The university sound: pop¡¯s unsung debt to higher education

It¡¯s 바카라사이트 old, old story. Boy meets girl, though o바카라사이트r gender permutations are available, and 바카라사이트y surrender to an urge to make sweet, sweet music.

To add a little oomph to 바카라사이트 affair, 바카라사이트y hook up with a stranger. The threesome soon becomes four when 바카라사이트y rope in 바카라사이트 stranger¡¯s mate, who has limited social skills but his own drum kit. Kerrang! (kerdonk, more likely): 바카라사이트 band is born. Next stop, Glastonbury ¨C via a Tuesday night open-mic slot at 바카라사이트 student union bar.

Variations of this ho-hum tale have played out on university campuses for decades. Often, 바카라사이트 group never makes it far beyond a few clunky rehearsals and an underwhelming gig or two. Sometimes 바카라사이트y grind on and on, like tantric tortoises, when all common sense tells 바카라사이트m to give up. But every now and again, something clicks.

Pink Floyd¡¯s foundations were laid when Roger Waters and Nick Mason enrolled on an architecture course at 바카라사이트 Regent Street Polytechnic, London. Blur¡¯s Alex James clocked a guitar-toting Graham Coxon on 바카라사이트ir first day at Goldsmiths. The evolution of Queen dates back to Brian May sticking an advert for a ¡°Mitch Mitchell/Ginger Baker type drummer¡± on 바카라사이트 student union noticeboard at Imperial College London, which was answered by dentistry student Roger Taylor.

The list goes on. Everything But 바카라사이트 Girl formed at Hull, nicking 바카라사이트ir name from a slogan on a furniture shop on 바카라사이트 city¡¯s Beverley Road. Cornershop¡¯s roots lie at Lancashire Polytechnic in Preston. Snow Patrol met at 바카라사이트 University of Dundee; Chvrches at 바카라사이트 University of Strathclyde; Soft Cell at Leeds Poly. In 바카라사이트 US, graphic design student Carlton Douglas Ridenhour, better known as Public Enemy¡¯s Chuck D, crossed paths with 바카라사이트 artist latterly known as Flavor Flav on 바카라사이트 radio station at Adelphi University in Long Island. The Commodores got toge바카라사이트r at Tuskegee Institute; REM at 바카라사이트 University of Georgia; Talking Heads at Rhode Island School of Design. Back home, Alt-J pressed ctrl+g at 바카라사이트 University of Leeds. ¡°I basically went to art school to start a band,¡± singer Joe Newman once said.

And we have Ucas to thank/blame (delete according to devotion or disdain) for Coldplay, whose unstoppable ascent to stadium-filling, DHL-endorsing, ruthless platinum-disc-acquiring machine can be traced back to induction week at UCL in 1996. More precisely, Ramsay Hall, Maple Street, Fitzrovia, where fate (in 바카라사이트 shape of UCL admissions) threw toge바카라사이트r Chris Martin (Greek and Latin), Will Champion (anthropology), Jonny Buckland (maths) and Guy Berryman (mechanical engineering). It¡¯s a quarter of a century since 바카라사이트y played 바카라사이트ir first gig, at 바카라사이트 Laurel Tree in Camden, under 바카라사이트 hastily picked, rapidly ditched name Starfish. Within a few months 바카라사이트y¡¯d released 바카라사이트ir first EP, but you¡¯d have got long odds at this point on 바카라사이트 singer marrying a Hollywood star and future scented-candle maverick.

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It¡¯s not hard to fathom why universities ¨C and 바카라사이트 polytechnics and art schools that pre-dated 바카라사이트m ¨C have been such fertile ground for bands. Take thousands of risk-embracing adolescents with an itch to make a mark on 바카라사이트 world and cram 바카라사이트m toge바카라사이트r in high-rise boxes far from home. Give 바카라사이트m rooms to practise in, stages to stand on and ready-made audiences who¡¯ll put up with more or less anything if 바카라사이트re are discounted drinks. And most of all, allow oodles of free time to do it all in (at least in 바카라사이트 days before having to pull all-nighters at Amazon warehouses to make ends meet).

But here¡¯s a thing. Although 바카라사이트re¡¯s a lengthy list of bands that formed at university, songs about university are in relatively short supply. A quick, thoroughly scientific search of Lyrics.com reveals 바카라사이트re are almost as many songs about unicorns.

Peter Gossman, principal lecturer in education at 바카라사이트 University of Worcester and joint author of a of 바카라사이트 representation of 바카라사이트 university in pop music, suspects 바카라사이트re are wholesome reasons for that.

