After nearly three years at Cambridge, the one thing I have learnt is that possessing intelligence is not the same as possessing culture or understanding. Cambridge students may be some of the most intellectually able in the country, nay the world, yet the ability to assimilate something outside of the cultural comfort zone of white middle/upper class life remains an impossibility for the vast majority here.
This is abundantly obvious when you look at the average music tastes of your college bound companions. For most students here, you exist in one of two camps. Either you are a regular Cindies goer who happens to think that Truly Medley Deeply are rather marvellous at covering those songs that you know a minute and a half of or you attend Kambar nights to listen to the new and fresh sounds of a completely talentless dubstep producers.
Obviously, judging what is “good music” is a hugely subjective undertaking and in populist settings good music certainly exists, such as the minute and a half of “Last Nite” that makes Cindies briefly bearable. But as a rule of thumb, for most music “fans” at Cambridge good music is not justified by a wider appreciation of the form but by what fits into their simplistic categories of what is” good”.
The Tab’s poll suggests that 67% of people are “disappointed” by the John’s line up. And this would be bad enough if it wasn’t reinforced by comments at the bottom of the May Ball Blog saying that “he isn’t a big name”, that people don’t know who he is or that “it’s the worst headliner in years”. Such claims are simply inaccurate and utterly infuriating.
A multi selling platinum artist with genuine global repute, Big Boi’s output far exceeds, in terms of sheer quality at the very least, the pap of other May Ball headliners Cascada, Chase and Status and Tinchy Strider. His 2010 solo album release “Sir Luscious Left Foot” was enormously well reviewed, as shown in this eulogising Pitchfork review, while his half of The Love Below/Speakerboxx Outkast double album easily eclipsed his supposedly more illustrious counterpart Andre 3000. So why the hostility?
An obsession with status is one reason for the hostility; a desire to see the money that they have spent give them an obvious means of bragging to random friend that does not rely on any appreciation of the actual quality of the act, but instead on their position on the table of mediocrity, the UK Top 40. Such focus ensures that musically ignorant people, whose opinions are more broad brush than their understanding of the topic, control the debate whilst those who have some knowledge get pushed to the side. Then, because Big Boi isn’t Lady Gaga and isn’t known for wearing meat dresses or acting like a tit, he is considered below the attentions of such ball goers.
The result of all this then is that an excellent booking by Ents Officer George Johnston, which has completely blown away the unfiltered faecal material of Cascada and the response can only be considered of great sadness to the musical standing of the university as a whole.
I am not trying to represent myself as the paragon of music taste in our fair university city but as someone with more than a modicum of musical appreciation, I can say with some certainty that the only people complaining can know very little of the man they criticise. So when you go to the May Ball Blog and bitch about the headliner to your online “thumbs up” monkeys just remember the damage that you all are doing to the collective musical reputation of our university. If an international rap superstar is considered below the status of Cambridge, this is not a reflection on him but the sickening and crass elitism of the culturally ignorant.
Oh ok, now I understand: So for something to be 'good' it must resemble the transcendant Form of 'the good' (which looks very much like a conventional American rap act)- 'goodness' in music is an objective measure and if two people happen to like two different sorts of music, one of them must be wrong.
And there was me thinking that musical preference was subjective…
It depends on what you're trying to do: everything must be judged in terms of genre. Consider a film: take it as its component parts and look at the plot development, acting, script, cinematography, etc… you can judge which one is, by definitiion, a more technically proficient movie. The same applies for music.
I'd still rather watch The Lion King than Waltz With Bashir any day but the latter will always nest among the most powerful, moving, wonderful films I've ever seen.
Separate personal preference and genre and see what happens…
I don't think we'll be seeing you on Pitchfork any time soon.
I genuinely like this article.
THANK YOU! Someone who speaketh sense.
So you think John's should give guests what John's thinks is good music, even if the guests don't like it?
How about getting off your high horse and state that John's should give the guests what they actually want?!
