Alex Turner’s Brits Speech Was Everything Rock’N’Roll Is Meant To Be

Arctic Monkeys

Alex Turner’s Brits acceptance speech was everything that rock’n’roll is meant to be: unpredictable, dumb, funny, exciting and attention-grabbing. But it was so much more than that. It was a call to arms.

As Turner stood at the lectern in the centre of the O2 and delivered his sermon in front of a worldwide audience of millions, declaring that rock’n’roll “will never die. And there’s nothing that you can do about it,” he drew a line in the sand right there and then, asking every single person watching which side of it they were standing.

“That rock’n’roll, eh? That rock’n’roll, it just won’t go away. It might hibernate from time to time, sink back into the swamp… but it’s always waiting there, just around the corner, ready to make its way back through the sludge.”

Some people thought he was disrespectful. Some people thought he must be pissed or high. Some people thought he sounded like a silly bellend, while some thought that his ego had looped twice round the galaxy before rocketing up his own arse. Those people are stood on the other side of the line.

On this side of the line stand the rest of us, inspired by the words of a man who understands that rock’n’roll isn’t about an antiquated idea of “guitar music”, or about any level of genre elitism, but spirit and ethos, excitement and unpredictability; The traits that British music was always renowned for.

For the frontman of the UK’s biggest band, upon collecting the biggest prize in British mainstream music, to end the night looking like an outsider is madness, brilliance and poetic irony all in one. He wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. And for those of us standing on this side of the line, neither would we. The challenge has been set by Alex Turner, and now it’s up to us to act upon it.

“That rock’n’roll, eh?”

Watch: The Beatles’ last show ever on its 45th anniversary

Forty-five years ago, yesterday, The Beatles played their final show ever.

Back before elaborate album rollouts like worldwide projections or mysterious graffiti, the Liverpool quartet spontaneously previewed songs from their forthcoming album Let It Be to scores of Londoners, staging an impromptu 42-minute set on the rooftop of Apple, their label, on Savile Row.

Before Metropolitan police eventually halted the performance, filmmakers captured not only the memorable set, but also the reactions of its attendees and those in the nearby area. While the January 30th, 1969 event luckily made its way onto the Let It Be documentary, the unannounced rooftop concert ultimately signaled the last time people would see the Beatles perform together live.

Getting The Beatles to play any kind of a show during that time was surprising, considering they officially stopped touring in 1966. This was partially due to the legions of loyal fans drowning out their concerts, as well the obstacle of not being able to perform some of their new material’s more complicated arrangements live. Despite their fatigue with playing traditional gigs, the band wanted to continue premiering and recording new music.

George Harrison explained, “We went on the roof in order to resolve the live concert idea, because it was much simpler than going anywhere else; also nobody had ever done that, so it would be interesting to see what happened when we started playing up there.”

Once the band kicked things off with the rousing “Get Back”, word began to spread through the London streets. Dozens, if not hundreds congregated, crowding neighboring rooftops and balconies as well as stopping traffic and disrupting local businesses. Before the Metropolitan Police could shut down the scene, the band, along with the young keyboardist Billy Preston, got through nine takes of five songs. With George Martin, engineer Glyn Johns and tape operator Alan Parsons recording the takes onto two eight-track tapes in Apple’s basement, these early renditions of ”I’ve Got a Feeling”,”One After 909″, and “Dig a Pony” would end up on the final version of Let It Be.

Though it would be their last show ever, the band sounded as good as it always had. The aforementioned recordings were all rollicking, and despite the cold January day, everyone seemed to be in good spirits. Just as they were about to end their performance, McCartney improvised the lyrics of “Get Back” to poke fun at the situation singing, “You’ve been playing on the roofs again, and you know your Momma doesn’t like it, she’s gonna have you arrested!” The set ended with John Lennon’s famous line, ”I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition.” The quote was a fitting send-off to one of music’s most important bands. The group would officially break up in 1970.

Revisit the memorable show below.

Video Setlist:
01. Get Back
02. Don’t Let Me Down
03. I’ve Got A Feeling
04. One After 909
05. Dig A Pony
06. Get Back

Full Setlist:
“Get Back” (three takes)
“Don’t Let Me Down” (two takes)
“I’ve Got a Feeling” (two takes)
“One After 909″ (one take)
“Dig a Pony” (one take)
“I Want You (She’s So Heavy” (Snippet)
“God Save The Queen” (Snippet)
“A Pretty Girl Is A Melody” (Snippet)

Lou Reed, “Perfect Day”

Stunning song. Stunning life. We were lucky to have him.

Whenever a great musician dies, it’s customary for grieving fans to look back through the body of work left behind for something movingly elegiac in an effort to say a proper goodbye. But such a task was never going to be easy with Lou Reed, who passed away on October 27 at age 71, simply because Reed’s songs were always coming from way too many angles to snugly serve any single purpose.

The most obvious candidate, at least musically, would seem to be “Perfect Day”, the lush ballad that became one of Reed’s signature songs practically from the moment it appeared on his second solo album, 1972’s Transformer. Produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson and featuring Ronson’s swirling string arrangement and piano flourishes, it really is a gorgeous track on the surface.

Yet there’s something gently unsettling about it. Maybe it’s the eerie stillness that permeates the song or the dirge-like pace. Maybe it’s the way that Reed sings the line, “It’s such fun” as if he were being lobotomized. In any case, there’s always the feeling that this idyllic day is just a tiny oasis in a dark desert.

Still, the narrator manages to snap out of his stupor to thank the one with whom he’s spending this “Perfect Day.” “You made me forget myself,” Reed sings, slivers of emotion creeping into his voice. “I thought I was someone else, someone good.” With cutting simplicity, it’s clear that this day isn’t just a good time for this guy. It’s his temporary redemption.

As for the haunting refrain that Reed intones in the closing moments of the song, Bono spoke about its subversive nature in his tribute to Lou in the most recent edition of Rolling Stone. “It’s been sung by all manner of earnest voices, including mine and children’s choirs, since it was written in 1972,” Bono wrote. “It never fails to give me some kind of extra ache as they sing the last line, ‘You’re going to reap just what you sow,’ oblivious of the icy chill suggested.”

If you doubt the dark side of this seemingly benign song, check out the chilling way it was used in the 1996 film Trainspotting, director Danny Boyle’s portrait of young heroin users. Yet you could easily imagine it in a romantic comedy as the soundtrack to a sappy montage of a young couple enjoying a picturesque afternoon.

That’s the kind of dichotomy that was commonplace in the music of Lou Reed, so, come to think of it, maybe “Perfect Day” isn’t a bad summation of the man and his work after all. It’s beautiful, brutal, and impossible to pin down.

“Perfect Day”

Just a perfect day
drink Sangria in the park
And then later
when it gets dark, we go home

Just a perfect day
feed animals in the zoo
Then later
a movie, too, and then home

Oh, it’s such a perfect day
I’m glad I spend it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
You just keep me hanging on

Just a perfect day
problems all left alone
Weekenders on our own
it’s such fun

Just a perfect day
you made me forget myself
I thought I was
someone else, someone good

Oh, it’s such a perfect day
I’m glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
You just keep me hanging on

You’re going to reap just what you sow
You’re going to reap just what you sow
You’re going to reap just what you sow
You’re going to reap just what you sow

Lou Reed – Musician

Born: March 2, 1942, Brooklyn, NY

Died: October 27, 2013, Southampton, NY

Height: 5′ 10″ (1.78 m)

Spouse: Laurie Anderson (m. 2008–2013), Sylvia Morales (m. 1980–1994), Betty Reed (m. 1973)