Almanac Music 2 – three iconic moments
Mickey Randall looks at three iconic moments in song: moments in A Hard Day's Night by The Beatles, Paradise City by Guns 'n' Roses, and The Tourist by Radiohead.
RIDERS ON THE STORM by THE DOORS Story by Chris Rees
Riders On The Storm was the only Doors song 7BU ever played. My mental image of the singer was someone like the Marlboro Man crossed with the God of the Old Testament. All-seeing, all-knowing, powerful but not necessarily prepared to intervene.
GUITAR BAND by STEVIE WRIGHT Story by Andy Griffiths
We designed our album covers, our costumes and our amazing stage shows. Not only would we have a full-size movie screen behind us but Andrew would have a drum kit so large that he would need to get extendable robot arms to be able to reach them all. We also planned out the itinerary for our world tour.
I JUST MET A GIRL NAMED MARIA Story by Maria Majsa
The house lights dimmed, the curtain rose, a hush fell and the assault began. Proximity of screen plus technicolour panavision multiplied by gigantic singing heads equals nausea.
DRIVE ALL NIGHT by GLEN HANSARD Story by Vin Maskell
I’d drive all night with my brother if I could. It would be escapism of a sort but also a rare chance to spend time, a long time, together. We’d pack sandwiches and snacks and drinks. Chocolate. A football. Some of Peter’s surfboards.
WOULDN’T IT BE NICE by THE BEACH BOYS. Story by Lucia Nardo
We engaged Joie's Mazda 818's unofficial air conditioning—two windows down and eighty kilometres an hour—and raised our voices in chat and song over the wind streaming into the car.
Almanac Music 1: From Billy Elliot to Suedehead in six minutes
There is much conjecture and disagreement about the trajectory of Paul Weller and friends, the evolution of The Jam from punkish to mod to pop to pastiche, ending in the Style Council, of which I was never a fan (you can tell a Weller woman by the way she wears her hair etc).
POWDERFINGER BY NEIL YOUNG Story by Damian Balassone
The house is a pigsty: multiple leaks, gathering mould, mice pooh in the breadbox, possum arses sticking out of the walls to block out the sunlight while they sleep, empty pizza cartons, cheap wine bottles – it’s a cross between Animal House and the Dead Poets Society.
JESUS CHRIST POSE BY SOUNDGARDEN Story by Imogen Knight
Imogen Knight recalls seeing Soundgarden and then Chris Cornell solo at two distinct stages of her life: 1991 and 2015.
CRIME IN THE CITY by NEIL YOUNG Story by Markus Zusak
All around me was this rubble, the toaster was over the road – my book was blown to bits – but somehow the oven and my headphones were still intact, and Neil Young (ever the unfuckingkillable – the rock n roll cockroach if ever there was one), was STILL singing…and I still hadn’t got to the best bit