Not So Sweet 16

This coming springtime my step daughter turns 16 and recently we had the inevitable request put to us:

“Can I have a party please!?”

Oh how the memories came flooding back about my own 16^th birthday party…

There will likely be a few people reading this who were present and will also remember that Saturday night back in October 1991.

I was on a swing in Easthill Park, Portslade late one summer’s evening, when I first thought that having a party would be the greatest idea ever. This of course was back in the days when mid teens actually went to the park to speak to their friends and hang out rather than have a relationship with them via their phone. In fact I don’t think I knew anyone who owned a mobile phone in 1991 apart from Derek Trotter.

So I sat there swinging away (in my shellsuit), mulling it over with a few mates at dusk and mentally working out a guest list. I recall one of the girls present stating that the main ‘rules’ ought to be a ‘ban on jelly and ice-cream’ and ‘no parents allowed’, because after all, we didn’t want it to be a kids party. So I slept on it before asking my parents the next day about what my chances were.

Amazingly they agreed to it! The only proviso being that the maximum amount of guests didn’t exceed 40 people.

I genuinely couldn’t believe my luck and knocked up my invite list, which was actually quite hard to do as I ended up having to omit some decent people, but I didn’t want to push my luck with the numbers, so out of fairness I stuck with the 40 allowed.

Ahead of the event, my Dad made the calligraphic invites, and as I was working on the day of the party, my Mum decorated the house with photos of the younger me and banners etc as well as laying out a brilliant spread of party food (no jelly and ice cream)

And true to their word, my parents and younger brother left me to it at about 630pm and toodled round to my grandparents on the other side of the Valley in Portslade and said they’d be back at approximately 1am.

I waited in great anticipation, in my new one-size-too-small red panel Chipie jeans… 

 …naively thinking that if 30 people showed up it would be pretty good going.

When I did a head count at 10pm, there were well over one hundred people!

In my genuine ignorance, I clearly hadn’t considered at all that there would be ANY gate crashers, let alone literally dozens of extra people turning up. Thankfully I knew most of them, but there were plenty of new faces too – including a Brighton & Hove Albion youth team footballer briefly.

Basically I got scared. I couldn’t control any of it and spent the night praying that the house didn’t get destroyed or set fire to! As it happened I suppose it wasn’t TOO bad really, but it felt terrifying right in the middle of it, and I guess in the era now of ‘Armageddon Facebook parties’ it could have been a lot, lot worse. Some events of note that caused me angst on the night stick in the memory though:

• The downstairs toilet getting blocked – so a neighbours pathway was used as an alternative
• The garden got flattened
• The vacuum cleaner being hurled down the stairs (and skilfully caught)
• The settee being completely caved in
• Various spots of blood
• Cigarette butts embedded in the carpets
• Dozens of beer bottles hurled into the neighbouring school field, and neighbours gardens
• Various videos and cassettes stolen 
• ...and of course, the next door neighbour’s derelict untaxed Volkswagen Beetle having its roof caved in:

I’m well aware of various other shenanigans that took place but it’s fair to say that there’s intentionally no names mentioned at all in this ‘before the watershed’ blog for many good reasons!

Back to the party (yes there was still a party going on), and there were, on occasion, quite a few minutes when I wasn’t actually hiding. Bless her, the same girl who had suggested a ban on jelly and ice cream offered to dance with me at one point as she could see I was suffering and not really having a good time! Just beforehand, one of the less bright attendees had suggested we put his cassette on to change the music. He said “you won’t need to turn the volume up Bez, as it’s automatically loud”. Okay then.

To my sadness, the majority of my best friends left relatively early for one reason or another. I really couldn’t blame them though, and I suspect I would have done the same as it felt the whole event was increasingly getting out of hand at times, especially when someone asked if there was a rear exit to the house because he thought he was about to be beaten up. Unluckily for him, the only exit was the entrance as we lived at the far end of a cul-de-sac. The poor lad legged it for his life as three other guys tore through the house, trying to attack him. Thankfully he got away safely.

And to put a cherry on top of my night, my parents came home an hour early at around midnight and surveyed the mess. The majority of people had gone by then, but a few wisely started to leave as my Dad was being told about the redesigned VW car roof by the understandably disgruntled neighbour.

The police were called, but so far as I recall they didn’t pursue any complaints made by the neighbours. My Dad promptly issued a warning/threat to all the remaining people that he would never allow any of them across his ‘threshold’ again. It took all the strength in me to stifle a chuckle when a soft lone voice replied on behalf of the group shuffling off: “Sorry mister!”

