punk rock » MaFt's Musings

Has My Love of Music Faded?

Jan 132011

When I was younger, probably half my current age, I used to know every single word to virtually every single song of every single album that I owned. Some may call this a bit sad, I prefer to say that it was simply quite anal! It had it’s advantages though, it meant me and my mate Neil could challenge each other to pass the time in mind-numbingly boring jobs. One such job was at Multiserve in Shipley (StreetView: the grey building with the zig-zag roof). The job entailed sticking lolly’s to the front of kids magazines; another was sticking packs of seeds onto the front of gardening magazines. I always thought that these things were automated by machinery – well, perhaps they are for real publications, but these things were incredibly obscure. I remember the ‘boys’ magazine that we were sticking the lollies onto featured an interview with, and I quote, “Someone Who Knows Tiger Woods”. I had some crap jobs, but that’s for another blog post I think!

* Top left image from MediaMonkey

Leeds Festival

Gigs, Life, Music 2 Responses »

Sep 232009

NB: I started writing this aaaaaaages ago – sorry for the delay in posting it!

I had the pleasure of receiving Guest Passes for Leeds Festival for this past weekend. Due to family / home stuff I was only able to make it for one day – thankfully I picked the one day of the weekend when it stayed dry! I set off about half an hour later than planned to go pick up my mate, Shaun, from Wrose. However, I thought it would be a wise move to phone him to confirm his house number and road – I knew roughly where he lived but wasn’t 100% certain. It’s a good job really as I’d completely forgotten that he moved house about 4 months ago to Pudsey…

So, anyway, we finally got there after a mix up between J45 on the M1 and J45 on the A1(M) and after exchanging out tickets for the wrist bands headed through to the guest area. Wow, flushing toilets and picnic benches to sit at! Needless to say we were impressed! The first band wasn’t on until 12 so we wandered around the site to get our bearings. It didn’t take too long so we both decided to buy a new belt each from the bargain bucket at one of the stalls and grab some money from the cash machine to pay for them…

The More Things Change

Music 6 Responses »

Jul 072009

Back in around 1993/4 when I first started chosing what music to listen to I opted for the Metal albums borrowed from one of my older brothers, Nat. Bands like Metallica, Megadeth and Machine Head (funny how they all begin with ‘M’!) regularly assaulted my ear canals while out delivering papers. In 1994 when I got my first CD player (for Christmas) I bought my first 2 CD’s: “The Best Rock Album In The World… Ever” and Green Day’s “Basket Case” single. The latter changed my musical tastes for ever. Punk rock was then, and has been since, my musical preference although I do still love a bit of metal every so often! If you asked me around 1997/8 during 6th Form who my favourite bands were I would have said Green Day, Rancid, NOFX and The Offspring.

So, moving onto 2008/9 we’ve had new albums from each of those bands. The Offspring released “Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace” at the end of 2008 which was a classic Offspring album – fast tempo’d American punk rock with the odd ballad/slower song thrown in. Next up we had NOFX’s “Coaster” (or “Frisbee” if you bought the vinyl version). This was a return to form, the previous couple of albums were a bit too political and it kinda spoiled the records. Rancid’s “Let The Dominoes Fall” is probably the best album of 2009 (so far) – a great mix of punk rock and ska with Matt Freeman even taking on more of the lead vocals than the last few offerings. Of the four bands Green Day have changed the most. Now, don’t worry, I won’t be going down the whole ‘sell out’ thing cos I honestly don’t think that they have; they’ve just changed their style somewhat. Green Day have a special place in my heart as being the band that got me into punk rock in the first place – as clichéd as it sounds, they changed my life! However, “21st Century Breakdown” is not a punk rock record; that’s not to say it isn’t a good record though! Green Day may have gone more stadium rock than punk rock but they still know how to make good, catchy music – even if it IS five times longer than their previous offerings!

So, in July 2009, if you asked me who my favourite bands were I would have to say, still, Green Day, Rancid, NOFX and The Offspring regardless of how they have changed.