The UnLaoised Oldfartometer
Back in my youngster
days, music was very important to me. I bought new
music constantly, read Q religiously and went to gigs on a
regular basis, sometimes to go see bands I had only
ever read about and had never heard. That all changed
as I got older, and I tended to stick with what I
liked. These days if I find only one new act in a
year that I really like, I think I'm doing well.
I realised I was becoming an old fart when I would hear something on the radio and think to myself "Jesus, is this the shite the kids are listening to nowadays? When I was a youngster, songs had a tune you could whistle and lyrics you could sing. These days, it's just bang bang bang!"
So I have devised a method to quantify my out-of-touchedness, which I call the Oldfartometer.
Each week, Jim Carroll of The Irish Times does a show on Phantom FM, a Dublin station that is apparently popular with the young folk. He then publishes his playlist on his On The Record blog. Now Jim is obviously down with the cool kids, so I'm using his weekly playlist as a barometer of what is out there right now. Scores are assigned as follows: for every artist I have heard of, but wouldn't recognise their music, I award one point. For each artist I recognise and know at least one song of theirs, I award five points. If I own a recording by one of the artists on Jim's list, or if I have seen them in concert, I help myself to ten points. And finally, if I have seen that artist live and own at least one recording by them, I award myself twenty points. So with a maximum of twenty points per artist on the playlist, a twenty song playlist has a maximum potential score of 400 points. Anything below 100 points would indicate chronic oldfartedness.
Let's look at this week's playlist:
26 songs on the list, so there are 520 points to play for.
1 point awards: Cathy Davey
5 point awards: None
10 point awards: Nirvana, Billie Holliday (it's my wife's CD, but I'm putting it in anyway), Ennio Morricone (We have the DVD of Cinema Paradiso)
20 point awards: Mary Margaret O'Hara, Emmylou Harris
Total: 71 points. Not too bad, but mind you the acts where I score would be within the bounds of an old fart anyway.
Last week's playlist:
27 tracks - 540 potential points
1 point awards: Cathy Davey
5 point awards: None
10 point awards: None
20 point awards: None
Total: 1 point. Oh dear.
September 15 list:
28 tracks - 560 potential points
1 point awards: King Creosote, Bat for Lashes, PJ Harvey, Robert Wyatt
5 point awards: Captain Beefheart, Robert Johnson, Ennio Morricone, Herbie Hancock
10 point awards: Tim Buckley,
20 point awards: None
Total: 34 points. Better.
How's about you? Will you take the Oldfartometer challenge?
I realised I was becoming an old fart when I would hear something on the radio and think to myself "Jesus, is this the shite the kids are listening to nowadays? When I was a youngster, songs had a tune you could whistle and lyrics you could sing. These days, it's just bang bang bang!"
So I have devised a method to quantify my out-of-touchedness, which I call the Oldfartometer.
Each week, Jim Carroll of The Irish Times does a show on Phantom FM, a Dublin station that is apparently popular with the young folk. He then publishes his playlist on his On The Record blog. Now Jim is obviously down with the cool kids, so I'm using his weekly playlist as a barometer of what is out there right now. Scores are assigned as follows: for every artist I have heard of, but wouldn't recognise their music, I award one point. For each artist I recognise and know at least one song of theirs, I award five points. If I own a recording by one of the artists on Jim's list, or if I have seen them in concert, I help myself to ten points. And finally, if I have seen that artist live and own at least one recording by them, I award myself twenty points. So with a maximum of twenty points per artist on the playlist, a twenty song playlist has a maximum potential score of 400 points. Anything below 100 points would indicate chronic oldfartedness.
Let's look at this week's playlist:
26 songs on the list, so there are 520 points to play for.
1 point awards: Cathy Davey
5 point awards: None
10 point awards: Nirvana, Billie Holliday (it's my wife's CD, but I'm putting it in anyway), Ennio Morricone (We have the DVD of Cinema Paradiso)
20 point awards: Mary Margaret O'Hara, Emmylou Harris
Total: 71 points. Not too bad, but mind you the acts where I score would be within the bounds of an old fart anyway.
Last week's playlist:
27 tracks - 540 potential points
1 point awards: Cathy Davey
5 point awards: None
10 point awards: None
20 point awards: None
Total: 1 point. Oh dear.
September 15 list:
28 tracks - 560 potential points
1 point awards: King Creosote, Bat for Lashes, PJ Harvey, Robert Wyatt
5 point awards: Captain Beefheart, Robert Johnson, Ennio Morricone, Herbie Hancock
10 point awards: Tim Buckley,
20 point awards: None
Total: 34 points. Better.
How's about you? Will you take the Oldfartometer challenge?