Jan, mit Verlaub, das ist Quatsch.
Zunächst einmal ist der verlinkte Artikel in Rolling Stone ein Musterbeispiel dafür, was ich am Onlinejournalismus verabscheue: Unter der Clickbait-Überschrift Damon Albarn zerreißt Rolling-Stones-Album „Hackney Diamonds“ wird suggeriert, Daman Albarn habe sich (vermutlich im oder gegenüber dem Rolling Stone) detailliert und kritisch zum Album selbst geäußert. Im Artikel selbst werden dann drei Punkte aus einem Interview, das Albarn der Zeitschrift „Les Inrockuptibles“ gegeben hat, zumindest teilweise sinnentstellend wiedergegeben. Ich würde das, was der RS daraus macht, so auf den Punkt bringen
1. Die Stones haben sich Hackney zu eigen gemacht, ohne jeden Bezug dazu zu haben.
2. Sydney Sweeny wird im Video „Angry“ zum Objekt degradiert.
3. Die Stones machen die immer gleiche Musik, nur immer schlechter.
Von konkreter Kritik an „Hackney Diamonds“ ist keine Rede. Eine journalistische Nullleistung, den Artikel kann man mit Hilfe eines Übersetzungsprogramms in 5 Minuten bei „Les Inrockuptibles“ abschreiben
Damit ihr euch ein eigenes Bild davon machen könnt, was Damon Albarn wirklich gesagt hat, hier der relevante vollständige Auszug aus dem Interview:
During our last meeting, you seemed concerned about the war in Ukraine, which partly inspired the song Russian Strings, on the latest Blur album. Do you think artists’ voices matter today as much as they did in the sixties or seventies?
When you think of a song like Imagine by John Lennon, its significance, I suppose the world has changed now, hasn’t it? I mean, pop music is so pathetic these days, everything seems to revolve around image and lifestyle. It’s fucking depressing. There seems to be a disconnection, a disengagement from everything else. I can’t believe how much people seem to lose interest in everything that doesn’t revolve around themselves, all of this seems so narcissistic to me.
Since you mentioned Lennon, The Beatles recently released a new song, Now and Then. What do you think about it?
Initially, it was John Lennon alone in his flat singing a song. I don’t think it was meant to reach that level of exposure. But you know, it’s a good opportunity for everyone. I heard some compilations are going to be reissued. So, it may not be the last one. It’s a question of scale: if enough people are interested, there could be hundreds of my songs released after my death, including songs that I would never have wanted to release. But you know, it’s nice to hear John’s voice.
On a different note, 2023 is also the year of the Rolling Stones comeback with a new album…
This really annoyed me. Because my family lives in Hackney and the way they showed up at the Hackney Empire venue really pissed me off. They’ve never did a thing in Hackney, they’ve never played there, never contributed to anything. They just showed up. It’s all nonsense. And I listened to their new song and watched this horrible music video showing them at different stages of their lives on billboards. And this young woman objectified. What the hell is this? There’s something completely disconnected.
Can you see yourself there, 80 years old, on billboards capitalizing on your past glory?
There’s no chance and I’ll tell you why. I did all sorts of things, whereas they’ve never been anything other than the Rolling Stones. I love the idea of devoting your life to one thing, in search of the sublime. But the truth is, they’ve became worse. Worse at persisting to stay themselves. That’s something I don’t understand. Making exactly the same music but not that good. There must be no joy in doing something like this.
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"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered." - George Best --- Dienstags und donnerstags, ab 20 Uhr, samstags ab 20.30 Uhr: Radio StoneFM