Fashionable People: Paris, Tokyo, Milan, and Bay Street

What, exactly, does Joel Plaskett mean when he sings about ‘fashionable people doing questionable things?’

‘Fashionable People,’ of course, was released as the second single of his excellent 2007 LP, Ashtray Rock. Examining the song sonically, it’s a complete pop-epic: it possesses four choruses, several pre-choruses hookey enough to be choruses, Van Halen keyboards, and Plaskett verbally dictates the song's progressions in true Justin Timerberlake-meets-Motown-meets-Babe Ruth form. It’s a standout track on Ashtray Rock, but it’s also the most paint-by-numbers pop track on the album.

But Ashtray Rock, which most reviewers failed to identify, is a complete post-modern triumph: it might be the most self-aware album I’ve ever listened to. As a part-concept album (a genre that, notoriously, is noted for epic failure), and part autobiography, Ashtray Rock details the formation, apex, and eventual failure of a fictional rock band. And while not an immediately interesting topic – especially for listeners who don’t participate in the production of rock music – it’s Plaskett's immense songwriting talents that keeps my attention. Plaskett intertwines several concurrent narratives throughout the album: alongside the development of his fictional band, Plaskett’s lyrics and song-writing (very intentionally) improve; musically, each track on Ashtray Rock documents a stage in his band's progression, beginning as a loud roots-rock band, evolving into commercially-viable pop, and finally settling into more introspective, acoustic fare.

Though Ashtray Rock's concept is challenging and ambitious in scope, Plaskett's intentions are clear from the commencement of the album. For example, the lyric ‘Drunk Teenagers / Let’s start a fight / I’m getting wasted on a Saturday night,’ is amateurish at best, and flat-out embarrassing at worst; this is atypical Plaskett. However, when we consider that the lyric is taken from the second track of the album – a point in Plaskett’s fictional band’s infancy – the lyric becomes absolute genius. In his mid-thirties, Plaskett has created a lyrical equivalent of something a teen-aged Ben Kweller wrote for Radish; it’s precisely the sentiment Daniel Johns of Silverchair expressed when he wrote that ‘the water out of the tap is very… hard to drink.’

However, despite Plaskett’s success as a fiction-songwriter, Ashtray Rock is still partially autobiographical. The first single, ‘Snowed In,’ was originally a b-side taken from Plaskett’s former band, Thrush Hermit (see below for their video for 'The Day We Hit the Coast'). As such, it’s the only song that exists outside the album’s narrative; it was written years ago with a completely different group of musicians. Placed directly in the middle of the album, ‘Snowed In’ is an completely unpretentious reminder that, despite Plaskett’s considerable talent, he is familiar with the processes and machinations young bands (and, by extension, writing embarrassing songs).



Having considered Ashtray Rock in its totality, I’m not exactly sure who Plaskett is defining as ‘fashionable people doing questionable things.’ Whether or not the lyrics are intentionally tongue-in-cheek, he could be referring to any wide variety of people, from weekend-warrior clubland patrons to runway-devotees ‘just like magazines.’ And, there is the expectation, whether or not true, that these fashionable people do ‘questionable things.’

And Plaskett has a point: no matter how highly we value it, we certainly don’t look to fashion for moral or ethical codes; whatever the role of fashion, we don’t look towards fashion for principles.

This assertion became very evident to me this morning. See, I work in Toronto’s Financial District, a region occupied by roughly 100,000 day-time workers for roughly 40 hours every week. The region’s working-hours demographic is made up of salespeople, executives, administrative assistants, and service-industry workers, from restaurant workers to cleaners. The service industry workers are those hired to maintain the region’s aesthetic: not only are they hired to wipe down offices, but they also cater to the needs of the district’s ‘fashionable people.’

Now, in the morning, there is no shortage of solicitors jostling for the attention of business-folk: from homeless people selling copies of Outreach Magazine, to promotional reps giving away free samples of new products, to students fundraising for Greenpeace and Sick Kids Hospital. This morning, however, there were a new set of campaigners posted at the corner of King and Yonge, handing out flyers titled ‘Justice for Janitors.’ A quick scan of the flyers revealed that they are targeting a specific company – IMPACT Cleaning – and accusing them of a myriad of workers rights issues, from the absence of vacation pay and employment insurance, WSIB coverage, and substandard working conditions and wages. And while I can’t verify the truth to their claims, they certainly didn’t seem to be participants in a smear campaign.

More interestingly, they seemed to target very specific demographics for their flyering; the campaigners almost unanimously avoided the ‘fashionable people’ of the Financial District – well-dressed salespeople and hurried execs, favouring the more casual-dressed instead. They, in fact, neglected to pass me a flyer – I had to double back to retrieve one – despite the fact that based on appearances, I’d rate myself somewhere between barely passable and laughably dumpy. This struck me as curious, as these salespeople, executives, and VPs, probably carry sizeable decision-making influence over the hiring decisions (of cleaners or otherwise) of their respective offices.

Now, seeing as how I’d not been targeted with a flyer, I am guessing that I’m assumed to belong to the ‘fashionable people,’ though I hope that I’m not guilty of ‘questionable things’ (although I clearly am). If I am indeed a ‘fashionable person’ of King Street, I’m extending my support to the campaigners; if you are employed in the Financial District, or read my blog, or are just generally curious, please visit the ‘Justice for Janitors’ website:

http://www.negative-impact.com/

I hope that, when Joel Plaskett sings that “everybody at this party’s got their fingers in the till,” that he’s not referring to me.