Christmas

Well this is nice, 22:27 on Boxing Day.

Christmas is over, the Stollen has been eaten, the JD and Cokes have been drunk, the tree is prepping itself for another year in it's Dyson box. And The Pogues will once again go unplayed for a year.

This has been really nice catching up with family and having a laugh. And also kicking butt at 'Spin & Shout'. 19 points...awesome eh?

This is only a short post because I'm fairly tired but I hope you all have a lovely new year and don't spend too much in the January sales.

And on that note, I need to go shopping.

Peace x

A charmless man

I'm a 49 year old man stuck in the body of a 16 year old who wishes he was alive in the 60's. People in the supermarket I work at tell me "Enjoy your youth" whenever I make a crack about being too young to sell alcohol. Well no. What's there to enjoy? And so what if I sound like an angsty little so and so.

40 years ago Beatles mania was the phrase 0f the moment, people listened to music on spinning wheels with needles attached and the country was in fear of a nuclear war. But the music was great, the people were happy and Britain was (for the best part) doing pretty damn well.

30 years ago Pink Floyd and Queen were at the top of their game, people still listened to slightly smaller spinning wheels and the country was still a bit worried about a nuclear war. But the music was amazing, the people were happy and Britain wasn't doing half bad.

20 years ago. Wow. What an era to be alive in. Amazing new styles of music, Joy Division - and towards the end - the birth of britpop. Cassettes were brought out and teens and adults alike, sat recording the chart shows so they could listen to the quintessentially amazing chart music. So what if there was dirge in the charts, at least it wasn't rearing it's head anywhere near the top 40. Music: Amazing. People: Happy. Britain: Not bad.

10 years ago. Oooh. Um..ok. So we've got Britpop and Rave and Madchester. Everything else? Crap. Britain falling down a well of awfulness. But technology was booming and the world was evolving faster than ever. The Falklands was a thing of the past and a fresh faced Labour government was shoeing it's way into the big house on the Thames. Music: Mixed bag, mostly good. People: Content. Britain: Not great, but ok.

Present day: You guessed it. Let's look at some of the music we have flowing through the charts:

• N-Dubz
• Chipmunk
• Ironik
• McFly
• Saturdays
• Girls Aloud
• Cheryl Cole
• Jonas Brothers
• JLS
• Miley Cyrus

What the hell people. Britain is in turmoil. The music is - for lack of a better word - shit. Everyone is unhappy. Our leader looks like a wet sock that's been scrunched up and left behind the tumble dryer for a month and to top it off, everyone's going to die because some polar bear's don't have enough ice.

What has happened to this country?! We've had our downs; Thatcher, and um...well Thatcher. But the 20th century was amazing (well, the latter years). Music revolutionized the world, film did the same. We went from listening to crank radios to sitting in front of a 50" screen watching a film where you can see every sweat bead drip off Jason Statham's head. So what the hell has gone wrong over the past 9 years (almost ten) years?

We can only hope that come 1st January 2010, the world snaps back into normality and Blur decide to properly reform, Freddy Mercury comes back to life, everyone shares in one massive hug and Harry from McFly suddenly forgets how to breathe.

Past-times

Lookey here! I'm finally writing a post that hasn't got a MySpace link in. I thought I'd talk about pastimes today, not for any particular reason, just because I thought it would be - I don't know - interesting? Well probably not. Because I'm writing it, but hopefully it'll either keep you reading my blog or turn you away. Whatever the case, thanks for the page view. Much appreciated.

I like reading, listening to music and shopping. The last one will make me sound like a ravishing homosexual but you'd be shocked to know that I have a very odd strain of DNA in me that means that I like shopping. I would comment on the other two but everyone likes reading and listening to music...well apart from people who live nor- no I'm not going to make a joke about northerners. But anyway, every teenager who has a MySpace or Bookface will say that they like reading and listening to music. This is a good thing.

First of all it shows that the two truest art forms in life are still popular (although I wouldn't describe the music made by Lady(?) Gaga and McFly to be art forms rather than art farces) in this day and age. And it shows that maybe there is hope for humanity, especially with pastimes like car-maintenance and stabbing becoming popular.

Now I think about it, is shopping a pastime? Well yes. It's something you do for enjoyment. Sorry I'm heading away from the topic faster than [insert comical simile here].

What saddens me though is that people are ridiculed for reading. And people are called 'geeks' for saying they liked reading a book. As an example, I was in school reading Sun Tzu's Art Of War on my laptop, when someone walks past, laughs, and says "Wow. That is the single most boring thing I have ever seen". To which I simply told the person where to stick it and returned to my reading.

Why is it that people who wish to further their knowledge of 'stuff' are ridiculed while those who stand in murky streets selling drugs to children and stabbing people are hailed by their friends. Gaining credibility for wrong-doing.

