tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56079299665019041222024-02-08T05:27:08.227+00:00At a store near you: Nirvana. Flowers. Perfume. Candy. Puppies. Love.Music of my past, present and future. My favourite things are words and music... I try to put them together sometimes.riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-44049028230376092942013-12-31T20:23:00.002+00:002013-12-31T20:23:16.647+00:00A sudden turn around<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I never expected 2013 to turn out all the musical experiences that it eventually did. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Soppy stuff blah blah blah</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">No, but seriously.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After Sound City Players, which was quite possibly the most spontaneous decision of my life (and the mostly costly moment of spontaneity), the playing field didn't look too good. I had to pass literally tens of exams, which I did, and get into University, which I also accomplished, and after that? No gigs until the gig season!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What I did expect on my part was more friendships based on mutual musical feelings. About bands, about movements, about the way a drum part faded onto a next song. Yes, friendships about how concept albums are the best, how Biffy didn't initially deserve the headline slot (later revised statement!), and coercing people into buying masses of Pearl Jam records. Okay.... No, who I am really talking about here is my boyfriend. Who, without which, I wouldn't have seen so many gigs in the past few months. And without which I am nothing.......... (Okay, joking. Sorry.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The first of which was Arctic Monkeys. We had both started Uni, the autumn was truly upon us and it was the overwhelming season which is gig season. Me being me had already bought tickets in July 2013. Him, being him.... decided to buy them on the day. It had never 'occurred to him' that the monkeys may be gig-worth by the end of 2013. Well, with AM you were sure of this 'gig worth'. Unfortunately, I take gigs seriously. I take obtaining of gig tickets seriously, kind of like bonds you have to buy before the market collapses, or things for a rainy day. Anyway, they are investments. It turned out to be his costly £95 investment that was worth it after all, and after a tremendous turn from the touts, we were in. It was the Earls Court gig, the gigs they famously did on a two-nighter, right before cancelling of the other shows. It was totally worth everything: the gap in between me being the 14 year old Humbug loving teen and now; the time between July and the gig; the time between obtaining the tickets from the tout and actually seeing if they were real. Every song, from "Do I Wanna Know?" to the amazing end of main show "I Wanna Be Yours" led us all begging us for more. A particular highlight for me was when Scott raised me onto his shoulders for half of "Cornerstone", and suddenly it was that gig calm you get up there, a kind of gorgeous sensation when you can remember every single time you have sung the chosen song to someone, to yourself, in the rain and in the sunshine. It was one of the best gigs I'd been to in a long time, obviously. And we were so close to Alex Turner himself that the air was sexy. The tale of how close we get to the stage in successive gigs just gets better. We are a tremendous team. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Next was Alice in Chains, a mere two weeks later. This was a purchase that was truly called for. Thought about for months, pondered over with the "Best of Alice in Chains" (I know, I'm sorry) and went for it. It was early into our relationship, but Alice in Chains was literally the reason we got together. It was my first sentence to the poor lad: "You went to Download? Did you see Alice in Chains?!" Now this was the real deal, even if any way Arctic Monkeys wasn't. Ally Pally, cold night, took hours to get there with tube lines down. C'est la vie. We were close, we had to bear the weight of Ghost, truly the most self-absorbed bands I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of self absorbed bands, trust me (in my hometown, it could be called what they consider to be a "fashion"). But it was the best. They started with Them Bones and went straight onto Dam That River. But here was where I was the amateur. I hadn't even listened to much of the "new guy", and that "new guy"- William DuVell- had been so since the early 00s. He was amazing. We got some exciting picks from Rotten Apple which was just astounding to the encore. Well, the encore was enough already if for some reason bands only played 3 songs at gigs. They could have. It Aint Like That was the moment we had been waiting for and they delivered. They jumped into it at the start of the encore and it was truly magnificent. We were like screaming little girls, albeit in a crowd of lots of lovely blokes that looked like they should have been doing some kind of ad for a Loreal hair product. They screamed too. I can't really explain this gig more than it was kind of what I'd been waiting for my whole life. It was a total reality check. A grunge girl's dream. I could have happily lived and died in that pit, truly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Finally was an early Xmas present present from my beloved. Wembley Arena, 9pm, November 23rd. QUEENS (QOTSA, for all those naive). Now, this gig was slightly different. I knew Songs for the Deaf but had only been introduced to Rated R a couple of months beforehand. Recipe for carnage, right? You bet. This was gig was the kind of gig you walk away from and then spend weeks listening to on repeat. Josh Homme, collar coat, and "Feel Good Hit of the Summer". Oh, and me in a pit to "Song for the Dead". Goddamn you and you're patriarchal pit! C-c-c-c-c-cOCAINEEE! I felt like there needed to be some ladies in there, so I kindly obliged. Chaos ensued. I didn't break anything. Success. No more explanation is really needed here, but I give so much thanks to Scott because again, one of best gigs been to. Which isn't really hard, because I'm young and impressionable and have only seen really a handful of bands compared to my veteran boyfriend. But now, I am the master at the gig season. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Also, I almost forgot! At my Uni's SU we had S Club 7 for one night only. With 3 of the 7. Who were drunk. And came on for half an hour and performed a half arsed medley of S Club songs. Nevertheless, IT WAS AWESOME. I'll try to be a bit more grunge in 2014. But 2013 was truly the year of grunge. So yeah, it was kind of the best. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Predictions for 2014 look good. I kindly bought my mother Kasabian tickets, as she's going through the "Fire" stage and uses the band to give her the strength to be a big-ass boss at work everyday. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The best part? We have Pearl Jam tickets for Milton Keynes Bowl in July. Roll on 2014, you have been patiently waited for for quite some time. This will be the star of the show. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thank you and goodnight, kids. X</span>riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-2724830607766545132013-07-31T22:07:00.002+01:002013-07-31T22:07:23.535+01:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To Summer 2013, of broken promises and broken dreams, but rekindled care and the happiness that follows, a happiness that has finally been acquired after this specific song has been played 4 times in succession. Once all goodbyes have been said, the last dewy eyed morning has passed and a new sun has arrived, there is no need for this song anymore, or quite frankly the way of life that accompanied it. </span>riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-5920702589419507002013-02-21T16:56:00.003+00:002013-02-21T17:10:01.516+00:00Sound City Players- The Forum, London- 19/02/2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Here's the thing, I came up with this stupid idea, I was like 'Hey! Let's all do some shows where we all play a bunch of songs that people have never heard, let's play a bunch of songs from all these different catalogues and turn people on to fuckin new rock'n'roll! Hey, guess what, Pat and Nate and Chris and Taylor, you've gotta learn 40 fuckin songs in 10 days!!' And they fuckin did, because they're the best fuckin band in the world!" </span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I had the absolute pleasure to be in the audience of the most buzzed about show in London only 24 hours ago- Sound City Players featuring Dave Grohl himself, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett, Taylor Hawkins, Alain Johannes, Lee Ving, Chris Goss, Rick Springfield, Rick Nielsen and the 2nd surviving member of Nirvana, Krist Novoselic. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Despite the very famous cast of players, this was far away from the phrase "Nirvana Reunion" that comes to mind and any audience member who was expecting that would be disappointed, and playing 'Breed' on the speakers before the start of the show was as soon as it would get. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It was a night of pure rock ecstasy of all kinds: blues; punk; hardcore and the kind of stylish hard rock that you thought QOTSA could do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Most of it was kind of unexpected, really.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With the due release of <i>Sound City</i>, the documentary directed by Dave Grohl about the legendary recording studios in California (now defunct)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> home to the recording of everything from punk band Fear to Fleetwood Mac back to Nirvana's own very </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nevermind. </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The documentary doesn't sound anything for the light-hearted, but considering this I thought last night would be a mash-up of Blues Rock from ageing rockers that had got too old to do thrashin' punk (Par you Dave and the rest of the Foos).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was surprisingly wronged. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The night started with the inclusion of a handful of Foos onstage with producer and engineer Alain Johannes, who has collaborated with QOTSA. This was ace, but never did I think it would get heavier than this. This was the kind of throbbing quiet-loud dynamic that Dave had </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">perfected in the first place with Nirvana and to say the least, it was kind of hypnotizing. The way that QOTSA have always got the audience to nod at the same pace, with the same expressions on their faces... that's true enjoyment, and at sometimes the rockers on stage got more into it than the audience. (One of the videos I shot shows a total unison wave of body movement, mostly of males aged 30-40, which was the prime audience among young Foo fans like myself). But not to despair, this was a totally new world for me, where I'm just used to the throbs of Foo Fighters' Dave, where the peak of heaviness probably climaxes with 'Wind Up' from <i>The Colour and the Shape</i> or any of Dave's first album, <i>Foo Fighters</i> (My absolute favourite, Wattershed, could be reminiscient...)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Among all the reviews that take the technicality of the show a bit too far- yes, it could be involved as self-indulgent, but when is a wide span of 70s hardcore to 00's monster rock not self-indulgent?