With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

“Yes we’re going to a party party, yes we’re going to a party party” February 8, 2010


I can hardly believe it but this is the first birthday of my blog. Where did the time go?My posts have had far too much David Bowie, the Beatles and Steal The Smile, but do you know what? I don’t care, it’s my blog and I’ll post if I want to (thanks to Lesley Gore for that bit!)

I have also become a reluctant and very poor expert on Slipknot without masks (ok I know that it was really Cradle Of Filth in that picture, well at least I do now!)

On the way I have come across some great people and blogs. You know who you are, but Mickey Glitter and Punky Mama get special mentions as regular contributors of comments. You should also check out the excellent Australian Heroin Diaries Blog

So far there have been 111 posts including this one, 217 comments (including mine, cos I do like to reply to all of you, even the critical comments!) and nearly 400,000 hits. I really couldn’t ask for more, originally I would have been ecstatic hits reached double figures so now I’m totally blown away. The most searched terms that arrived here so far (all with more than 10,000) have been Pink Floyd, Lily Allen, Kate Bush, Slipknot and Catwoman

So thank you very, very much dear readers I really appreciate you being here, please come back soon 🙂

So here are a few birthday songs to celebrate my blog’s first birthday

Happy Birthday” – Stevie Wonder

Happy Birthday” – Altered Images

Birthday” – Beatles

 

“It shakes all over like a jelly fish, I kinda like it” July 24, 2009


Hello dear readers I’m back with another post and firstly I would like to say thank you to everyone who has read any of my blog posts. The total number of views reached 100,000 yesterday. Now that gives no clue as to how many ‘regulars’ there are out there so if you are a regular reader I would love to hear from you. (Mickey G you’re welcome to respond to this, but I know you’re a regular!)

Anyway as the number of views has hit six digits for the first time I thought I’d include a few statistics, wow how exciting does that sound……..NOT! But I’m going to do it anyway. Firstly the artists that most people have searched for and found there way to my blog are;

kate is in fact top of the class and definitely not a dunce. She is just borrowing Robbie Williams' hat :-)

Kate is in fact top of the class and definitely not a dunce. She is just borrowing Robbie Williams' hat 🙂

1 Kate Bush, 2 Pink Floyd, 3 Lily Allen, 4 Jackson Five, 5 Slipknot, 6 Iggy Pop, 7 Beatles, 8 Catwoman, 9 Michael Jackson and 10 Green Day This ranges from more than 10,000 hits for Kate and the Floyd and 1,400 for Green Day

Lily uses her new eco friendly banana microphone

Lily uses her new eco friendly banana microphone

Of course some of you may be familiar with the ‘Lily Allen Naked’ experiment we undertook here (if you’re not then check out the tags). The principle was not to lower the tone far enough to show any tabloid style naked pictures of the wonderfully talented Miss Allen, but simply to see how many people arrived here by using Lily Allen Naked as a search term. I can confirm that 220 people have done that. In a couple of strangely related incidents though 253 have searched for Ronan Keating Naked and a further 205 people for Eminem naked. There were also a handful of searches for Kate Bush naked and perhaps I shouldn’t mention the 4 people who searched for Meatloaf naked! (But for those who did search for Meatloaf Naked check the picture below, it’s just for you 😉

Meatloaf Naked, well there's no gravy on it is there?

Meatloaf Naked, well there's no gravy on it is there?

And finally for the stats the most viewed links from the blog have been Steal The Smile (my son’s excellent band – click their name to check them out!), Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” video and Wyclef’s “Stripper Song” video with 34, 26 and 19 views respectively. Catwoman asked me to point out that she loves statistics or maybe she said that she didn’t 😉

OK I’ve bored you enough withnumbers so let’s move on to some hopefully more interesting stuff. Firstly an item from yesterdays newspapers in the UK. A 46 year old Alice Cooper fan was fined £250 and also received a suspended jail term and a 3 month curfew order. He apparently removed his prosthetic leg and waved it around at Alice’s gig in the Southampton Guildhall. One member of the audience tried to stop him and was beaten up. To me this almost sounds like it could have been part of the one time Vincent Furnier’s act. Here is the link to the story in the Daily Telegraph. Let me know what you think of it.

