Mixtape Monday: Week of October 16th

Weekly Mixtapes Based Off the Albums I Listened to in the Previous Week!

I’m about a week late with this one, but that’s ok, sometimes life just gets in the way. I had been incredibly occupied with rehearsals and planning a murder mystery party that all my writing took a backseat for a bit, but better late than never! At least the week of October 16th’s playlist will see the light of day with my little quips and blurbs because we all know everyone was just yearning for that so badly. I’m sure people were rioting in the streets and screaming bloody murder because I had missed a week and they couldn’t get their weekly dose of my playlists. I’m sure. Regardless, here we go!

This week was a funny one because I started a little endeavour I like to call “Bump Down the Beatles”. You see, when I checked my most listened to artists, The Beatles for some strange reason were very high on the list, which is funny because I don’t really like The Beatles and I barely ever listen to them. I haven’t listened to one Beatles song at all this year. So I decided to listen to albums that would boost the listen counts of other bands and put them above The Beatles on my list. It’s not that I hate The Beatles, I don’t, it’s more having them that high in the listen counts is not representative of my actual music listening and I just wanted it to be more reflective of what I do listen to… that’s all.

1. The Nails – Mood Swing
   Before I started project “Bump Down The Beatles” I revisited this little album that I found running through my head quite a bit during this time. It’s an album I enjoy and love but for some reason haven’t listened to in a long time, despite the main singer’s vocal stylings being quite influential on me in many ways. When you have an album ruminating in your head for that amount of time, it’s clear that the only way to get it out is to actually listen to it and that’s what I did and it was finally out of my head. Not that having it in my head was a bad thing in the first place.
2. Jorge Ben – Africa Brasil
   This was just next in my 1001 albums list and since I had never heard it before and it was a Brazilian album, I was eager to get to it. I already posted my thoughts in my post about it, but I was happy I finally got to listen to it because it was everything I had hoped for but also managed to give me multiple surprises I didn’t expect. That’s the wonderful joy of discovering music.
3. The Gun Club – Fire of Love
   This was the first album I listened to as part of my “Bump Down the Beatles” project. The Gun Club seemed to only be a few listen counts away from edging over them (and if I’m honest, this band only got such a high listen count thanks to the strength of their one song Sex Beat, that I had listened to on repeat for a long period of time in the last few years). That being said, it’s still an album I love and it was great to listen to it again. Despite that though, I have to say this album has one of the worst album covers I have ever seen in my life. It’s like a cheap photoshop done by a child for an elementary school presentation. God awful.
4. The Jam – Setting Sons
   Next up on “Bump Down The Beatles” was The Jam. I always loved The Jam but never listened to them as much as I’d like to. Setting Sons was always my favourite album by them, so it was a no-brainer to listen to it when I had the chance. I feel like The Jam always suffered the same fate as The Kinks, where they were great enough to be super successful but too British to be that successful in North America. I mean songs like Eton Rifles are such specific commentary about British culture that there’s no way we could even understand it over here. Regardless, this album is a banger.
5. X-Ray Spex – Conscious Consumer
   I love, love, love this band and their debut Germfree Adolescents sits as my 11th favourite album of all time. I can listen to that album on repeat easily. That being said, this entire time, despite loving them so much, I had absolutely no idea that they had even released a second album. I always thought they were a one and done type band, but nope here was their second album I had never heard about. That’s fine because it just meant I had new music to listen to by a band I adored. It never quite hit the heights of their debut, but I still loved it.
6. Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense
