Just a random thought here. Does the word Normal seemed to have ceased to exist, apart from in the scientific sense (ie Little Rodney's temperature is normal). In terms of society nothing is normal anymore. I'm not saying this is a good or a bad thing, I genuinely am not sure. It's probably a bit of both. I was just watching a clip on Youtube of Elon Musk in the White House with Donald Trump and my first thought, which is probably an indictment on me, was "These fella's aint Normal".
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 12, 2025
It used to be that when you saw the US President in the Oval Office, there was an air of gravitas. You expected measured, balanced words from behing a desk. Whatever is going on, that is not the case now.
It's not just The President. If you watch anything on TV, drama's, sitcoms, you never really see the sort of situations that we see in real life. The language does not reflect the way real people speak, their concerns are not our concerns and the way they behave is not the way we behave. If you watched Coronation St in the 1960's and 1970's, many of us would have thought it was a fairly realistic representation of a Northern Street in Lancashire. There was wit and humour and genuine affection. I see none of that. I don't mind seeing diversity on TV, but I get irritated when storylines are bent to suit political narratives in a clumsy and clunky way. BAck in th 1970's, there was a TV drama called "When the boat comes in". It dealt with some chunky issues, such as the rise of facism in working class communities. It was done in a realistic way, withouit seeming preachy and inauthentic. Now, even things that I think are quite good have irrelevent sub plots, random characters that detract from the narrative and unrealistic situations that are all bolted on to fit whatever axe the producers have to grind.
It all adds to an air that nothing is quite believeable, nothing seems normal and nothing really rings true. And then there is the music scene. I go to a lot of gigs. I perform quite a lot. I run a music studio. It is absolutely 100% clear to me that the gatekeepers of national musical taste are hell bent on removing music as a force for good, and are just turning it into meaningless background noise. I was raised in the era of The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Bob Marley, Misty in Roots, The Specials and The Tom Robinson band. They all took inspiration from artists such as Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, Nina Simone and Marvin Gaye. These artists all made great music, but also made music with powerful content. It was music that made you open your eyes. It was music that made you want to look beyond your current horizon. It made you feel alive. There is still great music out there, but you usually only find it by chance or a mate recommending it. On Friday I went to see Bilk at the Electric Ballroom in Camden. A young punky band from Chelmsford, writing great songs that left me appreciating a great night out. It felt good and very normal for me watching such a band. Two things occurred to me. The first is that if a band like Bilk are not getting the support of the industry, something isn't right. The band is signed to Scruff of the neck records, a Manchester independent label. They are doing well, but I only heard of the band via Tom, our trumpet player. However I look at it, the fact that a great young band, who can fill the Electric Ballroom, should be getting far more exposure. The UK music industry and the life support mechanism around it, must be deliberately shooting itself in the foot to suppress decent young bands. I can think of no other logical explanation, to push the type of thing they think we should all like, but in reality isn't very good a lot of the time. In early Judge Dredd comics in the late 1970's, a common theme was people going mad through "Future Shock", where society developed so fast people felt left behind and excluded. I am, for the first time in my life, feeling a bit like that!
It makes me feel like I am in a strange parellel universe where the people in charge are deliberately ruining everything. I was never really one for normal, but I like the fact that normal was there, even if only to rebel against. When I see pictures like the one of Elon Musk in the Oval Office, it is so odd that I genuinely don't know what to do. I know this blog probably sounds like the rantings of a madman, but that is almost how I feel as I see and hear things that offend my brains sense of how the natural order of the universe should be.
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Anyway, if you want a slice of reality Rog T style, why not have a listen to my band, The False Dots or even better, come and see our show at the Dublin Castle this Sunday from 2pm, celebrating 46 years of making a racket!
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