I will try and remain impartial throughout this post.....Well maybe not blur, but certainly 1/4 of them are placing their allegiance ahead of the general election. Dave Rowntree had to be fair already done that, he is in fact standing for Labour in the Cities of London and Westminster Area and this week has had a thing or two to say about David Cameron's election campaign and more specifically music taste.
It all started when David Cameron decided to have a photo-op re-creating the iconic photograph of The Smiths outside Salford Lads Club. Thankfully (or not) protesters prevented this monstrosity (or not) from taking place, waving banners and chanting, a number made a very good (or irrelevant) point 'Oi! Dave - Eton Lads is 300 miles". Many were making the highlighting the lack of Tory support for working class families, and they made a good point (or a bad one depending on political views).
Anyway Labour and music responded in the form of Dave Rowntree. This week he has been speaking out against David Cameron's apparent enthusiasm towards The Smiths stating that Cameron 'is a Smiths tourist' and '
Real Smiths fans dress a certain kind of way, and they have a certain kind of haircut, and they wear certain kinds of T-shirts. But what they probably don't do is have their picture taken outside the Salford Lads Club.'
He has a very good point and just to prove he is more about the music than the politics he also criticised politicians in general for their somewhat transparent interest in popular music. He picked out Tony Blairs actions during his time as prime-minister, "What got my goat about Tony Blair inviting all the bands to Number 10 was that that was the standard way politicians had interacted with musicians for generations. Cool Britannia was nothing to do with us. We never said Britannia was cool", adding that "It was like when Harold Wilson called The Beatles round. What happens at those things is not that the politicians say: 'Well, what do you think we should be doing?' Politicians say: 'We're going to be doing this. Will you support us?' And nobody likes to feel taken for granted like that." What do you think of Dave Rowntree's comments? should politicians express their musical taste so readily and transparently in an election campaign? Comment below.