   When you’re trying to boost the listen counts of a band, I feel it makes sense to listen to one of their live albums that has way more songs than any of their studio albums (with exceptions and we’ll get to that). I was beating myself up that I was too late to grab tickets for the 4K theatre release of Stop Making Sense here in Toronto. I wanted to go see it so badly, but I waited too long to get thse tickets and so it was sold out. Real shame, but I got the next best thing and that was just listening to the album. I honestly feel this is their songs at their best and even without the visuals of the concert, it still manages to tell the story they wanted to tell visually. It’s quite the spectacle.
7. Joan Armatrading – Joan Armatrading
   Another 1001 Album that I listened to since it was next on the list. Haven’t written a post on it just yet, but when I do you’ll be able to hear all the wonderful thoughts I have on this album. This was new to me, so as usual, it was fun to get to discover something new. Won’t go into anymore more details but spoiler alert: I really enjoyed it.
8. The Adverts – Crossing the Red Sea with The Adverts
   A lesser known punk band that managed to perfectly capture the so called blank generation’s feelings of boredom, isolation and aimlessness in a perfectly packaged album that races through these songs with energy and anger with a tinny yet purposeful garage band sound that’s just wonderful. I can’t seem to find this album on vinyl anywhere, but when I do you better believe I’m grabbing it immediately.
9. The Associates – Sulk
   Don’t bother trying to decipher the lyrics of this album because they make absolutely no sense. This is music written to evoke specific emotions and the lyrics are cryptic and poetic in that sense to express those emotions in a more abstract way than in a story telling way. But even if you don’t listen to the lyrics, it don’t matter because the synth wave sounds of this album do a perfect job of expressing all that and more. At times melancholic, at times paranoid and others bleak in an upbeat way, never will you ever have this much fun feeling this miserable.
10. Andrew WK – God is Partying
    Andrew WK is a fascinating artist. If you ever have the time, read up about him because he’s so interesting as a person and his rise to his success is a great story, especially when it came to the creation of his debut album, I Get Wet (which I consider a perfect 10/10 album and is in my top 10 favourite albums). However, I find he was never able to capture the magic of his debut and also why I never really dived into his other albums. I tried, believe me I did, but they just never hit those highs as well as that debut and this, his most recent, is another example of that. I don’t know why he couldn’t capture it again, could have just been lightning in a bottle and this isn’t a case of him experimenting with new sounds… it’s just the energy and heart behind that debut seemed to all be drained right into it and he just couldn’t sustain it throughout. Nothing bad, just never reach those highs anymore.
11. The Clash – Sandinista
    As I tried to boost the listen counts of The Clash, it only made sense to listen to their 3-lp, over 2 hour long album, Sandinista. Remember when I mentioned a live album is usually the way to go for listen counts with exceptions? Yeah, this album is one of those exceptions because there is so many songs on here. It’s so over-bloated with music. Did they really need to make it this long? When I was younger I found it to be a mess, that could have easily cut down a lot. I get it, the band was in a period of pure creativity and had a million ideas and wanted to do it all, I get it… but Jesus… 3 lps? Listening to it now, though, I did find myself appreciating what they did much more. I still find it too long, but at least I can see why they did it a little more than I did before. That’s something.
12. Cardiacs – Heaven Born and Ever Bright
    One of my favourite bands that I have talked about a few times over these playlists. I’ve only ever listened to this album once and had zero memory of what was on it. So, I HAD to listen to it to fully contain the Cardiacs’ music in my head. How can I call it one of my favourite bands if I don’t even remember an entire album?? It’ll take a few more listens until it all becomes incredibly familiar, but it’s totally worth it.
13. The Stranglers – Live X-Cert
    I remember the day I entered a record store and over the speakers I heard what distinctly sounded like The Stranglers playing. I recognised the song easily, being a fan of their first three albums, and saw that they were playing this album on the store’s record player. For the first time ever, I asked if that particular record was for sale and if I could buy it. Thankfully it was and I did because this acts as a great collection of their first three albums and played live, which means they have much more energy to them and attack their sound more aggressively, which is how I love my music.
