Three years ago today, I was sat in my dining-room minding my own business, when the newsreader on the French TV channel announced that the singer Grégory Lemarchal had passed away.
Deceased at the age of 24 - too young, yet older than had been predicted of him. Yes, 20 months after his birth, he had been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, whose main symptom is difficult breathing. How ironic - and tragic - then, that he went on to enter the French music contest Star Academy 21 years later..and won.
Can you imagine? Being told that singing could be detrimental to your health, but still, decide to enter the contest and embark on a pursuit of a singing career? How brave, determined, and in love with singing you'd need to be. And the day your debut album got platinum-certified - what a gratifying, overjoying day, when you can finally be righteous in the knowledge that you've beaten your body to victory. But your days are counted.
I leave you with one of his performances from the show. This is 'S.O.S. d'un Terrien en Detresse' (effectively 'SOS from an Earthling in Distress'), originally by Daniel Balavoine. If you saw how much I bawled when listening to this song the days after his death... god you'd be disgusted.
On a side note, I've got a Reading Festival ticket for sale: would anyone like a Sunday ticket to Reading 2010? Acts playing include the mighty Blink-182, Paramore, Klaxons, The Drums who have been hotly tipped (listen to 'Best Friend'), You Me At Six, Weezer, All Time Low, FOALS, We Are Scientists, Cypress Hill, Band of Horses, Kele.. leave me a comment or formspring.me. Thanks :)
Anyway.
Ciggies on my glasses.. Passive smoking much?
Motherfucker, I'm trying to shoot a video STOP CALLING.
After weeks of waiting, and quite a few postponements, the 'Telephone' video was leaked on 11 March. The following morning at school, I managed to track down a non-YouTube version of it. MAN it was difficult to watch it in my school library, because all them raunchy bits meant that I had to minimise the browser quite a few times for fear of being accused of watching PORNtings on a school computer. Cause that's what the video's like - TOO MUCH NAKED GAGA.
Obvs, the video is not only naked GaGa (btw, her body is undeniably AMAZING in that video). The storyline is somewhat intriguing to follow, the outfits, a visual feast, the two divas' acting skillz (or, in Beyonce's case, god-awful lack of acting skills), hilarious. The video was different to what I'd been expecting, but it matched the standard that had been hinted at by everyone.
What I didn't like were the blatant and therefore very tacky plugs (of Virgin Media, a phone company, and an online dating site). That and the fact that it actually is a bit too long. I had thought that 10 minutes would be delightful to watch. However, though this is a great video for my favourite song from 'The Fame Monster', that excessive length and slightly convoluted feel does let it down a bit in my opinion.
Oh and there were some bits which just made downright L O L. Like the bit where Beyonce is in the bedroom and then she just starts bouncing!? I mean, what?! And the part at the end when they're dressed in long drapey.. things (the term escapes me), and they just look like witches and wave their arms in the camera's face. Whatever, I'm not complaining, it made me laugh... as Lady Gaga always does.
The PUSSY WAGON! (I.e. their ride, if you're thinking "WTF is she pussy-wagon-ing on about")
In other musical news – a midweek chart update has been launched on BBC Radio 1. Every Wednesday, Greg James will be looking at the charts as of that day. Exciting? Well it might shed light on the way people buy music – i.e. do people buy records just before Sunday to help them get to number 1? Do new albums/singles released on Mondays chart high early on in the week? ... I'm just being a geek now aren't I.
Speaking of charts, if you follow me on Twitter, you'll know that I rooted for Tinie Tempah to get to number 1 on 7 March. (FYI on the last night of the February halfterm, while everybody was going mad with last-minute-homework-rush, I was seeing him live at Shepherd's Bush cause I am just that hardcore.)
Anyway, get to number 1 he bloody did (and on his first week of charting, might I add). WELL DONE TINIE (cause obviously he can hear me..)! You see? Underground artists can do it too! (...Oh my lord that was the most cringe thing that's left my mouth.)
Aite, they're not letting me embed it, so click here to watch the video - you're gonna have to get used to seeing his bootiful face in front of you in the coming year!
Aite, all chav tings aside, I have come on only to have a scream about the fact that the one and only, hugely talented Foals have returned. (Please don't get it wrong and call them THE Foals, I will burst your eardrums if you do).
I was listening to the new single on Radio 1 last night...but I didn't even realise I was listening to it. A bit before 8pm, I turned on the radio, and they were talking about the Foals record and I thought OH SHIT I forgot to tune in earlier. Then Zane Lowe said some stuff and I did not understand a word he said but thought I heard him saying that he was gonna play it again so I rushed to my hi-fi and pressed the Record button... when some song vaguely sounding like Foals came on. FYI it was the song blasting out of the player below, but I half-thought it wasn't by Foals. Goes to show how much they've changed.
Then again, it could just be this song. 'Spanish Sahara' is, apparently, not 100% representative of the rest of the album. But if the rest of the album is as phenomenal as this song then I think Foals fans are in for a treat. It's so good that Zane Lowe played it twice. You never play the same song twice on one radio show.
The only thing that has pissed me off since then was the fact that they're playing a London date smack bang in the middle of my exams. As are Lostprophs and Kids in Glass Houses. Oh and the fact that my English oral didn't go amazingly, but I've gotten over that. Almost. So that is all. Make sure your speakers are on full volume and enjoy your 6 minutes of musical genius and heaven!