Well done Britain. This is what we've been reduced to. The greatest empire in the world to a culture of drugs and violence. It's like renaissance Italy, only without a New World Order threatening power.

Oh wait.

Peace x

Once again, sorry!

I'm sorry readers. Even though I haven't posted it's gone from 800 to 850 so thank you all. I am in the process of writing something big but here's another great new artist that I'm sure you'll love!

http://www.myspace.com/austynbrownmusic

Peace x

I promise I'll do something lengthy soon!

Hello readers old and new.

I'm really busy sorting music stuff out right now, keep finding rough edges in recordings that just won't iron out. So in the meantime I bring to you some new music from an artist who brings shivers down your spines and warmth in your hearts.

Please listen, please check out his MySpace.

http://www.charliehole.com/

Peace x

In This Light and on This Evening

Up until September, music was awful. With the radio's clogged with crappy girl bands and crappy boy bands, I was at the end of my teather. So much so that I started listening to Joy Division and doing that epilepsy dance that Ian Curtis did. Then suddenly, on October 1st, music had a spurt. It's like that moment where you wake up to find you've grown a few inches...in height.

So here we have a prime example of a fantastic new album from the brilliant Editors. So without going through their history and using a theasuarus to impress you readers, I thought I'd just be blunt:

Every song on there is a hit.
Buy it.
Love it.

8/10

Change?

Towards the end of last year, millions of Americans waddled into their polling booths (I get one stereotype comment per blog, that was it) and scribbled a tick next to the name of their saviour, Barack Obama. The buzzword of 2009 has been 'CHANGE' and that was what Barack promised. "All troops serving in Iraq would be removed and the economy would be fixed by the end of 2009" he said (sorta).

Well it's been a year and we are the end(ish) of 2009. So has Barack followed through on his promise of change? Is Iraq now a prosperous MEDC? Is America finally out of their economic lapse?

No.

Well if he hasn't followed up those promises then he MUST have done something to earn that Nobel Peace Prize, the prize that's gone to amazing people like: Ghandi, Mother Theresa, etc?

No.

Hmmm. Well he's followed through on his idea of 'Change!' hasn't he?

Yep.

Well there we go!

Nope. Barack has definitely changed America, he's changed the world as well. But I wouldn't say it's been for the better. Homelessness and unemployment quotas throughout America have risen and the recession is still in full swing. All Obama's done is throw money at the banks and expect miracles to happen. Well a miracle didn't happen, and unless he brings in a new agenda then the price of your Spaghetti Hoops will stay at £1.30 for the next few years.

So Iraq. He must have pulled some troops out?

Well yeah, he did. He pulled quite a few out in fact. But then he put a lot more in their place. It's like 'Nam all over again. America have gone into Iraq thinking they can stomp all over their land and steal their oil only to find that - oh - there's a few people who don't like that. And now we're fighting a war with more and more people dying every day for no reason. Hmm.

I agree that it's very inspirational what Barack has done and that children across america should see that it doesn't matter what colour you are or where you're from, everyone's equal. But I don't think he deserves a Nobel PEACE Prize.

Now a question for YOU. The reader. You've seen my opinion. What's yours?
Contact me on Twitter. @Steveturner93

Cheers, Steve.

Have you got the music in you?

About a year ago I found a nice piece of software called ‘Virtual DJ’. At first I was clueless. There were a lot of shiny knobs and some things that made a creaking noise when I put my curser over them. Quickly, I figured out how to make Stevie Wonder sound like he’s just sucked on a helium balloon, while making Matt Bellamy sound like someone’s jammed a stale pork pie down his throat. Then I made things faster, slower and heavier.

Then the first track came out. It was simple and rough. A weird take on Life in Technicolor ii by Coldplay. I mixed it with some in-built samples and recorded it; all of this was done within 2 hours. It sounded bad, but it was something that I had made. I listened to it twice and made something new. A mix of No Time For Tears by The Enemy. It sounded better and louder. I was hooked.

Then came the album. It was sketchy but people liked it. I made fifteen copies and they all went within one week. No more have been made and no more ever will. So 5 months later I’m working on the difficult second album and have been testing a new piece of software.

The pieces of software I use are very difficult to use, unattractive and clunky. But I have to use it because it’s my only option. Mac users have the great Garage Band and Linux has...well...Linux doesn’t have ANYTHING in general, so that’s out of the question. But
Microsoft has just released SongSmith. And I’ve been having a go.
Obviously this is not a £600 piece of software; in fact you get everything you need to create a simple song in demo mode. The interface is attractive and it’s very easy to use. The playback is smooth and – although rough around the edges – sounds professional.

