Mount A’s President is Cooler Than You
Once you hit a certain age, it just happens.
You’re in your car, skipping through the pre-set stations on your radio and find a song you love. Maybe it’s something edgy, even alternative. It takes you back to a bar, a party, a boy or a girl. And then you realize, with a dawning sense of horror, that it’s a “classic rock” station and that your music tastes were frozen in place a decade or two ago.
‘I used to be cool, I used to know the bands,’ you’ll whimper to yourself as the next song comes on. It will probably be The Eagles. And you’ll probably switch to CBC.
But Dr. Robert Campbell, the president of Sackville’s Mount Allison University, didn’t lose touch with the music. In fact, today he knows more about the new cool bands than most bearded hipsters preening on single gear bicycles in Brooklyn.
Face it – he’s just cooler than you.
University campuses are notoriously difficult to manage. Being president means reconciling the interests of many different individuals and groups in the campus community. It would be stressful for anyone.
“People in a position like mine, if you don’t have some kind of outside life, you’re going to implode,” he says. “Music has always been a big part of my life going back to my upbringing in the sixties.”
While he admits that he has less free time than he did when he was younger, he finds time to listen to new music on his daily runs or during his frequent travels. “I probably listen to most music on my runs in the morning, that gives me 30 or 40 minutes.”
Campbell grew up in Montreal in the sixties, as pop music was exploding as a cultural force. He earned his PhD in political science at the London School of Economics during the late 1970s.
“Pop music in the 70s was just terrible, just really awful, “ he says. But then the monotony of what he calls “bland, formulaic music” was broken by the urgent sounds of the nascent UK punk scene, with bands like the Sex Pistols, The Clash, Joy Division and Siouxsie and the Banshees emerging. “That was just a rebirth, I felt like I was 16 or 17 again.”
New music has been a family affair for Campbell. He introduced his four children to music from an early age. “We saw a lot of groups when we were living in Montreal and Toronto.” When his son was 12, Campbell took him to a Radiohead show.
While Campbell is down with the new bands, he remains resolutely old school in one way. He avoids streaming services or even iTunes, preferring to buy physical music, picking up five or six CDs every month. He also buys vinyl copies of his favourite albums from bands like Manic Street Preachers, New Order, Oasis and Radiohead. He hopes buying albums helps the groups make a bit more money. “I just feel like I owe something to the band,” he says.
Music is a big part of life in Sackville says Campbell, in part because of the university’s respected music program. “This is a great place if you’re 18 or 19 and you want to join a band. There’s a terrific scene here.”
Campbell admits his favourite bands tend to be from the United Kingdom. “I kind of gravitate towards English music, but the strange thing right now is there is probably better rock and roll music in North America than there is in England because England is so dominated by Electronic Dance Music and singer-songwriters. While I’ve got nothing against Ed Sheeran or Adele, I don’t find the music that interesting,” he says.
Ask him about the best new bands, and he lists off a steady stream of emerging groups. “I like Palma Violets, I saw them in Amsterdam, and I like Chvrches, and the Dexters from England,“ he says. He’s also a big fan of the Australian scene. “There’s all the great stuff out of Australia, like Tame Impala. There is a lot of good soft, psychedelic music coming out of Australia.“
“I think the best rock and roll band at the moment playing new rock and roll music is Foals. I love the Foals, I saw them a couple of times in England,” he says. “I’m a big fan of Rudimental, I’d love to see them live. I think it would be a real trip to see a group like that live with so much energy.”
Talking music with Campbell, it’s easy to forget that he’s an accomplished academic, and an international expert on postal systems. He’s published two books, The Politics of the Post and The Politics of Postal Transformation. In 2008 he chaired a federal panel that conducted a strategic review of Canada Post.
Reconciling the punk rock leanings of a rabid music fan with his academic work can be a challenge, even for Campbell. It’s not something he broadcasts in the usually reserved world of academic gatherings.
He describes a trip to a punk club in a sketchy part of San Francisco while attending a conference. His academic colleagues were befuddled by the whole idea. “It’s one of those things you kind of keep to yourself as the years go on. It might be looked upon a bit askance or even suspiciously,” he says with a laugh.