I only put the BBC player on here at first but then came across the video so I've given you that as well. But listen to the BBC player anyway to hear Yannis' interview. It's about 7 minutes in. (..Love him!)
On a side note, I've got a Reading Festival ticket for sale: would anyone like a Sunday ticket to Reading 2010? Acts playing include the mighty Blink-182, Paramore, Klaxons, The Drums who have been hotly tipped (listen to 'Best Friend'), You Me At Six, Weezer, All Time Low, FOALS, We Are Scientists, Cypress Hill, Band of Horses, Kele.. leave me a comment or formspring.me. Thanks :)
I've clearly busted my 'only one blog post a week' rule I set for myself for the new year. Ahhhh well. What's much worse is the amount of Tweets I've been putting out. If I'm not mistaken, I tweeted twenty times on one day. And this is me, the person who, not so long ago, dubbed Twitter 'boring' because all you talk about on there are the trivialities of your everyday life. Well, on that crazy day when I tweeted twenty times: clearly I did twenty trivial things. Gahhhhhh anyone have good tips for cutting back on tweets?
'Liquid Confidence'
I downloaded and listened to a leak of You Me At Six' new album, 'Hold Me Down', before its release date of 11 Jan (thanks to LH, who sent me the link. Guess where - over Twitter, haha, my life is so going down the drain). Because of exams and the Busted post (see post below), I'm only putting this up now. If you're a YMAS fan and haven't yet listened to it (SHAME ON YOU), I'd advise you to avert your eyes for now, because I've found that my first opinions of a new album are always overshadowed by reviews I have read (then again that could just be my easily influenced self). Come back when you've heard it, anyways.
Despite the hype (built by YMAS themselves) surrounding the release of this album, I didn't find myself excited about it at all, and didn't expect much from it at all. I listened to the sneak preview of the album a few weeks ago and wasn't fussed, though I did like some bits in there. They say that if you have low expectations, you'll never be disappointed. Well then, either YMAS are in a league of 'crap' of their own, or that saying is fundamentally untrue. I am going with the latter.
Although the album retains YMAS 'essence', it does also sound different to 'Take Off Your Colours', their debut. With more instruments, it sounds 'fuller'... or maybe that's what they call 'noise'. And a heavier feel? Yeah, I'm listening to 'The Consequence' and it has some low guitar bits. Gah I'm amazing at describing music aren't I? I just listened to their interview on XFM with Iam Camfield and he described it as 'bigger', which is exactly what I think about it. Like, arena-big. (...I'm so eloquent)
I am tempted to say that most of the songs on the album all sound the same to me. And I would not be wrong. I've found loads of ritornello patterns being repeated across different songs, and by the fourth song I knew I could expect their typical loud-then suddenly quiet-then build up to loud again- sequence. A few of the songs they've put on there are average, like 'Safer to Hate Her' and 'Fireworks'. I wanna clarify that the album is not as appalling as I make it sound, but for me the album isn't one that hangs together tightly and takes me on a journey. In their interview with XFM, they said that when getting songs together, they could put different bits written by different members of the band into one song, because, for example, it would be in the same key. That kind songwriting process seems a bit disjointed to me, because the two components might be carrying very different emotions and so make up a song that is made up of two really good but really mismatching bits.
So what is it that still makes me listen to You Me At Six, you ask, if I find so many things wrong with them? Funnily enough, this album is what's reminded me of all the things I love about the band! You can expect to find heartfelt singing from Josh (the low bits, the quiet bits, and the lungs-y bits). Some great guitar rhythms and melodies scattered across all the songs too. I'd list examples for these, but I'd just give you almost the whole album.
That's it? Nice singing and interesting guitar playing?
'Contagious Chemistry'
Sometimes it doesn't take much for music to touch someone. What You Me At Six have got is energy, some emotional charge, and proof that they know what works well together. These are the things that tell me they're not to be written off any time soon. I have faith in them. They work really hard, appreciate their fans, and isn't just another pop/punk/rock band. They're in their own league, standing apart from anything from the US that comes onto this scene. Bring on 2010 for YMAS; let's hope they experiment some more and come into their own.
'Take Your Breath Away'
'Underdog'
'There's No Such Thing As Accidental Infidelity (featuring Aled Phillips, from KIGH!)'
xxxx
p.s. zomdizzles, I hear this You Me At Six album charted straight away at no.5 in its first week! Massive well done to them, it's quite a feat for a band like them!
p.p.s.: if you're a regular on this blog, you might wanna check back tomorrow for an announcement...
Right, so here we are. New Year.. new music. I've always wanted to write do something like this, i.e. pretend I'm where it's at in terms of new music and that I have a megamagicalprophetic predictive mind. Anyways, 2009 was a great year for music (as DJ Earworm showed us with his mash-up. Ok, I'll stop banging about it), but I hope that 2010 is going to better it. With the new penchant for drum&bass and dubstep taking over the music scene, I'm interested to see what direction old bands have taken for their new albums. So here's my hot tips for 2010, as well as the people I'm itching to hear new things from.
HOT IN 2010
Let us start with those I'm not such a big fan of (but they're still good'uns, kind of)...
DELPHIC – 'ACOLYTE'
I liked their song 'Counterpoint' released (I think) last year, but they haven't convinced me yet with their new single, the name of which escapes me.
MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS
Also another one who hasn't convinced me.... 'I'm Not A Robot' was alright, 'Hollywood' I haven't given a fair listen to yet. So I'll keep you posted about how I feel. But yeah, I can tell she's gwan have a good year, and she was one of the names on the BBC Sound of 2010 Longlist.
