“I don’t know much about the Criminal Justice Bill, but I know it's wrong”
So said Matty, rapper from the Credit To The Nation to a sun soaked crowd at the NME stage, Glastonbury 1994. I know he said this as I was there, & his set was a highlight of mine from my first Glastonbury festival. I may have enjoyed Cypress Hill that year too. Or was it 1995? I recall spilling cider everywhere whilst moving to the bass lines of Adam F. And I would have darted between the sets of Orbital & Elvis Costello as I couldn’t make up my mind which to see. The memories of those Glastonbury Festivals in the mid 90’s will remain with me forever, all gloriously blurred & rolled into one.
The attraction of the festival was the diversity in the performing artists. And I’m glad it still is. So why is so much fuss being made over Jay-Z performing? Why has this caused so much vitriol amongst so many of the kids. And Noel Gallagher? Glastonbury is for guitars he says. No it isn’t Noel.
This whole furore has stemmed from the inability to sell all their tickets straight away. This has been correlated with the booking of a hip-hop act as one of the headline acts. Almost certainly this is a very lazy & incorrect correlation. But what has bothered me is the backlash from the likes of Gallagher & certain comments I have read in the media & web. Some of it is almost sinister. I would not want to be part of a festival in which many of its participants were so abhorred by the thought of a hip-hop act headlining.
I think the Glastonbury organisers should be commended for booking Jay-Z. And if the festival is to retain its significant cultural status it has attained, musical plurality is a must. I didn’t listen to much hip-hop when I was 18 years old attending my first Glastonbury. And I certainly hadn’t seen any live. Seeing Credit To The Nation changed that, and I’m grateful.