14. The Human League – Romantic?
    I had listened to The Human League’s entire discography when I was n my early 20s. I completely forgot this was even an album. Other than one song off the album that had me go “oh yeah, that song!” I had zero memory of ever listening to it. Of course, that just meant I should listen to it and listen to it I did. I have to give credit to Human League that they somehow managed to keep their sound as the decades went by and never adjusted. It’s good to keep artistic integrity, but was it worth not trying to evolve with the sounds happening around them? I have no idea, just listen to the music and shut up.
15. The B-52’s – Good Stuff
    After listening to that Human League album, it made me think of other albums I barely remember from bands I like. I was in the mood to listen to the B-52’s and found that Good Stuff was THAT album. I hadn’t even thought about it since I was about 19 or so and I can understand why because this is definitely at the bottom of their albums in terms of quality. That being said, it still has the same party energy that they are known for, so even if it’s not the best, it’s still a lot of fun, and isn’t that what really matters at the end of the day? I have no idea, just listen to the music and shut up.
16. The Kinks – Arthur (Or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire)
    Remember when I referenced the Kinks up there when talking about The Jam? Well here they are in all their englishness. Other than their album “The Village Green Preservation Society”, this is probably one of the most British albums to ever exist. It’s no wonder The Kinks struggled to get any international success when they focused so heavily on things that only British listeners would truly understand. Not to say that foreign albums can’t make it over seas, but let’s be honest, most Americans don’t want to take the time to even understand or research anything about other cultures, so unless there’s space for your piece of media to allow Americans to project their own American perspectives onto it, chances are it won’t make it. Shame because The Kinks were probably one of the best bands to come out of the 60s.
17. Kraftwerk – Maximum-Minimum
    I saw Kraftwerk live in concert back when I was about 21. To this day it’s one of the best concert experiences I have ever had. It’s kind of shocking when you think about the fact that it’s just four guys behind keyboards, barely moving to fit their whole man-robots aesthetic, and it’s somehow an incredibly compelling, hypnotising and mesmerising concert experience. It helps that they had a video projection playing behind them and you wore 3D glasses while watching, but really it’s the type of concert where you just allow yourself to feel the music and vibe to it the whole time. I wanted to revisit that experience by listening to one of their live albums. It was like I was brought back to that great concert.
18. The Cramps – Psychedelic Jungle
    The Cramps debut, Songs the Lord Taught Us, is an album I absolutely love and once again, found myself realising I barely know any of their other albums (a theme that seems to be reoccurring here). This was what I think was their second album and like previous bands on this list, it just doesn’t capture the energy and magic of their debut. Don’t know why this is such a common thing, I guess it’s the famous sophomore slump, but it’s kind of funny how it seems to be a reoccurring thing this week. But it genuinely felt like they tried to make their debut album but cranked the energy down to a 5. It was like a sedated version of it, which was kind of disappointing. That damn sophomore slump.
19. XTC – English Settlement
    For some reason I actively avoided re-listening to this album for the longest time. No idea why. I always felt XTC peaked with Black Sea to me, with the excetion being Skylarking, and I just never felt the desire to listen to anything after Black Sea (with the exception of Skylarking). That was such a dumb thing to think. I remember being disappointed when I was younger, but now where I’m at in life, I ended up loving it way more and can even put it close to being as good as Black Sea. I think it’s officially time I ignore how young me felt when he first heard a lot of these albums.
20. The Soft Boys – Underwater Moonlight
    I hit album 800 of the year and chose to listen to an old familiar favourite. This is another album on my list of albums I want to own on vinyl and can’t seem to find anywhere for whatever reason. One day, I will and when that day comes this album will finally be mine. MINE!!!!!

