I’ve done a few Music Mondays in my time. However, to be writing the playlist to kick-off 2015 implies a responsibility hitherto unknown; therefore I must do my damnedest to ensure as much variety as possible in a selection of just seven songs. No pressure.
BriaAndChrissy ft. DJ Jon Nguyen -Take Me to Heaven (2014)
To start, I want to draw your attention to something that you may have missed in 2014. First, context. New media is a phenomenon with implications we are yet to fully understand. That said, we can identify some of it’s features, including YouTube personalities, such as Bria and Chrissy (or BriaAndChrissy). These two set up their YouTube channel for music, comedy, couple based shenanigans. However, in December last year, they uploaded, a music video. With impressive settings and catchy lyrics Take Me To Heaven makes for and impressive statement of intent, as the song will feature on their up-and-coming debut album. Needless to say, I shall keep a watchful eye on their progress in the year ahead.
Charlie Brooker – Reasons to be Fearful ’14 (2014)
The next tune was also released in the year just passed, just prior to New Year’s Eve in fact. In reliable fashion, Charlie Brooker brings his incisive wit to the fore in his breakdown of the year’s major events, punctuated by a few minor ones that have prompt a tirade of bilious irritation with which his name has long been synonymous. However, he goes a little further than expected, wrapping up the program with a musical number based on Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 3 (1979) by Ian Dury & the Blockheads. Now, to parody Ian Dury is asking for trouble, and my views on the man’s music is a matter of public record, but Brooker does a great job. If you feel there some stuff you missed or want to jog your memory, this is the song probably covers it.
New York Dolls – Cause I Sez So (2009)
Moving away from last year we come to New York Dolls. Starting out back in 1971, New York Dolls are part of the original US punk scene, coming to prominence in 1973 with Personality Crisis. Although lead singer David Johansen modeled himself closely on Mick Jagger, looking at photographs from the period it is clear that this band pre-empted Glam Rock (make of that what you will). The fact they a still making music now, and at this quality, is heartening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXUkJIHGQds
Ray Charles – Shake a Tail Feather or Twist It (1980)
While he only has a cameo, Ray Charles appearance in The Blues Brothers has got to be amongst the films most memorable scenes. This is the song that taught me to dance. Still don’t judge it to harshly for that…
Howlin’ Wolf – Three Hundred Pounds of Joy
Born Chester Arthur Burnett, Howlin’ Wolf is unique among his contemporaries. Having been successful relatively early in his career, Wolf drove himself up from the Delta to Chicago, the city where he and other delta musicians turned the blues electric. However, Burnetts’s life did not have an easy start. Following his parents separation his mother threw him out of the house. Later when he tried to re-establish contact he was shunned, having made his living playing the “Devil’s music”. Bullish and salacious, Three Hundred Pounds of Joy is a perhaps timely what with the excesses of the (recently passed) season and New Years resolutions. Still, most of us have not accrued quite that much holiday weight (300 pounds is the better half of 22 stone!).
Debbie Reynolds, Donald O’Connor, Gene Kelly – Good Morning (1952)
Good Morning seems equally apposite as the last track; the film’s triumvirate greet the morning in a timely and exuberant fashion on no sleep, which seems the way to approach the new year. You mightn’t attempt the dancing of course, and, equally obvious, it’s not as if anyone could blame you either way. For my part, I am content to watch.
Marilyn Manson – Beautiful People (1996)
In reference to Howlin’ Wolf I made reference to the weight gain we associate with the period, or it’s curtailing. The Arcade has covered body image before in relation to cosplay. With so many talking of the weight they must lose and so many retailers pushing product to assist in the process, the echo chamber comparison is not hyperbolic. However, at a time when so many are saying one thing it is healthy (and yes, the pun is intentional) to exercise a certain amount of incredulity. Manson provides that perfectly. In a season where we are being marketed so many fitness and health products, pinches of salt (again intentional) must be at the ready to avoid costly purchases unlikely to be made good on, or marketing campaigns from further narrowing the contours (I’m on a roll) by which attractiveness is defined.
