time to get ready

So, I like to party.

A simple statement that has so many different connotations. I like going out and enjoying myself. Hardly alone in this, I hasten to add. Over the course of my life this has taken me to many interesting, fun, scary and sometimes disquieting places. Both physically and mentally. I have been completely in my element and very far out of my depth on many many occasions.

As with many things, one of the most appealing aspects of going out is the anticipation. As you will be far less shocked to hear, I like to put on some music before I go out or as I get ready. Much the same way as every person does. I would like to think though that some of the music that I do put on is at least a little different from the average teenage girl putting on the latest bit of corporate fed pop music.

I often feel that one of the best ways to prepare for what is certainly going to be the best night of my life is to get a bit aggressive. This is not about getting aggressive in order to get into fights. Nothing wrong with a bit of fisty cuffs if the need arises, but I do not go looking for it, and in fact am often the voice of reason in calming people down and taking them back from the place where they are about to get a kicking.

Getting a bit aggressive for me often means listening to something a bit faster and heavier, with a bit of attitude. This is a great version of a song that does this for me quite well:

I wrote before in Punk  that I think that is a brilliant version of the song, and it is. They look like they are having a huge amount of fun. There is the funkiness to that song and the fast paced rhythm and bass guitars that get the blood pumping a little bit more - in anticipation of what is about to come.

Another song that I have written about before but that I think has a little bit of aggressive mischief to it, is this song by The Cult:

I think it is the lyric:  'Mayhem children take no lip, rev your engines from the hip' - not exactly an Oscar Wilde witticism, but none the less, when melded with the guitars and that cool riff, it gets its message across. It is about having a bit of swagger, and we are nothing when we are out, unless we have some swagger.

Of course, not all nights are the same and sometimes it calls for a completely different mindset. Aren't we lucky that the great musicians that have enhanced our lives also realised this and have given us more than Rock around the clock . . that is harsh actually. Did you know that Rock around the Clock by Bill Haley and the Comets is still the second highest selling single of all time? Higher than the Beatles, higher then everything else in fact than Candle in Wind. (and that is only because Candle in the wind was released at least twice in different versions) .

As usual , I digress. I do like a bit of good trance to go out to as well. It has all to do with the beat and the association with being in a big club, and feeding off the energy of the people.

I love that track. That is an awesome track. It makes me want to go out. That is the point of course. But it is more than that. It is not a track that you would put on to listen to at home whilst you were idly doing something else. It is a song that demands to be listened to, and perhaps that is the point. You are put in a good mood because it grabs your attention a little bit more and perhaps focuses the idea that you are going to do something different from the norm, something that might just break up the monotony.

With that in mind, sometimes the mindset that you need for this is much more restrained and perhaps , dare I say, a little sophisticated. . the horror . . . ha. I think this song is a great going out song for the sophisticated areas of our lives . .

Ha ha , midgets with skateboards and fat people dancing . . . very sophisticated I think that you will agree.

There are a huge amount of songs about going out, getting ready and all that sort of stuff. These are just a few, the point being that when we get out, then it tends to end up a lot more like this,

...than the image we had when we were getting ready.


What gets you going for a night out?