I rarely disagree with you, but when I do I can't help linking your musical tastes to your assertions on, er, things I disagree with. That is, I then link your low-grade, as I perceive them, political views to your low-grade, as I perceive them, musical tastes. Does anyone else think an unwillingness to look beyond Cliff and Roxette must inevitably limit a societal outlook?
Deep, eh? Slightly undermined by the fact that I have 32,000 songs on my iPod and they can't all be by Cliff or Roxette...
I'm not quite sure what a 'low grade' political view is, but I am sure I have many of them. It's amusing that the author of this comment thinks I have 'high grade' views when he agrees with me and 'low grade' ones when he doesn't. I'm not sure the word 'tolerance' figures much in his vocabulary!
I like Ace of Base myself :)
ReplyDeleteOf my more modest collection of 16,000 songs I note that Roxette & Sir Cliff have had one play each.
ReplyDeleteEnough is enough!
"they can't all be by Cliff or Roxette...": I dare say, but are any by Schubert?
ReplyDeleteYou need to listen to Chatham County Line. Try "Chip of a Star" and see if you are not smiling by the end.
ReplyDeleteAny one who listens to Mango Groove when feeling down can't be all that bad.
ReplyDeleteWhat's wrong with Roxette?
ReplyDelete"I have 32,000 songs on my iPod and they can't all be by Cliff or Roxette..."
ReplyDeleteYou're not trying hard enough.
I'm constantly irritated when distinguished guests on Desert Island Discs choose ephemeral pop songs, even when they're linked to particular points in their lives.
ReplyDeleteBut that's just age.
I'm sure the guests are very intelligent, but if they're not aware of jazz, classical music and the American song book, they're missing a great deal.
Is this iPod music collection thing some sort of new one-upmanship?
ReplyDeleteHow can you possibly listen to 32K’s worth of songs, music etc?
The mind boggles
Perhaps someone should ask Gordon Brown what is favourite music is. Of course, they should be prepared to wait a while for the answer...
ReplyDeleteI am sure that in the deeper recesses of your iPod can be found SOME St**ly D*n.
ReplyDeleteYou must be running some rubbish quality MP3 if you have as many as 32,000 songs on a single iPod.
ReplyDeleteOr you have a 400Gb iPod.
Or you're talking rubbish...
Why on earth have you got 32,000 songs on your ipod?
ReplyDeleteAssuming they're all 3 mins long (some will be longer), it would take you almost 67 days of continuous listening to hear them all!
But have you any Guy Mitchell hits?
ReplyDelete'he'? or could that be 'she' too?
ReplyDeleteI love anything from Glen Miller to Sex Pistols.
ReplyDeleteIf it is MEANINGFUL I appreciate ALL music.
Just as it should be.
Who can not get the collywobbles & reminisc about Cliff's Congratulations or Summer Holiday?
The Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant?
Spice Girls FULL BLAST while soaking in the bath is my idea of relaxation.Mel C has the most gorgeous voice.
Bob Dylan's Desire CD is ALWAYS played when I decorate?
The top 40 on Sunday while ironing.
I adore music.However at nearly 50,I think I've fractured my ankle jumping around to BOOM BOOM BOOM! a few weeks ago,it keeps swelling up.Good fun though.
How on earth do you fit 32,000 tracks onto your ipod? They must be at a very low quality bitrate. I have the largest size made (160Gb, no longer sold) and have less than 15,000 tracks at full capacity.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure the word 'tolerance' figures much in his vocabulary!
ReplyDelete...............................
Didn't you once say that you felt like taking a shower after having a meeting with some bloke in the BNP,not very tolerant that day were you ?
........ "32,000 songs on my iPod and they can't all be by Cliff or Roxette..."
ReplyDeleteThank God for that.
I should have thought it abundantly clear that no-one can claim wisdom or intelligence in the least degree without owning the full discography of Billy Bragg (who isn't remotely a puerile, superficial, painfully ignorant bigot).
ReplyDeleteI have told you a million times not to exaggerate !
ReplyDeleteMy musical tastes cover Mediaeval Music through to 2009 - both Classical and Popular. So I don't have hang-up associating one musical style with any particular politics.
