MeTube

by Quinn

A good few months ago I wrote about YouTube, imagining that I was in the vanguard in spreading the word about a fantastic new service on t’web. Today, of course, there can’t be anyone out there who doesn’t know about and use YouTube, whether to share their own home videos, to view illegal content, or to publicise their latest happy-slap.

I do enjoy making my own videos and sharing them with my friends, but I think it is the illegal content bit I like the most; nothing especially dodgy, just stuff like old music videos and the like. I was amazed when I saw people posting about archive Howlin’ Wolf performances hosted on YouTube, and if they can find a home there then it makes me wonder where it will all end. As with Wikipedia, where it appears there is no subject too obscure for someone, somewhere to have created an entry, so in the fullness of time could just about every notable event ever filmed end up on YouTube (albeit buried alongside all manner of crap; but that is the way of the web)? Perhaps one day someone will post the moment on Children In Need in (I think) 1990 when my college mate Simon is supposed to have burst on stage and hugged Terry Wogan just as he was about to announce the final total. I’ve never seen the clip – that is if it happened and Simon wasn’t bullshitting, which he did have a habit of doing – and I’d love to.

With the deluge of content on YouTube, however, there is a definite benefit in having a minority taste. If you are a fan of Madonna, for example, you are buggered; 9242 clips to trawl through at the last count in the hope of finding a gem. A preference for Throwing Muses, however, means you just have 91 videos to weed out; and I have, watching loads of old promos and interviews I missed first time around.

Which reminds me; a few years back a mate and I were chatting about what we would like to do other than our current jobs. I mentioned running a bookshop, or perhaps a record shop; at which point Paul spat out his beer and creased up laughing.

“What? A record shop devoted exclusively to Throwing Muses and The Boo Radleys,” he said, those being my two favourite bands at the time (and still two of my favourites today), “I can’t see that being a commercial success”.

Perhaps not, but that doesn’t make the concept in itself wrong. So just in case I am made Music Dictator anytime soon, here is what you need to be prepared for. Don’t worry though; they are both very short tracks.

Throwing Muses: Juno

The Boo Radleys: Lazy Day