Thank you for the music - Part 2

Lets continue where we left off... The heroine was still trying to narrow down the soundtrack to her life to just 10 songs. The first 5 had been selected and she was desperately searching for the remaining 5. This was not just a simple exercise, this was an epic journey (comparable to the Muse track - Knights of Cydonia) and would take her on a memory trip to the furthest reaches of her mind.


We find our heroine, still sitting at her computer contemplating life and music:


So the first 5 are in the bag... Now, comes the hardest part! My mind starts to stray from the task at hand. I start to ponder how many songs have been written over time? And how many of the worlds greatest songs never saw the light of day? There must be millions floating around in space. The lyrics have parted someone's lips and the melody has been sent out into the universe but due to circumstance no one has ever heard them (except of course those singing, writing or playing). Music is like relationships... Some are, at first, exciting and new and you want to hear them over and over and over again. Then, over time, become a friend that you play once in a while to bring back some memories or are used as a comfort. 
Some come into your life and you can't recall how, when or why - they are just there. Some reach saturation point and the love you originally felt slowly turns to hate only to be rediscovered years down the track. The songs I'm looking for are songs that I can still recall the first time I heard them as if it were yesterday... and they still create that sense of wonder each and every time I hear them. Songs which do, absolutely, unequivocally, transport me to another time and space. Woah! That's a big statement to make. I think I may have just put more pressure on myself... Simply picking the best 10 of all time might have been easier that this! Where to from here?


I simply can't go past Rage Against the Machine! Man, these guys are MIND BLOWING! Big, big sound, awesome, awesome show! BDO a couple of years ago, Micko and I were a witness to what can only be described as pure and uttter mayhem! I think I might have a video posted on my facebook page. We have had, to this point, a fairly uneventful BDO, the first for Micko in Melbourne. It's disgustingly hot, dry and very, very dusty... there are even tumbleweed floating past in the food court - not a word of a lie. I felt like I was in some crazy western about to take my 10 paces. As dusk falls, Rage take the stage and Micko and I are in a great posi! They kick off and their killer bass line is pulsing through the ground, up my feet and travelling all the way up to my brain and I'm LOVING it! It's a mesh of flesh, sweat and loud pumping music - just the way I like it. Dudes start climbing up the speaker towers, they are on the roof of the marquee dancing around while people unknowingly drink beers beneath them, they are climbing up anything they can find to get a better look at the brilliance that lay in front of them. Then, it starts going a little beyond mental. Dudes are pulling themselves on top of other dudes on the speaker tower and it looks like it could collapse at any minute. There are a few dudes who have climbed up this tree (more like a poor young sappling) and are swinging from the thin branches... I'm sure they will fall to their untimely deaths at any moment. I take a look behind me and there at least a couple of hundred people on the top of the beer tent. Then, it starts, the riff to kill all riffs! It's Killing in the Name... definitely worthy of a top 10 position. I mean can it really get any better than screaming 'Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!' 16 times in a row and finishing it off with a big 'Motherfucker!" Well, I don't think so anyway!


From heavy bass lines, to childhood magic... I'm now going back in time to Crowded House and Split Enz. I have lumped these two together because of the Finn angle and I am going to have to separate the 2 and choose a winner. My Dad had a great Kenwood stereo system. It has a record player, amp, the biggest graphic equaliser I've ever seen and a double tape deck. The sound was clean and sweet. As a child I would put on tapes or records and lie with my head placed equal distance to both speakers and be transported out of this world. My favourites included (and still do to this day) Queen - A Night at the Opera, Crowded House - Woodface, Elton John (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road) plus, long gone from my collection, Whitney Houston and Laura Branigan. Back in early 06, I was down about something that I can't recall now, and to give me a bit of a pickup Micko bought a couple of tickets to see Split Enz in Brissie. I was stoked! It kind of doubled as a birthday present cause it was around this time of year. Although I was a massive Crowded House fan, I'd never had the opportunity to see them live, and I was far too young to check out Split Enz so this was a real treat! Great show... I love the Finn brother’s classic, timeless sound. Hmmmmm... Should I go 'I got you' or 'Four Seasons in One Day'? I'm torn... I'll make the final cut later.


