Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been....?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

One of the battlegrounds in the Hip Hop Wars was NME's "C86" cassette, a tape compiled by some of the paper's writers, later described as "the most indie thing to have ever existed". While many of the bands were later embarassed by it and while it suffers from the usual post-facto "OMG it wasn't a scene" backlash (sure, it wasn't a scene in the sense of bands working and collaborating together, but it captures a mood quite well), its legend lives on.

Here's a poll about it:


[Poll #829524]


SHAMBLE ON.

Comments

Re: THE HIPHOP WARS: a personal memoir

[juror8.livejournal.com]

Hewitt went on to become one of the most audible of the Britpop drum bangers though, correct? Reading upthread that C86 wasn't so much a reaction to hip-hop/soul/whatever as it was a reaction to majoy label indie of the time (qf "Tigermilk" ten years later, I presume), did the hip-hop brigade end up transmuting into the Britpop/Loaded writers of the following decade, with them being advocates for BIG MUSIC of SOCIAL IMPORTANCE rather than the C86 "But we just want to dance/shimmy/whatever" take?

Re: THE HIPHOP WARS: a personal memoir

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

the specific faction failed when cosgrove was ousted -- he is now big name at channel four -- and the writers that remained were none of them very effective office-politics organisers: hewitt "sold out" i would say (at least in hiphop hitler terms); o'hagan is always just canny with who is in the ascendent i'm afraid

to be fair i think the britpop line had solid evolutionary links with the earlier red wedge kinnockism -- the hiphop faction were strategically pro anything hewitt's schoolchum paul weller did* -- with the gallaghers in place of wishywashy soul

*haha i recall the STUNNED LOOKS ON ALL FACES as we trooped out of the showing of the style council's film JERUSALEM -- has this ever surfaced since? it is awesome poor

Re: THE HIPHOP WARS: a personal memoir

[giddyoldgoat.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure Stuart Cosgrove is still a C4 bigwig cos he now presents the Saturday afternoon football round-up on BBC Scotland - often w/ Indie football fan Pat Nevin!!

Re: THE HIPHOP WARS: a personal memoir

[mcarratala.livejournal.com]

More than that, Hewitt went on to write an Alan McGee-inspired spoiler (rushed out before Dave Cav's book), which seemed a little strange considering the history. I reviewed it for Tangents, and he (months) later wrote an impassioned and very odd defence.