Monster Music came into being in the 93 or 94 festival, owned by The Paddicks, Ian and Diane. I believe they took the stall to other festivals, but eventually these fell by the wayside, and they concentrated purely on the Greenbelt Festival due to its fantastic atmosphere, ethos and well principled festival goers. Hence the legend printed on the back of the MM staff shirt 'Only at greenbelt...' documented in a photo in a previous post. It became the place to find that elusive GB gem from previous festivals and yesteryear, and complimented perfectly the G Music tent which sold music from artists appearing at the festival in the current year.
Monster music specialised in Christian music, and you could always find an obscure LP or CD that no one else seemed to have. Ian certainly had (still has!) a predilection for Bruce Cockburn, and even started a petition to bring him back to GB following his last visit in 1999 when GB number were at their lowest since the first festival. GB responded by saying that BC would have used up most of their music budget for the festival at the time! I don't think that would be strictly true now, looking at the high profile and calibre of some of the artists who have appeared in recent years. But we wait in hope...
As The Paddicks family grew, so running a busy stall at GB became increasingly problematic. Ian simultaneously put signs up in the stall looking for volunteers to help in the stall, and also that MM was for sale. It was to the first sign that Phil, Jer and Myself responded to in 2004. therefore for the last 4 festivals we all became MM 'staff' and had a wide range of musical knowledge, both secular and Christian to wow MM punters with!
Eventually this year, the stall was put on ebay, and a most exciting though ultimately anti- climactic sale happened, with the new owner taking the reigns at 9pm on the Monday night of the festival. Hopefully the stall will be back, but we wait and see. It is very unlikely that the new owner will want the old MM crew working for him as the sale of CDs etc is his main business. It gives the rest of us a chance to fully enjoy the festival though!
Ian was given a send off in the Jesus Arms, a bit of an emotional experience, being chanted out as he made his way home, and also the first time that all four of us had been together in any part of the festival other than MM.
Its the end of an era....
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5 comments:
So now I know! Thanks. It'll be a wee bit strange next year, then?
Could well be. It will be different anyway, as my lovely Girlfriend I think wants to come to the festival as well!
Don't knock it! Everyone I ask to come along, who I think might be interested, cries off because of the camping - what's up with people these days? All to comfortable and middle class.. :)
Oh I wasnt knocking it at all! should be even better!
And i love camping!
I've bought records (yes the shiny vinyl things) at Greenbelt every year since 2003. Where you at northants in 1997?
Man I'm gonna miss the Monster Music stall this year and its bins of tasty long forgotten 7"s.
Many of the records I bought at your stall have been played at my DJ sets up and down the country.
In fact I did a hopeless DJ set in the YMCA tent in 2004 using only records bought at the monster music stall!
Thank you for the vinyl
DJ Sofa Kid
myspace.com/djsofakid
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