firsts

An aeon ago, I was asked to do a thing on BBC Radio 6 and the preparatory stage involved filling in a questionnaire on "Good Day Bad Day" music

First Single You Bought:   What was it, where, why?

The Theme From ‘Sting’ aka ‘The Entertainer’ by Scott Joplin, as recorded by Marvin Hamlisch

WH Smith in Berkhamsted

Liked it!

First Album You Bought:  What was it, where, why?

Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Do It Yourself

Probably the local little record store in Berkhamsted

Loved Ian Dury – New Boots and Panties, along with Never Mind the Bollocks, changed my life.

First gig:   What was it, where? Any particular memories/stories?

The Slits, Aylesbury Friars.  Not as good as the album Cut (second album I bought), a bit loose they were as a band. But still a big buzz.

Best Gig:  What was it, where, why was it your best?

Either My Bloody Valentine at ULU around the time of “Glider” (1990?), or Animal Collective at the Bowery Ballroom, New York in 2004 I think it was. Both transcendent and engulfing.

What you’re listening to now:  What music are you currently into?

The new album by Woebot, Hallo. Maria & the Mirrors’s “Gemini”. Traxman’s The Mind of Traxman.

Good Day Record:  What and why?

Kraftwerk, “Neon Lights”.  Wanted to pick something electronic and dance-related as that’s a huge part of my listening. And of course, spoiled for choice there. I could have picked something by Aphex Twin or Ultramarine or LFO or Omni Trio or Wagon Christ or Orbital or…   But let’s go with the godfathers: Kraftwerk. Electronic music, groove-based music, is music that I tend use as a pure mood-modifier, the emotions in it are quite abstract. If you’re having a good day, you probably don’t need your spirits elevated that much, but the rhapsodic flutter of this song is the perfect soundtrack.

Bad Day Record:   What and why?

When someone really bad has happened in my life music tends to drop away completely, it is inadequate. So I have to rephrase the question in my mind: what songs do I know that contain “healing wisdom”? And one of them would be The Byrds’s “Everybody’s Been Burned” off Younger Than Yesterday. Apart from its beauty, the lyric offers good counsel: don’t respond to set backs or traumas by retreating into yourself, stay open.