Lost In Translation?

HeeHee... I've got to grass Viki up...

We were down at my brother's a visit last night, and satellite music channel Bliss was playing a selection of '90's pop "classics" (I would have picked something with '80's music, but Viki keeps pointing out that she's younger than some of those songs), and on came R Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly"...

I was doing a crossword puzzle, and Viki was colouring in a "Hello Kitty" picture (don't ask!), when she suddenly said, "I can hear him singing something, but I don't think it can really be what he's singing"... so I asked her what she thought he was singing.

She waited until the particular line came on again, and said "Here... he's singing, "I'm on a virgin king"".

I almost peed myself laughing and corrected her that what he was in fact singing was, "I'm on the verge of breaking down".

On the same theme, suddenly for me (for reasons I won't go into) Ronan Keating's song has become "You wear it best, when you wear nothing at all"...

The Michael Jackson Songs...

I picked yesterday were met with a "OMG... Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuj!" by Viki (hint... she wasn't impressed)... so I'm being made to post a more acceptable selection of videos:

Earth Song (1995)
Billie Jean (1983)
Dirty Diana (1988)
Black Or White (1991)
Beat It (1983)
Blame It On The Boogie (as The Jackson 5) (1978)

The only one of my choices that she approved of was "Thriller"!

Hope that's better, draga!

The "OMG... I Just Can't Believe It's True" Post...

Didn't have the computer on last night, or the radio or anything, so didn't hear the big news story before I went to bed... just I got a text message from Viki after she'd set off to work this morning that ended with "Michael Jackson has died. Mivan!"

And, indeed, it's true... looking it up on the BBC news site on my mobile phone confirmed it:

Michael Jackson Dies Aged 50

He was declared dead at UCLA hospital at 10:26pm (British Time) last night.

It doesn't feel real yet though... Yes, I along with everyone else had read the stories about how his health was not good, and how there were doubts about his fitness for the series of concerts that were scheduled for the O2 Arena, but Michael Jackson wasn't really mortal... not like ordinary people... Not that I'm saying he was a god or anything like that, because - I'll be honest - he wasn't up there in my Top 10 artists, either as I was growing up, or now... I wasn't THAT big a fan... didn't own any albums or anything, never had his posters on my wall... and, yes, I thought (and still think) he was a bit "Wacko"... certainly there was something wrong with him... a naivety that bordered on mentally underdeveloped... But you can't deny his talent, showmanship, and influence on today's music and artists.

And he was always THERE... all the time I was growing up and discovering music and bands... Let's face it, he's been in pop longer than I've been alive... so you just kind of felt like he would go on forever.

It would be good if it was his music he was remembered for... rather than the baggage that followed him around... the accusations of child abuse (was he guilty? I guess we'll never really know)... the spendaholic lifestyle and subsequent money troubles... the demons that fuelled his plastic surgery obsession... all of that.

My thoughts and prayers go out to his family... to his children... his ex-wives... his mother and father... his brothers and sisters... his friends... and to his fans worldwide who feel that they have lost someone special to them...

And I leave you with some of my favourite songs of his as tribute:

Heal The World (1992)
You Are Not Alone (1995)
Scream (With Janet Jackson) (1995)
Thriller (1984)
Say Say Say (With Paul McCartney) (1983)

The WTF Post!

Was on YouTube earlier, showing Viki one of the Hamlet Cigar adverts (all because my brother was telling her about the Hamlet music yesterday), and then I started finding other adverts from the past... and then I came on one that said something about "The Funniest Beer Advert Ever", so we clicked PLAY... Absolutely brilliant!

And this leads me on to a plea... and a possibility for a regular post (if Lou doesn't mind that I'm nicking her idea) - great adverts of the past and present (I'll warn you, most of the ones I'm thinking of are for various beers!).

Anyway... The plea! Does anyone know where I can get the music from this classic McEwan's Lager advert?

It's by an Edinburgh band, Win, from the late '80's and is called "You've Got The Power". I can't find it on iTunes. Anyone got it that they can send me? Drop me a comment and I'll get back to you. Thanks!

6 Days...

... 'til Viki arrives (by which time I will hopefully be better, but more about that in a bit).

Woo-hoo!

Time for another thing I'm going to inflict on the poor girl... my somewhat "eclectic" musical taste, and the fact that if I'm sat here at the computer at home, then I'll have iTunes on "shuffle", and will probably be singing along (somewhat badly) to whatever's on at that given moment.

