OK, OK
By popular demand (a whole one person shouted at me to get me to post), here's the meme response that I was trying to lose in my drafts.
Gordon has been on some kind of music meme rampage lately (if you can call two in succession a 'rampage'), and Matt has been hassling me to retract my claim that I wouldn't post this.
I've not been tagged for this (Gordon didn't tag anyone), but Matt tagged Dan for the island one, and I'm sure you can find plenty of others if you follow the trails back to Gordon and beyond.
Anyway, without much more ado, and with the explicit acceptance that the answers I give today in no way purport to be those I would give on another day, here's the 20 tracks one.
1. A track from your early childhood
Fallen at the first hurdle; I didn't pay much attention to music in my early childhood (not that I remember, at least). I had Now That's What I Call Music 13 (which I think came out when I was 7) and some Paula Abdul, of which the most memorable track was probably called 'Opposites Attract'. Memorable for the music, rather than the title, you see.
2. A track that you associate with your first love
No Doubt - Don't Speak. There's a year I'm not getting back... (Although to be fair it's not better than recent years, just very different).
3. A track that reminds you of a holiday trip
Oasis - The Masterplan. I once spent a summer evening in a caravan somewhere in Cornwall trying to make the perfect recording of their gig at Knebworth while it was on the radio. I found that tape the other day, too.
Frankly, the trip I'd really like to remember is a week on a narrowboat on a canal in the summer between my sixth-form years, but I have no idea what the music was then. In particular, it would be good to be able to remember what it was that I was playing on the guitar (sitting on the front of the roof) when a bridge so unscrupulously smote the back of the head of the guy standing behind me.
It was probably Sheryl Crow.
4. A track that you like but wouldn’t want to be associated with in public
Oh, I like all kinds of rubbish, which on the one hand gives me lots of things that perhaps I should be embarrassed by, but on the other has gradually inured me to it. In polite society I perhaps don't want to stand too close to Nine Inch Nails - Closer (which I've had stuck in my head on and off since a birthday party last month), or if you expect me to be showing good taste then I should probably distance myself from All Saints - Never Ever.
Your choice.
Oh, just remembered Adam Ant - Prince Charming. The less said about that the better methinks.
5. A track that accompanied you when you were lovesick
Nine Inch Nails - Something I Can Never Have has accompanied me through malaise and morbidity of all kinds. Harder for you folk to track down (since it's never been properly recorded), but the only song I ever bothered to write - Never Enough - was for accompaniment in an episode of lovesickness.
6. A track that you have probably listened to most often
I normally listen to albums, generally a large selection of albums on shuffle. I tend to go for particular songs only if I want to work out some of the lyrics or music, or something equally obscure, and that changes all the time.
Lately I'm liking KT Tunstall - Black Horse & the Cherry Tree a lot; that's the one I'll start a shuffle with if I can be bothered to specify.
7. A track that is your favourite instrumental
Probably Baga Yaga from Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky. I think it's also called the 'Hut on Fowl's Legs' or 'Hut on Hen's Legs'. Or maybe Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre. I'm really bad at picking favourites.
8. A track that represents one of your favourite bands
Lacuna Coil - To Myself I Turned. That represents the way I think of them and the way I like to listen to them since I caught up with their 1999 debut album; as they went on they're probably better represented by something like 'Heaven's a Lie' from Comalies.
9. A track which represents yourself best
I can think of songs that strike chords with various facets of my current situation, pieces that would make great themes for things in a soundtrack to my life, but nothing that actually represents me. Well, depending on my mood, you might catch me saying something like Radiohead - Creep, but in general I have a more refined breed of self-loathing these days.
10. A track that reminds you of a special occasion (which one?)
The only special occasion in recent memory that was 'set to music' was my last birthday, where by picking the wrong pub we ended up with our quiet drinks (as quiet as a group as large as ours was going to be) drowned out by a band who were - to put it mildly - in need of additional practice. They were bad; it was a real 'I could do better than that' moment, the whole night long.
Unfortunately (as far as the meme goes; with my sanity in mind I consider it a boon) I can't remember what it was they were trying to play. All specific memories of their performance have been filed away in the drawer reserved for mind-shattering Lovecraftian horrors. So no specific track, I'm afraid.
11. A track that you can relax to
To the extent that I can relax beyond my normal 'shit happens' kind of apathy, I can relax to most things. That tape I found the other day had a relatively poor recording of Beethoven - Piano Sonata Number 14 ('Moonlight' Sonata); I do love that for relaxing (that strange 'slightly exhilarating' sort of relaxation).