Big Boi was about a million times better than Ellie Goulding was last year, whilst I bet a 'Tab poll' on the subject would have revealed that most Tab readers (or more accurately most Tab readers who are bothered with completing polls) would have preferred the latter.
I must admit that ahead of the night I was disappointed with the booking, but come 2.15am on wednesday morning I was amazed with the awesome show I had witnessed and the fun that was had by all (check out Big Boi's twitter if you think he wasn't having fun).
Hats off to George Johnston – an excellent booking
…people want a good show not just a big name? (and in no way am I suggesting that Big Boi is not 'a big name')
Or maybe you just want a big name like Cascada to brag about…I know which one I prefer
This is ridiculous. If you think it's a shame people don't like Big Boi, fine. If you think he's a fantastic headliner, that's great. His album did get fantastic reviews and he'll probably provide great entertainment for the people at John's. But this article is unbelievably arrogant and patronising. Who are you to determine other people's taste, or comment on their cultural awareness? (Not that we'll actually know, since you've written this anonymously) I think most of the music people at Cambridge listen to is crap, but that's their choice. If people are looking for crap at a May Ball, good for them, they'll probably have a great time. The people who are blasting George Johnston seem totally unnecessary, but you've gone too far the other way, presenting a load of completely subjective things as facts in a really condescending way. And the idea that people's disappointment in Big Boi is damaging the 'collective musical reputation of our university' is utterly ludicrous. This whole article is just way, way too strong.
To you sir, got it in one.
I'm a girl. But thank you
May not be perfect May Ball fodder (Magdalene have nailed that) but I gave his album a go and it's a fucking good piece of work, up there with any of the golden age hip hop from the early 90s. He's a great booking for those bothered to try him out (which is very few)…
While I enjoyed your bigoted attempt to pigeon hole every member of this university's music taste into one of two boxes, May Balls are about giving the people what they want. The Ents teams job is to get a performer who fulfills that objective, not one of their own personal preference.
what is it that people want? Great fun, good music and an awesome time, or … I can't think of a plausible alternative
I would judge good music as music that you don't have to write a whole article about trying to convince people that it's good.
Except that the Ents committee clearly booked someone they would like to see rather than the majority of Johnians. Headlining the third stage at Glastonbury isn't really what level of popular musician most of us were expecting. He's hardly an international rap superstar for his low Glastonbury booking alone
'low Glastonbury booking' – the other artists playing Big Boi's slot on different days are Cee Lo Green (who, interestingly, is being SUPPORTED by Chase and Status playing LIVE – as opposed to one of them doing a half-hearted DJ set) and Kool and the Gang! How is that a low booking?!
'Headlining the third stage at Glastonbury isn't really what level of popular musician most of us were expecting' – so you were expecting a pyramid stage headliner? You'd have to be as idiotic the daily mail to believe John's could realistically book either Coldplay, Beyonce, or U2.
The Mystery Jets, by contrast, aren't even doing Glasto and have a relatively low booking for Parklife festival
For you records booking Coldplay, Beyonce or U2 et al. (mentioned simply because they're the 3 you have named – I would FAR more have preferred The Who) is ENTIRELY possible: People do it ALL the time. It just takes money, lots of money.
Saif Gaddafi had Beyonce sing at his New Year's Party ffs….
Beastie Boys – Downing May Ball 1987?
Sorry… 1992… it was a long time ago.. (everything was made of out of wood, may ball tickets cost one shilling and you could easily spot us state school types as we all had rickets).
you are such an idiot. "low glastonbury booking". maybe look it up?. who are you anyway?
Few people are suggesting Cascada is better than Big Boi.
However the insufferably smug Jonh's hype machine (see Collingwood and Johnston) have only themselves to blame for the backlash. Having talked up their headliners for a year and with a budget much bigger than any other ball, Big Boi and Chipmunk, whatever their record sales. just don't live up to balanced line-ups like that of Magdalene and Robinson.
