It’s only just happened and I am shocked.
The very popular front man of Soundgarden and Audioslave, to name a few, has died at the age of 52.
I don’t know what or how, or even why, but it was sudden. I love his music and am now playing Audioslave in honour of the great man.
‘Like a Stone’ is one of my favourites but he was so talented. Even writing the theme tune to James Bond’s ‘Casino Royale’.
He will be hugely missed.
RIP Chris Cornell.
What a few hectic and busy few days that have been had!
As a present for the wife’s birthday, I purchased tickets for O2 to see her favourite band. This later developed into a couple of nights stay in the city of London for us, with no kids. Heaven!
Anyway, we headed up on the Thursday having booked into a hotel in Canning Town, at what is our view from the room window? Yes, the docks. But behind that was the O2 itself and Canary Wharf off to the right. Perfect placement.
The rest of Thursday was spent at Westfields in Stratford and relaxing in front of the telly, without the need for any childrens channels…
Friday, we headed out to Canary Wharf, a part of London we have yet to visit. Instead of using the underground, we decided to try out the Emirates Airline. What’s that, I hear you ask?! Well, I’ll let you off ‘coz I didn’t know they existed ’til a couple of days ago. There is now a new way to get from Canning Town to Greenwich; cable cars!
Yep, there is a set of cable cars that goes straight across the river to the front door of the O2. How convenient! And also, pretty much the same price as normal public transport, even better!
All this leads up to the main attraction that evening. We may be situated in the Gods of the O2, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might have been. A perfect view for us to see the whole attraction. Granted, I should have taken my camera and not relied on my phone, but still it was a great night.
I should have difficulty in admitting that, but to be honest, I don’t. I’m comfortable in my music tastes. Whilst eclectic, I know my roots are heavy metal and rock, but I don’t mind a BSB boogie every now and again! And come on, who wants to miss the first gig in London for fifteen years of All Saints! Who, by christ, are exactly the same. They sound no different and pretty much look the same too. A few words were forgotten but that can be excused.
BSB themselves once again put on a good show. Filled with some classics as well as material from the new album, plenty of stage covering dances and also an acapella set just to show their maturity. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s the second time I’ve seen them, and both shows were good entertainment and a bloody good sing song!
Despite me being ill throughout the whole duration, it was still a good show and good time.
Back to work now….
A bit of background, I grew up listening to music. Lots of it. There weren’t many instances where I wasn’t wired up to something.
Read that in context and it makes more sense.
I am a child of the cassette tape. I missed the first vinyl phase of seventies, but was bang in the middle of the C90. I had loads of tapes with all my favourite albums, bands and songs. An eclectic range of music including Michael Jackson, Guns N Roses and random stuff sneakily taped from the radio.
The amount of walkman’s I got through attending school and riding my bike around town, always getting battered and bruised, bashed and broken. Then there is the personal pride in having a walkman with a digital display and buttons on the front. Oh the joy!
Time moves on, and along came the humble CD. It was a sad day where the end was announced for the cassette, but that soon passed. CD’s were a huge step forward for the home music collection, if anything it was very aesthetically pleasing. Bit of a bugger though for us Walkman users.
The portable CD player was rubbish. Any slight movement out of the ordinary like being knocked by a passer-by, or falling off a chair (from previous experience) just makes the disc jump and stop playing. Which in turn can then scratch the disc and render it useless. I wasn’t a fan of them.
This became even more noticeable when my music collection grew. Luckily, the walkman still played a part. Before the rise and rise of Apple and the iPod’s, the stop gap measure was to record all your CD’s onto cassette tape! The best of both worlds!!
True, a laborious job, but at least your music was portable again.
The reason for this reminisce is obviously due to the news of HMV. The death of physical music approacheth. I recall spending many an hour or day in an HMV store looking through all the CD’s, noticing all the names of bands that I’ve never heard and delving into the bargain bin to unearth a true gem.
HMV was also a very good place for the ‘non-mainstream’ strand of music. If, like me, you were very much a ‘grebo’ or ‘heavy metaller’ this shop was like heaven. You could often find all those weird bands recommended to you by friends (in my instance it was a school chap called Andy, he very much cost me a fortune by changing my taste in music!).
Despite the fact that HMV used to charge £17 for a CD that wasn’t in the charts, it will still be greatly missed by a lot of people. But it does indicate the end to so called ‘physical’ music. With everything going digital and cloud based, the humble CD is doomed. Another era of my childhood coming to an end. Christ, I feel old.
Rest In Peace, HMV.
PS. What happens to the dog?
Terrorvision: How to Make Friends and Influence People
In the first of, I’m sure, many posts about my interests, I start with a classic album.
Due to an absolute cracker of a flashback whilst surfing Grooveshark (free music site, like Spotify) I came across a few albums from my past. But nothing symbolises my school years than this album.
I spent nigh on five years listening to this album.
Obviously not only this album, I’d be quivering in the corner by now or working in McDonalds, no, but this was one of the staple albums I’d listen to to get me through school.
I don’t acutally know why though. At the same time I was experimenting with rock and heavy metal and I admit that I am still very much a ‘metal-head’, but this was that softer, cheesier album that never failed to lighten the mood.
You may be sitting there reading this going, ‘Are you serious? This was their worst album……’. That’s fine, it’s your opinion. I can only comment on this album because, apart from that one single ‘Tequila’, this is te only album by Terrorvision I have ever heard. So, ner!
Anyway, after shutting down Grooveshark, I put out a plea on Twitter to my friends to see if anybody could give me a copy. One week later it arrives on my desk (thanks Fliss!) and it has been played many, many times since.
Stop that bus, I live here.
Track Listing:
“Alice What’s the Matter” – 2:43
“Oblivion” – 3:03
“Stop The Bus” – 3:43
“Discotheque Wreck” – 3:17
“Middleman” – 3:32
“Still the Rhythm” – 3:32
“Ten Shades of Grey” – 3:03
“Stab in the Back” – 4:51
“Pretend Best Friend” – 3:47
“Time O the Signs” – 3:25
“What the Doctor Ordered” – 2:17
“Some People Say” – 3:03
“What Makes You Tick” – 4:10
Read my personal Essential Albums list.
That Makes Two 