12. A track that stands for a really good time in your life
Fallout Boy - Sugar We're Going Down. [I know I'm now not the first to do so, but] I'm going out on a limb here, and claiming that the most appropriate 'really good time' is now. Currently I've got a mixed bag of a life, but it's got a fair few opportunities for improvement kicking around; this is where the rest of it begins, as it were.
13. A track that is currently your favourite
The Killers - Somebody Told Me. Ask again in a few minutes, you'll get a different answer, but the favourite right now is an up-beat little ditty I got hooked on while playing Burnout 3.
14. A track that you’d dedicate to your best friend
Awful to say, perhaps, but I don't have someone I can point at as 'best friend' these days. Last time I moved I met a lot of new people at once, and I consider several of them very good friends; I wouldn't pick between them. Other people who might have qualified I'm gradually losing touch with.
That said, dedicating a track they'd like is a much higher priority than looking for something with artificially appropriate lyrics or mood. If you consider yourself a friend - whether or not you're a 'best' one - come and get Incubus - Drive.
15. A track that you think nobody but you likes
I've made that mistake too many times; if I think nobody else likes a song, someone I know will tell everyone how much they love it, sooner or later. I bet nobody else likes Tatu - All The Things She Said. Perhaps that ought to go in the answer to question 4.
16. A track that you like especially for its lyrics
Rollins Band - Liar. Hunt it down, listen to it, glory in its comic genius.
17. A track that you like that’s neither English nor German
A track by a non-English, non-German artist? Or one that is in a language other than English or German?
Ignoring the Americans, out of the rest of the list Lacuna Coil are Italian, Tatu are Russian (as was Modest Mussorgsky) and Saint-Saëns was French. Or for the latter, Orff - O Fortuna, from Carmina Burana, is always good and that's in Latin (although Carl Orff was German, which might count against it as an answer to this...).
18. A track that lets you release tension best
Red Hot Chilli Peppers - One Big Mob, Rage Against The Machine - Wake Up or Nine Inch Nails - Heresy. Or most other things from those artists and a number of others...
19. A track that you want to be played on your funeral
Most of the stuff mentioned here would be good, provided the audience could stomach it. Perhaps I'd best go for something a little sedate; Danse Macabre should do the trick.
20. A track that you’d nominate for the “best of all times” category
Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms. And if you don't think so, you need to go and watch the second season finale of the West Wing.
Gordon has been on some kind of music meme rampage lately (if you can call two in succession a 'rampage'), and Matt has been hassling me to retract my claim that I wouldn't post this.
I've not been tagged for this (Gordon didn't tag anyone), but Matt tagged Dan for the island one, and I'm sure you can find plenty of others if you follow the trails back to Gordon and beyond.
Anyway, without much more ado, and with the explicit acceptance that the answers I give today in no way purport to be those I would give on another day, here's the 20 tracks one.
1. A track from your early childhood
Fallen at the first hurdle; I didn't pay much attention to music in my early childhood (not that I remember, at least). I had Now That's What I Call Music 13 (which I think came out when I was 7) and some Paula Abdul, of which the most memorable track was probably called 'Opposites Attract'. Memorable for the music, rather than the title, you see.
2. A track that you associate with your first love
No Doubt - Don't Speak. There's a year I'm not getting back... (Although to be fair it's not better than recent years, just very different).
3. A track that reminds you of a holiday trip
Oasis - The Masterplan. I once spent a summer evening in a caravan somewhere in Cornwall trying to make the perfect recording of their gig at Knebworth while it was on the radio. I found that tape the other day, too.
Frankly, the trip I'd really like to remember is a week on a narrowboat on a canal in the summer between my sixth-form years, but I have no idea what the music was then. In particular, it would be good to be able to remember what it was that I was playing on the guitar (sitting on the front of the roof) when a bridge so unscrupulously smote the back of the head of the guy standing behind me.
It was probably Sheryl Crow.
4. A track that you like but wouldn’t want to be associated with in public
Oh, I like all kinds of rubbish, which on the one hand gives me lots of things that perhaps I should be embarrassed by, but on the other has gradually inured me to it. In polite society I perhaps don't want to stand too close to Nine Inch Nails - Closer (which I've had stuck in my head on and off since a birthday party last month), or if you expect me to be showing good taste then I should probably distance myself from All Saints - Never Ever.
Your choice.
Oh, just remembered Adam Ant - Prince Charming. The less said about that the better methinks.
5. A track that accompanied you when you were lovesick
Nine Inch Nails - Something I Can Never Have has accompanied me through malaise and morbidity of all kinds. Harder for you folk to track down (since it's never been properly recorded), but the only song I ever bothered to write - Never Enough - was for accompaniment in an episode of lovesickness.
