Showing posts with label 150for30. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 150for30. Show all posts

Wednesday, 27 May 2009

Five months ago...

...it was my birthday (and I became old).

At the time I posted about my plans to put together a playlist of 150 songs for my 30th birthday, the 150for30.

It's still a work in progress.

I'm 37 songs short of the full 150. I've got 34 songs that I need to download (I'm doing 10 a month on payday) and I'm still missing 3 songs for the 0-10 section.

Below is the list of the 37 songs I've found for that time, can anyone help me think of three more?

I'm after the big songs from between 1978 and 1988, I'm sure there must be a few more key songs from that time that I just haven't thought of. Songs that were played everywhere and that have just slipped my mind.

So here's the list, any more ideas? (Keris...I'm looking at you here...)

All Around My Hat - Steeleye Span
American Pie - Don McLean
Babooshka - Kate Bush (TDL)
Bicycle Race - Queen
Blinded By The Light - Manfred Mann
Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell
Buffalo Stance - Neneh Cherry
Cathedral - CSNY
Christmas Must Be Tonight - The Band
Dancing in the City - Marshall Hain (TDL)
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
Gaudete - Steeleye Span
Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City - Harry Nilsson
Guitar Man - Bread
Hotel California - Eagles
House At Pooh Corner - Livingstone Taylor
In The Summertime - Mungo Jerry
Karma Chameleon - Culture Club (TDL)
Layla - Derek and the Dominoes
Love The One You're With - Stephen Stills
Making Your Mind Up - Bucks Fizz (TDL)
Only The Good Die Young - Billy Joel
Orinoco Flow - Enya (TDL)
Our House - CSNY
Photographs and Memories - Jim Crace (TDL)
Shaddap You Face - Joe Dolce (TDL)
Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
Spirit in the Sky - Doctor and the Medics (TDL)
Stand and Deliver - Adam Ant (TDL)
Stuck In The Middle With You - Steeler's Wheel
Sunshine On My Shoulders - John Denver
Take On Me - A-Ha
Teach Your Children - CSN
The Chain - Fleetwood Mac
The Weight - The Band
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go - Wham
We Will Rock You - Queen

(TDL)= To DownLoad.

For bonus points, can you guess any of the 14 songs from that list that have made it onto my work playlist...

Thursday, 15 January 2009

Blue, blue...

...blue.

January has me in its miserable grip.

Every single customer at work is rude and or abusive - the winner being the woman who called me a f**king cow when I asked her to put in her pin number while she was on the phone to a friend.

The blog I go to for happy thoughts and positive thinking, cjane, has had no end of crap being talked about it in various places due to her success (subject to confirmation) in the 2008 Weblog Awards.
This includes criticism of the fact that she has been fundraising for her sister, the fact she has been raising her sister's kids, the picture of herself as an angel in her blog header, and the fact that she has been moderating her comments over the last six months in an attempt to keep things positive and upbeat. Good grief. I worry about the world when people stop understanding jokes and sarcasm and decide that she's an evil person who only gave her nephew gum for his birthday.

Plus I'm feeling broody/empty, a currently unsolvable problem.

So tonight I have come home and dug out a song guaranteed to make me cry my eyes out.



Then I put on the song with the longest intro in the world (lyrics start at 3:24)



Then Anthony walked in the front door, I put on a song from my 150for30 play list and the world got brighter.



(Forgot today was Thursday, that goes a long way towards explaining me ranting!)

Sunday, 28 December 2008

150 songs...

...for my 30th Birthday. (Part One)

Once upon a time I wrote a post about music. Then I wrote a small follow-up to it.

I found those 18th Birthday Tapes the other day (they so deserve capitals) and was reading through the track listings and smiling at the memories that appeared.

So I decided to create my own playlist for my 30th. One hundred songs that represented the thirty years that I'd been around. Then I hit a few snags...mainly the fact that I couldn't narrow it down to 100. So I upped it a little. The list is now 150 songs, split up into 0-10, 10-20 and 20-30 sections so that each decade gets a fair shot. Not every song is in the decade it was released in, they fit in where I remember them within my life.

It's been very good fun - although Anthony is a little scared by some of the choices, and is very scared by some of the songs he didn't know that I then played him.

As I suspected in that first post, there are a few songs that have carried across to the 150. There are also a few that haven't due to not conjuring up a moment in my head. The Beatles are a casualty for this very reason, as are The Rolling Stones. I know. Shocking isn't it. They summon up a general time (sixth form and uni respectively) but no specific memories so I've had to be ruthless and chop them out.

While I'm working on the 150for30, here are my 100for18 - the result of three days choosing and locating the songs (as I had to find all the LP's/tapes with them on) and three weeks or so of Dad arranging them, copying them onto the reel-to-reel and then making the cassettes.

