Pomodoro e Basilico

With the great success of 'Eelrock' in the 60s and 70s, Holland was ready to create a second genre and add it to its Musical Heritage. We're talking early 80s and the concept of 'Nederpop' is invented. Musically at least as renewing as the 'Eelrock' genre, Nederpop arrived with a bang with a band called 'Doe Maar' (freely translates to 'Go on, make my day, I don't mind either way, so you might as well go ahead with it, but do understand that you won't get my complete support, simply because I don't care). It's a concise language, Dutch. Doe Maar brought a ska-ish, reggae music to the Dutch public. Combining typically Dutch subject matter ( drugs , television , eternal doom , existential crises , and of course the secret love for your night nurse ), the colours of the early 80s (bright pink and an incredibly hurtful shade of neon-green) and a combination of boyish good looks with a naïve desire to make 'adult music', the ba...

Time for some culture injections. I think it's a good moment to explain some of the weirdness that is Dutch Music. I'll try to steer clear of the details of the major Dutch successes in Global Rock and Pop History. What? Dutch successes? Yes, there are a few. And anyone who has ever spoken to a Dutchman for over 20 minutes will undoubtedly recognize the following dialogue: Dutch: "So do you know some Dutch Music?" Undutch: "Ehm?" Dutch: "We are very famous for our music!" Undutch: "Ehm?" Dutch: "Don’t you know any Dutch music, come on, you have to guess!" Undutch: "Ehm? Was Elvis Dutch?" Dutch: "No, come on, one of the most famous songs in the world is Dutch!" Undutch: "I thought Paul McCartney was from Liverpool?" Dutch: "The Golden Earring! The Golden Earring! The Golden Earring!" Undutch: "Ehm?" Dutch: "Come on! They are famous! You know, 'When the Lady Smi...

It's time to talk about Bruce. Of course the Bruce thing started way before our stay in Ireland, some time in the early 80's. When it was still hip to wear huge earrings and Don Johnson was the hippest person alive. Rolling up your sleeves was essential. Those days. Soon, those days will be back, so start wearing sweat bands again and you'll be a trend setter. Anyway, Bruce. The Irish Connection is Bruce in Concert. Three times we managed to meet the guy. Well, see him from a distance. Three concerts, three different styles. Not just a little different, I'm talking difference like Cliff Richard is different from Keith Richards. Different. I'll explain, of course. First there was the RDS concert with the E-Street Band. This was an exhausting experience. People not being able to stand on their feet, the audience begging the band to finally stop playing, people actually mind melting to speed up the time it took for the sun to set. Serious dehydration, muscle aches, I...

We're talking 2002. Our first couple of months in Ireland. Damien Rice is HOT. And when I say HOT, I mean HOT! People are carrying his CD 'O' everywhere they go. You go shopping and the ladies behind the counter show you his CD. Taxi drivers have the CD on display, dangling from their rear view mirror. Damien Rice is everywhere. Okay, okay, you think, give it a few weeks, months maybe, and the fellow will disappear to wherever he came from. Not Damien. No, no, no... this one song, 'Cannonball' was played every morning on the radio for the entire period of our stay in Ireland. I'm not even exaggerating. On average we spent 20 minutes in the car each morning on our way to work. Without exception we've heard 'Cannonball' every single morning, between 08.30 and 08.50. Random radio stations. Some days we were lucky and we were treated to the 'Damien Double': 'Cannonball' in the morning and 'Cannonball' in the evening. I can tell...

I'll try and talk about a few things that I took from Ireland. No idea what I'll come up with, since the effects of the 4,5 years we spent in Ireland may only show after considerable time. I'll start with some music related effects... First up is David Gray. He's English, I know. But before we moved to Ireland we had never heard of David Gray. He was simply not known in the Netherlands at all. During the time we spent in Ireland, Mr. Gray has also managed to get some success in Holland, but I clearly remember hearing 'Please Forgive Me' on the radio in a Dublin taxi and being very impressed by the song and especially his voice. It took some time to figure out who this unknown singer was, but ever since, David Gray has been a constant on my iTunes playlists. Anyway, here's his 'Babylon'. In all honesty, I had never seen any music videos of the guy before looking them up right now. To be completely honest I didn't even know what the dude looked lik...