Real Musicians vs The Drivelbuggers

On BBC1 last night there was a documentary on the making of "Darkness On The Edge Of Town", Bruce Springsteen's fourth album. For anyone that aspires to play music this is absolutely essential viewing. Firstly to show you the legal difficulties major labels frequently inflicted upon artists, but more importantly, the processes behind making a classic album. 70 songs written, 40 songs recorded, 10 songs made it. Not only is this prolific songwriting but it enabled careful selection of 10 tracks that worked as a whole piece. Plenty of the other songs were used on later albums as they were far from inadequate, just inappropriate.

I hate to even mention it in the same post but just take a look at everything in the charts at the moment...you done it? And take a look at what is all over TV and news...yep, I'm not even going to say its name but I'll probably catch a bit of it myself this weekend. So we have this bunch a talentless drivelbuggers and the people putting in the real work, actually touring and writing songs, they pass through the underground due to fad music and smaller marketing budgets. Not ranting; I think I prefer it like this.

It's this kind of documentary that flicks on a light in my head to write more and work harder. I've had similar feelings after All About the Destination (Frank Turner docu), and The Beatles on Record. There's nothing like insight into how your heroes work to give you a kick up the backside.

So this will be on iPlayer for the next week, I will no doubt watch it a few more times and you should too. Even if you don't like his music you get to see how it used to be done and that's important. Or just watch it for the bit where he's playing guitar topless. It's enough to turn most blokes!

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