The Death of Real Music!

And now to my other obsession - music! Friends and family will vouch for the fact that music is as important as breathing, eating and laughing to me. I simply cannot be in my flat or car without it. Forget mirror, signal, manoeuvre, for me it's select, insert, play! As I type, my stereo is loaded with the Doors, ELO and Embrace, with The XX, The Who and Jewel lined up next. So you'd think I'd have an i-pod with the biggest memory going - not so! I don't even own a shuffle!

You see, for me, I love being able to BUY my music, you know, in a real shop! There is nothing better than taking home a bag full of CD's (I can never buy just one!), tearing off the cellophane and devouring the contents of the sleeve notes. I like to read the lyrics and little scribblings the bands have included. And as for the covers themselves, some of them are complete works of art. I'm fortunate enough to own the original artwork for Little Wing's debut album 'Alchemy in the Garden' and it is a stunning picture that takes pride of place in my flat. If the onslaught of downloading continues these sleeves are going to become rarer than a good song in the top 20!

So imagine my horror when I realised that two weeks ago saw the last publication of the Observer Music Monthly magazine. What???!!! How on earth can this be? This magazine was jam packed with interviews, reviews, upcoming gigs, special features and even free CD's on occasion. It was a magazine you could savour for weeks never mind just on a Sunday. It was responsible for me giving many a random album a fair listen. They really did cover a whole range of music that just wouldn't get column inches in mainstream, poppy publications. And without magazines like this, I really do worry for up and coming acts who want to show case their music without having to rely on a boy/girl band line up, Simon Cowell's backing or some spotty rapper with his trousers around his knees!

Just as I was getting over that shock, along came another bombshell...Abbey Road Studios is in danger. Surely this should be considered a National Treasure? Some of the best and most influential albums have been written there. One of them is even named after the studio itself for God's sake! That album cover is as iconically British as Big Ben, fish and chips and the Queen. Even Andrew Lloyd Webber and Terry Wogan have got in on the campaign to save it. Please, please whatever happens, let it stay as a recording studio. Even giving it to Louis Walsh would be preferable to a business man who turns it into flats. I can see the tag line now - "isn't it good, Norwegian Wood, your fitted kitchen made to order!" - it's too horrific to contemplate!

And then just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, another blow. 6Music, a radio show made for people who are interested in new, old, Indie, rock, and all genres that steer clear of mass produced plastic pop is no longer going to broadcast. Now, I hope someone is going to message me and tell me this isn't true...please...anyone?!

I fully admit I'm a technophobe and there are probably hundreds, even thousands of music lovers who just search the web for new and interesting stuff. But I like listening to the radio and happening upon a great new or old track. At the moment, Saturdays on Radio 2 are just musical heaven as far as I'm concerned. Sounds of the Sixties followed by Jonathan Ross then Dales Pick of the Pops and all topped off with Dermot O'Leary. I have purchased many fine albums having heard bands perform tracks on Jonathan and Dermot's shows. Bands that certainly wouldn't get airplay on Radio 1, Heart or Capital. And now it seems even my Saturday line up is doomed too. Wossy is off in the summer and with Chris Evans having his wrist slapped for not appealing to the older generation, I really do fear what will replace him.

Maybe I should apply for the job......