Welcome to the first in the series of Learning to love.
This post is about a song and what it stands for. It is also how I came to not hate it anymore.
The song is Khe Sanh, as you may have guessed from the title , which is by an Australian band called Cold Chisel, here it is
As you can see from the video, it was a late 70s song. Apparently perms were big in Australia at the time. The song is about a Vietnam veteran who tries to return to 'normal' life after his time in the war. It is quite poignant at times.
I hated this song for most of my life.
Why? Well, this song and the band Cold Chisel are synonymous with the Australian redneck culture. It is played at pubs at 2 am , as well as 7,8,9,10 etc, all around the country and every time it is, the drunk and seemingly patriotic Aussies belt it out. Except they can't sing, and they are generally not patriotic but racist. They also do not like anyone who does not like the song. Happy to fight etc.
For me it also ran deeper than that though. It was also about the fact that when I was growing up everyone in Australia was basically expected to like the song and the band. As you know if you have read other posts. That sort of rubbish leads me to dislike something straight away.The song is so mainstream that it has come to define an era of aussie pub rock. In some way it also represents a country , as opposed to a city, culture as well.
Interestingly it is often played at the same time as this song, by Steve Earle
Miss me? again . . .I am worse that a deadbeat Dad aren't I? Come and go as i please.
Well, it is time for some more love. I am going to start writing a series. it will keep me entertained and help to rejuvenate my writing a little bit.
I am going to call the series, the 'Learning to love' series. This is about the idea that you can learn to love any type of music.In the series I hope to portray my musical journey a little bit, and maybe, just maybe get you to love some of the music a bit.
It might get a bit personal, but hey, this is my space, albeit owned by Google. . .
Will be writing a bit more. Promise, not just Christmas cards and a call at your birthday.
So, lets give it go Ruminators . . I have decided to call you Ruminators . . it isn't rude I promise. .
and then you can listen to it whilst I rant. (for those of you not on Spotify there is the list of songs at the end)
So, as promised on my post about cool love songs there are also the songs written about love lost or never found. There are so many songs about this it is ridiculous. In fact I would hesitate to guess that if you took the songs about love, the songs about love lost and the songs about wanting to get together, then you would be left with almost nothing, maybe some songs about cars ,surfing and Dungeons and Dragons type stuff. If you exclude the Beach Boys and Dio then that is about it.
Even the car songs, are about love, not a natural love in the way you and I understand it , but a weird strange love between man and a car. Strange that there are no songs about losing a car. . . but I guess I haven't been everywhere in the musical universe just yet. If you know a song about the love lost for a car please let me know, I am now interested in a strange sort of way.
Car love aside, the best songs are about love lost. A bold statement to be sure, but I defy you , challenge you to a duel, to prove me wrong. It has to do with artist inspiration. When people are feeling truly horrible, they produce brilliance. I guess it has something to do with understanding the feelings as they are so intense and then writing from what is left of their poor broken hearts. People tend to dwell more on negative emotions than on positive ones, well artistic types do. It makes for better production.
So, how then to define what is a cool song about such a bleak topic as love lost? I guess a cool song must fulfill the idea of being a good song to start with. it must get across what the writer is trying to depict with the emotion that is going through them.
There is no doubt that some people are far better at this than others. My list of favourite songs, yes there is a list, don't tell me you don't have a mental one as well because I will not believe you, you lie and I am not crazy, includes many of these artists. Immeadiate thoughts go to The Cure, Counting Crows, Beach Boys, Smashing Pumpkins Nickleback, The Church, Foo Fighters, Zeppelin, Radiohead etc
What you do find though is that some people have a surprising side when it comes to this and although their music isn't generally what you would put into this type of category , they have come up with a moment of brilliance that conveys it. Take Pearl Jam and Black, or Slipknot and Snuff. Just surprising, not that they have the same issues that other artists do, but that amongst all the other stuff they produce they have a moment that comes into this category and is so sharp that it could take your breath away.
