It's All Coming Back To Me Now - My Favourite and Most Important Thing

My Favourite and Most Important Thing

by Jo Michelmore

When I think about it, it all comes back to one person, really. When I think about the things I love now, they all come back to one. When I think about my obsession with live music, it's because of what one person taught me. When I think about writing on this blog, while a bunch of amazing people are involved, it's probably the influence of one who got me here in the first place. That person? My Dad.


I can remember being a little girl, sitting on the lounge room floor, surrounded by these magical things I didn't understand, but instinctively knew I loved. They were big for my tiny hands, they were big pictures and lots of words and if I was lucky, there was a booklet inside. They were full of "don't scratch!" and "be careful!" The records, the LPs, they fascinated me. We didn't play them much because the delivery of music had changed, but the reverence of their importance remained.


Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley, Fleetwood Mac, the BeeGees, the hits of the 70s, the hits of the 80s, they were all there. My favourite? An octagonal case with the faces of five men on the front. How was I to know of the importance of the sounds on those magical black circles? 'Paint It Black', 'Ruby Tuesday', 'Let's Spend The Night Together' - The Rolling Stones were one of your favourites and in turn, remain one of mine. The bluesy rock they produced led me to some of my favourite artists of today; The Black Keys, Jack White, Band Of Skulls, Gin Wigmore, they were all influenced by you.

I can remember being a little girl, slightly out of place but incredibly comfortable and always welcome, wandering around the garage watching you working on the cars you loved while you sang along to the Kings and Queens of soul and r'n'b, the irresistible grooves of Motown blaring from the radio in the corner. The Temptations, The Supremes, The Jacksons and the one who was to eventually become probably my favourite; Stevie Wonder. How was I to know those melodies, the harmonies, those incredible bass lines were to influence the music I love to dance and sing along to today? The Justin Timberlakes, the Beyonces, the Alicia Keys, the Frank Oceans... even the M.I.A's and the Amy Winehouses, all of the love for them began in that garage all those years ago.

I remember driving long drives, the whole family in the car. I would always take the back seat behind the front passenger, which was always Mum. That seat was my favourite, because it wasn't the middle (let's face it, who wants to sit between two older brothers?) but from there I could see what was happening on the radio in the front. I would sing along to the songs and watch you tapping the steering wheel as you drove, listening to all sorts of things along the way. I remember the anthems of Queen, that amazing vocal of Freddie Mercury and the journeys those epic songs would take us on as we were on our own road trips. That love for Queen continues today and encouraged my love for so many others: the Foo Fighters, Radiohead, even the soaring vocal of Florence + The Machine - all of them influenced by that awesome band we both love - Queen.

I can remember the time I heard it first, but there aren't many words to explain this one, sometimes music says it all. That band you adore that have influenced and meant so much to so many. I remember the words, the knowing smile, the nod and I think of you every time I hear it.

I remember all of this and when I think of it, my life soundtrack has been influenced by so many, but one more than most. You gave me so many musical memories and in turn have always been interested in where I have taken them, always asking me what I'm listening to or what gig I'm going to next. You gave me a soundtrack I love and what you gave was to me, more important than anything else in the world. You gave me a best friend and that friend is music. The reverence and respect you show for it showed me just how important it is...and the love you taught me to have for it will never be lost, much the same as my love and respect for you.


Happy Father's Day Dad and thank you; for you, for everything and for introducing me to my best friend, my favourite and most important thing in the world to me...music.

Where Is My Mind - The Best Month Of My Life...

My mind is on stuffed animal pants, that's where my mind is....

...A Cup Of Caramel Coffee And Yes, Where Is My Mind?

by Jo Michelmore

Hey! How are you? It’s been so long, I’ve missed you. Honestly! You knew I was gone, right? I was on holiday in many beautiful countries across Europe. It was probably the best month of my life. There were a whole bunch of awesome days in 2012, but not a whole month in a row. Yep, probably the best month of my life.

That brings me to here. The month after the best month so far, a laptop, this blog and a cup of caramel coffee. I know. Caramel coffee, right? Probably the best thing ever (except for that month I had in Europe and a whole bunch of other awesome things). Why am I drinking a cup of caramel coffee? Well, come with me here, let me take you on a little journey and adventure into the mind of Jo…

It started with my hair falling into my eye today, at an inconvenient moment when I had my hands full and couldn’t remove my hair from said eyeball...

This got me thinking about how much my hair has grown over the past month while I was in Europe, (probably the best month of my life)...

Which got me thinking about Germany, one of the places I loved in Europe, which got me thinking about coffee, because every morning my travelling buddy would get me a cup of coffee for when I woke up...

Which got me thinking about all the awesome things I drank in Europe...

Which got me thinking about the amazing markets I went to in Berlin, where I drank beer in the sun at 11am while watching a band...

