It strikes me that I might have a bit of a reputation for only liking rock and metal music, and while I have no idea where this post is actually going, I hope to prove that that’s only partially true :).
So, a quick flick through my library and what do we find?
How about starting not so far from home, in France. Jean Michel Jarre isn’t everyones cup of tea, but I’ve loved his music since I was very young. My first memory of it (not that I knew it at the time) was hearing some of Oxygene as a kid waiting for a film to start in the cinema. The album I’ve listened to more than any other is Chronolgie, and for that reason here’s one of the more ‘friendly’ tracks from it to break you good people in easy. I would dealy love to see one of his live shows, I don’t think there’s another group or artist anywhere who can give him competition when it comes to the sheer scale of performances. Have a look on youtube for his concerts at the pyramids or the Forbidden City to see what I mean…
Jean Michel Jarre – Chronologie 4
Next up, everyones favourite androgenous Japanese singer who claims to be a vampire born in 1540… what???? I love a good bit of J-pop, and while my favourite track is probably Evolution by Ayumi Hamasaki, I thought I’d share some two-tone style fun with the ubiquitous Gackt. If you’re looking for something a little rougher, try his previous band, Malice Mizer.
Gackt – Vanilla (live)
My love of Eurovision is no secret, so it’s with not even a smattering of shame that I present my favourite Eurovision track ever. This is the live performance from the 2006 competition, and yes, I honestly really do like it. I have it in my car in fact.
Mihai Traistariu – Tornero
I loves me some good trancey dancey stuff, and one of my favourite tracks to this day is one I (predictably enough) heard on a game first. A good few years back, crashing at my friend’s flat until dawn signalled it was time to stop playing games and go home to bed was pretty much all I did for months at a time. I got hopelessly addicted to WipEout 2097 which had an astounding electronic soundtrack, but it’s this one that sticks with me. This track played on the final race in the game, a race I had to replay countless times, staring at the fast-moving visuals and with this song blasting at me continuously. It’s the one time I can say I’ve truly been put in a kind of trance by music, people were talking to me, walking past me and I had no idea. I think what does it for me on this song is the way it keeps building, layer after layer. Just listening to it now while I write this reminds me how much I still love it.
Underworld – Tin There
Ok, ok, I’m weakening, let’s have some classic, proper heavy metal. This is almost certainly my favourite Maiden song, it’s not nearly as heavy or loud as a lot of their stuff, but it’s brilliant. And this performance is 20 years old now too – scary.
Iron Maiden – Infinite Dreams
(In hindsight I should’ve made this post later in the day when I’m more awake and can think better, never mind, more music for another day :)).
Where’s the Akon, Timabaland. . . ????
You’ll have to tell me which of those songs you like and which ones you despise.