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| "...one
of Britain's most important cultural commentators." |
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The
Guardian on Richard Benson
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In The Guardian ('99) it was noted that 'The style journalism which
the Face pioneered has entered into every facet of print media, taking
away the singularity it once enjoyed and rendering the magazine's
rationale extremely unclear'…Levi's 501, Jimmy Choos, Manolo's,
Bacon, Warhol, Lemon Jelly…what's the lifespan of the cutting
edge?
"The time it takes for a manufacturing company to feed a new
cultural trend into its product cycle, and then market the resultant
product to the point where it becomes part of mass culture is usually
between one and two years. This assumes that the product and the marketing
are successful.
"The phrase 'cutting edge' is used to signify many different
qualities though, and I think you have to bear in mind that there
are various patterns. Artists can work for decades before they come
into favour, or find a technique that brings them to the attention
of collectors – Julian Opie is a good recent example.
"Most subcultures never really pass into the mainstream –
UK underground/garage/whatever you want to call it might throw up
Mercury Prize winning musicians from time to time, but its centre
of gravity is way outside the mainstream. And there is a discrepancy
between innovative subcultures and the products which are manufactured
under their influence.
"Levi’s 501, for example, were marketed in response to the
adoption of vintage Levi’s by a club crowd in the very early
80's. Truly innovative culture has its own natural exclusivity. Branded
products have it manufactured for them. To me, Jimmy Choos aren’t
really cutting edge, they just command exclusivity through price.
In my opinion, a lot of journalists overlook this distinction.
"Which sort of brings me to that newspaper story! I don’t
remember it, but have to say that I think the point about style journalism
and print media seems a bit daft."
Can
the concepts of cutting edge and commercial ever co-exist?
Stand-ups (Mark Lamarr), bands (Coldplay), art-house films (Blair
Witch), food (Sushi) - once the underground comes to the surface
it is derided by its own peer group…discuss... "Um,
well, one of the great things about popular entertainment is that
it tends to communicate in a very direct, un-selfconscious way;
it is more emotional than intellectual. Because of that, we who
love it tend to form very intimate, personal connections with it,
and so it is only to be expected that, when everyone likes a singer
or film or comic, our relationship feels a bit different.
"It’s like being mates with the new kid at school when
everyone is wary of them, and then watching them becoming the life
and soul of the playground – you’re going to feel your
friendship was more special when it was just you and them.
"A lot of the time, cutting edge entertainment has a strong
element of rebellion and criticism of its culture, which means people
who feel alienated from mass culture identify with it. When it is
accepted and absorbed by mass culture, the alienated have a dilemma.
That some of them will always reject their erstwhile hero once s/he
is accepted means that commercial and cutting edge can never be
entirely easy bedfellows.
"But don’t you think it’s a question of the underground
artist staying true to the principles by which they established
themselves? To take one of your examples, it seems to me that if
people have gone off Mark Lamarr, it’s because he now seems
to make telly programmes with people who seem a bit mired in that
shabby, graduate lad behaviour which is at odds with the courage
of the bloke who took Shabba Ranks to task over his homophobia on
The Word.
"It’s a really interesting phenomenon though, and I’m
sure it has always been with us. People in the 1920's wrote about
the new dance and drugs culture being appropriated by people who
didn’t understand it, and I’m sure that if we looked hard
enough we’d find the same sort of stuff being written about
waltzing, which was of course seen as very innovative and dangerous
in its time!"
Billed
as 'one of Britain's most important cultural commentators' you've
obviously got a bit of a keen eye for future trends, do you dabble
in the stock markets and win?
"That is a very good question, but no I don’t as a) I
am not organized enough and b) when I do do anything like that,
I like to put money in ethical funds. But then I suppose ethical
funds are sort of a trend aren’t they?"
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