JUSTIN BIEBER – 'MY WORLD'
Yeah, all the teenage fangirls are already screaming for him (I just accidentally wrote 'her' instead of him, thats how cutesy pie he is) and, I have to say, he deserves (some of) it! He has a great voice and the album 'My World' (hum. I *coughdownloadedcough* it) is quite well produced. Good pop/r'n'b shtuff. (Sounds a bit like Miley Cyrus... I can't wait for his voice to break.)
Justin Bieber – 'One Time'
OWL CITY – 'OCEAN EYES'
This is not how I imagined him to look like...
With 'Fireflies' already sparking love-hate polarisation, and considering the previous album and EP have had some great stuff that new fans may latch onto, I can see OC breaking through in 2010. But I just think the songs are too similar, so I ain't too big on this guy.
Owl City – 'Cave In', probs my fave song on the album
COBRA STARSHIP – 'HOT MESS'
'Hot Mess' is coming out (or has come out? If it hasn't come out, then the version I've got must be a leak..) this year, and they have a headline tour somewhere around the world. 'Good Girls Gone Bad' and Leighton Meester did much to raise this band's profile, so I can only see them getting bigger from here.
Cobra Starship – 'I Kissed A Boy'. From FOB's mixtape 'Welcome to the Administration'
And the following are:
HOT IN 2010AND/ORI'M EXCITED/HOPING TO HEAR THAT THEY ARE COMING OUT WITH NEW THINGS
VAMPIRE WEEKEND – 'CONTRA'
Released 11/01, it sounds good to me already just on my first listen. They don't lose the sound that defines them (bouncy/cheery African-drum xylophoney feel-good tunes) but this one sounds a bit dreamier and carefree. Dare I say it's even outrageously easier to dance to than is their debut? Good work guys.
I've only liked the Strokes for around two years but that 'like' has been of a very strong nature. And the stuff they've done solo (e.g. Julian C's collaboration with Pharrell Williams and Santogold on 'My Drive Thru', and Albert Hammond Jr.'s 'CfG') tell me that they haven't lost their musical streak. Look forward to it!
KLAXONS – TBC
The Klaxons are amazing. I saw them twice in Year 10 and their album 'Myths of the Near Future' was quite something – sounds that nobody else have successfully reproduced. They've been quiet for three years so this is an album I can't wait to hear.
'Magick' ...Not exactly an unheard of song, but it needs to be heard some more.
ELLIE GOULDING – Album has been rumoured
Her two songs that I've heard – 'Starry Eyed' and 'Under the Sheets' – are great, and she knows quite a thing or two about making music. She's been tipped by the likes of Huw Stephens – well actually she's been tipped by EVERYONE – and has been given advice by Florence Welch... from the songs that I've heard I know that she deserves the hype, and I like the sound that she's been making, so let's hope the album lives up to it all.
'Under the Sheets' – Ellie Goulding
KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES – DIRT
Kids in Glass Houses are a band that I really, really like, because they're kind of emo, but really upbeat, feel-good emo that never fails to make me smile. The music they made was quite flawless and Aled Phillips' voice is phenomenal. DIRT is out in March.
'Hunt The Haunted' – Kids in Glass Houses
BLINK-182 - ?
THEIR SUMMER TOUR. I don't know if they're having a date in the UK, but they've been rumoured to be playing at Reading '10, so I'm banking on that cause I got ticketz to that already. There is a trace of scepticism in me that thinks they may not be able to make it considering the musical directions they've taken in their respective bands (especially Tom Delonge whose Angels&Airwaves aspired to music that would 'make people want to fly'). However, I have total faith in them!
McFLY – TBC
Radio:Active wasn't exactly their best, so please please please bring out something along the lines of 'Wonderland' (though I doubt that'll happen).
THE CRIBS - ?
Freaking flawless post-punk heaven. But wishful thinking on my part, I think.
HOT CHIP – 'ONE LIFE STAND'
FRIENDLY FIRES – TBC
I'm not excited about their new album as I should be, cause I love them really. Hopefully they're gonna come out with a new sound, cause I am a bit sick of that debut atm.
JUSTICE – TBC
A very able (French, might I add!) duo who have been compared to Daft Punk and even rumoured to be the people under the DP helmets. Their work is always musically great.
MYSTERY JETS – TBC
These guys are dickheads (if you've seen their Nokia Green Room with Basshunter, you might have caught the dickhead vibe) but their tunes are great. I hope they've evolved somewhat and have become a lil bit more professional.
OUTKAST – 'TEN THE HARD WAY'
Heyyyyyy YA. Nuff said.
MIDNIGHT BEAST - ?
I know I've banged on about them on Tumblr and Facebook, but I just had to put them here. Stefan Abingdon (lead singer, if you call it singing) was tipped back in... by the BBC as a rising rap star. In 2008, I heard the Clik Clik, which he was in. Then in 2009 I saw this band's parody of Tik Tok, and have since discovered that in between TCC and MB he was in Perfect People. He just doesn't stop does he. Anywho the parodies they've done are hilarious, but I wanna see what they'd make of producing their own original music – though I doubt they're actually gonna come out with any solid record.
(Watch it in HQ otherwise it doesn't work) 'Down (jay Sean Parody)' – Midnight Beast
FOALS – An album has been rumoured
Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease give us an album. 'Antidotes' was musical genius.
