Musical musings 1

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When I was at school I had a great interest in music, even in so far as studying it in GCSE and A level, and so after the popularity of the Blog on Fashion I thought that I would look into the practice of good/bad/awful music. 

 Of course the word music covers a lot of different ideas and styles so this will be the first of a few musings on music. So, therefore, this blog is only the start of my exploration. 

  Don't worry I have plans for a special Christmas Blog on Fashion come and have a look soon.

 So where do I start with music. Lets start with the word awful. There have been many bad attempts by many different TV personalities to make and I use the word loosely " Music" Do you remember this excuse of a song.  It reached the staggering heights of number one for  three weeks that well know musical act Mr Blobby. God help us all.
There is no accounting for taste just look at the other weeks number one that lasted just one week. Just in case you missed this cultural event of the year I will now let you/subject you to watching the official music video. I now make an apology for bad taste and probably the worst song on the year so far. If you are of  a nervous disposition I suggest that you turn away now and please do not press the play button on the next clip. 
  
I want to remind you now of an event that happened in 1991. On our screens in the cinema appeared a film by Kevin Costner. We all sat down to watch the epic film: Robin hood prince of thieves. And then came the song. For 16 long weeks this was number one in the UK Charts. Admittedly I liked the song at the beginning so that is why I have put it into the Good category. but then that was week one  of its 16 week run. But, as time went on I think I got a little fed up with the song but just to remind you how good it actually was ( in the beginning) here is the music video in full. It was only 4 minutes long. I have to say I thought it was longer than that more like seven.

So I have looked at the Good turning into bad and the down right unplayable. I now want to share with you some of the great music that has both influenced me. I will start with my first musical quest and quite rightly this year the Beatles. I first got into them not by listening to them but, by looking at a plate. Yes, that sounds bizarre, but it is true. Mum had this plate below in a cupboard at home and asked her who they were.
It was this plate that my musical journey started.  I then plugged myself in and was hooked. One of the first songs and what I consider to be a forgotten gem of the Beatles has to be Girl on the Rubber soul album. This was a gem of the record and here it is below for you also to enjoy. There are many other gems of the Beatles which I will share with you at another time. 
This journey took me to seeing Paul McCartney twice and buying every Beatles Album even if when I brought St Pepper people looked at me as if I had gone mad. 

One of the highlights of that tour was Live and let die performed live. He has sung this song on many times. I do not think that it is one of his best there are many more but it is certainly one of the most dramatic. Let us have a look together: 


I have one more major influence on my listening in the early days of listening to music and that is my brothers love of Queen. 

Undoubtedly one of the best live bands ever there front man Freddie was a real showman. It like the Beatles and Paul McCartney is hard to find a song to justify their genius although I will give it a try with the classic that I finish this part one of my musical mussing. There must really be no comment to this just sit back and enjoy the song that is:

Bohemian Rhapsody

I can not forget some of the other great music that I was able to enjoy as I grew up. This one by the stragglers was amazing the time beat in this song. This song features a '60's type harpsichord riff with an unusual time signature. The intro (and the parts like it) sound like three bars of 3/4, then one of 4/4, with the rest just straight 3/4 like a waltz.

 Although I finish with this I thought you might also like to hear the Muppet's version of the great Queen song. 
There is so much more I can say on music but you will have to wait. Look out for the next episode where we will look at the X factor and manufactured bands surely nothing good can come out of that... Can it !!!!

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