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So I happened to be in Luxembourg the other day… when a friend of mine and I got chatting about trends. I mentioned “sleeve facing” and how unbelievably cool I think it is. My friend’s reaction? “That has been going on for a year and a half”.

Why is it that, we are compelled to think that something that is less than one and a half years old is uncool?

I like trends. I suppose this blog is supposed to be all about trends. But are we all such whores for the trend of the moment that we are ready to turn our backs on everything that paved the way before? Can anyone out there tell me where the motivation is supposed to come from to create music that people are going to think is obsolete in a year and a half? What a rubbish attitude. It really sends me into a rage!

If you tried to find the best poetry of the 20th century, 75% of it would be in the lyrics in popular music. And you can laugh at me all you like but Elvis Presley’s double white Aloha From Hawaii that I loved when I was 8 is still pure genius.

Do you know how many times I have had to listen to youngsters tell me Genesis is crap? And why do they think this? Because they equate Genesis with Phil Collins. (and he is crap). But long before he stepped forward out of his role as drummer, Peter Gabriel was the “brains of the outfit”. And they were singing lyrics like this:

There’s only one direction in the faces that I see;
It’s upward to the ceiling, where the chambers said to be.
Like the forest fight for sunlight, that takes root in every tree.
They are pulled up by the magnet, believing they’re free

Which is tantamount to genius. And don’t even get me started on David Bowie. Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and Thin White Duke are coming to that desert island with me but I have not decided on the third album yet. Why? Because there is some spectacular music out there. And there is no knowing how good it is going to get. But it is all building off the gold of the past.

So back to sleeve facing. Why does this have to be slagged off as a thing of the moment? Why can’t it become an enduring art form since it is such a frikking cool thing to do when you are hanging about with your mates?

Okay, I only just discovered this trend. So I am behind the early adapters. And I immediately thought it was cool. But this was confirmed to me when, the man himself, David Bowie, was quoted as saying: “Sleeve facing is the best site gag in years.” He might have been inspired to say this because apparently, he is the number person who is sleeve faced. Or he may, like me, simply thing it is a really cool interactive way to make art with the album covers you love.

For your viewing pleasure, I give you the site that spawned it all. And I invite people to either be inspired by this trend, or to send in efforts that you have already done. I promise, even if they are a year and a half old, I will still think the good ones are cool.

Come on. Sleeve face. You know you want to!

www.sleeveface.com