Asked once about the line in Mrs Robinson that goes "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you?", Paul Simon said it was meant as a sincere tribute to DiMaggio's "unpretentious heroic stature in a time when popular culture magnifies and distorts how we perceive our heroes".
To a Dublin musical community of a certain age, it's not that great a stretch to replace DiMaggio with Paul Cleary, such is the reverence for his band The Blades ever since they exited stage left almost 30 years ago. They're back tonight at Dublin's Olympia (sold out), with just the few tickets still left for tomorrow night's show.
If you missed the meeting on
The Blades (and most of the musical world did), all you need to know is that, back in their pomp, Paul Cleary used to be regularly voted as the best Irish songwriter, ahead of Van Morrison and U2. Their Downmarket single is the best Irish record that has ever been released.
As meaningless as musical rivalries are, they are nevertheless great fun. The classic Dublin one was The Blades vs U2. Both bands came up at the same time, both were touted as the best thing since bread of the sliced variety, and both had their own fan bases.U2 had the arty, Bowie-loving make-up crowd behind them. The Blades had the Mods and the Soul boys/girls. U2 sang about dreams; The Blades about reality.
U2 and tThe Blades joined up in the summer of 1979 for a double- header six-week residency at the Baggot Inn. The result was a culture clash of sounds and styles that left no one the wiser about which way the A&R fairy godmother would point her wand. U2 went on to meet Brian Eno, buy some Stetsons and get on the cover of Time magazine. The Blades were flung from record company pillar to post but never lost their knack for three-minute pop-soul classics – not least Hot for You and Ghost of a Chance.
History is written by the winners, so while we know all about blood red skies and the rattle & hum, few know that The Blades were among the first to play Rock Against Sexism gigs, the first to do fund-
raising shows for striking Dunnes Stores workers,and the first to sign up for the Pro-Choice Anti-Amendment gigs in the country.
No one likes to talk about the colossal embarrassment of the big Self Aid show here in 1986. Self Aid was set up in the wake of Live Aid with the intention of solving Ireland’s crushing unemployment by getting people to donate whatever spare money they had. The great and the good of the Irish music scene all participated in the insulting and patronising charade. Except for The Blades, who took a principled stand against such arrant nonsense. And paid the price.
It is for these reasons and many more that the Olympia will rise up to welcome The Blades tonight. They were done a great disservice back in the day. It's payback time.
MIXED BAG
Love: Noel Gallagher v Arcade Fire. Can't beat a good feud.
Hate: The reliably demented NME thinks Arctic Monkeys' AM is the album of the year.
bboyd@irishtimes.com
