There is a new musical hero in town. It's an unlikely one. A curly headed housewives' favourite wth a voice that can melt buildings...and it's not Michael Ball! Step up to the Mic (as the kids from Fame once said), Master Joshua Groban.
Of course, after years of working in the Specialities Department of HMV (sadly not as dirty as it sounds), I am familiar with the Groban's work. As far as I was concerned his main crimes against the world were appearing in Ally Macbeal (which was always so self consciously quirky that wanted wanted to smack it) and of course introducing the stomach churninly awful "You Raise Me Up" to X Factor auditionees everywhere. And Westlife. Something about that song makes me want to slice off my ears with blunted spoons. It's just Danny Boy for goodness sakes...and only wee stained drunks get away with singing that! Anyway, I digress. The point I'm making is that Josh Groban was a minor irritant that never made it onto the Top Dog first floor playlist unless we were forced at gunpoint by marketing goons.
To be honest, I haven't given Josh Groban much thought in the last 5 years or so. He has barely troubled the charts and never really managed to take the Mothers Day market by storm in the way he has in America...and yet, 3 weeks before Christmas that all changed.
Clearly there is nothing unusual about an artist attempting to "break" a country by a concentrated press blitz of interviews and public appearnaces to promote a CD. Shortly before Christmas Josh suddenly appeared EVERYWHERE promoting his new "best of" release. Of course you expect to see him on the National Lottery, or This Morning, or the GMTV sofa with whichever grinning blonde (Fern Britten -who frankly looked a lot better fat- that bird with the mad hair who was rubbish on Strictly Come Dancing, Duncan from Blue etc) is feeding him the PR approved questions.
Smiling through the lense to touch the hearts of grandmothers everywhere with his boy next door charm = CD pissing out the door of the shop (technical term) as people buy it for their mum.
So far, so predictable. So what happened? Why is he suddenly being talked about at every 30 something's dinner party (albeit slightly shiftily)? We're not the target audience...yet in the last few weeks I've had the same conversation on at least half a dozen occasions. It goes something like this;
"What are we listening to?"
"er...it's a guy called Josh Groban. I know he's supposed to be for grannys, but did you see him on Buzzcocks?!?"
"Oh my God! I did! He was awesome!"
" I know! And it turns out he can really sing too!"
"Wow! You're right. I'm going to buy his album immediately!"
Never Mind The Buzzcocks. Josh Groban on never mind the Buzzcocks. One of THE most inspired performances on any panel show...ever!
For any non U.K visitors here is a brief explanation of Buzzcocks. It's a long running pop quiz whi is known for the ritual humiliation of its guests by host Simon "from Popworld" Amstell. Amstell was so offensive to Preston from the Ordinary Boys that he walked off. Most guests can only laugh along and try not to make things worse by weighing in. It makes for compulsive viewing. Ex Boyband members usually come off badly as shown by poor old Antony Costa here;
But by far the worst victims of Simon's good natured scorn are hapless Americans. Previous guests from the U.S. have been baffled by the combination of mucky humour and outright rudeness that they are being assaulted by. Weirdly, against all the odds, Josh Groban just got it.
He somehow knew exactly what was required of him and was charming, cool, funny, and talented and even rendered Simon Amstell speechless. In 30 minutes on BBC 2 he changed from a bland balladeer into a musical god. Anyone who can give a plausible rendition of the intro to the Libertines "Don't Look Back Into The Sun" using only the power of air guitar and switch it from reggae into a calypso jazz scat styleee without a blink deserves to have me buy their album.
So. I shall buy your album Josh, despite your urgings to the contrary. I have clearly misjudged you and I openly apologise. Oh...and by the way, February Song is just awesome.
