While the Quietus' Baker's Dozen features are almost invariably entertaining, I suspect that some of those interviewed are self-conscious in trying to come across as cool. Not so author and former music journalist Ben Myers, who not only openly confesses to a love of Slipknot but also makes the admission: "I mainly only listen to Best Of compilations. My favourite record shops are also petrol stations. Life is just too short to suffer filler." Hats off for such refreshing honesty - though the revelation that Right Said Fred's 'Deeply Dippy' reminds him of "getting tugged off in an empty rugby stand" is probably one that I could have lived without.
Over the course of the article, Myers expresses his love for folk visionaries Nick Drake and Richard Dawson, early jungle music and The Slits' LP Cut; recalls his experience in a teenage hardcore punk band; discusses censorship in connection with Frankie Goes To Hollywood; offers a spot-on assessment of The Doors that acknowledges Jim Morrison for "the utterly absurd figure that he was" while also recognising his exceptional vocal talent; and, in describing the formative influence that the Manics' The Holy Bible had on him as a writer, makes a statement that I wholeheartedly endorse: "The notion that the mid-1990s was a sunny time of Britpop knees-ups and New Labour is just a revisionist and reductive history, pure fiction."
There can't have been many Baker's Dozen pieces that make mention of "an Alsatian in a knitted balaclava". Neither can there have been many contributors who can claim to have interviewed Swedish indie also-rans The Wannadies on a rollercoaster at Legoland while on a horrific speed comedown courtesy of The Wildhearts.
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