Music critic quits saying, ‘pop’s present is unusually burdened by the excellence of its past’
mainWonderful piece by Marcus Berkmann who is walking away after 27 years as pop critic of the Spectator. Savour him one last time here.
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‘pop’s present is unusually burdened by the excellence of its past’
Ha ha, truer words could not be said of the current state of contemporary classical music: “Classical music’s present is burdened by the excellence of its past”
Right, but the fact that major Pop critics are saying it means the pronouncements of the death of classical music are overstated or, perhaps better, totally misunderstood.
It’s the whole of western culture that is finally showing evidence of decline.
It’s the likes of Herrera&Jevgeniy constantly living in the past that are the problem.
Why else would the über-billionaire and archtypical limousine liberal, Neil Young, as you depict here who must be appraching 80, dress and wear his hair like he is still 20? A mere marketing ploy?
He’s 69. I hope when I am 69 people do not look at me as if I were “approaching 80.”
And anyway, so what? Leonard Cohen is over 80 and packs them in everywhere, plays long shows and rocks the house every time. It must take as much energy at least as conducting a concert, and a good few conductors have practised well into their 80s.
Christopher Plummer keeps up a vigorous acting schedule (my goodness, these Canadians have stamina!). The Queen — and even PP — manage demanding rosters of activity.
Don’t be so ageist.
I don’t know if you’ve seen any 20-year-olds lately, but they’re definitely not dressing and wearing their hair like that. If you hadn’t noticed, most people as they age stick with the less extreme fashions of their youth.
To quote Léo Ferré who was asked if wasn’t ashamed to make money with his ideas: “No, because not so long ago I wasn’t making any money with the same ideas.”
Who cares if Neil Young is rich? At least, he hasn’t sold out… And someone who stll annoys “conservatives” at 69 cannot be a bad person ; )
Neil Young is hardly a billionaire.
PP = Peter Pan, CDH?