My iPod #105: The Darkness - Black Shuck

Now, it takes time for a person to find that certain artist that will determine their musical taste for the rest of their life. Some people may listen to The Beatles, Michael Jackson... I don't know. Those recognisable artists that change people's lives.

I was eight years old in 2003, and I didn't really listen to a specific genre. Mostly, it was music that was in the charts. At the time, music in the charts was bearable stuff. I wonder if people my age in 2003 hated chart music as much. Hmm. I wonder.

So in 2003, I was young and foolish. I had no idea what music was out there, where was the song that would actually make me want to get that artist's album. That, my friends, is where The Darkness came in.

I have to say, if it wasn't for this band, I probably wouldn't be watching MTV2. I would probably still be listening to chart music thinking it was good. Even if I was in Year 4, I thought "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" was the best song ever. And that was when I thought "Crashed the Wedding" by Busted had that title. My friend also listened to Busted and The Darkness too, and we thought they were the best bands ever. But The Darkness were so much cooler. Busted eventually split later on too. So The Darkness was the better band.

Then they released more songs - which I'll talk in months to come - and I made up my mind that I had to get the album. My first album ever with a "Parental Advisory" sticker on the cover. I never knew about the word 'cunt' until I saw the lyrics for "Get Your Hands off My Woman" in the liner notes. "Permission to Land" was the first rock album I got. For what occasion, I don't know. I think it was from my cousin though.

The Darkness got a lot of flack. I think a lot of people saw them as some 'wannabe/joke' band that were living in another decade. Their music videos didn't help them so much either. That's not cool. People are so close-minded. "Black Shuck" starts things off on the album with a thrilling riff, and what I guess is some polyrhythm before launching into actual 4/4 and rocking about some pimp-ass beast dog (Black Shuck) that is said 'to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia'. Wikipedia does not lie.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #104: Michael Jackson - Black or White

Michael Jackson. A name that brings up so many memories... so many questions. Too many that I won't go through in this blog. Whether you hated or loved him, you can't say that the guy didn't make some damn fine music. That will go down forever in history.

I remember where I was when the news came out that he died.... I was in my bed, asleep. My sister came home from a night out screaming to my aunt that Jackson had died. "Pffff... no way," I thought to myself "It's just a rumour."

Next morning on BBC News - BREAKING NEWS: MICHAEL JACKSON DEAD. Holy shit... he was gone. I didn't really care for the guy, his music was fantastic and all. It was a shame though. It was raining. Everyone on the public bus to school was quiet, except for this one guy blaring Michael Jackson songs in his ears. My friend hastily ripped of the front page of The Sun and stuck it on the notice board in our form room as some sort of 'tribute', and MTV played Michael Jackson videos all day. It was crazy. Four years has flown by.

Enough with the sadness. Let's talk about "Black or White". I can't remember the first time I heard the song. Michael Jackson seems like a name that had been around forever. I have a feeling my sister had a cassette that showed all the videos for "Dangerous" somewhere. It must have been on that. The faces morphing into different people near the end of the song is something I can remember. It's very vague.

"Black or White" was the first single from "Dangerous" in 1991. I wasn't born, my sister had been for a few months. It's a very happy song, singing positively about equality and people getting along with one another. The chorus of the song is, if you... were thinking of getting with Michael, it didn't matter if you were black or white. If you were fine - and not like 'feeling fine' but if you were fine - then you had a good chance with him. And this is all sung over a joyful riff, not played by Slash of Guns 'n' Roses. It reached number one almost everywhere, and was another song to add to Jackson's classics.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #103: Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun

This may be a short post. I'm not really a fan of Soundgarden, so I don't know if I'll be able to say a lot about them. I did download "Superunknown" last year though, thought that was awesome and listened to a few songs of theirs afterwards. But I'll try and fill the void.

"Black Hole Sun" was actually the third single from "Superunknown". Huh. I always assumed it was the first, only because it's considered to be the band's most popular song. Grunge was still the big thing in America at the time the song was released, but Kurt Cobain was dead too. So the grunge followers needed a song that would reflect the feelings. This eventually became that song.

I watched Kerrang! one day, and the video for "Black Hole Sun" came on. I was pretty weirded out by the whole thing. The whole apocalypse theme, the weird stretching faces... pure nightmare fuel for anybody. 'Cause of that, I didn't really like the song. I didn't want to see the video again for quite some time either. I realised the song wasn't bad though. I can't make my mind up on whether the song has a positive mood or a negative one. Stereotypically, grunge never has a positive message. There's no negative theme in the song, it's just about who observes problems around them, and yearns for something to 'wash the rain away'. Maybe it's the drop D tuning that does it. Makes the track sound dark and moody.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #102: be your own PET - Black Hole

Well, I never thought that I would ever be locked out of my own house. And yet, I'm typing this to you from my aunt's house because that is exactly what has happened. My sister has my mum's key - I didn't know, my mum didn't know, my sister didn't tell my mum, mum and I went out shopping and now I'm here.

It's fine though. It's fine. Sometimes you just have to laugh about these things. It's just another day, that we'll laugh about in the future. Maybe just me, I don't know about Mum.

