XFM / MMJ / The state of the world, music et al

[amodial]

Just gotta get this off my chest guys. I know y'all relate and help me get over this but it REALLY pissed me off  >:( I'm gonna pour my heart out and swear alot so here goes.

On my way to work in my usual state of bleary eyed apathy. I work in a record store and serve aural offal for most part of the day to bleeting sheep who would buy live recordings from a lunatic asylum if they were told their peer group would respect them for it. People just love to listen to what their told to, watch what their told to and believe . . .

Anyways, I am already digressing but yeah, on my way to work and listening to XFM breakfast show. Those of you in the UK will know the station. Anyways, I never liked that moron of a presenter Christian O'Connell. The kind of guy that would try to be popular at school by adhering to the aforementioned doctrine of trying to impress his peers by being another sheep. Anyway, he made a jibe at the Jacket. Something along the lines of "By the way, we won't be playing any of that My Morning Jacket" (should you wish to request it). I was fuming for a number of reasons. Which your all gonna hear should you care to read on.

First off, this station markets and prides itself on being the UK's "only alternative" radio station. Let me laugh, its owned by the UK's biggest radio station C(r)apital FM. And exactly what is it an alternative to, since it plays the same roster as every other fucking station in the UK. Stereophonics and Beyonce and 50 Cent FM.

So why wouldn't they play MMJ if they are the alternative they purport to be. Maybe the length of the tracks? We couldn't have a song running into the commercial break could we. Those ever so important commericials. 20 mins of commercials, 20 mins of mindless chattering about some two-bit no talent moron who has nothing to do with music, and maybe about 30 seconds of 50 cent's latest opus. That's the strategy folks (and a real alternative) haw haw!

Then there's another reason that struck me. Pretty hard to convey especially as its reverse sheep psychology! MMJ have received so much critical acclaim over here that it would appear "alternative" to go against it. Maybe this is closer to the mark for an explantion. I'll be cool by denying what is cool. The kind of people that deny Jimi Hendrix and end up listening to Steve Vai even though deep down they love Jimi, they just gotta be different from everyone else. Maybe I'm not being too clear but I think y'all understand. Do y'all remember the guy that posted that bad review of It Still Moves. Same mentality. "I'll go against the grain, simply for the sake of it, simply to boost my own sense of self-importance." That's the ego talking. And they keep listening to their ego until they start to believe themselves. Sad! You can't diss the Jacket until you've tried it on.

I've always believed music to be a barometer for whats going on in society at large. No surprise that music is shit and society is pretty fucked up right now. MMJ are an antidote. No fucking doubt about that in my mind. We've all expressed our feelings openly on this forum and this band are the first in a long time that I have truly loved on its own terms, purely for the music. I used to hang out after gigs and meet bands, and I was tempted to after seeing MMJ recently, but whats to say. The music leaves nothing to be said at all. I'm sure the band are great guys etc etc, but at the end of the day, the music of this band is ALL, and I've come to realise thats what it's all about. Not reviews, not acclaim, not meeting the band and seeing what cool guys they are, not getting pissed off about shitty reviews or presenters that I disagree with. Its that pure moment like the opening riff of Strangulation, when your spine tingles and your out of your body, in another reality altogether and moving beyond your benal mortal existence towards something unknown, majestic yet unnameable, ungraspable. Thats the beauty of it. This music moves me to the point of tears and not many bands do that. No musician or listener can calculate that, and thats what makes it all the more joyous. It can't be contrived or tainted, its just connection, like a spark, falling in love.

Right y'all probably think I'm mad now or a god botherer, but it pays to be honest and I'm not so pissed now.

I just want to close by saying that this forum is full of the most musically minded people of any forum I know. That says alot about the listeners out there and even more about the band. What makes them so special. Again, you can't define it can you? It's how they make you feel inside. Emotion! God forbid emotion in music! You gotta have tits and ass boys, thats what sells, thats what shifts those units. Funny how you can buy 50 Cent and Beyonce down the supermarket with your toilet roll and weekly groceries. Is there a correlation there. Mmmmmm. Products. Mmmmmm. Straight off a Chinese factory line. Free Beyonce CD with every packet. Just collect the tokens . . . Sorry I am being very very snide now and I better call it a day there. Hope I don't get booted off the forum for being such an opinionated freak. I'm sorry I'm habitually honest  ;D

[CC]

hey amodial,
don't worry bout gettin booted, we love honest people over here  ;D
about XFm, they've actually been really supportive, wrote some great reviews and I think they did a live session too. It's probably just the breakfast show that's not into it. but hey, who cares. it's the music that counts, not a guy at a breakfast show...
do understand the frustration but trust me, it'll all work out great in the end!!!

[lfish]

well amodial,

You pretty much summarized the way I feel about music. You almost carried away  ;)  I couldn't have expressed it better myself. (of course my english is not so good, but I don't mean it literally  ;) ) Way to go brother and if you feel like it, just get it of your chest.

[loper]

Amodial,

what you say reflects my feelings exactly about the current music scene and it seems that MMJ are the antithesis of what is going on all around us. I too am moved to tears by the emotional content of the guys music and (giving my age away here) MMJ are the best band I have heard since Buffalo Springfield, The Beach Boys and The Zombies!  Thats over 30 years for God's sake!!!

History will place My Morning Jacket up there with the greatest bands of all time, despite the abbreviated sound byte, minimal attention span nature of the music scene today.

Keep the faith, there are plenty of others out there that feel the same way as we do!

[ycartrob]

Amodial, I suggest you find a dark, cool room and listen to Bob Dylan's "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)." That always even out the topsy turvy BS that we encounter daily. Don't let some DJ dictate how you feel; take that negative energy and turn into something positive (perhaps turn someone on to MMJ?) Anyway, I am on top of the world because RUSH just announced their 30 year anniversary tour dates and they open in Nashville, where I live. I take BS from folks ALL THE TIME for loving RUSH (I own 22 of their albums) and you know what? Nothing they can say will change what I like. It's just music and thank God not everyone likes the same music. Remember, Christinia Aguiliera and Britney sell millions and millions more records than all the MMJ records combined. It means nothing.

For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.

While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.

But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.
--Bob Dylan  ;D :D ;D :D

[csbx]

I'll point blank say that the AM hours of XFM are painful and irrelevant. You really don't need to go there, at all, ever.

If you've got a digital radio (DAB), BBC6 is the way to go. I swear to god that station is the best thing ever. I'm always recording sessions by great bands and the playlist is second to none. Check it out http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music

XFM by it's own virtue does have Exposure with John Kennedy and Claire Sturgess and that program alone has given MMJ two live sessions in the past and those two DJs are hip to the bands that deserve airplay.

So it ain't all bad, you just got to know when and where to put the dial.

C.

[Oz]

Word. I stopped listening to the radio some 5 years ago. It's saddening if you think about it, yes, but that's why it's better not to think about. All of us here have the same opinion about music that you do, we respect you, we respect good music. As for me, all my friends do as well. So screw the world. Screw radio. Life's good when you've learned not to care.  :)

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

Life's good when you've learned not to care

Yes, yes indeed!  :)

[lfish]

But nevertheless sometimes is caring definitely worth the effort. And I'm not only talking about music.
And no I'm not talking about sex neither. Or maybe I am ( mmm mmm scratchin' chin).  Well I just forgot my point here, ...

Oh yes, wait, care for the right things and try to understand the thing you don't like and world will be a better place.

[Zmog1974]

AMEN.........Dont diss the Jacket until you try it on.

I could'nt have put  it better myself. Remember only you know whats best for you. Get an ipod ...best Radio station in the world :)