- is the personal side for me, and something that everyone could appreciate. The best part of the whole night, without a doubt, was seeing your one and only music hero with his heroes- the people he had too grown up listening to adamantly and probably biting back the tears when he finally got to see them- and there he was last night, absolutely loving every second, reaping the rewards of his highly successful rock career. You forget that first and foremost Grohl is a "Punk one"- you don't want to put a label on it- but he was. He came from the DC hardcore scene and spent his waking hours listening to the likes of Black Flag, the Dead Kennedys and the punk band Fear- whose lead Lee Ving turned up onstage also last night to a collective punk sigh of all sorts, with his harmonica and a whole lot of attitude for someone that's gone sixty (you have expected him to start tap dancing before you realised that a heavy punk blow of all sorts of handling his guitar would happen) He wanted to be a punk, and when that wasn't enough, he taught himself to drum on his pillows, backing Led Zep (my favourite Dave story). Grohl monologued this himself- this is the 2nd time seeing the man himself for me now, and my favourite thing already is his ability to tell a story and just make the audience laugh, for example after Rick Springfield made his appearance, Grohl joked to the audience of just over 2,000, "We USED to play big gigs" to a rapture of laughter and in his kind of cute awe of the 'proper rock star type' that is Springfield he proclaimed "Hey, I'm just a Foo Fighter!". Chris Goss was awesome, Pat Smear was an audience favourite of the night with his continuous pogo-ing and cheeky grins, and you half expected Johannes to self-combust with the sincerity of his playing. AND Taylor Hawkins on vocals anyone? Cheap Trick's most famous "I Want You To Want Me" was probably one of my favourites, because the audience finally got a chance to sing along and it was such a contrast to the openers with Johannes and Nielsen's guitar solo and Novoselic's coolio status, well, it was all the money in the world. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is as intimate as it's going to get with Foo Fighters as big as they are now, and having the opportunity to be so close to a personal hero of mine is something I will never let go, and I don't think my friends will either! Nirvana were the first band I ever truly loved, and here it was that 3/4 of the members were on stage 10m away from me! My 13 year old heart couldn't take it, this was all I'd dreamed of. It was a night of remembering (albeit, slightly cheesy) of where I belong, in this little chasm of music they call "hard gigs". I couldn't have enjoyed myself more, neither could Grohl, and that's all there is to it if you like, the "human element" that Dave kept reminding us with. "Real people, playing music, right there, real people!". Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you a real rockstar, and everyone on that stage no less deserving of basking in their glory of having truly found their place. I have never enjoyed music as much, and neither had they. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">EDIT: This was also, supposedly, the first performance in the UK of Dave and Krist together since their Nirvana days. Musical history, everyone, doesn't get much cooler than that. </span>riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-92088886976719045702013-01-06T20:52:00.001+00:002013-01-06T20:53:33.995+00:00Stand Inside Your Love<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The greatest part of having this blog is when I'm feeling *lazy* in my studying sub-conscious exam state, I could just post a music video and let the work do itself. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So that's what I'll do today, folks. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A friend bought me the best of Smashing Pumpkins album for Christmas, <i>Rotten Apples</i>, and although I have most of the tracks already, it's great but I paid hardly any attention to this one. Sorry Billy. I love being given music as a gift, because now I have that hard copy CD and in digital format on my iPod with me in my travels for like, ever, but mainly because this album appealed to my interests especially and you could say I will always think of this person when listening to this album.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2013: stop being such a romantic, Megan.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But it's true! This song sums up a lot of stuff I couldn't put into words last year (surprisingly, as I am never lost for words!) and it's really beautiful. The guitar solo is especially my favourite. It's really subtle, but very transient and should be admired, along with the last refrain of the song... </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><b>I'm telling you how much I need and bleed for </b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><b>Your every move and waking sound </b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><b>In my time </b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><b>I'll wrap my wire around your heart and your mind </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And Billy is right you know? Who wouldn't be the one you loved and lived for? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Enjoy this extended version of a blog post compared to the one I had in my head! Er, now for the video. Good luck if you have winter exams like me! Just see them as one step closer to achieving your short term and long term goals... whatever they may be! </span></div>
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riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-63885768912293867302013-01-02T21:50:00.000+00:002013-01-02T21:54:45.294+00:005 songs of 2012<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Happy belated new year everyone! I hope that this one brings you musical joy, work-related success and above all, many amazing live musical experiences and new album experiences. Because this is these are the times that pinpoint massive moments in your life- I for one, will always know that I was *here* when I heard *that* song, doing *this* etc, etc. As anyone else, I haven't been blogging recently because I've been eating too much and recovering from awful hangovers. Just the usual rock star lifestyle! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I thought I'd make a cute post; a sentimental post, something that could be completely nonsensical but in order to give any future readers of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/needlemagazine" target="_blank">Needle Magazine</a> an idea of my writing style for the future pieces I hope to write on this magazine. Going live in February 2013, this is going to be a magazine for the musically aware, to say the least! I hope to invest a lot of my creativity into it too; something I really look forward to in 2013.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But 2012? I can't believe it's over. SO many good musical memories! The year of the Olympics; Gangnam style obliteration; the return of Soundgarden (yes yes and three cheers for this!!); my first festival experience and more endless crying at records that have wreaked complete emotional havoc in me in their beauty. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Today, I'll try and sum up my 2012 with 5 songs that have brought my happiness this year. They pinpoint memories for me, indefinitely, and this is something I will try to explain further. Words and music, people, words and music. I'll go different artists and different albums too as a rule. What would your five be? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1) <b>Snail, Smashing Pumpkins</b>: as everyone else was going crazy with the prospect of the first Smashing Pumpkins album in yonks, <i>Oceania, </i>I finally turned my attention to a Billy Corgan with hair as I delved deeper into the endless pit of Pumpkins' back catalogue. This was when I needed a lift, being it the early days of 2012 and after exams I needed a rejuvenation of some sort .. this was it and there's nothing more to it. Such a little inspiring tune, if I say so. "When the sun shines, climbs through your window, into your bed"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>2) My Forgotten Favorite- Velocity Girl: </b>Velocity Girl were such an unknown band par to being included on the 90s classic film Clueless' soundtrack. This is such a rare gem it's amazing: The hit of distortion at the beginning; how you can hardly hear the vocals as they are obscured my the chord progression but yet you get a sense of what Archie Moore is singing... she's singing about how much she loves someone, how her simply favourite thing about them is knowing them, but they lie and they are flawed.... yeah, we've all been there; me more than most this year. This is a summer anthem through and through and if you don't have the time to notice it, it's gone in a flash, exactly how summer 2012 ran. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>3) Elderly Woman Behind a Counter In a Small Town- Pearl Jam:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2012 was the year I finally expanded my Pearl Jam discography to <i>Vs. </i>and it was the best decision possible. This song with the longest title Pearl Jam have is really close to the very core of my existence; because to me it's also a summer song, one of pure elation too. This appealed to be when the very thing Vedder sings about in the song happened: "I seem to recognise your face, haunting, familiar, can't seem to place it". Someone came back to me this year when I thought that was it, I'd 'lost' them. But they did and it coincided with the buying of this album. So fitting. It was probably the best moment of 2012: I spent the summer with this friend of mine and it was stupid, reckless and great but above all, exactly what the emotion the song is getting at: relief. Relief to know that now, once they're back, you're never going to let them go again and their presence in your life will be a better one because of it. If you've found someone special, never let them go: I know that this person will always be in my life now, and that's enough. <i>My god it's been so long, never dreamed you'd return... </i>This and also because I am now the "grunge queen" according to my friends, and they even bought me a "I *heart* grunge" tshirt for christmas... true friendship right there! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>4) Dammit- Blink-182: </b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">BECAUSE I'M 17 YEARS OLD OK? I've had fun with my friends many a pre-party in pre-drinking state getting ready to go out and it's the epitome of being the great age that I am right now. And, to steal something I found on the web earlier: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">"blink-182 is like that older brother that’s really cool and funny and has a million friends who all look up to him and is really inappropriate and makes dick jokes all the time but is still there for you when you’re sad and gives you hugs and happy talks to cheer you up". </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes, yes, yes. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>5- These Days, Foo Fighters: </b>almost two years ago, doing my first load of "real" exams, Wasting Light was released after too long of minimal Foo news and it gave me hope and motivation and excitement at all the possible things to come: Would there be a better Foo Fighters song than this? Could they really top it? Was it the best Foos song I'd ever heard? When would I finally see this man whose presence on my wall sticking his tongue out I saw every day? Well this year was the year. Sudden and unexpected, they announced Foos headliner slot at Reading, and well, the rest was history. (see earlier posts) Playing this song, hearing it live only metres away and with 100,000 adoring fans is something <i>you truly cannot describe.</i> It was everything I'd ever dreamed of; something that gives me pure happiness when I think about it now, and that's why it's my song of 2012, completely and surely. It was just the best moment of my life, no biggie. Two years after hearing it for the first time, it is still my favourite Foo Fighters song and always will be.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Happy 2013 everyone. </span></span></div>
riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-68620867145847796472012-12-04T21:39:00.002+00:002012-12-04T21:39:28.596+00:00Malibu <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I've been a Hole fan for a very long time now, and whatever you have or haven't got against Courtney Love (which, may be quite a lot if you're a Nirvana fan) many don't even give her the chance and listen to her band Hole, whose debut album was way back in 1991 (<i>Pretty On The Inside</i>, anyone?).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, yes, I'm a fan now, but it's quite likely, as with any band you listen to in your mid-teenage years, I may detest them in a few years; dis-consider them because they were something I listened to when I was infatuated, angry, emotional and all very storming riot-grrrl in your face. Saying this, I will always love the simple music, the most simply-massed chorus lines, the melodies that are easy and perfect for gigs, with hardly any triviality in them. Some of Hole early music was melodic noise: distorted, pure and kind of cataclysmic. In the simplest terms, this got a hell of a lot easier when she met Kurt Cobain, and we can possible consider him to be an influence on her songwriting skills. I worship this woman, and I'm pretty fond of Kurt too, but they definitely helped each other out musically, a kind of mutual relationship. You only have to listen to Live Through This, which released only a few days after Kurt Cobain's suicide in April 1994 sounds a bit like a prophecy, a cry for help and it's painfully ironic. But it also elements what Love does best: anger; sweetness; bold sweeping antics and choruses; lust but a lot of love too. You've just got to listen to Doll Parts, which will forever remain my unrequited love anthem of teenager-dom. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But Celebrity Skin? Celebrity Skin was glamour, revolution, a new start and a completely new world of Hollywood, glitz and glam for Courtney Love. She was going out with Edward Norton, attending the Oscars, getting down on a knowing basis with superstars like Elton John and Kate Moss.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But there was still some 1994 in her and that album. 'Malibu', my favourite song from this album will forever also be my favourite Hole song. It's painful, exquisite, delightful, regretful but once again, full of love and gratitude and everything that Courtney Love encompasses. You have to listen to it over a multitude of summers to understand it, but this song is summer through and through, and not even specifically the season either. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have the 7'' single of this framed on my wall at home, and every time things get tough, I gaze over to it, listen to the track and remind myself that through it all, one day, I will be residing in Malibu with Courtney Love too. Physically, I'll be there and it's the conclusion of my travels post-degree, but of course, emotionally too... always. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I can't be near you the light just radiates,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Megan x </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">P.s. Nude dress in the future? I think SO. </span>riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-26126216796217597202012-11-25T18:57:00.002+00:002012-11-25T18:57:52.557+00:00A sad musical post. But what is it? Is it life or sacrifice? Both.<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This day follows the day in which I took my last music exam ever (most probably), Grade 8 popular theory and this weekend marks the end of my eleven years of music education. In effect, this blog (for which use is limited and sporadic) will thus be my only musical creative output now. This saddens me deeply. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When I was six, I was lucky enough to receive a demonstration performance of my local music school in my hometown, and after weekendly visits to Curry's and extreme admiration of all the keyboards they had to offer there, I took up music lessons as a hobby and so my mother would find me something to do that wasn't reading or primary school work. This 'taster session' transcended into a full eleven years of lessons, concerts, tears, sweat and lots of hard work into this weekend and the cultivation and conclusion of grade 8.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm struggling to write this blog post right now because from now on, there will be a large gaping hole in my life where my creative input lived. But why do you not carry on, you ask? I have made a sacrifice, a final sacrifice, to get into University next year, and for me to achieve this I must finally drop the last thing and stop kidding myself I am superwoman.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Every moment, more or less, is something I've benefited from. I know that for sure my children will have an extra-curricular music education from a young age, but they not be lucky enough to get the standards of the one I attained. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Of course, apart from the obvious musical literacy in words and notation, performance confidence, creative knowledge required in order to learn an instrument (an instrument that is severely underrated, something that takes a great deal of effort and undeniably, talent to learn... grade 7 was one of the hardest things I've ever done), my lessons gave me invaluable social interaction with young people whose minds worked just like mine. Without popular music theory, I wouldn't have discovered Nirvana. Without Nirvana, I wouldn't have formed an interest in the works of popular music itself. I wouldn't be writing this blog post right now. I wouldn't have considered being a music journo as a possible career, and I still often think about it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I would in no way be what I am: my work ethic; my long fingers; my confidence on stage; my vital extracurricular on UCAS; my application granted to travel to Australia last year with a real theatre company and of course, my stunning ability to be able to form an Am7#5#11 chord and know exactly what scale fits over it. Yes, some may seem trivial, but they make me complete. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Honestly, I don't know why I wrote this post. But I'm kind of mourning, and writing on a platform about music is consoling, another trait I wouldn't haven't discovered. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here is a link to Lana Del Rey, a new odd taste of mine that I just can't get enough of. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sometimes walking away from something when it feels right gives you happiness... and eventually I'll feel that next year when I get accepted into a Uni to do what I want to do and have wanted to for a while now. But for now, I'll leave it here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thank you for everything, Liz. Apart from my mother, you are the next single biggest influence on my life and always will be. You are fabulous. </span><br />
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<br />riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-12220778849983970192012-08-28T21:00:00.000+01:002012-08-28T21:00:00.426+01:00These Days: version 26th August, 2012, Reading Festival <br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So... it finally happened. The best moment of my life.
Imagine it yourself: you have a favourite song of a certain band that have
remained with you for a significant part of your existence. You find yourself
above the heights of a crowd of 90,000+, 50 metres away from the band in question. The riff
that is one of the most audibly recognisable things to you on earth has started
to play. Yes, you can belt out the lyrics as loud as you want, because the rest
of the crowd are: “One of these days, the ground will fall, out from beneath
your feet”. Cue killer chord sequence: “But it’s alright, yeah it’s alright”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">EASY FOR YOU TO SAY!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Never did I fathom what Reading Festival turned out to be on
Sunday the 26<sup>th</sup> August 2012. Yeah, of course it was going to be killer,
this is one of the most legendary festivals on earth, am I not right in saying?
But on Sunday, I managed to see a great deal more than I expected. I didn’t
only see the Foos. I watched many an act, which is amazing for a first true gig
experience. I feel valid now writing about music from witnessing such
enormities in music industry on Sunday. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I had the pleasure of watching Pulled Apart By Horses, who
turned out to be heavy in a refreshing way. This was 11am, you have to
remember. Highly enjoyable and recommended. These guys obviously worked hard
for their right to be on the main stage, compared with some others that I had
watched coverage of over the weekend... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Lock Up Stage was unashamedly good ol’ fun. You had the
circle of death, the wall of death and anything else so scary throughout the
day, but it looked just so jolly good fun even my mother wanted to join in. And
some of the acts drew large crowds. Especially that band with a lot of umlauts
in. They deserve more than this title, but I really only came to Reading
Festival for Foos. Came away feeling a bit more musically experienced and happy
to be so once I’d stood (quite close) through a set of the Joy Formidable.
Finally! A girl front! So nice to see, and I don’t just say that because I’m a
feminist, but say that as a musician. I needed a bit of a higher melody line
after all that thrashing. They have really listenable lines throughout, mainly
because guitars feature heavily in a doubtless strat sense. So much effort was
put into this set, and the look of the band. It was appreciated to say the
least, something which makes me smile at the support these relatively unknown
acts get. I can see them on the main stage in 2-3 years, easily. This is a band
that will now be proudly displayed in my ‘Recently Added’ playlist on my iPod
when I eventually get round to buying what Spotify tells me is <i>The Big Roar</i>
with some funky looking song names. All adds up, worth recommending highly.
Spotify also tells me that related artists include Yuck, so this makes sense in
the musical gene pool of my mind. </span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Joy Formidable. </span></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then I finally made my way to the main stage half way during
Bullet For My Valentine set to bag a good spot for Foos. Good decision, albeit
they didn’t play my personal favourite “Hearts Bursts into Fire”, or maybe they
did, but I wasn’t there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Kaiser Chiefs. British Best. My personal highlights here
were the obvious “Everyday I Love You Less and Less” and “Ruby”, but after the cracking
closing ceremony performance “Pinball Wizard” was featured... good move. Mum
said how surprised she was to find that so many ‘young people’ knew the words
to Pinball Wizard. I wasn’t. It’s likely that if you go to a rock festival in
England, you understand that the Who are the greatest Rock band that England
have had, with Queen of course. It’s set in stone, and the fact that they still
play now and then show that the mod movement wasn’t just theirs to see. Anyway,
Chiefs rocked it. Highly enjoyable although nothing to completely throw me off,
just a great live band. I’d say the same for the Black Keys, and I’ll look
forward to seeing them again in the near future I hope. They were good enough
to support Foo Fighters at least, so Festival Republic think something of their
great Rock-blues beats. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And, finally, to the point of this blog post that is quickly
turning into an essay on Reading: the Foos. Nothing would prepare you for them
if you hadn’t seen them previously/been a member of a huge festival crowd with
a popular band. I’ll do a list of highlights just to avoid the tedious sighs a
whole analysis would evoke. But it’s difficult. To say they drew a crowd of
90,000+ is enough, and for each and every member to erupt when they walked on
stage is a big thing. They were just suddenly there. And suddenly, everything I’d
been waiting for was right in front of me. Dave Grohl looks exactly the same as
I thought he would, they existed as least, which was surprising to me in my
mind. A lot of teenagers recognise him as some form of deity, including me, to
which my only feasible reaction was to burst into tears. I can’t have been the
only one, and that’s the best part.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Foo: they had everything.</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">11)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Their live sound is
unbelievable. I could write a full blog post about this alone. There was no differentiation
from the studio sounds of <i>Wasting List, Colour and The Shape, One by One</i>
etc because this is a band that simultaneously treat themselves seriously and
not at all. Seriously is the idea that Wasting Light would be recorded entirely
on tapes, with no backup tapes. Butch Vig was bullied into this. And now, with
such a number one hit in countless countries being made in a garage is
something of a music divinity/aurora of authenticity that so many people lap
up. Not seriously is that every musical
interlude between songs was so effortless it could not have been rehearsed</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -18pt;">2</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -18pt;">) </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Introduction of band
members and proclamation of Dave Grohl that Taylor Hawkins is “so fucking sexy”.
