The idea is this: for each day of Advent, I reveal a song that I consider one of the best of the year, and go on about it for ages. Or at least a paragraph. You get to join in by insulting my taste in music, or complimenting it (but I'm guessing more of the former!). If you want, you can offer alternatives as well. It's going to be fun!
No, really, it is.
I've compiled the list (in no particular order), and I have to warn you now: if you were expecting a lot of rap or hip-hop, you're going to be disappointed. Eminem and Usher just missed the top 25…
Following on from last week's announcement of record music sales (still, the BPI insists that suing its customers will make for even better business in the future), and today's release of what is likely to be the biggest single since Candle In The Wind, the BBC has today axed Top of The Pops. Oh, sure, the announcement says that it's a move, but it's going to a new day, a smaller channel, and will undergo a reformatting. After forty years, TOTP is dead.
Top of The Pops began in 1964, broadcasting from a converted church in Manchester. It was commissioned for just six weeks, but was so popular that its run was extended indefinitely. The format was simple; bands would come into the studios, perform their latest record, and the finale of the show was a countdown of the Top 10, before the UK's number one single was played to finish the show. It was presented, by four DJs: Alan Freeman, Pete Murray, David Jacobs, and of course the always-scary Jimmy Saville. In 1967, production moved to London, and the presenting cast was swelled by the DJs of the newly-formed Radio 1 station.
There are many things that TOTP is famous for; the ridiculousness of Pan's People, Nirvana's performance of Smells Like Teen Spirit, Jockey Wilson as the background to the Dexy's performance of Jackie Wilson Says, the KLF appearing as monks with rhino horns attached to their heads, Oasis's woeful attempts at miming, and of course, some classic presenter moments such as these from the John Peel / Kid Jensen era:
Well that was the best song I've heard since...well, tea time. Mind you, I had a late tea.
And that was Bon Jovi - "You Give Music A Bad Name".
In case you're wondering who this funny old bloke is, I'm the one who comes on Radio 1 late at night and plays records made by sulky Belgian art students in basements dying of TB.
And who can forget the fateful day when Mark and Lard were allowed to show their faces on television before the watershed? Children still scream in terror.
In the 1990s, the show began to lose its way somewhat; a misguided attempt to instill a sense of 'real music' saw a ban of mimed performances, which meant that many acts would not appear on the programme (happily, this state of affairs didn't last too long, by 1995 miming was allowed again). The rise of satellite TV its multiple music video channels probably didn't help either. It was moved from its comfortable slot of Thursdays at 7:00pm to Friday at 7:30pm, where it found itself competing against Coronation Street, the most popular TV show in the country. So it wasn't too surprising to see audience figures slide down to 3 million by the start of this year. Also, I think I've talked about it before, but one of the best parts of TOTP was watching it on Thursday and then talking about it with all your friends at school on Friday morning. I certainly remember having fights over The Bangles and Belinda Carlisle on a Friday breaktime.
The BBC spent the past few years tinkering with the format, adding interviews, news, and competitions (but, not, say, moving it to a quieter night), even completely relaunching the show earlier in 2004. But nothing seemed to work. And now it's gone. These things aren't meant to last forever, naturally. But let's have a moment of silence for the death of Top Of The Pops, a few weeks away from the 1000th Number One of the British chart.
If you're spending the next hour downloading an MPEG version of a bad VHS-copy of a late-night ITV music series that just happened to follow Kenickie around on their final tour, does that mean you have a problem?
Gwen Stefani's latest single, What You Waiting For sounds like a clock to me; a carefully constructed mechanism where everything has been carefully slotted into place to make a bouncy Europop song. This Jacques Lu Cont remix is what happens when the mechanism begins to wind down; the quartz crystal jumps to a different beat than the Universal Time of the original. Large swathes of Electronic's Getting Away With It seem to be pasted over the melody, which is no bad thing either.
This is from her new album as well, and sounds as New Order-y as something very New Order indeed. Not just because Bernard supplies backing vocals, or the sound of the synths that sound as if they've come straight from the Haçienda; even the lyrics sound familiar, with the oft-repeating Barney trick of rhyming 'away' with 'stay' (No-one ever said he was the best lyricist in the world). Oh, and Peter Hook plays the bass. So if you are in any doubt about whether I'm writing a load of rubbish (er… — Ed.), go to 2:40, and listen as the vocals drop away to reveal Hook beneath, if you haven't noticed it already. Oooh, there's a new New Order album out next year. Can you tell I'm excited?
