Traffic Street Preachers
Today, ChartBlog is taking a massive leap out of the comfort zone of your massively high-achieving musical-type people, and into a dark and shady region where newbies roam the earth, in search of an audience. Clearly there's almost as many of them as there are of us, so what is needed are a some tricky performance challenges for up and coming bands and singers, so we, the discerning public, can sort out the wheat from the chaff (and no, I don't mean the X-Factor).
It also helps if the performance itself is set somewhere exciting, so that you want to watch as much for the idea of the performance as for the performance itself. So, with that in mind, can I present the Black Cab Sessions, featuring - in this case - Emmy The Great?
(Warning: Contains almost inaudible swearing, right at the end. And some of the lyrics are a bit descriptive if you're a sensitive sort, or your mum is in the room.)
Good, innit? I've no idea why travelling around in a taxi is a better way to watch someone sing their song than having them sitting in front of expensive microphones on a stage, but it really is. Especially when the drone of the car and the low-fi fluffification of sound makes you strain to hear the music better, and therefore pay more attention than you otherwise might have. And if the song is as strong as this one, that's all to the good, right?
So, what we need to see is an extension of this idea into music's big leagues, so that there's a more level playing field. If Emmy The Great can rock the house even when it is a house on wheels, surely what we need to know is if some of music's premier league can do likewise, cos if they can't, wouldn't that make Emmy The Great, Emmy The Greatest?
That's right, it would. So, a challenge has been laid down. Forget chart positions, forget ticket sales, or brand-extending toiletries or MySpace friends or any other measure of success. From here on in, it's all about how well you can rock the back of a cab.
I want to see Fergie do this, with her dancers and everything. And the Foo Fighters. And the Pussycat Dolls (plus guest rapper). And...and...Slayer!
In fact, what I REALLY want is to see the next Live Earth concerts take place in a fleet of electric hackney carriages, all driving around the M25 at the same time. Carbon footprint? What carbon footprint?
And most of all, I want the Black Cab Sessions to keep happening, because it's a brilliant idea, done brilliantly. And that's all you can really ask of anyone, right?
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION MOMENT: C'mon then, who would YOU like to see rock a taxi? Better still, who would you like to watch rocking a taxi from the front passenger seat? Imagine the stage-diving possibilities!
Comments
I can only say awesome.. where do you hear about half of this crazy stuff??!
[I could tell you, but it's kind of icky. - Fraser]
I'd like to see McFly...drum set and all (and no, he can't just have one drum like in some of the videos, I want the whole thing).
Mika, too, because I'd like to see if he could sit still and sing at the same time (he moves around a lot!)
Getting all the PCD girls and a rapper back there would be difficult, but luckily they always have less clothes on than normal people, so therefore, more room! Can they dance back there too?
some one sucks at editing