More music to wait for The Hour by

Music has always played a pretty important role in The Hour. If you check the website for the back clips of the musicians who have been guests this year alone, you might be as surprised as I was by the sheer volume. George has interviewed, or taken to the newsstand, musicians as diverse as Matthew Good, Sam Roberts, David Gilmour, Ben Harper, Bruce Cockburn, the Arctic Monkeys, Imogen Heap, James Blunt, Nickelback, Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand, and Wayne Coyne. If you are so inclined, you can watch the majority of these clips on the website to tide you over until the show starts again next month. (I know, I gagged at the thought of watching Nickelback or James Blunt again as well, but you can pick and choose your clips.)

Even more compelling than the interviews with musicians were the stories in the news about musicians. Stories such as Henry Rollins being detained by Australian national security for his choice of reading material on an airplane - Jihad: the Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia. Stories such as the fight that Notorious B.I.G’s mother is waging to solve her son’s murder. Stories such as the opposition being launched by musicians such as Steven Page and others to oppose the recording industry’s assault against downloading.

My favourite music-related stories from the past two seasons were:
1. Jesus Will Sing Joy Division in BBC Easter Special
– the BBC aired an hour-long musical procession through the red-light district of Manchester to celebrate Easter in conjunction with a celebration of Manchurian music. Among other selections, Mary Magdalen sang the Buzzcocks’ Ever Fallen in Love, Jesus sang Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart, and joined Judas on a duet of New Order’s Blue Monday, before launching into the Smith’s Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now, while being flogged.
2. British University to Offer Course in the Smiths
- seriously, who wouldn’t want to major in the Smiths in university, or at least take it as a minor. Beats the hell out of Calculus.
3. And then there was the story of the Gang of Four - the post-punk band, not the Chinese political party - and the enormous influence they had upon the direction of modern music. It’s hard to believe now that their song At Home He’s a Tourist was once banned from British radio for containing a reference to carrying condoms. They paved the way.

I’m looking forward to more of these sorts of stories on the Hour this season. In amongst all the world headlines, which never really reach any resolution, it’s refreshing to take an entirely different slant toward world happenings.

And from the musical news stories from the past two seasons of The Hour, here are a few songs to tide you over.

Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division

Girlfriend in a Coma - the Smiths

-Barbara B.






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Upload music at Bolt.