And finally,
BUSTED
IT'S TRUE. THEY'RE BACK TOGETHERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
...I wish.
*Sniffles. *
I've said 'hope' a lot in this post, which suggests that music this year can't be all riff-raff. We're expecting bigger better new things from old friends. I've said 'please' a lot as well which means some people have been gone for far too long! Also, when are Justin Timberlake, Late of the Pier, Mark Ronson, The Wombats, hellogoodbye, Gwen Stefani, Does It Offend You, Yeah? all coming back?!
Who are you looking forward to seeing/hearing this year? If you've got any unheard-of underground artists that you LOVE, gimme a shout!
OMG. ITS OFFICIAL. THE CATERPILLARS HAVE TAKEN OVER THE WORLD.
Or rather, it's Charlie Simpson's eyebrows. Delightful.
This is my 50th blog post! For this milestone post I was going to put up my review of You Me At Six' new album Hold Me Down but then 14 January came along. Yep, Busted's deathniversary, didn't you know. What reminded me of this special occasion was Scott Mills' tweet about it (you see, Twitter comes in useful sometimes). Also very sad was Matt Willis' tweet about how he had dinner with James and reminisced about the good times. Sob. And Charlie wasn't there, the jerk. Because I wanted this Busted post to be the 50th post, I've had to delay a few other posts I'd had ready, so let's just get this thing rolling.
A friend got me this as a present... But I probs would have got it myself even if they hadn't.
I first discovered Busted in Year 5 or 6. Up to this point I'd been listening to S Club 7, Big Bruvaz, Justin Timberlake (not that that's a bad thing), and.. Girls Aloud? Imagine if I’d never heard Busted. I wouldn’t then have got into Mcfly, nor, then, into The Beatles, or Fall Out Boy, or Panic! at the Disco, or Paramore, or You Me At Six, or any emo shizz, or any of that indie rock shtuff, or my whole iPod library. Or 80% of it (yeah, I have some non-rock in there that’s taking up the other 20%). I’d have liked Busta Rhymes, 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, and… I don’t know any more of those hardcore black dudes. Busted were my first men with guitars (as my friend GEM and I called our first boy bands). So thanks are in order – THANK YOU BUSTED FOR STOPPING ME FROM BECOMING ANUVVA GANGSTA WANNABE FROM DA HOOD INNIIIII.
Course, that’s not the only reason I like Busted. ‘A Present For Everyone’ is the best guitar pop album I know. I still remember the TV advert for it back in Christmas 2003. A woman asked her pre-pubescent daughter what she wanted for Christmas, and her daughter answered ‘A present for everyone’. Freeze screen. Ominous-TV-man-voice says something along the lines of ‘No, she’s not being ultra-generous. She wants the Busted album’.
That TV advert’s quite a clear sign of how big Busted had gotten in the UK mainstream scene. At some point it did annoy me a bit. They even had their own Christmas TV film on BBC or something, which was AWESOME – oh no, inner music snob is telling me to say it was an absolute piece of shit (but it was awesome really). Fame did get to their head a bit. Either they started to lose sight of the music, or their management was really zombie-ing them up into another mainstream robot band. So maybe it was a good thing that they split up when they split up. The only thing I really, really regret, is not having been able to see them live.
Their music is just the right mixture of dickhead, jokes, adolescent (which is basically dickhead), and emotional. I can listen to their tunes and laugh, reminisce, ponder, have a downward smile for a while, but will mostly think ILOVEBUSTEDILOVEBUSTEDILOVEBUSTED. They’re one of the bands whose music makes my brain go into overdrive with love for them. So that fateful 14 January 2005 really was a sad day for me. Or was it? I just remember being in a state of shock while watching them announce it at their press meeting and watching James and Matt all teary-red-eyed and hating Charlie Simpson with all my heart. My broken heart. Sob.
Busted, I'm 'Falling For You' everytime I hear you
Yep, one more thing I loved about Busted was Matt Willis. So fit. Well, he had some not-so-fit times, namely the phases of longer, slimy hair… but otherwise he was yummy. And then he got engaged to that Emma woman, and moved in next to a girl in my form! But anyway with his trousers hanging loosely off his bum, his grimaces in every single photo, and his crazy-coloured hair, this was not a crush my mum approved of, who glanced at my posters saying ‘euch, this is the kind of boy you’re into…’ I bet she had some bad boy crush when she was younger.
Matt Willis is my 'Britney'
Other faves:
When Day Turns Into Night
That Thing You Do
'Everything I Knew'
'Fake'
Calendars..
Half a calendar..
BUSTED 4EVAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
xxxx
p.s. Yes I LOVE BUSTED, if you hadn't already noticed. To each their own: hate me for it as much as you want – I've been mocked so much I couldn't care any less now!
I'll have you know that five years ago on this day (14 jan) a band split up.
a band that I owe something to because they're the reason why I like the music I like now. a band that had the youthfulness I never had. my all-time favourite band.
So that's it, I might just have done the worst I have ever done in an exam. Actually no, you can't beat my Year 10 mocks performance where I flopped in half of my subjects. However, I can't see how I could get above 50% in any of the papers I've done so far, esPECially Maths 2 today, and History 2.
I want to bury myself in a hole somewhere...
Let's talk music.
