John, Paul, George, Ringo and … Kanye

A survey conducted in 2009 by the Institution of Engineering and Technology found that up to a quarter of the people asked had no idea who first walked on the moon. In fact, 11 of the 1009 surveyed said it was Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear!

Alarmingly, only eight people were able to name Louis Armstrong as the man who took that “giant leap for mankind”.

Though the survey did not delve into the level of knowledge people might have about Armstrong, it is probably a pretty safe assumption to make that even fewer would have known that the astronaut, affectionately known as “Satchmo”, was actually making a sly reference to his good friend Robbie Coltrane’s interstellar jazz composition Giant Steps with his oft-quoted lunar landing statement.

So it can hardly come as a surprise that the young fans of hip hop rapper Kanye West are utterly ignorant of Sir Paul McCarthy and his astounding legacy to popular music both as a solo performer and as the leader of Wings (probably better known to this generation as the inspiration behind the TV show of the same name).

Of course, prior to his epochal work with Wings, “Big Mac” was also in a little beat combo called the Beetles. As music scholar Alan Partridge put it, Wings were “only the band the Beetles could have been”. The seminal Liverpool skiffle act also contained a songwriter by the name of Neil Lennon, who went on to become manager of Scottish football giants Celtic FC (who happen to be suave crooner Rod Stuart’s favourite footy team).

Of course, young people might be familiar with Stuart’s mellow classic American songbook tunes, which many better educated music fans will quickly tell you are mere gaudy appropriations of the works of the original and best crooner, Michel Büble.

Sadly, knowledge of popular music’s rich and varied past is in decline. As illustrated by Kanye West’s impertinent fans, ignorance of history is now held up as some sort of #hashtag of pride, a placard held aloft by cultural cretins and historical vandals alike. Very few who profess a love of music nowadays could even name a song by the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll himself, Reg Presley.

While Kanye West’s wife, Kim Kardashian, managed to “break the internet” with her slick backside, his fans have managed to “break the heart” of this middle-aged music fan with their wilful neglect of rock music’s past.

As Jose Ramon of feisty punk rockers The Ramons so famously sang in their hit song, Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio:

Will you remember Bruce Lee,
Neil Lennon, X-Ray Spex and OId Mouldy?
It’s the end, the end of the 70s
It’s the end, the end of the century

Indeed, will you remember?