Alice warns the unruly fan that if he hit's anyone esle with his false leg he'll cut the other one off too!

Alice warns the unruly fan that if he hits anyone else with his false leg he'll cut the other one off too!

Also in the news yesterday was the legendary (in my opinion) Mick Jones off of the Clash. He has opened a library/ exhibition of a stacks of his Clash memorabilia, clothing  and various other personal items. He calls it ‘one big living artwork’ Read about it here on Spinner.com. I would love to visit but I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it

Either Mick now runs a newspaper stand or this is some of his collection

Either Mick now runs a newspaper stand or this is some of his collection

Morrissey played at the Brixton Academy a few days ago and this is the film and music he played before he came on stage, bloody brilliant in my opinion! Did you guess the music? It’s “Lighten Up Morrissey” by Sparks! And for the hell of it here are the excellent Flaming Lips with a wonderful cover version of Madonna’s “Borderline” I would like to thank those wonderful folks at Mojo Magazine for pointing me to those two

Here’s a great blog for you, I know it’s not music related but I thought it was bloody funny it’s called Kemp Folds and features pictures of Ross Kemp off of Eastenders (aka Grant Mitchell) that have been folded. OK I know that sounds stupid but check it out by clicking here

Let’s finish today July 24th with a few ‘onthisdays’. firstly on this very day in 1967 all four of the Beatles and their then manager the late great (l’s & g’s are back ra ra ra) Brian Epstein signed a petition printed in The Times newspaper which called for the legalisation of cannabis. Well it seems like no one listened doesn’t it? Where can you use marijuana legally now apart from Amsterdam Coffee Shops?

On this day in 1997 Liam Gallagher off of Oasis was given a caution by police after admitting he had caused criminal damage following an altercation with a cyclist in Camden, London. Liam was travelling in a chauffeur-driven car (it’s a tough life being a rock star isn’t it?) when he grabbed the cyclist through the car window and broke his Ray Bans. Do you remember when Ray Bans were THE fashion item? There not as big these days are they? Anyway sticking with Oasis, when Noel Gallagher was the guitar tech for the Inspiral Carpets. The Carpets used to call him “Cot Death” because he slept so much.

I thought this was quite amusing. Thank you to Snipes.com

I thought this was quite amusing. Thank you to Snipes.com

And finally for the ‘onthisdays’ today we go back to 2002. A garden centre was sued by the late great (l & g’sback with a vengeance) Freddie Mercury’s former partner Mary Austin. the law suit accused Clifton Nurseries of killing a collection of Freddie’s prized Koi Fish. Austin had inherited the collection on his death. The claim was that 84 fish died when a the electricity which supplied power to the fishes environment (a temporary pond apparently) was accidentally turned off by a worker at the Garden Centre in Maida Vale, London. Apparently by the time he died Freddie had built up one of the biggest Koi collections in the UK. These are not the sort of fish you’d find in your local fish and chip shop, one Koi can be worth as much as £250,000.

Imagine that Battered Koi, Large Chips and Mushy Peas ...... mmmmmmmm :-)

Imagine that Battered Koi, Large Chips and Mushy Peas ...... mmmmmmmm 🙂

To finish let me say thank you once again to everyone who has stopped at this blog occasionally, visited regularly, read it, commented, clicked on the links or simply looked at the pictures! And as this has been a statistics lead numbers post here is a link to the wonderful “Living By Numbers” from New Musik

 

“They told us tales, they told us lies, don’t they know they shouldn’t have told us at all” April 3, 2009