Everybody (i.e. Huw Stephens, Nick Grimshaw.. and the rest of Radio 1?) has been bangin on about Ellie Goulding. The single's 'Starry Eyed', and it is pretty sik. The first time I heard it was a few months ago, from Pretty Much Amazing? Or ohhcrapp.net? Some music blog. I go on so many different ones that I don't keep track. Oh, it was from disco dust.
...Back to the point: at first I really wasn't into it, but maybe that's only cause I was downloading something else and that track was an 'also recommended' track, so I just downloaded it for kicks, and only listened to the first ten seconds. But now that I've properly listened to it, I liiiiike.
Revision for the mocks is officially failing. I am more interested in preparing for my ToK presentation (which is AFTER the mocks) than revising. You can't blame me – I'm meant to be studying 'God of Small Things' by Arundhati Roy, and I lie not: its appalling-ness is bringing me to tears. It's not a bad plot at all, but she writes. Like this. Like A Child, Who Doesn't Understand – Punctuation.
Like this.
Yeah. I. Have. Two. Words. In. My. Mind. When. I'm. Reading. It.
“Help”. “Me”.
You know, short sentences, new paragraphs every five seconds, a gazillion words from the thesaurus.. It’s killing me softly.
Let’s get away from the topic of that book.
I don’t know about you guys, but today, instead of revising Maths and shit, I learnt about Tupac. Or 2pac. Gah I’ll just go with Tupac, it looks nicer. Anyway, I’m sure most of you know his story; if not, check out his Wikipedia, it’s quite comprehensive. I'm aware that Wikipedia isn't always trustworthy, so I am gonna research it some more, but the basics are there. Probably. What brought tears to my eyes was reading that his ashes were mixed with marijuana and smoked by Gallowz. It may have been total bullshit, but it moved me all the same.
Why Tupac?
Last summer, my friend and I did the obligatory presentation for the Theory of Knowledge course, but unfortunately it wasn’t focused enough on a real-life situation. So we now have to redo it. In search of a new topic, I’ve been looking through newspapers and noting down anything that’s caught my eye. The recurring theme has been ‘control’, i.e. the lengths to which governments would go, with the justification that they’re trying to run their countries. I also noted down ‘celebrity culture’, in response to the Celebrity Big Brother items.
However, what really focused my choice of topic was… hearing ‘Uprising’ by Muse on the radio. (I told you music inspires me.) This kick-started a long chain of reaction of research. I found myself reading comments on song lyric websites, on the Industry Exposed website, listening back to various songs... let's jus say that some conspiracy theories on various comments I read led me to research Tupac. and this is has shown me the light, for my tok presentation. I won't say any more.
Anyway, there is more to my discovery of Tupac than just ‘it helped me find a ToK presentation topic’. With the arrival of the Cambridge offers, the idea of Oxbridge and university and my future in general has just come back to haunt me and make me panic slightly. This is why reading about Tupac had a profound, even overwhelming, impact on me. The tragedy of his death (and life), and the fact that people aren’t waking up to the messed-up state of our music industry (which his death is blatant proof of) – when I saw both of these, needless to say Oxbridge seemed trivial and worthless. The music industry is so lost in its own shit it kills me.
I hate calling it an ‘industry’, makes it seem so meaningless, manufactured. That’s what it is now though, isn’t it? What’s music about now? The number of records you sell, the number of no.1s you have, the amount of praise you get from Simon Cowell, the number of sold-out gigs you have, how many of your fans want to sleep with you, being able to get your own private jets, the flashingflashingflashing lights you get everywhere you go, how many magazine covers you do, how many TV/billboard adverts you manage to score… Gah I wanna cry.
I won’t though, because I’ve never felt so inspired. My dream of entering the music industry is a recent one, but one which, out of all my career aspirations, I have felt least unconfident about, because I actually feel something for it, I actually care about it. Reading Tupac’s story woke me up, to the fact that Oxbridge isn’t necessary for me to make something of my life or make a difference. The one who makes the biggest difference to my own future is… (surprise surprise) me.
xxxx
p.s. God my posts are depressing now aren't they?! No more 'I got CRUNKKKKK' or 'woohoo let's celebrate cause I'm eighteeeeeeeeen or it's CHRISTMASSSSSS or it's the TENSIES (yeah, someone texted me on NYD, saying 'Happy New Year, welcome to the Tensies!'. How ugly.) Well, they’ll probably lighten up after my mocks. Or maybe they won’t, cause I’ll have done so phenomenally terribly in them that I might get…outlawed, or something. Woop!
p.p.s If you disagree with me about anything here, especially the state of the music industry, you’re welcome to comment and SHOUT AT ME.
This is pretty surreal, the 2000's decade coming to a close. Last time around, it was a millennium ending, so I didn't really think of it as a decade, plus I was quite small so didn't think of properly reflecting back on what had happened. I have written about 2009 already so I thought I should let the music do the talking this time.
So here are my 100 songs of my decade. Notice the 'my'. I have roughly tried to chart these songs in the order that they entered my life and/or at the time that they became big in my life, not in the order of preference. There is some preeetttyyy bad music in here, so hold tight. Also, this post is quiiiite long. Well there are 100 songs in here…
2001-3
I can't really remember exactly when these songs came in (and not because I want to block out some of the really shit music in here!) Mostly pop here, and I discover Busted which is crucial to my signature emo music love. Because this is the chain reaction they started: Busted --> McFly --> The Beatles --> emo. Weird, I know. Anyway, otherwise I was obsessed with S Club 7, Justin Timberlake and pretty much every mainstream ting. This was back when life was all about best friends and primary school crushes, as well as getting into secondary school. Pretty good times.