Let's celebrate shipping off our religious nut-cases overseas! It didn't come back to bite us at all…
(Happy Thanksgiving, America!)
The film I'm eagerly awaiting at the moment.
Eeeep. When mobile phones go bad!
The Secret Version of To Kill A Mockingbird.
A very strange Japanese comic with disappearing schoolchildren and a huge whale.
Also! Colin Powell in "huge pot calling kettle black" incident.
A slight downside in that it needs to work with compatible cameras. If you don't fancy waiting for that, then get yourself a laser pointer and disappear into the red.
I don't know; is telling people how to avoid CCTV detection a terrorist offence yet?
These two songs come from the same night, the always-entertaining WXYC 80s Dance at the Cat's Cradle. Feather boas, legwarmers, and glitter abounded, but here's two songs that I'll remember from back then:
Despite it being over twenty years old, I hadn't heard this until the night itself. Modern English were originally a punk band known as The Lepers, but exposure to Joy Division led to their first album under their new name (1981's Mesh & Lace) becoming a downbeat post-punk gloom piece. Happily for all concerned, they had all bought themselves a big ice-cream by the time 1982 came around, so After The Snow wasn't quite so goth. They still couldn't find any success in the UK, but I'll Melt With You became a huge hit on American radio, even ending up as part of the soundtrack to Valley Girl. The single stalled just outside the American Top 40, but the infectious hooks and glorious "mmm mmm mmm" finale meant that it stayed inside the hearts and minds of young Americans everywhere. So, hurrah for America for loving a song which we didn't! That doesn't entirely let you off the hook for Clay Aiken, but it's a start.
(the version linked above is the 7" remix, which is what I think they actually played at the Cradle, whereas I only have the album version at the moment. The only difference seems to be louder synths on the single)
Strictly speaking, I didn't hear this at the dance, as it's a new song. But! I did hear it on the night itself, when Laura and I were heading out to Wal-Mart at 3am to buy white trainers. What? Anyway, this song came on the radio, and we sat in the parking lot cracking up as it got funnier and funnier. A withering spoken-word attack on the Western World as it is in 2004. Remember the great Obesity Epidemic of 2004, my friends…
Just a tiny cosmetic change, to be honest. The navigation bar (to your left; the bit with the red rollovers done entirely in CSS) has been altered. I've removed the IM link, on the grounds that I haven't logged into MSN for almost a year, so it's a little pointless to leave it there. Instead, I've replaced it with an archive of music-related entries. So, if the BPI want to check that there aren't any MP3s hosted on my home server, they can use that page as a handy reference point.
I'm currently thinking about my Christmas decorations. Dad is busy plotting this year's festival of lights (incidentally, the switch on party is on December 4th, if anybody wants to come along), so I guess it's time to make this site look a little festive. I probably won't be doing the Advent Calendar this time around, but if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them…
I suggested that I might post some songs while I was in Chapel Hill. Naturally, that didn't happen, being caught up in events and everything, but if you will forgive me for being a little late — two songs from the past three weeks!
The new discovery of the holiday; this is Collin and Larsy's current theme song, and a fine one it is too. I'm probably guilty of overusing the word 'haunting', but this is a rather unsettling song, as Kazu Makino comes across as Asami from Takashi Miike's Audition; at any time, only five seconds away from throwing you into a sack and chopping out your tongue. And remember:
"x x!"
Okay, this is cheating a little, because I didn't hear the song until today;. But! On my travels around Chapel Hill's rather excellent selection of record shops, I did come across this new greatest hits collection ('this is their first compilation'? heh, they're almost as bad as New Order for reissuing their songs), and wondered what this song was, so I think it counts. Fascination is from their as-yet-untitled new album, out sometime in 2005, and I'd say it's a throwback to the times of Good Humor. Wry electro-pop dancing in the streets of London, then.