In fact, there’s only one thing stopping this programme being as good as GarageBand. This is not mixing software, it’s not even creating music. All this programme allows you to do is sing over a backing track. There’s ways of adding your own riffs and drums I think but they don’t sound very good on the videos and samples I’ve seen.

Don’t get me wrong, this could be used well in a school environment. Probably not in the upper-regions of secondary schools but from ages 5 to 14, this could be a great part of music lessons, teaching students how to use: Tempo, bass, beats, layering techniques and quality finishing. I wouldn’t suggest this for higher-secondary use because it would have no gain to GCSE/A-Level music. There’s a lack of versatility and serious lack of ‘stuff’ to use.

So to all the teachers and parents with young children, go for it. Let the young ones use it, catapult them into mini-stardom. But to all you teenagers and secondary-education teachers, don’t bother in the upper school, give it to the kids and move them up to programmes like “Virtual DJ”.

Ease of use: 9/10 Actual music making capabilities: 2/10
Aesthetics: 8/10

Free Software

Hi again readers. It's been a while since I've written a serious post that doesn't include: A) A review or B) Tom Hanks so expect several grammatical errors. Also, sorry for the massive photo, Blogger didn't want to let me resize it. So yes, free software.

I've just got a new laptop as a well done for my exams. It's one of the new Inspiron 15's in red with a T4200 dual core upgrade and 3gb RAM, it's got a 250gb hard drive and runs games/internet/movies as smoothly as one of those Alienware Area 52's or one of those Rock laptops. But there's one thing that's really bothered me about this laptop, and with my previous laptop. Not something internal, but more to do with the man in the picture and his company...and Dell I suppose.

Software. I've been given Roxio, a lame excuse for "music recording software" and I was given the dreadful McAfee anti-virus. They chucked in Solitare and Purble Place, they were kind enough to give me some webcam software too. There's some music-enhancing stuff that's possibly even more useless than the chocolate teapot. And then there's the Microsoft Office 2007......demo.

Yes readers. After having £400 spent on this beauty of a machine, I haven't even been given a proper copy of Microsoft Word. I understand this isn't entirely Microsoft's fault, seeing as it is a Dell and that they're selling it. But for goodness sake, £219 for the basic Microsoft Office? It's no wonder people have turned to illegal downloads when we're being robbed in broad daylight. After 60 day's it all goes away and I'm left with...well...Microsoft Works. And who the hell still uses Microsof Works?

Fortunately I know someone who has access to these programmes and gave me the key to unlock a copy of Microsoft Office Ultimate. But think about the student in Claenwyd Uni who doesn't have access to this sort of stuff and is stuck with Notepad and Microsoft Works. I think that if you're spending £350+ on a laptop, you should at least expect Microsoft Word. I don't care about excel, or OneNote, and who the hell uses PowerPoint any more? I just want Word. So I propose that when you purchase a laptop you should get that sotware for free, and not pay £200+ for it.

All you have to do is stick a CD in the tray and press enter a few times. Is that really too hard Mr. Gates. Your friend Mr. Jobs seems to be able to do it.

-Steve

Stellified

Well it's been a long time but I'm back and have found some time to say hello. I thought I'd come back and review some stuff I've been listening to over my holidays. So the next 3 posts will be reviews. Hopefully it might make you buy some of the tracks, or at least youtube them, becuase if it's got my seal of approval, you KNOW it might be reasonable.

Ian Brown disgraced himself in 199something when he went on stage at Reading and sang like a drunken, doped upm mancunian...oh wait. Sadly that is how he has been remembered. Also for doing something on a plane. But he has also been known for being quite a talented chap. He, Mani, Remi and the other one released a few great albums, a compiation and one I didn't like. Then Brown went on to make some solo stuff that was deemed by the holier-than-thou NME writers as "ok".

Then Brown makes a new song. Stellify. And what a song. A song to rival F.E.A.R in my opinion. But no-one listens to it becuase it doesn't get airplay. Whereas that awful new Sugarbabes song does.

So the debut Stone Roses album. The iconic madchester album for me. With some of the greatest tracks of the 20th century involved (Fools Gold, I Am the Ressurection and Sally Cinnamon). NME like it, creepy indie weirdos like it and even my dad likes it. So it's music for the people. I still find it difficult to find one bad song on there. Of course there are one or two low points but not low points like on that crappy AC/DC album, in which the songs went up and down like Wall Street in the 20's (My history teacher would be proud!).

Hopefully you've heard of Fool's Gold and if you have then you'll also agree that it's a whip-crackingly, fist-raisingly, stunningly good song. 9 minutes of fautless music, chopped down for radio. Sally Cinnamon and I Wanna Be Adored tell stories that could make entire albums themselves. I Am The Ressurection is a self-proclaimed ballad of the late 80's/early 90's and She Bang's The Drum will have your foot tapping in no time.

