How Not To Write About Music – I: Greetings and Salutations

I’ve started blogs before. The intentions are always the best, but time and the need to earn money often put them on the back burner, where they sadly fizzle out and die, half-cooked and ignored. But I’m going to give it another go. Why? Well, several reasons.

Firstly, although I write about music all day, it is always in the context of reviews and promotional material, with no room to talk about music more broadly, to explore industry quirks and passing trends, nostalgic memories or use the space as a chance just to be downright bitchy! (We all need to let off steam every now and then.) And what about beyond music? I used to write a book column for a small newspaper, as literature is my true passion if I’m honest. I did pitch the idea to a local publication that I might do it again, but apparently, in their eyes, I’m not the one. It seems that my opinions on the seductive sparsity of J.M. Coetzee’s writing or a celebration of China Mieville’s weird fictions, the brilliance of Martin Amis’s journalistic pieces or why you really should give Dickens a try (he can be hilarious) are not to be part of the critical fabric of this small railway town I call home.

And why not other things that take my fancy – films or role-playing games, humour or the simple pleasures of drinking wine in the garden with the cat? Hopefully, I can pitch myself between the funny and the informative, say, somewhere between the awesome Caitlin Moran and her ability to point at the stuff of life and say, “Isn’t that strange?” and Lester Bangs’ brutally honest irreverence.

So, the chosen title is twofold and typically self-deprecating. I might talk about music writing, but I don’t think that I’d ever presume to tell anyone else how to do it. And I might discuss things, not just music. Who knows? I suppose we’ll have to see how it goes. Until next time (if there is a next time)…

TTFN