ReplyDeleteHowever, for credibility, don't have an 'Arctic Monkeys' moment - and then fail to deliver...
My Conservatism is home to Bruckner. I wouldn't call your taste "low grade" - just maybe a bit lightweight. But I forgive you. (lol)
ReplyDeleteA friend with a degree in music who plays various instruments told me that the highest bit rate (192 somethings per whatever) is higher than any but a musical genius with a perfect ear would tell from the next rate down.
ReplyDeleteApple has always gone in for overkill in such matters, rather as the Uk used to over engineer all sorts.
And there was me thinking that Cliff had had 32,000 number 1's. At least thats how it feels whenever I see him on TV...
ReplyDeleteIain, its easy to settle. In the tradition of full disclosure.
ReplyDeleteBring up your itunes. On the cover flow screen, press: Play Count.
Which are the first 5/10 artists that you have played most.
The digital age is proving hard to hide in.
If they all were tracks available on NOW! albums then the gentleman's concerns are fully realised!
The fact that you have *any* Cliff or Roxette diminishes my respect for your tastes
ReplyDeleteOn the number of songs issue:
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of money on CDs BTW. I would know I have 27,000 on the itunes, not quite at your level but you are older. Shut them up by showing a screen shot of your itunes, it says on the bottom.
That would fit well with your honesty pledge.
But please tell me your not an illegal downloader Iain?!!
I would like Ken Clark's record collection. BTW. Schubert? Miles, Trane...
Now that man has some deep thoughts, tastes and knowledge about music.
@ rented ... 160GB is new model out that replaces last years 120GB Classic but l do wonder at 32,000 even if Iain has the 160GB ... old or new model. l know l can't achieve that. ;-)
ReplyDeleteFor a busy man - keen blogger, aspiring politician, speaker etc etc, I'm astonished that you could find the time to seriously select 32000 tracks to go on your IPod - or was the selction process not that critical?
ReplyDeleteWhat's an iPod?
ReplyDeleteThe Bee Gees have a comment on this -
ReplyDeleteHow deep is your love?
I really need to learn,
cause were living in a world of fools,
Breaking us down,
When they all should let us be.
We belong to you and me.
That would do for a theme backing localism.
That's deep.
Maybe it's one of the 32,000.
Going back to Bracknell tonight! Am writing a speech for the YBF Margaret Thatcher Banquet at Wellington College.
ReplyDeleteWould Maggie have been in favour of All women shortlists?
Miles Davis for me anytime of the week....
ReplyDeleteTo be fair though Iain whenever you have posted music it's been, without exception, absolutely woeful. You know it's true.
ReplyDelete>And there was me thinking that Cliff had had 32,000 number 1's.
ReplyDeleteBut surely all his records are a load of number two?
Low-grade beliefs are often the finest! Excepting the BNP of course...
ReplyDelete32,000 songs. That's about 3,000 CDs.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm whose been downloading illegally?
Or do you really have 30,000 pounds to spend on your IPOD?
I have never downloaded anything illegally in my life! I have a very extensive CD collection.
ReplyDeleteAre you saying that BNP members are less British than people who are not British nationals but serve in the British army? Not a supporter, just trying to clarify your position and knowledge on those in the picture, who I respect and like, and have served with.
ReplyDelete32,000?
ReplyDeleteCan we have a recount?
I suspect that by low grade he is refering to views that might be held by the common mass. Rather than those held by a more discerning elete
ReplyDeleteThis would suggest a left wing outlook where the elite can decide who lacks sufficient doctrinal purity and has to be purged from the party.
Naughty, naughty Iain.
ReplyDelete' "You can't copy any form of music or film without the copyright owner's consent," explained copyright lawyer Hamish Porter.
"So if you buy a CD from a record shop, even copying that CD onto your iPod is unlawful unless you have the copyright owner's consent." '
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/6457369.stm
Though copyright on recordings only extends 50 years from release, so it's legal for you to copy pre-1959 Cliff recordings.
"I have never downloaded anything illegally in my life! "
ReplyDeleteTry it! You never know, you might just start to like it...
