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Thrings
@ ThringsLaw
www . thrings . com
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It can manipulate your mind . It can change your mood . It can calm you down , hype you up , make you smile and make you cry . It also has physical powers causing you to involuntarily move , tap your feet , nod your head and give you goose bumps .
But to my recent horror I ’ ve discovered that it can also carbon date you and even turn you into another person – in this case my father . What do I mean ? Simply hop into my Tardis .
We ’ ve jumped back in time . It ’ s 1982 , I ’ m 11 years old and I ’ m sat in a blue Austin Princess . For you young ’ uns , the Princess is a weird-shaped car , a bit like an awkward wedge with a mousey nose up front and a large rear end . It also has a vinyl roof ( why ?!) I can only assume the designers at British Leyland drew it as a joke , missed a meeting and before you could say “ decline of the British car industry ” the thing was in production .
Anyway , I digress . I ’ m on my way to Cardiff with my dad and I ’ ve persuaded him to stop the ‘ Best of Country Music ’ cassette ( featuring Slim Whitman , Don Williams , Dolly and Johnny ) and tune in to Radio 1 on 275-285 medium wave . We ’ re listening to Mike Read ’ s breakfast show and Mike spins a new 45rpm release from Duran Duran . It ’ s called “ Hungry Like the Wolf ”.
I ’ m hooked . A fantastic start to the song with guitar and synth going wild , before Simon Le Bon delivers “ Dark in the city
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night is a wire , steam in the subway earth is afire , Do do do do do do do dodo dododo dodo ”.
My dad looks horrified . Still , he loves me very much so on we listen until Mr Le Bon hits the chorus and the lyrics , which I think are genius , annoy my dad so much that he almost rear-ends a red Datsun Cherry at the traffic lights . Le Bon sings “ Smell like I sound I ’ m lost in the crowd , and I ’ m hungry like the wolf ”. OK looking back my dad might have had a point - I too have no idea what “ smell like I sound ” means – but it caused him to utter “ This new music is rubbish . It all sounds the same . It ’ s just noise ”. Back in the Tardis if you will .
It ’ s last weekend and I ’ m in the car with my 12-year-old son . We ’ re listening to a playlist on my iPod . We ’ ve had some corkers : The Smiths , Foo Fighters , R . E . M ., Pixies and , of course , the Red Hot Chili Peppers .
While I am belting out these classics , line by line with my heroes , my son is looking singularly unimpressed . He turns to me and asks if we can put the radio on , specifically Radio 1 . I love my son and oblige , albeit a little disappointed that he ’ s not fully appreciating the top notch tunes we ’ ve been listening to . Radio 1 it is , piped into the car via DAB . In the days of the Austin Princess , a DAB was a sherbet packet with a red lolly dipper .
Song number one comes on . Don ’ t
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know who sings it . Don ’ t really care either – because it ’ s drivel . Song number two comes on . Don ’ t know who sings it . Don ’ t really care either because it too is drivel . As song number three gets going , I turn to my son and say : “ This new music is rubbish . It all sounds the same . It ’ s just noise !”
As soon as I ’ ve said it it ’ s like being slapped in the face with a wet haddock . Boom ! I ’ m back in 1982 but I ’ m no longer in the passenger seat . I ’ m driving the car and I ’ ve turned into my dad . I said it would never happen . I ’ m sure I promised myself I ’ d never be stuck in the equivalent of the country music world , but here I am . It ’ s happened and I can ’ t help it . New music is largely rubbish . Fact .
And do you know what ? Yes I ’ m old . Yes I ’ m obviously stuck in my ways . And yes my son thinks it ’ s both ridiculous and hilarious . But I don ’ t care . And do you know why I don ’ t care ? Because ‘ there is a light that never goes out ’ on my old school music and I for one ‘ don ’ t look back in anger ’.
There is one final thing I ’ ll share with you . Having spent hours in the car with my dad during the 1970s and 1980s , I ’ m proud to admit there ’ s nothing wrong with a bit of good ’ ole country music .
John Davies e : jdavies @ thrings . com t : 01793 412634
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THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2018 39 |