Lazy Friday Music Club: Teen Songs
Yes, yes I know... this was meant to be post apoc music videos wasn't it... We'll get to that... later. Promise. Maybe.
I said I was making this up as I went along remember?
Anyway... Before I turned Goth I was an Indie kid. That probably sounds like an unhealthy move, Indie to Goth, but the stuff I liked as a teenager was probably more angsty than the music I listen to today. Remember that Thom Yorke was considered the singer most likely to commit suicide after Kurt Cobain died and I loved Radiohead's first album, Pablo Honey. The bands I liked weren't really 'mad for it', nor were they shoegazing, pseudo psychedelic types with big coats and bowl haircuts. The closest I got to liking the Manchester scene was James; a band my sister introduced me to when she was at Uni. If I recall right she gave me a mix tape with them on, along with a load of other bands, most of which I don't remember. Other than that, well, I was weird enough, tightly wound enough; alienated enough to want songs that showed that and let me vent - something I couldn't really do in real life. So I gravitated to other bands, the Levellers, the Manics, stuff like that. I might have dabbled in Blur and Oasisbut they weren't a huge influence on me.
Tonight I'm taking a trip back down memory lane to drag up the songs I loved when I was spotty and self conscious (or more self conscious I should say).
1) Radiohead: Creep
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFkzRNyygfk
When I was, what, sixteen or something this was my song. It perfectly encapsulated how I felt, the shyness the lack of confidence that shot through me. It feels a little painful to listen to now, knowing how much I identified with the words at the time.
2) Methodone Pretty: The Manic Street Preachers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSC44Ws1TwU
I'm not sure now if this was my favourite Manics song when I was a teenager. The album it's from, Generation Terrorists, was definitely the one I liked best (utter heresy I know but I thought the Holy Bible wasn't that good, though I like Gold Against the Soul). If I'm honest I think the song I liked best was Spectators of Suicide but listening back to it now, I'm not sure how much I like it; its a bit dreary and I find I listen to Methodone Pretty a lot more.
3) Kingmaker: Ten Years Asleep
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRBOmli-Fwg
The first Kingmaker song I heard was Queen Jane and I liked it a lot, enough to buy Sleep Walking. Ten Years Asleep was the song that really hooked me on the band though, with its sharp lyrics and bouncy tune. I suppose I should say that I've always songs where you can hear the words, one thing that puts me off a lot of Metal music is that the singers really just seem to grunt, their words are lost behind the wall of sound... whilch is rubbish. They could be singing any old nonsense.
4) Bjork: Play Dead
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHiHZ35TPfM
Iceland's kooky pop princess burst onto the British music scene early in the Nineties, leaving the Sugar Cubes behind and going it alone. She was fantastic and this was the best song from her first album, a really dramatic, over the top piece that sent shivers down my spine everytime I listened to it. I think its the violin combined with that soaring voice.
5) The Wonder Stuff: On the Ropes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3GV8An9V5w
Another band my sister introduced me to, it wasn't until Construction For the Modern Idiot came out that they really clicked with me. I like the drive in this song and its energy, pushing forward at the listener, a lot more than a lot of their earlier work, even today; though as I've grown older I've grown to appreciate songs like Size of a Cow a lot more: but this is still my favourite.
Bonus Tracks
6) James: Laid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0trh9Y598fM
A bit of a naughty one, I love Laid, even now, for the obvious reasons...
7) Depeche Mode: Walking In My Shoes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4YEW8uibkY
Lastly... I know this isn't an Indie song but it was something I loved in the early 90s and perhaps pointed out where I would eventually go. Depeche Mode are a weird band, they fit into lots of camps, are they Goth? Probably not, but they're close enough for Goths to like them, whilst at the same time a lot of other people do too. Again this was a song that just spoke to me when I was growing up and the way the music has a slight grating sensation to it still thrills me; its not a song designed to make you feel relaxed, it aims to unsettle and does it really well.
I could pick other tracks (there's nothing by the Levellers or Elastica here after all) but won't.
I said I was making this up as I went along remember?
Anyway... Before I turned Goth I was an Indie kid. That probably sounds like an unhealthy move, Indie to Goth, but the stuff I liked as a teenager was probably more angsty than the music I listen to today. Remember that Thom Yorke was considered the singer most likely to commit suicide after Kurt Cobain died and I loved Radiohead's first album, Pablo Honey. The bands I liked weren't really 'mad for it', nor were they shoegazing, pseudo psychedelic types with big coats and bowl haircuts. The closest I got to liking the Manchester scene was James; a band my sister introduced me to when she was at Uni. If I recall right she gave me a mix tape with them on, along with a load of other bands, most of which I don't remember. Other than that, well, I was weird enough, tightly wound enough; alienated enough to want songs that showed that and let me vent - something I couldn't really do in real life. So I gravitated to other bands, the Levellers, the Manics, stuff like that. I might have dabbled in Blur and Oasisbut they weren't a huge influence on me.