And if it's something that is just perfect for whatever mood I'm in, or I haven't heard it for a while, or it's the soundtrack to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", then I might even have it on repeat a few times (tonight's repeated track was "Tongue-Tied" from "Red Dwarf")... *Ahem*

I've given up trying to convince anyone (or even myself) that my mp3 player is in any way, shape, or form, credible. There was a bit in a magazine I was reading last night that was going on about various members of the editorial staff and what cheese they had on their iPods... and the more I read, the more I realised that my musical taste is dodgy to say the least. They had:

"Atmosphere" by Russ Abbot (yes, it's there, but someone sent it to me as a joke, and I've just never taken it off)
"Snooker Loopy" by Chas 'n' Dave (thankfully, no)
"Saturday Night" by Whigfield (yes, but don't know why... I hate it)
"I Breathe Again" by Adam Rickitt (ditto Chas 'n' Dave)
Assorted showtunes and music from "Fame", "Flashdance", etc (guilty as charged)
Three Enrique Iglesias tracks (fuck)
"The Ballroom Of Romance" by Chris De Burgh (no, but I do have "Don't Pay The Ferryman")
"The Final Countdown" by Europe (ditto Enrique)
All the Eurovision entries since 2003 (some) and everything recorded by Dana International (no, but I do have "Diva")
"We've Only Just Begun" by The Carpenters (no... whew, maybe there's hope for me yet?)
"Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell (er... yes)
"Never Ending Story" by Limahl (er... I plead the 5th - I don't care if I'm not American!)
"We Don't Have To..." by Jermaine Stewart (ditto Enrique again)
Selection of old TV themes (er... zip) and "Agadoo" (thankfully, no)

But I think it's fair to say the Music Police would have me banged up for life with no hope of parole.

So, I'm filling up on cheesy songs and obscure tracks in this week before Viki comes... and, if I can shake off this cold, I'll get the bad singing along out of my system too.

Vote One...

Woo-hoo! I've got a REAL vote on my poll... not just myself voting!

Come on, blog-readers... there's still time to tell me if my musical taste is shockingly wonderful, or just shocking.

Don't worry... I won't cry (much) if you say it's terrible - However, I will hunt you down and come round and stick a bat up your nightdress!

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease vote!

Eyes Right!

And down a wee bit... and you'll see my new feature for this month...

Seeing as a lot of the posts on this blog are music videos, and seeing as I tend to pick music videos I like, I'm interested in what you think of my musical taste... so please vote!

You've got until the end of this month to vote, and you can comment in the Guestbook too if you like!

I'm Having To Be A Lot More Careful Now...

Scroll down my blog, and look down the right hand side for the little green square with the daisy on it... bit further yet.... bit yet... STOP! There! Do you see it?

Well, that is one of the charts from my My LastFM Profile,which shows the last 10 songs I've listened to on iTunes... and for a while something had gone wrong between LastFM and the scrobbler thing in iTunes that updated the charts, and it wasn't updating... But now, thanks to a bit of technical advice from someone on one of the forums I go on (a 14 year old boy, actually... lol), it's all working again.

Which means that if I listen to something really shockingly cheesy - You're going to know about it!

This could blow the last of my street cred right out of the water!

(What do you mean, "What street cred?")...

Born To Rock...

Jan. 26th, 1955 - Eddie Van Halen is born...

Van Halen (post David Lee Roth) and "Why Can't This Be Love?"...

And with DLR (is it wrong to find him sexy in this clip? Yes? Bugger... forget I said anything...) - The brilliant "Jump"...

When I started this feature, I went through the whole of January on Wikipedia and made a list of who I was going to feature each day... and I missed Eddie that time! Just think what a lucky escape you've had - you would originally have been celebrating the birthday of Andrew Ridgeley!

Not-So-Tinpot Local Radio...

About 3 - 4 years ago, Orkney got its own commercial radio station for a while - granted a temporary licence, kind of as a test, and The Super Station Orkney was born... operating from a boat tied up at a local pier...

Well, finally they've got their permanent licence, and premises on land - and, as of today, The Super Station Orkney is once more!

And it's great - because they play music from 60's to current, and not just what's "in", like Radio 1. So today I've been in heaven in the shop, listening to 80's music, 90's music... even Meat Loaf & Cher with "Dead Ringer For Love"!

Aside from that, today's been average... Work (God, the shop was quiet and boring today), a visit to my brother, and then home.

And that's pretty much it, my friends - Catch ya later!

The Boss Was In A Good Mood This Morning...

And it was all thanks to this... The Eagles' new single from their first new studio album since 1979... Radio 2 had their first play of it this morning...

"How Long?"

My boss is a huge Eagles' fan, and he got me into them a bit too, just by how he raved about them...

Music's played a big part in our day at work today, because Flunky and I were having a very long, very involved and very serious discussion (okay, arguement) this afternoon over what made a band or musician a "Legend", and whether Dave Grohl / Foo Fighters could be called Legends yet... you can guess what side of that arguement I was sitting...

Put Me Out Of My Misery...

I promise... this is my last post tonight!

When I came out of Lidl, there was a kind of open-air thing for young folk featuring young, local bands at the skatepark nearby, and I caught a snatch of what the band that were on were singing.

It was a cover, and all I heard (coz the wind was blowing the sound away) was something, something "bristle with the energy".

What the hell's the song? PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE someone leave a comment for me so I can find out tomorrow!

A Plea...

To the record-buying members of the Great British public:

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE stop buying that bloody "Umbrella" (ella, ella, ella) record by Rihanna!

How the hell has it been number one so long? It's not THAT good...