Other songs from Chapel Hill to follow shortly (i.e. Ian decides to get down and drop some fresh cuts on yo-(At this point, we have sedated the author for his own good, as his gyrations to Snoop & the Neptunes' new song were, quite frankly, embarrassing — Ed.))
the administration plans to push major amendments that would shield interest, dividends and capitals gains from taxation,
The changes are meant to be revenue-neutral. To pay for them, the administration is considering eliminating the deduction of state and local taxes on federal income tax returns and scrapping the business tax deduction for employer-provided health insurance, the advisers said
Bush to the nation, then: "Oh, I'm sorry, you're not rich? Then the next four years are going to be rather bad for you. Hey, middle and working classes! Bite Me! Hahaha, I still can't believe you fell for it!"
Meanwhile, the fox hunt gang are so incensed with the undemocratic nature of the fox hunting ban that they're prepared to launch an all-out assault on one of the most important parts of our parliamentary democracy. Yes, they're so concerned about tearing foxes to pieces that they want to declare the Parliament Act illegal, and thus allow us to be governed by an unelected chamber. Hurrah!
(Okay, technically, it's just the 1949 amendment to the 1911 act, but the point stands. If the Parliament Act of 1911 is valid, then surely any law passed with it is also valid, including amendments to the original. Of course, I am not a lawyer, but I am seriously annoyed that it's people from my town who are going to do this…)
Firefox finally reaches 1.0. And this time, it's actually usable!
It was a long, fraught battle, but Fran Healy of Travis stepped over the corpses of Rachel Stevens, Keane, and the Sugababes to lay claim to the "woo" part of Band Aid 20: the song that makes you realise that Sonia and Bother Beyond weren't that bad after all…
[Portions of this entry brought to you by Lacuna, Inc]
Time to update you on the events of the previous week, from 35,000ft in the air. I feel all business-like, as if I'm one of those strange hacker guys in a science-fiction film who you just know will save the day by interfacing an Apple Mac and an alien spacecraft.
Anyway, after my class last Monday, I went shopping. And boy, did I go shopping. Excuse me while the plane encounters turbulence. I bought a few Christmas presents, raided Barnes & Noble, took advantage of a JC Penney sale, and generally acted like a mad consumer. One thing I do like about Southpoint Mal is that they seem to have one tape of 80s hits which they've been playing for the past two years now. However, it does lead to treats like hearing Haircut 100's Love Plus One over the speakers (there's another copy of the song in the Triangle, I know, but I imagine it's rather rare, considering how it's almost forgotten in Britain). I got a ride home with Leigh and Joe. Before we left for the mall, Joe was complaining about his car stereo. When Leigh phoned Joe after work, he said he was coming from Durham. Somehow we both knew what that meant; Joe turned up with a brand-spanking-new stereo system, complete with a huge remote control.
It's still very bumpy.
That night, we went off to the Nightlight Exchange, to take part in their trivia night. Unfortunately, it looked like somebody had died during the first round; it was very quiet, and people didn't look like they were enjoying themselves. So we went next door to Fuse (neé Henry's), which was almost completely deserted, and proceeded to scare the bar staff silly. I think everybody at some point ordered "the drink that the crazy girl got instead of Sex On The Beach" (Laura wasn't even drunk at this point, it must be said, but you wouldn't know it. Sample snippet of conversation: "have you ever heard the word 'crunchy'?"). At this point, we consisted of Laura, Naomi, Rachel, Collin, and myself. But then! Stacie phoned up and said she would join us! It was felt that Stacie shouldn't have to walk the distance from her car to the bar by herself, so the protection squad was sent: Collin and I Yes, well, as long as we didn't come across anything more ferocious than a munchkin, Stacie would be in safe hands! Luckily, the only scare was a Bush / Cheney sticker in somebody's window. Collin tried to save the day by peeling it off, but it was on the inside of the window (Collin, being Collin, didn't give up straight away, though). Then, back to Fuse! And Stacie saw the torrid effects on alcohol on us all. We all failed to answer Collin's "where will you be in seven years?" question, and I can't remember who answered "which fictional character would you like to be, and which character do you think you most resemble?" question apart from myself, but then, I was quite drunk by this point.
