Thirty Days of Music, Day Eighteen

Well. I was born on October 27th 1998 so that is the year we shall be in for today.

Once again though I’ve decided that I won’t just do one song and be done with it. I’ll elaborate on a few favourites before I make my final choice for my new answer to this part of the 30 Day Song Challenge.

But first, let’s see what I chose back in 2020.

Day 18: A song from the year you were born

2020: “If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next”, Manic Street Preachers

I was a bit obsessed with this song back in the day. It’s another one of those ones that appeal to the disenchanted youth while dressed up as a little history lesson, a Manics specialty. I remember signing off the last Drivetime show I did on the radio before the 2019 general election with this song, skating on thin ice given that neutrality is a must during those events. However, I think I got away with it as I lamented that sweet FA was really going to change no matter who got the keys to Number 10 that year, and I was right. Brexit was a foregone conclusion, and little did we know what other thrills and spills awaited us. Incidentally, 2020 was the year that the comment section for the video of “If You Tolerate…” was hijacked by the anti-mask, anti-vax brigade. Bless their cotton socks. It meant I quickly got over that obsession with “Tolerate” and ended up preferring “A Design For Life”, but that’s not to disparage this song. It is one of the Manics’ finest, and fully deserving of the Number One spot in the charts.

Ok. Time for the 1998 Lightning Round – One song, one sentence. Off we go!

“This is Hardcore”, Pulp – Best song from Pulp, forever and always.

“Angel”, Massive Attack – Drips with atmosphere and I love it for it.

“Whippin’ Piccadilly”, Gomez – My most hummed song at work this year.

“Destiny Calling”, James – Worth the price of admission for the line about black ones, posh ones, and cute ones.

“Road Rage”, Catatonia – Why do people not like Cerys’ voice?

“The Ballad of Tom Jones”, Space – If I had a Welsh friend, I’d have chosen this yesterday.

“Pure Morning”, Placebo – After my recent nightmare on the ferry, relatable.

“Stay”, Bernard Butler – ‘Bit much’ said Phil Spector.

“Millennium”, Robbie Williams – There are worse John Barry bits to sample.

“Tourniquet”, Headswim – This is sentimental to be honest; my biological father and his band are thanked in the notes of Headswim’s debut.

And that’s the end of the Lightning Round.

But for today, I am going to not only select a song from 1998, I’m going to go for the song that was Number One in the UK Charts on the day I was born in 1998! And that is:

2025: “Believe”, Cher

Ah, when Cher realised that autotune wasn’t just a remedy but a toy. And Christ, I hate this song for it. It’s that one bogey you can’t flick away. Once you’ve listened to it, it ain’t going away. But Number Ones are Number Ones so c’est la vie.

Except that time when the Tweenies released a song not long after called “No. 1” and completely missed the mark. That was f*cking hilarious.

Thirty Days of Music, Day Seventeen

OK, let’s finally get back on track.

Oh f*ck, let’s not. Me singing karaoke is under no circumstances a good idea. But if that is what the Challenge decrees and if we work on the assumption that anyone within the vicinity of my performance is deaf, let’s give it a try.

Day 17: A song you’d sing a duet with someone on karaoke

2020: “We Are The Champions”, Queen

…Ok, bit random of me to have chosen that one.

Class song and all, but is it duet material? It’d be fun to do the chorus I guess, but the quieter parts of the verses maybe less so. Then again, I’d stand more of a chance of being in tune there than when I’d be blasting out the title. Freddie Mercury I am most assuredly not.

2025: “Sunny Afternoon”, The Kinks

This might be even more random. But it’s been in my head all day, I love it to bits, and I think it would be a lovely experience to just prat about a little, get a bit tipsy and sing this song with someone. The ‘In the summertime’ refrains especially.

Ah, another day, another cop out. But hey we’re back in sync now, day eighteen will be released on December 18th, and at least I’m not choosing stuff from the 90s all the time, I’m actually adding some variation…

Goddamn it.

Thirty Days of Music, Day Sixteen

Still trying to get my inner ear to rebalance itself, using this as a way of distracting myself from the swaying.

This might take some time.

Day 16: A song that’s a classic favourite

2020: “Common People”, Pulp

Oh look, for the third week in a row a Pulp song emerges. But again, I was drunk on Britpop back in 2020 (Still am, let’s be honest) and when it came to classics, “Common People” was the first thing that popped into my head. I don’t think I need to tell you why, do I?

Oh OK, here’s a couple of Cliffnotes:

Lyrics? The pinnacle of biting and witty, one of Jarvis’ finest hours.

Sound? Of its time yet so timeless, with the unforgettable guitar riff, keyboard notes and violin swishes.

Now to choose something different but here’s the thing. Choosing a ‘classic favourite’ is a very broad category and I don’t want to just end up going for something from the 90s again. So what I’m going to do is I’m actually going to pick two songs; one of my own choosing, and one from a randomly generated year.