So now, it gets tough! But I think I'll carry on with the childhood speaker sessions for one more track. My Dad lost one of his best mates quite young. He died of cancer when I was very little and I don't really remember him. Years later though, from the grave, Dads mate got me into a lot of trouble! When I was about 17 a mate and a boyfriend and I thought we'd head down to the park, steal a bottle of grog from my Dad's bar. He only drank beer in those days (now its extended to red and champas) so we really didn't think he'd miss it. It was a bottle of scotch, got us all pretty pissed and I'm hoping we had a good night although I don't think it could have ever been worth it. Not long after, my Dad noticed it missing and found the empty bottle in my wardrobe where I hidden it. He lost the plot! I had no idea, but it was his 21st birthday present from his mate and one of the only things he had left. The bottle of scotch was older than I was! I've never forgiven myself for doing that. Although I don't have any memories of him, besides the scotch incident he did leave me with a lasting legacy... A beautiful song, by one of my heroes, Elton John. I remember my Dad telling me, when Elton John's 'Funeral for a Friend' came on, that he had played that at his friend’s funeral. It was such a moving song... so intense and moving. Each and every time I hear it, I still am covered head to toe in goosebumps. I scream along to the lyrics and it always brings a tear to my eye. Only 2 spots to go and too many great song choices!


Radiohead... Once I finally got my licence and stopped bumming lifts of my best mate, I bought my Mum’s Torana (this is actually another of my monumental fuck ups – The Torana requires a blog of its own). It had no radio, so I’d take my CD player/tape deck, fill it with D size batteries and sit it in the middle of the front seat (a bench seat). I was listening to a shitload of Radiohead (The Bends & Pablo Honey) and my Stone Temple Pilots CD (Core) was going through a resurgence... During this stage I went through 3 CD players because they would literally melt from sitting in the sun too long. Radiohead also brings back memories of drinking beer hanging in a mates garage talking for hours and hours about OK Computer and how you could tell it was going to be one of those stand out albums that people keep referring back to for years and years to come. Although I could easily go with Creep or Paranoid Android, I think I’ll go with Fake Plastic Trees (magical).


And last but not least... and I have had a really hard time picking any of these, but this last one is really hard. There are so many others that could fill this tenth and final position (I can’t believe I’ve not got enough room for Nirvana, Stevie Wonder, Carole King, You Am I, The Tea Party, Elliott Smith, Tool ARGGGG I’m doing my head in now). It’s going to Jebediah... From Uni Days, Meredith’s and other music festivals far and wide... new love, messy break ups, beginning and ending of friendships... roadtrips, backyard barbies and days on the beach. Through good times and bad, the one consistent were the good ol’ Jebs. Kev’s whiny, not so great, voice... heartfelt though sometimes confusing lyrics and great melodies created the soundtrack to most of my twenties. They definitely deserve a top 10 place and it’s going to ‘Leaving Home’.


So, there you have it! A total mind fuck of the highest order, a worthy exercise, and a great trip down memory lane. We all have our own soundtracks, this is merely a few tracks that would certainly feature in mine.


And so... we once again leave our heroine, who still sits typing madly away at her computer. She now contemplates more menial subjects... “Since I have a soundtrack to my life, what parts would the film cover and who on earth would play me in the film? Someone hot I hope! Shit! Did I pick between the Split Enz and Crowded House song? Oh fuck it... I can't be fucked now. Crap! I didn't get anything out for dinner! We'll just have to have fish and salad... again! Whats the time? Should really knock out those scripts before I go to gym... Oh and I really should fold up those clothes on the floor. Ahhhh I feel a fart coming on... Shit! Dunny... NOW'.

Thank you for the music!

What follows is the mind journey I took to discover the first 5 songs to feature on the soundtrack of my life and, more importantly, the stories that lie behind them:

The second I heard voting was open in the Hottest 100 of all time, I felt my heart beat quicken. How the hell was I going to decide which ones I thought worthy of such a title? And how could I possibly narrow it down to only 10? Best of all time... that carries a lot of weight! I started to make a quick list, thinking to myself 'who would I want represented?' After I've picked the artist, then I can narrow it down to the song. So, with pen and paper in hand I make a start...

The Beatles - has to be in there! Hell, my bedroom was an absolute shrine to the fab four during my mid-late teens. I had tie died all this white canvas material blue. I covered the little couch in my room’s cushions and the coffee table that doubled as my bed side table in the cloth. Adorning my wall were posters and framed prints of my idols and I'd blu-taked a bunch of 45's, my Hard Days Night 78, along with the Blue record cover and other memorabilia I'd collected. Man, I could make a top 10 from them alone... Which song? Has to a George Harrison number... Hmmmm? While My Guitar Gently Weeps!
Then I strike a bit of a blank! Where do I go from here? It's all too hard! Think I'll leave it till I'm in a better state of mind - I think to myself. I'll get back to it another day. Hell, I've made a start! Got the first song down.