  • Queen - Headlong
  • Del Amitri - Driving With the Brakes On
  • CSN - Just a Song Before I Go
  • Eagles - Take it to the Limit
  • Livingstone Taylor - House at Pooh Corner (which I want on the 150for30 list, but this version isn't on iTunes so I've had to go for the version by Loggins & Messina - meh)
  • Neil Young - Pocahontas
  • Beatles - Revolution 9
  • CSN - Long Time Gone
  • CSN - Cowboy of Dreams
  • Billy Joel - Only the Good Die Young
  • Chicago - A Hard Habit to Break
  • Don McLean - American Pie
  • Jim Croce - Have to Say I Love You in a Song
  • Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
  • Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Blinded by the Light
  • Oasis - Morning Glory/The Swamp Song/Champagne Supernova (since they all just flow into each other on the album)
  • Four Seasons - December '63
  • Beatles - The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
  • Jim Croce - Photographs and Memories
  • Eagles - Hotel California
  • Billy Joel - Piano Man
  • Elton John - Candle in the Wind
  • Neil Young - Rockin' in the Free World
  • Beatles - Yesterday
  • CSNY - Deja Vu
  • Jim Croce - New York's not my Home
  • Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love
  • Ash - Oh Yeah
  • Boyzone - Key to my Life
  • Levellers - Hope Street
  • Commodores - Easy Like Sunday Morning
  • Jim Croce - Operator
  • CSN - Suite: Judy Blue-Eyes
  • Beatles - Hey Jude
  • Neil Young - Like a Hurricane
  • Beatles - Ticket to Ride
  • Doors - Strange Days
  • Madness - Our House
  • CSNY - Our House (two very different songs with the same title - I always loved the fact Dad put them together)
  • Billy Joel - Always a Woman to Me
  • Stills-Young Band - Long May You Run
  • Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever
  • Queen - Radio Ga-Ga
  • Chris De Burgh - Lady in Red (on the tape track listing as by Chris Rea for some reason)
  • Dodgy - Making the Most of
  • Aerosmith - Cryin'
  • Ash - Girl From Mars
  • Who - My Generation
  • Bonzos - I'm the Urban Spaceman (Produced by Apollo C. Vermouth, otherwise known as Paul McCartney)
  • Fleetwood Mac - The Chain
  • Oasis - Wonderwall
  • Al Stewart - Song on the Radio
  • Mama's & Papa's - California Dreamin'
  • Byrds - Mr Tambourine Man
  • Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
  • CSN - Military Madness
  • Chicago - If You Leave me Now
  • CSN - Teach Your Children
  • CSNY - Ohio (These two songs are forever linked in my mind)
  • Eagles - Best of My Love
  • Bluetones - Carnt Be Trusted (When I wrote this on the list Dad asked if I needed spelling lessons, then he said the band needed them!)
  • Queen - We Will Rock You
  • Ruth - Fear of Flying
  • Neil Young - Round and Round (It Won't be Long)
  • CSN - Simple Man
  • Billy Joel - Uptown Girl
  • Huey Lewis - The Power of Love
  • CSNY - Helpless
  • Beatles - All You Need is Love
  • Mungo Jerry - In the Summertime
  • Bluetones - Putting Out Fires
  • CSN - Horses Through a Rainstorm
  • Billy Joel - Christie Lee
  • Doors - When You're Strange (With the voice of my friend David at the beginning saying "These really are strange days, and they're full of strange people too")
  • Beatles - Birthday
  • Bluetones - Bluetonic
  • Queen - Killer Queen
  • Dodgy - Grassman
  • Alanis Morrisette - You Learn
  • Bryan Adams - Run to You
  • Doors - Light My Fire
  • Neil Young - Unknown Legend
  • CSN - Blackbird
  • Billy Joel - The Ballad of Billy the Kid
  • Beatles - Good Day Sunshine
  • Crosby & Nash - Cathedral
  • Beatles - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
  • Jim Croce - Time in a Bottle
  • CSN - Chicago/We Can Change The World
  • Alanis Morrisette - Ironic
  • Crosby & Nash - Carry Me
  • Blur - Charmless Man
  • Queen - Don't Stop Me Now
  • Al Stewart - Year of the Cat
  • Billy Joel - Famous Last Words


  • Anyone still here?

    So lets see... at 18 I was in a phase of listening to a whole lot of my Dad's music, with occasional bursts of Billy Joel and Queen (courtesy of Mum), and a few dribs of current tunes.

    One of the reasons I split the 150for30 into three sections...

    Wednesday, 27 December 1978

    150 songs...

    ...for my 30th birthday.

    (and yes, like the book list this post is dated the day I was born.)

    (and yes, this post is a work in progress...)