For others it is perhaps their finest moment. I have written before about Fuzzy by Grant lee Buffalo, Ripple by The Church, Low by Cracker but also consider I Hope I Never by Split Endz. These songs rest on albums that apart for that song would have submerged under the murky waters of popular culture never to be seen again. They touch brilliance, albeit fleetingly , and so live with usforever.
I have always been fascinated by this type of music. I guess because when I was younger I didn't really have too many serious heart breaks and so I lived a little vicariously through the music. Plus I think it is just so much more interesting. Rather than people running about in the sunshine, holding hands and being spectacularly groovy, this is the music of rain and thunder. Being alone, cold and wet, and wondering if you will be there when the sun finally comes out again.
Far more interesting
It just is
Oh and I was joking about Nickleback - come on, seriously, Nickleback - you know nothing.
here is the list
Edge of the Deep Green Sea - The Cure
Ripple - The Church
Snuff - Slipknot
Fuzzy - Grant lee Buffalo
Apart - The Cure
Black - Pearl Jam
Low - Cracker
Miller's Angels - Counting Crows
Say It Aint So - Weezer
In a State - UNKLE
Head Over Heels - Tears for fears
Aftermath - Tahiti 80
I hope I never - Spit Endz
Tainted Love - Marilyn Manson
Soma - The Smashing Pumpkins
Nothing Compares To u - Sinead O'Conner
Babe I am gonna leave you - Led Zeppelin
Street Spirit - Radiohead
Exit Music - Radiohead
Losing my Religion - R.E.M.
The Bitter End - Placebo
Paradox - The Church
Message from Kathleen - Akaline trio
The Ocean - The Bravery
Somebody I used to Know - Gotye
So, this is the first of the new Music Ruminations blogs
Please bear with me a little bit because I am working this out as I go along, I assure you that it will be worth it. I have refrained from doing a spoken commentary on this blog because I think it needs to be one step at a time. Let's see how it goes.
The reason I am doing this is because it is interactive. If you suggest songs that you like on the playlist, probably via the comments here, then I can add them and we can start to generate playlists together. Then everyone is better off.
I wanted to talk about Love. There are a lot of songs about love. In fact I did some research, and using advanced techniques (stole the idea from someone else's work from google) and the most scientific answer I was able to get was that it is a stupid question because most songs are about love.
It has always been the way hasn't it? I think it would make a fairly understandable and logical argument to suggest that song, or musical expression has actually evolved from this as the primary purpose. Everything that came after through song is perhaps a bi-product. A lucky bonus. or maybe, songs about lost love were the driver. That angst causing people to want to express it in a more eloquent fashion than just letting out a primal scream at the sky and walking away and kicking a dodo or something -I am sure this is perhaps why the Dodo is not with us, primary cause of extinction was kicking through unrequited love, rather than them just being tasty, they were in the wrong place any way.
The issue, which you cool music hipsters with your finger on some sort of pulse already know is that most of the songs are rubbish. They suck, they mean nothing in real terms to us. We are too cool for that. But then some cool people put out love songs don't they.
That is where I want to go today, cool people writing about cool love, in a cool way. Now cool is the word I use, perhaps you have a different word, groovy, awesome, I don't know, but substitute it in and you will get the idea.
The playlist starts with two mellow classics. The unique Stevie Wonder, and the peerless Roberta Flack. Stevie Wonder has such a complex and varied catalogue that it is taking years to appreciate it all. Sunshine of My Life is not a song I would usually search out and put on. But listening to it today, it has a joy and an energy that is infectious. Roberta Flack, is a different kind of cool. A very quiet mellow, but in the same way intense, song about another person. A bit mushy perhaps, I get that, but what a voice.