Hello again everyone how are well all then? I hope that you’re all ok because I have some very sad, bad, bleak news to impart. You really should be sitting down when you read this. Trust me it is the worst music news I’ve had to deliver since I started blogging, I know that’s only six weeks ago but this is really dreadful. So are you sitting comfortably? This is a bit like ‘Watch With Mother’ now isn’t it? Right I’ve been putting it off for long enough, now I have to tell you, stay in your seats. “Agadoo” by Black Lace is going to be reissued soon. See I told you it was awful news. It will be a 2009 remix and the video has been directed by Kevin Kennedy who used to play Curly Watts in Coronation Street, he also appears in it. He must need the money because this is a crime against music. The song was originally released in 1984 and made it to number 2 in the UK charts, held off the top spot by George Michael’s “Careless Whisper”. Click here to see just how bad it is, but be warned click at your own peril!

They should be arrested for those haircuts alone never mind that bloody song!

They should be arrested for those haircuts alone never mind that bloody song!

I have some other news too, not as bad as the first piece though. Apparently Ozzy Osbourne has had a premonition of his death. This is the quoted comment from Ozzy, “Some bird with some very rare virus is going to fly over my head. It’s going to shit on me and I’m going to melt on the floor” I presume he means a bird of the feathered variety. Can we also assume that it has nothing to do with drumming up publicity for the new series of ‘The Osbournes’ which will be called “The Osbournes Reloaded”. Reviews so far have completely panned it. perhaps he could do a deal with Satan and get that bird to shit on Black Lace instead?

Will it be the lesser spotted Sharin Bird that shits on Ozzy's head?

Will it be the lesser spotted Sharon Bird that shits on Ozzy's head?

Have you been following the coverage of the G20 summit? There is actually a music link here too, not the fact that Bob Geldof was pontificating as usual either. the Queen usually gives visiting world leaders and dignitaries a signed framed photograph of her and Prince Phillip, she receives a wide range of gifts in return. This week she received a video iPod from the Obama’s. It was preloaded with photos of the Queen’s state visits to the US in 1957 and 2007, some video and audio of Barack Obama’s speeches including the inauguration and 40 great show tunes. The Queen loves musicals apparently and the gift also came with a rare songbook which was signed by Rodgers off of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

And finally on the news front the two remaining Beatles, Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will be taking part in a live public webcast later today, April 3rd (12 noon EST). The pair will be helping promote the David Lynch Foundation’s initiative to teach at least one million ‘at-risk’ youths to meditate. perhaps they’re seeking “Instant Karma” The pair along with many other rock luminaries have been practising Transcendental meditation for years. To take part in the conference visit davidlynchfoundation.org Later this evening McCartney and Starr will be joined by a cast of many at new York’s Radio City for a benefit concert to raise money for the David Lynch Foundation. Performers include Eddie Vedder (off of Pearl Jam), Moby, Sheryl Crow, Ben Harper, Paul Horn, Bettye La Vette, Mike Love (off of the Beach Boys) and Jim James (off of My Morning Jacket).

David is ready to release his chicken over Ozzy's head

David is ready to release his chicken over Ozzy's head

Have any of you seen the BBC documentary ‘The Queens Of British Pop’? I saw part 1 this week and it was rather good. It featured Dusty Springfield, Sandie Shaw, Suzi Quatro, Siouxse Sioux and the mighty Kate Bush. Click here for the link. yes I know Suzi is American but she did have her biggest success in the UK. As for Kate well on this day in 1979 she made her live debut at the Liverpool Empire. Kate is also the number one search term used which arrived at this very blog. More than 700 searches for Kate have found their way here. The next two are Pink Floyd with over 600 and Lily Allen with nearly 200 plus another 10 for Lily Allen Naked!

Kate has just released a Falcon towards Ozzy, perhaps it would have been easier to unleash the Hounds Of Love!

Kate has just released a Falcon towards Ozzy, perhaps it would have been easier to unleash the Hounds Of Love!

Here comes another blatantly shameless plug for my son Luke’s band Steal The Smile. They are playing at the Face Bar in Reading this evening so go and check them out. If you can’t make it get yourself over to their MySpace page by clicking here and let me know what you think of them.

