Recently in Music Category

Back in February this year I was at my mum's house and my best friend of 20 years came to visit. The topic got onto Michael Jackson as it inevitably does with her since besides my sisters and me, she is the biggest fan I know. She left after dinner but the girls and I carried on the conversation and we reminisced about the days when we would rent Moonwalker on video everyday, £1 a go. I told them the first time I heard of him was when my cousin showed me a tape of the Thriller video and though it frightened the bejeebers out of me, I was hooked. Even spending a lot of my childhood out in Pakistan didn't curb the fandom, everyone out there loved him aswell. I've mentioned him once or twice on this blog. My sisters shared similar stories too, especially the youngest (she's seventeen) who the MJ hysteria could've easily bypassed but didn't. Finally, I expressed how sad I was that I will never get to seem him in concert. "He's never going to tour again, it's so sad," I said. We resolved to go watch Thriller Live: The Musical as recompense.

Cue 3rd March. I read in a free London paper that he's touring. I freak out. Get in touch with sister. She freaks out. Lots of freaking out amidst a whirlwind of phone calls, emails, text messages and Tweets. 5th March: the day of his press conference at the O2 Arena arrives and I try to get out of a meeting to attend but can't. Then the meeting gets cancelled last minute and I bolt there and miss it by seconds. The atmosphere is electric though; so many fans and press are there and the dates are revealed. Ten dates, THIS IS IT.

11th March. Now a scramble for tickets. We get plenty of pre-sale codes and are up early (6.45am to be exact) and coordinate our attack. We're going to book the first lot of tickets that come up on Ticketmaster just so we don't miss them by hesitating. We manage to book four (for me and the girls) but there's my best friend to think about. I spend the next few hours trying to book more as new dates are announed. I manage to get them. HURRAH! We're more excited about this than the upcoming trip to New York. It's all we can talk about. Finally, we will see the King of Pop, live. There is talk of him struggling with the schedule and many people say we're lucky we have the early dates as he might not have the energy for the later ones. Who knew?

And then yesterday. I had been offline most of yesterday evening so hadn't heard about him being taken ill. I'd left my phone in the car so didn't even get the messages and missed calls. I log on to Twitter close to midnight to see the latest posts and wait...Jeff Goldblum's dead?? (This turned out to be a hoax.) Damn. First Farrah Fawcett now him...wait someone is saying something about Michael Jackson. Is this some sick joke? Then I read my sister's tweets. She's talking about it too. My husband came up and I tell him. He knows as his friend sent him a text message but he didn't want to tell me. I spend the next few minutes feeling numb. I go to get my phone and realise that I've left it in the car. Fetch it and see all the messages and missed calls. At this point I sent my sisters a message saying I've only just found out. One of them calls me and is in tears. "It's just so sad", she cries. I spent last night hoping it wasn't true. Stranger in Moscow (I song I previously professed to dislike) is playing on repeat in my head and I can't sleep. Please don't let it be true.

I awoke this morning still clinging on to that hope. But it was true. I called my mum and she tells me she's never seen my youngest sister like this before. The girl we call "robot" because she never expressed her feelings. I then called my best friend and we talk about him, his sad life and how he once said he was a "very, very, very lonely man". I tell her that back in the day I used to wonder how I'll feel when Michael Jackson dies but I didn't think it would be this soon. I've always been sad that I would never get to see Jeff Buckley live but this is on another level. This is a lifetime of love and to be so so close and have it snatched away at the last minute. It at time feels silly to be this sad, I'm not a friend or family. But if someone has been with you all your life, though only through their music, and then suddenly they're gone, what else should you feel? Shows how powerful music really is.

Allow me to be a bit soppy here. No matter how much his face changed, his smile was always the same and always infectious. I think this clip on Anil's blog sums up a lot for me. A sad childhood but somehow he could still smile. A genius but unhinged, two things that often come hand in hand it would seem. 

When 26th July rolls around, instead of getting ready to go see him in concert we'll be sitting at home, remembering the man, the legend. He will never be gone for us as his music is here and it's alive and wonderful. The true King of Pop. Goodbye Michael.

