The Streets - Fit But You Know It
30 Day Song Challenge - A song that makes you happy
There are loads of songs that put a smile on my face, usually because the lyrics are funny, or because they remind me of a happy time. Seeing as there’s an entry for the latter a little further down the 30-day song challenge list, I’ve chosen a song that really makes me smile just because of the song itself.
I’m a huge, huge fan of The Streets, and this is one of his happiest, boppiest, singalong tunes that just makes me chuckle every time I hear it. Skinner paints a picture of a scene so vividly that you can’t help but be swept up in it all.
The opening lyric gets me on every listen: “See I reckon you’re about an 8 or a 9 / Maybe even 9 and a half in four beers time.” It’s genuinely funny, and that type of humour continues through the rest of the song, with some great wordplay around the concept of “rude”, and the final twist in the last verse.
A genuinely funny song.
49 plays
Hear’Say - Pure And Simple
30 Day Song Challenge - Your Least Favourite Song
I wouldn’t say that this song itself is one that I hate, as it’s merely a fairly bland pop tune, but it’s the wider concept that it represents which makes me dislike it so much.
Hear’Say were the first musical act to become famous as the result of winning a talent contest on TV in the UK. They were formed of the five winners of Popstars, with the five runners-up also forming a pop group: Liberty X (who had more success as a group, although the individual members of Hear’Say have probably had more subsequent success).
This, their first single, was a massive hit, becoming the quickest-selling single in history and topping the charts. Obviously, this made an absolute fortune, and it wasn’t long before two Simons copied the format in the following years: Fuller and Cowell.
As each series and rejigging of the format resulted in ever more viewers, and an almost certain Christmas Number One single (until the groundswell of support for Rage Against The Machine last year), the genre grew and grew, until the point where you can’t move for celebrity judging panels and talent contests.
Yes, it’s Popstars that we have to blame for such monstrosities as Britain’s Got Talent, Strictly Come Dancing, and all manner of other crap. It’s to blame for middle-of-the-road, bland pop that seems only to be capable of producing ballads and not much else. It’s to blame for Simon Cowell’s smug fucking face being in the newspapers for weeks on end, and it’s to blame for a convicted thug being venerated as the nation’s new sweetheart.
Hear’Say never were the problem. It’s what they spawned that I dislike.
Pure and simple.
20 plays
Faithless - Insomnia
Inspired by the list Travors posted, I’ve decided to do the 30-day song challenge, starting with my favourite song.
I can’t remember exactly when it was I first heard this song, but it was sometime in the late ’90s. It just grabbed me with its huge build-up and then massive drop into a simply fantastic melody. As I listened to it more and more, I found Maxi Jazz’s lyrics poetic and powerful.
I have been known to do this song at karaoke.
Faithless are famed for their live performances, and a few weeks back I completed one of my life goals (seriously) which I’ve had for over a decade, and finally saw them in person. The whole concert was amazing, but just to be there for Insomnia was mind-blowing. I went mental when it dropped into the famous keyboard chords, and it still gives me the shivers to think back on it.
51 plays
The Go! Team - Ladyflash
Man, what a great album this was. So full of energy and noise.
63 plays
Gorillaz - Tomorrow Comes Today
Remember when you first heard Clint Eastwood and thought it was bloody amazing, so rushed out to get the album (because you still bought CDs at the time), and then put it on your stereo, expecting to listen to that track over and over again, but then discovered Tomorrow Comes Today, and just absolutely fell in love with it and realised that Gorillaz were going to be something special?
Well, that’s what I’m doing today…
35 plays
Faithless - Not Going Home
If the first track from their new album is anything to go by, the Faithless gig next Friday is going to be absolutely immense. I can’t wait!
29 plays
Richard Cheese - Ice Ice Baby
OK, so everyone knows Richard Cheese by now. It’s still really bloody funny though.
I remember a few years back, when I was living in Germany, being at a pub quiz in an Irish pub which featured a music round that asked you to identify the original songs from snippets of Richard Cheese cover versions. It was so fucking funny to hear things like Baby Got Back in a lounge version.
My team actually won the quiz that night, and we were so inspired by the easy-listening lounge music that we decided to put the winnings into a fund to buy a load of booze for a cocktail evening in one of our halls. We all dressed up in suits and cocktail dresses, and put together a random menu of cocktails to see the night through.
Richard Cheese was the soundtrack to our evening, and it was just a really good time. It was odd to see all of my friends dressed up to the nines, but things soon descended to their usual debauched level. Fun times.
29 plays