I’ll end todays post with a couple of ‘onthisdays’ and the birthdays will return another time! Firstly on this day in 1975 Steve Miller was charged with setting fire to the clothes of a friend, Benita Diorio. Presumably not a close friend or perhaps he had the hots for her! Police arrived at Miller’s house to find Benita trying to put out the flames. Miller began fighting with some of the policemen and was eventually charged with resisting arrest.

Steve plays on despite the fact that his friend's wardrobe is on fire behind him

Steve plays on despite the fact that his friend's wardrobe is on fire behind him

And finally on this day in 1993 the Bluebells were at number one in the UK with “Young At Heart” The song had originally been released some ten years earlier. But this time around it was the beneficiary of a Volkswagen TV advertising campaign. Here’s one for you fact fans too, the song was co written by Siobhan Fahey off of Shakespears Sister and Bananarama!

The Bluebells contemplate drowning themselves after hearing that Agadoo is about to be released again!

The Bluebells contemplate drowning themselves after hearing that Agadoo is about to be released again!

 

“I told you ’bout the swans, that they live in the park” March 30, 2009


Hello once again dear blog readers. My blog has been going for around 7 weeks now so I thought I’d check some of the stats available on WordPress. Firstly here is the top 10 search items (and number of searches) that people have used and found their way here;

1 pink floyd 431
2 kate bush 157
3 johnny cash 123
4 johnny winter 88
5 george harrison 73
6 smokey robinson 69
7 the smiths 62
8 dire straits 43
9 the byrds 39
10 tim buckley 23

I’m really pleased to see that Kate Bush is doing so well, I’m also quite amazed by the sheer volume of Pink Floyd searches. If you found your way here from searching I’d love to hear from you! As she did so well here is a picture of the delectable Ms Bush

"Oh England My Leotard" perhaps?

"Oh England My Leotard" perhaps?

Some of you may recall that we also ran an experiment some weeks ago to see if it was possible to drive people to the blog by including a particular phrase, that phrase being ‘Lily Allen Naked’. Well I can report some success, ‘Lily Allen Naked’ is in fact the 18th most popular search item ,with 13 searches , to arrive here. Although clearly all those 13 people (although it could be one person 13 times) will have been disappointed as there are no naked pics of Lily here. So apologies to you folks. I’d love to hear from you too, although obviously I’ll understand if you wish to remain anonymous 😉

Of all the many links I include in my posts I can also confirm that the two most clicked items have been the Myspace pages for ‘Soft Toy Emergency‘ (7 clicks) and my son Luke’s band ‘Steal The Smile‘ (9 clicks). click on their names to increase their total clicks.

OK enough of the stats, numbers excite me but perhaps not everyone! On to the tried and tested format and kicking off with a birthday. Mr Eric Clapton is 64 today. Did he ever cover the Beatles “When I’m 64”? Perhaps he should now! He has been a part of many bands in his time; the Roosters, Casey Jones and the Engineers, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, the Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominoes. Indeed he was also one of the few non Beatles to play on a Beatles song. He played guitar on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. George Harrison returned the favour by guesting on the fantastic “Badge” by Cream. Click on the song title to see Eric with a live version of the song from the 80’s, watch out for Phil Collins on drums!

Eric discusses matrimonial time share plans with George

Eric discusses matrimonial time share plans with George

There are quite a few ‘onthisdays’ for March 30th starting with on this day in 1967 the photo session for the cover of the Beatles ‘Sergeant Pepper’ album took place at Chelsea Manor Studios

Just in case there is anyone on the planet that hasn't seen this album cover here it is again :-)

Just in case there is anyone on the planet that hasn't seen this album cover here it is again 🙂

Also on this day in 1976 the Sex Pistols played at the 100 Club in London for the first time. They began a weekly residency there in June 1976. One of my biggest musical regrets is that I turned down the opportunity to see the Pistols live in late 1976. They were playing at Brunel University near where I grew up. I’m sorry to say that I chose to stay in the pub!