This song just does something to me which induces a rush of endorphins. <3

Great performance of this song on Later...with Jools Holland; try and catch it.

I started a rock music appreciation society at work (I know, I'm awesome) and from humble beginnings we have grown to a substantial membership size. RockSoc shall take over the world! Or something.

One of our first network events is to swap CDs with each other containing our Fave Tracks Of All Time. I started compiling mine today and I'm not sure if these are my Fave Tracks Of All Time or What I'm Loving Right Now. Here's the track listing from my submission to the first RockSoc CD Swap and yes, I know they're not all rock songs but that wasn't the brief, ok? Now I have to get them to all fit onto one disc...

• What's a Girl to Do - Bat for Lashes
• Nara - E.S. Posthumus
• Liquid Lives - Hadouken!
• Remain - José González
• Dream Brother - Jeff Buckley
• Sayonee - Junoon
• My Love ft T.I. - Justin Timberlake
• On - Bloc Party
• Kashmir - Led Zeppelin
• Fame - David Bowie
• Tanhai - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
• There Is a Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths
• Lover, You Should've Come Over - Jeff Buckley
• Butterflies and Hurricanes - Muse
• Climbing Up The Walls - Radiohead
• Superstar - Sonic Youth
• Schism - Tool
• Mojo Pin - Jeff Buckley

Oh, by the way, anyone else who wants a copy shall get one. Speak and ye shall be heard.

I <3 the Mercenaries 2 advert. The song is awesomely catchy and I'm hoping they release an album full of gangsta rap songs done in this style. Download the full version of the song here.

As much as it pains me to link to the Daily Mail, I was rather intrigued by their article on Michael Jackson turning 50. They have two pictures of him, one of him today and one of what he may have looked like had he not opted for shed loads of surgery. Interesting.

It's sad really. I recall a conversation from a few days ago with my younger sister. At aged sixteen you'd think the whole Worship Jackson hysteria would have bypassed her but no, she was telling me how her dream in life is to see him live. "I think I'd cry," she said and umm, I may have agreed...

We then talked about how when he dies it won't be as big a deal as it should be. I mean come on, he's a musical genius who's passing would have been akin to that of Elvis but not now. I fear that his life may just be celebrated with cheap puns in the tabloids and the painful dissection of a "weirdo's" life.

Oh well, as long as I still enjoy the music right?

I am not ashamed (though I probably should be) to say that I was an East 17 fan back in the day where being an East 17 fan didn't get your head kicked in. Yep, I had large posters of Tony Mortimer and Brian Harvey up in my room, even a couple of small ones of Bill and Bob (or whatever the other two were called). Mum of course knew of the fascination, being subjected to their music all the time. I even blasted it in the kitchen when she was trying to teach me how to make chapattis.

East 17 broke up in 1997 and I was sad for, oh, about a day. My musical tastes have changed, you'll be pleased to know. (Some would argue that liking the Backstreet Boys isn't much of a progression but boo sucks to them.) Mum however isn't quite up to speed with the goings ons in the pop world (apparently she has better things to do with her time. Poor excuse, I know.) Whenever I'm listening to something that happens to have a male voice, mum chimes in, "Is this East 17?" To name but a few, she has asked me this whilst I've been listening to the following: Seal, 112, Maroon 5 and Notorious BIG.

I don't mind of course, I just gently tell her that no, it's not the boys from Walthamstow.

The last straw however was the other day when I was listening to Franz Ferdinand. "Is this East 17?"

"Mum! East 17 have been been gone for over eight years now! No this is not East 17....I don't listen to them anymore! They weren't that great a band in the first place; that is such an insult to this music!"

"Okay, okay, baba.....is it Take That?"

I listened to Parachutes and X&Y back to back last night and wooooah *waves arms in air, pretending to be a set of scales therefore signalling that Parachutes far outweighs X&Y and that Coldplay should really pull their socks up*

It's that time again. Time to suggest tracks I can play at a party this month. I need stuff that will get people dancing. Doesn't matter what genre or even what language the songs are in. So suggest away!

We bought it. My sister refused to hold it in public. But hey ain't no shame in my game! Or something...