Thursday 17 October 2013

Blender's Bottom 50, Part 1

Blender magazine, which from 1994 to 2009 reviewed thousands of artists, started out as the first digital CD-based magazine. It claimed to be "the ultimate guide to music and more". So clearly I had to pay attention to their list of 50 worst songs, having come across them while looking up "We Didn't Start The Fire" by Billy Joel. It was stuck in my head, ok.

I'm not going to go through the entire list here (you can find it by following this link) but I will post the ones I consider to be most on target and also the ones I don't.

You may not agree, of course.

Friday 13 September 2013

Voices of the Angels

This post is dedicated to those exhibitionists out there who really sincerely believe that they can sing, but who just need a little pat on the hand and some gentle but firm disillusionment. Bless 'em. Good for them for trying, I say.

Monday 1 April 2013

Atomic

In honour of the renewed threat of nuclear war posed by North Korea, and to remind us all once again that the only country to have actually used nuclear weapons is the United States, but mostly because it's damned weird...here's some nuclear and cold war themed music.

Thursday 21 March 2013

Hatsune Miku

Today's post is not about a person, but a Japanese computer-generated robot voice, vocaloid, or as Wikipedia says, a "singing synthesizer application with a humanoid persona." "Her" name is Hatsune Miku, and "she" is portrayed as a 16 year old girl with long teal hair. She "performs" at concerts in animated form. Though Yamaha dictated her general look, no personality was ever assigned to her, so it was left up to her fans to decide who she was... this has led her to be portrayed along a range from sweet-tempered everyday worker/student to a depressed, violent, probable semi-demon.

Friday 1 March 2013

New Country n' Western

So I shared with you some of the old stuff in my last post. Here's some new stuff.

Sunday 24 February 2013

Tony Hawks redux and some Old Country and Westerns

Hello. It's been a while now, but I promised myself I'd do this post, so dangit, I'm gonna do it. I always keeps my word... unless I'm trying to post on time, of course.

Exactly one year ago, I wrote my very first post on this blog. You may recall that it concerned Tony Hawks. Since that fateful post, I have come across Mr. Hawks a few more times. It seems that he was involved in Red Dwarf and even appeared on a few episodes, which warms me to him! And Morris Minor and the Majors' second charting track, "This Is The Chorus," is amusing and features a lot of Rick-Astley-mocking.

Recently, I picked up a book by him titled "One Hit Wonderland," about his quest to get a top 20 hit, culminating in his collaboration with Mr. Wisdom that reached number 18 in Albania... he describes it as sound a bit like Motown. As someone who loves Motown, I... don't really see it. But anyway, the long and short of this story is that at one point in this tome, he mentions several names of some Grand Old Opry Hits that inspire him at one point on his journey.

And this, finally, is what this blog entry is actually about!

Thursday 14 February 2013

Wednesday 30 January 2013

Oh Yes, At The Moment.

Happy Belated Burns' Night! The night some friends of mine and I attempted to attend two ceilidhs (Scottish dancing events, sort of like barn dancing or contra dancing), only to be turned away like Mary and Joseph attempting to find a place to give birth to Our Saviour of The Good Night. Having failed at both, we went to the pub and sat for a while drinking, which is the other traditional Scottish activity. Ah, and I served vegan haggis, neeps and tatties (turnips and potatoes) to the soothing refrains of the Titanic soundtrack off a Youtube Celtic mix.

In other news, I've had a stressful couple of weeks being kicked out of a flat, but it's good to be back in Edinburgh. The title of this post is an English translation of the well-known 'Scottish' phrase "Och Aye The Noo," which nobody says here and which means practically nothing. :)

So in celebration of Scottish artistic heritage, here are a few of the stranger offerings of '70s Scottish bands, with a surprise Swedish ending (Damnit, it was supposed to be a surprise.)

Monday 7 January 2013

Happy New Year!

Happy 2013, everyone! And to those who are triskaidekaphobic, happy pre-2014. And to those who are Swedish, of which a few more than would be expected seem to be, Gott Nytt År!

...That is, a few more than would be expected to be looking at this website... would seem to be.

Anyway, a song! By good old Sir Cliff.

Cliff Richard - Millenium Prayer


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