-Bosco

1001 Albums: Kick Out The Jams

#158

Artist: MC5

Album: Kick Out The Jams

Year: 1969

Length: 39:52

Genre: Proto-Punk / Garage Rock / Acid Rock / Live Album

“Yes, I’m a starting to sweat, you know my shirt’s all wet
What a feeling!
It’s a sound that abounds and resounds
And rebounds off the ceiling

You gotta have it, baby, you can’t do without
Oh, when you get that feeling you gotta sock ’em out

Put that in my hands
And let me kick out the jams
Yeah, kick out the jams
I done kick ’em out!”

Funny how I mentioned this band in my last post only to have them be the next album on the list. Did I do that on purpose? Was that intentional? Did I know this would happen? Did I willingly do this? Am I being redundant? You will never know! (yes)

It should come as no surprise then that I loved, loved, loved this album. I kinda knew I would before listening to it, but just like with my discovery of the Monks, this was a breathtaking album. It shook me to my core and kept shaking me long after it was done. Interesting to see how this is not only their debut album but also doubles as a live album, I guess the best way to capture this band’s energy was to record them live, no way they could recreate this in studio. No complaints on that because it’s a thrill ride from start to finish, Right from the opening lines where the singer drops a very rare F-Bomb in a sixties record, a controversy that would cause the album to be repressed and sold in a censored and uncensored format (They were having none of this swearing, none of it), you know you’re in for a wild ride.

These guys basically set up the blue print of what Punk would eventually be. Even though bands like The Sonics and The Monks were quintessential to that punk DIY style, Punk attitude, distortion sounds for the guitar and even aesthetic (The Monks would perform dressed like Monks, haircut and all which was jarring for those times). MC5 took all that and brought it up to the next level with energy and enthusiasm. These guys were punk before punk was even a thing and even though The Stooges were coming around quickly soon, these guys are the real heroes of punk music. They were abrasive, they didn’t care, they played their noise, blew your eardrums and kept going long after the ringing subsided. These guys fucking rocked.

Funnily enough the name of their album came from a very punk thing they used to do. It became a slogan for revolutionaries using Kick Out the Jams as a way to stand up against what they were fighting, like kicking down the oppressors type thing. That’s not what the phrase originally meant whoever, although the band members think it’s cool that people took that away from their music. Like the punks they were, they used to yell “Kick out the Jams” to the band that used to play before them at small clubs as a way of trying to get them to stop playing and get off the stage so they could go on finally. These guys didn’t give a shit at all.

They may not be the biggest names in punk but are often sited as an important influence and precursor to the genre and listening to this record, there’s no doubts about that. It’s loud and chaotic and the guitars wail and scream with enough distortion to blow your speakers. You can already here the punk rules of playing simple riffs and stripping down rock’s musical forms. It’s not quite like what The Ramones would eventually do, but there’s definitely the beginnings of it. If there was ever an album to look back on and say where Punk officially started, it would be this one, even if it wasn’t recognized as Punk at the time. It’s like an acid trip through a static tv with melodies thrown in and you’re being pelted by rocks and cabbage as you spiral your way through this absolute ferocity that is this album. MC5 are fast, furious and undeniably frantic, and it’s an beautiful combination for any punk lover out there. If you’re a punk fan, THIS is the album to check out.

I’m adding this one to my list of albums I must get on vinyl, I’m hoping it’s not a difficult one to find because I want to blast this one over my sound system! Sure the neighbors may hate it but at least that will be in vain of what the MC5 wanted!

Favourite Tune: Come Together

-Bosco

 

1001 Albums: A Girl Called Dusty

# 45

Artist: Dusty Springfield

Album: A Girl Called Dusty

Year: 1964

Length: 32:54

Genre: Blue-Eyed Soul/ Pop

 

 

“If a sea of fire, it was surrounding you
Oh, don’t you know, don’t you know?
I would find a way to get through
Because nothing, nothing, nothing, I said no, not nothing
Nothing in the world’s gonna keep me away from you”

Oh Dusty. Dusty, Dusty, how I yearned to hear you sing. Really but not really at the same time. You see, I already knew of Dusty Springfield’s songs and have heard a few of them. She always came across as a 60s high school sweetheart and I found myself actually enjoying it when she came on the radio (60s on 6, Xm radio, you know it). Needless to say I had a bit of a crush on Dusty. Hard not to. She sings with such a great blend of innocence and sensuality that she’s practically every guy’s dream girl (theoretically of course). If she was much younger, Or I was the age I am now in 1964, I’d probably be in love with her. But I’m 24 in 2017 and she’s dead, so that doesn’t work at all (Unless you’re into that kind of thing… please no).