Seems to me that kids these days (I am getting old) are hearing of old bands and buying "Best Of"'s. Now that's really good because it gets kids listening to the old school stuff. But it also ruins it for them. Me and my mother (who - I recently found - has quite good taste in music) decided that the problem with the compilation is you don't get the hidden treasures. That's why buying the self-titled original Roses album is a much better idea than getting the compilation.

So what of Brown's solo stuff? Some of it is good (Music of the Sphere's and the new un-named album) but some is also bloody awful (everything else). He goes through phases Brown does. Momentary genius followed by subdued and underlying awfulness. The first time I watched the anthemic F.E.A.R was in my living room on MTV. I fell in love with the song. The way he makes every lyric follow the acronym, but still retain the meaning is genius. Then I remember that the next single was an atrocious conglomeration of him complaining and looking like a meth addict after a 5 week binge. I couldn't tell you what it was or what happened in the video because I switched it over to Hey Arnold.

But sitting on my sickly green sofa eating toast and watching Brown cycle backwards through Soho made my youth just as much as Bittersweet Symphony did. Perhaps I'm too obsessed with Britpop/Madchester. But I see a revival very soon. Viva la Revolution people!

Stone Roses 9.5/10
The Complete Stone Roses 8.5/10
Music of the Spheres 9/10
Stellify 8/10

Peace x

Viðrar vel til loftárása

Just a small post to say that I'm off to France for 3 weeks! I probably won't bother blogging about whatever it is I'm doing but if you really are the sort of person who has an interest in what I'm doing. Then follow me on Twitter. I go by the username of: Steveturner93.

That's all really. Don't read too much into the photo/title. Just Tom Hanks and a phrase I learnt in Icelandic. "Perfect weather for an airstrime".

How amusing.

Bon été!

Something for the weekend

Well the weather this week has reflected the state of our government. Bloody awful. But do not fret readers! I may have found something which will make your weekend make up for all this rain and loud thunderous...thunder.

And it does not come in the form of several poorly written paragraphs by yours truly. It comes in the form of an album from a band that you probably won't have heard of. But as the music of the current day is so awful that it's causing me to turn to blues from the 70's and sit moodily in the middle of town nodding along and looking like someone who belongs in a lunatic asylum. It's these bands/artists that are shining at the moment.

As I just said, I'm currently into blues and as I didn't say, I also dig the folk scene. But you can't live on folk. That would be like living off of vanilla ice cream. You keep looking at the chocolate and strawberry sitting next to it, but you don't want to go there becuase it looks a bit unsafe and too red/brown for your liking. So you need balance, maybe a little bit of synth or emo.

Unfortunately emo/screamo/loudnoisescomingfrompubescentteenagerswithlongblackhair is awful and anyone who says different deserves to get their heads kicked in by the reanimated corpse of Marlon Brando. So that leaves you with synth. Or techno, electronic, indie...you get the point. But because we are currently under siege from bands like the Kooks and MGMT plagueing the indie and electronic scene, I like to sit comfortably in synth.

So what do you get when you throw some folk/blues into a puddle of synths? You get Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. A solo project from a chap in America. Imagine Fleet Foxes meets Deadmau5 and you're not far off. This chap uses casios from the 90's and synth boards from the 80's. This dude is old skool. He's gutsy as well. He thought he'd team up with Concern and slam some beats onto Born in the USA and Streets of Philadelphia. I'm still not sure on Born in the USA but my god, that man has done wonders to Streets of Philadelphia. Weirdly, I prefer it from the original. Sorry Bruce.

Everything else is pretty golden. White Corolla is my favorite track. With lyrics that a tripped out LSD junkie would be confused by. Bouncy melody and inventive use of the voicebox. Perhaps it's too short at 1 minute 57 seconds. But when you've got creepy indie artists releasing 20 second songs where they strum a guitar twice and then tell you that their shoes are covered in sand (thanks for that Interpol), you look at that and don't care. If CTftPA can do in 1:57 what Jamiroquai can't do in 5, then you won't complain there either.

I think they're on iTunes, and pretty sure that you amish folk can go to HMV and still buy it as well. Or if you don't want to pay this man the amount he deserves for this great music, then you can probably download it. Though please don't.

Have a good weekend.

Peace.

Internet access in schools

A few months back, my father attempted to buy tickets for a festival from his computer at work. But becuase of the filtering system, he was unable to access the website as there was something to do with credit cards on it. Whats funny is that becuase of this, my mother (a teacher at my local school) had to buy the tickets instead. Now, would you expect a school to really allow people to buy things on their IP? Well no they don't. But they do have proxy servers.

