Tuesday 25 October 2011

Why I hate the 1980s (I think)

I've been saying for as long as I can remember - well at least during this century - how much I hate the 1980s. But I know a lot of people think that the '80s were great, so I'm wondering whether I should rethink.

I'm wondering, in particular, whether this is perhaps an 'it's not you, it's me' moment.

Sunday 16 October 2011

Sounds of the 20th Century: real music, false memories, and why the 70s weren't actually that great

One of the things I'm learning in the 21st century is that radio is often better than television, and the internet is often better than both.
Meanwhile, back in the 20th century, it's 1979. Or it will be on Thursday, when a radio series called Sounds of the 20th Century gets to episode 29. They started in 1951 and they're going on til the end of the century: one year, one hour, a mixture of pop culture, pop music, politics and a little slice of archive zeitgeist.

Wednesday 5 October 2011

All the cool bands

Sometimes you actually find something useful on Facebook. One of my friends 'shared' a photo that's been 'shared' about 3,000 times and I couldn't resist doing the same. It's what they call viral marketing, but as far as I can see it's on a real person's Facebook page and it isn't advertising anything.

The photo is just some text and says this: 'I may be old, but I got to see all the cool bands.'

It's obviously struck a chord with people of a certain age. And why not? I know how to make a young person jealous really easily. You just say you saw the Ramones and Talking Heads on the same bill. And it cost 50p.