The other guys always thought it was hilarious to set Glen's microphone stand too high for him

The other guys always thought it was hilarious to set Glen's microphone stand too high for him

On this day in 1978 Paul Simonon and Nicky ‘Topper’ Headon off of the Clash were arrested in Camden Town, London after shooting pigeons with air guns from the roof of Chalk Farm Studios. It was later discovered that these were prize winning and very expensive racing pigeons. It required four police cars and a helicopter to make the arrest. The pairs fines totaled £800

Once they had established exactly where the Clash were they would avenge the death of their brothers by dropping pigeon shit bombs

Once they had established exactly where the Clash were they would avenge the death of their brothers by dropping pigeon shit bombs

Also in 1978 on this day U2 won £500 and a chance to audition for CBS Ireland in a talent contest which was held in Dublin and sponsored by Guinness. Strange fact of the day, Guinness, which I really enjoy, began life 200 years before I did!

Bono puts his hand up to attract the teachers attention as he desperately needs to pee

Bono puts his hand up to attract the teachers attention as he desperately needs to pee

And finally on this day in 2000 Sir Michael Jagger off of the Rolling Stones paid a visit to his old school, Dartford Grammar. He was there to open a new arts centre bearing his name. He was quoted as saying that he spent the worst years of his life at school!

Mick's old school uniform clearly didn't fit him anymore

Mick's old school uniform clearly didn't fit him anymore

 

“We were barely 17 and we were barely dressed” March 11, 2009


Hello dear readers and welcome to the 11th March, coming up there’ll be one birthday and four ‘onthisdays’. But just before those here is yet another blatant plug for my son’s band ‘Steal The Smile‘ check them out and tell me what you think of them, add them as a friend on MySpace too if you haven’t done so already, click their name for the link.

So in yet another attempt to post a short one (oooooerr missus!) here comes that birthday.

Today is the 59th birthday of Bobby McFerrin who had a massive hit in 1988 with the rather excellent “Don’t Worry Be Happy” (UK 2, US 1 that is it’s respective chart positions and not an international soccer score in case you were wondering). It was the first a capella song to reach the top of the Billboard charts in the US. The phrase “Don’t Worry Be Happy” comes originally from the teachings of Meher Baba. His teachings were followed at times by Pete Townshend of the Who

Bobby was having the worst bad hair day of his life!

Bobby was having the worst bad hair day of his life!

On this day in 1967 the music publisher Dick James announced that the Beatles song (well it’s Macca’s really) “Yesterday” had been recorded by 446 acts at that point. Considering the song was only released in 1965 that’s pretty good going It is now believed that there are more than 3,000 recorded versions. The song is believed to have been performed more than 3 million times in the last century according to the BMI. Paul McCartney gave the tune the working title of “Scrambled Eggs” before he wrote the lyrics. Here are two cover versions of the song, firstly from Dogpatch Debbie, it’s certainly different and then a great version from the late great (oh yes they’re back!) Ray Charles

Paul's audience were somewhat surprised when he decided to cover "I'm A Little Teapot Short And Stout"

Paul's audience were somewhat surprised when he decided to cover "I'm A Little Teapot Short And Stout"

On this day in 1978 there was some shocking news (geddit?). French singer Claude Francois was electrocuted while changing a light bulb when he was standing in his bathtub, presumably with water in. he had a UK hit in 1976 with “Tears On The Telephone” Claude is perhaps most famous for writing the song “Comme D’Habitude” which became a standard after English lyrics were written by Paul Anka and the song with those new lyrics was recorded by ole’ blue eyes himself Mr Frank Sinatra (or as I like to call him Frank Sinister). That song ladies and gentlemen is “My Way” Incidentally David Bowie (yet another DB reference) was the first person to write an English lyric for the tune but nobody took his words up! Here is Claude with “Comme D’Habitude” and here Mr Bowie explains his encounter with the song, it’s impact on “Life On Mars” and how he met Marc Bolan.

