MUSIC WRITING PROMPT
I Say I Am Into Music
Answers to Scott-Ryan Abt’s 10 musical questions
I love music — I used to own a tee shirt with those exact words. Music has saved my sanity and got me through crummy times more than once. I’ve hosted radio programs, have a large digital and CD collection, and write a music-related story once a week on this platform. Plus music’s lead me to many great friends.
This piece is my response to Scott-Ryan Abt, who came up with 10 questions about music to find out who really has the passion.
I have to confess: I have music aficionado imposter syndrome. There are just so many people who have way more knowledge and musical experiences than I do. You’re probably one of them.
But a friend of mine once said there’s no such thing as a person with bad taste in music as long as you’re passionate about the music you dig.
Am I passionate about music? Well, there are songs that take me back to moments in my life that fill me with joy or make my heart break all over again. There are songs that make me laugh or cry as soon as I hear the first notes.
Normally I’m not a very emotional person. So I need music to help me feel.
Anyway, let’s address Scott-Ryan’s questions to find out if I’m as much into music as I’d like to think.
1. What kind of music do you like?
Britpop. It was the first genre of music I liked, as in liked for myself not liked because another cooler kid was into it.
Pulp, Blur, Suede, Oasis, Elastica and the rest sung about an English identity I found more relatable than the American tunes dominating the Australian mainstream airwaves in the mid-90s.
From Britpop, I traced its influences back to the British invasion bands — Beatles, Rolling Stones and the Kinks — but also to 80s indie music like the Smiths.
Just like Joy Division morphing into New Order, I became interested in music with an electronic influence like Kraftwerk. I like my electro with lyrics and in the mid-2000s, I got into the electropop scene — MGMT, the Faint, and the Presets from Australia.
This is still the music I’m mostly into, but I also like exploring different stuff these days. For example, at the moment I’m interested in pre-50s music that sounds like rock ’n’ roll — artists like Sister Rosetta Tharpe who rocked before there was rock.
2. What kind of music did you grow up on?
80s Top 40 because it was pervasive. But the music in my house never moved beyond 1966.
Since I was wee, my dad has played guitar. He goes through different phases, playing songs on repeat until he masters them. That meant that when I lived at home, the songs he played would lodge themselves into my brain.
Delta blues, Irish folk, 50s rock ’n’ roll and 60s British music.
Mum was into 60s British music and Northern soul. She’s also a big fan of Rod Stewart but I think that was after I left home, so I didn’t get the Rod influence.
3. What’s your favourite band?
Blondie
Despite all my talk about British music, my favourite band is American. I love how Blondie cleverly combined punk, new wave, reggae, rap and, yes, even disco. All the songs are well-produced and sound great. And I love Deborah Harry’s whole aesthetic. My favourite song is “Atomic”.
I saw Blondie and the Pretenders perform at a winery near Melbourne around 10 years ago. Both bands still sounded fantastic and, no, I wasn’t under the influence of the winery wine.
4. What is the first show you went to on your own?
If you mean without parents, it was Oz Music Day 1990. Or was that Aus Music Day? I can’t find any online info about the event, but I’m pretty sure it was at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. It featured a bunch of Australian artists, although none were at the INXS or AC/DC level.
Artists I remember playing were Yothu Yindi, Jenny Morris and Mark Seymour.
I can’t remember much about the concert. It was okay but I mainly went because my friend wanted to go. I paid for the ticket with my babysitting money and it was probably around $20.
The first concert I went to on my own without friends or anyone was the Big Day Out 2009. That year, I loved going to see music by myself. I could pick who I wanted to see, arrive when I wanted, stand where I wanted and leave when I wanted. No compromising with friends.
Here are my actual words from 2009 about the acts I saw:
- Youth Group: pretty good but that “Forever Young” song…meh. I think it’s on some terrible show such as The OC. The rest of their numbers were good.
- The Ting Tings: awesome!