There was a part of me that was excited to get to this album, but this week another part of me just didn’t really want to do anything. I’ve slowed down a bit, with my blog, with other projects, with productivity in general. Why? Briefly, I’ve hit a down and it’s been hard getting over it. I’ve been having one of those weeks where you walk around like a zombie, doing your day-to-day routine at work, not really being happy but not sad either. You just are. Nothing to it. But as the end of the week was coming near I knew I had to push myself to be productive, even if it was only baby steps. I told myself, It doesn’t matter how I’m feeling, It doesn’t matter if I don’t feel like doing anything, the only way I can fight this is by doing anyway and proving it wrong. That’s what I did and I’m happy I did.

It’s as if Dusty Springfield came up at the perfect time in the context of my life. Right away the first song sang lyrics that said ” Mama Said There will always be days like this”. Wow… how relevant. Yeah, she’s right, I will always have days like this, no point fretting over it. Damn, thanks Dusty. And that song was immediately followed by what I’d like to call a Strong Woman’s Anthem, declaring to the men she’s seeing that she isn’t their object and she’s her own person, so don’t go treating her like she’s a trophy to display and tell her what to do. She ain’t taking shit from you. Damn Dusty, you’re starting this album off strong. I found that particular song to be quite poignant, especially considering the time it came out. In the 1960s the feminist movement was on the rise, woman getting together to fight for their rights and get the equality they both wanted and needed. If anything, Dusty would prove to be a great role model for these woman. Here was a genre of music that was mostly dominated by men and Dusty pushed her way through the crowd and would become one of the first Female rock icons at a time where it was probably laughed at or frowned upon. She didn’t care, she showed off that she could do it to and she tapped into a group of people that hadn’t been yet: the frustrated young adult women. Sure big pop icons like the Beatles and Elvis were being followed and loved by huge groups of women, but Dusty was different. Where they loved the men for being cute and sexy, they loved Dusty for being someone they can look to and say “Hey, that’s me, she gets me”. She wasn’t just Dusty Springfield, she was a representation of all the young adult women who just wanted to do their thing and have fun too. And that’s what Dusty did, as she sings through every song with beauty and a sort of hidden sensuality, she reminds the world of 1964 that women were just as capable as doing what the men were and “You Don’t Own Me” is proof of that. With that one song she was showing that women could stand their ground and be their own without men telling them otherwise. If she wasn’t a role model, she really should have been.

That being said, the power kind of ends there as the rest of the album is mostly just straight forward pop songs and some mo-town influenced music. For the most part, they’re enjoyable but not the most memorable, except possibly the hit Wishin’ and Hopin’, which god damn I can never get out of my head. This song has plagued me since my parents forced me to watch My Best Friend’s Wedding with them when I was a kid. But plagued in a good way, because there’s such an innocence to it that just makes you feel nice inside. But it was stills tuck in my head, which is never fun, no matter what the song.

This doesn’t make the album bad, a little dated maybe, but it seems that most pop albums from the 60s are pretty dated. That’s what I’m learning as I go through each one. But if you think about it, an album full of pop songs was exactly what she needed to do to get noticed. If she had an entire album in vain of “You Don’t Own Me” it probably wouldn’t have made such an impact as the male-dominated sector of music would have tried to hide it in fear of some revolution that needed to happen at the time. She needed the pop hits to get on the charts with everyone else and get noticed. It’s the idea of doing what you need to do to get your name and face out there and once you do, you hit hard with what you want. Classic in the art world. So, the album as a whole may not be the greatest, but it helped Dusty cement herself as a rock icon and showed that even the females could do what the men were doing in rock and pop, singing and dancing and dressing as they did and still being hits.