Claude always wore Lynx anti-perspirant and it certainly seemed to work for him!

Claude always wore Lynx anti-perspirant and it certainly seemed to work for him!

Also on this day in 1978 Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out Of Hell” album began a 416 week run in the UK album charts and selling 2 million copies in the process. Mr Loaf is actually called Marvin Lee Aday, his Meat Loaf name allegedy came from an incident when he stood on the foot of his high school football coach. Jim Steinman wrote the ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ album and many claim that it shows his love of Bruce Springsteen, Phil Spector and Wagner. The album was produced by Todd Rundgren. The album supposedly still sells around 200,000 copies per year even now. Is there anyone reading this that doesn’t own the album? Here is Mr Loaf himself with the classic “Paradise By The Dashboard Light” ably assisted by Ellen Foley.

From the look of it Meat Loaf should have taken Claude's anti perspirant advice

From the look of it Meat Loaf should have taken Claude's anti perspirant advice

And yet again in 1978 the debut single from the wonderful Kate Bush, “Wuthering Heights” Kate was only 15 when EMI’s interest was sparked by a demo tape of hers was passed to their A & R man Bob Mercer by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. Gilmour actually plays guitar on the song too in particular that wonderful solo on the fade out. The company spent nearly 3 years on developing Kate as an artist. Sadly with the awful rise of X Factor and Idol shows that kind of thing is almost unheard of these days. She undertook, dance, vocal and mime classes. Her mime teacher was none other than Lindsay Kemp, who also taught David Bowie his mime skills (there you go, yet another Bowie reference). “Wuthering Heights” was originally scheduled for release in November 1977 but the company deemed it to be not radio friendly, it was eventually issued in January 1978. The song was inspired by Emily Bronte’s book of the same name, Kate is a big Bronte fan and even shares her birthday, July 30th. (Kate in 1958 and Emily 140 years earlier in 1818) Here is Ms Bush with that wonderful song and yes “Wuthering Heights” is certainly one of the 50 songs in my top 10

Kate's Atage Musical version of Lady Godiva never really took off

Kate's Stage Musical version of Lady Godiva never really took off

And finally here’s another picture of Kate, simply because I’ve always had a thing for the delectable Ms Bush 🙂

More Kate Bush........ because I can!

More Kate Bush........ because I can or perhaps more likely because I'd like to 😉

 

“It’s 8:15 and that’s the time that it’s always been” February 27, 2009


Another week gone already here we are at Friday again, I hope that you liked the Free Banking Bonus Post yesterday. If you haven’t read it you’ll find it just below this one.

A big thank you too for all the views and comments (Mickelodeon, Marcy and Catwoman) on my “Bank Robber” post yesterday. I’ve followed up with a further “Bank Robber….too” post which you will find below this one and a poll to choose the banking anthem. Get voting people

So without further fuss and stuff it’s on with the motley, not crue just the motley ok!

Let’s start with a couple of birthdays. Firstly Paul Humphreys from Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD) is 49 today (27th February 2009). I liked OMD a lot when they first came on the scene, so did the NME, they had a weekly anagram of the bands full name running for quite a few weeks which was often good for a chuckle. Does anyone else remember that or are they the only sad anorak? My favourite song by the band is “Enola Gay” and yes it is one of the 50 songs in my top ten! But did you know what the song is about? Well Enola Gay was the name of the plane that dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945. The bomb itself was nicknamed ‘Little Boy’ hence the lyric ‘ is mother proud of little boy today’. But for me the scariest lyric in the song is ‘this kiss you give, is never ever gonna fade away’ So here is OMD’s “Enola Gay” Is that anyone else’s favourite?