So, the song. "Black Hole" is the second song from be your own PET's sophomore and final album "Get Awkward" in 2008. During the time between then and their first album, the band's original drummer left and was eventually replaced by another. I never thought such a small change could affect a band's sound so much, but it apparently did. The songs on the album had clearer melodies, Jemina Pearl drops her singing-talking-wailing delivery that she used for most tracks on the band's debut, only using it for some on "Get Awkward". The band still had the same energy, but there was a clear maturation in their sound.

"Black Hole" is the song for someone who loves violence, hates being bored and loathes the town they reside in because there's nothing to do. When there is something to do, they always end up repeating the same routine. And this sucks for the person in question. The song's not on the international release (it's only found on the UK version) due to 'controversial lyrics' and was instead released separately alongside 2 other songs on the "Get Damaged EP". That's pretty dumb, if you ask me. Sure, 'wanna choke myself on a telephone cord' is a bit rough, but people know that it's not a cool thing to do. Don't they?

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #101: Guttermouth - Black Enforcers

Hi everybody.

I'm not a huge fan of Guttermouth, but it was their song in "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3" - which I'll dedicate a post to later on - that got me interested in them. Particularly the album "Covered with Ants", the album that song is on. I had good times with THPS3, burying the bully in Canada, being really excited when I managed to grind the molten bucket in Foundry, and the soundtrack is one of the best in any game ever. It's a must buy - even if it's for the PS2.

I was nine years old around the time and I really wanted to listen to that the track on my computer so I tried to search fo it in the Guide section on an old version of Windows Media Player. It wasn't there. This song was though. I liked it, it rocked. Even though it was only a minute and ten seconds long. But it just wasn't the same as "Destroying the World". The chorus didn't compare and it was probably too short for me to really get into it.

Do you know how hard it was to find songs to listen to on demand all those years ago? I didn't know what Napster or Limewire was, there was no YouTube or Spotify to go to. I had to deal with 30 second clips on random music sites, that was the closest I could listen to "Destroying the World". It was also the way I heard "Cram It Up Your Ass" for the first time, which is the funniest yet disturbingly creepiest song on the album.

Thanks to Spotify I was able to listen to "Covered with Ants" last year, and "Black Enforcers" stood out for me. It's the penultimate track on the album, and another song with a really angry sounding riff. Makes me want to punch a wall. And shout at something. You know that episode of The Simpsons when Homer joins that secret society "The Stonecutters" and he starts singing the theme song with Lenny and Carl and everyone else. Well, this is the theme song for the "Black Enforcers" where if you don't know the rules.... then you don't know the rules and the original members have 'got no pity on you'. The song absolutely rocks, the only problem I have with it is the bass. Where is the bass? It's like they completely mixed it down, you're not The White Stripes for goodness sake. I'm just saying the presence of a bass might have added an extra something.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #100: The Beatles - Birthday

HEY EVERYONE. IT'S JUST GONE PAST FIVE O'CLOCK, AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS.

YES. IT'S TIME TO CELEBRATE THE 100th POST OF "MY IPOD". YES.

I've really accomplished in life now.

And what a great way to commemorate it too, with one of the loudest songs on "The Beatles" where Paul celebrates your birthday... as well as his own. I never knew about "Birthday" until it appeared in a trailer for "The Beatles: Rock Band" in 2009. The 'dreamscape' for the song in the game is the video above. Although it was written at a time when relations between the band members were starting to deteriorate - It is the only song on "The Beatles" where Paul and John share lead vocals. John sings lower harmony. Paul still managed to come up with this hard rocker, belting out high notes at the top of his chest voice.

Along with "Helter Skelter", it's a song where Paul can't seem to control himself and goes all out on his performance. He takes charge of guitar while George plays bass and if you listen carefully during the drum break, you can here him screaming the measures in the background and he sings quietly during the instrumental break. But seeing as it is his song, one that he and John made up on the spot apparently, he should be allowed to do what he wants. The song also features Yoko Ono and George's first wife, Pattie Boyd on background vocals.

Enjoy the song, enjoy this momentous occassion. 100 posts, get in.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #99: They Might Be Giants - Birds Fly

"Birds Fly" is another They Might Be Giants song, penned by John Flansburgh, which is also found on the "Miscellaneous T" compilation - something I talked about only three days ago. For me, it has the same back story as "The Biggest One". I began to listen to their discography in 2011, found "Miscellaneous T" and downloaded the tracks.

"Birds Fly" is a jazzy number with a walking bassline, background vocals akin to a barbeshop quartet and blocks as the percussion. It makes the song sound very pleasant, light and very easy to listen to. It sounds like it's about someone who's arrested by the police for driving recklessly though. I guess you can say it's got that "Maxwell Silver Hammer" thing going on, with the happy music and the... more serious lyrics.

The song was originally going to be released as a B-side to the "Purple Toupee" single. That was never released though. But it does show that it recorded during the sessions for "Lincoln". It is very similar to "Lie Still, Little Bottle", in so many ways in fact that I think it would have been a shoe in on the album if the band thought "Lie Still" wasn't good enough.

Enjoy it.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.