I wanna be elected

Browsing the shelves in Waterstones yesterday, I came across 'The Guardian Book Of Rock 'N' Roll' which brought to my attention a frankly bizarre piece written in the run-up to the 2001 General Election by the MP for Witney, one David Cameron, in which he sets out "why the lead singer of The Ramones holds the key to success for the Tories".

Disappointingly, he explains he's "not suggesting that the party's law and order stance should be toughened along the lines of the lyric much quoted in obituaries this week: 'Beat on the brat, beat on the brat, beat on the brat with a baseball bat'". Oh no, it's all to do with their directness and repetitiveness, apparently.

Lest you should go mistaking Cameron for a diehard Ramones fan (which, let's face it, would suggest a potential PM with better taste than either the previous incumbent or his Arctic Monkeys loving successor), he noted: "Once you could hum one tune (if tune is the right word, which it isn't), you could hum them all." Still, despite labelling it "Joey's meaningless wind up to (virtually) every Ramones song", he concludes the article with "Gabba gabba hey". Short, meaningless phrases repeated ad infinitum? On reflection, it's little wonder Cameron should be so appreciative.

On an unrelated music tip, something I was directed to a while back but never linked to: Carrie Brownstein, formerly of Sleater-Kinney, gets to grips with the video game Rock Star. (Thanks to Simon for the link.)