30 Day Music Challenge: Day Thirteen

Day Thirteen: A Song That Is A Guilty Pleasure

This question made me laugh out loud - as hard as I try to expand my musical horizons a lot of my music collection is made up of guilty pleasures! do like to listen to a lot of rubbish music - it ranges from 80's cheese to 90's dance to Lady Gaga. And although I say rubbish I don't mean it - in my opinion there's actually a lot of room in the world for bouncy, happy mainstream pop. For example, my friend Ness wrote a brilliant post yesterday about S-Club 7's Reach - a song which I defy anyone not to sing and dance along to, however much of a hipster they think they are! 

This leads into a more important theme actually and one of the most useful things I discovered when I went to uni was that being "cool" didn't matter anymore. I've never been that sort of girl anyway - at secondary school I sported braces and a haircut which made me look like a boy... Even when I lost the braces and discovered a decent hairdresser I never particularly fit in. Then I went to Durham and fitting in ceased to matter - being myself was just fine! Dancing to S-Club 7 one night and Metallica the next night was perfectly acceptable along with dressing like the abominable snowman, getting over-excited about castles and not doing sport. 

Being an adult (supposedly) and living in the real world isn't the same - people are ridiculously judgemental about other people's appearances, taste in music or political views but I do find it a lot easier not to care these days. The benefits of a liberal education perhaps? Or just that I am lucky enough to still have a lot of people in my life who are good enough to love me the way I am - and who will still talk to me when I admit to still liking Britney Spears. Perhaps that's appropriate actually - Britney is a prime example of the damage that our image-obsessed society can cause however I can't help but like her music. So have a little bit of Stronger as my guilty pleasure du jour...

"You might think that
I won't make it on my own
But now I'm

Stronger than yesterday
Now it's nothing but my way
My loneliness ain't killing me no more
I am stronger

Than I ever thought
That I could be, baby"

30 Day Music Challenge: Day Twelve

Day Twelve: A Song From A Band You Hate

Aha! This is probably the easiest question on the list and it provides me with an opportunity for a rant. Brilliant! Unlike most people I know I have spent a lot of my life disliking The Smiths - they are one of those bands that a lot of people talk about like they' re the second coming and, whilst I quite like their music, I've never quite got it.  Maybe it's because misery isn't my default setting, maybe it's because I quite like Margaret Thatcher, maybe it's because I'm contrary - who knows?! Personally, I think Morrisey is an arrogant, pretentious moron - for a start who waves a bloody bunch of flowers about on stage, really?! Johnny Marr's not much better - trying to dictate who can and can't like his music like someone died and made him king of the flaming world. Just because NME thinks you're God doesn't mean you actually are. 

Having said all about a million times and at varying levels of loudness - just don't ask me about Morrisey when I'm drunk, for the sake of your eardrums - I increasingly find myself liking their music. I primarily blame the film 500 Days of Summer which has left me with a desire to steal Zooey Deschanel's hair and a sneaky fondness for listening to The Smiths. So here you go - have a little bit of How Soon Is Now from the band I love to hate...

"I am the son
and the heir
Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar
I am the son and heir
Of nothing in particular

You shut your mouth
How can you say
I go about things the wrong way
I am human and I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does "

30 Day Music Challenge: Day Eleven

Day Eleven: A Song From Your Favourite Band

These questions are getting difficult again - my favourite band?! I don't have a favourite band!  According to last.fm - which scrobbles with my iTunes and therefore counts everything I've listed to since the dawn of the MP3 format - my most listened to artist is Robbie Williams. Which is odd because I don't ever recall listening to him that much. So clearly I'm going to have to put a bit more thought into this! Over the years my favourite bands have been many and varied - for a start I used to be obsessed with Boyzone and had a mahoosive poster of Ronan Keating on my wall for more years than I care to remember... Then it was Linkin Park who used to be brilliant but don't get included on the grounds that their latest album is criminally awful.  After that my favourite band has changed even more frequently than my hair colour! 

