#Wilko johnson writing award archive#

Wilko Johnson, guitarist and songwriter, formerly of Dr Feelgood, was interviewed too. Stella Grundy performed her new play ‘ The Rise and Fall of a Northern Star‘ turning her own experiences and memories into a thought provoking one woman show.

#Wilko johnson writing award archive#

The Manchester District Music Archive is a champion of user generated material.īarney Hoskyns, journalist and author of many excellent books, is behind Rock’s Backpages, the online library of music journalism, invaluable for students and journalists alike. How do you open up access to resources and sources for fans, students, academics and writers? The mediation of comments and the value of user generated content came up for discussion more than once. With the development of the internet, sound and video, a huge amount of material can be saved, archived and accessed, charting the career of both musicians and writers.Ĭonsiderations around social media and the role of the internet also overlap. These archive sources might be newspaper cuttings carefully cut out and saved, notebooks, diaries, photographs, film clips, gig lists and song lyrics, even costumes and stage wear. David Bowie has been the subject of a hugely popular exhibition at the V&A, and it was the wealth of archive material that brought his career and legacy to life.

Musicians need to access their archives to produce books that chart their personal histories. Writers and journalists do their research and create their own archives. The worlds of writing, music and archives overlap. It was an opportunity to meet and connect with people you knew, writers and musicians you admired, and a whole crowd of talented people you had only just met. There was a fantastic line up of authors, musicians, performers, journalists, writers and academics, and the same variety was reflected in the audiences at the event. Held in the Palace Hotel, Manchester over the weekend of November 15th, 16th and 17th, the conference celebrated words – oral, written and published – associated with the music industry. These words inspired Dr Jill Adams to name a new genre based literary festival ‘ Louder Than Words‘. Technology isn’t the enemy- it can open more doors for us than we ever imagined.Īfter all, the possibilities are endless.‘ A wave of action speaks louder than words’ sang Tina Turner. New interactive soundscapes pioneered by figures like Brian Eno are essentially new musical platforms groups who no longer play live can now ‘tour’ as holograms someone can relive gigs they’ve attended using a ‘Virtual Reality’ headset.Īnd this is only the beginning of music’s undoubtedly rosy future. So does this mean there will soon be another movement like grunge, or punk, or rock’n’roll?Īs in the ‘50s, ‘70s and late ‘80s respectively, much of today’s music sounds similar, many contemporary ‘artists’ seem unreachable and egotistical, and a lot of pop music is overproduced and underwhelming.ĭespite these similarities, however, recent technological developments have been such that one can’t deny their irreversible influence on the industry- in multiple ways.īut although there’s things like social media, smartphones, and streaming platforms- all guilty parties in the murder of the music industry as it once was- why can’t new technologies be advantageous too? There’s thousands of propitious music-related possibilities that have yet to be fully explored. Look back to the late 1950s when rock’n’roll was emerging- appealing to teenagers in desperate need of their ‘own’ music. Fantastical lyrics, album-length songs, and musicians posing as wizards and foxes in dresses alienated some listeners- until punk came and stripped everything back, that is.

In the mid 1970s progressive rock was in situ. When Stock, Aitken and Waterman ruled the airwaves, it probably seemed impossible that bands like Nirvana would soon take over from stars like Kylie and Jason. Gone are days of ‘Milk and Alcohol’ (health and safety?) and ‘Here Comes The Sun’ (apparently George Harrison predicted global warming.), of ‘Peaches’ (too risqué for our innocent youth!) and ‘There She Goes’ (did The La’s just assume that person’s gender?).īut there’s been darker times before.

Here’s a favourite phrase of a multitude of today’s music consumers.Īnd whilst it’s not completely correct, it’s true that mainstream contemporary music isn’t up to the wonderfully inventive standards of the past.