YES MAAATE
I'm such a hunk
I'm not the first to use the phrase 'if you actually take the time to look' at the John's line-up, but if you do I think you'll find it to be remarkedly balanced. Those claiming that Big Boi is not mainstream enough should perhaps pay more attention to the Chipmunk support act booking (which for some reason seems to get very little mention – perhaps because it's a good piece of work…). They have an incredibly established DJ in Erol Alkan and while TC is far from my taste, Ray Foxx is a very exciting young British producer. Alan Clayton is the most established young British Tenor of his generation and to have him performing with a world-class orchestra will be great for those who want more traditional fun and games. After all that, they've still got Patch William keeping the Indie kids happy. I'm fairly sure that John's will have also booked the best student acts in Cambridge and we can be sure that, once again, for those lucky enough to go to the Ball, there will rarely be a moment when one is at a loss as to what to do. Of course they've got a big budget, but that's because they've got high ticket prices and high numbers of guests. I don't think anyone from John's has ever said that this is going to smash all other balls out of the park, just that this year's will be particularly special. Maybe they are a bit smug, and you can dispute whether that is justified or not (probably the latter), but please don't go suggesting that their line-up isn't balanced before considering it fully – it does both them and you a great injustice.
Hear hear!
Get back to making ridiculous economic policies.
Trinity's line up is best. BY FAR.
Never heard of Big Boi, Magdalame's Indie is cr*p.
Does that mean I get a headline slot?
Album sales aren't everything. Meat Loaf sold 43 million of them.
you'd love to hear Bat Out of Hell at a ball
Don't you DARE impugn the honourable and wonderful name of Meat Loaf. Or he'll sit on you. And you won't survive that.
I'm sure there is a certain art to booking May Ball acts and it looks like George Johnston and Co have failed to hit it. While Big Boi may well be an excellent artist, he is clearly not the right headline booking for the John's 500
Cannot believe you linked a pitchfork review. I'm guessing all the other May Balls have too mainstream music for you? I seriously wish people would stop a) listening to reviews and develop their own music taste b) stop trying to act as if obscure bands nobody really has heard of are amazing.
Quite frankly, nobody cares what obscure band hipsters think are amazing, and people like to have their own taste of music, not that forced upon them by critics
Developing your own musical taste relies on the role of critics. As listeners we either decide to agree or disagree with critics. We choose either to listen to what is mainstream or to an 'undiscovered' band. I'm not saying this is the only influence on musical taste, but their role is important in shaping it, particularly in the modern age.
People are right in trying to act as if obscure bands nobody really has heard of are amazing, as without the idea of musical discovery what we are left with is something bland that panders to the general public (i.e. the stuff that sells the most). However, when people use it as a popularity tool it tends to piss me off too.
That's the thing though? Big boi isn't fucking obscure.
erm, Big Boi is hardly 'obscure'…If you haven't heard of Outkast you are really mugging retarded. They sometimes even play it in Cindies…Understand now? I'd say its pretty mainstream.
I understand Outkast being mainstream. As you said everyone knows them. However, when Big Boi was announced almost nobody knew who he was and when discovering he was in Outkast, almost everyone realised that actually, he was the member nobody knew about. I'd say that isn't as mainstream as you are making it out…
jeez you guys, YOU'RE ALL SO LAMESTREAM.
I think seeing as John's had a supposedly unlimited budget, people expected better. Big Boi is only succesful and famous in America. John's budget doesn't seem to have been any bigger than other colleges who actually managed to book bigger names.
If I had a ticket I would've hoped for someone like Vampire Weekend, maybe they're too white and therefore bad.
so Vampire Weekend's second album debuted at number 1, but Speakerboxxx/Love Below alone has outsold both their albums together in the UK. Outkast were (and still are among older generations) massive. I think it comes down to age, demographic and the fact that he has much more recognition with Andre than on his own.
Ummm does anyone actually believe that John's budget is "unlimited"?? Sheesh!