Which got me thinking about which bands I was going to write about on this here blog when I got back home, which got me thinking about not wanting to be back home but on holidays instead...

Which got me thinking about Europe again and the incredible Belgian waffle I ate in Brussels, which didn’t have caramel sauce, but should have...

Which got me thinking about what I was wearing when I ate that amazing waffle, which was a super cute dress and a scarf in my hair...

Which got me thinking about another time I wore that dress, which was to one of my favourite cafes, where I always get a salted caramel coffee...

Which got me thinking, I’m going to have a caramel coffee tonight….and here we are.

See how my mind works? I've given you an insight into how I think and from now until I get bored with the idea, I'm going to take you on a little journey every week. We're going to start with one song and that song is going to take us to another song and that song is taking us to another song and so on and so forth. Each week I'm going to present you with a song and every song will have a link to the one before and the one after, so every week you get an insight into the life and mind of Jo and in the end you can tell me where my mind is...maybe? I'll give you an example...

Since we're talking about how my mind works, let's start with this little track...

Where Is My Mind? - 1988

by The Pixies 

 

Well, I'm not the world's biggest fan of The Pixies, but there's something about this song I kinda love. It's that "oooh ooh" isn't it? It just gets stuck and it's so easy to sing along to it's hard not to; especially in the car, driving long distances. The Pixies, they just never quite made it, did they? The alternative musicians-musicians. The cool kids in the 90's loved them. This song featured on the 'Fight Club' soundtrack which almost propelled them to super star....no actually, it didn't. They were still that fat guy and the girl who played bass. Things must have been weird in the late 80's, because bands like this were competing with bands like this next one...

The Only Way Is Up - 1988

by Yazz And The Plastic Population

 

 

See? Nothing like the last song, at all, but I like that I can manage to link a Pixies song with a Yazz song. I'm sure this Yazz person has had a whole career doing...something, but really, her biggest claim to fame must be this, which is possibly one of the most annoying songs of the 80's. If you bother to listen to the lyrics, it's actually a statement about a class system, but who's going to listen to the lyrics when there's all that denim and those 80's midriff tops going on? It's so darn catchy which is what makes it annoying, it gets stuck, but you know what else makes it irritating? When someone replaces the word 'baby' in the chorus with 'Joey' while they're climbing mountains of stairs with you, as happened to me on my European holiday. It's annoying if your name is Jo and it's probably even more annoying if it's not. This song will never be the same for me again. As I sang those lyrics over and over again, that got me thinking of a song that also had 'up' in the title....

Uptight (Everything's Alright) - 1965

by Stevie Wonder

 

Oh you have no idea how much I love this song. Actually, I just said it, so now you do. How good is Stevie Wonder? This was was the first song he ever co-wrote and considering everything else he wrote (let's ignore a lot of the mid-80's here) this was a pretty good place to start. He was 16 when he wrote this! What were you doing when you were 16? Are you 16? What are you doing with your life? Get off this blog and do something important. No wait, stay, do something after you've read this! Stevie Wonder always reminds me of this song...

Higher Ground - 1989

By Red Hot Chili Peppers

 

Yeah, I was a big Red Hot Chili Peppers fan for a little while there. Still am. I thought that life couldn't get better when I found out one of my favourite bands had covered one of my favourite Motown artists of all time. Did you know there have been thirteen members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers since the early 80's? Flea is probably the only one to have worn the teddy bear pants though.  Where do I get me some of them? Screw this onesie trend, why isn't there a teddy bear pant trend?

Where are the Red Hot Chili Peppers going to take us? Who's to say? We went from The Pixies to Yazz to Stevie Wonder then to RHCP! We could end up anywhere next! How great is this? Where is my mind? I don't even know. You'll have to read again next week to find out....

It's All Coming Back To Me Now - Alvin, Put That Harmonica Down!

THE HARMONICA

by Jo Michelmore

 

First it was the whistling, then it was the clap. The cowbell couldn’t go without being featured and now, due to a special request, this week, we feature another incredible instrument: the harmonica! It’s a weird little instrument isn’t it? When I think of the harmonica I think of those creepy one man band type people with a hundred instruments strapped to them and a harmonica kind of hovering in front of their face. Super creepy. Actually, the concept of the harmonica is kind of great though, an instrument small enough to fit in your pocket but big enough to create some serious noise and if played right, in the right place, in the right song, it’s beautiful. Not so beautiful? The actuality of the harmonica. All that spit and saliva and yeeeeeew, yuck. Oh the horror of playing someone else’s harmonica. Uuuurgh. You know how they recommend you don’t get spit on your harmonica when playing? Tilt your head back, let gravity do the job for you. Yuck. Yuck and yuck. Let’s think about that while we focus this week on vintage songs that have featured the harmonica! Yes!

