I can remember the first time I heard it, in the Clyde Bar in Helensburgh. Raw, explosive, vitriolic and, to my 17yr old ears, a spitting hammer blow through my music collection.
I bought the CD that weekend and as soon as I got home, rushed up to my room, closed the door (I’m not THAT rebellious), put it in the stereo and turned it up loud.
Thumping bass notes, screeching guitar and THAT refrain.
FUCK YOU, I WON’T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME!!
As a track it still has enough raw energy and youthful (misguided) attitude to remain an anthem to many an angsty, angry, acne-ridden youth, and through the “power of the internet” it’s now the Christmas number 1 for 2009.
And yes, I bought it. And yes I’m glad I did.
Not because of any “sticking it to the man” sympathies, as many have pointed out, Sony own both record labels so they win either way.
Not to get at X-Factor per se, as it at least drives me to source other forms of music and find richer seams of pleasure away from the (mostly) manufactured crap that peppers the charts.
Not (just) because, musically, I much prefer a good bit of noisy rock to yet another ballad.
And definitely not to “get at Joe”, who seems wholly likable and sounds a bit like Neil Sedaka to me and that’s no bad thing (really, it’s not).
Nope, I mainly just to placate that tiny piece of me that remains rebellious, the bit that gets tattoos. To have a small amount of “fuck it” in my life, to get away from the tensions and strains of being an adult.
That’s really all there is to it.
So I’m not really raging against the machine, more *mildly not too keen on the thingmabob.
