Entertainment features

According to the recently published Observer Book of Rock and Pop, the North East is a musical wasteland.

The region that gave the world Chris Waddle (No 12 - Diamond Lights with Glen Hoddle) Jimmy Nail (No 1 - Ain't No Doubt) and PJ and Duncan (No 10 - Lets Get Ready to Rhumble) can't hold a candle to Woking, Watford or even the Isle of Man.

They used a points system that counts solo artists by their birth place and groups in the town or city they were formed. Counting number one singles by these acts gives the North East - nul points.

Looking West

Two major factors are geography and history. In the survey, London, Liverpool and Glasgow do well. During the birth of rock, trendsetters benefited from the import of American rock and roll 45s, brought into the docks by returning sailors.

Conversely, the North East with a huge industry based on seafaring, faced east, exporting coal and armaments. Any imports into Newcastle came via Scandinavia and the Low Countries. So lots of mucky books and blue movies, not much in the way of cutting edge music.

Until culture came to the region in 1998 with the Angel of the North it was virtually impossible to get local musicians away from mandolins, fiddles and penny whistles.

Rumour has it that Bryan Ferry was so entrenched in traditional music that the first Roxy Music album was to be called 'What yer stottin' hinny?'.

Brian Eno persuaded Ferry that a collection of songs celebrating pit disasters and cattle wouldn't cut it in the glittery world of Glam that was 1972.

Reluctantly Ferry acquiesced, but only if he could call the first Roxy single after a packet of tabs, which they duly did, Virginia Plain*.

It's getting silly now

It would be completely facile, childish and unscientific to say that looks play a major part in the world of popular music.

Following on from this, it would also be very wrong to state that the following home-grown talents fell from the ugly tree, but chances are they played beneath it's spreading boughs - The Animals, Lindisfarne, Mark Knopfler and current indie faves Maximo Park could all be blamed for the region's poor showing in the UK's most musical places.

The Sage Gateshead and Folkworks have been beavering away bringing on young talent firmly based in the world of tradition.

The fruits of their labours are paying off with acts like The Park Bench Social Club and The Winterset launching careers that should by rights cross over into the mainstream, but will flourish irrespective of chart action. 

Rubbishing an entire region due to paucity of the number one hits it's produced is unfair.

Newcastle based 90s soulsters The Lighthouse Family sold millions of records and their highest UK singles chart placing was No 4, even though to these ears, they sounded like a definite No 2.

*this is in fact true.

Here is a selection of comments:

T Aston
I've just listened to Maximo Parks album, what else should be on my list of good north-east England contemporary music to listen to please?

R Carter, Newcastle (and proud)
"Rubbishing an entire region due to paucity of the number one hits it's produced is unfair."Too right.The music industry is way too much of a mess these days to make anything like this utterly pointless list anything other than...erm...well...pointless.Mark Knopfler alone is recognised as an amazingly talented musician and songwriter, he is known to be a brilliant producer, he is constantly in demand as a session guitarist, has done countless film scores, has a hugely loyal fan base and despite regularly evolving his musical styles, continues to sell out concerts the world over - show me any modern musicians in the charts (and we all know what they're worth these days) that could cover all of those bases to such a high standard.Likewise, just consider how many of these younger more traditional folk musicians would be where they are today if it weren't for the influence of the legendary Alan Hull and Lindisfarne.Don't forget that the Animals were also a huge band in their day and that their bass player discovered Jimi Hendrix - not really that important eh?And yes, I was born and raised in Newcastle but surely the above speaks for itself.And you stating 'facts' like the one about NE musicians not being able to get away from penny whistles etc before 1998, which conveniently ignores the music of the Animals and Dire Straits, doesn't really help.Perhaps the problem here is not tradition as you suggested, maybe it could be the rest of the country's refusal to move away from such outdated stereotypes.Reporting regional stereotypes such as these (and the crack about coal in the bath) as facts is simply poor journalism I'm afraid.

Steve Drayton
To one generation, Mark Knopfler stands astride the mouth of the Tyne like a modern Colossus, albeit one who wears a red toweling sweatband playing Local Hero ad nauseam. I don't doubt his talent, but the recent furore surrounding the dropping of the theme tune to the film Local Hero, a film about life in a Scottish village as Newcastle United run out onto the pitch highlights the sad fact that many North Easterners are trapped in the past and stubbornly refuse to let it lie. Coupled with fact that they've replaced Local Hero with If The Kids Are United, a tune even older than Local Hero, points to a backward looking society. Why, only yesterday I saw a group of shoeless children, covered in soot playing with a hoop and stick in the cobbled streets of Newcastle.As regards the latest raft of top notch folk acts they're reprising songs much older than Meet Me On The Corner. Maybe the kids a hundred years down the line with be revering the works of Lindisfarne, but at the moment, Johnny Handle seems to be down with the folk kids. I was only messing with the quips about the coal in the bath and the penny whistles by the way.

david hutton
the lighthouse family were from newcastle.They had a few hits