Hang your head in shame for you have failed in your parental duty to give her a rounded education, my youngest is 20 yrs old and her iPod that she's got in Majorca at the moment has folders on it with Rod Stewart and The Who (who she learned about from CSI) on it - I of course ensured that only Mr Stewarts early output was included and not the discoe of latter years, for I am a discerning parent.

My eldest who is 24 has recently purchased the dvd of Quadrophenia which she loves after seeing it on tv, I don't really care if she views it as ancient history or not, fact is she loves the mod style and music represented on it, its still as relevant today, very much so.

On the other hand I share their music too, I don't like most of it but the bits that I do like is very good and never more so when young artists take a song from the 60s or 70s and put their own interpretation on it - everything is cyclical.

Anyone who's ever watched CSI Las Vegas (Who are you), CSI Miama (Won't Get Fooled Again) or CSI NY (Baba O'Riley) will definitely know The Who. Their music has featured in several cartoon shows, during the Superbowl Half-Time Show, several computer games, television adverts, etc, etc.

Regardless, the cyclical resurgence and ongoing popularity of 'Mod' culture - and the Quadrophenia film - all mean The Who have remained popular throughout the generations.

There's only one person to blame if your daughter hasn't heard of the greats. I grew up listing to Queen, Neil Diamond, Boney M, The Who, Elvis, Michael Jackson, ABBA, Led Zep, Rod Stewart, Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, The Stones, The Bee Gees, The Beatles, Phil Collins, Stevie Wonder and christ knows who else, despite the fact many of them were well before my time - a wide range of music and I'm grateful to my parents for educating me.

That is totally irrelevant.

I do know where you are coming from though, but its because you haven't adapted yourself.

When I was 20 my father's musical tastes were very much from the 1940s and were as far away as what I liked as didn't matter, his music was totally irrelevant to me and I didn't want to listen to any of it despite the fact that more of the music than I cared to admit in the 60s and 70s was actually just recycled from the 40s and 50s.

Its not like that now though, clothing and music have done much to bridge the generation gap that existed bewteen my father and me and my daughters don't consider my musical taste to be beyond their relevance, our playlists are interwoven, we still have differing tastes but I don't automatically exclude the likes of Ed Sheeran just because he's not of my generation.

Its sad if you do.

The generation gap is as big as ever when looking up from the perspective of youth (rather than down from dodderyness). Always will be the same.

To quote Frank Skinner on his radio show on Saturday, when someone made a similar 'I wasn't even born then' type statement, 'You're confusing memory with knowledge'.

Despite the usual Daly Baiting, the idea of having the video sequences of British pop stars who did not turn up was ridiculous. The Daviud Bowie bit was hilarious here is one of our mosdt talented performers with his hits from about 1968 t0 82 ( after which he went shiite) but then he was not there. Surely it would have been better to have someone who could have turned up.

Did no one think to check wehether Ray davies could still sing ( was great and i love the song) but he has lost his voice.

Emili Sande rather than Adele.

Beady Eye were poor as well. should have asked Noel to come back and do it as oasis.

Loads of much better bands out there both historically and now.

It all seemed to be done on the cheap and in a hurry IMHO. It could of and should have been much better.

My other gripe was although it was the London Olympics it has been billed as the British olympics with emphasis on the rest of the UK but the end of the olympics seemed to be all about London

I really don't think it is, and certainly not in terms of music. As you pointed out, most young people in the 60's wouldn't have been seen dead listening to 20/30 year old music. Today that isn't the case with bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Sex Pistols, The Jam etc all being listened to by young people without embarrassment.
Even if it were the case, it wouldn't have mattered since there was plenty of music on offer from "current" artists.

Ah. "Relevance". That's what we need. Seriously, you should read and try to understand the other replies to your point.


Indeed it was, and it wasn't in the UK. But is there a point, other than you can do basic arithmetic? I'd bet most would know of it, and those that do wish they could have been there, but what is it you're trying to say?