1. Get The Party Started – P!nk
2. The Tide Is High – Atomic Kitten
3. Dirrty – Christina Aguilera
4. Complicated – Avril Lavigne
5. Cry Me A River – JT
6. Year 3000 – Busted
7. Have You Ever – S Club 7
8. What I Go To School For – Busted I. Love. Busted. End of.
9. Move Your Feet – Junior Senior
10. Sound of The Underground – Girls Aloud Yeah… don’t ask.
11. Yeah – Usher
12. Hey Ya – Outkast SHAKE IT LAIIIIK A POLAROID PIKSHA
13. Where Is The Love – Black Eyed Peas
2004
This year I was really into mainstream music, discovering McFly which was to become one of my favourite bands (for a while.. I'm re-evaluating them at the moment), and staying in touch with the times through Capital FM. I have pretty much worked out who my friends are, after a year of experimenting with different groups, but the same cannot be said for my music tastes. I have fun though, which is why a lot of these songs are quite feel-good.
14. 5 Colours in Her Hair – McFly When I first discovered McFly, I was like ewwwwwwwww they’re just Busted wannabes. Now look where I’m at (I’m at cringe-worthy McFly fandom level, if you were wondering)
15. Crashed the Wedding – Busted
16. Turn Me On – Raghav + 2play
17. F*** It (Don't Want You Back) – Eamon And of course, the obligatory F U Right Back by the very mature Frankee
18. This Love – Maroon 5
19. Rich Girl – Gwen Stefani Back when I was young and immature, I thought Gwen Stefani was a lesbian, cause she was singing about a girl, as opposed to about a boy. Yeah, I was weird.
20. Feel Good Inc. – Gorillaz
21. Just Lose It – Eminem
2005
We commence this year with a variety of music, mainly because I follow the French music contest equivalent of Pop Idol and fall head over heels in love with Pierrick Lilliu, one of the contestants. I also get into The Beatles through this guy, and it would appear that my music taste 'improves', as my friend CMB points out when she finds out I like The Beatles. My discovery of Fall Out Boy is key to my present-day emo inclinations. Kinda fitting, since this is the year that friendship problems are the new fashion, and that everybody's starting to get hardcore, what with the first smokers and drinkers appearing in this year. This is a really low year for me.
22. Blame It On the Boogie – Jackson 5
23. All About You – McFly I love the music video for this.
24. Yesterday – The Beatles
25. Mr. Lonely – Akon Mainly cause my lil sis could sing this to me, at the age of one.
26. Since U Been Gone – Kelly Clarkson
27. Grand Theft Autumn – Fall Out Boy
28. Sugar We're Going Down – Fall Out Boy
29. Hide And Seek – Imogen Heap From the one and only: ‘The O.C.’
2006
I discover Panic! At the Disco, back when they were awesome, and the emo phase is pretty much in full motion. Intermingled with the emo is the indie (or possibly the 'chindie' – chav/indie) towards summer time, and nu-rave (namely Klaxons, who I see, for the first time at the end of the year). My music tastes swerve in this direction mainly because I form a band with friends whose tastes influence me. I travel to Munich on the German exchange, and dare I say this is the year when I gave no shit what people thought about me, and just went as crazy as I thought fit.
30. I Write Sins Not Tragedies – Panic! at The Disco Lovelovelovelovelove.
31. I Want It That Way – Backstreet Boys Because of the epic Chinese boys lip-dub
32. Californication - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
33. Wake Me Up When September Ends – Green Day
34. Are You Gonna Be My Girl – Jet
35. Naive – The Kooks
36. We Belong Together - Mariah Carey Don't kill me.
37. Welcome to the Black Parade – My Chemical Romance Emo music phase just about begins here.
38. Umbrella – Rihanna
39. Sexyback – JT
40. Hey There Delilah – Plain White T's
41. How To Save a Life – The Fray
42. Song 2 – Blur
43. Atlantis To Interzone – Klaxons Played this in my band. Don’t ask what our band name was. Ask what our band names were.
44. Standing In The Way Of Control – Gossip Skins. Nuff said.
2007
With the experimenting of 2006, we enter 2007 where I wander back towards mainstream but want to retain an element of alternative (hence Dizzee Rascal, Calvin Harris, hellogoodbye). I.e., please, no pure pop. I discover Paramore – best discovery of my life. The indie element has not left, but I come back down to earth realising that nu-rave is perhaps a bit OTT. I'm back to caring what people think, clearly, because I think that I'm not 'cool' enough to be as crazy as I've been and to like all dat nu-rave shizz. It's also towards the end of this year that I strive for a change, to get rid of this stifling element of bitchiness that reigns over my school, and to get away from what's turning into a pit.
45. Dancing In The Moonlight – Toploader
46. Teenage Dirtbag – Wheatus
47. Dirty Little Secret – All American Rejects
48. 'S.O.S. d'un Terrien En Détresse' - Grégory Lemarchal Grégory died this year, and this was by far his best song.
49. Fix Up, Look Sharp – Dizzee Rascal
50. If Youve Got The Money – Jamie T
51. Love Me or Hate Me – Lady Sovereign
52. Acceptable In The 80's – Calvin Harris I still luv this song, for ever.
53. The Prayer – Bloc Party
54. Here [In Your Arms] – hellogoodbye
55. Will You Go To Prom With Me – hellogoodbye
56. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper I featured this song in our GCSE drama piece.