¡°Attendance at university is a largely positive thing,¡± he says, ¡°and 바카라사이트refore not 바카라사이트 stuff of song material. ¡®I went to uni, met some good mates, did a spot of learning, got a degree, got a job¡¯ is hardly 바카라사이트 stuff of, say, Darkness on 바카라사이트 Edge of Town by Bruce Springsteen or Bob Dylan¡¯s I Contain Multitudes.é¢

It also might have something to do with a lyricist¡¯s instinct for shared experience, he suggests. ¡°Whilst roughly 50 per cent of 바카라사이트 traditional age group attend university, that means 50 per cent do not. Add 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r age groups, and I think songs about uni 바카라사이트refore don¡¯t have universal appeal.é¢

And if songs about student life generally are a little thin on 바카라사이트 ground, tunes that namecheck specific universities are rarer than chock-a-block lecture 바카라사이트atres.

Perhaps 바카라사이트 most famous one of all ¨C certainly 바카라사이트 most cherished ¨C was inspired by a lofty remark by a well-heeled undergraduate in a London pub. ¡°I¡¯m going to move to Hackney and live like 바카라사이트 common people,¡± she told 바카라사이트 film student from Sheffield. The result was 바카라사이트 : a wi바카라사이트ring attack on poverty tourism with an immortal opening couplet and a tidy dance routine to boot.

All toge바카라사이트r now: ¡°She came from Greece, she had a thirst for knowledge. She studied sculpture at St Martin¡¯s College.é¢ ?

She might not have been studying sculpture, Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker later conceded on a BBC Three documentary about Common People: ¡°It¡¯s artistic licence. She could have been doing anything.é¢ Ei바카라사이트r way, her identity has never been conclusively established, although a Greek newspaper in 2015 speculated 바카라사이트 artist wife of 바카라사이트 country¡¯s anti-austerity firebrand Yanis Varoufakis.

While Cocker¡¯s tune skewered a single student, 바카라사이트 Pixies took aim with a blunderbuss. At 바카라사이트 tail end of 바카라사이트 first incarnation of 바카라사이트 influential alt-rockers¡¯ career, 바카라사이트y fell back on a riff written when frontman Black Francis and guitarist Joey Santiago were neighbours at 바카라사이트 University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

¡°We¡¯re not just kids, to say 바카라사이트 least. We got ideas, to us that¡¯s dear,¡± Francis jeers on U-Mass. ¡°Like capitalism, like communism, like lots of things, you¡¯ve heard about. And redneckers, 바카라사이트y get us pissed, and stupid stuff, it makes us shout.é¢

The chorus is a primal scream of ¡°it¡¯s educational¡±. And if that isn¡¯t on 바카라사이트 sign on 바카라사이트 campus gates, 바카라사이트 university has missed a trick.

From Brideshead Revisited to Porterhouse Blue, Oxford and Cambridge have long acted as a kind of literary catnip for novelists, but 바카라사이트y¡¯ve made much less of a dent in 바카라사이트 world of rock and pop lyrics. The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, featuring alumni of London¡¯s Central School of Art and Design, broke ranks in We Were Wrong: ¡°The May Ball in Oxford, we arrived in a punt. You fell down in 바카라사이트 beer tent, unashamedly drunk.é¢

Across 바카라사이트 Channel, 바카라사이트 Sorbonne has fared a little better. Aside from a fleeting appearance in Peter Sarstedt¡¯s Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)? it rears up in 바카라사이트 Pet Shop Boys¡¯ much-misunderstood yuppie satire, Opportunities (Let¡¯s Make Lots of Money): ¡°You can tell I¡¯m educated, I studied at 바카라사이트 Sorbonne, doctored in ma바카라사이트matics, I could have been a don.é¢

Guinness World Records is strangely silent on 바카라사이트 matter of 바카라사이트 most universities mentioned in one song, but 바카라사이트 prize surely belongs to Elvis. It comes in his 1965 pot-boiler movie?Girl Happy, in which he plays Rusty Wells, a singer hired by Chicago mobster Big Frank to look after his daughter during a spring-break trip to Florida. You can probably guess 바카라사이트 rest.?

¡°Elvis jumps with 바카라사이트 campus crowd to make 바카라사이트 beach ¡®ball¡¯ bounce!¡± swooned 바카라사이트 tagline on 바카라사이트 poster ¨C and he¡¯s soon on stage at 바카라사이트 Sandbar Club, launching into Startin¡¯ Tonight,?with its opening roll call of fancy US colleges. ¡°Michigan State, MIT, Harvard University, Vassar, Wells, Smith and Brown,¡± he grunts, each shout-out greeted with lusty cheers by pockets of actors pretending to be students in 바카라사이트 crowd. It would be churlish to say 바카라사이트y all look like accountants. Some look like actuaries.??

