I was saying to a friend around Christmastime that I didn’t think there’d been as many musical casualties as usual this year. But then you add it up and the list is as long as ever.
I was reading an Agatha Christie to relax on holiday and the prosecuting barrister in the murder trial rounded on a witness: she was Irish, was she not? - and therefore not to be trusted. The Irish, he explained to the court, were notorious story embroiders. (Different times). Well, that was Shane McGowan and it was also Sinead O’Connor – wonderful, beguiling musical story embroiderers.
Tom Verlaine is one of my all-time musical heroes. In one of the musical online mags I noted that ‘Marquee Moon’ was recently voted best album of the ‘70s. The hyperbole of Nick Kent’s double page 1977 review in the NME doesn’t seem so over the top now. What a band, what a musician.
Another musical hero was the rather lesser sung Alan Rankine of The Associates. I remember seeing the band very early on and naturally my eye was drawn to the theatrics and operatic octave-swooping of Billy MacKenzie. The musical genius behind it all I cannot now picture, which is a great shame. And let us not forget his seminal role in bringing Belle and Sebastian to our attention also.
The Pop Group lost both Gareth Stewart and John Waddington in 2023. Though little known in the broader world, they were one of those groups whom artists such as Nick Cave regularly mention as being game changers.
Bass players Andy Rourke of The Smiths and Steve Mackey of Pulp were also relatively unsung, but one listen to Rusholme Ruffians will certainly correct the presumption that The Smiths were a two-man group. Similarly, drummer and producer Gary West of Pavement had his part to play in the early evolution of the group, while Geordie Walker of Killing Joke was the guitarist in that generation-straddling outfit, doing much to establish their distinctive sound.
Ryuichi Sakomoto had a long lasting influence both solo and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra, while David Crosby excelled in both CSNY and The Byrds. And while we’re at it, here’s to Burt Bacharach and, hell, why not, Seymour Stein too.
RIP to all our wonderful music makers and catalysts.
Setlist:
A rainy night in Soho, The Pogues
Friction, Television
Tell me Easter’s on Friday, The Associates
She is beyond good and evil, The Pop Group
Joyriders, Pulp
Rusholme ruffians, The Smiths
Perfume-V, Pavement
I just don’t know what to do with myself, The White Stripes
All I wish, The Byrds
All apologies, Sinead O’Connor
Requiem, Killing Joke
Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, Ryuichi Sakomoto
Seymour Stein, Belle and Sebastian