Frank Sinatra, Future Islands and Status Quo: a musical history of the SNP and Scottish Labour

At this point in time, it is practically impossible to find any legitimate indie rock teenagers who are willing to confess that they are fans of Status Quo. The music in this album does not contain any breakbeats, hip hop samples, or underground indie accolades. It is nothing more than the old guard doing the same old tunes from the past, attempting to sell nostalgia tours to an ever-decreasing audience.

According to all of the polls, Scottish Labour, which was once a formidable entity in the business sector, has become obsolete. To the extent that the electorate is concerned, they have become the status quo, with the exception of the ponytails and denim shirts (although it is possible that Jim Murphy and his colleagues are missing a trick in this regard).

In what way did these erstwhile trippy rebel musicians become the news of the day? At this point, all they are able to do is warn the younger generation that the new music is terrible. They took their ears away from the underground and connected up with commercial producers in order to smooth out their sound.

Scottish Labour has failed to recognise that in the current environment, attempting to discredit the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) policy on austerity or threatening the electorate with another Tory government is analogous to Frank Sinatra describing the new-fangled rock’n’roll music as “the most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has ever been my displeasure to hear.” It’s just that the children don’t care, Frank.

An election for the Scottish National Party (SNP) has evolved into nothing less than a rejection of the existing political establishment. It is a rejection of the two-party system, which only provides voters with the option of choosing between Status Quo and… well, Status Quo. A DJ set like that is not really appealing, unless you are someone who enjoys having all of your music sound exactly the same.

The nationalists led by Sturgeon are astute enough to choose to align themselves with the anti-austerity sentiment and sing that tune in the belief that it will bring them one step closer to achieving their goal of independence. They have emerged as the first genuine mainstream voice of dissent in the United Kingdom since the commencement of the Occupy movement, which has surprised no one but politicians who are part of the establishment.

Although they take a position on austerity that is far different from that of Occupy, the political reaction to their tiny deviation from the economic norm is a loud echo of the times in which we are currently living. Even the slightest questioning of the prevalent austerity wisdom is an act of rebellion that is so terrible that it causes both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party to feel a sense of fear.