Recently, the New York Times ran a story on kids in Queens pimping their bicycles with mega-wattage speakers. The accompanying pictures brought to mind one of those clips that documentary makers always use to illustrate how Kool Herc helped invent hip hop - him driving around the Bronx with outsized speakers sticking up from the back seat of his white convertible. It also begged the question of why American kids are so dope with their music on the move when British kids are still stuck in a Max Power cul-de-sac.
Pit a canary yellow, souped up Fiat Uno against a Mongoose motocross bike bearing three ten-inch speakers, a 50-CD changer and a map of Trindad and well, there's no contest. The Mongoose would spank the Uno into oblivion, leaving only an outsized rim spinning lonely in the middle of the road. Even Westwood hasn't been able to help - his hilarious take on Pimp My Ride following the well-trodden suburban car customing route instead of sparking a new craze for good-looking bassbins placed on unusual vehicles. Perhaps it's revenge: British kids occupy pole position in terms of mass musical inventiveness (the rest of the world has niche scenes but who else has so many thousands of kids starting their own indie bands, grime crews and one-man production outfits?) leaving the rest of the world to excel at aesthetically pleasing peripheral activities. Like mobile musical culture. Elsewhere, kids pimp out skateboards, low riders and probably go-karts with an abandon and aplomb not seen since Mod kids stuck fox tails to the back of their Vespas. Heck, San Franciso's Rock The Bike have even invented the Soul Cycle, a bike carrying backlit speakers and a handlebar mounted iPod control panels. 'There's nothing like walking down your front steps... flipping a couple of switches for lights and music and riding off to the bumping bass of a Bob Marley track,' say the company who started making mobile sound systems to eco-activists Critical Mass. Unfortunately, British culture, abhorring the show-off, means that anyone attempting this at home will either get lamped or laughed off the high street. Ah well. It's probably too cold to do it here anyway
