The history
of Girls Aloud is pretty much a series of events that shouldn’t have happened
the way they did, ridiculous ideas that turned out great, blessings in disguise
and misfortunes that ultimately helped them, all these little contradictions.
To begin with, they shouldn’t have a fan like me, a guy who spent the last 20+
years listening to the likes of Depeche Mode, The Cure, R.E.M., New Order and
The Smiths. But for me, they fit in there perfectly – pop music at its best,
with a bit of a twist, something that makes it unusual.
Sunday, 30 November 2014
Friday, 28 November 2014
Depeche Mode: Speak & Spell era
The album.
The singles. The songs. The tour.
Friday, 31 October 2014
My generation
Well, my
chosen one, to be precise, I'm slightly younger than them. There might be several great solo artists, but the
acts that had the biggest impact on me are bands, and I couldn’t help but
notice that quite a few of my favourite bands are made up of guys who are
roughly the same age, which could be more than just a coincidence.
Labels:
Depeche Mode,
Joy Division,
New Order,
R.E.M.,
The Cure,
U2
Sunday, 5 October 2014
The coolest popstar on Earth
For me, it’s
Nicola Roberts. (I try to come up with a less bombastic title next time, I
promise.) I’m male
and heterosexual, so I have to start with this: she’s incredibly beautiful. Now
with that out of the way, we can concentrate on what makes her so cool.
Saturday, 4 October 2014
The best band ever
Depeche
Mode. I was born on Alfred Hitchcock’s birthday, but unlike him, I didn’t want
to keep you in suspense for too long. They happen to be my favourite band as
well, but that’s not the same thing: choosing a favourite is based on emotional
response, calling something the best in its field is more of an evaluation, but
I won’t pretend to be objective or unbiased, and I have my reasons.
Wednesday, 1 October 2014
Innocence
I’m quite
sure that anyone reading this is already aware that U2 has released a new album
a few weeks ago. The method they chose to do it is a little unorthodox, and for
some reason, an awful lot of people felt they should comment on the case, so I’m
just jumping on the bandwagon.
Labels:
Apple,
Grammy Awards,
iTunes,
Songs Of Innocence,
U2
Saturday, 27 September 2014
REMTV
Yesterday, R.E.M.
announced a massive new release for November this year: a 6 DVD-collection, compiled
from the MTV (once known as Music Television) archives. The format seems
somewhat outdated, but we have to keep in mind that the footage included was filmed
for television broadcast, probably not shot on film, so the majority might not
be HD anyway. When no longer active bands pull stuff from their vaults like
this, it’s usually seen as an easy way to cash in (I deliberately avoided the
term “to make a few bucks”), but I
don’t think that applies here – no casual fan will buy a 6 disc collection, it’s
clearly for the hardcore fans, collectors and completists. I’ll share some of
my thoughts about the content below.
Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Some Great Reward 30
30 years
ago today, the 4th Depeche Mode album, Some Great Reward was released. I don’t
think it was considered a musical milestone at the time, and even today it’s
not necessarily seen as a crucial point in their career, but looking back, it
was probably the point where they stepped up a level after the initial success
of their previous works.
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