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widg‧et /ˈwɪdʒɪt/ [wij-it] -noun: Pointless ramblings from the New Forest. Obviously complete & utter Rubbish. Why must I contibute to all this endless talk about me? My self-indulgent knees, spilling themselves all over the internet. Obviously i am Jon and his hair, I AM HIM!

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Dance to the Music (Part One)

Here is the first in an occasional series in which I will regale you with tales of death, destruction, music & jam, but mostly the music. Since I am regularly being ridiculed for my HMV-style room, stand up & salute the maggot-ridden corpse of 'Top of the Pops' as I present:

Jon's (very nearly) Definitive Top Five(ish) Albums of All the Years, Ever (as long as they fall between 1988 and now). As the Scissor Sisters would say, "Ta-Dah!"

So we begin with 1988, the year in which I properly started buying music instead of taping it off the radio or playing my Dad's brass band records, I was 12 (aaaaahhhh). This is mostly the stuff I was listening to then, hence the large initial cheese factor & the glaring omissions, with a few later discoveries thrown in.
So, ranked in no particular order:

1988Martika - Martika
The Sugarcubes - Life's Too Good
Pixies - Surfer Rosa
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Morrissey - Viva Hate

Martika is unquestionably the greatest record to come out of the 1980s. Songs about Tarzan AND Heroin, aw-ee-aw-ee-uhh! The Sugarcubes were mad, mad I tell you! The big single 'Birthday' seemed to be about paedophilia and crows, when that was acceptable subject matter for a pop song. The first two are actually the only ones I got that year. I didn't get into the Pixies till a late-night-late viewing of the Breeders a couple of years later. Sonic Youth was an even later discovery, and Morrissey later still, though I always had a soft spot for The Smiths.

1989Madonna - Like a Prayer
The B-52s - Cosmic Thing
Debbie Harry - Def, Dumb & Blonde
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
The Sundays - Reading Writing & Arithmetic

Strangely my favourite album of the year, and possibly of all time is The Sundays' one, as that was the only one in the list that I didn't get that year. I was introduced to it by a mate in Brighton about 5 years later, when all I knew about them was the Newman & Baddiel Theme. There was a song with the Sally Army in it, which I got very excited about as I was in it (The Sally Army, not the song) at the time, ooh. I was quite a Madonna loving freak in the 80s, which waned slightly as she got a bit poo in the 90s, but has returned with a vengance recently during cheese-based splishy-splashy sessions (Dear Jessie, come on)! Debbie Harry's mainly there for sentimental reasons as my first proper record was 'The Best of Blondie' when I was 5, yes I am that cool!

1990Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
The Breeders - Pod
Beats International - Let Them Eat Bingo
Happy Mondays - Pills n Thrills & Bellyaches
Wilson Phillips - Wilson Phillips

And as we leap into the 90s we have another strong contender for best album ever from the Cocteau Twins, though most of my friends would disagree, but they are wrong. We have the Breeders (complete with Tanya D, yay), Beats International (though I preferred the single version of Burundi Blues to the album, so there), Happy Mondays (ah, who remembers the 'Step On' video lingering around on the Chart Show for what seemed like months? Whatever happened to Rowetta and her kettles?) and, of course, Wilson Phillips (what was I thinking? But their parents were cool, where did it all go wrong?).

2 Comments:

Blogger Jennie-Dee said...

All I heard was ..."Martika"... "Dear Jessie"(YAY!!) ..."Blondie"... WHERE WAS KYLIE?? A glaring omission, but educational and insightful none-the-less.

6:08 pm

 
Blogger AlphIANo said...

This. Is. Brilliant.

That's all I have to say. More soon please?!!!!

2:58 pm

 

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