Tuesday! And yet more shopping. It's shameful, I know. Slightly better in that I went to the thrift store in Carrboro, and got two very nice pairs of trousers for the rather reasonable price of $6. After that success, I had to get a few things to decorate the house on Friday (Laura's birthday, naturally. She had only mentioned it about, oooh, 50231/2 times by then. :-)), so I went off to the toy shop to get some bubble blowers; the suggested theme for the day was a return to childhood, so I thought balloons and bubbles and hats and streamers would be a good way to make the apartment look like a fun place to be. Er, not that it isn't normally. More fun. (I think I almost got away with that save)
I forgot that Carrboro is a Special place. A community where people love things natural, peaceful, and environmentally-friendly. It's a hippie haven, and it a wonderful place to hang out in. But it was a little weird to be asked, in the toy shop, whether I thought Club Nova (the thrift shop), had a good selection today. After I had got over the slight oddness (yes, I had to get her to repeat the question), I felt pleased I could actually answer it. Yes, I know, I'm silly. But it did make me smile when I was leaving with my horn of bubbles.
Then, to New Hope Commons, yet again, for more party things, and to pick up coathangers. Because mum asked me to. When asked by an interested Laura why I had to buy coathangers instead of mum getting them, I was at a loss to explain. An email later, and I had an answer: they're cheaper here. But surely, they can't be that cheaper? Is there a coathanger duty in Britain I'm not aware of? We need a campaign for cheap British coathangers! I hear Boris Johnson has some free time now, so we could draft him as a spokesman.
I came back to Chapel Hill, stopping by Kinko's to pick up the banner I had made. I love Kinko's. It's amazing. You go in with an Illustrator file on CD, say "could you print this banner for me?" and they say "sure! you want holes to hang it with?" To borrow a phrase, awesome. Why don't we have this back home, hmm?
Tuesday night was rather quiet. Rachel, Laura, and I watched the My So-Called Life bonus disc. We quickly discovered that it wasn't worth the $100 or so I ended up spending to get hold of my copy. A long, meandering, and at times, downright scary (yes, the woman writer has issues with Clare Danes, we decided) interview with the show's creators, plus a "Tour", which was nothing more than a guy with a camera wandring around an office for five minutes. I am in half a mind to construct my own bonus disc, I felt so cheated. A pop-up video subtitle track, photo gallery, a map of the town (Bedford Falls?), showing where everybody lives, a game that involves you trying to meet up with Tino — it could be great! Much better than the professional effort, anyway. After that disappointment, we watched my Lego recreation of Troy. I think there are a few too many jokes in there which only really appeal to Bonnie and myself (I don't think anybody is going to get the 'comb your hair' reference, to be honest), but the Marvin Gaye scene drew a lot of laughs. Ooh!! Did I mention to people that I now have a Kobe Bryant lego figure? I'm thinking of a way to use it that won't get me sued to oblivion…
Wednesday! Um, I'm struggling. Nope, I really can't remember. I think I went to Weaver Street Market for breakfast. I do remember Wednesday evening, thoguh, because Leigh took me out to Olive Garden! Heheh, her mum called as we were waiting for a table, saying "wait, an engaged woman is going out to dinner with a single man? what's wrong with this picture, Leigh?" I can safely report that the Olive Garden will not kill you and throw you in the basement, unlike what Bonnie would have you believe. Oh, and I took a children's menu and ctayons to take back home. But now I don't think I packed them. Sorry, Bonnie! I did think of you, honest! Just not this morning. Laura went over to Collin's to see if her head would be more in a writing frame of mind there rather than at her apartment, so I had the rest of the night to myself.
Then, (and we're coming to the end now. Sorry if it has been a "then I did this, then I did that entry. I'm trying to pepper it with asides garnished with a sprinkle of wit — how are they working out for you?), Thursday! After attempting to wake Laura up at eleven (it worked, but then she went back to sleep again), I headed back into Carrboro. This time, I was returning to the Nightlight Exchange, now known as the Skylight Exchange (because it was during the day. Do you see?). For the benefit of British readers, the Exchange is like a friendlier Black Books; all sorts of things piled high, from dictionaries to an amusing selection of vinyl records (including Bomb The Bass! I was highly impressed). Also, copies of Playboy everywhere, and the Beatles Anthology playing on the tiny TV at the shop counter / serving area (oh, it was also a café as well). I had a delightful chocolate milkshake, and spent the first part of the afternoon soaking up the atmosphere and writing the liner notes for Laura's birthday CD mix. After that, I spent a good half-hour looking at the books and cursing my limited luggage allowance (I can hear you laughing, Laura and Stacie). Resigned to not being able to take the whole back home, I bought a book, and found Leigh on Franklin Street. We scurried off to Durham to pick up the last parts of Laura's birthday present.