How are you defining 'bigger' names – whilst I agree that an artist might produced music which is as widely sung-along-to in this country at this moment in time, I'm not sure any of the other acts in May Week could claim to be 'bigger' other than on this account…
how many of the comments on this article read like some sort of Private Eye satire; interesting how many people seem to have missed the over-arching point of the piece. In any case, it's an opinion piece!
Even regarding the post above: who are these hipsters that faun over Big Boi exactly? The point is that Big Boi's music popularity far exceeds that of many other choices, he just doesn't fit into the Cambridge bubble. The author isn't trying to force his taste on anyone – although the Last Nite comment was a little bit presumptuous – he is merely voicing his opinion (an entirely reasonable one) and trying to substantiate it.
I want to rrrock!!!
Maybe people are wrong to criticise Big Boi as a musician. Maybe he is an international superstar. But the vast majority of ball attendees don't want something like that. They want someone who they would enjoy listening to. I'm sure Big Boi sounds great to you up there on your high horse, but us musically simplistic plebs don't want someone we've never heard of.
Oh right, should I not be sung at the ball then?
Given that 50% of students come from wealthiest 7% of the population I doubt one could say Cambridge admissions chooses from a very large talent pool, and hence even the assertion that 'Cambridge students may be some of the most intellectually able in the country' is probably false, not to mention world-wide. If anything Oxbridge is the realisation that what counts isn't basic intellect but background and connections, i.e. culture: Nurture not Nature, if anything. Possibly mannerisms and appearance over any real inculcated abilities.
This is the biggest problem you had with this article?
Way to turn this into a tired old debate over rich people.
No, seriously, fucking good effort. I was waiting for someone to do that.
97% of statistics is made up. And 98% of you is cunt.
What about the other 50%?
The wealthiest 8% of the population.
Last.fm playcounts in the past week:
Chase & Status – top 3 tracks have 3.8k, 3.1k, and 2.6k listens. Every track in their top 15 has more than 1000 listens.
Cascada – top 3 tracks have 2.9k, 2k, and 1.1k listens. Rest of the top 15 ranges from 800 to 300.
Big Boi – top 3 tracks have 1.6k, 1k, and 900 listens. Rest of the top 15 ranges from 900 to 300.
A May Ball act should appeal to the people going to the May Ball. Some artistic integrity and critical acclaim is nice, but you can get that in a side act and throw your massive budget on a majority-pleasing headliner. People are disappointed with Johns' line-up because it would be awesome at a ball like Clare, with a smaller audience and a reputation for niche quality acts, but doesn't live up to the hype and the budget of your 500th.
Anyway I'm done trying to be sensible. Pitchfork? Are you fucking kidding me? You fucking pretentious shit-humper. You should have got Muse, you could have got Radiohead, we thought you would have got Mumford, but you were too busy trying to keep up with Pitchfork? LMFAO
I heard Thom Yorke loves doing student gigs so much that he offered to play for free..
I would love for Radiohead to be in the May Ball. I get so high listening to Lotus Flower, and watching him dance, like Jackson Pollock must have when he turned off the lights and splash paint with his brush over his big canvas to bring out the subconscious (he said) in his paintings ("letting the paint fall according to the whims of the subconscious mind").His painting Jackson No. 5 is still the most expensive painting ever sold.
Who the fuck uses Last.fm?
Apparently fuck all if the highest number of listens you gave is 3.8k.
In my house of 8:
Chase and Status: 5 listens
Cascada: 1 listen
Big Boi: 10 listens
Thus Big Boi is the most appealing.
so what is the budget? Has anyone on the committee actually even said it's bigger than normal? I'm sure it is, but could it be that we've all created this hype for ourselves out of nothing?
http://www.metacritic.com/music/sir-lucious-left-…
Maybe he is satirising someone being a know-it-all penis? All his other posts are satire.
