Day 257. Anyone can play guitar. (14/9/13)

Right, I'm off out tonight (possibly more on that tomorrow) so rather than risk my end of day drunken ramblings you're getting my 'walking to Marksy's, writing on my phone with one thumb, regretting wearing a jacket as it's warmer than I thought, listening to The Beatles, how great is Baby You're A Rich Man? Ramblings.

Hope you're okay with that.

I'm going to take a vaguely unfashionable standpoint. I know, I know, not like me, I'm usually so on trend but here it is

Never underestimate the cultural impact of Cliff Richard and The Shadows.

The one time Harry Webb may have descended to a point in his career where he resides in a demi-monde of tacky semi hymnal singles and wonderfully cheesy calendars, extant from late August in order to prepare you for the full on horror that will greet you come January 1st, but for a short while there, in the pre Beatles world, before anybody realised that you could maintain a career in rock and didn't have to take the traditional route into the family entertainer role, Cliff was as vital as it got. An English Elvis, quiff and sneer incarnate, actually, genuinely a dangerous figure of rebellion. Move It was as fine a rock'n''roll single as these isles ever produced.

And yes, his forthcoming 100th album will see a return to his roots that will prove as embarrassing as a Joe Longthorne party album but I maintain that the voice is still basically there, all it would take is one producer with vision to transform Cliff in the way that Rick Rubin did Johnny Cash in his later work.

Hank Marvin though?  Now best known as rhyming slang for hunger, Hank is possibly the most influential guitarist that Britain has ever had. The first man in the country to own a Stratocaster, a unique style built around the tremolo arm quiver, looking geeky enough to prove that anyone can play guitar, he may well have been devalued through decades of glossy versions of Cavatina and insubstantial instrumental readings of show tunes but once upon a time he switched an entire generation on to the possibilities an electric guitar could bring. He's still Neil Young's all time hero. That, my friends, is praise.

There's an advert running at the moment. It's so memorable that I have no idea what it's selling me but I was talking to my dad about it yesterday. The advert, as he pointed out to me, has Shadows music playing as a bunch of kids head home, all with black quiffs and red Strats, one enters his kitchen for his mother to offer him food and state that 'you must be Hank Marvin'

Our Matty would have no idea who Hank Marvin is but would understand that the term means 'starving'

The music used is the quite brilliant 'Apache' - later used as the bedrock of one of the first vital cornerstones of hip hop. For years my dad has told me that he'll believe that I can actually play guitar (which I've been doing for thirty plus years thank you) when I can play Apache.

It's not happened yet but who knows? Maybe one day I'll actually surprise him.    

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