As a side note, I might have to revisit this album because I don’t know if I listened to the proper version of it. The songs were all the right songs, but as I was listening to it there seemed to be a stylistic change between some of the songs that sounded odd and one of them was in french… which is just wrong. I still got a good gist of the whole thing because it was still all the same songs, but a quick search told me that the remastered version of the album actually has different takes and sounds completely different than the original… well fantastic (Seriously, why do groups do this? It’s incredibly frustrating). So I think I got a blend of both and the french song came from her album of french recordings. Thankfully I understand french so I didn’t miss out on the experience of the song, but I would still like to revisit this album when I find all the songs in their original format to truly experience the whole album.

This doesn’t change anything I’e said though.

Song of Choice: You Don’t Own Me

-Bosco

1001 Albums: Guidelines

So, before I get started on my listening journey that may or may not end with me confusing bands and albums as it might become one giant blur, I felt it was important to set down the guidelines of how I will go about doing this.

why? well, believe it or not, I’ve had many people asking me many questions about this whole challenge and for the most part, it seems to always be the same. so, to prevent hearing the same questions over and over, I will take the time (or space?) here to answer all of them at once:

1. I will listen to every single album on the list. No skipping of songs or albums (no matter how much I might hate the band). This also includes albums I have already heard before, I will listen to them again.
2. I will be going through the list as it is presented, chronologically, starting from the first albums in the 50s (1) to the last album in the 2000s (1001). I will not be starting in a specific era or genre, I will listen to it exactly as it is presented, one by one. I feel this will give me a cool look at music history and i can hear how music evolved overtime and when these changes happened.
3. I am using the 2008 edition of the list. There are a few editions of this list, which has been revised over time to include newer albums. I stumbled upon the 2008 version first and only realized there was a 2015 one after I finished making the playlists (oops), so unfortunately David Bowie’s last album will not be there (boo hoo I know). So if you ever stumble on a list and are wondering why certain albums were missed out or not there, it’s because I’m using the 2008 version. However, once I am done, there is a possibility that I will go about listening to all the albums that are found on other versions of the list, but we will see my state of mind once I get there.
4. These will NOT be reviews. I am not reviewing the albums (mainly because I am not a musical expert), I will instead be chronicling my journey of doing this challenge, which means I might possibly write about anything and won’t know what that is until I sit down and write it. Obviously I will be talking about the album as it is the center of attention, but do not expect me to break it down and analyze it in depth both musically and lyrically, which could happen if it’s an album I am more familiar with. My goal here is to write of the experience and not review the albums.
5. Going off that last point I want to make it clear that throughout this I will be expressing my opinions and point of view and I never claim that my opinion is the right one or is better than anyone’s or is law. It’s merely my opinion and how I see things, if you disagree, then great, that means you are your own individual who has made their own opinion about something and that is fucking great. that being said, because I know there are some people out there who have a hard time grasping the idea that someone (heaven forbid) has a different opinion than they do, so on albums where I do not share the mass’ opinion and know my opinion differs greatly, I will include an UNPOPULAR OPINION WARNING just for you guys, because I love you so much. Be warned, it’ll happen on your precious (spoiler alert) Beatles and Led Zeppelin (GASP!!!!).
6. I will do my best to have a post for each album, meaning each album will be represented by its own individual post (necessary redundancy? you be the judge). However, it might occur, due to various circumstances, that I might put more than one album on one post. That’s the way it is and if it disturbs you, tough shit.
7. finally, what’s my end goal with this? simply, I love music and want to expand my knowledge of it by learning of new bands and listening to albums I’ve never heard before in genres I rarely listen to (looking at you country music). I also wanted to share my experience to any one who would want to listen and instead of constantly retelling my story, it’s all written here, making it much easier for me to journal my thoughts, so I won’t have to fill up my memory bank too much.

So there you have it!

if for whatever reason you have any other questions (honestly why) feel free to ask me, I will answer, most probably.

Here is to my long awaited journey that I am more than excited to start, hope you stay with me throughout!

Stay Tuned!

(HAHAHAHAHA get it? stay tuned? music… tuned in to listening, like a radio, hahahahahahahahahahahah)

 

Marathon Man: 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

So, it’s finally happening…

what you may ask?