I reckon he'll be fine on the day and all this'll be pointless arguing
May Ball is put on to please its paying guests, if they aren't happy neither should be anyone involved in organizing the ball, end of story.
have been fine if they had got Andre too. People know who Outkast are, but they stare blankly if it isn't someone who has been all over the Guardian music section in the last 5 months.
He is a great artist, but it's not traditionally the sort of music that Cambridge students en masse go for at these things – usually a different sort of Hip Hop.
If most of the people going to John's ball don't want the headliner at John's ball, something's going wrong. And it's not that you have superior music taste to every other human in the city either, mate.
Not being a fan of Big Boi makes you "culturally ignorant". Wow. Sounds like the words of a "crass elitist" to me.
"…the sickening and crass elitism of the culturally ignorant."
We're only missing a reference to Naziism and the article would be complete.
i win
From the first couple of paragraphs I actually thought he was going to slate Big Boi.
Turns out Osborne is just a massive hypocrite.
There are a dozen bands on tour at the moment that would have been more popular, and definitely not more expensive. If an indie/rock band happens to get a song charted, it doesn't mean they're crap and uncultured, it usually means people like their music – you know, the kind of thing people go to parties for in the first place….
And besides, how much longer am I going to have to wait for a ball to book reel big fish?
LIKELIKELIKELIKE
I would kill to hear 'Beer' at a May Ball…
love big boi, love him
I'm a fan of hip-hop, so you won't here me complaining. However, I think within the genre, it would have been better to try to book The Roots. They put on really good shows and their music appeals to those who don't typically consider themselves fans of hiphop. And they're in the UK at the time. Just my 2 cents.
I agree totally with this article. Just because you don't know who he is doesn't mean he isn't a great artist and this may be an opportunity for you to educate yourself and widen your knowledge and appreciation for different things. Just because you don't know it doesn't mean it isn't good music. Last year at Christ's may ball, two door cinema club headlined, and I had no idea who they were but after giving them a chance by watching their performance and listening to their album, they've now become one of my favourite bands. Rather than looking down your nose at things which are outside of your comfort zone or you think are beneath you, use it as an opportunity to educate yourself and you might help make Cambridge a nicer, less-elitist snob-free place.
Jay-z, Glastonbury? No fucking way man
Another comment above said that people should calm down and that this article was only an opinion piece. I'd be happy to accept that if it weren't for the fact that everything about this article seems to shout "I'm right, you're wrong".
Ridiculously generalised statements such as the suggestion that almost all Cambridge students are limited to either Cindies or Kambar playlists in terms of their tastes just demonstrate that this article is less about trying to express an honest opinion and more about trying to force your own view on others as though it was objective fact.
Oh and also, though I'm not a fan of cascada, calling their material "faecal" in no way makes Big Boi a better artist. Taking the approach of criticising all of the acts at other may balls just further destroys your credibility.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYxAiK6VnXw
Even if BigBoi were the most famous rap artist on the planet, his music's totally stupid for a May Ball. I don't care if it's artistic – it's tuneless, and unless you're a trained breakdancer it'll inspire nothing except awkward side-to-side motions.
Majorly disappointed. Let's hope the dining and fireworks compensate for this dud.
this article needs to realise that there are people in cambridge who listen to music other than dub or top 40. splitting everyone into two groups is too much of a generalisation. personally ive grown up listening to hiphop and was excited to hear about big boi!
Let's talk about ignorance…Big Boi was under the impression that he was at St. John's (motherf-in) University all night…
I thought that was rather perceptive.
Big Boi's cooler than a polar bear's toenails
I love Hip Hop and yet I agree with the 67% that Big Boy was a bad choice. The Roots, another hip hop band famed for their live performances with real musical instruments, would have been a better choice than Big Boy. They have always demonstrated the experience and musical skills to win over sceptical and hostile audiences.
Isn't it a bit ridiculous to write an article slamming people for their opinions? Some people shouldn't be given the power to write things on the internet…
techno techno techno, you hear me? it sounds like cambridge dont get it….