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After moving to Sweden and before my first trip back to London, in the spring of 1978, I had already heard some new music (on the one pop radio programme per week) and read loads about punk and new wave in the NME. I had also received a cassette of Radio London from my brother, of DJ Kenny Everett playing current hits, including Elvis Costello. So, that spring I bought a handful of albums by the likes of Costello (This Year\u2019s Model), Ian Dury\u2019s 12\u201d single Sex and Drugs and Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll, The Tom Robinson Band, Todd Rundgren (The Hermit of Mink Hollow) and yes, I admit it, Cheap Trick (Heaven Tonight). Though neither punk nor new wave, those last two were good albums anyway. Elvis Costello became a hero, but in 1979 an even more lasting hero showed up: Andy Partridge from the band XTC. But while Costello became a household name, playing at the White House and doing duets with Tony Bennett, Emmylou Harris and other musical icons, Andy remained hidden away and virtually unknown except to his die-hard fans. In Swindon, a small town in the West of England. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andy has written, played and sung some\nof the most stunning music and lyrics I\u2019ve ever heard and though well-respected,\nfor some reason he has never been popular with the masses. Despite several hits\nwith XTC. But Andy and partner Colin Moulding in that band managed to create a\ncatalogue of songs which, for me, surpasses just about everybody else\u2019s, except\nmaybe the Beatles\u2019. And Andy was a Beatles fan too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve never met Andy Partridge or even seen\nhim, as they stopped playing live in the early 80s, but I had brief twitter\ncontact with him a few years ago after I posted a question on a fan site: \u201cAre\nthe last two XTC albums ever going to be uploaded to Spotify?\u201d I thought that was\na reasonable question and not particularly controversial. I even have both albums\non CD and was simply hoping for easier access. But I was quickly shot down in\nflames by another Andy-fan who seemed to consider my question the most stupid\nquestion ever posed in the history of stupid questions. We very nearly came to\nwords, as I was quite pissed off at being put down so harshly. But that\u2019s how\nsome people address other people online. Consequences and feelings are ignored.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andy also came online a day later and\ncommented reasonably that Spotify pay so little that the income on the sale of\na single XTC CD was worth more than many thousands of plays on Spotify.\nProbably true. XTC own the rights to those last two albums and quite rightly do\nwhat they want with them. Andy also has a very well-thought out strategy for\nhis releases and does something quite special. Not that he needs my approval. For\nme personally, though, streaming sites are good. I listen to almost anything I\nlike (except the last two XTC albums), wherever I like and most importantly I\ncan even make my own music available to both of my fans. Which was not even possible\na decade or so ago. If there\u2019s a negative side to streaming, it\u2019s that music no\nlonger seems to have any value, as it\u2019s \u201cfreely\u201d available wherever you look.\nThat, however, is a much bigger question to be considered at another time. \n\nAfter that exchange I stopped visiting the Andy fan site as it just didn\u2019t\nfeel like much fun anymore. On the other hand, I don\u2019t need heroes anymore\neither. \n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As punk band The Stranglers sang in 1977: \u201cno more heroes any more\u201d. The Beatles\u2019 last album, Let It Be, came out in 1970. But I never rated that as a proper Beatles album and they\u2019d already called it a day after the triumphant Abbey Road in 1969. After the disappointment of Let It Be, … <\/p>\n