Entertainment For Lively Minds
Are Slade really that offensive?
Posted by robram on 9 December 2008 - 11:39am.
Did anyone see this story that the Holiday Inn in Kensington have banned Slade songs this year.
According to the 'hotel' spokeswoman, "when it became apparent that the Slade hit was not being well received by such a large proportion of our guests, we decided the best way to keep everyone's spirits up in the countdown to Christmas was to remove it from the playlist."
As if that's not bad enough, she then had this to say:
"...if there are any more Christmas turkeys that guests want to ban we will be listening out for any serious requests."
Christmas turkey? What a cheek! Has she no concept of good and bad Xmas choons? Hrumph!
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When I hear the opening
chords of 'that' tune a black mood decends, so I for one applaud this censorship.
Taking that too far?
I'm all for separating the wheat from the chaff, but I was at a Holiday Inn over the weekend and heard "Fairytale of New York" pretty much on repeat whenever there was music on in the background.
Let's have some variation at least.
Fair enough
I've had enough of all the regular festive tunes. These never used to be so ubiquitous. At some point it was decided that certain songs must be played everywhere you go starting 1 December every year for the rest of time ever after by order. This didn't used to happen. Bah humbug!
I still can't reconcile
people shoving a Christmas carvery down whilst listening to a chorus of 'feed the world'.
gits.
ban no christmas songs or ban them all. the Slade song is no more or no less a turkey than the Macca one, or the Wham one or the Wizzard one.
in the meantime, and i posted it last year, i give you this.
Download. Listen. Love.
http://www.tromboneshorty.com/cd_recordings/cd_tracks/studio_60_o_holy_n...
What every hotel needs
Bob Rivers Twisted Christmas Tunes
http://www.bobrivers.com/audiovault/tunes/xmastunes.asp
Chipmunks Roasting On an Open Fire
Aquaclaus
Grahbe Yahbalz
and many more (but no Walking Around In Women's Underwear - look elsewhere)
Easy Solution to all this....
Just stick on Phil Spector's Christmas Gift to You, on repeat....
Job's a good'un
It's Interesting That
Some Christmas songs age better than others
My favourite is John Lennon's I never get sick of it and it's got a great message, I also never tire of Wizzard,Greg Lake,Beach Boys and Jonah Lewie,Mariah Carey and Tom Petty.
As for Slade it is getting a bit wearing,for example,look to the future now it's only just begun,how many bloody times have I heard it,it feeds the santa and happy family christmas myths.
Whereas the Lennon lyric is a classic and it poses an interesting question what have you done this year ? and war is over if you want it i e lets use Christmas or the idea of it, as a way to ending war and division between all people, bloody brilliant
I think it's odd
that you describe Slade's "look to the future" message as wearing but praise Lennon's "look at the past" message. As pointed out more than once here, both Imagine and Merry Xmas (War Is Over) have a smug, sneering quality to them which pervades a fair amount of Lennon's work
Some years ago...
...Noel Gallagher did a track-by-track review of a Lennon greatest hits package for Q/Mojo and dismissed Imagine with the comment:
""Imagine no money, wouldn't it be top?", no it wouldn't John, I've been there and it was shit. I'd rather have the money and the Roller thank you very much."
Noel Gallagher
Never has and never will write a song as good as Imagine,Live Forever what a joke !
A fine critical analysis...
...truly you are the rightful heir to Lester Bangs, Nick Kent and CSM
The Power Of Art
An interesting debate this but I feel like it,
Imagine no possessions yes that's right imagine no possessions,no not in the real world Noel you prick,no just imagine no possessions you know a place where we are all the same materially stripped of all financial difference yes thats right because you me everybody are basically the same when it boils down to it.
Lennon is asking us to imagine things differently than the way they are,so that they become reality like for example an advertisement,ever heard of subliminal advertising ? The message becomes the reality and the beauty of the song reinforces the message.
Have you read the lyrics to Live Forever ? can anyone name me a political Oasis song of any importance ? The last time I saw a clip of Noel Gallagher he was flashing his black American Express card about and saying how rich you have to be to have one of those Noel Gallagher has not and will not change anything, John Lennon changed the world and continues to change it with the power of his art.
I think he may have actually.
Lennon has the better overall canon of work but Imagine is not anywhere near his best so I reckon Noel may have topped it with 2 or 3 of his. Half A World Away, Wonderwall, Live Forever, Masterplan and Acquiesce are all better in my book.
I Respectfully Don't Agree
I love both Imagine and Happy Christmas(war is over) I think they are both classics and I don't think they are smug or sneering, they both are demanding of the listener in that they are political works, by that I mean they are saying get off your fat arse and do something if you want to change the world.
Lennon is saying have you done anything this year ? if not why not and how can you change it ? so that there is not war this time next year,so he is asking us to take action every year and to look to the future to change it.
We could get into an argument about the merits of rich rock stars pontificating to people about how to live their lives but I think that is irrelevant, what is important is the art that is left I don't care how rich Lennon was, he produced moments of great political art full stop.