Every kid in my school knows the proxy. Hell, I bet the new year 7's know. But whatever, the point I'm trying to make is that the filters became useless as I and my fellow pupils were quickly able to access whatever the hell we wanted. The fact I had my laptop in school meant that I was able to browse NME or download something off of PirateBay while I coloured in a map of Venezuela in Geography (I joke of course, Geography is not just colouring in. It's an enjoyable subject which has had me pointing out annoying facts about destructive waves whenever I go down to Hengistbury Head. Cheers Mrs. B)

So if everyone knows how to access everything, why is there a need for a proxy? Because I'm sure most of the teachers get annoyed when they have to type their code in every morning. I know I got bored of switching between Opera (yes, don't laugh) and Mozilla (once again) then going home to use IE. Still, I think there is a need for a filtering system in school.

ECDL and Computer design lessons would be disrupted by students playing games or doing whatever else year 8s do these days. Then there is the unavoidable thing in that no-one wants to see a kid looking at pornography in a lesson or at a breaktime. It would make school like a second home, but with several hundred more people and some older people wearing suits and yelling at you.

But there are drawbacks to filters.

I had to do some technology coursework recently. I decided to cop out and do the food technology course, in which we had to design a product to a specification and create a factfile. While doing this, I wanted to get a picture of some pancetta bacon. Apparently the SWGFL are under the assumption that an image of pancetta bacon could; "contain crude language and indecent imagery". Oh ok, a little bit counter-productive perhaps but I won't complain, I'll just use normal bacon. Oh wait, that's filtered too.

Once again, while doing Geography coursework, I was trying to find an image of a random house in Sandbanks. But apparently that contains indecent imagery and crude language as well. I know how a filter works, if it has any swearing on any page then it's filtered. Which is fair becuase you shouldn't subject small children to seeing such awful words. But if I want a picture of a packet of bacon then I'm not planning to click on every link, go to every page and scour the internetz itself in a quest to find a curse word.

Well I pose the question, do you think (some) filters should be lifted? Obviously not to the crazy excess where games and pornographic images are unfiltered, but where things like newspapers and blogs (mine for example) are filtered because a few words are thrown around.

Cheers for reading.

-Steve

Music in schools.

Ask any of my teachers to read my handwriting and I assure you that they will fall to pieces in front of you. This is becuase I have the handwriting of an arthritic 80 year old man (probably). And because of that - I get to bring my infamously slow laptop into school. Well I did when I was in school anyway. I also used a word processor in most of my exams.

It was a very good idea. I would do the work, then go home and print my work off, then put it in a folder. At first I did this and all was well. But as time progressed, I began to do the work then not bother printing it. Then I found a great loophole in the 'school rules'. By being quite sneaky, I was able to listen to music in about 50% of my lessons. I would listen to what I had to do, then as soon as the task was set, I would be fishing a cable up my arm and sneaking my inconspicuous ear bad over and in to my ear.

And then I started doing more work in those lessons. As long as I was listening to music, I was focused and I was working. But the second the headphones were gone, I was zoned out and couldn't be bothered to do anything. Seriously. I think that if I hadn't listened to music in my tech lessons, I would have sat in the exam like a vegetable, pondering over what a potato was.

I did have to be careful though. In French, History, English and Law I didn't even bother trying. My French teacher was dead against it, my History teacher was always talking and if you weren't careful he would easily catch you out and make you look like a prize fool. For even having your earphones out in English you would be hung, drawn and quartered by the stalinist English teachers. And I could have in Law, but I actually needed to listen seeing as I am absolutely terrible at it.

But in Tech, Geography, Science and the rest I was able to sit quite casually and listen to my music. I even became so relaxed in Tech that I brought my massive Sennheiser DJ headphones in one week and she didn't care.

So I pose the question. Should music be allowed in school? I say yes. But I reckon that every teacher out there is saying; "No way! Disadbantaged kids might get jealous of expensive iPods and things might get lost or stolen." Well to give a blunt response: Bullsh*t. I and many other pupils have carried MP3's, phones and whatever around school now for 5 years and never has there been the threat of things being stolen. Why? Because EVERYONE has a phone or MP3. Even the poorest kid can buy a phone for £10 and an MP3 for a fiver.

Music has been proven to inmprove focus. Folk music calms you, metal gives you a rush (as does D&B), pop gives you a feel-good factor and R&B provides poetic lyrics. I spent the majority of last year listening to folk and acoustic music and I think my work was better in that year than the year before.

I can see problems though. Everyone has a different taste of music. I live for folk and acoustic. I know lots of people who would rather eat a lamppost than listen to folk. A friend of mine thinks Radiohead are a dreary, depressing group of wrist-slitters. But I think they're the best thing that happened to the 90's (well, apart from Blur, Oasis and The Verve...oh and Stone Roses). This could cause tensions I suppose. But who cares? No two people like the same music (apart from those stupid 13 year olds who write "I like a bit of everything" on their Facebooks. No you don't like everything. You're probably the sort of person that thinks James Morrison qualifies as acoustic. Stupid person!) and that is something that you have to live with.

