Funny how things come and go, but then come back again. Totally by chance, I’ve been listening to a good old 1980s classic over the last couple of days, ‘Shout to the Top’ by Style Council. The lyrics are about the grim situation in the UK in the early 80s, with Thatcher dismantling many of the pillars which kept the working class just about above water (closing the mines in particular). And then it suddenly dawned on me that, mutatis mutandis, the song could just as well be an anthem for the Occupy movements around the world:
When you're knocked on your back - an' your life's a flop
and when you're down on the bottom there's nothing else
but to shout to the top - shout!
I have to admit having a bit of a celebrity crush on Paul Weller (hey Paul, when are you coming to play in the Netherlands again?), but I tend to like his recent work much better than his older work; in particular the Style Council phase isn’t my favorite. (In fact, he gets better with time in all respects if you ask me, even with his dubious hair-cut choices.) However, ‘Shout to the top’ is simply a great song, and it’s quite amazing to see that it remains topical 25 years later. (The video is also very nice, very 80s and yet definitely making a political point.)
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