The OMD boys in their audition for the 'Men In Black' movie

The OMD boys in their audition for the 'Men In Black' movie

The second and final of our birthdays today is that of Rozanda “Chilli” Thomas one of the singers with all girl R & B combo TLC. she is 38 today. Along with “Chilli” the group also included Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez. Sadly “Left Eye” was killed in a car accident in Honduras just before the release of their third album in 2002. You clearly had to have a nickname to join the group and let’s face it they are way better than Scary, Sporty, Baby, Posh and Ginger aren’t they? Talking of nicknames, there was unusually for me a point to it, do you know where the TLC name came from? Tender Loving Care? Nope. Totally Lousy Crap? Definitely not. T-Boz Left-Eye Chilli. yep that’s the one, the name comes from the first initial of each of the girls nicknames. All the girls sang within the group and “Chilli” also did their choreography too. Here are the girls withe rather jolly tuneage entitled “No Scrubs

After another early start the girls had once again had to get dressed in the dark

After another early start the girls had once again had to get dressed in the dark

On this day today in 1964 a 21 year old former hairdresser and cloakroom attendant at Liverpool’s famous Cavern Club was number one in the UK charts. Her name was (and indeed still is) Cilla Black and the song was her version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Anyone Who Had A Heart” which had previously been recorded by Dionne Warwicke (who for those fact fans out there is Whitney Houston’s Aunt). The week that Cilla was number one was also the first time in UK chart history that the top ten had featured exclusively UK acts

Cilla was a little worried that her red flower was too discreet to enable her 'Blind date' to identify her

Cilla was a little worried that her red flower was too discreet to enable her 'Blind date' to identify her

On this day in 1967 Pink Floyd recorded their classic single “Arnold Layne” This was back in the days when they released the odd single and also when the late great (those l’s and g’s are still hanging in there) and supremely talented Syd Barret was still a part of the Floyd. When EMI signed the group it is alleged that one of the record companies executives asked of the band “Which one of you is Pink?” I would have loved to have been there to hear the answer! Interestingly “Arnold Layne” covered the topic of transvestites and was banned by pirate station Radio London although, here’s the surprise, the BBC continued to play it. The song reached number 20 in the UK and it’s follow up, “See Emily Play” hit number 6. That song was to be their last single for 12 years in the UK. Come on who remembers what that 1979 song was? Answers in the comment box or a postcard if you prefer. I just have to add of course that David Bowie (yep another Bowie reference) did an brilliant cover of “See Emily Play” on his Pin Ups album of covers from 1973. He also recorded a great live version of “Arnold Layne” with David Gilmour a year or so ago. Click on the titale and tell me which version you prefer

no one knew that Pink Floyd had secretly been recording a psychadelic version of 'The Hokey Cokey' with Chas and Dave in an East End pub

no one knew that Pink Floyd had secretly been recording a psychadelic version of 'The Hokey Cokey' with Chas and Dave in an East End pub

And finally today there have been a couple of redheads mentioned; Ginger Spice, Cilla Black (not sure she’s a natural redhead though) and yesterdays banking bonus post included Mick Hucknall and Simply Red. So I thought it was about time I gave a plug to another (soon to be) famous red head, my son Luke. Yes this is another blatant plug for his band ‘Steal The Smile‘ check them out and tell me what you think of them, add them as a friend on MySpace too if you haven’t done so already, click their name for the link. here is their band logo 🙂

The Steal The Smile Logo

The Steal The Smile Logo

 

“We are starlight, we are golden” February 17, 2009


Here we go again a veritable trivia roller coaster for your personal delight (I feel much better after that awful bout of verbal diarrhea!) So today being the 17th February the year of our lord 2009. Actually as an atheist how should I refer to the year? Incidentally I used to consider myself an agnostic, but a former boss of mine said “an agnostic is just an atheist with no balls” so I decided I rather be an atheist than a eunuch agnostic!

