THE COMMITMENT TO PLEASURE

An essay on pop music.

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Below is an essay I wrote about pop music in 2007. I hope you enjoy it.

Last week I took my twin thirteen-year-old sons to see the Black Keys at the Empire Shepherd's Bush. The Keys are two American guys, one on drums, the other on guitar, and they make a mean, dramatic and impressive noise.

That evening my sons were tired from a day at school; they were worried about not doing their French homework, and whether they'd get in trouble the next day.

'Missing your homework for a rock 'n' roll band; I grumbled. You'll have to do it in the morning on the bus?

Then, as casually as I could, I asked one of them what he was best at, at school. 'Don't worry about it, Dad; he said thoughtfully, 'I'm the best looking. The boys, who are uninterested in most adult things, were mesmerised by the show. They considered the evening to be 'sick; watching the guitarist and drummer carefully, talking to one another about what the musicians were doing.

It might have been the usual rock 'n' roll experience: sticky carpets, the toilet cistern leaking on your head, people taking your seat, the boredom and excitement of waiting for the band to appear, and a headache at the end. But during the gig I recalled a quote from Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone magazine, who said something like, recognised that the most talented of my generation were going into music, so I did too!