My Life in Music

It's my birthday next week and I've been putting together a little celebratory post to put up on the day. This was part of that post, but it's getting a bit long and unwieldy so I thought I'd do it as a separate post today. I would actually really love to see/read other people's Life in Music so if you want to pinch the idea and do your own I think you should - and put a link in the comments here so we can all come and read it!

So anyway, since I'm unlikely to ever be asked to do Desert Island Discs, here it is...

Age 8 - Kate Bush. I remember watching this on Top of the Pops and thinking she was the most wonderful person I'd ever seen. Like a fairy or an angel or something. There the obsession began. I wanted to be Kate Bush. I used to run around the garden with a blanket flapping like wings screeching Wowowowowowowowowowowowowowowow! after another of her hits. Prepare for tingles down your spine when you watch this. "Oooh, let me have it! Let me grab your soul away!"


Age 18 - Gene Loves Jezebel. Sometime in the 80s Annie Nightingale played an obscure B-side called Gorgeous by Gene Loves Jezebel on her Sunday night request show on Radio 1. It was a strange, slow, limping along sort of a song all about having Mysterons knocking on your door and not being able to play Cluedo. I was instantly in love with my next obsession and went out as soon as I could to get Immigrant, the album of theirs that was current at the time. I gradually got everything else they'd recorded and am still in possession of 23 of their records, and I would not part with them for the world. Gene Loves Jezebel got me through the misery of school. I put their music on every morning to try and lift my depressed mood at the thought of another day in that place. It worked surprisingly well. "I've been wondering where it is you're hiding..."


Age 28 - Nick Cave. I was vaguely aware of Nick Cave throughout my teens, but not really paying attention. It wasn't until I saw the video for The Mercy Seat on TV when I was about 17 that I began to think "Hello, he looks interesting!" I watched that video far too close to the screen, and am still the smitten kitten. Nick Cave - the greatest living songwriter, if I may be so bold. He's very generously provided the soundtrack to most of my adult life so far. What a nice man! "I look at the stone apostles; think that it's alright for some..."


Age 38 - Editors. My current obsession, in my new state of not really being able to listen to music much because Rowan won't allow it and turns it off after a track or two. Editors have somehow seeped through the post-having-a-baby veto on all music, as on those rare occasions I do get to put some music on, it is them that I choose. They're very direct and easy to get, which is essential when you can only listen for about 15 minutes a week (if that)! That's not to denigrate them at all - in fact it's a compliment. I only get a few minutes of music a week, and it's them that I choose almost every time. "You burn like a bouncing cigarette on the the road..."