The next day though, Dad kindly offered invites to come back to half a dozen of my mates who had copped that rollocking at the end of the night. He graciously said sorry to them as I explained to him that they hadn’t deserved it.

Oddly enough I never got told off for it. I suppose my parents felt I’d learned my lesson by the shock and enormity of what had gone on. I spent most of the next morning tidying up, and a couple of friends very kindly came by to check on my welfare.

My brother returned home from my grandparents and claimed he had heard the party from the other side of the hill. And “what was that lingering smell everywhere in the house?”

He was also annoyed that people had been in his bedroom, which had rightfully been out of bounds.

*refer to earlier mention of shenanigans…

Pretty soon my parents were quite relaxed about it all – though Mum was peeved that most of the food she’d made had barely been eaten as someone had poured booze over it all... chicken vodka-vents are not nice!

It was probably no coincidence that the entire downstairs was redecorated within three months.

In truth barely a handful of people had really caused any aggro – it just so happened that too many people came, and I couldn’t be omnipresent in protecting the house. Even the majority of people I hadn’t invited were actually good as gold and gave me no problems. In fact the hardest thing I personally had to keep on doing was to persuade the smokers to smoke outside.

Overall it was a peculiar event. As a result of the mess and damage, my poor brother wasn’t allowed a 16^th party himself, but for me personally the most annoying thing was that I simply wasn’t able to enjoy the night at all.

Additionally, my confidence took its own little dance too. I guess amongst my school friends, I was always thought of as being quiet and unlikely to indulge in such an event that had just taken place, so my confidence rose slightly as it became quite a talked about event at school, and as a strange consequence my credibility also improved a touch. However I felt in other ways my confidence was absolutely shot as I knew I had ultimately lost all control of what was going on. Bizarrely I think it affected me for years as some aspects of my shyness came back with a vengeance.

I think I am able to laugh about it now though thankfully!

“Ha ha! *cough*”

So dare we answer in the affirmative to “Can I have a party please!?”…

Would you?

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…

Opinions

I’ve been blogging for exactly 6 weeks now (time flies when you’re having fun) and it’s been quite interesting to note the reactions it has caused.

People paying lip-service is one such reaction. “It’s just not my scene” is another. Criticism for not doing enough blogs and criticism for doing too many blogs!

The most frequent question I’ve been asked though is:

“Well WHY are you blogging!?” and my response to that is usually “Well why not!?”

For me there’s no ulterior motive here. I’m seeking neither praise nor criticism. I’m not trying to make friends or enemies. I’m definitely not doing it to ram my opinions down anybody’s throats… and it’s not something I can earn money doing (dammit!)

I’m genuinely just doing it for fun, and writing about things that interest me is simply something that I gain a lot of enjoyment in doing.

Obviously I’m HUGELY grateful to anyone who reads what I scribe, but I’m clear in my head that it’s of 99% irrelevance to me whether they like it, hate it, disagree with it or love it!

The 1% is the ‘I’m only human’ part of me that is quite pleased when someone is genuinely kind about my blogs, but I know that very easily any book can be put down, so I don’t get over excited about praise, nor sad about negativity.

It’s just me blurting about things that I like– hopefully with a fair degree of confidence – and sharing my opinions about the topics in question.

And it really is all about opinions isn’t it? Disagree or agree as much as you like with what I write – either way you will be paying more attention to the matter than I am!

And then on Facebook yesterday, I saw this gem attributed to Prof. Brian Cox:

 I couldn’t agree more – love it!!!

So (for fun) having done a bit of research on ‘opinions’, please peruse some of the below quotes:

(with thanks to the Good Reads website)

• “People can tell you to keep your mouth shut, but that doesn't stop you from having your own opinion.” ― Anne Frank

• “People have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste.” ― Voltaire

• “If you want me to treat your ideas with more respect, get some better ideas.” ― John Scalzi

• “Opinions are like nipples, everybody has one. Some have firm points, others are barely discernible through layers, and some are displayed at every opportunity regardless of whether the audience has stated "I am interested in your nipples" or not.” ― David Thorne

• “I may be wrong in regard to any or all of them; but holding it a sound maxim, that it is better to be only sometimes right, than at all times wrong, so soon as I discover my opinions to be erroneous, I shall be ready to renounce them.” ― Abraham Lincoln

