Three Personal Tracks of Mine
This is a pre-emptive blog entry for the coming Wednesday as I am going away with my family so won’t be here to make the entry, if I get chance I will be checking back over the course of the week to offer comments but if not I will be adding them when I return.
When I was selecting my track list for our creative sessions at college I tried to keep in mind that it needed to be eclectic and so I have picked songs that range from my childhood through to current date.
The three songs I have chosen to mention are those that I feel I have the most to talk about. In most cases my favourite songs are so because they remind me of a certain person, time or place and sometimes it’s because of a scene in a movie. These are the type of tracks that will make up the rest of the list.
The first track I have chosen to talk about is ‘I Know It’ by Madonna. Madonna has always been someone who’s music I have enjoyed since I was very young and I have grown up listening to it. This track is taken from her first album and is one that I have listened to more than any others lately. She has always been an artist who has changed as I’m sure everyone is familiar. Honestly I would say I’m not a very big fan of her last two albums and do prefer her very pop friendly earlier work in the eighties and nineties. I think Madonna is someone who is often controversial though in the past it seemed more purposeful as she actually had a point to make. In her earlier career some of the stunts she pulled were much more thought provoking such as the Pepsi campaign where she got Pepsi to advertise their drink with pictures of burning crosses, which obviously outraged the Church. Madonna is sometimes referred to as ‘Madge’ this is short for ‘Her Majesty’ she was named so after a certain Magazine labelled her ‘Our Leader’.
The second track I am going to talk about is ‘Good Stuff’ by Kelis a song that was a favourite of mine when I was in my late teens. This track is taken from Kelis’ Debut album ‘Kaleidoscope’ and it is an album on which I like every track which is quite a rare thing to find. This album was produced by the Neptune’s who also were a performing collective known as N.E.R.D. The Neptunes are still producing; however they are no longer making records as N.E.R.D. People may be more familiar with one member of the group Pharrel Williams who can sometimes be seen bobbing around Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears or Gwen Stefani videos, as he has been one of the most popular producers and guest vocalists in pop of recent years, and is the person who wrote this track. This is one of the first examples of their music going mainstream and I was a fan of a lot of the music they went on to produce. Kelis unfortunately didn’t continue with the recognition that she had achieved with this album.
The last track that I am going to discuss is ‘Tears Dry on Their Own’ by Amy Winehouse. This is from her album Back to Black which is one of my favourite albums of late. I liked this track before it was released as a single but I like it even more now that I’ve seen the music video, this is something that usually happens with me, a good video can make a song seem better I think. The video is one that has been produced by David La Chapelle, someone that I have mentioned in a previous blog as a hero of mine and I think it fits with Amy’s personality perfectly. Amy Winehouse was somebody that I noticed a good few years ago on TV but not so much as an artist but as a ‘talking head’ who always had an outrageously funny opinion on something. Unfortunately she is known these days more for her celebrity than her music, although her music is critically acclaimed.
When I was selecting my track list for our creative sessions at college I tried to keep in mind that it needed to be eclectic and so I have picked songs that range from my childhood through to current date.
The three songs I have chosen to mention are those that I feel I have the most to talk about. In most cases my favourite songs are so because they remind me of a certain person, time or place and sometimes it’s because of a scene in a movie. These are the type of tracks that will make up the rest of the list.
The first track I have chosen to talk about is ‘I Know It’ by Madonna. Madonna has always been someone who’s music I have enjoyed since I was very young and I have grown up listening to it. This track is taken from her first album and is one that I have listened to more than any others lately. She has always been an artist who has changed as I’m sure everyone is familiar. Honestly I would say I’m not a very big fan of her last two albums and do prefer her very pop friendly earlier work in the eighties and nineties. I think Madonna is someone who is often controversial though in the past it seemed more purposeful as she actually had a point to make. In her earlier career some of the stunts she pulled were much more thought provoking such as the Pepsi campaign where she got Pepsi to advertise their drink with pictures of burning crosses, which obviously outraged the Church. Madonna is sometimes referred to as ‘Madge’ this is short for ‘Her Majesty’ she was named so after a certain Magazine labelled her ‘Our Leader’.
The second track I am going to talk about is ‘Good Stuff’ by Kelis a song that was a favourite of mine when I was in my late teens. This track is taken from Kelis’ Debut album ‘Kaleidoscope’ and it is an album on which I like every track which is quite a rare thing to find. This album was produced by the Neptune’s who also were a performing collective known as N.E.R.D. The Neptunes are still producing; however they are no longer making records as N.E.R.D. People may be more familiar with one member of the group Pharrel Williams who can sometimes be seen bobbing around Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears or Gwen Stefani videos, as he has been one of the most popular producers and guest vocalists in pop of recent years, and is the person who wrote this track. This is one of the first examples of their music going mainstream and I was a fan of a lot of the music they went on to produce. Kelis unfortunately didn’t continue with the recognition that she had achieved with this album.
The last track that I am going to discuss is ‘Tears Dry on Their Own’ by Amy Winehouse. This is from her album Back to Black which is one of my favourite albums of late. I liked this track before it was released as a single but I like it even more now that I’ve seen the music video, this is something that usually happens with me, a good video can make a song seem better I think. The video is one that has been produced by David La Chapelle, someone that I have mentioned in a previous blog as a hero of mine and I think it fits with Amy’s personality perfectly. Amy Winehouse was somebody that I noticed a good few years ago on TV but not so much as an artist but as a ‘talking head’ who always had an outrageously funny opinion on something. Unfortunately she is known these days more for her celebrity than her music, although her music is critically acclaimed.
posted by DREW @ 6:30 PM
6 Comments:
Some interesting choices there Drew, it is certainly going to be an eclectic mix of music when the whole class have made their choices.
Also interesting is that you say you liked the song even more when you've listened to it on the album. I usually purposefully avoid them if I've heard them before, and just listen to the rest of the album.
But that's probably because I listen to too much radio, and I get sick of hearing the same songs over and over.
Another quick point - I keep getting bounced eMails back from blogger when I post a comment on your journal.
Thanks Craig I'll look into that regarding the emails and yes I think it should be a real assortment of music.
You seem to also be more into r 'n b than rock. Thank god im not the only one. Honestly, I got nothing against anyone but some of the music people listen to is crazy. They could probbably turn arround and say the same about me, but often its just some guy shouting his head off loudly...
Nice to see another person down to earth.
I agree with Mirhad, I am looking forward to your CD even though my taste is more rock orientated, but I would say its soft rock where you can still hear the words not just shouting. Your CD should give a good contrast to that of many of the CDs we will hear throughout the day.
You are obviously passionate about the music you listen too.
I agree with Craig there is certainly going to be an eclectic mix of music when we sit down and listen to each others choices.
I am quite looking forward to seeing how this will influence our creativity throughout the day!
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