On music and Wilko Johnson

When we are taught topics in school, we are for the most part presented with the the information that we're required to learn in a structured and sequential manner. And that makes sense; no point in learning calculus before you've conquered basic arithmetic. What I love are those topics that we pursue through our lives in which we effectively teach ourselves. It might be cooking - although that does require a mastering of some basics, I guess - but also the books we read and the music we listen to. In this case, there is no structure; we just follow what interests us.

I started my listening based on the musicians and bands that my dad loved: the Rolling Stones; Simon and Garfunkel; the Beach Boys; and so on. By the age of eight, though, I'd picked up on Abba by myself and also fell in love with Johnny Cash, whom my dad quite liked, certainly enough to own a couple of tapes that I played to death.

Back in England in the late seventies, there was a brief flirtation with Ska before I commenced my lifelong romance with electronic music. It was meeting my friend Ash at university that encouraged me to take a bit more interest in the electric guitar and, in combination with my brother, who loved the Smiths and the Wedding Present, this led me to listening to a lot of bands I might otherwise have dismissed. 

And finally I reached a point where I listened to some albums on the basis that various musical publications have stated them to be consistently in the 100 best albums of all time (or whatever). This I have found to be the least fruitful route to new music - I have accepted I will never like Bob Dylan, for example  - but it did introduce me to some of my favourite albums, such as Miles Davis' 'Kind Of Blue', an album I doubt I would have encountered otherwise.

And the lovely aspect of this unstructured way of learning - which, of course, applies to books and movies and all sorts of other topics - is that you have your own unique history and library of treasures. And this is why I never get bored of chatting to other music lovers. Agreeing about Nick Cave, maybe, arguing about Oasis, marvelling at The Fall (whether you like them or not).

I'd like to think that my tastes have developed and matured over the years, whilst never becoming undiscerning. The fact that the Minx and I go to so many gigs has made it less important to only go to see bands I know I like. It has meant I try more and also taught me that, for the most part, I prefer live guitar bands to live electronic bands. 

Last year at Glastonbury, we went to see the film 'The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson'. My own path through musical history, which largely bypassed the mainstream of punk, meant I had also dismissed its precursor of 'pub rock'. As a consequence, although I'd heard the name Dr Feelgood, I'd assumed the band was some lightweight, possibly slightly hippy early seventies collective that I wouldn't find remotely interesting. 

In fact, I enjoyed the film's footage of Dr Feelgood and Wilko Johnson, the guitarist, specifically, much more than I'd expected. This was a type of proto-punk music that I could enjoy. (The film, incidentally, concerns Wilko's diagnosis with terminal cancer and is a documentary of his last eighteen months. Towards the end, however, a doctor, taking photos at one of Wilko's farewell gigs, decides that based on Wilko's performance, his diagnosis must be wrong. A consequent operation saves his life. It's amazing.)

When I saw Wilko was touring this year, I bought tickets for the Minx and myself, only to find that I was subsequently spurned in favour of Biffy Clyro, who was playing at Leeds, this evening. So, in the end, it was my friend Neil and I who went along to the gig.We arrived shortly after Wilko had taken the stage and thus we were plunged straight into the full-on performance that he was giving along with his bassist and drummer.

I didn't recognise any of the songs apart from Chuck Berry's 'Bye Bye Johnny' but that didn't detract from my enjoyment at all. The band - Wilko at 69, a surely older, cadaverous bass player* and a relatively young drummer - were brimming with energy, playing extended (and rather unpunk) workouts of the songs, with the band effortlessly and enjoyably jamming together.

The whole set was only an hour or so but was electrifying. If you get a chance to go along, I highly recommend seeing him and his band play together. Wilko's guitar playing was mesmerising - I wish I'd taken Dan along - but both the bassist and drummer were key to the performance, exploring the songs and by no means just Wilko's rhythm section.

All in all, it was a great evening, and another experience to add to my personal musical library.

*Ash (mentioned above) suspects that the base player is Norman Watt-Roy of the Blockheads, who is, in fact, 65 and, therefore, only 15 years older than me! I was delighted to see on Wikipedia that he is also known as Normsferatu.