• “I have learned that trying to control other people’s opinions of you is the fastest possible route to unhappiness.” ― Dan Pearce

• “A ‘normal person’ is what is left after society has squeezed out all unconventional opinions and aspirations out of a human being.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

• “As uncomfortable as it might be, I refuse to let the comfort of being agreed with suffocate my opinions.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

• “The strength of one's opinion should not exceed their knowledge on the matter.” ― Eric Hirzel

• “If ten eyewitnesses are asked to describe a suspect, you'll get ten different variations. The same applies to readers and their opinions about the same book. And that's how it should be; we're not robots.” ― Shawnda Currie

• “One test result is the worth one-thousand expert opinions.” ― Werner Von Braun

• “Don't let other people's opinions distort your reality. Be true to yourself. Be bold in pursuing your dreams. Be unapologetically you!” ― Steve Maraboli

Just a few to pass comment on (I couldn’t resist could I!?)

• “It was always disconcerting to discover that you shared opinions with someone you had no respect for.” ― Anon

In my opinion(!) that is utter garbage and snobbery at its peak. A more contrived stance I’d be hard pressed to recognise.

• “I have opinions of my own - strong opinions - but I don't always agree with them.” ― George H.W. Bush

None of my own words can do that justice!

                                                                                    

And I’ll leave you with this one, which could be associated with my blogging to date:

• “Opinions vary.” ― Kira A. McFadden

The Top 30 Best Selling UK Singles Part 2

Please see Part 1 here!

Part 2: 20 – 1

20. Imagine – John Lennon

Imagine if John hadn’t been killed. This song might genuinely have forever been condemned to being a poor performer in the charts. Not even a released single when it first surfaced (1971), it then only made number 6 in 1975 before the mourning of a nation revived it in 1980 to become one of his best loved compositions. Another track that has become a Christmas / New Years anthem due to the timing and circumstances of its 1980 release.

19. Happy – Pharrell Williams

This one will continue to rise up the list as it’s still in the charts at the time of writing. A remarkably simple effort from Pharrell in creating a track that is popular whether you’re aged 3 or 93… and all done without the help of Robin Thicke or Nile Rodgers. Clap your hands.

18. Last Christmas / Everything She Wants – Wham!

Possibly the greatest number 2 ever (don’t!), possibly one of the best Christmas songs ever and possibly the slickest remix ever (check out the Last Christmas Pudding Mix). In fact the only disappointment for me is that Everything She Wants wasn’t released elsewhere in the year in it’s own right as that song is just so Wham! at their best.

17. (Everything I Do) I Do It for You – Bryan Adams

Yet another song carried along by the success of a hit film. Overplayed? Perhaps, but not quite worn out like I will Always Love you has become. You can’t knock 16 weeks at number 1 though, so well played to the Canadian Canadian.

16. Believe – Cher

Wow! Cher’s voice on this. Not done using a vocoder as was originally thought, but by rigging an auto tune machine to warp 3 sets of her vocals. Innovative. And then Madonna did it.

My main memory of this is going to an awful nightclub in Crawley, West Sussex and hearing it played four or five times an hour. Strong song with a good video too.

15. Evergreen – Will Young

An early effort of the yearly X-Factor song that reduces the once revered Christmas chart to a farce every year. Nothing against Will Young, but he did far, far better songs after this one.

14. I Want to Hold Your Hand – The Beatles

The song that really broke the Beatles into the American market. Not many better intros to a song than heard on this zippy belter.

13. Barbie Girl – Aqua

Novelty songs – you gotta love ‘em eh!? Well no not always. It’s harmless, poppy fun, but I’m not over bothered with it. Aqua could do a job though, and I politely refer you to Turn Back Time, as heard in the soundtrack to Sliding Doors. See!? Get a song in a movie and it’s a sure fire chart scorcher.

12. I Just Called to Say I Love You – Stevie Wonder

Now if this ‘ode’ had come out nowadays, would it have been a hit? Would it be renamed?

Maybe: I Just Texted 2 Say I luv U - LOL

11. Unchained Melody – Robson & Jerome

There must be a million different covers of this song, and whilst R&J (a bit like an old version of Ant & Dec) did their best, no-one is gonna convince me that the Righteous Bros effort isn’t the definitive cover.