I had asked Rachel if she wanted to help me put up Laura's birthday decoarations, but she missed her bus from Duke, so wasn't able to provide physical help. But, she did offer slightly inebriated moral support through the magic of IM. Ad,ittedly, the support was limited to "yayy! a rainbow!" but it was the thought that counted. It turned out that Rachel is really bad at keeping a secret when not in full control of her faculties, so Laura knew something was up, but I think even she wasn't prepared for the onslaught of bubbles that greeted her when she came in. After getting ready, we headed out to Carrboro, to drink in Laura's birthday (at this point, I feel, on begalf of all my friends in Chapel Hill, to point out that we're not alcoholics. Honest. Mind you, I was accused of being a bad influence. I think it's the first time anybody's said that about me ;-)), and then went back to Collin's apartment, where nice things were said about everyone. We weren't even all that drunk, either. Well, okay, perhaps Collin.
Friday! Laura's birthday! I have never seen a person giggle and bounce so much. We went out for a waffle celebration to begin the day, before heading off to pick up more balloons, and yes, well, more alcohol. Before we left, though, a kuttle extra excitement! Laura saw two men running behind the apartment, going into the trees. They apparently looked like the sort of people you wouldn't invite in for a nice cup of tea, a suspicion confirmed when we returned and found police wandering behind the apartment. Still, let's get back to the important things in life, i.e. balloons. There was more giggling, more bouncing, and a priceless look on Laura's face when one poor ballloon met an untimely demise. For an instant, it really did seem like we were five again and we'd lost a balloon. But then we had the happiest car in the Triangle, so we didn't mind if one didn't make it. More bubbles followed, before we headed out for Laura's surprise dinner.
As an aside, a piece of advice: as much as we love him, don't depend on Collin to be able to keep a secret, even one of his own. The surprise dinner turned into a dinner with a surprise birthday cake, which he managed to give away by telling Laura not to buy any desert. But we love him anyway. Oh, and we were all in party hats, garnering very strange looks from everybody else.
Then, Hedwig And The Angry Inch! Not the film, but a cabaret performance. It was fantastic; the guy playing Hegwig was amazing, and I'm not sure, but I think my keyboard just sparked.. Which would be bad, But it could have just been a reflection of the light in the window. Hmm. Anyway, Hedwig. Yes, the lead was very funny. The best line was a crack about throwing a granola bar into an angry crowd of hippies at Weaver Street Market; of course, that was where we had just had dinner.
On Saturday, I went to see The Incredibles with Srav and Stacie. Wow. I was looking forward to it, but I had no idea it was going to be as touching and funny as it turned out. Jason Lee was great as Syndrome, and, considering it's a Disney film, it's darker than you'd initially suspect. Go. See. It. Back at the apartment, Laura and I spent the last night of my holiday watching Fargo, eating ice-cream, and falling asleep. A nice, gentle end to my stay.
Sunday was a mixture of packing, forgetting to pack certain things, like my camera data cable and my newly acquired flip-flops, having an early breakfast with Laura and Leigh (well, to us, early was 8:30am. Given that it was a miracle on most days for both of us to be up by 10am, I think we did quite well), saying goodbye to Srav, hanging out with Laura and Stacie, drinking tea through KitKats, and finally a lovely goodbye at the airport.
So, waving farewell to Chapel Hill once more. But! Some of them may be showing up in this country next year, for visits and things. Hurrah!
Yay for John Ashcroft leaving! Statues all over the country are breathing a sigh of relief. Also I hear he's got a promising recording career ahead of him.
(Also, the work of his replacement. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss)
Also! 21-23% of self-identified gay people have some explaining to do. I can't wrap my head around this…
Finally! FOUR MORE YEARS!
I went to class today! Leigh invited me to sit in on her History lecture. Apparently, Friday's lecture was all about 80s punk rock in America, but today it was about Feminism. It was quite fun, as far as university lectures go; the girl from Manchester who had a go at the Preacher a couple of weeks back was in the class, and she brought in a copy of that Daily Mirror cover for everybody to chuckle at. It was a friendly lecture, the kind that I always wished I had, but I did a science degree, and British universities don't offer the same flexibility as American ones. A shame, really; I wanted to rectify that when I came here, but as a graduate student, I was locked into the same trap as I was in Manchester. Anyway, it was an interesting look at The Path Not Taken.
