I know a song that’ll get on your nerves, get on your nerves

I know a blogger that’ll get on your nerves, get on your nerves etc.

Yes yet another music based blog (brace yourselves for the impending Christmas music blog!)

This one comes with a slight twist though. I’d like to think that I couldn’t often be accused of being a negative sort and I rarely, if ever, even say the word ‘hate’ (I hate it!)… But this list is made up of songs that have somehow managed to really grate me. Maybe unfairly, maybe justifiably, but regardless there are some songs that make me impulsively change the radio station:

Doop by Doop

I remember when this came out and people saying to me that I would love it, as I loved ‘oldies’ music. Yes I do love ‘oldies’ – meaning 50s, 60s and 70s music though, not ancient before the war music hall Joanna swingfests!

Whilst all music has its place, I’m just not over keen on the Charleston personally. I do like a bit pre-war / wartime music, along the lines of Glenn Miller etc. and Jive Bunny’s mash up of the Glenn Miller classic In the Mood was favourable (though not to some!) but Doop just annoyed the hell out of me, and even if I never heard it again, it would be too soon.

Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus

For some reason there was a desire from some of the British public to fill the void of their being too few Country and Western songs in the UK POP charts for a while. Erm there was probably a reason for that void being there!

To be fair though, I quite like some C&W songs: Blanket on the Ground by Billie Jo Spears for example, or Dolly Parton’s Jolene and Ray Stevens excellent version of Misty. But Miley’s dad released this at a time when I was more interested in the New Jack Swing sound of Michael Jackson’s Dangerous album and such like, so Billy Ray just didn’t do it for me at all.

Weird Al Yankovic said it best in his parody: Achy Breaky Song

Jenny from the Block by Jennifer Lopez

It took 11 writers to compose this song! ELEVEN!!!!!!!!

“Don’t be fooled by the rocks that I’ve got – I’m still, I’m still Jenny from the block”

Nope. No you’re not.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

No Limits by 2 Unlimited

For several weeks this song was at number one – probably in direct protest to the previous incumbent being Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You which sat on the throne for over two months.

I actually didn’t mind a couple of 2 Unlimited’s other tracks. Both Tribal Dance and Get Ready For This (alternativeversion parental advisory!) were pretty good and listenable, but not this one.

In fact No No, No-No No No, No-No No No, No No THERE’S NO LYRICS!

The good news is I could only come up with four songs!

The Name Game

Okay so this one comes with a hint of self promotion, but evidently millions of bloggers solely blog to drum up some trade, so why should I be any different!?

Joking aside I am still solely blogging for fun (as if anyone actually clicks the adverts!), but I’m tweaking this one a bit, to help the one who lets me spend hours writing them!

Baby Names

So what will be the most popular baby names for 2014? Top of their respective trees for 2013 were Olivia and Oliver (no, really!), but trends dictate that they may not stay there for too long.

Does one go for a traditional name? Family names still come into play in the decision making process quite often…or maybe an outlandishly unique effort? The omnipresent Peter Andre recently told Magic FM’s Jo Parkerson in an interview that his eldest daughter is fed up with her given name of ‘Princess’ and already wants to change it. Hopefully she won’t though – the more unique an individual you are, the better. Why be normal?

Being a child of the 80’s, it’s been quite funny over the last few years engaging with people that are approximately 15 years younger than me called Kylie, Jason, Scott and Charlene – proof (if ever it was needed) that television influences our choices in life on so many levels. For my younger readers, please click here to see what those above names relate to!

How many children born this year will be named after Game of Thrones characters I wonder? Khaleesi Daenerys anyone? Surely not Joffrey though…

So once you’ve chosen a name for your precious little one, and you’ve registered their birth with the authorities, how do you go about celebrating it?

Traditionally, Christenings or similar have been the rite of passage for babies, but in these modern times, other options are available – such as Naming Days. An increasing amount of families are choosing to formally celebrate in such a non/part religious, modern or alternative way. The beauty being that you can tailor the event to exactly how you want it to be, and make it much more personalised than perhaps traditional methods have historically allowed for. For example, Naming ceremonies are being hosted to welcome adopted children and step children into families. It can even be done for pets!

Earlier this year, though not due in any part to being ‘anti-religion’, but more about being ‘non-religious’ in our own beliefs, my wife and I opted for our daughter to have one of these Naming ceremonies. We’d both been Christened ourselves, but we did some research into alternatives and decided to choose something that would allow our child in the future to take a route in life or spirituality that she herself wanted to pursue.

A Naming Celebrant conducted the ceremony in our back garden in glorious sunshine amongst many friends and family, and it just felt so much more comfortable and relaxed that way. Similar to how Christenings work, we selected Godparents and let them choose readings and poems that they felt summed up the role they were about to accept. Candle lighting, sand ceremonies and music were also all included at our request.