We’ll start with my own choice first:

2025, choice one: “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”, Tears For Fears

To me there is no song that exists that is aging more and more gracefully than this. With dictators and big businesses putting their hands over the world’s mouth and suffocating the life out of it, it makes you wonder if Tears For Fears knew something we didn’t. Or maybe they believed that it couldn’t get worse at the time they made “…Rule The World”. Sorry, lads, it can indeed.

Incidentally, I heard this in a pub before leaving Amsterdam over the weekend and it was one of the three things that kept revolving around my head during that trip home. Worse songs to have on repeat when you’re sea sick and sleep deprived.

Ok, so the next song has to be a classic favourite from a randomly chosen year and that year is…

1976. Plenty of great albums from that year. Station to Station, Ramones, High Voltage, Arrival, and so on. But towards the end of the year, a certain band came along and released a debut single that definitely qualifies as a ‘classic favourite’.

2025, choice two: “Anarchy in the U.K”, Sex Pistols

I’ll admit, I’m not the biggest fan of the Pistols. All the respect in the world for them, but I’m not really the target market for pure punk. If I’d ever lived around that time period and gone to one of their gigs, I would’ve been absolutely twatted. Plus, can you imagine me with a mohawk and covered in safety pins? God forbid.

But the Pistols were a seed, one that grew to absurd proportions. That live show in at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester that led to the creation of Joy Division and Factory Records, that in turn led to the discovery of the Happy Mondays, which then led to Madchester and baggy music and ultimately to Britpop. That is the most trivial condensation of a story you’ll ever read but it’s true. One giant splash and ripples aplenty. So really I do have a lot to thank the Sex Pistols for.

And more still for those they no doubt inspired upon the release of “Anarchy in the U.K”, as the punk genre exploded and more was to come throughout the rest of the 70s. I don’t think there was a lot of younger folks at the time who didn’t want to emulate that sneer and growl of Johnny Rotten, or weren’t inspired by that opening proclamation of being the Antichrist. It is my favourite Pistols song. Skating around Alcatraz with it blasting on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 will have helped massively.

It’s a classic in every sense of the word, regardless of your thoughts and feelings. Its reputation in music folklore is set in stone, and nothing will change that.

Thirty Days of Music, Day Fifteen

I cocked up.

So I am back from my trip abroad, went to Amsterdam for a few days. Had some fun with my mates, enjoyed the sights and customs of the Dutch. My plan had been to be back home nice and early on Monday so I could post the fifteenth part of the 30 Day Song Challenge, no need to pre-write and upload it in case something happened.

Oh, but something did happen. We got the ferry back home on Sunday evening and the sea was rough as hell. No sleep and half my stomach lining down the bog. Monday was a write off as I spent pretty much all of it in bed waiting for my inner ear to regain its balance and my blood sugars to sort themselves out.

But I’m back in the land of the living now and that means you’ll get two posts in one day, so swings and roundabouts. First, let’s talk covers!

Day 15: A song you liked that’s a cover by another artist

2020: “Step On”, Happy Mondays

It must suck when your most famous and most-played song is a cover. The Mondays have a great repertoire – “Hallelujah”, “Tart Tart”, “Kinky Afro” to name a few – and Shaun Ryder is frankly a very slept on lyricist. But what makes “Step On” special is that does not sound like a cover at all, you would never guess it came from South Africa’s John Kongos. ‘You’re twisting my melon, man’ is a little flourish that immediately makes it the Mondays’ song now, but there’s also Paul Ryder doing a lot of heavy lifting with both bass and keyboards, and Mark Day turning in a signature Madchester guitar riff. No doubt Bez was doing some vital work too.

2025: “Do You Remember the First Time?”, Sophie Ellis-Bextor

A while back for the radio, I did an hour of Britpop that was comprised entirely of covers. Some were songs covered by established Britpop artists (A chunk of them coming from the Help! album from 1995), others by artists covering Britpop (such as Elvis Costello doing a rendition of Sleeper’s “What Do I Do Now?”). Looking back on that show, I think the best song I played was this live rendition Sophie Ellis-Bextor did of this Pulp classic. In fact, there have been times since where I’ve played it on the radio solely for the fact that on that particular day I kind of prefer it to the original. Sacrilege perhaps, but Sophie does it justice and then some.

Right, back with you this evening for another round.

Thirty Days of Music, Day Fourteen

Oh boy, this is just a wide open goal for cringe isn’t it? Might be best if I keep this one minimalist in case I devolve into self-pity.

Day 14: A song you’d love to be played at your wedding

2020: “Lucky Man”, The Verve

In my Britpop-obsessed mind, this seemed like the most obvious choice. To get to a wedding I’d be one lucky man indeed.

Mindset is still the same five years later…

2025: “Something Changed”, Pulp

Second most obvious. Sorry, I’m not putting much thought into this one. See you tomorrow.