick obviously only applies to rock music.

You in another decade.

1990s... time for the guru (ooh ah uh uh!)

Seriously don't know what I was thinking with that oversized top. There again, chances are I wasn't thinking much at all.

That's the thing that's always bothered me about it. He sounds like he's singing it in a derelict indoor swimming pool.

YouTube video by Alasdair Gray Archive Lanark Epilogue - Miranda Peyton Jones

Final animation by Miranda Peyton Jones, one of five emerging animators commissioned by The Alasdair Gray Archive & Canongate to respond to the new Lanark audiobook (narrated by Alan Cumming), exploring the novel’s famous Epilogue. m.youtube.com/watch?v=-baM...

It's like some parody from a Peter Sellers film. I can scarcely believe it.
"Now, I'm sure you people in your two up, two downs and cottages have met some rather nice Greens in your time..."

YouTube video by The Chart Show: REWIRED The Chart Show: Friday 16th March 1984

Oh, a fake 16th March 1984 Chart Show episode just dropped, you lot.
youtu.be/DFjZpevpYjc?...

YouTube video by Jacob Rees-Mogg Why the Greens are so dangerous

Oh God this is the best laugh I've had in ages. Either he thought the Fireman Sam opening was an amazing idea, or somebody working for him did - and I don't know which is more hilarious.
youtu.be/s1eCQGMWeQ0?...

I've seen this a few times lately, along with "How dare you do your research! It's creeping me out!"

Think yourself lucky anybody can be bothered, pal. The alternative option of skint, undocumented anonymity has its upsides, but then again, too few to mention.

Will never get tired of this clip, love how she flips the Vs to the manager as she leaves

(I mean, I'm thinking of the grunge/alt-rock era in particular there. I didn't see much of that stuff at the height of baggy).

My wife and female friends would probably like me to point out that some alternative clubs (where moshing, elbowing, shoving and stage-diving took place) could be quite alienating to some women even before Britpop. I don't feel best placed to say how alienating, though.

But I don't even get the 'still' bit! They (and I'm mainly thinking of family members in particular here) just entirely forget I ever was, then demand a boring explanation with follow-up questions, then promptly forget all about it again. It's like talking to a faulty AI bot.

I'm tempted to keep a horrible PETA slaughterhouse film on stand-by not because I'm a militant veggie - I only mention it when I have to - but because it would bloody well make sure I'm not asked the question by anyone for the 43rd or 44th time, causing me to babystep them through it again.

One of the most frustrating things about being middle-aged is people stop paying attention to each other. Too distracted, too lost in their own problems. I am endlessly repeating myself to others.
"Ooh, we didn't know you were vegetarian Dave! Why's that then?"
Are we having this conversation again?

A friend of mine saw an early Oasis gig and mentioned to me "The lead singer said loudly 'I'm off to pull some birds!' That's his credibility down the toilet!" Except it wasn't.
I think a lot of young men in the early 90s probably wanted to be laddish but knew it wouldn't be socially acceptable.

"Country House" is actually slightly odd despite its poppiness, I think. Often compared to "House of Fun", but that single was also very bizarrely and (deliberately) wonkily arranged.
Neither single showcases a band performing at their best, though.

I don't think I even knew which band I preferred at the time - I only knew I loved Pulp more.
Though as someone who spent my formative years living in Essex, Damon Albarn's hawkish but slightly concealed ambition felt familiar, and no more palatable than the Gallagher's.

I've had a few twenty-somethings say "God, I wish I was there in the nineties to see it all!" recently, and felt a bit embarrassed. Then remembered that I almost certainly said the same thing about the sixties to my elders back then.

There are plays about youth culture in the nineties which are waiting to be written. This wasn't one of them.
I mean... it might be great, but even with grudging praise behind it, it sounds so utterly dire.

15. Anti Nowhere League - Streets of London (WXYZ) All the singles to top the NME Indie Charts since its launch in 1981, complete with an overview of the other music in the charts each week.

I ended up having to write about that one on the blog - I drew much the same conclusion. "Oh dear, your Mum died? Let's go on a tramp-pointing session in Central London, that'll make you feel better".
indienumber1s.blogspot.com/2024/09/15-a...

I had a front row seat at the Blur v Oasis frenzy – here’s what a new play gets bang on and bafflingly wrong In 1995, the bands tussled for No 1 – and the Britpop crown. Our writer was on the inside of the mad-for-it contest. Does The Battle accurately capture this divisive moment? And what was Noel’s proble...

Oh God, this sounds like a terrible, terrible idea for a play.
www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/m...

For anyone who would like the clip (including George).

Comment from random on the Facebook Eurovision page: "I'll be honest, the intro gave me Daz Sampson vibes and I initially thought "oh no""

How dare they.

He seems very Thomas Dolby - if Dolby's thing had been patching up old electronics then flogging them off on eBay, rather than pushing forward with technology. They should probably never meet. It might create a black hole or something.

This is mostly me having a dig at my middle-aged self for continually buying or listening to middling (or worse) albums by old warhorses, though. My Mum and Dad did the same.

Nice enough, but my attitude with "heritage acts" (hate that phrase, but it's useful shorthand) like Morrissey is "If this were released by anyone else, would I care?"
A thought that kept popping into my mind about Gorillaz latest. "If I didn't know this artist, would I have bothered?" (answer: no)