Je Ne Suis Pas Un Rockstar

Possibly the most important decision I ever made in 1968 was to give away my bass guitar to a struggling rock band. I would like to say that the band became a huge international success and now invite me to "A" list parties whenever they are in town. In truth I don't know what became of them but I fear that the leader of the band, Shastri, or Mike Hall, to give him his proper name, became an English teacher in Colwyn Bay, which is where he came from. He, at least, tried. I would love to track him down and ask him whether or not he is disappointed with normality or whether he still wishes he had hit the big time. For myself, I think I was right to think that I would not have been happy as a rock star, even if I had the talent, but wrong with my sense of perspective. That is the great thing about youth - everything seems to last forever or at least that's how we think of it. Years later we look back and think how quickly it all passed. In fairness, I suppose, we did live in a "job for life" world and that is certainly one of the many revolutions we lived through in the past 50 years or so.

Hindsight allows us to see the pitfalls more clearly and not just the glamour. How many have fallen because they could not cope with the pressure of fame and a world without spending limits? How many have been killed by a ruthless, cruel, press? How many were one hit wonders? How many simply did not make it at all? A young friend of mine, Gregory Foreman, who has had some small success as an actor, has a passion for music and, I believe, has recorded some music, not yet released. That is what he really wants to do so, I suppose, he has to go for it. The truth is out of every 20 who get as far as going into a recording studio and laying down some tracks only one will be successful. Is it better to try, and find out the hard way, or save yourself the heartache of just never making it? I wish I knew. We used to think of it as deciding what we wanted to do with our lives. That has changed now. It's just what we want to do right now. We can always do something else later on. In that sense I think Gregory has got his perspective right. He  wrote to me saying there are many things to distract a 20 year old. My view is that if he doesn't enjoy those distractions now the chance will pass. Grasp the opportunity to live the life you want now. It only gets more complicated later on.  It's called living the dream. Sensible careers are for old men!

You may wonder why a normally sane and cautious man should be dishing out such rash advice. The answer  is in the video. I have discovered a new band, well, hardly new, but not old. My old friend, Crowbarred, in Auckland, New Zealand, will forgive me, I'm sure, for straying into his territory, although, in truth, Kings of Leon are too recent to be included in his Definitive 1000 hits of the last 50 years. They remind me of the origins of rock music, steeped in the deep south gospel tradition. They are Fairport Convention re-incarnated. Most of all they are full of what we believed in when I was young - honest, raw expression in music. This is what music should be - 3 brothers and a country cousin writing and singing about their lives and doing it oh so well. If they last for 50 years well just great. If 4 albums is their limit well it was so worth while. No commercialisation in sight. This is living. Please, please don't let it all go wrong.

Tags: guitar rock band success Shastri Mike Hall Colwyn Bay talent youth glamour pressure fame Gregory Foreman actor music distractions living the dream Crowbarred Auckland New Zealand Kings of Leon Fairport Convention

Wither Jonathan Ross?

Following the news reports of Jonathan Ross's departure from the BBC you might be forgiven for thinking that he has died. In a sense there is an obituary being written but not for him, I suggest. What short memories people have. The accompanying picture gives a clue as to how highly we regarded him not so very long ago. A medal, perhaps, from cynical politicians currying favour with the trendy electorate, but an indication, none the less, that he had pulling power aplenty.

The "crime" he committed with Russell Brand was something that would have gone unnoticed had it been perpetrated by 2 private individuals on their friends or colleagues - a raikish jest - as Andrew Sachs, himself, attempted to explain when he pointed out that, as a broadcaster, he understood these things. His voice, however, was drowned out. That was not what the nation wanted to hear and certainly not what the BBC wanted to hear. They were, after all, deeply in it already and were careful not to cover themselves in more of the smelly brown stuff.

Don't the Brits just love anti-heroes - that is what Ross has been all these years. He has been his own man and forged his own way, not Churchillian like or with fine Tolkien-like battle speeches but just by being himself - a typical, untypical, Englishman. All very fine, but the inevitable result is a following and, in his case, a very big one. He became a movement. People who were not creative or clever enough to do it themselves, and that is most of us, jumped on the Ross bandwagon and, before you know it, major changes have taken place in society. Surely not, I hear you say. The man is just an entertainer. He should not be credited with major social changes. Let me explain...

There has always been a tension between public and private behaviour and television and radio have long been in the vanguard. Much of what we do in private is perfectly acceptable by the bulk of the population but as soon as we enter the public arena everything changes. Public figures are not treated as ordinary human beings. We make a very clear distinction between their private and their public image. Enter a new generation of Movers and Shakers determined to push out the old, stuffy, lounge suit behaviour of the broadcasting corporation. Swearing on television. Sex on television. Outrageous jokes, as close to the line of acceptability as it is possible to go. The public loved it - and hated it. Some see it as the natural progression of their own behaviour properly portrayed in public. Others see it as the end of civilised society as we know it.

Jonathan Ross did none of these extreme things and yet is more influential than all the rest put together. What he does is very clever indeed. He gets inside your head. What we see is, apparently, a real human being just being himself. Yes, he's risky. Yes, he's naughty. But can we say, then, that he should pretend to be something he's not - to put on an act - for appearances, for the BBC? No. We want him to be what he is - himself.

The genius of the man is that he poses the question "Do you want me to appear as me or to be an actor, playing a part?" There is no going back from that position. That is how he has changed society for ever.

Jonathan Ross is not the one who has to make difficult decisions here. The BBC has to decide what to do next. Perhaps we will have a cooling off period with the whole issue placed in "safe hands" but it will not go away. Nor, for that matter will Wossy. I can't wait.

Pierre

Tags: Jonathan Ross BBC trendy Russell Brand Andrew Sachs medal behaviour public image Wossy