Sir Cliff.....not cool enough??

[Kayless]

http://news.sky.com/h...news/article/16111523
What a snooty sh0wer this new radio station must be, Sir Cliff is a legend!
comments please!

[bagpuss63]

ps agree with notafish-his early recordings are embarrasing-he is 100% a wannabe Elvis in them

[elgreco]

I dont care if a radio station plays Cliff or not. What I would say is, like him or not, he is a British pop icon of the late 50's early 60's with loads of dodgy stuff afterwards. If I got the chance to see him in concert I would go because he is an icon like The Who, The Beatles, Led Zep etc etc etc..

[Maydup]

I don't dislike Cliff but he's far from cool and if I had a chance to see him I'd pass it on to someone who'd appreciate it more than me.

[sp1814]

Cliff's biggest problem is that he's up against some pretty hardcore rivals for airtime. 60s music includes the Beatles, Stones, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Burt Bacharach, Tom Jones, Dusty Springfield, Sandy Shaw - all of whom could be considered considerably 'cooler' than him, but also all of whom have a body of work that has stood the test of time in terms of quality and impact.

How many of today's artists have been influenced by Sir Cliff?

[jno]

sp1814, I lived through the 60s, and Cliff managed just fine then. Some weeks he'd be on the 'hit parade', some weeks it'd be the Beatles, or the Doors, or all of them at once and Engelbert Humperdinck and the Archies too. The 60s were really quite capacious. It doesn't sound like this new station will be giving a rounded picture of the decade.

There was a survey about a year ago in which someone calculated how much programming various stations and networks devoted to their playlists. Rather to my surprise, Gold gave most time over to them. In other words, the one network that isn't limited by its commitment to keeping up with new music, the one that has allowed itself freedom to mine 30 years of music to play, is also the one that's restricting itself the most to a narrow view of the past. As a wrinkly, I find this all a bit sad. It wasn't all about the Beatles.

[NOX]

Yeah but Jno, no-one is trying to ' write him out of pop history'. this radio station has a target audience, it's going to eb a cross section of people actually around in the 60's and people who like bands who are influenced by 60's artists.
What is good is not always popular and what's popular is certainly not always good- and essentially how amny records he sold is niether here nor there, that only meant he was popular at the time ( The Birdies song was #1 as well if you recall- youi ever want to hear THAT again?).
Essentially this radio station is a business- they want to project an image, and he doesn't fit it and will make their target audience turn off- it's just a business decision- the guy isn't cool- he's cringeworthy.

[emmie]

I confess i don't like him much, he's a bit creepy. And as to him singing at this years Remembrance concert, that really spoiled it for me. He didn't even sing something that had some connection with the service.

[flip_flop]

SP makes a great point - Cliff Richard's contemporaries were simply much better than him.

I have a pretty eclectic (I hate that word) taste and tend to find some good in most things (other than C&W obviously, which is awful) and at one point was a pretty serious collector of vinyl and then CDs - I had thousands - and whilst I appreciate music is very subjective, Cliff Richard's music is, frankly, sh1t.

[missnemesis]

"he is an icon like The Who, The Beatles, Led Zep etc etc etc"

Oh please elgreco, you cannot possibly compare him to The Who, The Beatles or Led Zeppelin, never in a million years. That's like comparing custard with light bulbs for gawd's sake.

[Davethedog]

I am not particularly a fan of Cliff but he was an important part of the 60's music arena. He had 41 hits including 7 number one's

Who do Absolute think is going to listen to a 60's radio show, teenagers?

You can't rub someone out of an era because it suits you, its music facism. What would you say if the said they weren't going to play the Rolling Stones?

Its really Absolute part of the 60's as long as your cool. Well the 60's was all about pop music really and some of them weren't cool

[missnemesis]

I don't think he should be 'rubbed out' of British musical history, he was very much part of it at times both good and bad.

Seeing him on the Festival of Remembrance last week though I do think it's time he 'retired'.

[jomifl]

He is a bit like Jonny Halliday, unheard of outside his own country. Which says it all.

[missnemesis]

Jonny who?

[jomifl]

You know ...the French Cliff Richard ????

[starone]

Well, 'cool' meant you were a little bit chilly in the 60's, so I don't know how you can use that word to describe him. Can't say I was ever a fan but I like the songs he sings. I also like the songs Dusty Springfield sings and Englebert Humperdink. In other words it's the songs not the singer. I can't stand The Rolling Stones songs so would never listen to them. And the Beatles don't cut it with me at all. So I think you would have to have a real cross section to please everyone. I mean 'Little Red Rooster' and all that posturing and posing - 'puh-leeeze'. Really embarrassing.

[missnemesis]

Oh right, must have missed him jomifl. Do you think he made it to youtube? lol

[jomifl]

Missnem.. Here he is struggling to be bad and cool(about 30 years ago). Apologies for spelling his name wrong.

[Davethedog]

missnemesis I agree apart from one or two songs I was never a fan, but he was a mainstream part of the 60's and he has a legacy, which should be acknowledged.

He still has a huge fanbase and according to wiki has sold in excess of 150 million singles. In the 60's he spent 537 weeks on the charts to the Beatles 333 he was only outstayed by... The Shadows.

It isn't about opinions, if it was theres a lot of music that wouldn't get air time
Its about what he was and what he bought to the table to airbrush him out history is not only wrong it is censorship of the worst kind.

[missnemesis]

OOOO he looks such a bad a$$ and just too cool for words. Bet the wrinklies love him though.

[modeller]

I don't like him because of his holier than thou attitude. He's a a bit queer but on the other hand he was about right for rhe 60s. when there were solo singers and you could hear the words. However this was the time when the groups were coming in and with them noise became more important than the lyrics.
The Beatles were a halfway house their early work was understandable and Cliff tried to copy them with his group but they were not in the same league.
After that the Rolling Stones effectively destroyed the solo singers and the stage was set for noise and stage effects.