6. A track that you have probably listened to most often
I normally listen to albums, generally a large selection of albums on shuffle. I tend to go for particular songs only if I want to work out some of the lyrics or music, or something equally obscure, and that changes all the time.
Lately I'm liking KT Tunstall - Black Horse & the Cherry Tree a lot; that's the one I'll start a shuffle with if I can be bothered to specify.
7. A track that is your favourite instrumental
Probably Baga Yaga from Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky. I think it's also called the 'Hut on Fowl's Legs' or 'Hut on Hen's Legs'. Or maybe Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre. I'm really bad at picking favourites.
8. A track that represents one of your favourite bands
Lacuna Coil - To Myself I Turned. That represents the way I think of them and the way I like to listen to them since I caught up with their 1999 debut album; as they went on they're probably better represented by something like 'Heaven's a Lie' from Comalies.
9. A track which represents yourself best
I can think of songs that strike chords with various facets of my current situation, pieces that would make great themes for things in a soundtrack to my life, but nothing that actually represents me. Well, depending on my mood, you might catch me saying something like Radiohead - Creep, but in general I have a more refined breed of self-loathing these days.
10. A track that reminds you of a special occasion (which one?)
The only special occasion in recent memory that was 'set to music' was my last birthday, where by picking the wrong pub we ended up with our quiet drinks (as quiet as a group as large as ours was going to be) drowned out by a band who were - to put it mildly - in need of additional practice. They were bad; it was a real 'I could do better than that' moment, the whole night long.
Unfortunately (as far as the meme goes; with my sanity in mind I consider it a boon) I can't remember what it was they were trying to play. All specific memories of their performance have been filed away in the drawer reserved for mind-shattering Lovecraftian horrors. So no specific track, I'm afraid.
11. A track that you can relax to
To the extent that I can relax beyond my normal 'shit happens' kind of apathy, I can relax to most things. That tape I found the other day had a relatively poor recording of Beethoven - Piano Sonata Number 14 ('Moonlight' Sonata); I do love that for relaxing (that strange 'slightly exhilarating' sort of relaxation).
12. A track that stands for a really good time in your life
Fallout Boy - Sugar We're Going Down. [I know I'm now not the first to do so, but] I'm going out on a limb here, and claiming that the most appropriate 'really good time' is now. Currently I've got a mixed bag of a life, but it's got a fair few opportunities for improvement kicking around; this is where the rest of it begins, as it were.
13. A track that is currently your favourite
The Killers - Somebody Told Me. Ask again in a few minutes, you'll get a different answer, but the favourite right now is an up-beat little ditty I got hooked on while playing Burnout 3.
14. A track that you’d dedicate to your best friend
Awful to say, perhaps, but I don't have someone I can point at as 'best friend' these days. Last time I moved I met a lot of new people at once, and I consider several of them very good friends; I wouldn't pick between them. Other people who might have qualified I'm gradually losing touch with.
That said, dedicating a track they'd like is a much higher priority than looking for something with artificially appropriate lyrics or mood. If you consider yourself a friend - whether or not you're a 'best' one - come and get Incubus - Drive.
15. A track that you think nobody but you likes
I've made that mistake too many times; if I think nobody else likes a song, someone I know will tell everyone how much they love it, sooner or later. I bet nobody else likes Tatu - All The Things She Said. Perhaps that ought to go in the answer to question 4.
16. A track that you like especially for its lyrics
Rollins Band - Liar. Hunt it down, listen to it, glory in its comic genius.
17. A track that you like that’s neither English nor German
A track by a non-English, non-German artist? Or one that is in a language other than English or German?
Ignoring the Americans, out of the rest of the list Lacuna Coil are Italian, Tatu are Russian (as was Modest Mussorgsky) and Saint-Saëns was French. Or for the latter, Orff - O Fortuna, from Carmina Burana, is always good and that's in Latin (although Carl Orff was German, which might count against it as an answer to this...).
18. A track that lets you release tension best
Red Hot Chilli Peppers - One Big Mob, Rage Against The Machine - Wake Up or Nine Inch Nails - Heresy. Or most other things from those artists and a number of others...
19. A track that you want to be played on your funeral
Most of the stuff mentioned here would be good, provided the audience could stomach it. Perhaps I'd best go for something a little sedate; Danse Macabre should do the trick.
20. A track that you’d nominate for the “best of all times” category
Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms. And if you don't think so, you need to go and watch the second season finale of the West Wing.
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