57. LoveStoned – JT Me and my friends sang this, non-stop, in the queue for the Harry Potter 7 release party.
58. Mariella – Kate Nash Because at this time, I had a thing for adding -ella onto everything. Like, 'womanella'. Sort of around the time that 'Umbrella' by Rihanna was released.
59. Misery Business – Paramore This is how I discovered Paramore. Amen for Fizz (the music channel on which I saw the video for this)
60. The Way I Are – Timbaland
61. Stronger – Kanye West
62. Mysterious Ticking Noise – Potter Puppet Pals PPP for the winnnnnnn.
63. Smack That – Akon
64. Worried About Ray – The Hoosiers
65. Lets Dance To Joy Division – The Wombats
66. Hips Don't Lie – Shakira Watch the best lip-sync EVER
67. Crank Dat – Soulja Boy
68. That's Not My Name – The Ting Tings Also check out Dizzee Rascal’s cover of this.
2008
In 2008, I enjoy music. All the songs on here give me a fat smile, because they remind me of good times with friends, most of them. There is still a trace of indie, with alternative (what IS alternative? It's just a label for bands who dunno what they're on about..) elements. Is this the year that I go to most live music? Panic at the Disco, Foals, Angels and Airwaves, Underage Festival, BBC Switch, The Wombats... Probably. Reflects my attempts to like music that I genuinely like, as oppose to music that I want people to think I like.
69. Nine In The Afternoon – Panic at the Disco Yeah, when they took the friggin ! out of their name.
70. I’m A Realist – The Cribs
71. Cassius – Foals
72. American Boy – Estelle
73. S.O.S. - Jonas Brothers I love them, full stop.
74. Save It For the Bedroom – You Me At Six
75. Secret Crowds – Angels and Airwaves I saw these guys live!
76. Two Doors Down – Mystery Jets I think we played this a capella in my band… with me on an African drum, or something.
77. Viva La Vida - Coldplay
78. Mr. Brightside – The Killers It’s-Y11-summer-let’s-get-crunk-in-the-park-cause-we’re-just-so-hardcore song.
79. Arrow Of Eros – Golden Silvers Feel-good and good.
80. Dance Wiv Me [ft. Calvin Harris] – Dizzee Rascal Makes me lul.
81. Fascination – Alphabeat
82. All The Small Things – blink-182
83. Just Dance – Lady GaGa
84. All I Ever Wanted – Basshunter The legendary Jonas Altberg and his amazing plotline for his videos…
85. I Kissed A Girl – Katy Perry
86. Check Yes Juliet – We The Kings
87. Decode – Paramore Twilight, fo sho.
2009
This is the year I start to accept my music tastes. I've got into classical, folk, and reggae... And have embraced pop, to some extent (sorry, I still can't deal with Girls Aloud). Snooooooze. I just wanna sleep, just want more time to enjoy music.. And my Sky TV box breaks, so I can't be the first to discover music videos. This is the year that I stop caring what I look like when I dance, which might explain the rising amount of r'n'b in here..
88. Shake It – MetroStation
89. Kiss Me Thru The Phone – Soulja Boy
90. Right Round – Flo Rida Reminds of times in AY's shed.(...Bahaha I just realised how wrong this sounds)
91. Bulletproof – La Roux
92. Sex On Fire – Kings Of Leon
93. Nobody's Child - anonymous Irish (?) folk song This was originally 'Firestarter' by The Prodigy (because P kept singing it at Reading '09), but Brown Girl has rightly suggested this folk song. And I actually can't believe I forgot it. 'I'm nooooobody's child, I'm noooobody's child, just like a flower, I'm growing wild.' ...CUPWANKER! Ah, Reading '09, good times.
94. Children of the Night – The Blackout
95. Single Ladies – Beyonce because the Canons gyaldemz did it for Canons Follies. But also because it is a pretty strong piece of music.
96. I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas
97. Guess What Batman – Lily Allen From a lip-dub created by the LGBT community.
98. My Heart – Paramore Chosen because of my late Paramore obsession.
99. The Middle – Jimmy Eat World
100. The Climb – Miley Cyrus These last two songs significantly helped in getting me through the Oxford interview phase; without them I would probably have ended up in a pool of tears before each interview.
Notice how the number of songs per year gets longer then shorter. Either I’m getting a-musical, or my ability to obsess about songs has died down.
Undeniable: my journey with music this decade has been unforgettable. I'll always be embarrassed by large chunks of it, but it's mostly bittersweet, thinking back on those parts. Biggest thanks go to the friends who introduced Busted to me. Without them, I'd probably still be stuck in Big Bruvaz (do you remember them?) or something. Gah, music. You can't not have music – people hum, tap, whistle it subconsciously. So – thank the subconscious – music will never die. I'm pretty sure my music tastes haven't settled down. In twenty years, I'll probably be into opera, or something. Not that there's anything wrong with opera. Ahem.
No, really, in all seriousness, I'm open to most genres, but I'm very happy with the music I like atm. I'm quite happy my inner music snob has significantly subsided, because, come on, any music snob is deluded and in pretty heavy denial – mainstream and pop have their positives, the main one being that they're sick party tunes. Here's a mash-up demonstrating why:
This mash-up is pretty sick. Nothing has made me smile so much about mainstream music. In fact, nothing has made me smile at all about mainstream music, before this. This means something: he's bare talented. I could not stop playing this into my ears the night I discovered it.