I'm inclined to pick a band that I've seen live - some of the gigs I've been to in the past year have been truly amazing. I fulfilled a lifetime ambition by seeing Muse at Old Trafford Cricket Ground last September having wanted to see them for over ten years and seeing Matt Bellamy sing Plug In Baby live was absolutely one of the highlights of my life. Having said that seeing (some of) Thin Lizzy in January this year was also one of the best gigs I've ever been to and I listen to a lot more Thin Lizzy on a day to day basis than I do Muse... But the band I've gone for is actually a completely different band, one I've never seen live (although I am reliably informed they're awesome) - Paramore. Reasons I love this band are multiple: I'd love to have hair the same colour as Hayley Williams,  I own all their albums and I could probably choose a song from their backcatalogue for just about any moment in my life. I wouldn't say they're the most unique or exciting band around but something about their music speaks to my heart whether I'm sad, angry or happy. 

The song I've eventually gone for is The Only Exception which is from Brand New Eyes and, despite the characteristic angst, manages to be a really beautiful love song. Perfect for a sunny Friday afternoon. 

"I've always lived like this
Keeping a comfortable, distance
And up until now
I had sworn to myself that I'm
Content with loneliness
Because none of it was ever worth the risk
Well, You, are, the only exception"

30 Day Music Challenge: Day Ten

Day Ten: A Song That Makes You Fall Asleep

Yeah I just don't blog at weekends do I. And I haven't got very much time today so this'll have to be a quick one. Today's question is a bit odd - I'm sure they mean a song that you like to fall asleep too but the wording is strange. No song makes me fall asleep and if it did I'm not sure it'd be worth writing about. I also don't really listen to music when I'm in bed, I'm a big fan of quiet and darkness when I'm trying to sleep to be completely honest. Music also tends to make me think which generally isn't conducive to sleep. Having said that, if I'm going through any kind of particular life trauma I sometimes need music to distract me from my spiralling thoughts - For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver is one of my favourite albums for times of emotional trauma. I also have a chillout playlist on my iPod for times when I can't get my brain to behave but I'm not quite miserable enough for Bon Iver. It's got a lot of random stuff on there - Joni Mitchell, The Miserable Rich, Muse, Buzzcocks... But also a singer I discovered accidentally via iTunes (of all things) a few years ago - Polly Scattergood. She writes really good angsty songs about traumatic relationships and this song (I Am Strong) is my favourite song of hers. It's also a good mantra for getting through heartbreak if you ever need that kind of thing.

"I am strong, I am not weak
I am not in a place where I can talk to you
I am not hot, I am not cold
I am not for sale, I am sold
I built this house, it took quite long
Sticks and stones, I made it strong
I locked it up, I gave you a key
But you didn't come home to me"

30 Day Music Challenge: Day Nine

Day Nine: A Song That You Can Dance To

A song that I can dance to? Well, I will dance to almost anything - whether anyone would say that I can dance is questionable. My problem with dancing is much like my problem with music in general - I'm terribly enthusiastic but utterly lacking in skill! I've taken dancing classes a few times - both Welsh folk dancing and ballroom don't you know - but never really got very far. I can normally feign a reasonable waltz providing my partner doesn't mind getting trodden on. I can also generally pull off a carefully structured dance routine - I was a dab hand at the dance to Saturday Night by Whigfield back in the day and I can still just about do the Macarena although I get a touch flustered when I'm at the front. 

Luckily for me the clubs and gigs I normally frequent rarely call for a foxtrot or a rendition of Tragedy so I usually get away with it - there's nothing much that a bit of hip-wiggling, foot shuffling and, if all else fails, some jumping about won't fix. Also, huge doses of over-enthusiasm tend to carry me through - I love to dance and ultimately I don't care that I'm not very good! There are a few songs however that will always get me on the dancefloor - Build Me Up Buttercup by the Foundations is a long standing favourite as is Sweet Child O'Mine by Guns'n'Roses (to which I do a mean air guitar routine). 

There is, however, one song that I will always, always, always dance to - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers. This song reminds me almost exclusively of brilliant nights out - including 2am ceilidhs in Durham, girly nights out in Wrexham, wonderful weddings and last year's utterly bonkers work Christmas party in Reflex. So, if you are ever out with me and this song comes on - well, you know what to expect!

"When I come home(When I come home), well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who comes back home to you
And if I grow-old,(When I grow-old) well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's growing old with you

But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

da da da (da da da)
da da da (da da da)"

30 Day Music Challenge: Day Eight

Day Eight: A Song That You Know All The Words To

My first thought upon reading today's question/challenge thing was how do I narrow this down? As I'm a bit musically challenged I tend to remember words better than tunes anyway. Also, all the words?! Will there be some kind of test at the end? Anyway...

