OFF: speaking your mind (was: Guido)

[Jon Jarrett]

        Hey, here's an old argument. I was going to reply to Paul through
private mail then I thought that would be missing the point.

On Wed, 25 Sep 2002, Paul Mather wrote:

> On Wed, Sep 25, 2002 at 08:36:00AM +0000, mark cotton wrote:
> => I don't post to this site very often but I read it daily, and at least my
> => contributions are positive. I've never seen anything of yours, other than
> => your self-opinionated whinging about the website. I know your opinion of it
> => now, after having it (uninvitingly) rammed in my face every time something
> => happens on the website that does not not meet with your expert approval. Now
> => would you do me a favour and SHUT THE F*CK UP!
>
> What are you, the thought police?
>
> This is disgraceful.  Guido has been on this list literally for years,
> and if you care to go back over the archives, you'll find he has made
> many positive contributions to the list and its society.
>
> What I find disturbing as of late is the orthodoxy that is becoming so
> cloying on BOC-L now.  It seems there is little tolerance for
> dissenting voices.  You can't dislike the Web site.  You can't
> complain about the band.  You can't like Nik because you are being
> disloyal to Dave.  You can't do this, you can't do that.  The Emperor
> is wearing a fine set of threads.
>
> The irony in this, for me, is that years ago we used to scoff at "the
> other" Blue Oyster Cult group as being a group of uncritical drooling
> fanboys.  Look at what we're becoming...
>
> It's a sad day indeed when a complaint can't be seen as a positive
> thing.
>
> I apologise in advance for expressing an opinion.  I'll "STFU" now.

        I'm always glad of someone saying this. One of the nice things
about BOC-L has always been that it's got more brains than any Usenet
forum, and more respect for opinions. We're centred around two bands
who've done "... questionable things" in their time (_Mirrors_ and _Space
Bandits_, and royalty cheques all round) so we know they're not perfect,
we know in too much detail maybe. To maintain blind loyalty when things
are plainly being done less well than they have been, or, indeed, will be
(because both bands have been through good patches since I signed up to
BOC-L and BOC at least are still in one and various people whose opinions
I respect think Hawkwind is too) is to abdicate the use of your brain, and
it's because we've got brains we're into the music in the first
place. It's not just about choosing your new infallible figure. That
doesn't mean we can't have fully-sighted loyalty of course but there has
to be room for criticism and judgement.

        After all, as Tool put it, everything we know about the bands is
what they've sold us, so I'd say deciding whether or not we `buy it' is
fair enough, no?

        So I nail my current opinions to the mast. BOC-L has more rubbish
traffic on it these days than it did four years ago but much less than it
did a year ago, thank gods. There is now no-one I would kill-file (I am
reading up to date, just not finding much time to write). Hooray.

        The (HW) website is much improved from when I posted my long
critque of it. Now there seems to be only one Javascript error per page
(Line 67: undefined is not a number) and the updates page is only
duplicated twice. Maybe Rik took my comments into account, as I didn't
expect after he was kind enough to heap abuse on me for my browser choice,
maybe not, either way I won't give forth on that again until his update is
finished. Tell you what though, the BOC website is great and I've never
had any problems with it.

        I *always* have something to complain about with Hawkwind. This is
because I hold them to ridiculously high standards, I freely admit,
because they have been at various times my personal passport to
transcendence and it's nice to have that reliably available. Right now,
actually, I can't complain very much. When the new album still isn't out
by Christmas and there's no winter tour, maybe then I'll complain. Anything
else would just be my black-hearted suspicion. But I am going to greet the
new album cautiously because I think they missed their absolute peak for
recording it. And I do hope someone will eventually get Doug Smith back on
board so that the mess with EBS can be sorted out, not that I want Colin
to lose his job obviously because if an album follows this tour he's
clearly doing something right :-)

        BOC appear to be doing everything right except writing new songs
and having Buck play lead guitar with the Brain Surgeons some gigs, so
I'll just say, hurray, they're coming over in June and pass on with that,
with but an eager glance in the direction of the next batch of remasters.

        Both Nik and Dave have their faults, and Nik may possibly be more
fun and more active (if less together). But as long as Dave is producing
new music (ah... ) he's clearly got the edge. Does it matter, as long as
what they're doing isn't interfering with the other? Of course not. Right
now we've got both regularly gigging, in several of the same venues even,
and no whisper of lawsuits, and though the Space Ritual.net album is a
woeful pile of single-chord uninspiration in my opinion I say good luck to
'em both and I just wish Nik hadn't managed to blow up ICU by dealing with
Dave Anderson (which is my guess only I stress). It's not as if there's,
like, enough space-rock or anything.

        But in both cases, the loyalty these people want from me is
located in my pocket, and I'm happy to give it to anyone who's turning out
decent-quality music and making it easy for me to get it, that's the way I
see it. Yours all,
                   Jonathan

ObCD-R: Farflung - _Live with Nik Turner_
--
"I recognise that I have transgressed many of the precepts of the divine
law, and that I am subjected by various vices and iniquities, disobedient
to the words of the divine mystery brought unto me and a worshipper of the
delights of this military age." Marquis Borrell of Barcelona, 955 A.D.

             (Jonathan Jarrett, Birkbeck College London)