tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6170682027322091019.post190392937800708967..comments2024-03-26T12:50:21.872+00:00Comments on This Way Up: Too Good To Be True?John Connorshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16168072529186067346noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6170682027322091019.post-64242623057444268522013-09-15T15:41:14.849+01:002013-09-15T15:41:14.849+01:00Thanks for commenting intelligently on a film I ma...Thanks for commenting intelligently on a film I made in 1978. It was the first film I made for TV so it meant a lot to me. A couple of points: I can understand your wish for more comment from fans, but TRB did not happen in a vacuum; they had a social context. This was the heyday of the Anti Nazi League and Rock Against Racism. The National Front, racism, and homophobia were topics young people knew about - Melody Maker, NME and Time Out all discussed them. Nobody ended up inside a TRB gig without being aware of what they stood for. But they also delivered as a rock band. As you accurately observe, the film was made just before the disappointing second album and the unravelling of the group.<br /><br />I was 30 when I made the film, I also contributed writing to Let It Rock, Street Life and Melody Maker, so I'd grown up with the belief rock music could be an intelligent medium for social issues. I thought a straight interview technique would give Tom and the others the chance to be articulate about issues that mattered for them. The groundbreaking fly on the wall rock docs, Dont Look Back and Gimme Shelter, were made by guys older than me who made different stylistic choices. They thought truth could be captured by appearing not to impinge on reality. I was more pretentious in those days and thought I was making a more rhetorical statement. Granada TV were keen to make it. They were a progressive company. Their World In Action show upset politicians of all hues and they campaigned on miscarriages of justice including the Birmingham Six. Granada also employed Tony Wilson who enjoyed mixing up rock music, politics and cultural theory.<br />mickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04603245392445619506noreply@blogger.com