The final week! And I've already bought Christmas presents for Mum and Bonnie. Me: Ahead of the curve. Although I haven't applied for that job yet, but I've been busy today. Perhaps tomorrow.
I became a troll this afternoon, living under the bridge at Bolin Creek. I shall live under the road and demand tolls from passing goats.
It's what I'm good for.
Kerry was baffled. He said with a sigh to one top staffer, "I can't believe I'm losing to this idiot."
Sorry posting shuddered to something of a halt in the past few days; shellshock has prevented much of anything from being said. We're still wandering around wondering just how this happened. What would it have taken? The US economy is still shaky, he's the first president to lose jobs for over seventy years, there's torture and human-rights abuses in Iraq and Cuba, excuse after excuse for invading evaporating, and 350 tons of high-explosives are now in the hands of terrorists. And the country still elected him.
The youth did turn out to vote, incidentally. More so than usual, and they were the group that went most to Kerry. So, when Bush passes his insane Social Security Bill, everybody aged between 18-29 should opt-out immediately, and laugh when the fund goes bankrupt shortly afterwards. That'll teach the seniors.
Oh, and today's weird, bewildering, and depressing statistic: apparently, 20% of gay people voted for Bush. (this is according to exit poll data, no idea how they got this figure - I guess they just asked, which could mean the real value is slightly different). That makes no sense.
The current theory as to why Kerry lost is that the Democrats didn't pay attention to the state amendments that were also being voted on. Gay marriage and stem cell bans were proposed in an effort to energise the more extreme ends of Bush's voting base. And it worked. (Greg Palast is still insisting that Kerry won Ohio, but he's probably the only one)
The sad thing is that it's been a lovely couple of days here apart from that. Being asked if I had voted everywhere I went on Tuesday, followed by a great night, with everybody here at Laura's apartment, watching the results and eating pokey sticks (the common phrase of the evening being: "I need another drink"). Lots of drunkenness (well, okay, there was really only one true drunk, but she was very entertaining!) to blot out the news coming in. Yesterday was very depressing; people were muttering to each other all over town, not believing what had happened. There was a protest organised for the evening, in case things went the same way as 2000. I went along, and it was just horrible; nobody had any heart for chanting or marching. We just felt like we'd had our hearts ripped out. And we will be staring at them for four more years.
But! The night got better! I watched Breakfast At Tiffany's with Laura and Rachel, I swear I didn't choose it, honest. We might also be off to see a movie or two in the next week, although we haven't decided on which one yet.
The sun has gone, but the weekend approaches…
Laura has just told me that Carrboro has its own currency. I suggest that it extends this to Chapel Hill, and a Declaration of Independence from the Union be proclaimed at the Franklin Street Post Office this evening.
And I hear the North-East coast wants to rejoin the British Empire…
the world sucks. DAMMIT AMERICA, WHAT DOES THE GUY HAVE TO DO? DID YOU NOT SEE THE DEBATES? DO YOU ACTUALLY THINK THAT ANYBODY COULD DO WORSE IN IRAQ? ?HOW DO YOU DRESS YOURSELF IN THE MORNING? NO, SERIOUSLY, HOW CAN YOU LIVE WITH YOURSELVES?
(friends and natives of Chapel HIll excluded from the above, naturally)
Current exit polls suggest that Bush is leading Kerry by 51% to 49%.
In North Carolina.
We're swinging!
Back from watching the day turn into night on Franklin Street…
Because I'm sure that the prediction of another nobody on the Internet about tomorrow's election is just what you need. I even have a 50% success rate, calling the 1996 election for Clinton (yeah, yeah, but the easy ones count as well), but I thought Bush would win in 2000 (ho ho ho).
Anyway, tomorrow! I think Kerry is going to win. Admittedly, the Chapel Hill Bubble might be clouding my judgement somewhat, but seeing as how, even with Republican over-sampling, Bush struggles to get over 50% in the polls, coupled with the impression that the Democrats have got their act together, I think that he's going to take it.
Florida and Ohio? Going blue. I have faith. Plus the high possibility of lots of alcohol tomorrow to dull the pain of a Bush victory…