- Black Kids: cute as a button! Technically should have been called Black Kid as one of them was sick.
- TV on the Radio: normally I really like them but yesterday thought they sounded a bit flat.
- Lupe Fiasco: brilliant! My BDO highlight was seeing him topless draped in the Australian flag.
- My Morning Jacket: pretty good but not memorable.
- The Drones: Saw them for a mate’s benefit but only had 15 mins to spare so need to give them more time. Possibly a bit heavier than the dancy stuff I’m into at the mo’.
- Simian Mobile Disco: really really gr8! Coulda danced to them forever.
- Cut Copy: great.
- Hot Chip: prolly my fav act, but why did they have to finish with a cover of “Nothing Compares 2U”? That song makes me sad.
- Arctic Monkeys: good, but I was expecting more.
- Neil Young: sorry Neil, I didn’t do you justice by sitting too far away and leaving early.
5. What’s the first record / tape / CD you bought with your own money? And do you still have it?
Madonna’s Like a Virgin, on cassette. Technically I made my brother pay for it and I think I paid him back. I was kind of a sly kid.
I loved Madonna in the mid-80s. I think I wrote her a letter asking if I could go live with her.
6. What is the best show you’ve ever seen? What was the worst?
The best and most surprising concert I saw was Grace Jones at the Øyafestivalen 2016 in Oslo. Surprising because, at the last minute, she replaced whoever was meant to be the headliner. And she was brilliant!
Then in her early 70s, Grace was performing gymnastics and singing her songs as bitingly cool as the day she recorded them.
My highlight was her autobiographical song, “Williams’ Blood”, and a finale of “Amazing Grace”. Only Grace Jones could get away singing that.
I hate to talk about the worst musical act because I know how much of your soul goes into any creative endeavour, even when it doesn’t turn out so well.
I saw this band in Melbourne once and they were pretty bad. I can’t remember their name but they were all white, middle-class hippies singing “f*ck the system”. They were so derivative and had nothing new to say.
Maybe they were just starting out and would improve over time. I’ll never know.
7. What is the next show you are going to?
Every summer, Barcelona has these rock and grill events where you can get a burger and listen to some tribute bands.
There’s a Tina Turner act in August I’ll go to. On other nights there are tributes to AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses, so I might check those out too.
It’s a bit of a gamble, though. The tribute bands in Spain range from excellent to dire, as Alex Markham can attest.
8. What is one band that you still haven’t seen that you want to, before it’s all said and done (for them or for you?)
Billy Bragg
I’ve been trying to learn more about economics and politics this past year as I start to worry about whether I’ll have enough to retire on and wonder if sometimes the world is focussing on the wrong issues. So protest music that champions the working class, by artists like Billy Bragg and Bruce Springsteen, has become more interesting to me.
9. What is the greatest song ever written, hands down?
“Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen. But Jeff Buckley’s cover is my favourite recording.
Cohen carefully crafted this song, taking over five years to come up with a version he was happy with.
“Hallelujah is a Hebrew word which means ‘Glory to the Lord’. The song explains that many kinds of Hallelujahs do exist. I say: All the perfect and broken Hallelujahs have an equal value. It’s a desire to affirm my faith in life, not in some formal religious way but with enthusiasm, with emotion.” Leonard Cohen
That’s why “Hallelujah” is a great song, it’s about the joy of life.
After having a health scare in my early 30s, I realised that life is amazing and I try to remember that every day. I have a bracelet that says “vivir es increíble” (to live is incredible). Unfortunately, it gives me a rash so I can’t wear it, but I love the words.
We played “Hallelujah” for my grandmother’s funeral. She had a happy life.
10. What is your greatest regret, musically?
Not going to see the Blur concert in Melbourne in 1997 because I had an exam the next day.
I whined about missing the concert and failed the exam anyway. Lesson learned.
If you want to get to know more writers as they answer these 10 questions about music, check out stories by Alex Markham (here), Buddy Gott (here) and Paul Combs (here).