Rainy Days and Mondays – The Carpenters, 1971

Wow. It’s rainy or it’s Monday and you’re feeling a bit depressed, so you decide to get vintage and put this song on to feel better. Er, don’t. What a depressing song. First there’s the sad harmonica bit at the start, then she sings things like “hangin around, nothing to do but frown” and “feelin like I don’t belong”; well, Karen, chin up! Things aren’t that bad and you got to wear that beautiful ‘70’s yellow dress in the clip! How lovely. No? I know, it was the thought of all that spit in the harmonica got you down, didn’t it? Yes, I agree. Uuuurgh.

Isn’t She Lovely – Stevie Wonder, 1976

Written for his daughter when she was born, isn’t that sweet? “Isn’t she lovely, made from love,” how nice. It’s just a little pop song, not Stevie’s absolute best, but it’s one people seem to remember. Perhaps it’s all that harmonica. Yep, that’d be it. Everyone loves harmonica, right? Stevie does. He’s known for his keyboard skills, generally, but his harmonica skills are exceptional. He’s featured on over 100 songs by people other than himself, playing harmonica. That’s some serious harmonica skills. Also, a lot of spit.

Karma Chameleon – Culture Club, 1983

Come on. Who doesn’t love this song? Ok, maybe a few people. Love is a strong word. Who doesn’t know at least some of the words of this song? You’ve read the title; you already know most of the chorus. Who doesn’t love Boy George? Ok, stupid question. A lot of people don’t, especially that guy he kept chained in his basement for a while there. Things did get a bit weird for a minute there, didn’t they BG? Speaking of weird, this clip is a bit weird too. On a riverboat? Playing cards? Crooning Karma karma karma etc? It’s all a bit odd. Catchy though. I don’t actually know who plays the harmonica on this one. I wonder if Boy G made that poor male escort learn the harmonica bits while he was chained up in his basement? Maybe. Probably not.

Desire – U2, 1988

This was U2’s first number one single in the UK (and Australia, actually). I think it was the harmonica bit. It certainly wasn’t that hat that Bono insists on wearing in the clip. I’ve seen U2 live a couple of times. Everyone seems to like this one live. It’s the whole sing-along bit, people love screaming “desiiiiiiiiiiiire” etc. I like the harmonica bit, myself. Unfortunately, that’s harder to sing along with. It’s still quite good though.

Suicide Blonde – INXS, 1990

This was one of the ‘Kylie Minogue/Michael Hutchence’ mystery marketing genius songs. Was she the suicide blonde he sung about? Guess we’ll never know now. Regardless, it’s INXS sounding exactly like INXS, with harmonica thrown in for good measure. Did they really need another instrument? There were six of them weren’t there? Anyone remember any of them, other than Hutchence? There was nerdy whats-his-name-with-the-glassses and those other couple, weren’t there some brothers in there? Whatever. Well, apparently they did need another instrument and they did ok with this one. The harmonica works quite well in it. This one features the spit of Charlie Musselwhite in the harmonica. I don’t know who he is but he spits into a harmonica well.

Hand In My Pocket – Alanis Morissette, 1995

Finally, an excuse to post my favourite angry/pop female singer from the ‘90’s. Not only does it highlight her exceptional pop song writing skills on this album, it features harmonica. Perfect. Alanis provided so many anthems for so many kids of the 90’s. This was one of them, the lyrics being relatable to anyone, anywhere. I especially liked the “I'm high but I'm grounded, I'm sane but I'm overwhelmed, I'm lost but I'm hopeful” and “I'm sad but I'm laughing, I'm brave but I'm chicken shit” at the time. I still kind of like them. It’s such a great vintage road trip song, this one. Sing it loud with the windows down. Then do some funny impersonation of a harmonica at the end, but try not to spit all over the steering wheel while you do it. Good luck.

Top 100 Songs of the 1970s, #10 - 1



Queen: Can they make it to the top?


Boom! What's that sound? I'd say 'Boom!' is exactly what it will sound like when your head explodes after reading this post. Why? Because you won't be able to handle just how awesome the top 10 songs of the 1970s are. That's right, we've come to the end of our countdown and only the best of the best remain. It's not just ten amazing songs we're looking at either... the ten acts featured today define the words 'iconic' and 'legendary' and created enduring legacies that keep their stars shining bright. Except, you know, for *Spoiler Alert* Ike Turner, but that's neither here nor there. Moving right along, here they are... the top 10 songs of the 1970s!

#10 - Stairway to Heaven (1971)

by Led Zeppelin

There's a feeling I get, when I look to the west,

And my spirit is crying for leaving...

'Stairway to Heaven' marks the first of several epic, super-sized songs to make the top 10. Coming in at just over eight minutes, the song is regarded by many as the greatest rock song of all time and Jimmy Page's guitar solo is continuously awarded as the greatest guitar solo by music publications around the globe. Number ten is also a familiar charting placement for the track; fans voted it into the same position on the JJJ Hottest 100 of All Time in 2009.