Ugly Records

This could be fun. It has been a very long time since I've had an opinion on a record that will fly so dramatically in the face of those who like it and have bought it. This weekend I get the feeling I'm going to wind so many people up it just isn't funny.

The single in questions is the idiotic Ugly Rumours single which is likely to be hovering around the Top 10 midweek thanks to a flurry of downloads from people who believe it represents their solidarity with the increasingly hysterical and continuingly irrelevant anti-war brigade. This is really where the problem lies.

I have never been a fan of attempts to mix music with politics, or to use a pop record as a way of promoting an "issue". What it does is dilute the artistry involved in making the music and distorts how we are supposed to perceive the song in question. If I am buying a piece of music so totally allied to a political cause, what message am I sending out? Is it because I like the song and the performance, or because I happen to agree with the views of the people making it.

Furthermore, what happens if the two don't agree? What do you do if you like the music but disagree with the politics? Or agree with the politics but can't stand the record? To me that is a seriously messed up situation and leads me then to wonder just what motivation people have for buying the single. Earlier this week I helped produce George Galloway doing a stand-in slot on the radio. He used the time to extensively talk about the single and encouraged people to buy it to show support for his anti-war views. Doesn't that suggest that there will be people picking up the song simply because they think it will validate their political feelings or worse still, because they have been told to by a loudmouthed MP. I don't like that, it has nothing to do with music or artistry and everything to do with making cheap political points. To me the two are mutually inconcluslive.

Comedians and satirists quite rightly take the mickey out of the hackneyed cliches of people saying "I'm not a racist, I own lots of Stevie Wonder records" or "I'm no homophobe, I love George Michael", yet the message that is being sent out this week is that you can proudly say "I'm no fan of Bush or Blair, I own a copy of "War" by Ugly Rumours". It isn't as if a political record has ever changed things either. Certain leftie acquaintances of mine speak with a dewey eyed nostalgia about the important messages (as they saw them) of singles such as "Stand Down Margaret" by The Beat (1980) or "Celebrate (The Day After You)" by the Blow Monkeys (1987) ignoring the fact that they were either minor hits or total flops, and not even all that good to boot. Therein lies the other point of course, it is not as if "War" is anything really to admire musically, a karaoke standard cover of an old 60s song performed by a band who are "hilariously" named after Tony Blair's old student rock band. Truly my sides have split.

So we'll see what kind of mood I am come the weekend. The best bit about it is that I'll spend Sunday afternoon pouring excrement over his favourite record and then spend the evening being the hands on producer for George Galloway on the radio during which time he will invitably bang on about how wonderful it is. The song that is, not my writing. I'll avoid showing him that one.

Let's round off with a blast from the past and a piece from the archives. I won't bother recycling the Diana rant from 97 despite it prompting amazed mails from people happy I'd had the balls to lay into the Elton John single which at the time seemed to be beyond criticism. Instead this was from December 96 and the writeup for the Dunblane charity cover version of "Knocking On Heaven's Door" which I felt uncomfortable with for pretty much the same reasons. Changing the lyrics to include a "throw your guns away" meant it was impossible to enjoy the record if you hated the politics behind it. Back in those days I was a little more timid...

On the morning of March 13th this year Thomas Hamilton marched into the gym at the local primary school in the small Scottish town of Dunblane armed with two shotguns. 16 children, all aged between 5 and 6 were gunned down along with their teacher before the madman turned his guns on himself. It was an outrage which stunned the entire world and whose shockwaves still echo round the hearts and minds of virtually everyone. As the families prepare for their first Christmas since the tragedy this single has been released in memory of those who died. It is the brainchild of musicians from the town itself who were determined to make a tribute in song. Together with several celebrity contributors they recorded a heartfelt version of the old Bob Dylan classic and are joined in the chorus by a choir of Dunblane children, including some who are the brothers and sisters of those murdered, to a quite moving effect. Without a shadow of a doubt a Number One smash and it deservedly achieves that placing - yet not without a small hint of controversy on the side.

What has in the minds of some observers soured the tone of the single is the message that is behind it. Uniquely, with the permission of Dylan himself the second verse of the song has been completely rewritten and now refers to the tragedy and carries with it a plea for all guns to be destroyed. This has been the year-long message of the Dunblane Snowdrop campaign, led by the parents of the murdered children which argues that the only way to prevent such a tragedy from ever occurring again is to ban the private ownership of all handguns, such as those which Hamilton used to carry out his atrocity. For the first time ever a charity pop record is thus inexorably linked to a political campaign and at that one which for all its worthiness has yet to carry the full weight of public opinion. As a direct result of this, although the single has sold copiously to a great many people, there are equally those who have felt unable to justify a purchase and thus imply their support for the cause and it is a sad but true fact that the impact of the single and its potential sale has almost certainly suffered because of this.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the track, few would argue that it is a worthy contender to be Christmas Number One next week. The Dunblane single has not featured in the annual betting race at all, bookmakers declining to try to profit out of such a tragedy - as a result all bets will be honoured for the disc at Number 2, should this single be ruling the roost on Christmas Day. Its main challenge will come from the Spice Girls. Their new ballad '2 Become 1' should have been released last week but was delayed (in common with many others) to give the Dunblane record a shot at the top. As it turns out this could also have been quite a shrewd move, as the way is now clear for them to have their third chart-topper of the year and also become the first ever Christmas Number One to enter the chart at the top in Christmas week itself.

The writeup came after I'd gone to my editor and asked for advice on how to address the issue without inadvertently attracting a storm in the direction of the fledgling dotmusic site. Hence the slightly tentative nature of it all. It still provoked an angry email from a woman involved with the campaign complaining that I'd confused politics with "a campaign for the right to life".