Music
Perhaps it would be appropriate to start with a bit of music history for you all. For those who are not yet in the know, Zwan are the new band featuring Billy Corgan, the famous bald guy. Who just happened to be in one of the most important bands of the 90s, The Smashing Pumpkins. Gish and Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness were landmark albums in the world of alternative rock, the emotional, melodic counterpart to the noisy squall of Seattle grunge. Of course, Corgan always saw himself as something of a renegade and a revolutionary, and the Pumpkins' career went pretty much downhill on the release of Adore, a more electronica-based oeuvre which attempted to back up the singer's declaration that 'rock is dead'. No-one else noticed its funeral, however, and he was forced to eat his words....
Music: Hancock's half-hour
So, the first heat of the OUSU and IMSoc Battle of the Bands 2003 kicks off in the Wheatsheaf, and this year I get to be a judge instead of the monkey on the door. Hurrah. What musical delights await me from the practice rooms of the student population? Well, for starters, there's last-minute replacements Kiint, who shuffle on stage apologetically, announcing self-effacingly that they're not Blue Kaddy, in case anyone was expecting them to be. The audience aren't bothered enough to care - or even pay much attention - which is a shame, since Kiint are good, alternating between brooding keyboard-enhanced instrumentals and slowed-down garage punkiness. 'Off Message' features floor-vibrating bass, rattling drum machine, and a12-string guitar, showing that while they may not have much of an audience, they've got more than enough talent. Audience interest perks up slightly during final song 'Life Imitates Pop', a faster number with a three-chord-punky feel to it, but all in all the atmosphere of Battle of the Bands tends to favour louder and more energetic bands over the more shoegazy stuff....