    0 - 10

    All Around My Hat - Steeleye Span
    American Pie - Don McLean
    Babooshka - Kate Bush
    Bicycle Race - Queen
    Blinded By The Light - Manfred Mann
    Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell
    Buffalo Stance - Neneh Cherry
    Cathedral - CSNY
    Christmas Must Be Tonight - The Band
    Dancing in the City - Marshall Hain
    Dancing Queen - ABBA
    Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
    Gaudete - Steeleye Span
    Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City - Harry Nilsson
    Guitar Man - Bread
    Hotel California - Eagles
    House At Pooh Corner - Livingstone Taylor
    I Don't Like Mondays - Boomtown Rats
    In The Summertime - Mungo Jerry
    Karma Chameleon - Culture Club
    Layla - Derek and the Dominoes
    Love The One You're With - Stephen Stills
    Making Your Mind Up - Bucks Fizz
    Only The Good Die Young - Billy Joel
    Orinoco Flow - Enya
    Our House - CSNY
    Romeo and Juliet - Dire Straits
    Shaddap You Face - Joe Dolce
    Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
    Spirit in the Sky - Doctor and the Medics
    Stand and Deliver - Adam Ant
    Stuck In The Middle With You - Steeler's Wheel
    Sunshine On My Shoulders - John Denver
    Take On Me - A-Ha
    Teach Your Children - CSN
    The Chain - Fleetwood Mac
    The Weight - The Band
    Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go - Wham
    We Will Rock You - Queen

    ******************************

    10 - 20

    Alisha Rules the World - Alisha's Attic
    All I Wanna Do - Sheryl Crow
    All That She Wants - Ace of Base
    Alright - Supergrass
    Animal Nitrate - Suede
    Bartender and The Thief - Stereophonics
    Basket Case - Green Day
    Birdhouse in Your Soul - They Might be Giants
    Boys are Back in Town - Thin Lizzy
    Carnt Be Trusted - Bluetones
    Country House - Blur
    Crazy for You - Let Loose
    Creep - Radiohead
    Day We Caught The Train - Ocean Colour Scene
    Disco 2000 - Pulp
    Do The Bartman - The Simpsons
    Doin' The Do - Betty Boo
    Drugs Don't Work - The Verve
    Everything Changes - Take That
    Fields of Gold - Sting
    For What It's Worth - Buffalo Springfield
    Girl From Mars - Ash
    Girl In The Dirty Shirt - Oasis
    Goodnight Girl - Wet Wet Wet
    Hand in my Pocket - Alanis Morissette
    Hey Dude - Kula Shaker
    How Bizarre - OMC
    Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice
    I'll Be There For You - The Rembrandts
    Ironic - Alanis Morrisette
    Just A Girl - No Doubt
    Lady In Red - Chris De Burgh
    Lemon - U2
    Love Me For A Reason - Boyzone
    Love Shack - The B52's
    Man! I Feel Like A Woman! - Shania Twain
    Million Love Songs - Take That
    Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O'Connor
    Oliver's Army - Elvis Costello
    One and Only - Chesney Hawkes
    Parklife - Blur
    Pure Morning - Placebo
    Raspberry Beret - Prince
    Secret Smile - Semisonic
    Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
    Staying Out For The Summer - Dodgy
    Steal My Sunshine - len
    Stupid Girl - Garbage
    Things Can Only Get Better - D:Ream
    Three Lions - Baddiel & Skinner
    Town Called Malice - The Jam
    Two Princes - Spin Doctors
    Unbelievable - EMF
    Unknown Legend - Neil Young
    Urban Spaceman - Bonzos
    Wake Up Boo! - The Boo Radleys
    Why Does It Always Rain on Me - Travis
    Wonderwall - Oasis
    World in Motion - England New Order
    Young at Heart - The Bluebells

    ******************************

    20 - 30

    Addicted to Bass - Puretone
    After Hours- Bluetones
    All The Small Things - Blink 182
    All The Things She Said - Tatu
    American Idiot - Green Day
    Bad Day - Daniel Powter
    Beautiful - Christina Aguilera
    Beautiful Day - U2
    Buck Rogers - Feeder
    Call My Name - Charlotte Church
    Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
    Come Away With Me - Norah Jones
    Complicated - Avril Lavigne
    Dancing In The Moonlight - Toploader
    Dark is Rising - Mercury Rev
    Dirrty - Christina Aguilera
    Drops of Jupiter - Train
    Du Hast - Rammstein
    Feeling Good - Muse
    Follow Me - Uncle Kracker
    Girl All The Bad Guys Want - Bowling for Soup
    Kiss The Bride - Elton John
    Kokomo - Beach Boys
    Leave Right Now - Will Young
    Little Less Conversation - Elvis & JXL
    Livin' on the Edge - Aerosmith
    Long May You Run - Stills Young Band
    Mambo No. 5 - Lou Bega
    Memphis Soul Song - Uncle Kracker
    My Way - Limp Bizkit
    No Tomorrow - Orson
    Northern Sky - Nick Drake
    Plug In Baby - Muse
    Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae
    Ready To Go - Republica
    Rock Star - Nickleback
    Rushes - Darius
    Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon
    She Hates Me - Puddle of Mudd
    She Will Be Loved - Maroon 5
    She's So Lovely - Scouting For Girls
    Sitting Down Here - Lene Marlin
    Smooth - Santana
    So What - Pink
    Something Kinda Oooh - Girls Aloud
    Teenage Dirtbag -Wheatus
    The Middle - Jimmy Eat World
    Thousand Miles - Vanessa Carlton
    Truly Madly Deeply - Savage Garden
    What I Go To School For - Busted
    Wish I Was A Punk Rocker - Sandi Thom


    ******************************

    I shall be gradually working on links for all of these, and a couple of songs may change if I suddenly find something that I really should have included.