Tonight I'm taking a trip back down memory lane to drag up the songs I loved when I was spotty and self conscious (or more self conscious I should say).
1) Radiohead: Creep
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFkzRNyygfk
When I was, what, sixteen or something this was my song. It perfectly encapsulated how I felt, the shyness the lack of confidence that shot through me. It feels a little painful to listen to now, knowing how much I identified with the words at the time.
2) Methodone Pretty: The Manic Street Preachers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSC44Ws1TwU
I'm not sure now if this was my favourite Manics song when I was a teenager. The album it's from, Generation Terrorists, was definitely the one I liked best (utter heresy I know but I thought the Holy Bible wasn't that good, though I like Gold Against the Soul). If I'm honest I think the song I liked best was Spectators of Suicide but listening back to it now, I'm not sure how much I like it; its a bit dreary and I find I listen to Methodone Pretty a lot more.
3) Kingmaker: Ten Years Asleep
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRBOmli-Fwg
The first Kingmaker song I heard was Queen Jane and I liked it a lot, enough to buy Sleep Walking. Ten Years Asleep was the song that really hooked me on the band though, with its sharp lyrics and bouncy tune. I suppose I should say that I've always songs where you can hear the words, one thing that puts me off a lot of Metal music is that the singers really just seem to grunt, their words are lost behind the wall of sound... whilch is rubbish. They could be singing any old nonsense.
4) Bjork: Play Dead
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHiHZ35TPfM
Iceland's kooky pop princess burst onto the British music scene early in the Nineties, leaving the Sugar Cubes behind and going it alone. She was fantastic and this was the best song from her first album, a really dramatic, over the top piece that sent shivers down my spine everytime I listened to it. I think its the violin combined with that soaring voice.
5) The Wonder Stuff: On the Ropes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3GV8An9V5w
Another band my sister introduced me to, it wasn't until Construction For the Modern Idiot came out that they really clicked with me. I like the drive in this song and its energy, pushing forward at the listener, a lot more than a lot of their earlier work, even today; though as I've grown older I've grown to appreciate songs like Size of a Cow a lot more: but this is still my favourite.
Bonus Tracks
6) James: Laid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0trh9Y598fM
A bit of a naughty one, I love Laid, even now, for the obvious reasons...
7) Depeche Mode: Walking In My Shoes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4YEW8uibkY
Lastly... I know this isn't an Indie song but it was something I loved in the early 90s and perhaps pointed out where I would eventually go. Depeche Mode are a weird band, they fit into lots of camps, are they Goth? Probably not, but they're close enough for Goths to like them, whilst at the same time a lot of other people do too. Again this was a song that just spoke to me when I was growing up and the way the music has a slight grating sensation to it still thrills me; its not a song designed to make you feel relaxed, it aims to unsettle and does it really well.
I could pick other tracks (there's nothing by the Levellers or Elastica here after all) but won't.
I hated Pablo Honey... but tracks of my teens? Well, there's got to be something by The Ramones, because they were my first 'I love that' moment. Let's go for Beat on the Brat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPvkzQmc68Y When I was anorexic (I know!) I used to try to look like Joey Ramone.
ReplyDeleteNext is something by Fields of the Nephilim, because I was totally obsessed... to the extent that I married someone because he reminded me of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS5RPJQVh-Q
Next up it's Poison: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c56vEgA4fjU My heart is black, but ahem, a girl can look right? My first forays into clubbing were rock clubs, and HELLO NURSE! Glammys. There is a Goddess.
Number 4. The first time I went to a Goth club, I went with my friend Neil. We were terrified. We danced to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NF6Qa84mno
The last one could have been something by Ministry, cos they made it in there... but I'm thinking something totally connected with messed up relationships and the fraudulent heart so for me it's got to be: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWuPJLtIxvg (and fond, slightly apologetic memories of both Andy and Martin)
Ta chick. Your choices... I love Depeche Mode's SOFAD album, it's so dirty. Not from a healthy place I know. Creep's OK. I find it amazing that I'd never heard of Kingmaker until recently. Really interesting how we all get here.
Definitely.
ReplyDeleteI haven't listened to Radiohead for years, I think I just grew out of them; after the Bends it was never the same anyway.
Actually, I don't listen to most of the bands on here anymore, except the 'Pechies.