A series for Saturdays in 2026 inspired by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's set of cards, Oblique Strategies (Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas). Eno and Schmidt created them to be used to unblock creative impasses and approach problems from unexpected angles. Each week I'll turn over an Oblique Strategy card and post a song or songs inspired by the suggestion.
Last week's Oblique Strategy suggestion was Don't be frightened to display your talents.
I wrote at some length about Talk Talk's 1988 album Spirit Of Eden, side one particularly, a three song suite that displays the talents of Mark Hollis and Tim Friese- Green, not to mention the other musicians that play on the songs- The Rainbow, Eden and Desire.
Out in the Oblique Saturdays community Walter suggested The Slits and their cover of I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Jase went for Daft Punk's Discovery, Rol firmly in the Dexys camp with Show Me, C with Hendrix doing Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock, Ernie playing his wildcard again with Splodgenessabounds and Michael Booth's Talking Bum, Al G with The Modern Lovers and Pablo Picasso (whose childhood home in Malaga I visited last week, first floor flat in the building below )...
... and Mrs G who went with PJ Harvey's 50 ft. Queenie.
I would like to hear PJ Harvey cover Pablo Picasso. I think she could take it to places new.
This week's card, turned over yesterday when I got back from Spain, is this- Be less critical more often.
I turned this over in my mind a couple of times and ended up with Minutemen, the 80s band from San Pedro, California, who were inspired by punk to get up and do something. Formed by childhood friends D. Boon and Mike Watt, Minutemen pulled in George Hurley on drums and wrote songs, made records and toured, all three incessantly until tragedy brought them to an end. Watt and Boon gave everything they did a lot of thought- they weighed up the meaning and value of things, of how to be a band and how to go about doing it the right way, how to relate to each other and to the world. They were critical of themselves and each other but also madly supportive and encouraging (of each other, of themselves, of other people). If the key message of punk was 'do it yourself', then they absorbed that fully, added a massive dose of work ethic ('if you're not playin', you're payin', they stated in their Jam Econo theory, driving round the US in a van playing gigs here, there and everywhere, seeing records as a way to promote their gigs, building a network and a community of like minded souls in every town they played) and worked out their political stance- anti- commercial, anti- rockist, independent.
Their music was everything except hardcore punk (despite being very much part of that world), an ultra- democratic sound (the bass and guitar stayed away from each other's areas). They were punk funk and folk punk, art rock and spoken word, unconventional and inspirational. They fused Wire, Pere Ubu, Bob Dylan, The Clash, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Pop Group, Gang Of Four, Captain Beefheart with the spirit and feel of 80s US indie- punk (contemporaries like Black Flag, Husker Du and Sonic Youth).
In 1984 they released their opus, Double Nickels On The Dime, a forty five song double vinyl masterpiece that saw each Minuteman select a side and the forth side collated from the remaining songs from the sessions (which they called the Chaff side- be less critical). It is a magnificent achievement, one of 80s punk's key albums.
By 1984 Minutemen were being less critical, were creating more songs, writing songs about anything that amused or interested them- Michael Jackson, Vietnam, racism, the poor, James Joyce and Ulysses and shit from an old notebook.
In their songwriting, D. Boon and Mike Watt had freed themselves from external criticism. If it was valid to them, it was worthy of writing a song about. Double Nickels is autobiographical, is left wing, is funny and passionate and inspirational. 'Our band', D. Boon sang in History Lesson Pt. II, 'could be your life'.
While writing Take 5, D Boon told Mike Watt his lyrics were 'too spacey'. Watt agreed and re- wrote them, responding to criticism in an egoless way and writing new lyrics that were 'more real'. He based them on a note he found from a friend's landlady complaining about a leaky shower.
'I hope we can rely on you not to use shower/ Hope we can rely on you not to use shower/ You're not keeping tub caulked/ Caused both downstairs bath ceilings and walls to be soggy/ Tub has to properly caulked prior to any shower/ Walls are drenched/ I'll refer plumber here/ Had to pay for two service calls/ Water drips from all around/ Kathy's ceiling, my ceiling/ Don't use shower/ Don't use shower'.
D. Boon died in December 1985 when the band's van, being driven by his girlfriend while he slept in the back, broke its rear axle, veered off the road and threw him from it killing him instantly. RIP D. Boon.
I'm not 100% sure how I'm connecting all of that with Be less critical more often but it's where my head went with the Oblique Strategy suggestion- and that's what this series is all about.
Feel free to drop your own responses into the comment box.
9 comments:
Have you read Michael Azzard's book - Our band could be your life.
Excellent.
Meanwhile, Don't think twice it's alright - Bob Dylan.
