That Music Meme from and age ago
Well, Warren_ellis triggered this. I know; I’m rather slow and out of date with it. Wild_boys gave it to me ages ago, complete with lots of lovely links to fill up my hungry hard disk with. ‘fraid there’s no such gifts from this girl, but here it is:-
1. Total amount of music files on your computer:
A mere speck (400MB). I’ve only recently acquired a computer with enough spare hard-disk space to contemplate collecting in this form.
2. The last CD you bought was:
Um… can’t recall. I’ve hardly bought anything of late for three reasons: first, I’m not been rolling in the old spondoolies, and such indulgences haven’t been my biggest call on cash; second, I feel like we’re currently in an era of interim technology, and soon such space-hungry items will seem as arcane as LPs, without their intrinsic charm; and third, I feel a little out of the loop, with no nice, Rough Trade record store round the corner whose judgment I can trust in, while relieving me of ‘girl in record shop’ gaucheness.
3. What is the song you last listened to before reading this message?
Um; it’s morning afternoon now, not music time. What was I listening to last night? Ben Harper, ‘Welcome to the Cruel World’. He’s good for a Sunday Bank Holiday Monday night.
4. Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
These are songs with meaning as opposed to those that get listened to lots.
1. Heroes - David Bowie. Takes me back to being teen, coming up to London to visit my father, listening to the records of his lodger, and later, sneaking out to Camden Palace in the era of Steve Strange. It was a sign of my separateness from the country girls I was at school with, who all thought Simon Le Bon was sexy.
2. Little Britain - Dreadzone. When they stood on the stage in Glastonbury, 1995 and integrated a rift about John Major’s resignation into this, it caused a wave of euphoria to wash over all us media isolated, party animals. A cheer went up, and dancing in that hot, summer’s sunshine, seemed the perfect way to celebrate the death throws of a government who’d tried to outlaw groups of people gathered for the playing of amplified repetitive beats. I actually never hated Major in the way I hated Maggie, but the party he stood for was soooo vile. And it’s a really good tune to do housework to.
3. Motorcycle - Love and Rockets, 12” EP, or whatever those funny, extended formats used to be. I was babysitting a much cooler and richer friend’s record collection one summer, and whenever I played this I felt so free: it instantly took me to fast, open spaces that didn’t readily exist in urban, Edinburgh. I haven’t heard it in years, and don’t have a copy, but it plays over in my head sometimes. I’d almost be afraid to listen to it now, as it might be some tame, cheesy tune, fit only to remind me how limited my taste once was; rather like visiting dream holiday destinations from childhood - can they ever live up?
4. Flower - Liz Phair. Holy FUCK; this song’s so horny (check the lyrics). My beat-up, green, 2CV seemed to select it for me whenever I was arriving at the door of the friend with The Sexiest Flatmate In The World. One friend commented, there was so much chemistry between us, she felt like a self-conscious, voyeur just sitting in the same room as us; even though we were all full dressed and on separate sofas. Circumstances were such that we never got together: we were never simultaneously single. I heard he became slave to junk - perhaps it was a lucky escape.
5. The Metric System - Trash Palace featuring Brian Molko. The electronic tweaking, and ramped up, knob-twiddly noises come crashing in, sugar coated in the campness of Brian Molko’s sweet voice, and I dance. Like a mad thing. It’s New Year, 2002, and I am in the company of Good Friends. It’s a perfect tune to turn my little dancing key.
5.1 Sugar Boy - Beth Orton - ‘cos she can bring tears to my eyes when I see her play, and I love the turn around in this tune, where it switches from minor to major as she becomes empowered in her loss (the CD version is a mere semblance of how it is live). She Cries Your Name, the original version with William Obit also has special memories: parties, dawn rising. Oh hell; now there’s a whole other list of music that’s special to me.
Just to say: this list could easily change. And how the fuck is Massive Attack missed off it? Those boys have been sound track to huge chunks of my life, and have fill me to overflowing when I’ve stood three feet from the front and still found space to dance to their incredible Speeka Food.