If/when I become a teacher. I will actively encourage kids to bring music in. And to those who don't like music? Well you're odd and can sit in the corner.

Viva la Musica!

Grammar

Quick gripe.

Just need to know why some people type in these following ways:

-wthowt usng th prpr srt ov wrds nd nt mkng mch sns n da prcss.
-By Putting Capital Letters At The Start Of Every Word.
-Repeatingggg theeeee lasttttt letterrrr offfff everyyyyyy wordddddd.
-writing large amounts of text that span several pages that need to have punctuation but never seem to not even commas colons hashes or full stops then they dont have any paragraphs or capital letters anyway

Email/tweet me explaining why, I can't seem to get my head around it.

Much love, Steve

I can't take it anymore!!

For the best part of the last 3 months, there have been numerous arguments on Twitter between myself and a few people from my school. This argument has been about the infamous boyband McFly. I woke up this morning to see several tweets about the band and after throwing a few insluts about McFly, I thought about actually writing my exact thoughts of the boyband that are plagueing this country and it's charts.

I'll start by saying that I think these 4 lads are actually quite talented. One of their songs - Lies - is probably in my top 100 favourite songs. I think it's great that they play their own instruments and write their own words. Even if these instruments sound like they've been bought on the cheap at Argos and the vocal talent leaves much to be desired.

They also have a good stage presence. Watching them at the Isle of White festival, they really electrified the crowd. Even if they made a lackluster performance and the song composition changed from cheesy pop to soft rock. In other live performances, they seem to make the crowd ecstatic and bring girls to tears with their looks.

In fact, I think that the only problem with McFly is that they aren't real music. They are a manufactured pop band that sit on the same seat as Busted and Girls Aloud. People can like them all they want but the real musical afficionados who appreciate well written lyrics and strong beats will always have a hatred for them.

After writing this, I'm actually persuading myself that they're quite reasonable. I keep comparing them to other popular acts like Oasis and Blur but they're not anything like Oasis and Blur. Those bands were popular because they made revolutionarily good music that fitted the times. It just seems that McFly are doing the same thing. They're making manufactured pop music on Argos guitars and drums that put people in a good mood. And unfortunately, thats what teenagers and kids are into these days.

It has to be said that McFly are alot better than these Disney 'musicians' who spout out crappy albums every other hour (Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus are good examples). McFly went from a group of four boys supporting Busted to a band that outlived Busted themselves and are probably just as good. Actually no, Busted are better, solely because Charlie is an absolute legend and Fightstar are awesome.

So Twitter people who keep arguing over McFly. This is my statement. McFly are ok. They are not good, but they have really worked hard to get where they are. They're music is obvious pop-orientated so they shouldn't be compared to Radiohead or Kings of Leon. They should be compared to bands like Jonas Brothers and soloists like Sam Beeton. And if you look at it that way, McFly are acutally quite a good group. I'd much rather listen to Lies than anything 'written' by Miley Cyrus.

Still, their cover of Don't Stop Me Now was the second worst thing to ever happen to music. The first being the birth of Alexandra Burke.

Hope that settles it!

-Steve

Not another review

I used to hate everything about metal music. Loud, shouty and repetitive. Then I found Pearl Jam. Admittedly they aren't metal, they're more soft-rock if I'm honest. But if you look at some of their early stuff, they successfully combine soft-rock with metal. And I think this comes up on their best album, Ten.

Even Flow and Black are easily the best songs. I'd go as far to say that Black is in my Top 50 awesome songs. It'd probably sit around the low 20's. Even Flow is the defining track on the album though. It puts the sounds of shrill guitars and ballad-like vocals together seamlessly, much better than any DJ could but two songs together.

The album dips towards the end with Last Kiss. Sounds very reminiscent of Bret Michaels. It's a good song, just sits uncomfortably in the album. Imagine a goth at a 50 Cent concert. Now put Last Kiss in place of the goth and the album in place of 50 Cent.

But apart from that slightly 'bleh' moment, I'd easily give this album a: 8/10

For some odd reason, I've become obsessed with Journey. I don't know why but I seem to be listening to their music all the time. I'm now trying to find a way to follow each member of the band on Twitter so I can stalk them like some other people do. Although I'd be stalking a decent band and not a band with two good songs. Yes...anyway.

Journey. They grew up as city boys, and they were born and raised in South Detroit. Then one night they decided to pack up and take a midnight train that happened to be going to a small town called "Anywhere". There, they met a small town girl, who was - at the time - living in a lonely world. Oddly enough, she had arrived at the town of "Anywhere" via this train which departed at midnight.