2012 minus 110 = 1902. Can't be anything that old anyone today would have heard of. I mean, I could mention
Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance (1902)
Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumble Bee (1902)
Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (1902)
The Entertainer by Scott Joplin (1902)
Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home - 1902
Rachmaninoff's Concerto for Piano #2 - 1901

In the same era we had
Danny Boy (1913)
When Irish Eyes are Smiling (1912)
Give My Regards to Broadway - 1904
Colonel Bogey (1914)
Alexander's Ragtime Band - 1911
It's a Long, Long Way to Tipperary - 1912
By the Light of the Silvery Moon - 1909

Do you feel stupid enough yet, or shall I give some more examples? (You will have noted that it is by no means necessary to be in any way a "legend" to make an indelible imprint on musical culture) - have you or your offspring ever heard of, or indeed sung and know the words/tunes of any of these:

Amazing Grace - 1800
Jingle Bells - 1857
Old MacDonald Had A Farm - 1859
Camptown Races - 1850
Wedding March - 1844 (Mendelssohn, from A Midsummer Night's Dream)
William Tell Overture - 1829
Stars and Stripes Forever - 1897 (by Sousa)
When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again - 1863 (
Chopsticks - 1877
Can Can - 1858 (Offenbach)
When The Saints Go Marching In - 1896
Fur Elise - 1810 (Beethoven)
She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain - 1899
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! - 1861
Alouette -1879
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot - 1872
Onward, Christian Soldiers - 1871
The Yellow Rose of Texas - 1858
O Little Town of Bethlehem - 1868
My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean - 1881
Blue Danube Waltz - 1867 (Strauss)
Au Clair de la Lune - 1811
Hail to the Chief - 1820
Barber of Seville - 1813
Beautiful Dreamer - 1860
Away In a Manger - 1887
Pictures at an Exhibition - 1887 (Mussorgsky)
I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen - 1876
Hark the Herald Angels Sing - 1855
Peer Gynt Suite - 1888

Do you give in, or do you want more?

I like Bobby Darin.

Dave Clark Five were good too!

FA - but were they the top "popular" bits of music of their era? Who was the equivalent of The Who (ie well known but not top dogs in their era)?

You missed the best, and much older, piece of music - Greensleeves.

I should like to apologise. No sooner were the words "there'll be f'kin Morris Dancers next" out of my mouth, and lo and behold, the Gods of Extracting the Urine produced them!

With a screetching Jessie J murdering a classical Queen song....a true 60's legend struggling with Waterloo Sunset.....the Spice Girls looking like a plumper tribute band....yet another rendition of Our House.....and the bizarre rendition of the Who classic Pinball Wizard by the Kaiser Chiefs, when the genuine article were in the house....you just knew it was going to be a long evening, even before the appearance of the skating Nuns.

Thank God it was The Who, and not McCartney who closed the gig, although I have to be honest, Pete Townsend's attempts at pogoing lacked a certain bounce. Although that may have been due to some Health and Safety regulation pertaining to the health of 67 year olds.

I thought the Finale Fireworks were a tad lacking. Perhaps they had used up all the good ones in the opening ceremony, and simply run out.

Still, always look on the bright side of life, eh? £9 billion is not that much these days......

The main problem with the closing ceremony was that it was too safe, too mainstream - It wasn't quite the Queen's Jubilee concert, but it ran it close.

Compare with Danny Boyle's opening effort, which refused to be predictable and was at times deliberately baffling, last night's was just a glorified karaoke night, albeit with a bigger budget than down your local.

In defence, this was meant to be a party, and like most parties, the music is often questionable.....Overall, it was e, but a pleasant, forgivable type of e...

I find the attitude that people who didn't enjoy the closing ceremony must automatically be "miserable f*ckers" a little odd. Is that the criteria by which every theatrical production must be judged? Like it, or you're a "miserable f*cker"?

Its not a theatrical production, it wasnt supposed to be. You werent supposed to be critiquing a performance or story.

It was, pretty simply, a bit of party, showcasing british music and culture of all types.

