Cassilis

John Harris gets himself in a bit of a lather today over Tory enthusiasm for eighties anti-Thatcher pop:

“Cameron's fondness for the left-aligned music of yesteryear surely speaks volumes not just about the modern frenzy of political cross-dressing, but also the way we now listen to music. It is as if all those songs have been retrospectively robbed of their political charge and rendered kitsch”

Or, John, perhaps they never actually had the ‘political charge’ attributed to them in the first place? For a middle-aged rock critic to lament ‘the way we now listen to music’ is so tiresome that it verges on parody – wasn’t it always better ‘back then’? The blunt truth of course is the anti-Thatcher posture of many of the 80’s acts was borne more of convenience than it was of conviction. Some like Bragg & Weller were undoubtedly genuine in their political convictions but the sheer scale of the movement that grew up around them suggests it wasn’t rooted in any real political passion. The spectacle of Clydebank’s favourite sons Wet, Wet, Wet playing at an event called ‘Jamming for Jobs’ illustrates how broad but shallow the anti-right mob were – Marti Pellow isn’t known for his grasp of politics.

Even Weller, whose convictions and passion aren’t in doubt, belies how puerile and inconsequential much of that protest was. Recalling his residual feelings about the Thatcher years Weller says:

"I think they were absolute f**king scum - especially Thatcher, who I think should be shot as a traitor to the people. I still think that, and nothing will ever change my opinion. We're still feeling the effects of what they did to the country now, and probably always will: the whole breakdown of communities, trade unions, the working class - the dismantling of lots of things."

Given that even the privately educated barrister who eventually led the party Weller campaigned for would’ve dismissed this rant as nonsensical student hyperbole is it any surprise David Cameron can so easily dismiss it too? Weller has an inflated sense of his own importance and, as Harris points out, was on the wrong side of most of those arguments anyway.

Weller asks “which bit didn't he [Cameron] get?" - the answer is probably the cocky certainty of victory since Cameron, Blair, Brown and anyone with a reasonable IQ knew history was moving in their direction and not Weller's. Damn good tunes though……