Central Scrutinizer Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 New Thai PM no old fogy: loves rock music AP - Friday, January 16BANGKOK, Thailand - Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is no old fogy when it comes to music, telling an audience that his favorite bands in 2008 were Oasis, Guns 'N Roses and The Killers. Speaking at a dinner at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand on Wednesday night, the Oxford-educated Abhisit said he really liked the comeback records of Oasis and Guns 'N Roses. He added that there were a lot of new bands he liked, including the Artic Monkeys' side project The Last Shadow Puppets. "When I look around the room, a lot of you were born too early," he said when asked about his top musical picks for 2008. "The Killers new album is good, and there were very good releases last year, comebacks from Oasis, Metallica, even Guns 'N Roses." Unlike his staid predecessors, the 44-year-old has cultivated an image as polished and trendy. Good looking and charming, he has a page and tens of thousands of friends on the Internet social networking site hi5, and brags about his love for the Newcastle United football club. Abhisit, who became prime minister last month, lists French philosopher Albert Camus as one of his favorite authors, while his musical tastes range from heavy metal to British indie rock bands to Barry Manilow. Critics have seized on Abhisit's Western tastes as an indication that he is out of touch with ordinary people, particularly the rural majority. Abhisit's base of support includes Bangkok's middle class, the military generals who ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in an bloodless coup in 2006, and foreign investors who see him as a stabilizing force. http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20090115/tap-as-thailand-rockin-pm-7934085.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torneyboy Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 When I look around the room, a lot of you were born too early," he said when asked about his top musical picks for 2008. "The Killers new album is good, and there were very good releases last year, comebacks from Oasis, Metallica, even Guns 'N Roses." Good old hard rocker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USVirgin Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 I was right with him there until the Barry Manilow part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faustian Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 Indeed, a serious lack of kudos for that bit. Otherwise he does sound ideally suited for his role. Might be too farangasized for the average xenophobic Thai though. I hope he makes some good decisions for this ailing country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playtheblues Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 What a trivial and bland (non)musical (non)taste! If he loves Albert Camus he should be into Debussy, Honegger, Ravel, Charlie Parker or Miles Davis musically. It;s not about age. I was hooked on every note of the Sibelius Fifth when I was twelve. There is a group of fanatical music lovers called musicophiles. I think I am one of them, it's a total addiction, bordering on very special states of mind. There is an interesting recent book about them by a brain physiologist, "Musicophilia". For them music is like heroin. And it is almost always classical music or jazz. Mostly Mozart: â??This is no mortal business, Nor no sound that the earth owesâ? and of course: Never trust a man without music in his soul! The Bard got it right as always. So don't trust Khun Abhisit. Polished Oxford yuppie, that's all, What am I listening to now? Ralph Vaughan Williams A Pastoral Symphony. So sweat and melancholic - why do these English Pastorals sound so sad? Delius even more. But beautiful "jon lua chua"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faustian Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 I love music, I react to it in a deeply emotional way, but I don't share your tastes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playtheblues Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 My comment wasn't directed to anybody particular, my mistake, sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playtheblues Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 I don't think anybody cares but now I know why A Pastoral Symphony sounds so sad: it was originated in 1916 in Northern France when VW served in the Royal Army Medical Corps. "It's really wartime music" he said. He went up a steep hill in the evenings "and there was a wonderful Corot-like landscape in the sunset". With all due respect to Khun Abhisit (I was too categorically negative above, gomen nasai) but can his pop music in a hauntingly beautiful way really evoke a Cortot-like landscape and the tragedy of war at the same time? I greatly admire pop geniuses like Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney but their music "is not enough" for me. It' s like having dessert all the time instead of real food. I think the issue between pop and classical music is not so much a matter of taste but rather about depth and intensity of perception. And most importantly, of aesthetic form. There are tragic people who are unable to appreciate classical aestethic form, where every element from the beginning to the end are totally tied together in an overall shape of "heavenly" beauty. When they hear Mozart they only hear a series of pleasant (or boring) sounds. Tragic. Btw tastes do differ. Contemporary critics reactions were "totally uncomprehending" when they first heard the Pastoral: ("like a cow looking over a gate"). Again, not that anybody cares, useless post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 44 is old??? << Critics have seized on Abhisit's Western tastes as an indication that he is out of touch with ordinary people, particularly the rural majority. >> I don't know any urban Thais who cream themselves at the sound of luk thung or mor lam music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playtheblues Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 I guess most yuppies everywhere are out of touch with ordinary people... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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