Categories
music TV

Obscure songs: JC001: Never Again

20 odd years ago, when I was into music videos (and television in general), I used to regularly record (yes, on VHS) a few hours of Rage on a Friday and/or Saturday night, and watch it the next day. I’d categorise each song as a 1, 2 or 3. 1s I would copy onto another  ... [More]

Categories
music Retrospectives

My retro iPod

I just realised my iPod is nearly nine years old. That’s an age in the world of computers and electronics… does that make it a retro item? It’s a third-generation iPod, back from before they had silly features like apps, movie playback, and colour screens… And yes, it’s still going strong, though admittedly most of  ... [More]

Categories
dreams music Net

Quick random thoughts

The Herald Sun paywall launched in March, and offered free 2-month passes. Any word on what’s happened now those have run out? Strange dream: Woke up with the most enormous sideburns. Struggled to get them removed before having to go to work. Another dream: Was invited to a very elaborate dinner party at Alan Kohler’s  ... [More]

Categories
music

Shiny discs

CDs recently turned 30 years old. I first got a CD player in 1988, when they fell below $200 for the first time. It was a CDC brand player (made by Teac), for which I trekked out to KMart at Box Hill. It worked for fifteen years, until 2003 — though its replacement didn’t last  ... [More]

Categories
music

Do you still buy CDs? And why?

This topic came up on social media and in real life recently: do you still buy CDs, and why? I do. I buy some stuff on iTunes and Bigpond Music (which sells MP3s), and buy some stuff (particularly older material) on CD. Why? Because I prefer the softer, warmer, fuller sound of CDs to the  ... [More]

Categories
Melbourne music TV

Sights of Old Melbourne Town – as seen in music videos

Dragon: Are You Old Enough (1978) — around Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, including the now-gone behaviour of riding the running board on a tram, and a Silvertop taxi back when they really did have a silver top. John Paul Young: Yesterday’s Hero (1975) — around Swanston Street Paul Kelly: Leaps and Bounds — mostly the Nylex  ... [More]

Categories
Clothes music

Freddies!

I feel a bit guilty about this: I re-used a costume party costume. See, I was invited to an 80s Movie/Music/Pop-Culture party, and then a Dead Celebrities a couple of weeks later. Given time constraints and the likelihood of few party guests overlapping, I reasoned that I could knock off both with one costume. Someone  ... [More]

Categories
music News and events

Happy Australia Day (and make sure you have a ticket)

The words on the left are from I Am Australian, by Bruce Woodley: We are one, but we are many And from all the lands on earth we come We share a dream, and sing with one voice: I am, you are, we are Australian Wikipedia says the song was written in 1987. I’m pretty  ... [More]

Categories
music TV

Get well soon, Molly

Music industry legend Molly Meldrum has undergone surgery overnight to relieve swelling on his brain after he fell from the roof while putting up Christmas decorations at his Richmond home. — Bedside vigil as Meldrum fights for life I reckon for most Australian Gen-Xers with an interest in music, Molly Meldrum is just someone who’s  ... [More]

Categories
music

Old man music

Happy Fathers Day. As I recall it, there’s a scene in one episode of Frontline where Mike Moore is driving along listening happily to the radio, singing along to “We Built This City”. When the DJ comes on he derides it as “one for the oldies” and then throws to something newer, a heavy rock  ... [More]

Categories
music

The Long And Winding Road

Call me slow, but I just figured out why I never used to be that keen on The Long And Winding Road but how recently I’ve come to like it — and even find it quite emotional. It’s not just because I’m getting old. It’s because for years all I had was the original version  ... [More]

Categories
Friends and loved ones music

The power of music

(My blogging is likely to be a little sporadic for the next week or two. I’m sure you can work out why.) Music can often be very powerful at capturing an emotion, a feeling, a memory. After that post a couple of months ago about songs on a theme, here’s another theme that’s become relevant  ... [More]