The music industry is nowadays such a prohibitive place for artists. Acts and bands are ‘chosen’ by the powers-that-be and there is often little choice from the public about who succeeds (commercially) and who flops...
A good example of this would have to be Elbow. Who, despite making 3 albums worth of very good material and a whole host of impressive EP's, had to wait to wait until their 4th release, The Seldom Seen Kid, before becoming ‘popular’. Despite the popularity of this album it appears they weren't cut from the appropriate cloth, such as a Justin Bieber may be, and quickly retreated into relative obscurity following the release of their 5th studio album, Build A Rocket Boys!
Many of the commercially successful acts around at the moment are, by and large, hand-picked by producers and executives, based largely on their image and, decreasingly, their sound. It is these reasons which make Ian Dury such an incomprehensible phenomenon looking back today.
Ian Dury rose to prominence through the short-lived pub-rock scene in London and went on to continue to find success through the punk-rock and punk revolution in England.
Dury, in a sense flew in the face of what’s deemed to be cool in pop music. He was middle aged, married with children and a cripple (as a result of the Polio disease he had picked up as a 7 year old boy). Despite these things he remained appealing to a mass audience, notably with the hit single “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick”.
To define The Blockheads with that single would be a travesty however. Upon further inspection of their back catalogue there are numerous gems to be unearthed.
I had an album of theirs in my car and a friend of mine, upon first hearing The Blockheads had this to say of Dury:
“Anyone could do that, but he did it.”
It was largely in reference to Dury’s style. You could hardly say that Dury could ‘Sing the Phonebook’ and if he was to appear on The X-Factor I suspect he might not even make it the judges house, never mind the live shows. Perhaps though there would be some hope for him on The Voice, although again, I doubt it.
This is in no way meant as a slight against Dury’s achievements, in fact, quite the opposite. Dury was a true wordsmith, a story-teller, an entertainer and a showman. The way he navigates you through his songs, giving you a glimpse of life through the eyes and mind of the man himself is something very few artists can manage so effortlessly, and while I wouldn’t exactly describe him as eloquent, he certainly had a unique way with words.
To say that The Blockheads relied on Dury would also be a tad harsh. Although he was their talisman and enigmatic front-man, the supporting members also played a pivotal role. A real fusion of ideas, genres and styles helped to form a sound that was truly distinct, even today. Some of their sounds are almost electronic, notably here on What a Waste!
The Blockheads are a band which are destined to remain coveted solely by a ‘cult’ following. However, for a brief while, they were as popular as popular music gets, #1. And while I doubt that this is where Dury’s ambitions lay, it’s wonderful to think that at least once upon a time, pop music wasn’t pre-ordained by the big-wigs 20 floors above the ground.
Long may his memory live on.
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