Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Remember when? - aka watch Helen try and break the record for the most embeds in a sngle post...

So anyway yesterday was one of those awful write-off days (I'm in a bit of a slump and need to get my act together!). I've become used to working while at work and getting a lot done in the mornings and now that I'm back to full-time studying I'm missing the structure (if not the early mornings).

Anyway to cut a long story short we were kicked out of the lab so that the cleaning staff could turn everything upside down, flood the place and then polish the floor, leaving everything sparkling clean! And so we did what any self-respecting postgrads would do when confronted witha barrier to work: we went and got coffee while grumbling about having to pay for it, when we usually spend all our money on coffee grounds and milk (which doesn't count!).

And so we got chatting and it left us in a not-working frame of mind and so when we were finally allowed back into the lab I mentioned to Luke that I remembered this song from back in the day:


Catchy, no?

And so it degenerated into a long nostalgia session, which I felt that I must share with the world in general. I'm working on a playlist at the moment but it's taking a lot of sifting through the giant pile of cassette tapes I found in my cupboard recently. These are some of the songs I've come across that have given me flashbacks (and byt that I mean some, not all as the ist is very very long!):

Don't judge me (and if you weren't a teenager in the late 90's then don't watch this one, it's AWFUL!) - sadly enough I saw them live and thought they were fantastic!



I struggled as a kid because I had so many very different musical influences. On the one side I had my brother who educated me about grunge and gentle alternative rock (I have memories of listening to Green Day with the volume turned as low as we could so that our parents wouldn't hear the lyrics to 'Brat' Or giggling whenever someone in The Offspring swore. I was also trained to play classical music from before I could even read and I still listen to that from time to time.

I also had the world's most awesome radio show to educate me: The Night Zoo of which I was an avid listener from when I was 12 and got my first radio ("If it's too loud... you're TOO OLD!"). It was always fun to try and hde my headphones from my parents when they came to say goodnight and I often taped the show in case I fell asleep (I think it started at 9 or 10 pm?).

From there, most importantly Thursday night's modern rock chart where I learned to love gems like this:


not to mention going through the obligatory Nirvana, Metallica and Smashing Pumpkins phases. I must admit, I never did the whole Pearl Jam thing, and I still can't bring myself to listen to them much, although their lead singer has a song out that is AMAZING and I had it on repeat for days.Check it out:



Eventually I moved on to The Prodigy and vaguely dancy music as well - to tell the truth as long as it was loud and had a beat I would listen to it.

At the same time I was a teenage girl, and so I had to go through the requisite stages of listening to these guys:



Scarily enough as much as I cring now, I quite liked them then and had many many posters on my walls which had to be burned as soon as I passed that stage. I was also about 13 when Britney Spears released her first album and I was a participant in many Britney vs Christina arguments (I think I switched sides often just to annoy people).

Which leaves me with one last memory (for now). How is it that whenever this song came on people would start line-dancing? I mena I get it that the music is right for line-dancing but how did everyone always know what to do? I always felt like I'd skipped out on a special class or something...



Of course there are so many other songs and so many other memories!

Anyone keen to share the soundtrack to their childhood? Particularly if it was the 90's!

4 comments:

EEbEE said...

I grew up with some odd music combinations for an indian.

Gypsy kings, Vangelis, Jean Michael Jarre, Mike Oldfield, Chakademus and Pliers, MC HAmmer, Skunk Anansie (sp?), Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Led Zepplin, Amithaab Bachaan (sp?) and loads of classics (tchaikovsky, bach, Orff and such)in no particular order. Probably a result of having 3 older siblings.

I still like most of them (not all of them).

sarah said...

oh good lord was that B*WITCHED??

flashback of doom! wow!

my childhood was embarrassing

spice girls, backstreet boys, all saints
and then
foo fighters blink 182 etc etc
natural progression!

Helen said...

EEbEE: you cetainly did! Remember Silverchair when they were still young and angry? I don't now if I would like everythng now, but nostalgia has a way of dulling taste...

Sarah: I'd forgotten about All Saints! That horrible song for The Beach that we all pretended to like just because it was from a Leo movie...

Candice said...

Ah... Bewitched! I thought they were awesome, but now their music makes me cringe!!

As to the All Saints song "Pure Shores" - I still like it! Lame, I know!