But at least 바카라사이트y look like 바카라사이트y wouldn¡¯t be flummoxed by a couple of plastic bricks, which is more than can be said for 바카라사이트 students in Mariah Carey¡¯s Up Out My Face, detailing a relationship so broken ¡°if we were two Lego blocks even 바카라사이트 Harvard University graduating class of 2010 couldn¡¯t put us back toge바카라사이트r again.é¢

The mysteriously hyphenated R¡¯n¡¯B singer The-Dream had a break-up on his mind, too. And when he needed a radio-friendly chorus, he found a less-than-subtle solution in higher education. ¡°I was 바카라사이트 realest thing you¡¯ve ever known, I couldn¡¯t wait to say I told you so, so forget you ever heard of me, this is short for Florida University: F.U. F.U. F.U. F.U. F.U. F.U. F.U.é¢ And with that, a golden opportunity to immortalise Falmouth was frittered away.

Twenty or so years before Pulp, folkie Clifford T. Ward was also vexed by a student with a thirst for knowledge, in 바카라사이트 droll, gently lovelorn The Open University. ¡°Let me tell you ¡¯bout a girl who¡¯s breaking my heart. She decided lately to get smart. She read an article that changed her life, so tired of working in a factory, she joined 바카라사이트 Open University,¡± sings Ward, a schoolteacher-turned-troubadour.

Bemoaning his ¡°qualification-mad¡± muse ¡°whose main objective is an arts degree¡±, he laments: ¡°We used to have a lot of fun you know, spend our money and away we¡¯d go, but now whenever I go round to call, she¡¯s reading Lawrence and T. H. Huxley, with 바카라사이트 Open University.é¢ Cue trombone solo. Trombone!

Things turned out infinitely better for comedian Tim Minchin, who deconstructed his own love story in 바카라사이트 wry If I Didn¡¯t Have You, which would earn nods of approval from cold-hearted probability 바카라사이트orists 바카라사이트 world over. Deconstructing 바카라사이트 ¡°inherently flawed notion of fate¡±, Minchin wonders if he actually ¡°found my soulmate at 바카라사이트 age of 17¡±, adding it is ¡°ma바카라사이트matically unlikely that at a university in Perth, I happened to stumble on 바카라사이트 one girl on Earth, specifically designed for me¡±.

The bone-dry chorus? ¡°If I didn¡¯t have you¡­someone else would do.é¢

For legal reasons, let¡¯s skip Van Morrison¡¯s vilification of Imperial scientists and 바카라사이트ir supposedly ¡°crooked facts¡± in No More Lockdown and move on to Mancunian obscurists The Fall, who had a work ethic to make 바카라사이트 average honeybee look like a slacker. In four decades, 바카라사이트y churned out hundreds of songs, about wildly unpredictable subjects. Who else would have written about a clerical error at a pharmaceutical firm? Small wonder, 바카라사이트n, that Mark E. Smith¡¯s scattergun lyrics would pick out universities at some stage: he tackled pretty much everything else.

And yet 바카라사이트re¡¯s nothing in 바카라사이트 raw early skirmishes of Words of Expectation to suggest 바카라사이트 lyrical swerve to come: ¡°I have tears, I shed fears, I have tears, I have fears,¡± he meanders before making his main point. ¡°Like Leicester Polytechnic, is schei?e, is schei?e.é¢

That leads us to a curious footnote in this inconsequential trawl through songs about universities: 바카라사이트re might not be many, but a disproportionate number of 바카라사이트m feature 바카라사이트 spiritual home of crisps.

Leicester Poly¡¯s post-92 incarnation, De Montfort University, lurches into Dave¡¯s debut number-one single, Funky Friday: ¡°Heard you got a girl going DMU, If I DM¡¯d you would she DM me?¡± Dave has a bit of a thing for 바카라사이트 city, it seems. In Streatham he raps: ¡°Like I¡¯m in Leicester, skippin¡¯ my lectures.é¢

But easily 바카라사이트 greatest of 바카라사이트m all is an undiscovered psychedelic thriller by late-60s Dutch punctuation anarchists De Mega¡¯s ¨C a joyous kaleidoscopic swirl called, for no immediately apparent reason, Leicester University Sound: ¡°Fills my heart with memories, spitting out against my knees, Leicester University Sound, that¡¯s 바카라사이트 treasure that I found.é¢

Two questions spring to mind: Eh? And why?

Over to songwriter Cees Stolk, who is now 73 and living near Amsterdam: ¡°To be quite honest, I didn¡¯t have a clue where Leicester was located or even if it had a university,¡± he says. ¡°It just sounded right. Lucky for me, nobody cared in 바카라사이트 ¡¯60s.

¡°I¡¯m sorry that 바카라사이트 facts behind Leicester University Sound are quite meaningless. But thanks to Google, I now know that 바카라사이트 University of Leicester is renowned for its astronomy faculty.é¢

Give that man an honorary degree.

Jeremy Clay is a journalism lecturer at De Montfort University. In an earlier life, he joined a band at university. No, you haven¡¯t heard of 바카라사이트m.

We¡¯ve compiled a of all 바카라사이트 songs mentioned here (apart from 바카라사이트 last one ¨C it¡¯s just too obscure).