If you could find nothing in it you liked, then yes, you probably are a miserable f*cker

To be fair to to the organisers a lot of the acts they probably wanted were unavailable. Adele is 7months pregnant, Noel Gallagher allegedly said he has enough fame and money and didn't want to, Coldplay are on tour in America, The Rolling Stones are only just getting back together for a tour and thought it'd be too soon...and that's before we get to the fact the half the Beatles are dead, Freddie Mercury is dead...and no doubt many more turned them down.

It does seems to be the case in your house, yes.

Of course it was a theatrical production (of sorts). If it was just 'a party', it wouldn't have been broadcast to a worldwide audience. And of course people will critique something (anything) of that nature. I'm not saying there wasn't a single thing I would have enjoyed, but the 45 minutes or so I sat through convinced me that it wasn't worth sticking with in case there was a three or four minute spell that was enjoyable.

If you enjoyed it, you must be a happy clappy tard with no taste. See, lazy stereotyping is dead easy.

Coldplay, radiohead, rolling stones, pj harvey, roxy music, rod stewart, ash. elvis costello, human league, dire straits, pulp, travis, snow patrol, keane, florence.

and that is off the top of my head. i just think that having videos of dead simngers or of singers who were not there just smacked a bit of desparation. There are loads of good singers out there who could have all done a turn and being there in the flesh. Should have shocased some other areas oif the country as well. Would have been nice to have even had the proclaimers or someone from N. Ireland or wales. Tom jones

I loved it

yes some of the music wasn't to my taste but as an event I thought the closing ceremony was great

No it wasnt, it was a party, it was advertised as a party, the director of the closing ceremony said they aimed to make it a party, it was a celebration of british music and culture of all types, there was some new, some old, some pop, a bit of rap and R&B, some dance music.

Maybe it didnt meet your high-standards with your esoteric and thoughtful high-brow musical palette but i saw my niece go crazy for one direction and jessie j, my mum loved Take That and I saw the Who, and rather than sit there wondering why it wasnt tailored to my taste and why i was sitting through Annie Lennox I thought shouldnt we be proud that this little island can cater for so many people at such a high level, we went from rock royalty to kids pop, from Shakespeare to Kate Moss from Gothic to Psychedelic, thats what the director was trying to achieve, not some critical acclaim for its artistic depth and in that respect it was a roaring success.

And yes, if that you cant actually see past your cynicism to see that, its probably because you are a miserable f*cker

At no point last night did I think, you know what this party is crying out for, Coldplay, radiohead, Snow Patrol and Keane, nobody knows how to get a party started like coldplay, radiohead, snow patrol and keane.

lol

Well yes, since that's what you asked for.


Surely, a candidate for silliest question of all time. And for a spell of course The Who [iwere[/i indisputably top dogs anyway.


I didn't miss anything, where did I claim I was providing a complete and exhaustive list? But, if you want to contradict your own argument for me, feel free to throw in a few more.

Have you tried any of my list on your offspring yet, and are you ready to concede the point?

No, Durham Giant is right, they should have made the closing ceremony run for about 16 weeks and played every fekkin song of any note since records began. The best way to do it was get everyone in the country to send in a list of 50 suggestions and then just work your way through all 3 billion, that way our Olympics wouldn't actually finish till the year 3844 but it would be quite a show, apart from the final audience bitterly complaining they hadn't played a single tune from the last 18 centuries.

The Who were the top UK band of their era? Really? I would imagine that there were several other contenders - including The Dave Clarks Five, The Troggs and The Small Faces who would argue with that, and that's without including The Beatles. The difference is that The Who are still around (after a fashion), and that is the important part.

Overall I thought the night was as good as you'd expect. They were never going to match the opening ceremony, and it would have been wrong to have tried. They got a pretty good cross section of UK musical taste from the last 50 years or so involved (although by now someone must realise that singers from the 60s need to retire) and there were one or two inspirational moments.


I'd like to apologise for the scooter riders though, they in no way reflect the mainstream of scooter culture, and were on the whole what is known as 'comedy mods'.