Shiftlett owned it too.</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">33)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>The presence of Pat Smear. As
said so brilliantly in their music doc <i>Back and Forth</i>, “Pat Smear? He’s
still ALIVE?” This guy was on the exact stage 20 years ago with Nirvana and
then to be featured as an integral part of Foos was a huge thing for him. The smiles
on his face. Priceless. </span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">44)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>These Days. This song, when
released, was like something I’d been waiting for my whole life. And that was a
year and a half ago. So many tears were shed. It felt like Grohl and gang were
almost playing to me alone, and that was worth all the bucks in the world.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">55)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Crowd participation.
Watching with envy for years at the great reception at Foo gigs was something
that you don’t understand until you sing a whole chorus of “Breakout” with
thousands of others, casual fans or hardcore fans or fans that just follow
after they get the idea. Amazing. “Yeah, you make me Breakout, make me
BREAKOUUTOUTOUTOUTOUT”</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">66)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Dedications. Yes, Grohl
dedicated said “These Days” to Krist and Kurt. The crowd erupted in simultaneous
sentimentality. And “Walk” to his daughter Violet Maye. And “Monkey Wrench” to
his other daughter Harper, “This is for you, Harps”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 18pt;">77)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
</span><span dir="LTR" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 18pt;"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 18pt;">Dave Grohl “story time”. I
got a fantastic video which I may post later of Dave playing the casual “Times
Like These” riff, but no one quite realising it yet because they were so
captured by his words. When he told the crowd of the 1995 Dave saying he wasn’t
going to “Fucking play the main stage when it was Foo’s first Reading”, you
realised just how long this band had been around for and how much Dave Grohl
deserved this success.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 18pt;">88)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
</span><span dir="LTR" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 18pt;"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 18pt;">The golden oldies. I told
myself “I really hope they play Alone + Easy Target and Wattershed because
these are really great rock songs and Grohl is a genius” but no way did I think
this wish would be granted! And in great style too, and only a slightly
different take on it because this was 17 years later of course. Utter
brilliance when I heard that stonker of a riff on ‘Wattershed’.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 18pt;">99)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
</span><span dir="LTR" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 18pt;"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 18pt;">We knew that this was
special. It was obviously a farewell gig, but farewell in a short term sense
for Dave Grohl. He’s been playing Reading for 20 years now, so you expect it,
but to be there on such a classic set that will go down in Reading and Foo
history is special. And 20 years after the the first band I really loved. With
two members from </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 18pt;">that</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 18pt;"> band being in </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 18pt;">this</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 18pt;"> band, being on stage, living
on as legends. Really special. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 18pt;">110)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
</span><span dir="LTR" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 18pt;"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: 18pt;">Everlong. Fireworks. Tears.
Enough Said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One of these days. It happened. And it was the best time of
my life. Nothing means more to you when you feel so passionate about music. Of
the grunge variety. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here’s a picture I took on the night. Alas, zoomed in. But
here’s the man himself. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now I just need to see Pavement, Hole, Smashing Pumpkins,
Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. But it doesn’t matter really, not anymore. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Megan x </span></div>
riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-61662217003330083842012-07-09T20:51:00.004+01:002012-07-09T20:57:24.010+01:00So you're a rocker and you're a woman... so what? Many things, that's what.<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There is always one concept in the music industry that people can't seem to grasp. Male musicians 40 years old, teenage boys who want to be "rock stars", even little 11 year old girls, transfixed by the likes of X Factor (which I do NOT watch, just to put it out there... but that can be another blog post) for crying out loud! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">It's the concept of the 'girl' rocker. The girl/woman who can rock at fast, as great and as powerful as the men of her equal music ... the examples are endless. Courtney Love being the prime example in my horizon... you have Janis Joplin, Patti Smith, Joan Jett, Debbie Harry, Siouxsie, Chrissie Hynde, Shirely Manson, Kathleen Hanna, Alison Mosshart... bored yet? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">But of course, as a woman who DARES to breach the innoccent, 'feminine', disadvantaged prototype of woman that is STILL circulating today (believe it or not, not then read some Jessica Valenti for some 21st century feminism that ascentuates the importance of feminism over sexism today of all times) will be judged, doubted and put down for her career choice, stepping into society to supposedly trying to 'ruin' the male dominated music industry. You might not agree with me on that one, but sure, there are increasing images of girls more "rocked up" and I'm not talking Joan Jett in leather trousers, I'm talking so called "soft grunge" girls with dip-dyed hair and tumblr blogs. This is not what I intend society to cast its ignorance off from, I just think more girls deserve the recognition that we can play harder and faster than boys if we want to... anyone can have rock soul. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">To the girls who are living vicariously with guitars in their hands and a snarl at their lip.... keep doing what you're doing, darlings. The world needs a bit of realism in a totally surreal, male dominated world. Teach the ignorant. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">This post is dedicated fiercely to the first WOMAN rocker I discovered, Courtney Love. Happy 48th Birthday, and I hope that you know there are so many girls out there who look up to you because of your strength and beauty. You are the epitome of everything I love and believe in. I think you know that now, after retweeting me and making me a top tweet! (of which I screamed like a little girl) What can I say, I have a way with admiration! In some ways, you saved me (and doubtless others) Thank you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span>riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-26051014101629324932012-03-25T21:28:00.003+01:002012-03-25T21:28:57.042+01:00BST and singing like Eddie Vedder... Speaks for itself. Surprisingly, I had the best winter of my life this year- somwhow, I managed to turn a horrible and bottomless pit of selfish whimsical moaning into something that I could remember.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I have no real inspiring thoughts at the moment, but I did finally purchase Pearl Jam's <i>Vs.</i> this week, and as I am now spending my days gigging, revising for my AS levels and singing like Eddie Vedder, I thought I'd post.<br />
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Enjoy another grunge classic.<br />
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<br />riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-51273100344834951022012-02-12T20:26:00.000+00:002012-02-12T20:26:31.767+00:00When the sun shines, climbs through your window ...<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Life really sucks sometimes. But when I listen to this song, and remember that pretty much everything around me has the potential to be amazing and beautiful, just as Billy Corgan makes it out to be in this song, everything is nearly okay. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2012 is nearly okay, but it can only get much better with each passing day, which I have every faith and have learnt that it does. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This has been a short motivational post. Thank you. </span>riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-77879246250280639582012-01-02T21:54:00.003+00:002012-01-03T19:50:49.494+00:00Melancholy<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So I'm bad person because I haven't written in almost two months, and I'm still miraculously getting visits. How is this? I don't know, but I hope 2012 carries on like this.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The problem with having this blog is that I so often get swept up in the events of life and always cease to remember that I like writing about music. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">But the last two months have been different for me and this connected love of writing and music. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I've met someone- or got to know someone- who writes as earnestly as me about the state of music today and how there's no feeling, Smashing Pumpkins do a better job of capturing that whole spectrum of emotions music should make you feel when it plays. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">He idols Marilyn Manson, I idol Courtney Love- a friendship made in hell, you think? But we both share our romance for Billy Corgan, the actually really gay semi-rock God, that wears Paisley shirts and should never have gone bald. Our romance for the whole catalogue, where he prefers the damn evil songs from "Melloncollie... " and I am such the 'fangirl' I love Siamese Dream and those are the songs I learn obsessively on my guitar. Reading this, you'd think we have nothing to talk about. But we have, and it's great to finally speak seriously with someone about music. Here is the song that always reminds me of him, and saying this I am so close to buying the "Gish" reissue for vinyl, it's unreal. So I can be one big cliche once again and post Rhinoceros because it's all I need right now, the calming effect on life where 2012 just seems to be one stressful, horrible ride already. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">When you read this Jordan, remember that I never want to stop hearing you play "1979" and listening to music with you. It was the best thing to end 2011, and I want this in 2012 too, trust me. Happy new year. </span>riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-33833520038125717782011-11-13T19:38:00.001+00:002011-11-13T20:03:52.708+00:00Ages of Rock<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Last week I got so unbelievably excited beyond belief when I found, much to the new-found amazement of FREEVIEW, that BBC4 were running a 'Nirvana Night'. Of course, remaining my eternal favourite band 4eva & 4eva this would be... interesting. How many hours of it could I watch without falling asleep? Nah, well I ended up recording them, and thank my lucky stars I did. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">First off was the iconic Nirvana 'Live at Paramount Theatre, 1992' which featured Dave powerhouse, Kurt floppy hair and bouncy Krist running through their new found hits in their new, new stardom. The best 'song' of the set ended up being for me, the one that I'd least expect overall, 'Endless, Nameless'. Oh gosh, more than anything else, the ENERGY that it provided out of my television screen was out of this world. I'd stare at my screen, transfixed, not being able to move because I might miss something if I'd literally <em>blinked</em>. Cue Pete Townshend smashing and looping guitar movements, fun fun fun. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Coincidentally, If you were to break down the structure of 'Endless, Nameless' (which is funny because it's supposedly totally obscure, with no structure or sense of being- just total orgasmic punk rock) it's literally Very loud- Paced 'quiet'- Very loud- Paced 'quiet', which was a dynamic practically invented by the Pixies. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">The Pixies and their legacy were discussed in detail on the next program 'Seven Ages of Rock' - Black Francis and Kim Deal discussed their Nirvana-inventing, soul inspiring musical song structures, and it was actually <em>so</em> interesting. This was a program that actually discussed, in detail, the rhythms of Kim Deal's bass line in "Where is my Mind?" and why that makes her a good bassist, better than others and Black Francis broke down the eternal Pixies hardcore fan favourite, 'Gouge Away'. After watching this program, 'Gouge Away' is now one of my favourites, being so ridiculously clever and simple simultaneously. It's memorable, because it's different and it demonstrates such beautiful melody with the Punk Rock ethos still intact. Francis runs through the line on an acoustic during the program, and I don't want to give much away, but he's still got it. If only Pixies were doing a UK tour soon... But anyway, make sure you check out the informatively factual Seven Ages, because it is the only doc I've seen that cares about the music and doesn't talk about any of the other selling media nonsense like "their songs got more painful blah blah blah cause she was on heroin blah blah and he was too blah blah music junkies vanity fair blah marriage blah she's a bitch". The program that came after, "The Last 48 Hours of Kurt Cobain", I don't want to talk about, because it made me cry that much. It's very well done, but so sad I felt depressed for hours after. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">But in the meantime, here's some Pixies to feed your brain. Because once you like Pixies, there is no going back. It is a <em>way of life</em>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Fun fact for you: this is the Brixton gig in 1991 that they did that Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl supposedly 'snuck into'. Rock star stories amaze me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">P.S. I've got my family so educated on Nirvana my Grandad even watched the Paramount performance and said Dave Grohl was 'wow... he's just such a powerful drummer, isn't he?'. I've got him interested... and I hope anybody that reads this blog can be, too. </span><br />
<br />riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-82950870365563163062011-10-31T21:26:00.002+00:002011-10-31T21:26:24.601+00:007 Billion people... and 7 Billion music lovers.<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So today is a momentous day in the history of demongraphy, right? Yes, you say. Today, we have *supposedly* reached our landmark number of 7 billion people on earth. 7 billion souls... 7 billion mouths to feed... 7 billion people who need love. Yes. I thought really this is the only topical thing to write about today, as the UN and other charities have very much involved themselves in new changes to be brought about now... because 7 billion is a motivator, of course. 7 billion should bring change right now. They are launching many strategies to try and tackle this 'problem' as it may be, or tell 'stories from 7 billion' and '7 billion strategies' to also kind of celebrate the fact we've come so far... or have we? Anyway, I'm getting more into the contexts of the matter, as I am naturally a Geography student, and this is what I study. Change of people over time. But the '7 billion actions' page is brilliant, packed full of information and it's qutie a landmark really, 'a global movement for all humanity.' But I'm getting besides the point, this is a music blog and a music blog it shall be. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">There are only two things that unite these 7 billion: love for music and love for love. So there. Enjoy this little fabulous song and its message. I love the diversity of sounds coming from one song! From your one in 7 billion xox </span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/mdu71FSKJvI?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-19457290427202015982011-10-16T20:25:00.001+01:002011-10-16T20:25:28.926+01:0010 Reasons why you should listen to Smashing Pumpkins' "Siamese Dream" TODAY<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">As a teenager at her optimum "music age" of sixteen, it's easy to obsess over music. New music that's hit the charts, newly discovered music that your mum had listened to when she was sixteen. Sixteen, sixteen, sixteen. It's a great age. You have so much more of your life to go, so much more disposable income to spend as you wish, so many more albums and bands to discover that will "change your life"... this prospect excites me more than anything else. The possibility of all this music, right at your fingertips! I find that the single reason why life is so unpredictably amazing sometimes. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">But there is one band that I will always remember now. Smashing Pumpkins is that band. With every band, they're never perfect. Live, in the media, their albums, the members and the band squabbles are always changing. But the music, goddammit the music! If there's only one album that you could listen to for the rest of your life, this could be the one. For me, it's a pretty close tie between <em>Siamese Dream, Live Through This, Celebrity Skin</em> (both Hole) and <em>Doolittle</em> (Pixies) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Zane Lowe himself, the man of the music on Radio 1, personally my favourite DJ on there (for numerous reasons, mainly because I think he has a passion for what he does more than all of the other DJ's put together) has stated that this album is probably the most played album of his life. Not necessarily his <em>favourite</em>, but most <em>played</em>. There can be a line of difference between the two, depending on how your life swings, which album you go back to always but also which one you might save for the very special moments in your life, so not to become overplayed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">But why should you listen to this album from Billy Corgan and his bunch? Why not Mellon-Collie and the Infinite Sadness or any other? (Equally brilliant by the way, it's just this one is a step up) I'll give you ten quick good reasons why. I want everyone to make their lives more beautiful by listening to this album.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>1.</strong> Corgan's effortless for the melodies that just come swirling out of this 50 so minutes is astounding. Where do they all come from? The beginning of 'Mayonaise' for example... when did he write this? HOW did he write it? His talent for beautiful guitar lines is immeasurable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>2</strong>. Okay, 'Mayonaise' then. That one song makes the album what it is. It's a complete soul healer. It really doesn't get better than this. The fuzzy guitars pull at your heartstrings, the lyrics .. oh, the lyrics: "Try and ease the pain somehow, feel the same/Well, no one knows, where our secrets go" is paired with a powerful almost arm punching realisation... and the perfection lies from where people try to sum up what they're feeling... but they don't quite get there. Amazing. That song always makes me feel like I have the best life ever, that everything's beautiful, no matter when. That there is promise in the music world. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>3.</strong> High ranges on guitars that WORK. Whether it's fretting on ridiculously high E's... or the low grumbles of guitars on songs like 'Soma'. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>4.</strong> The Guitar Solos: 'Mayonaise', 'Soma', 'Today'... these solos make you question if there is a higher power of guitar soloists through history that <em>all</em> deserve thrones. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>5.</strong> 'Today'. My gosh, that one song has been described as "simply one of the best songs ever made" by one Music Journalist (Forgive me, for I know not which one, I read so much lately by many music journalists I only remember their words, and not their names...) I agree. It's about the worst day ever, summed up in one of the coolest verse chorus verse structure ever. I remember in Physics class one day with one of my best friends (also a Pumpkins obsessive) and we tried to DISSECT the lyrics to that song, man. They are intense. But on a weird sense... it's also happy. It tries to speak on a whole new level to those that are perhaps a bit depressed, but saying it points out the better aspects of life would be wrong. They make life seem weirdly cool, with all its lust and ridiculousness but the fact that you shouldn't get too bogged under by its strain. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>6.</strong> The break in 'Soma'. I watched this song performed live in like the late 90's and when it got to the electric guitar interlude (followed by the jaw-dropping solo) I just started crying. If the music is powerful, if even the bloody <em>chord sequence </em>makes you want to jump up an down and smash things, but simultaneously almost <em>speaking</em> to you so much it makes you shed tears, it's done well. Trust me on this one. The anticipation to that cracks me up... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>7.</strong> The random piano and string solitudes they put in the album. Whether it's 'Spaceboy' which is just one awesome string melody throughout, or 'Soma' when it's ridiculously quiet and then LEAPS into the grubby sequence mentioned aforehand, they really get at you, man. It almost makes that complete Macho Hair Metal Rock cower in the corner with its tact. The drums are also a huge variation. They go from "Little Drummer Boy" one minute and then another they could be mistaken for Grohlism. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>8.</strong> The amount of distortion on this album is worth how much you pay. Ok, so you don't like distortion? The album has been worked so greatly that each of these songs can be played acoustically, easily, just like that. YouTube the acoustic live version of 'Cherub Rock'. I want to invent my own dance to that one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>9.</strong> Billy Corgan's voice. Nuff said. Even more entertaining when you have no idea of the lyrics and you mimic the poor guy. It's original, I'll give you that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>10.</strong> The fact that practically the whole album is tuned half a step down. Ok, even though this annoyed me the other day when I was trying to learn '1979' on my acoustic, it works. Really well. But if you can't be bothered, that's alright too don't you know, just find a version in standard. Simples. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I could go on for decades, but that gives you enough material worth reading to make the decision whether to leap in or not. One more thing: I LOVE THE COVER ART. It's cute, and reminds me of those summer days when you are only 4 and you've got all these wondrous things to come. Fun fact: one of the little girls on the cover is now the bassist in the current line-up of SP. That's one of the reasons I love life. Coincidence! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">SO NOW GO BUY OR I'LL GO AND DO A SUPER LONG POST ON HOW MUCH I LOVE COURTNEY LOVE. You have been warned... </span><br />