Me too Iain. That's what student loans were meant to be for!
ReplyDeleteBe fair Iain, your Top 100 was bloomin' awful!
ReplyDeleteIain
ReplyDeleteA "low grade political view", in my view, is one not based on conviction and belief but one based on prejudice, expediency and/or misplaced loyalty. If I see you criticise the blessed Margaret for something she did (or didn't do) I would be the first to suggest that this would be a “high grade political view”. Not because I would agree with you (I might not actually!) but because you would be breaking away from blind devotion and, presumably, be speaking from the left-hand side of your brain not your emotional right!
Some people...
ReplyDeleteMy Ipod is bigger than your Ipod
ReplyDelete32k songs!? Must be a hell of an iPod. Or maybe, my 40G MP3 player is not using space well enough. Then again, can I recommend some Walter Trout or Buddy Guy? Kinda balances out the Cliff Richard... :)
ReplyDeleteI would recommend Talk Talk, Japan, Level 42.
ReplyDeleteI accept it was a facile comment. I was rather tired and emotional when it was written (just wine, no mistletoe). I've no idea what low/high-grade political views are either and I feel most shame-faced impugning a band that wrote Dressed for Success. As penance I have just watched Miss You Nights on youtube. Best regards and apologies from the anonymous shallows....;)
ReplyDeleteDecisions, decisions, decisions!
ReplyDeleteI have enough trouble deciding which of about 50 CDs to put on the player whilst relaxing with my nightcap in a comfortable chair for half an hour before bed.
With 32,000, I'd spend the half hour trying to decide which to play, which is hardly the objective!
It is being reported that the UK economy has been overtaken by Italy. So much for Brown's "prudent stewardship" of the nation's finances.
ReplyDeleteIain, I've been following your blog for the past year or so and generally thought I've shared a lot of common ground with you, but the "Cliff and Roxette" statement smacked me fromleft-field. I didn't expect that at all.
ReplyDeleteI know we can't all think the 2nd track off the 1st MC5 album is the world's greatest song or that any album produced out of Hansa, Berlin circa 1976/7 can't be all that bad, but seriously, your choice of two artists to represent your musical taste worries me and makes me question other opinions further.
Regards
Boatdrinks
Awful lot of people admitting to owning Cliff Richard records here...
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you have an Ipod pretty much says it all...
ReplyDelete"I've never downloaded anthing ilegally..." But maybe your friends have, and given it to you?
ReplyDeleteEither way, it's amusing how much of this has become a musical one-upmanship. I'd just like to say that I have the best taste in music, because it's mine. And The Beatles are the best. Obviously.
I am mostly listening to Green Day meself...
ReplyDeletethis is what blogging is all about,
ReplyDeletebampots like him off loading steam,when they have lost.
brilliant.
32,000 songs and you choose Cliff, Abba and Roxette as your favourites - this speaks volumes about your ability to sort the good from the bad ;)
ReplyDelete32000 songs! Played for 8 hours a day that should last you 200 days without repeats.
ReplyDeleteDo they go as far back as Vesta Tilley?
I would just point out that all the people calculating the amount of memory / time to play those 32,000 songs must be assuming that none of them are prog rock. On my Ipod you would find Jethro Tull's "Thick As A Brick" (1 song 43 minutes long), Porcupine Tree's "The Incident" (55 minutes for 1 song), Rush's "2112" (21 minutes) and Genesis's "Supper's Ready" (23 minutes).
ReplyDeleteIf Iain has any of these some of the above assumptions would go right out of the window!
@ Victor
ReplyDeleteYou may be the Victor who doesn't do sums on Tom Harris' blog.
My 16,000 songs (which include some radio progs, symphonies etc) would take 44 days to play.
Iain Dale's 32,000 less than 100 days my guesstimate.
Do you advise Geo "Mr Potato Head" Osborne often ?
Funny, but I assumed you would enjoy the Travelling Wilburys as an antidote to Lucky lips Cliff.
ReplyDeleteFailing that , perhaps the BEE GEES with 'Between the lines'?
32,000 are all the tracks legaly obtained?
ReplyDelete