Godparents you say? I guess it sounds a bit contrary, given that the ceremony was deliberately religion free, but the point is that it was entirely up to us what we called them. We could have chosen Guide-parents for example, but we went with a bit of tradition after all – because that is what WE wanted to do. Flexibility rules!

So pleased were we with the positive response the ceremony received from those attending, my enterprising wife decided to launch her own mini-business as a Naming Celebrant within days of our daughter’s big day! She’d done a few similar ventures herself when she was a trainee teacher, and felt it was something she would really enjoy doing for other families.

And what a response she got!

Enquiries came flooding in and already she has performed a number of ceremonies, all individually styled to how the recipient family wanted it to be. Even local BBC Radio got involved with popular presenter Sarah Gorrell hosting a live on air interview.

Clearly it’s a booming option, but more than anything else, it simply offers a different route for something that had seemed set in stone until very recently.

Don’t join the revolution, join the evolution: Brighton Baby Naming

My Favourite Things (well specifically Albums) Part 2

Okay so Part 1 can be found here.

As mentioned before, I might not get much interest in Part 2 given some of the choices in Part 1, but I bet a lot of the readers bought the same albums as I did in actuality, so I’ll say it again:

I really don’t care if any of the albums chosen get laughed at.

Music stays with us for many reasons, and people should never be ashamed of the music they like. Even Doop by Doop was liked by some people… (not yours truly!)

Note to self: Do a blog about annoying songs…

Anyways, I give you my top five, and again feel free to click on the hyperlinks…

05. The Great Escape – Blur

Me and a mate were on a trip in early 1995 when he persuaded me to listen to a few songs on some album called Parklife by Blur. I knew about the song Girls and Boys, but little else. Anyways I listened to a few songs and thought it was all reasonably good, but then we got to track 9.

Every so often when listening to a song, I get struck by a 'goose pimples' moment, in that I instantly fall in love with it. Some songs have genuinely made me feel that way - like I love them (yes I know I'm odd)...and track 9 To The End was one such song.

It set me up for listening to more Blur songs and when The Great Escape and Oasis' (What's the Story?) Morning Glory were released in the late summer of 1995, BritPop exploded and musically it became a way of life for a good couple of years… and it was great!

I remember going to see Blur in concert at Wembley Arena just before Christmas that year, and during stand out song (and my favourite) The Universal, I'd like to think that whilst singing, Damon Albarn really, really, really WAS pointing directly at me! #itreallyreallyreallycouldhappen

04. True Blue – Madonna

I wasn’t particularly fond of Madonna in the early part of her career, though this was probably more due to a lack of exposure to her material than anything else – besides which I was also very young.

In the mid 1980’s though, two things happened:

1. I learnt that girls liked Madonna (there’s a trend developing here…)

2. Just as I started to listen to chart music, I discovered Borderline (re-released in 1986) and soon after, I also heard Live to Tell.

To clarify point 1, I don’t particularly think I’m a Machiavellian type. I just wanted an ‘in’! The more salient reasons are in point 2. The girl could sing and I was hooked, and I still am to a degree, but the True Blue era was my favourite Madonna period and I feel that nigh on the whole album was absolute pop perfection and very much of it’s time. White Heat took some getting used to, but I liked it just as much as the others in the end.  I frequently borrowed a friend’s copy of the album on cassette during 1986 and 1987 and fell in love with all the songs.

Not least my favourite La Isla Bonita, which is up there amongst the most beautiful songs of all time. In the accompanying music video, Madonna’s look as the un-made up, timid, austere and passive girl (contrasting with the red senorita) absolutely did it for me. I can’t think of a more stunning image of such an apparently plain character. Just wow! > La Isla Bonita

I digress.

So yes obviously this has stayed with me since forever ago – and the poor girl that I initially kept borrowing the cassette off eventually bought me a copy for my 12^th birthday!
Oh and when my daughter was born in 2012, the title track was playing on the radio in the background!

03. Bad – Michael Jackson

"You can’t have two albums by the same artist dammit!" – Yes I can, it's my list!

Jackson's second biggest selling album (just the 40 million units sold) but definitely my favourite of his. For me it's every bit as good as the world record selling Thriller, and just a bit more 'zingy' to make it sound even better.

Much like True Blue above, this was released at an age (11-12ish) when as I was getting seriously into music from my own era (having largely listened to my parents music up to that point), and was now purposefully listening to the charts of a Sunday evening on BBC Radio One. I struggle to find fault with any song, and again like True Blue it's near enough pop perfection. Each song very much gives me a fond memory of the time, and even now they don’t sound dated at all

Favourite song: Man in the Mirror

02. Abbey Road – The Beatles

I could have filled this entire list with Beatles albums, but that would have just been a bit daft!