It has to be said that this relies quite a bit on 'I Gotta Feeling''s beat and bass tune. But, this guy's crafted it so that the words actually make up lyrics (I only realised this two hours after I first heard it, or something), and it all comes together amazingly. It makes 2009 music seem fucking EPIC. I listened to the 2007 and 2008 mashups and it's nowhere as good, which realy says something about 2009 music. And I really like the message he's given in this song, the 'music will get you up if you're falling down' and 'blame it on the music for me having a good time' sort of thing, because it's so true. MUSIC, WILL YOU JUST MARRY ME?
So, this has been a long time coming – my review of the Paramore (w/ You Me At Six) gig at Wembley. This was a gig that I had been looking forward to for so long, and there is a sense of not fully realising what it is that I have been lucky enough to experience, of not knowing that that experience is now gone.
Now, now every children was the only other support band (apart from YMAS) worth my early arrival. Paper Route were...simply shit. Well, they had some good sounds, but it was so incredibly boring that after a while I literally wanted to go out for a break. But, I didn't.
You Me At Six came on stage and gave a set which, I have to say, was much too short! It just went, like that; I clearly did not enjoy it enough while it lasted. They played more new songs than old: Kiss and Tell, The Consequence, If I Were In Your Shoes, Save It For the Bedroom, Jealous Minds Think Alike, Finders Keepers. Did they play Underdog? Can't remember. Oh, and Always Attract, with a special guest appearance from Elissa Franceschi (it's actually not that special – I'm pretty sure she appeared at Reading too...). Anyway, it was great, but not that great, I think. In my diary, I wrote 'they were as good as they can get', i.e. not amazing. You Me At Six have seriously dropped in my esteem, probably since they got big. Mainly because their sound has majorly mainstreamised (phwoar, I invent words by the day) for the worse. I won't go on about how I prefer 'raw' sound again. Haha, I'm about to undermine and contradict all that I've said so far, but whatever, I loved them during that set, and still love them as I now listen to 'Underdog'.
'Underdog' - You Me At Six [first play on BBC Radio 1]
'Save it For The Bedroom' - YMAS
Paramore came on stage relatively quickly, considering they're the next big thing and I expected them to take at least half an hour. I guess they've really not let fame get to their heads. Josh Farro came on stage, closely followed by Hayley, opening with... I can't quite remember. Anyway I know that Ignorance was next and that's enough. The tracks not from 'brand new eyes' were Pressure, That's What You Get, Crushcrushcrush, I Caught Myself, Misery Business, Decode, My Heart. One track that they didn't play from their album was 'All I wanted', which I was SO upset about. I can't imagine what that would have made me feel, listening and watching them play such an epic song. Sob. I'll put it up here for you to see what it is I missed. Check out 2:30 onwards. Spine-chilling.
'All I Wanted' - Paramore
'Crushcrushcrush' - Paramore
'My Heart (live)' - Paramore
My favourite live track by them
What made me enjoy their set apart from the music has to be Hayley's interaction with the crowd. You guys who weren't there really have no idea what Paramore's idea of crowd interaction is. Get this: Hayley started talking about a letter that Josh Farro (the guitarist, and also her ex (?)) had received, from (username) liam1. They asked 'Is liam1 here?' And some other girl's name which I don't remember. It took a little while for the two to come up on stage, and there was a variety of things which I was expecting, but definitely not what actually happened. Of all the things I was expecting (the two singing a song to Paramore about how awesome they are, or something) I was NOT expecting... a marriage proposal. That's right, liam1 proposed to his girlfriend. I'm so slow, when he went down on one knee it took me at least five seconds to get what he was doing and why the whole room erupted in screaming. But, when I got it, I screamed alright. While the girl hugged and kissed Liam (I assume that's his name), Hayley gently took the microphone from Liam's hand, saying 'I'm guessing that's a 'yes'', and dedicated the next song to them. That's 'The Only Exception', which I've got here for you.
'The Only Exception' - Paramore
Which song did I most enjoy? 'Misguided Ghosts', which they performed as part of their encore. Its being acoustic automatically puts it in 'tear-jerker' category, and though my tears were not jerked, I did feel something inside of me stirring and my heart going kaboom-kaboom-kaboom for Paramore. I know, I'm cringey, but I'm just saying, is all. If Paramore can make me say the cringiest of things, doesn't that mean something about their ability to move people to EXPRESS themselves? Hah, what bullshit, I'm just cringey anyway.
'Misguided Ghosts' - Paramore
Hayley was so fit that night, even a straightie like me cannot deny it. They were all on form, which I think is something you can expect from Paramore. You know, not letting fame get to their head, keeping their heads focused on the what they're doing, doing it for the music. They went out on the stage to enjoy themselves, that's undeniable, but also to share the night with a few thousand of their fans. And you can tell, as well, that even though they're guaranteed big bucks (big for a band like them, anyway) they still put their everything into those gigs and don't take them for granted. Concluding note to self and to you readers: Paramore will not disappoint. So I'm defs gonna see them next time they're in town.
And I'm gonna say it. Paramore are my perfect band. Call me emo, call me fangirl, call me teenage... but you're just an old, boring, lifeless soul who listens to... what do you listen to? Ok I was just about to say something but I'll restrain myself, because I totally respect your music. Yeah, totally.
