June 25, 2007

Jarvis Cocker is still a Cocky Rocker. And I like it.

I feel so lucky when I catch quality moments on the radio. I feel smart, happy and proud to know a fun piece of information that I can impress others with. Today I caught Terry Gross interviewing Jarvis Cocker on Fresh Air. Jarvis Cocker is famously known as the former lead singer of the Brit-pop indie band Pulp and infamous for mooning Michael Jackson onstage at the Brit Awards in ’96. I used to be really into his music, thanks to the influence of my older sis’, and this interview made me burn with nostalgia for those tunes I used to love.

My favorite part of the interview is when Jarvis bashes rock music. In his words, rock is just so “I HAVE MY MESSAGE FOR THE WORLD AND YOU MUST LISTEN AND IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.”

“Oh give me a break, please,” he scoffs.

Jarvis goes on to say that he prefers pop music because, unlike rock, it doesn’t carry with it an inflated sense of its own importance. Although some pop songs have profoundly affected him, they didn’t try to do it. Music can be profound, but usually by accident. It doesn’t get there by taking itself too seriously and striving for profundity. (I can certainly agree with that after recently renting Music & Lyrics... no profundity in that one.)

I decided this guy is so cool (there's just something about those glasses) that if I ever have another son I should name him Jarvis. Then I realized that in German, Jarvis sounds like Yarr-fiss. Now, I don’t know what a Yard fish is, but I certainly don’t want my son to be mistaken for one. That leaves me with Cocker… Cocker Bohn. Niiice.

5 comments:

Melanie said...

Bohn is just a hard name to match kids' names with. Our favorite girl name is "Anya" but ... well you figure it out. Too bad Jarvis won't work out. It's a pretty cool name.

Marc said...

I keep finding out about these crushes Melbo had on weird indie stars... first Ben Lee and now Jarvis. Whatever happened to lusting after good ole' American eye candy?

Sammy Pow said...

You got lucky finding decent music on NPR. I usually run the second they say their going to play something.

Tara said...

I don't have much of an opinion on Jarvis (well NO opinion actually). I just wanted to log in to say that your son is so cute! Love the slideshow!

Alifinale said...

Yeah, I have never heard of him...soryy I am not that cool. But I do love that he mocks how rock thinks it is so profound. My favorite to mock are the modern Rock Love songs. They aren't as cool as 80's ballads and the singers just sound retarded. I wish I could give you an example...but I try to just change the station.

BTW, Cocker Bohn is just too good.