This album for me was all about craft in the sound and structure of music. Side A of the album is very good in it’s own right, but I could listen to the B-side Abbey Road Medley jam session (which it wasn’t) till the Blue Meanies came home. During Michael Jackson’s Dangerous / Heal the World concert tour, Abbey Road would play over the PA systems at the stadiums he was performing in right before he went on stage (he was a huge fan of The Beatles.) Being in the crowd at Wembley in 1992 for one such concert, it helped pass the time for sure.

People often say The Beatles peaked in 1966 – 1967 with the Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt Pepper albums, but whilst all those albums are terrific, nothing tops the artistry of Abbey Road in my view. The album also contains my favourite lyric ever:

“In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make” from The End

Favourite song: You Never Give Me Your Money

01. Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys

Although I was aware of quite a few of the songs on Pet Sounds, and had heard people laud it, and had read reviews that continually praised it, I didn't actually take the time to listen to the album itself until probably 1994 or 1995. It should have been no chore at a mere 36 minutes long, but one sunny afternoon I decided to give it a go.

The word genius is often overused in culture, but Brian Wilson might just have nailed it with his production of what I had just listened to in fullness for the first time – and for me to get that excited about a mono production is pretty rare. In fact, purists will shudder when I say that I prefer the stereo version that was released in the late 90's, but that's just a preference rather than a criticism.

I believe the content of the album could encapsulate the love life of anyone aged 16-25. How did Wilson manage it? Who knows but it nearly drove him insane in the process searching for perfection.

Favourite song: I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times

Paul McCartney once said "I love the album so much. I've just bought my kids each a copy of it for their education in life – I figure no one is educated musically 'til they've heard that album"... 'nuff said.

And I’ll leave you with one final ‘nuff said:

GodOnly Knows

My Favourite Things (well specifically Albums) Part 1

During last summer on Facebook, a thread trended about people revealing their top ten albums of all time, and why the album had made an impression on them.

I listed mine at the time in a rush as I suspected the idea was that you shouldn’t have to think about it too hard. That said having given it a little more time to reflect, I thought I’d give it another go.

Obviously, millions of people love greatest hits albums and Original Soundtracks (OST) (e.g. The Eagles Greatest Hits, The Bodyguard OST), but for my own list I have avoided these categories.

Each to their own, but there is enough on my list to make others chuckle without me feeling the need to add, for example, The Sound of Music OST to it.

And on that note, I really don’t mind if any of the albums I’ve selected below do indeed get laughed at and I fully expect that to be the case for some! Music choices are SO personalised, and songs stay with us for many reasons, so I’m a huge advocate that people should never be ashamed of the music they like. There are enough genres out there to cater for everybody’s tastes, so live and let live.

Anyways, in reverse order, here is part 1 (albums 10 to 6) …and feel free to click on the hyperlinks:

10. Ten Good Reasons – Jason Donovan

I might as well start as I intend to go on! Yes Jason Donovan. I love my 80’s pop, and this is one of the quintessential ‘pop’ albums of the late 80’s. It sold millions, and yes a very high percentage of those buyers were probably teenage girls, but this teenage boy bought it too and enjoyed virtually every song on it. On the basis that so many girls liked Jason Donovan, I recall thinking it genuinely might help me get a girlfriend if I liked it too #laughtercombustion

Favourite song: You Can Depend On Me

09. Different Class – Pulp

BritPop at it’s finest, and Pulp gave us at least two of the biggest anthems during my dev years in Common People and Disco 2000.

Poignant and accurate songs to the last note. Most people I knew DID have woodchip on their walls.

I bought this at Woolworths (RIP) in Southwick Square (West Sussex, UK) in January 1996, primarily as I hoped to see a girl who worked there that I’d plied with drinks two nights before at the Paradox nightclub in Brighton.

Did I find her? Did I f…

Favourite song: the aforementioned Disco 2000

08. Spiceworld – Spice Girls

Back to pop cheese (no, not pop tarts) and the Spice Girls. Their first album Spice was pretty good in its own right, but this follow up was the phenomenon of the Spice Girls at their absolute peak – every song could easily have been a single. This lingers with me as I used to play it on the way to and from work (Sainsburys, Lewes Rd, Brighton) and in particular when driving past the old Goldstone Ground (another RIP) during its final memorable season hosting Brighton and Hove Albion FC.

Favourite song: Too Much

07. Listen without Prejudice vol.1 – George Michael

I could easily have chosen any one of three George Michael albums. I love Older and Patience almost as much as LWPv1, but it just edges ahead on the basis that Cowboys &Angels is on it.