When I was 15 I somewhat pretentiously decided to "get into music" as opposed to listening to Now That's What I Call Music compilations for ever more and the first band I turned to was of course The Beatles. I knew Beatles songs of course, it's impossible to avoid them, but my knowledge was limited to When I'm 64 and Yesterday. So I stole the One album from my parents and listened to it on repeat for about six months straight. As a consequence I know a lot of Beatles lyrics off by heart... Everyone waxes lyrical about The Beatles but I always think that's justified - every time I hear a Beatles song I'm struck by how fresh it sounds, despite the fact that these are songs written over half a century ago and still played a lot. I love their lyrics as well - from the breezy poppiness of She Loves You to the aching melancholy of Eleanor Rigby to the psychedelic drug inspired lunacy of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. My all-time favourite Beatles song and the one that I know I know all the words to is Penny Lane.

I can't really explain why - maybe it's all the quirky little anecdotes (I'm a sucker for a daft story) or maybe it's because I can really paint a picture of Penny Lane in my head. Maybe it's just a damn good song!

"Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs
Of every head he's had the pleasure to have known
And all the people that come and go
Stop and say hello

On the corner is a banker with a motorcar
The little children laugh at him behind his back
And the banker never wears a mac
In the pouring rain...
Very strange

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I sit, and meanwhile backIn Penny Lane there is a fireman with an hourglass
And in his pocket is a portrait of the Queen.
He likes to keep his fire engine clean
It's a clean machine

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
Four of fish and finger pies
In summer, meanwhile back

Behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout
A pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray
And though she feels as if she's in a play
She is anyway

Penny Lane the barber shaves another customer
We see the banker sitting waiting for a trim
Then the fireman rushes in
From the pouring rain...
Very strange

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I sit, and meanwhile back
Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
There beneath the blue suburban skies...
Penny Lane."

30 Day Music Challenge: Day Seven

Day Seven: A Song That Reminds You of A Certain Event

I wrote something for this post a few days ago and decided that whilst the song was ace the event I was writing about really wasn't. So you may or may not get that post rehashed later on... In the meantime I have thought of both a song and an event that pleases me so on with the show!

One of the things that sometimes surprises people about me is that I'm a big football fan. It doesn't happen so often these days but certainly when I was younger I think it was less common for women to be football supporters. These days I think the sport is much more inclusive, Andy Gray and Richard Keys aside, and some of the most passionate football fans I know are women. I even used to play football when I was at school, even though I was absolutely useless and only ever started one real game. These days I stick purely to watching it, which often ends up with me sitting in bars full of shouty men who are normally supporting the other team and then suffering incredible amounts of stick about my choice of team from most of the men I know. Because I am, of course, a Manchester United fan.

Sadly this means I get accused of being a glory hunter a lot. And a plastic Manc - although as I grew up 45 minutes outside Manchester I'm not sure that's fair! The reason I support MU however has nothing to do with trophies - we're just good, deal with it - it's because they're my Dad's team. Dad started taking me to watch United matches at the pub across the road from the age of about 7 (this was in the days before we had Sky) and I used to have to stand by the door so I didn't inhale too much smoke. This coincided neatly with the end of United's wilderness years so I can only really remember them winning things, particularly the Double in 1994! However, as any United supporter will tell you, winning the Treble in 1999 was just an unbelievable experience. Watching the Champion's League final against Bayern Munich must have been one of the most stressful moments of my life - after Sheringham equalised in the 91st minute I literally couldn't watch the rest of the match. When Solskjaer scored in the 93rd minute to win the game my Dad, my brother and I cheered so loudly that I'm sure it was heard across the other side of Wrexham! A few days later the team returned from Barcelona for a open-top bus ride through Manchester with their three trophies - Dad picked me up from school and we hotfooted it down the M56 to join the crowds on Deansgate.  It was a beautiful June day and the atmosphere was electric, like being at a carnival! The one song that was everywhere was "We Are The Champions" by Queen - for most of my lifetime always a fitting song for Manchester United. Queen also happen to be one of my all-time favourite bands but maybe that's due to over-exposure to this song from an early age...

"We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end 

We are the champions

We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world"