I then branch out into three upbeat songs about love, by very cool bands. Everlong by the Foo Fighters, one of my favourite songs, Ever Fallen in Love by the Buzzcocks, obvious, and Another World, Another Planet by The Only Ones which is more obscure, but a great song and for some reason I always put those last two songs together in my mind. I know the last song isn' t really about long lasting love, but it is still cool. Because I said so.
I am not going to go through the entire playlist, mainly because I got into this a little more than I expected and there are going to be a lot of songs when I am finished.
I have tried to group the songs into some sort of order and general theme. There is some flow I hope.
Some of the songs you may agree with, some probably not, some may make you snicker and wonder what you are doing here . . Regardless, listen, suggest, let's get this done and then the next one is about unrequited love, the yang for the ying.. . .
I hope not because I didn't miss you. In fact I am not sure I even like you anymore. .
No no, I am only joking, but you could do a lot better than me, than this blog. There are lots of other blogs out there, really interesting ones
I guess what I am actually trying to say dear reader is that I have been seeing someone else. Yes, younger, yes, exciting. Yes I know them from work. Name,? I don't see why a name is important, but yes you have probably heard it.
OK it's Spotify.
Yes, I have been lost for the last month or more in Spotify. It is why I haven't written. Why I haven't been in touch at all, why I may have forgotten an important event or two. On that note I missed the death of Disco. Donna Summer and Andy Gibb have both passed away. A sad day for Disco.
I have always liked that track. Mainly because it is basically the first dance track as we know it.
The Bee Gee's. Never really got into them. As you can imagine, when I started getting into music in the early 80s Disco was properly dead. The Bee Gees never really got onto my radar at the time and as such, never really did. Condolences to those who loved them however.
What do you mean I am changing the subject? Oh Spotify? yes, OK.
I have got into Spotify in a massive way. Mainly because I got an app for it called ' share my playlists' and the Last FM app. Together these have opened up a world that I knew was there but never properly explored. Yes, this is the next generation of music listening.
As I wrote in this post, I have followed the musical trends in terms of formats. Records, tapes, CDs, digital music. So we evolved, in true Darwin style, from format to format, getting better sound quality (less scratchy, not warmer for those vinyl fans) , getting more compact and portable, until we get to the ability to have everything you have ever listened to on your PC and a bit of that on a portable music device.
So what does Spotify offer? What can it possibly have that I can't already have? It offers other peoples music. You do not have to buy it, but you can listen to it. So if you like it and then buy it if you want to.
So, you can search and it gives up results you can then explore. It doesn't have everything you ever heard of on it. Really it isn't wiki- music- pedia at all. I can stump it quite easily. I am sure you with your knowledge would be a bit disappointed.
However, and this is the why my head has been turned. With Share my playlist, other people put a selection of tracks together in a so called 'playlist' post it to the app and then you can subscribe to it. Listen to it. This is like having a friend come around and play you tracks by genre.
But, and this is where it becomes irresistible. . . you can play a song on one of the playlists, go to the last FM app and it will generate a playlist of similar songs that are in the Last FM song library. Ones you may not even have known existed.
So , So cool.
As you can imagine . . I have been there for a while and the romance is still and fresh and it makes me feel alive again . . Ok, bollocks aside. It is cool. it is free, and there is a world of music out there.
I have not got to the next stage yet, where you download the playlists to a portable music player as my Ipod is not configured and I do not want to lose everything, which I would if I let Spotify take that over. But i can't do that, because that is my music history for the past few years. Although I want to move on, I do not want to forget about the past. So I need to get another Music player.
I am very open to recommendations on this one. Ipod? or something else? Not a smartphone. Your help is appreciated.
So potentially, this is the last blog of this style. I am looking into how I can link in Playlists and songs on Spotify. I am even toying with the idea of becoming completely multi media and speaking to you directly. Save you the trouble of reading.
I will see, but big changes afoot, two reasons. One to keep you and me interested and two, to boost my pityful readership. Which is my own fault because I stopped advertising and stopped writing.
Anyway, this isn't the end , it is just the end of the beginning.