It’s stayed with me as I used to clog up pub jukeboxes by setting about 7 or 8 of the songs to play two or three times in a row! When on Earth are you going to make LWP volume 2 Mr Panayiotou?

And here’s a useless fact: this is technically the only album in this list that I didn’t purchase myself – it was a Christmas present! A couple of others were also bought for me but I’ve since repurchased them myself for various reasons.

Favourite song: Cowboys & Angels of course!

06. HIStory – Michael Jackson

As a big fan of Michael Jackson, I can still remember the huge anticipation I had for this album's release. The night before it came out, I was in Brighton on my way to The Event nightclub for a colleague's birthday – actually it was The Event II nightclub, having reopened a week or so before following a revamp. The club was stone dead, and a few other issues between friends were kicking off, resulting in one instance of me preventing a guy being beaten up amongst other things. Bored and disillusioned, I left early and wandered back alone along Western Road, Brighton, and having grabbed a box of Cheeky Chicken, I strolled along to HMV. It had a huge window display advertising HIStory, and I felt a lot cheerier after seeing that!

I went home to bed, and got an early bus straight into town to buy the double album and listened to it solidly for weeks on end, writing down all the lyrics and learning them by heart. By far and away this was Jackson’s most personal album in terms of content, had it not been so pricey (the double album was half greatest hits, and half new material) I'm convinced more people would have bought it and it may have even rubbed shoulders with the astronomical sales figures of some of his other albums. It was definitely the last time that he put such enormous effort into a project. After HIStory, I guess he just "ran outta gas..."

Favourite song: Stranger in Moscow, though closely followed by the unreleased Tabloid Junkie. Special mention should go to the awesome Hani's Club Experience version of Earth Song. How anyone could have made Earth Song such a huge trance hit on the club scene deserves a medal!

I’ll post the top five shortly – that’s if I didn’t lose you with Jason Donovan and the Spice Girls of course…

Variety is the spice of blogging

During my opted hiatus from blogging (one needs thinking time you know) I spent some moments looking at other blogs around the planet – well the ones in English anyway.

You’d be amazed at how many blogs there are written just about the art of blogging... literally there are blogs suggesting what to blog on, with things like ‘topic lists’ and ‘hot subjects’ etc.

And there’s me thinking it was all random and pot luck!

So as an ‘easy in’ to launch my November blogs, I found such a list of topics and gave them a few thoughts as to whether I fancied doing a blog on them myself…

15 Random Blogging Topics

1.    The worst movie you ever saw at the cinema, and why…

Yeah there’s possibly life in this one, but I’m not sure how many would have heard of ‘Mac & Me’?

2.    That one time you told a huge lie and got away with it

Me tell a huge lie? Never! Although there is the 1987 egg throwing story that has since been confessed to. Honestly we thought the house was empty! No harm was done and no-one got hurt. Not least the poor old dear living alone inside.

Yes I feel guilty.

3.    Five things that freak you out (spiders, toes, etc.)

Plenty of scope here, but it might give people ideas in how to frighten me! I’ll mention one though: The Muppets

4.    A letter to your 16 year old self. What advice would you give?

I suspect things like this could send out the wrong messages, so I might avoid this one!

5.    Your first love / kiss, and don’t skip the awkward details

Avoid! Mainly because I still know those involved!

6.    The day you started blogging. What were you thinking?

I was thinking ‘would anybody really be interested?’ – That thought still hasn’t changed! Seriously though, as mentioned in my Opinions blog, I’m genuinely just doing it for fun, and I just wanted to write about things that interest me and I’ve found that I gain a lot of enjoyment in doing so. So I’ve probably covered this one already!

7.    An anti-bucket list: the things you hope to never do before you die

Aha now this I think I could do. Sounds a bit pessimistic, which might dissuade me – but it might be fun to consider.

8.    Your earliest childhood memory

Plenty of early memories, but the earliest is probably too boring to write about, unless you find q-tips and washing machines entertaining?

9.     What your Facebook status might be in 2018

10.  What you’re addicted to, and why

Crisps. Boring. Next.

11.  Write your obituary

A touch too morbid for me, and I’m not sure if I like judging my own achievements

12.  Write a FAQ-C {Frequently Asked Questions by Children} post

I have a plethora of examples to hand. Might be worth a crack!

13.  Who people think you are, compared to who you really are

Hmmm this is always extremely subjective. One’s desired perception may often be miles from reality!

14.  Your ideal meal and which celebrities would you invite to it

Sounds quite do-able. Do they need to still be alive though?

15.  Share a secret you’ve never told anyone. Until now

As if!

Watch this space…