There are a couple of birthdays to celebrate today, firstly the late great (here they come again those confounded l & g’s) Tommy Edwards. Tommy was born in 1922 and so would have been 87 today. Unfortunately he died aged 47 in 1968. He is probably best remembered for his rather excellent version of the classic love song “It’s All In The Game” which has also been covered by everyone from Sir Cliff Richard (he certainly didn’t have the same agnostic vs atheist dilemma that I did I’m sure!) to the Four Tops. My favourite version is definitely by the Tops followed closely by Mr Edwards. Tommy Edwards version was a UK and US number 1 in 1958, pre me even! The Four Tops reached number 5 in the UK and 23 in the US with the song in 1970.Click on their name to see them singing it live in what appears to be a hospital. The song was co-written by a US Vice President, Charles Daws who wrote a piece of music in 1911 called “Melody In A Major”, Carl Sigman added the lyrics to the piece in 1951. Mr Daws went on to become VP under Calvin Coolidge. It is so far the only number one song to have been written or co-written by a US Vice President. I can’t imagine Cheney or Biden ever doing the same somehow.

The late great Tommy Edwards

The late great Tommy Edwards

The mostly late but always great Four Tops

The mostly late but always great Four Tops

The second and final birthday today is that of Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day, who is 37 today. I saw Green Day live at the Milton Keynes Bowl in 2005 they were bloody good! As his hair is often died some of you may not know that he is in fact a redhead, just like my son Luke, who coincidentally also plays guitar and sings in a band! They’re called Steal The Smile. OK this bit is yet another blatant plug, but check them out on myspace and tell me what you think of them. www.myspace.com/stealthesmile This is Steal The Smile at the Face Bar in Reading last year with a cover of Pendulum’s “Blood Sugar” And lest we forget whose birthday it is, Billie Joe, remember? Here are Green Day with the superb “Basket Case

Billie Joe on stage in 2005

Billie Joe on stage in 2005

On this day in 1970 Joni Mitchell announced her ‘retirement’ from live performance during a show at the Royal Albert Hall in London (what a great venue that is!) She was on stage again by the end of the year. She’s not the first or last to ‘retire’ either; Frank Sinatra did it a few times, Bowie retired in 1973 (well technically he retired the Ziggy character. Robbie seems to have retired, well I live in hope at least. (There we go a Bowie reference and a Robbie dig in the same sentence) Joni’s real name is Roberta Joan Anderson and in 2003 Rolling Stone magazine (my favourite US publication!) named her the 72nd greatest guitarist of all time; she was the highest-ranked woman on the list. Which women guitarists should have been higher? What do you think? One of Joni’s biggest hits was the wonderful “Big Yellow Taxi” She also wrote one of my favourite songs, “Woodstock” which was about Woodstock, I bet you never saw that coming did you? That song was a big hit for Ian Matthews with his band Matthews Southern Comfort. I should point out that Joni is not a Canadian relative of Peggy, Phil and Grant Mitchell

Joni waiting for a taxi, a big yellow one!

Joni waiting for a taxi, a big yellow one!

On this day in 1972 Pink Floyd started a 3 night run at the Rainbow Theatre in London, tickets wee just £1 each, but that was a lot of money then, but probably not to bankers! An early incarnation of the Floyd was known as the Tea Set and when they found themselves on the same bill as another band with the same name, Syd Barrett came up with the alternative name The Pink Floyd Sound, after two blues musicians, Pink Anderson (no relation to Joni Mitchell) and Floyd Council whose names he’d seen on the notes of a Blind Boy Fuller album

"What a bummer" thought William when he checked his Pink Floyd collection

"What a bummer" thought William when he checked his Pink Floyd collection

Ok that’s it for today apart from two things. Firstly I intend to start an occasional series soon where I’ll work alphabetically through some of my favourite artists and include at least one of their songs and some interesting (but you’ll be the judges of that of course) trivia. I’ll be starting with the letter ‘A’ soon, any guesses who it might be? And lastly following on from an earlier post about the Clash, who had a song called “Janie Jones” I have had a request for some information about Ms Jones and that will follow later this week, but I can confirm that she wasn’t just a character in a Clash song, she was indeed a real person!

Bye for now peeps 🙂