i-want-more

Life is unfair

Over the weekend I read two books, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher and Bad Vibes: Britpop and my Part in its Downfall.

The former was about a Victorian country house murder. I picked it up because the maiden name of one of my grandmothers was Witcher, a very close derivative. It was quite an interesting read, and more of a social history than a crime story, I'd say. For instance, it described what it was like to be a policeman in Victorian London. This was (by sheer chance) of interest to me, because it turns out that an ancestor of the aforementioned grandmother had a brief career in the early Metropolitan Police.

The latter book chronicles Luke Haines's life from 1992-1997. For those of you who don't know of him, Haines is the lead singer of bands such as The Auteurs and Black Box Recorder. I must admit I have very little exposure to The Auteurs…however, BBR’s first effort and the Baader Meinhof record (Haines’s funk concept album about 1970s terrorism(!)) feature on my mp3 player, and are two albums that I don’t immediately skip past if I get them on shuffle.

The book is an absolute hoot. It reads like fiction, and for all any of us know, it is fiction (sure, bits of it could probably be corroborated, but why let facts get in the way of a good story?). Targets for his rage include Justine Frischmann ("a drag"), early tour-mates Suede (Brett Anderson's early lyrics are dismissed as "pseudo bumboy") and Blur. When described by Momus as "the Adolf Hitler of Britpop" Haines responds that he feels that Damon Albarn would be better disposed to that particular title.

It's well worth a read if you are a fan of misanthropy, or have ever fantasised about mouthing obscenities at Chris Evans.

Labels: britpop, luke haines

posted by deafdisco @ 3:25 pm