10. Mary's Boy Child – Oh My Lord – Boney M

And into the top ten we go. Again, the Christmas sales probably helped this one make the list, and I suppose if you can rework a traditional slumber seasonal carol into a pseudo Christmas Disco multi million seller, then you must be doing something right. Oh My Lord indeed.

09. Love Is All Around – Wet Wet Wet

Another cover, another song from a movie soundtrack, so obviously another multi million seller. In fact ‘The Wets’ might have sold even more, but they actually ordered the cessation of production of units whilst they were still at number 1. Apparently this was because they didn’t want to condemn the song to the over played graveyard (too late)

More likely they didn’t want the embarrassment of being replaced at the top by Whigfield’s Saturday Night…

08. She Loves You – The Beatles

Now we’re cooking. 18 weeks in the top 3 alone, and this included TWO different spells at number one, with a few weeks gap in between hitting the summit. No other song in chart history has had quite the storyline that the chart run of She Loves You has. The tragedy is that the version we all know is in fact a splice of more than one recording and is the reason why when the Remastered Stereo albums box set was released, SLY was one of the only songs not actually presented in crisp stereo. This for me is singularly the saddest tale in the history of the British charts. Still, it didn’t put millions off buying the song I suppose!

07. Rivers of Babylon / Brown Girl in the Ring – Boney M

Controversy klaxon. This was another double A-side (though originally was a plain old A and B-side), yet you never hear ‘Brown Girl…’ played on the radio. Like ever.

Is there a race reason behind this? A bit of research suggest it’s nothing of the kind, and is based on a West Indian children’s song – a bit like Ring of Roses, which has its own history. As a child, I loved singing and dancing to it, and still prefer it any day to the original A-side. So dammit DJ’s of the UK, show ME a motion and play it more often!

06. Relax – Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Like many people possibly, I had no idea what the lyrics to this belter were referring to at the time of release, but does it really matter? Songs inferring sex have been around since the Edison Phonograph. Mary had a little Lamb indeed.

In fact well over half the songs in this top 40 have at least subtle sexual overtones (or undertones), so get over yourselves and be happy and gay.

05. You're the One That I Want – John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John

Wow a second entry from the same film. I’m running out of characters, so see Summer Nights blurb from Part1!

04. Mull of Kintyre – Wings

As a child I think this came on to my radar before I knew who The Beatles even were.

I like to imagine Lennon hearing about this song the day before it was released…

The Lennon Diaries, Thursday November 10^th 1977:

‘Pfft – Just heard about Macca’s latest! ROTFL… Bagpipes and a beach in Scotland? Good luck with that pal. Gear fab, gear fab’

03. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen

It’s hard to knock this one, but I’m still not sure about combining two chart runs (1975 & 1991) to elevate it up the list. I wasn’t keen on Queen until poor young Freddie passed on, but their music was everywhere in the aftermath of his death and one couldn’t help but admire what they’d contributed to British music. When clubbing at The Event II (blimey another RIP!) nightclub in Brighton in the 90’s, this was frequently referred to as the club’s ‘anthem’. I’m still not convinced by this, but maybe it was helped by the additional tie in with the film ‘Wayne’s World’. Let the head banging commence.

02. Do They Know It's Christmas? – Band Aid

Just when you thought we’d done Christmas to pieces, along comes the biggest one of them all.

What’s not to like? Always likely to remain a classic at Christmas, and that’s a good thing. It won’t be a popular view, but I liked the 1989 SAW version too. Not keen on the Band Aid 20 version though, as even I could’ve done Bono’s line better than he did. It’s all going to charity though so we can’t knock it.. and then there was Band Aid 30...
#feedtheworld

01.   Candle in the Wind 1997 – Elton John

Elton John’s music was heard everywhere for weeks after the death of Diana PoW, and upon his performance of the rewritten song at her funeral, the inevitable charity release followed. They couldn’t make enough copies of the single fast enough. I remember eventually buying it about a month after its release, simply because it was sold out everywhere.

The funeral version differs slightly and is better in my opinion (and you’ve had enough of those lately), but the irony is that Diana herself might have preferred another of Elton’s songs given the choice, as she had cited his early single ‘Your Song’ as one of her all time favourites.

So what are the themes in this list to guarantee a huge seller?

·        Christmas

·        Movie soundtrack

·        Sex

·        …and – rather morosely – death.

And what one don’t they play on the radio? The children’s song

So I’ll leave you with this final thought:

Go download baby and Show Me Your Motion

XxX