I have a theory. The Music Cosmos, to atone for the lameness that infested most of the Eighties, put out some bloody beauties during the Nineties. Yesterday my FB group was posting pursuant to a Nineties theme, and more and more often good ones cropped up. I posted 'The Way' by Fastwall. Then I posted 'Cry' by The Mavises. 'Walking on the Sun' by Smashmouth was another of my offerings. The collaborative output of a Hoodoo Gurus/Midnight Oil hybrid - The Ghostwriters - was my next choice. Yeah, Rob Hirst from the Oils, and someone from the Hoodoo Gurus, but I can't recall who, and the song's called 'Someone's Singing New York, New York'. YouTube it if it doesn't ring any bells - you won't be sorry. Some muse took over my clicking finger, causing me to locate and post 'I'm Not Sick But I'm Not Well' Flagpole Sitta. Awesome, or what? Congratulations from my fellow group members were the bulk of the comment threads. The fire department had to be put on standby because this Daughter of Eve was definitely on fire last night! A recent addition to my iPod, 'American Life In The Summertime' by Francis Drummery, graced the thread of this page, too.
Oh, I did not post ALL the good stuff. It was up to someone else to post 'How To Save A Life' by Fray.
I can't recall if I was the one who posted 'Where The Wild Roses Grow' by Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue. I probably did because he came up in conversation. If I am hosting a dinner party, I am not going to allow him to be a topic of conversation. Discuss all the contentious stuff you like: religion and politics? Go for your lives. But a discussion about this gloom merchant will most likely lead to tears, and thrown bread rolls because he is more polarising a topic than the most offensively worded Murdoch press headline. There are some in my loved group that think he is a genius. I, however, am in the camp that thinks he's a gloomy weirdo who sucks all the life out of the room, like a lugubrious vacuum. The aforementioned song evokes the same feeling of revulsion and horror I would face were I to discover a bat is dry-humping my head. Whenever someone praises him and preaches his relevance and brilliance, I look out the window to see if the emperor is walking down the road in the nuddy, wedding tackle bobbing in time with his feet striking the bitumen.
Two songs stayed with me, and I've been playing them tonight. 'About A Girl' by Nirvana is one of them. Listening again, it occurred to me what a very good singer Kurt Cobain was. I really enjoyed the raw and raspy vocals on this, and how he can really hit a note and stay in tune. The intensity of his delivery (particularly in the MTV unplugged version) just grabs you by the collarbone, and squeezes hard. Alternatively, he could have just been constipated when it was recorded. But it sounds really great.
The other one is 'Every You, Every Me' by Placebo. The song is delivered with a cynical in-your-face, almost fuck-you style by the lead singer Brian Molko. This band has gay, pissed off emos in it; what's not to enjoy? Especially a song that opens with if not angry strumming, then definitely annoyed strumming of the guitars, and erupts like a volcano of attitude, with lyrics like 'my heart's a tart/Your body's rent...'. When I hear this, I always think of the opening credits to the 1999 movie 'Cruel Intentions'; it's heard whilst Sebastian is cruising along in his black Jaguar. If you are not au fait with this movie, it's an imagining of 'Dangerous Liaisons' only instead of aristocratic French root-rats, it's spoiled LA step-siblings, who also happen to be root-rats. Ryan Phillipe plays the John Malkovich character, re-imagined as Sebastian Vicompte (can't quite remember the French spelling of 'viscount'). He wants to fuck his step-sister, the manipulative and sociopathic Katherine (Sarah Michelle Gellar), and the Michelle Pfeifer character from the movie is played by Reese Witherspoon, whilst a very funny Selma Blair (funny actress/awful name) takes on the role of Cecile (the Uma Thurman character in 'Dangerous Liaisons'). I must admit, I do love the scene where Sebastian carries out his initial seduction of Cecile ('You have to let me kiss you, Cecile. Oh, I don't want to kiss you there, I want to kiss you there!'). If you're thinking of watching the movie, do so.
List for tomorrow:
1. Work on my disabled care assignment.
2. Draft my lesson for the creative writing class on Tuesday afternoon (I'm going to talk about character dialogue).
3. Prepare a 500-word piece for my creative writing group.
4. Tell my kids to stay away from Mum's computer, and Mum as well, whilst she does these things.
No comments:
Post a Comment