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<br />riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-47954610199241667812011-10-09T19:59:00.003+01:002011-10-09T19:59:59.866+01:00You know you're addicted to Tumblr when...<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Whenever you see Soundgarden's "Fell on Black Days" on your Spotify playlist, you can only think of Chris Cornell and replace the song title with "Fell on Frappes" </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">So, instead of speaking of unexplainable things, I'll just give the song instead, shall I? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Courtesy of Maggie, <a href="http://www.whispertoariot.tumblr.com/">http://www.whispertoariot.tumblr.com/</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It's beautiful. Shall I buy this album? I think so. Then I can make a blog post about it!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><em>Posts coming soon:</em> Musical things that get on my wits, my Smashing Pumpkins obsession and more Courtney Love. Coming your way 2011. </span>riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-3867443334384693732011-10-09T19:52:00.001+01:002011-10-09T19:52:57.382+01:00This music thing, it's hard work, isn't it?<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I've had a very successful week, as far as succesful weeks go. I am now one more A* up on my roll of GCSEs, which has made me very happy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">But most importantly this week, I have found that all my hard work DOES indeed equal success, and with every great cliche it has a struggle story, a log of challenges that I have faced to get to my goal. I have just passed my Grade 6 Keyboard with Distinction, a pleasant surprise, something that makes me grin from ear to ear just thinking about it. Who knew that I could get this far? I certainly didn't think that I would be able to play a simple piano piece when I was six, never mind fully accomplishing a full orchestral version of the Beatles' hit "Eleanor Rigby". I always wanted to succeed in whatever I chose to do, and as a six year old watching a young man play a keyboard in the local electrical store, I knew I wanted to succeed at that! And so here I am... Grade 7 keyboard, with the added extra of Popular Music Theory which has increased my thirst of knowledge for the ever-interesting pop music industry so much that I now HAVE to write a blog post on this phenomenon at least once a fortnight. It's funny how things turn out, isn't it? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">But.. anyway. Back to the keyboard. Last year, I was distressed that I had to put in <em>so much work</em> in order to achieve just a merit. JUST, aha. A contradiction in itself. So when this year came, I had no worries to the amount of time and dediction I had to put in, I just did it. With hardly any complaining either, haha. I sat down at my music programme for like 7 hours a week, because I KNEW somehow that it would all turn out with the best outcome. So to celebrate my success, I find myself writing about it. I was completely speechless that I could achieve such a mark so far down along the line, but it happened, and it's made me extremely satisfied as a result. I'm never afraid of hard work, but now in the future I know that it may not have definite success at the end of it, but I do it anyway because I want to and I enjoy it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">This is a bit like how the music industry works sometimes. The news of the death of Steve Jobs proved my thoughts. A man perhaps not directly involved in the music industry, but one who single handedly changed the way the music industry worked in less than a decade? Quite an achievement, you think. He did what he enjoyed, which was being the director of a company which had no entitlement to succeed, but it did anyway through entire perserverance. He's completely changed the way people see music through the invention of iTunes and the exponential growth of downloads at the consequence. If you have an iPod, which I highly doubt you do not have, what would you do without it? I have to admit I overlook the way a single device smaller than a small paperback can hold shelves and shelves of previously hard copy music, namely because I haven't known anything different! I only rely on my memory as far back as my Sony Walkman when I was very young, the first music storage system my Grandad gave me as a gift, and he has given me many more of them since then, most being products of Apple. Many others also overlook the fact it is possible download music at the click of the button. Sure, Steve Jobs didn't <em>event</em> this, but he sure made it popular. I still collect and buy CDs out of the reasoning that I like my music there to touch and to display not only on an electrical catalogue, but many don't. I'm sure Jobs' hard work puts homage to this. Music acts today make their music with the aim (advertising, A&Ring etc.) that it will be released through iTunes first. Some may centre their entire career around this. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">The world is very different to the world 20 years ago, in terms of the industry and the way people see music. Going into the matter of whether today is better or not and the ethics of iTunes is another blog post, but you cannot deny the force for which Steve Jobs has fought to change how things work, all through his hard work. I for one may celebrate his genius, his innovation and for his ability to make so many people so happy in such a little time (Me and my iPod, my Grandparents and their iPads, both products have changed our lives dramatically). So thank you Steve Jobs for your hard work, I'm sure you can have your well-deserved rest now. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">It's all hard work, isn't it? That's what makes life so interesting! </span><br />
<br />riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-41888553896084794602011-10-02T21:52:00.000+01:002011-10-02T21:52:30.733+01:00Go back to your Gold Soundz...<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So, the winter months are coming. The days are drawing in. Depression and SAD are beckoning us. That's just me, anyhow. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This post is dedicated to the one song that wipes all of these aforementioned factors immediately. It is my favourite song in the whole word (surprisingly not by Nirvana OR Hole!). It is the song that has travelled with me to the other side of the world and back. It is the soundtrack to loves, lost loves, places, fun sun times but most importantly to my favourite season, summer. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This blog post is almost a memoriam to the now fading summer. The summer of 2011. The best summer of my life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Enjoy a little capsule of what makes my life phenomenally happy, always, no matter what season it is, I suppose. </span><br />
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj6QilYg5VAriot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-33914608850866624322011-09-25T19:09:00.000+01:002011-09-25T19:09:18.709+01:00At a store near you, always: Nirvana<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">What better time to resume your blog writings with your post-summer depression, lacking of creativity because you are back in full-time education and most importantly, when there's a killer anniversary of a certain special album that everyone's raving about? I will speak of my new loves, my old loves and my forgoing obsessions in another post, but this weekend, everything is owed to <em>Nevermind</em> , the album that changed hell of a lot more than it was supposed to.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">24th September 1991, 20 years ago and 1 day today. (I know, I'm not a <em>proper</em> fan, I got confused and thought the anniversary date was on the 26th)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Geffen released their first album from their new signing, Nirvana, spending 120,000 and initially pressing 46,521 copies of the album to record stores in the US and worldwide. The album was released to a few hardcore fans already eagerly anticipating their next musical development but mostly to a new audience, an audience and critics that would name it notable and "ground-breaking" upon release. Of course, they were right, and this audience only grew and grew, watching the ever movements of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl. Of course you know that, the rest is history. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">24th September, 2011, yesterday. The album has now sold well over 30 million copies WORLDWIDE and has rock-solid status as a classic that'll never be forgotten. Dave Grohl has just released another album with his band Foo Fighters (yes yes, you know this, but this is just background for other readers), including song "I Should've Known" featuring fellow ex-bandmate Krist Novoselic on Accordian and feedback of "IS THIS SONG ABOUT KURT COBAIN?" (Yes, Nate, it supposedly is). Frances Bean Cobain has flourished into a beautiful little "punk" butterfly, looking like the perfect mix of her most famous parents and Krist Noveselic is politician, hoping someday that the world WILL stop using escalators, a "testiment to human laziness". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">The times have changed, Nirvana as a band and a legend have evolved and changed into something of the most perfect "Punk Rock legend story" but their album <em>Nevermind</em> still remains EXACTLY as it was 20 years ago, the polished punk rock masterpiece that really did send the world of music reeling, contrary to all this supposed exaggeration about it doing exactly that. Of course I would say all this, I'm a fan after all, and Nirvana have been my favourite band for only a little over 3 years so they're still in its 'obsessive' stage, but that one groundbreaking album has more relevance now than ever, because you have a new generation learning and loving with that 45 minutes. Contrary to popular opinion, Nirvana weren't an overnight success, they spent long and hard working up to the one 'magical' moment that was <em>Nevermind</em> , and we are all forever indebted to 'magical' three that made it so. