Whether
you like The Stone Roses or not, this 2012 film is about how important music
used to be to teenagers.
Spike
Island is a historical film now, not just because it’s set in
1990, but because it is about something that is dying out. Teenagers and twenty
somethings didn’t just used to like music, they loved it, they embraced it, and
they were inspired by its brilliance. It was as important as football or sex or
having a laugh. In a time when you had to make more of an effort to do
anything, getting to see your favourite band was a key rites of passage moment.
Usually it involved a series of hurdles- getting tickets at all, getting enough
money to buy tickets, getting transport to get to the gig, finding the place to
stand at the gig. Even then there was the drama of what will they play, what
will the opening song be? And the memories of the gig were indelible. Spike Island perfectly catches a moment
that conveys all this excitement.
