I was going to dip into sitcom catchphrase territory and open this post about the weather with "Don't panic!" But I can't, because panic we must. I might borrow from another Dad's Army character and go with, "We're doomed. Doomed!" instead. If wildfires raging across Europe aren't close enough to home for you, and thousands of deaths being attributed to heat in Spain and Portugal, we're about to see domestic temperature records not just broken but obliterated. It isn't enough to just call it a heatwave and blither on about how hot 1976 was. Everything has to change. Everything. Or we are all doomed.
Sorry. I don't mean to bring you down. It's just how I see it, but I don't want to preach, not now. So ... whenever I see "heatwave" in a headline, this is the song I hear. Not the Martha Reeves and the Vandellas original, not The Who's cover, but this, by The Jam. A bit of YouTubing dug up this curio from the band's tour of the US, promoting Setting Sons: an appearance on American Bandstand, miming first to Heatwave and then Strange Town, either side of a fairly uncomfortable interview with host Dick Clark in which Paul seems disinterested, bordering on contemptuous of the questions, and introduces Rick as Jim. And since American Bandstand was something of an institution in the US, running for 37 years, I suppose you could say this is great time-capsule TV... albeit an American time-capsule.
Until next time, let's all be like little Fonzies. "And what's Fonzie like? Come on Yolanda, what's Fonzie like?"
Blimey, that was awkward! Good old Bruce kept the enthusiasm levels up, but Paul looked like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world. What an odd show. Most TOTP presenters down the years at least attempted to appear 'with it' in some way, admittedly with wildly varying levels of success, but Dick Clark is like someone's square Dad who has been delegated to watch over proceedings lest they get out of hand.
ReplyDeleteI particularly enjoyed Bruce's refusal to be drawn into categorising the Jam sound as anything other than "Jam music".
DeleteGreat clip, they seem very incongruous with the whole feel of the show but I must say that, given how out of place they are, Dick does seem very amiable, actually listening to them and making it more of a flowing conversation than one of those interviewers with an immovable list of unlinked questions to be asked, regardless of where the last answer might have led (see Keith Fordyce on Ready Steady Go!) I reckon Paul must've missed his breakfast that day...
ReplyDeleteAs for the weather, the planet, oh, I feel such despair. There are so many of us on the ground feeling this, wanting to do what we can, and caring. Caring about every beautiful, wonderful natural, living thing, including each other........ and yet.
At least Dick had made an effort to have some relevant questions prepared. I think Paul just had a horrible time on that promo tour and didn't want to be there. He probably didn't even want to perform Heatwave given that it was a last-minute addition to Setting Sons, an album choc-full of original Weller compositions. But maybe they figured it would play well to US audiences? At least Bruce saved the day.
DeleteAs for the planet... it feels like an 8-billion mass-murder is being slowly perpetrated. But never mind, let's have a drawn-out pseudo debate about which entitled Tory is least worst to replace Johnson. Feel powerless to effect change on this, and that is so debilitating when the necessary changes need to start happening now, across the board. Feeling like I wont live as long as my parents because of this... feeling that NA Minor won't live as long as me because of this... just awful. Climate should be the first consideration in EVERY policy area.
As everyone else has said, a bit awkward wasn't it but just like so many of those appearances the bands of the day used to make on Saturday morning telly shows here. The band would rather be anywhere else but they'd been 'booked' so had to turn up.
ReplyDeleteI started my blog in 2016 and just about every summer I've had to write a post about how we've just experienced the hottest one on record. It is truly getting scary now and yes, everything has to change, but the pace of change is just too slow. I fear for our children.
You're so right, the pace of change is too slow.
DeleteI used to think my grandchildren would have it hard, then I moved on to thinking my lad's generation would be hit, and now I fear for my own future.