This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Nottingham chapter.

So recently David Cameron said he would rather have Bryan Ferry as a soundtrack to his election campaign over Jay Z, Iggy Azalea or Tinie Tempah, and everyone has jumped on this comment to say ‘ha ha what an idiot, he knows nothing about the youth of today.’ But really, what did you expect? I think we should instead be mocking him for still trying to run with the ‘we’re all in this together’ slogan by suggesting that Bryan Ferry’s ‘Let’s Stick Together’ is the ‘message for the election’. Barf.

It did get me thinking about all of the other times a politician has embarrassed themselves by talking about music in an attempt to attract the young people.

One that always sticks out in my mind is that time Gordon Brown said he was a big fan of ‘the Arctic Monkeys’; despite not being able to name any of their songs when asked. Apparently, The Arctic Monkeys debacle represents the first real snag for the much-touted Project Gordon makeover, supposed to rebrand the Chancellor as a softer, more engaging character en route to Number 10, which is, in itself, hilarious.

Because let’s face it, our good ol’ British MPs are never going to be as cool as the current President of the United States. Obama arguably isn’t even that cool, but compared to our posh, middle-aged, pillocks, he is the King of Cool. To put this in perspective, Gordon Brown finally admitted that he was more of a Coldplay fan… which I can wholeheartedly believe.

Whilst apparently the most striking thing about the Labour leader’s music was that he didn’t appear to like music at all when he appeared on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in 2013, it’s not all bad. Some politicians seem to have excellent taste in music; I bet you can’t guess who…

Yes that’s right: Michael Gove. He might have had some, er, questionable policies when he was Education Minister, but it turns out his choice of listening is applaudable. Yes, in a recent Cabinet meeting Gove’s ‘new Pebble Smartwatch’ started blasting out a Beyonce tune, leading to him getting a bit of a telling off from the PM. Apparently it was an ‘in joke’ with his wife, as the watch was a Christmas present, but I like to think the MP is a massive fan, an avid member of the Beyhive, and spends his free time learning the ‘Single Ladies’ dance.

So, should politicians disclose their taste in music? Let’s be honest, we’ll make fun of them whatever they say, so maybe it’s better they don’t go into that realm. Until we get a Prime Minister that wasn’t born with a silver spoon in their mouth, it’s gonna be pretty hard to be ‘relatable’.

Sources

http://www.gigwise.com/news/97476/david-cameron-capital-xtra-interview-on-kim-kardashian-and-jay-z

http://www.capitalxtra.com/news/david-cameron-interview/

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/sep/24/uk.arts

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/24/ed-miliband-desert-island-discs2

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11359225/Michael-Gove-exposed-as-a-Beyonce-fan.html

Image Sources

http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/reports/news/a32819/michael-gove-beyonce-cabinet-meeting/

http://www.freckletastic.co.uk/2014/02/19/france-and-england-the-frogs-vs-les-rosbifs/

http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2014/06/24/white-house-executes-undercover-boss-strategy-to-try-and-rebuild-obamas-plummetting-approval-rating/

Edited by Amelia Bauer-Madden