These are the song titles I can think of that are least critical of others and least self-critical, from Lyle Lovett and A House:
https://youtu.be/wlBakL6V-fs?si=IbTOH5KcLvdM_SK5
https://youtu.be/3yMk-LJefG0?si=y5vzDjkiJAzXWjv5
"It’s not the note you play that's the wrong note – it's the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong.”
~ Miles Davis
Herbie Hancock tells a story about how he played a wrong chord once onstage with Miles Davis in Stuttgart in 1963. It was a horror to Hancock; he put his hands over his ears, froze, and could not play another note for a full minute.
Worse, he'd already irritated Davis because when Miles counted in the song, Hancock was still crawling around under his piano to get his personal tape recorder set up, and the band had to stop until Herbie could get out and take his place.
But when Miles heard the rotten chord, he didn't glare at Hancock or stop the song. He paused but stayed immersed in the flow, thus allowing him to hear it as a natural feature of what was happening in the piece.
He took the situation on its merits playing the next notes that made the chord integral, not a mistake, and just kept going.
The story is touching, both from Hancock’s obvious relief and gratitude decades later, as well as for what it says about creative muscularity and openness to the possibility of every given moment...
In a similar but different way, The Shaggs are widely considered to be the godmothers of outsider music because they were errr... fundamental in redefining what constitutes a musical performance.
Formed in Fremont, New Hampshire, in 1968, the band consisted of sisters Dot, Betty, Helen, and later Rachel Wiggin. They achieved legendary status by completely failing to grasp the basic rules, while accidentally creating something completely original!
The band's entire existence was engineered by their overbearing father, Austin Wiggin Jr. When Austin was a boy, his mother read his palm and made three specific prophecies: he would marry a strawberry-blonde woman, he would have two sons after she died, and his daughters would form a famous rock-and-roll band.
After the first two predictions came true, Austin became obsessed with the third. He pulled his daughters out of school, bought them instruments, and forced them to practice for hours daily, despite the girls having zero musical talent or interest.
In 1969, Austin moved the girls into a professional recording studio to cut their magnum opus, "Philosophy of the World". The studio engineers were reportedly horrified, claiming the girls did not know what they were doing and were not ready to record.
Austin insisted on pressing forward, paying for 1,000 copies. In a bizarre twist of bad luck, the shady record producer vanished with 900 of those copies, leaving only 100 in circulation, thus seeding an accidental underground mythos.
The unique charm of The Shaggs lies in the fact that they were not intentionally trying to be avant-garde; they were trying their best to play normal pop music.
Helen’s drumming completely ignored standard time signatures, operating on an erratic, lumbering rhythm that stopped and started at random.
Dot and Betty played completely out-of-tune guitars, strumming chord shapes that matched the exact rhythm of the vocal lines rather than providing a steady backing track.
Dot's songwriting focused on innocent, childish themes... like a lost cat in My Pal Foot Foot or the absolute authority of parents.
Speaking of which, here is "My Pal Foot Foot" sounding like the blueprint for every slightly chaotic, highly whimsical, charmingly shit, outsider indie band ever...
https://theshaggs.bandcamp.com/album/philosophy-of-the-world?t=4
Clearly seminal.
I'm going to go with Water Under the Bridge by Dodgy. Right from the opening line 'I need to be a better person' - which is a mantra (or even a 'Way of Dodgy') in itself - I think it meets your criteria. Though I could be wrong (it has been known).
Trail Of Bread- yes, fantastic book, love it. And good song choice.
Ernie- both excellent responses
Rongniss- the Miles Davis/ Herbie Hancock story is wonderful. And a big yes to The Shaggs who as you say pretty much invented shambling indie
John- I think anything that you feel fits the criteria, fits the criteria.
To avoid suggesting Alexander O'Neal, which would be bang on this week, I'm going to offer a 60s song called Why Must They Criticise, originally released by The In Crowd, though I think I prefer the version by George Bean from the bands Bean And Loopy's Lot, George Bean And The Runner Beans and - best of all - Trifle. His version makes the song sound like Barry McGuire's Eve of Destruction.
https://youtu.be/Y7UNzymw3Lk?si=72IlXexOpLupZzPN
The title of ‘Everything’s Alright Forever’ suggests a complete lack of critical judgment for, well, ages - here’s a bit of alright from the Boo Radleys
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YSSgUwXJ3ic&ra=m
Ah yes Rol, Alexander O'Neal, that hadn't occurred to me. Love the George Bean song, new to me.
Al G- yep, that fits the bill.
It's Not Right, But It's Okay by Whitney - Always reminds me of Roy Walker hosting Catchphrase :)
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