Fact #134131
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Steve Coogan (actor/comedian) : There are others, but for someone who grew up in the late ’70s listening to Siouxsie And The Banshees and a lot of post-punk like Joy Division and nihilistic industrial electronic music, this was everything that I sort of railed against. You know if it’s the sort of thing your grandmother would like, then it’s already holed below the waterline. It’s the sort of bland, moribund, and profoundly dull lift music. It’s what stupid people dance to at weddings. There’s no substance to it. It doesn’t stay with you. It’s like woodchip wallpaper. I’m not sure you have that in the U.S. It’s like magnolia paint in rented accommodations. The tune is turgid. It’s like someone going “la la la la la” in the shower. You don’t feel there’s a strong voice, and when I say voice, I don’t mean Chris De Burgh’s voice. I mean something that’s been lived. It’s like a soup from Walmart.
I mean, I don’t like modern jazz. I like smoother jazz, but not so smooth that it veers toward Chris De Burgh. That would be wrong. I like trad jazz and New Orleans jazz, but modern jazz, when you know the musicians are having a better time than the people listening to the music, then I don’t like that. That’s self-indulgent. You’re like, “Okay, you can play, but I’m having trouble stomaching this kind of tune.” There’s this piece I liked recently, IBM 1401, A User’s Manual, by this Icelandic composer [Jóhann Jóhannsson]. He uses the sound of a mainframe computer system in the ’60s and then put orchestral strings on top of it. That I go, “Wow, this is making me think of things in a sort of different way.” I don’t listen to Chris De Burgh’s “Lady In Red” and think, “Boy, this makes me think about things in a different way.” It makes me think that he saw a woman who was dressed in red, and he thought she was pretty hot. That’s it, and then he marries her. Really? I don’t have anything personal against Chris De Burgh, but that kind of blandness to me is the enemy of creativity.
(Source : http://www.avclub.com/article/steve-coogan-why-he-hates-lady-red-203663)
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I mean, I don’t like modern jazz. I like smoother jazz, but not so smooth that it veers toward Chris De Burgh. That would be wrong. I like trad jazz and New Orleans jazz, but modern jazz, when you know the musicians are having a better time than the people listening to the music, then I don’t like that. That’s self-indulgent. You’re like, “Okay, you can play, but I’m having trouble stomaching this kind of tune.” There’s this piece I liked recently, IBM 1401, A User’s Manual, by this Icelandic composer [Jóhann Jóhannsson]. He uses the sound of a mainframe computer system in the ’60s and then put orchestral strings on top of it. That I go, “Wow, this is making me think of things in a sort of different way.” I don’t listen to Chris De Burgh’s “Lady In Red” and think, “Boy, this makes me think about things in a different way.” It makes me think that he saw a woman who was dressed in red, and he thought she was pretty hot. That’s it, and then he marries her. Really? I don’t have anything personal against Chris De Burgh, but that kind of blandness to me is the enemy of creativity.
(Source : http://www.avclub.com/article/steve-coogan-why-he-hates-lady-red-203663)