“6Music Dad”? What’s that, then?
I don’t think it was ever really meant as a slur initially, but it did sort of become one. Coined by Sheffield artist Self Esteem (Rebecca Lucy Taylor to her friends):
It was during this tour that Self Esteem clocked the presence at her gigs of a certain grouping: men of a certain age, music fans all, and informed music fans at that. “6Music dads” quipped Rebecca and laughed.
It’s a stereotype, and those are never good, but they do exist for a reason. Obviously, there has been a lot of chatter about this on the 6Music groups that I subscribe to, but I have to say that it’s a stereotype and a moniker that I – and many others – have absolutely no problem with. If it is meant to be a bit patronising or offensive, it’s really not working – let’s face it, we’re all well past being upset by words.
[sarcastic tone] Oooooh! [/sarcastic tone]
(IYKYK)
I’m… wait… [checks] Yes, I’m a dad, and I do listen to a lot of 6Music, so is that enough? Well, maybe, but there’s a bit more to it than that, as Tom Dunne explains in his article for the Irish Examiner. In fact, there’s a 11 question quiz in there, with fairly straightforward Yes or No answers.
So how did you get on? I suspect many of you will have gotten many, many Yes answers to the point where trying to pretend you are not a part of this fabulous new club is just pointless. Smells like a duck, and walks like a duck: probably a 6Music Dad.
I scored 10/11, (only because I probably wouldn’t be seen at the back of an Idles concert) (although their new one is annoyingly actually rather good), but that 91% score is definitely enough to drop me very comfortably into the cohort.
And I’d absolutely rather be there than with the rest of the oldies over on Radio 2. I might not enjoy everything I hear on 6, but I like to be challenged. I’m not anywhere near ready for that easy-listening, middle-of-the-road stuff. Well, not all the time anyway. My musical tastes are both incredibly varied and totally binary: I like a load of very different songs and artists, apart from the ones I don’t like. Simple as that.
And I still like a lot of “proper” music that is coming out now: new releases from the likes of New Dad, Sigur Rós, Nitin Sawhney, Baxter Dury, The National and The Lathums have all featured on the blog in the last few months. And it’s no surprise to learn that they’ve all probably featured on 6Music as well.
So yeah, when it comes to being a 6Music Dad, I’m very happy to freely admit that I completely (well, 91%) fit the mould, and I hope to keep fitting it for some time to come.
