Soundtrack of my life - Album 1

I was going to do one of those soundtracks to my life thing and I thought, well how would I go about remembering all the albums and tracks that have followed me thus far? So I thought I would work my way through all my CD's and talk about what they meant to me, where I was when I first heard it, why it's special, and then I thought well christ, that'll just take forever, and as I am lazy and have a short attention span, I couldn't be bothered.

So instead, I though I could do it slowly, have a kind of album of the week thing, and that way only have to write a few lines every so often and that won't bore the pants off me or you.

So, to that end;

Name - SMILE
Artist - Various

Track listing;

Friendship test - Tenacious D
Friendship - Tenacious D
Cheer Up - Reel Big Fish
King For A Day - Green Day
Worst Hangover Ever - The Offspring
You Got A Problem - Fun Lovin' Criminals
Mr. Brownstone - Guns 'n' Roses
Black Hole Sun - Soundgarden
Walkin' On The Sun - Smash Mouth
Little Sister - Queens of The Stone Age
Breakout - Foo Fighters
On Mercury - Red hot Chili Peppers
Sissyneck - Beck
Place Your Hands - Reef
Love Is Better Than A Warm Trombone - Gomez
Sunny Afternoon - The Kinks
Ding Dong - Stateside Hombres
I'm Money - Zebrahead
Fat Lip - Sum 41
Razz - Kings Of Leon
You're Speaking My Language - Juliette and The Licks
Rush Hour Soul - Supergrass

Standout Tracks and Why;

Friendship Test/Friendship - Tenacious D
Why? Because it is PISS funny.

Worst Hangover Ever - The Offspring
Why? Because it's how I felt 5 mornings out of 7 all through my 3rd year at uni.

Black Hole Sun - Soundgarden
Why? This is one of my favourite songs in the world and every time I hear it I'm 14 again and I can smell incense. This was during my miserable (and by and large, failed) attempt to be grunge, I bought the boots, the long skirts and XL black T.Shirts, I had black lipstick and Courtney Love was my hero (still is, I love that woman - 'I'm pregnant with Alan Partridges' baby, no I'm not, yes I am, no I'm not, yes I, hang on a minute, who am I? Where am I? Someone pass me a pill....'). My problem was that having been brought up by parents who cared very much that I look respectable, tidy and CLEAN, I just couldn't bring myself to leave the house like that. I used to get so far as the front door and then turn around and get changed again. My mother used to look at me and mumble something about 'why can't she like Chris De Burgh like normal people...?', and my father thought I was the funniest looking person he'd ever seen. Being the surprisingly tolerant people my folks are though, they never asked me to change or take the make up off, they just assumed I would grow out of it, and I did (they did however scream 'TURN THAT RUBBISH DOWN!' from the bottom of the stairs regularly). It still left me with what has so far been a life long love of american punk rock though, and although grunge did die with Kurt Cobain (to be replaced by the cleaner, less hardcore and utterly inferior 'goth') it will always have a place in my heart. And this is a fucking awesome track.

Little Sister - Queens of The Stone Age
Why? No reason in particular, it's quite new so has no memory attached, I just think it rocks.

Place Your Hands - Reef
Why? Every student/festival regular in the country knows why, cheesy nights out, waving your hands in the air and feeling queasy because those dodgy, violently coloured shots which you knew were a bad idea, are just starting to think about re-appearing.......

Love Is Better Than A Warm Trombone - Gomez
Why? The only man I've ever been able to have a relationship with and stay friends with after it all went wrong, bought me this album when I was 19. We used to lie in bed in my room in halls all morning and listen to it on repeat. You know when people say youth is wasted on the young (well The Smashing Pumpkins said it) and that young people don't value what they have because they can't comprehend how hard life can get? I don't believe that, I think it's all relative, I think some 17 year old breaking her heart because her boyfriend dumped her has just as much of a reason to be sad as some 27 year old, youth means nothing, pain is pain is pain. The point is that this song, and the album it's from, takes me right back there, squashed in a single bed with the sounds of students crashing down the hall and a wonderful man who was too old for me talking about the importance of a good bass line, when life was a lot simpler, but I knew that even then, and I cherished every moment.

NB - Reading that paragraph back, I don't think it makes very much sense, but sometimes my mind rambles off.

You're Speaking My Language - Juliette and The Licks
Why? This CD was a mix tape (I know it was a CD, but in the spirit of Hgh Fidelity, these things are always mix tapes) made for me by Liz, who I think, like most of my friends, is worried that I am staying away too much, driving too much, working too late, and am generally unhappy. So she made me this CD and it's called 'Smile - For In Car Use On Long And Boring Journeys - And When You Just Need Cheering Up'. I put it in my car on Sunday afternoon, have had it on repeat ever since, and it does exactly what it says on the tin. She put this song on it because I've been banging on about wanting to know what this band sounds like for just long enough for her to be really annoyed and need for me to SHUT UP. Anyway, I love it, it's very Hole-esque (circa 1992), which is exactly what you need in that moment when the traffic jam eases and you can put your foot down again. I can tell you that on the M6 those moments are few and far between and deserve to be celebrated.