This group of 5 young city slickers realised then, that they had the Eye of the Tiger and that they would become famous in any way they wanted. Because after all, that's the way they needed it.

Time to stop using lyrics and actually review the album.

It's good. Very good. Not as good as Ten, but still very good and very catchy. I would like to hope that at least half of you (so near enough 400) will now be clicking on to youtube to listen to one of their songs but I know you probably aren't.

So yes, good album in which all of the songs are good. But it's good and it's not great, so it can only get 6/10. Also, the album art is awful.



Blur and Oasis are my two most favouritest bands ever. I can't fault any one of their songs, and that's honest. I'm normally very critical and if an 'indie' band go mainstream I virutally explode and yell about how the mainstream ruins bands. This is why I listen to folk and techno, becuase they're both so awful as genres that they can't be mainstream.

Parklife is the best album done by Blur - or at least the best non-compilation album. It's title track is their best but Girls and Boys doesn't sit too far behind it. Badhead and Clover Over Dover should have been released as singles over This Is a Low and To The End but I think that the fact they weren't singles increases exclusivity and shows that the people with real love for the band will listen and enjoy that track.

The title track, Parklife, is my favourite Blur track, mainly because Phil Daniels executes the vocals in such a fantastic way: "I feed the pigeons, I sometimes feed the Sparra's too. It gives me a sense of enormous wellbeing." And the lyrics are just genius. "I get up at eight, except on Wednesday's when I get rudely awaken by the dustman." The video is downright genius with a young looking Albarn acting as a work-experience victim.

Alex James is mediocre while Rowntree and Coxon exceed, creating a very strong atmosphere of brit-pop guitars. This album, and this song, really exceed expectations. And although Midlife is what I'd suggest for new-comers to Blur, I would say that this is the quintessential Blur album.

Easily a 9/10.

-Steve

Heirachy

Now to consider the heirachy of Britain in a wider aspect.

That café in the photo sits nicely in the middle of my hometown, Bournemouth. Recently, while in town, I sat on a small ledge just to the left of where this photo was taken. With a coffee in my hand, I watched the world go buy from the cover of my heavily-tinted glasses. In that short space of time in which I was waiting to meet up with some people, I saw a lot of things.

The first thing was (as I said previously) a man in a fairly nice suit, the trousers were quite short and showed a pair of white socks though, how tacky. He looked quite distressed, with his left hand covering his face and his right holding a fairly scratched iPhone. He had a cup of coffee in front of him and a copy of The Sun (or The Star). As he put the phone down and walked away, you could see he was annoyed about something. Perhaps it was the way he marched off or the fact he had just realised that he had lost something. He did that thing people do when they're confused, sort of flap about and check every pocket two or three times, even though they know it's not there.





Then as he marched off, the charity worker came into view. He seemed like a fairly nice chap, unshaven and wearing a vest promoting some sort of animal welfare charity. A smile seemed to be stuck on his face and it seemed every time my eye was cast on him, he was always saying pleasentries to another shopper and wishing them a 'good day'. The businessman marched through him and shot a glare at the chap who had just wished him 'good day'. This sort of thing can really make a person sad. Not sad like when you see a puppy with a missing leg. But sad in such a way that you are saddened by the way it reflects us. (Pardon my awful sentencing there).

Heirachy. It's a very interesting term. I think it's basically showing the class system in a pyramid form. The working class is at the bottom, with the largest amount of people. The middle classes sit in the middle, with an average amount. And the upper classes sit just above the middle, right at the top, with a much lesser number. Perhaps it's good to have a heirachy that puts people 'in their rightful place'. Or perhaps it isn't. Perhaps it's a bad thing that splits people and makes people feel ashamed for talking to people below them in the pyramid.

Considering my recent change of heart, I now think that classes should be abolished. Why should people think they're above others because they've got more money? Here's a quote from my mother: "Does the fact that Wayne Rooney is rich mean that he is also upper class?" No it doesn't. If we are going to have a class system, then it should be based around something else.

Heirachy. It's a very interesting term. All it does is boost and break people's egos.

Hopefully this poster will give a better representation of the problems with class and heirachy:

-Steve

Youth Culture

Well I said I'd give my views on our current government in my last post but I had a change of heart and wanted to talk about me and my peers instead.

I've recently been talking to a 'friend' of mine who I 'met' a few months back on a game called World Of Warcraft. He's about 30 and no, he is not what you are thinking, be mature. He said that the problem with kids today is that the parents have no control. I don't agree, though I found it interesting.

