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April 30th, 2004

Pepys, Dostoevsky, and Skinner

Pepys, Dostoevsky, and Skinner: John Sutherland’s imprimatur means this Streets piece can leave the callow lowlands of NYLPM and be linked on the Wedge instead. My major problem with the article - aside from Sutherland’s reading of the narrative which I’m not sure I agree with - is the continual use of “underclass”. Ben Thompson in the Observer Music Monthly rightly pounced on “Think I’m ghetto? Stop dreaming” as a (the?) key Streets line. Not having fifty quid in your account doesn’t make you “underclass”; nor does being keen on a burger. Skinner’s appeal is way less vicarious than Sutherland suggests.

(You can’t win, though - on an ILM thread one nay-sayer posited that people will excuse any old shite as long as it speaks to ‘their culture’.)

Written by Tom on Friday, April 30th, 2004 | 249 views |

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