After a few beers, while Micko is watching the State of O, I decided my mind is lubed enough to resume the task at hand. So, I start thinking of it not so much as the 10 best songs of all time but more songs that could feature on the soundtrack of my life. Putting it in terms of all time makes me feel removed from the process. I mean, there are some awesome songs beautifully written and composed, but that I don't have a real emotional connection with. They say smell is one of the most powerful senses and with one whiff of a certain scent you can be magically transported back the place and time you associate with it. Music does that for me... Many of my memories are locked up in CD covers waiting to be rediscovered.
I start jotting down the first bands that pop into my mind... Rolling Stones, Blind Melon, White Stripes, Jebediah, Split Enz, Muse, Rage, Radiohead, Tea Party, Stone Temple Pilots, Queens of the Stone Age, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, Led Zepplin, Soundgarden, Carol King, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, The Oils, Foo Fighters, Grinspoon, Smashing Pumpkins, Elliott Smith, Tool, You Am I, Queen... Uh Oh! I really am in trouble and I haven't even started! Okay, so lets narrow this list down somewhat! Who HAS to be in there....

Well, if it were a soundtrack of MY life it has to have (in addition to The Beatles track - which is a sure thing) Blind Melon. Who are Blind Melon, I hear a few of you thinking? Remember the fat kid dancing around in a field in the Bee suit? The song was 'No Rain' and the year was 1992. A few lyrics to jog your memory - "All I can say, is that my life is pretty plain, I like watching the puddles gather rain. And all I can do is just pour some tea for two, and speak my point of view, but it's not sane, it's not sane". Good song, but certainly not their best! I think from Blind Melon, I'll choose 'Change'. (Check it out if you want - if not, you'll hear it one day at my funeral... it's on the list of funeral songs and has been since the day I first heard it) Blind Melon remind me of great days with my brothers and hanging or camping with my best mates (Soup or the self titled CD often gets a good going over when we've had a few). That's a definite... 2 down, 8 to go!

The White Stripes... A definite inclusion! My lounge room is practically a White Stripes showroom. I have 3 awesome Rob Jones tour prints on the wall, the Jack and Meg nesting dolls spread out on my sideboard and I'm still yet to find somewhere to display my vast collection of 7" records. Why the obsession? I like the dirt and the grit of their sound, they only ever wear red, white and black (which makes them uber cool), plus the fact that 2 people alone can make that amount of noise. Meg is one of the few chicks that I'd love to bang and Jack is just a sex god! I've seen them live a number times and I've had some pretty funny experiences. One, and I won't be mentioning any names to protect the innocent, involved a certain friend pissing her pants at BDO because she didn't want to miss any of show... even though we'd seen them the night before in a much more intimate setting. So, White Stripes are a dead cert... But this poses its own dilemma! Which fucking song? I could go with the obvious and vote ‘7 Nation Army’, but I'm thinking maybe ‘Hotel Yorba’. Although, I did play ‘We're Going to Be Friends’ at our wedding so maybe that one? Nah, fuck it! ‘Hotel Yorba’ it is.


Muse... Oh my precious Muse! And it has to be Knights of Cydonia - not just a song, it's an epic journey. Man, this seems to be getting easier! Many a night I've been plastered watching my favourite Muse DVD and each time I'm blown away. I'm even more blown away by them in the flesh! I'm also prone to droning on about how amazing Muse are when I've had more than my quota of beer!


How about the band that featured in my first television appearance - Pearl Jam. They were a massive part of my teenagedom! I think it was 95 when my mates and I booked tickets to all the Melbourne shows - except the Myer Music Bowl show. We decided we would turn up, sit in the Botanical Gardens and listen to the show if we couldn't see it. We stood around the make shift hire in steel fencing and happily smoked a few scoobs. All of a sudden the scene changed to one of chaos! One of our crazy friends decided he'd climb the fence to get in and all hell broke loose. There were kids everywhere pushing down the fence and running in. It was like a scene from one of those crazy Myer Stocktake sales in the 80s (without the stirrup pants and bad perms - instead it was long unwashed, un-brushed hair and big baggy t-shirts over ripped jeans - the uniform of a generation). I started to freak out big time! The cops came on horseback, the horses were rearing up and the coppers were ripping people back all over the place... then the TV crews arrived! They caught me at possibly one of my best moments! I was screaming like a mad woman "We're all going to die!!! We're all going to fucking die!!!" I eventually calmed down and we headed in for one of the best night of live music I can remember. So, Pearl Jam... In like Flynn! Let’s make it an obvious choice and go with Alive.

And that takes us to the top 5... and that's about all we have time for today folks! I'll be back with more interesting tales of music and mayhem shortly... but in the meantime take care of yourselves, and each other! Good night Australia!