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">This weekend is all about remembrance, and adding your only little stories and personal touches to the <em>Nevermind</em> legacy is what it's all about, to keep the little circle of Nirvana spinning on. So, here today, I shall run through every song on THAT record and try to write down in words instead of dance routines and/or inaudible guitar lines from my mouth what exactly they all mean to me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">1) Smells Like Teen Spirit </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">- The first song I ever heard from Nirvana in about 2008, when I was researching the band for my first Popular Music Theory exam, to which I am forever indebted to for introducing me. I read the passage about them, I revised it and most important, I listened to Nirvana. It's such a cliche to say that I had never heard ANYTHING like it before, but I truly hadn't, being still stuck in that awkward 13 year old stage of listening to any rubbish that hits the mainstream waves (<em>Nevermind</em> was obviously the difference to this back in 1991, a year I would have lived in for <em>anything</em>). It still sweeps me off my feet as much now, albeit not as much then. I remember trying to digest the noise... I had never before been exposed to Punk Rock, but yet even trying to deny it in my little common head, I knew instantly I liked it. From then on, Teen Spirit has been my soundtrack to whenever the maddest things happen, the most angry situation... I always put it on and thrash around. My friends, being influenced by my new musical choices, downloaded it illegally and from then, we always played our "Nirvana spinney game" to which you spin round and round in an enclosed space (preferably with pet dog or many people in a small room). This was the subject dance at many sleepovers, drunk nights etc. from then on. It gave you such a power to feel expression, but to also feel like there was nothing else in the world. I remember meeting the first boy I ever fell in love with in a little practice rehearse space when him and his 'band' were rehearsing this very song. I walked in, listened, jumped around in absolute ecstaticness and pointed at him and spoke the words for which I will always remember: "You sound like y'know, Dave Grohl or something". When they actually played the song at a Senior Talent Show at my school, my friend Maria and me gave them a standing ovation at the end. I was wearing a shirt I'd made myself with their band name on. It's all seems too long ago, now. It's sad that I cringe at this one, now. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">2) In Bloom</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">- Still one of my favourite Nirvana songs to date. I sing it every spring when it starts to dawn on full blast in the morning, when the blossoms start to bud and there is wildlife again, the days get longer and all you can hear is "Spring is here again, reporductive glaaands" from my mouth. I have the Sup Pop video of it on my iPod, with Chad Channing and I absolutely adore it. I feel the song is exactly how Kurt Cobain felt after its release and the manic popularity of the band. It still sums up everything I believe in, and when I get angry, it's the one I choose, too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">3) Come As You Are</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">- The first thing I learnt to play on guitar, and because of it, a fond memory. It's almost romantic in its spirit, but also a statement of sweeping depression. Its absolute melancholy always gets me when I can't understand my feelings, or I just need to mellow it out a bit. Always such a haunting guitar riff, also, and still my favourite to date! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">4) Breed</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">- A song to which I still love, but am less mad about. I love its absolute craziness, and Grohl's drums are something of drums beauty, if there is such a thing. I sing this when I'm absolutely over everything... and I will forever love how it can suddenly be suddenly so melodic... and such an AWESOME guitar line, almost like a grumpy voice... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">5) Lithium</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">-My fondest memory with this song is when another friend's band played it in a dingey little gig place where I live... he had been raving about how it was his favourite Nirvana song and how the bass line was 'epic', and I for one couldn't wait to hear it. He absolutely mastered the bass line and the lead was wearing a beau 'Kurt' t-shirt. I pushed myself to the front for the opening riff, and sang it word for word for the whole song. My friends were almost bemused, but one of my best friends just stood there with me and sang it word for word and we practically screamed the "YEAHH" at the beginning of every chorus. I remember the same friend turning to me one day and saying "Megan, you know the line 'I'm so horny, but that's ok my will is good?' Well, I thought it was 'that's ok, my willy's good'". The same guy I mentioned earlier (aka Dave Grohl) turned to me during this absolute immense gig and said "So I guess you know all the lines, then?" That night, I was swept up in the spirit of the absolute 'teen rebellion' and loved every second, and it still remains one of my fondest gig memories.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">6) Polly</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">- Another classic I learnt on guitar... I love the chord sequence, I love how it's totally anti-rape, and only recently I heard a rendition of it from the same bass dude that I still call one of my best friends. It is the song of every busker at some point, and it would be my choice too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">7) Territorial Pissings</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">- I love the Jonathan Ross show rendition of this... and I will always love the Reading version, too. Recently, when visiting the Brick Lane 20th Anniversary Nirvana exhibiton, some of my favourite lyrics were printed on the wall from this song: "Come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody try to love one another right now!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">8) Drain You</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">- My absolute FAVOURITE from Nevermind, forever. This is mainly because it's kind of a sick love song, and I love that. It hold memories of romance for me, and will forever make me think of this certain person when I listen to it. I will forever be fascinated by the lyrics, and how Cobain came up with them. I remember being super pissed when I found out Fall Out Boy plagiarised from this very song. Haha, the angry youth! The 'breakdown' still remains groundbreaking, and whenever I hear it I just think of my absolute favourite performance of it... the french television Nirvana, when Kurt's guitar cuts out, and he grabs the mic jazz-style... yeah, I've written a blog post on it, you can find it in my archive! I can't tell you exactly why it's my favourite, it just is. That's why Nirvana are so great. You like their songs without really even knowing why. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">9) Lounge Act</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">-I always skip past this one, and I'm disappointed in myself for doing that, cause it holds some of the coolest bass and guitar riffs... and the lyrics! "Rather be dead than cool" I love Kurt's voice in it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">10) Stay Away</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">- THE DRUMS, THE DRUMS, THE DRUMS!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Every drummer I've ever spoken to about Nirvana always names this one as the coolest ... Dave Grohl could never get it wrong. "Monkey see, Monkey do" How can you possible begin to describe Kurt's voice in this? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">11) On A Plain</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">- Another for my guitar sessions. Another one I see as a love song, and the purest "Pop" Nirvana you can get. The harmonies are top, and the lyrics will always remain as fascinating, but one where you can sing without a care for thought. The break sweeps you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">12) Something in the Way </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">- It hasn't helped me with depression or anything, because thankfully I have never had depression. But you can see how it helps... a beautiful melody. Absolutely magnificent, the vocals on this will always be cemented in my mind, as will the memory of Kurt to most musicians... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">So there we have it. My past, present and future Nevermind. What it means to me. What all the newspapers, new reports and special Nirvana packages this weekend have tried to get at this weekend: Nevermind has the ability to mean something to everyone, because of its most natural and easy empathy of meaning, lyrics and stories of love and loss and alienation and happiness... it does it all. 20 years is nothing when memory reigns. Whether you're 1 years old, or 60... it can do it for you, if that's what you like, of course. I have just finished listening to the entirety of Nevermind for the nth time, so I'm happy that such a record can still be established for when it comes down to it, its awesomeness. I don't own the record, apart from on my wall, but I will take this frame everywhere with me on my journey in life, because it's what started it all for me (in my musical freedom), after all. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Sorry for the Colossal post. I feel like this is my diary now for musical pinpoints in life. </span><br />
riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-49634029265758658592011-04-11T21:51:00.004+01:002011-05-17T17:27:03.559+01:00One of These Days...<div>Dave Grohl one day will actually bring out an album that will be disappointing.<br />BUT not Wasting Light. This album is without a doubt, the best his career has had to offer yet. I couldn't think it would have got better than <em>The Colour and The Shape, Foo Fighters</em>, etc. . It did, in the form of <em>Wasting Light</em>. </div><br /><br /><div>By God, is this an album to listen to. Obviously speaking as a hardcore fan here, but these are songs to walk to, dance to, scream to, and be all melancholy about. Everyone. </div><br /><br /><div>The album starts with the simply tremendous "Bridge Burning", a heralding start. The guitars swoop down and knock you unexpected ... then the song descends, swooping into Dave Grohl's signature scream on "These are my famous last words". His famous last words, perhaps, that this album would be the Foo's heaviest so far. It definitely is quite contrasting to say, the acoustic Skin and Bones album, with the classics. But these songs are actual thrashers. You can air drum to them, air guitar, and even do the backinbg vocals for goodness sakes! That makes a good rock song. I particularly enjoy singing to the "Burning in the ashes!" backing vocals. A start like this practically sets you up for disappointment after but then comes "Rope". I didn't particularly like this one at first, it was mainly because it was THE mainstream one, and I prefer to dig a little deeper on an album as a whole. The riff at the beginning is slightly annoying, but the mixing in this song is fantastic. What else could we expect from the team that produced <em>Nevermind? </em><strong>Exactly. </strong>But this one has got some nice hooks, including the nice drum solo from Tay Tay and guitar solos galore. It soares, and it's a rock song you can REALLY sing along to, even the girls. You can almost hear Pat Smear's (formerly of the Germs, and then to join Nirvana as their 2nd guitarist in 1993) contribution, glowing as he is, the extra instrument really mellows the sound. And I suppose the sound is aging with Dave's voice, but what could you expect? They performed at Radio 1's Big Weekend for an 80 minute set, and it was like an explosion, the climax was there, the show was brilliant, and then it was over before you knew it, a path of destruction left. Dave Grohl was still the man, and the only sign of aging he shown was his clambering back upon the stage... </div><br /><br /><div>My grandad even enjoyed it. I say even, well really, we are the people that go to see 60-odd year old rockstars play blues. That's our thing. </div><br /><br /><div>All in all, the biggest and the best pick of the album have to be: 'These Days' ("Easy for you to say... your heart has never been broken") which is soon to be a smasher in terms of Foo Festival songs. If I get the chance to see them (Our father, who art in heaven...;)) THAT will be the song I'm singing at the top of my voice, at sundown; 'Arlandria' which, among the usual critiques of Foo teens on twitter, seems to be a favourite ... I featured it for purely popular circumstances; and finally, another favourite 'Walk' ("I never want to leave, never say goodbye, forever and ever, I'm never gonna die") which has some beautiful melody lines. I will also recommend 'Better Off' which is a mix between early esque Foo and Tenacious D... it's proper boy blues rock. Nice riffs, too.</div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><div>Can you tell I'm trying desperately to pass my English exams? </div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 216px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5607721609859083970" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLme7jULJjB9Uqt_QrCgR-hjZh0vGYa1RZPxhrAr6_vX_mupflG50fE1J2EH1JngXQyC7DL-WEyKCfJIu1SCWzAyreC6B_FUenpDsog1u7oDSV7qjLaqrvYXW7PBBbQC6ptV1qru-uwSeY/s320/untitled.bmp" />Sorry about excess Dave lately, but it's probably because I AM JUST LOVING the sounds that he's making right now. And a bit too excited about Pat's return...<br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div>Peace, Love and Burning Bridges (in the name of a brilliant new foo record!)</div><br /><br /><div>riotgrrrlivesx </div>riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-32544264683780179152011-03-27T21:04:00.005+01:002011-03-27T21:09:55.479+01:00I'm actually doing Cartwheels... My Song of the MonthHappy BRITISH SUMMER TIME! The time has come: my favourite time of the year, a time for steadily increasing prosperity... and a whole bunch of good times to come this summer- it's going to be the best summer of my life... So I've had a great weekend, so I'll have to celebrate by posting this very pleasant song indeed, which no guesses needed, came from one of the O.C. soundtracks... I picked it up on one of the episodes, and it's just perfect... so as the month closes, this is certainly my song of the month. have a great week everyone! <br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="300" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/g4Bq7sZDF3c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />riotgrrrllivesxriot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-56861677125127365982011-03-12T17:58:00.006+00:002011-03-12T18:13:30.788+00:00All in a day's workA MONTH TODAY. WE WAIT PATIENTLY. <br /><br />WHITE LIMO, WHITE LIMO, WHITE LIMO!<br /><br /><br /><strong>Warning:</strong> features a very scary looking Lemmy and a very beautiful certain Grohl's wife.<br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="370" height="308" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ebJ2brErERQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />"Wasted Light" is released on April 12th at all Good record stores. <br />Foo Fighters plan to record a 13-track record of covers for Record Store Day in approx a month.<br /><br /><br />Pray for Japan, pray for life,<br />riotgrrrlives|xriot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-3226461191554915322011-03-06T20:04:00.003+00:002011-03-06T20:26:26.311+00:00Arise, Sir Dave Grohl...<div>Dave Grohl has always been much more than the drummer from Nirvana. Maybe because of the fact that he has, actually, penned more hits than Kurt Cobain, and is the award winning Frontman of Foo Fighters, arguably the best rock band on the planet to the present day. Award winning. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>As the reputation as the "Nicest Man in Rock" and simultaneously the "Hardest Working" one, he is quite a man indeed. This post is a kind of a tribute to the Man himself, as myself being one of Foo Fighters' biggest fans, and everyone who knows me well knows, he is one of my biggest inspirations in life. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>So, naturally, Iwas thrilled to be casually looking through an NME Special issue tribute to Mr Davey when it stated clearly that Mr Grohl himself will soon be picking up the Magazine's iconic "Godlike Genius" award, where previous recepients have been Mr Roger Daltry and Mr Paul Weller. In my opinion, Dave Grohl is the perfect follow on from these. Not just a drummer: a impressive vocalist, beautiful songwriter, producer, member of many a supergroup (Them Crooked Vultures, I ask you!), generational inspiration and generally, a really nice, hard-working guy. Not bad for someone who started life learning drums by hitting his pillows. The awards were this week, and the YouTube vid of his acceptance speech has lots of hits. He has many grateful fans just like me supporting him in everything, you see. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Mr D.Grohl's and one of my favourite icons' acceptance speech... </div><br /><div></div><br /><div><em>"You guys realise you gave this to a drummer, right? OK... this one's for the drummers! No, but honestly, I remember twenty years ago I walked in the side door over there, it was the first tour I ever did with Nirvana, and we arrived adn we were so jet-lagged but the Pixies were playing Brixton Academy that night! And we begged and begged and begged to get in, but they were like 'No, we can't get you in' but finally someone snuck us in through the side door and I stood right there as the curtain came up and they played 'Debaser' and I was so incredibly moved, I thought 'I hope someday I can be in a band that's big enough to play fucking Brixton Academy!' So this one goes out to The Sir George Robey, and The Astoria, and the side tent at Reading Festival and Brixton and Wembley and... <strong>this one's for Kurt!</strong> Thank you very much."</em> </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Only an actual Godlike Genius like him actually deserved this award.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Thank you, Dave Grohl. I love you.</div><br /><div></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 315px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 482px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581065136664756450" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ36CCUIhp9NdgPVtD9qPhYbRYSE-wx_Zbn-dYd7MPWstoystORy0PjUSklTYx7RlBTySfCuz42V_SuQpPZ98aD7jXmCjs2mZi5L_XxZZBvXit1QdjWrejQ76Aiy5m6BBGKlNpbRnYZer6/s320/tumblr_lhhwkryV9t1qcl5mho1_500.jpg" /><br /><div></div>P.S. The NME Awards 2011 magazine in very good, features many Davey among others on the cover and beautiful pictures and words of their post-gig, too. A must read.<br /><div></div>Have a great week, everyone, and let Dave keep inspiring you all!<br /><div></div><br /><div>riotgrrrllivesx</div>riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-4676460658805507362011-02-27T19:27:00.002+00:002011-02-27T19:39:22.232+00:00I like Punk Rock.I like Mudhoney very much, you must know that.<br />I like Mark Arm even more- He's like 47 now and BY GOD has he still got it. That's all I'm saying.<br />So you can imagine how pleased I was to stumble across this track on the 'Roots of Nirvana' CD compliation I got with last month's Mojo.<br /><br />This song, In'N'Out of Grace is probably the definition of the early Punk Rock/Grunge movement in Seattle in the early nineties. Mudhoney were destined for stardom and they were always considered to probably be bigger than Nirvana. Sadly, they never made it that far into the mainstream, but they are one of the BEST to come out of that era, with Mark Arm still managing stuff at Sub-Pop, which I find pretty cool. He's very reliable when it comes to staying himself. Through everything. Mudhoney didn't make any mistakes. They just weren't Nirvana.<br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/unR7p_CQXTs" frameborder="0" width="560"></iframe><br /><br />Hear that scream :"JESUS TAKE ME TO A HIGHER PLACE!"<br /><br />Have a good week folks,<br /><br />riotgrrllivesxriot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607929966501904122.post-53743173081885087392011-02-06T18:55:00.004+00:002011-02-11T11:05:43.209+00:00The Ultimate Nirvana Skill- Improvisation.<div>I'm very agitated at this very moment at the stresses of modern life as a 15 year old teenager in Britain, so I think it's the perfect time for a blog post. </div><br />Okay, admit it, everyone has done it: Improvised.<br /><br />Whether you haven't got the appropriate lie set up for your parents to swallow, you improvise. When your music falls off the stand at a concert with whatever instrument you happen to play, you get pulled up for a speech at an awards ceremony at school/the oscars (delete as appropriate!), you have to create the perfect arrangement in a week and you've done hardly any work: You improvise. These may not be your desired situations, but when faced with the scary, the extreme, the unexpectable, the annoyance: you improvise it. Everyone's done it, and it's an essential skill that musicians derive over their lifetime: the improvisation. I did it this friday, in an own arrangement, usually solely modal scales and blues scales. I pulled it off, and apparently it sounded "Free and funky". Kudos for me!<br /><br />The way it's used in Popular culture is interesting: Blues, R&B, even Dance Club Music...<br /><br />But this is by far the best one I've seen, and it's relevant to the theme of Nirvana on this blog. The scream at 2:26 is singularly the best Nirvana moment I have EVER seen, so I thought I'd just share it with the world. The improvisation at 2:11 is certainly that of a real musician in a real band, where his guitar cuts out eventually (Note: this is French television they are all dressed up for) and he throws it down in a rage. The rest is his mind acting spontaneously, and if the scream at 2:26 wasn't already planned because it was in the song already, the sudden "Kurt Cobain does Jazz Solo Act" wasn't expected: the way he throws the microphone stand around is like something reminiscent of the jazz age.<br /><div><br /></div><div>A impeccably passionate performer, to say the least. And the sexiest (that tie and waistcoat- phwoarrr + anger at his guitar blowing)</div><div><br /></div><div>riotgrrrlives|x </div><div><br /></div><div> </div><br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vyO4LXKtZYQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>riot grrrl lives.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03130819701614615274noreply@blogger.com2