The Slade one to me is saying just revel in the enjoyment of christmas look to the future it's only just begun, yeah what has ? it doesn't go anywhere and doesn't inspire me in the way Lennon's song does.
Fair enough
I think I struggle to get past the 'rich rock star pontificating to people about how to live their lives bit' and you're right, that argument's been done to death.
I don't think Slade's song is meant to be inspirational, I'd call it a pop song pure and simple, and it's all the more lovely for it!
I prefer Slade
I've heard it too many times but I still think it sounds like Christmas. Lennon song's are ok but the lyrics end up being counter productive through repetition highlighting the smugness and self righteousness (to me at least). The reality - I reckon I've done as much for world peace as Mr Lennon has done - not a great deal.
is lennon the bloke
that ,liberated man that he is,decided he would stay at home to look after young sean while yoko went out to "work"
except he had a full time live in nannie etc etc whom i think he may have ended up being intimate with
on music he and oasis have in common this: it was all downhill for lennon after the eponymous first solo album and ditto for oasis after their first
Watching The Wheels
Is better than anything Oasis have ever done IMO I am talking about the art not about any perceived Lennon hypocrisy.
this is just
pr look how much publicity they've got
True, but...
it wouldn't encourage me to go anywhere near a Holiday Inn!
So, actually, negative PR in this case
but you now know that
there is a Holiday Inn in kensington and that it's holding christmas events and for want of press release they have got national coverage that they would could never have afforded to pay for, and when they back down from the decision that will get some coverage for that too.
Stunts
I don't think I'd be either encouraged or discouraged to stay at a hotel/ motel based on what music they were playing anyway.
Does anyone remember that thing Travel Inn did last year where any couple (married or unmarried) with proof that their names were Mary and Joseph could stay for free for one night between the 24th of December and the 4th of January? That was a little more imaginative in terms of PR (although I wonder how many people actually applied).
It's not Christmas until
It's not Christmas until Noddy says it is!!!!!!!
I some times see Dave Hill in the supermarket 'rond the corner from work, i'll have a word, possible organise some kind of Slade conversion at said venue.
Shouldn't this be in t'other thread?
We want details, damn it! Is he a strictly frozen-pizza geezer or a tofu and taramasalata kinda guy?
On the subject of the Nodster
Why when they in their pomp did the BBC produce a Christmas special with one of the most popular sitcom also at it's height ie Porridge why on earth didn't the boys get locked up in Slade prison........
Probably for the same reason...
...that Led Zeppelin didn't appear on the Porridge Xmas Special.
Noddy *did* of course, play 'Neville Holder', the headmaster in The Grimleys a few years back
Subtle language
Note the language used by the spokesperson -
"We decided the best way to keep everyone's spirits up in the countdown...."
More London Blitz 1941 than Christmas Cheer 2008
mind you come to think of it.......
The Manics Do Slade
Just replace Slade with the Manics' reinterpretation of them from last year and everyone will be happy...
I work in an office where it's Xmas carols all day every day
From December 1st onwards. It can get a touch wearying. The Slade song is one of the few I actually look forward to hearing.
Just yesterday the office cleared out to a meeting and there were only two of us left behind. The other one said to me, "Quick put on something that's not Christmas related." I dived into the pile of cds and played Scream Dracula Scream by Rocket From the Crypt and turned it up very loud. It was quite liberating. Rock music has never sounded so good.
But why?
Why does your office have Xmas music on repeat after Dec 1 ? Personally I can't stand ANY music in offices (that's what earphones are for if you ask me) but why especially does your office have to suffer it after Dec 1 ? Are you taking bookings at Santa's grotto or something? Tell us more!
The answer to that is more complicated than you may think
Firstly
Why music?
We are a small office in the middle of nowhere. It can get very quiet so someone suggested music. We could never agree on a radio station so we all brought some cds in. We now have 300 or 400 including a stash of 27 xmas cds(I counted), they range from Phil Spector to "The Magic of Christmas" by Englebert Humperdink.
The makeup of the office is six people
1/Me (mid 40's bloke, very typical Word reader)
2/A religious refugee from India
3/A religious refugee from Malaysia
4/A young man studying to be a preacher (I'm not kidding)
5/A young woman educated by NUNS!
6/Another woman (the one who said "Quick..."
Try denying that bunch xmas. They aren't refugees in the true sense but their faith is the reason they moved to a predominately Christian country.
4 out of 6 who LOVE xmas so when the 1st of December comes around the decorations go up (Santa's grotto has nothing on this place)and the pile of xmas cds is pulled out from behind the cd player.
The Ramones connection
A major influence on The Ramones non-stop power punk (and haircuts) are the glam-anthems of our very own Christmas stompers Slade!
Yes it really is true (and documented in Legs McNeill's excellent US punk biography Please Kill Me)
I can see that you might get a bit sick of the Christmas one
but anyone who dislikes Slade per se has cloth ears. What wouldn't I give for a contemporary version of this:
It says more about Holiday Inn
that the "guests" are so miserable, depressed and without anything better to do than object to Slade songs. I bet it was fun in the bar that night.