A look around my largest nearby 'city' (Bournemouth) presents the eye with a very interesting array of people. The Big Issue seller, the Buisnessman, the Teenager. The Buisnessman sits on his own, gazing into a cup of off-brown coffee, talking on their iPhone to another Businessman sitting on his own, gazing into his cup of off-brown coffee. It's quite a sad and mundane life if you think about it.

The Teenager(s) sit, regimented, in their baggy uniforms, jeering at other teenagers who aren't like them. Teenagers have a sub-culture where they feel that they're cooler and will earn more respect if they take the mickey out of someone who is an 'emo' or a 'goth' or whatever the hell else there is these days. This is also a sad life but it's also a very sad thing for someone else to see.

The Big Issue seller should be having an awful life. They're (probably) quite poor and in need of some sort of help. They might have family issues or they might just have a personal issue to do with some sort of substance, that's not for me to say. But they're happy. They always sound cheery and always wish people a 'nice day'. So why is the Big Issue man happier than the teenager or the businessman? Because we have developed a heirachy.

I'll look at the entire heirachy next time (maybe I'll keep to that), and today I'll look at the teenage heirachy.

There's a lot of pressure being a teenager. You have to wear the newest clothes and have the best hair and the most money. Then you have to be part of the big clique and have all the cool people as your friends. But then there's another extreme. Some teenagers wear the cheapest clothes and have the scruffiest hair and have the least money. These teens are part of the 'chavvy' group and think that to be cool, you have to have respect. And you gain respect by being 'hard' and stealing things and whatever. How sad.

So the heirachy isn't in a triangular shape. It's sort of like a weird semi-circle with a hole in the middle. The people at the bottom are (unfortunately) seen as the 'geeks' who play too many computer games and don't have many friends. The weird thing is that these 'geeks' can actually be very intelligent and might just be quite shy. But becuase they don't have the most money, or don't have the best hair, they get shunned and people from the trendy clique look down on them and people from the 'chavvy' clique take the mickey out of them.

What a sad thing to see in the 21st century. I sometimes wonder where I fit in. But I don't think I fit in anywhere on there. I'm just sort of...not like that. I'm not one of the uber-popular kids, I don't regard myself as a 'geek' and I'm not even slightly 'chavvy'. Is this a good thing? Is it good to be outside the mainstream? Why do I keep writing rhetorical questions? That's your decision. I like being the sort of person I am. I don't sit in Bournemouth and take the mickey out of other people. I don't look down on the 'geeks'. I don't even have a problem with 'chavs'. Maybe it would be better if we just stopped with all this grouping and just were who we wanted to be.

Maybe in 10 years time everyone will get along and there won't be any more knife-violence. People might not be grouped by how much money they have or what clothes they wear. But from what I'm seeing now. There's more chance of Ahmadinejad admitting that the election was rigged than that happening.

Peace out readers. (How ironic is that photo?)

-Steve

MMR

For some completely unknown and obscure reason, I have suddenly lost all interest in the idea of being a smarmy right-wing teenager and have decided to become a smarmy left-wing teenager In fact, an extreme left-wing teenager. I used to have mad love for the Conservative party and would defend them to my death. But suddenly I've become a supporter of the most left-wing party in Britain.

What does this have to do with MMR? Not much now, but it will. Why do I always start paragraph two with a rhetorical question? For effect. Anyay, MMR. The 'one size fits all' vaccine that is given to children at birth so as to stop them getting measels, mumps or rubella. Good job world, you've made giving vaccines a lot easier, you all deserve medals saying positive messages.

Well no you fecking don't!!

I was born amidst a 'crisis' in Britain. Several children (whose mothers were over 35 at their birth) had become autistic after getting the MMR. I was imeddiately pulled out and wasn't vaccinated. Then the next time the same happened and I was pulled out again. So I never received the injection because I fell into this category. I also showed early signs of autism and getting the MMR was not a good plan.

Today I went to "The North" and had a nice woman stick a needle in me. Then I was told I could go. "Hold on a second" says anyone reading this with an IQ over 12 - "why didn't you have it done nearer?" Well because of the NHS and our government. That's why people. Because they don't want people having seperate injections: Me and the family had to drive about 150 miles to the north and then pay £100 to have a very kind woman stick a needle full of disease into my arm. Then I just left.

Thanks to the nice people at 10 Downing Street, I can't get the measles jab in my area. They think that it is coincidental that children who are born when their mothers are over 35 seem to get autism in higher numbers than children who are born when their mothers were under 35. Because of this, they've sent all incoming mumps vaccines to the NHS to put into MMR jabs instead of the single vaccine.

Governments lie. It's a simple fact of life. The people who we elect and trust to lead our country lie and cheat, using our tax mon- wait, I'll save that one for next time.

In short. I'm a socialist who is pissed off at our free healthcare system. Hypocrisy is a beautiful thing.

-Steve