I will try to explain this briefly and simply, but that might not be the easiest task.

Earlier this year, while I was working a desk job and losing my mind a little, I had the great idea that I would expand my music knowledge by listening to as much music as possible. What started off as choosing a band and listening to their entire discography and then looking for obscure New Wave bands to possibly add to my collection, soon became something much bigger than I ever anticipated.

While doing a google search, I stumbled upon the list of all the bands found in the book: 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Now, I am not new to this book, entering book stores I used to love reading through it to discover new bands or see if my favorite albums or bands made it into the book and see what they had to say about it (My favorite band did indeed make it in). As I sat at my desk, the fluorescent lamps creating yet another moment of fatigue and painful throbbing deep inside my head, I think I finally snapped and went insane because at that moment I made the decision that I, Jonathan Bosco, will listen to every album on this list.

Every.

Fucking.

Album.

(whoops swearing, excuse me)

That’s 1001 albums… why did I make the conscious decision to put myself through this is beyond even myself. Maybe I love the torture, maybe I just really love music, maybe I’m looking for purpose in my life, maybe I just have nothing better to do, who knows?

what I do know is that I’m doing it. I’ve set my mind to it and will be getting it done, from the first album all the way to the 1001st album, I will listen to every single one, no skipping and no excuses to stop.

At first, it was simple, I’ll just listen to the ones I haven’t listened to yet and since I love the 80s, I will start there! As I made my way through ten albums I asked myself: There must be a better way of doing this… and that’s where this blog came into action. I figured, since I’m doing this I might as well share with the world my process and journey of listening to way more music than one person should listen to.

So it began… first problem: How the fuck do i get all these fucking albums???

it’s important to note that if you want to listen to an album, you must have access to it, it only makes sense.

Downloading was an option, but there’s no way i was going to sit through downloading every single one of these albums.

Youtube was an option, but that would be a humongous waste of data on my phone. No thank you. (Plus that would be a fantastic way of draining my battery).

what was I to do?

thankfully, one faithful evening, (or day… afternoon? who gives a shit, seriously), a friend of mine opened my eyes to the wonders that is Spotify Premium. Now, Spotify was an option at first as it had basically every single album on it’s database, but once again the only times I had access to Spotify would be on my computer or at home, I would go through this list like a snail, not what I wanted. But then Spotify Premium came along and I discovered I can actually download my playlists to listen to them offline! This was it, this was what I was going to use.

A month later, I finally completed these playlists and I am ready to go!

So here it is, playlists ready for each decade, done legally since I’m paying monthly for premium, and me, mentally ready to set out on a journey and adventure of solid music listening that will open my mind to all genres and different types of music I never thought I might enjoy. It will be a journey filled with laughs, dancing, tears, sing-a-longs, and by the end I might come out a better person than I am today… or I might lose it and go insane, both options work for me.

Stay Tuned for the beginning!

SO… WHAT NOW?

That’s a great question… what now, indeed.

well, I have finally broke down and decided I too should get myself a blog and fill it with posts. what kind of posts shall I be making? that’s also a good question.

I will take the opportunity of this first post to detail exactly what I plan to do with this Blog, but not in too much detail so you don’t get bored.

I will be working with various ideas:

1. marathons (where I torture myself by marathoning… something and keep people up to date with how it’s going).
2. Mental Awareness (I will be talking about mental health, what exactly is a surprise, but you will soon see).
3. films (As always, film is one of my biggest passions and I will definitely be talking about various aspects of films).

So, that’s the basic gist of my whole blog. Nothing really more to it until the ball gets rolling.

My first attempts at blogging will be under the name Marathon Man, where I will begin my blogging adventures with one hell of a challenge:

Listen to every album on the 1001 albums to listen to before you die list, which will take me a helluva long ass time.

 

Stay tuned for the first entry.

 

p.s

this picture was here when i opened it and i am too lazy to change it, so enjoy the view while you can, it might get a little dark from here on out.