Fuck Folk

The other night, after stumbling home from the pub, I found myself watching some documentary about British folk music during the late 1960s and 1970s. This was the era when, apparently, Britain's folk groups discovered electric guitars and 'folk rock' was born. It reminded me of just why I hate folk music so much - this is the crap I had to grow up with. Trust me, you just couldn't escape it, this whiny hybrid of straggly bearded and long haired twats strumming stratocasters whilst moaning on about mother nature, lost loves and the like, kept invading the charts, nestling side by side with glam rockers, heavy rock and metal bands. I'd rather listen to any of the latter types of popular music than bloody folk rock. In fact, I'd rather listen to the average Eurovision Song Contest entry than a bunch of hippies who think they're Bob bloody Dylan just because they've plugged in their amps.

I'll take Ian Gillan blasting out "Speed King" or "Highway Star" for Deep Purple over some ethereal-voiced waif twittering on about the birds and flowers. At least Richie Blackmore knew how an electric guitar should be played - loud and fast! One of those folkie arseholes on the TV even said that going electric had taught him to play less - pity he didn't take that lesson to its logical conclusion and give up altogether! What really tipped me over the edge enough to reactivate my anti-folk hatred whilst watching this programme, though,was the inclusion of The Strawbs performing '"I'm a Union Man" on Top of the Pops circa 1973. Jesus, I'd forgotten just how objectionable this smug piece of anti-Union propaganda was! It also showed what a bunch of amoral cunts the folk movement really were - supposedly working class, anti-war, anti-capitalism, etc, and yet happy to put down the unions (and by extension the whole working class) with this piece of shit, right at the very moment the labour movement was engaged in an historic death struggle with a Tory government! Fuck Folk, the cunts!