Guru Josh dies

This week brought the news that Guru Josh has committed suicide. He was best known for his 1990 hit Infinity, though he did have a follow up single, Whose Law (Is It Anyway?) and an album also called Infinity.

I remember watching Infinity on Top of the Pops in 1990 but soon forgot who it was and what the tune was called. In 1994 I bought a best of techno compilation which had the remix I've posted here on it. It was possibly my favourite tune on the compilation and remember thinking it was similar to the tune I saw on Top of the Pops 4 years earlier without realising it was the same tune. It was when I was looking in my Guinness Book of British Hit Singles some time later that I saw it was a top 10 hit in 1990 that made me realise.

In 1997 I read an article in Dream Magazine that he was planning a comeback but nothing really happened then. In 2008 there was a trend for remixing tunes from the rave era of the late 80s/early 90s and Infinity was one of those tunes to get that treatment. Personally I thought that remix was terrible but it ended up charting higher than the original. There was another remix in 2012 which I was not aware of which reached the top 10 in Austria.

However this 1994 remix is in my opinion the best of the lot. RIP Guru Josh.

Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo - This Christmas

I've never really been a fan of Christmas music in general but there are a select few I do like and this one is probably my favourite.

It was from Christmas 1995 so is now 20 years old but I must admit I was not aware of this tune in 1995. Your also not likely to hear it at your average Christmas party in the UK because I suspect most people in this country don't know it. So how do I know it?

I first came across Charly Lownoise and Mental Theo in 1995 via a mix tape a mate had given me which had three of their tracks on it. I also heard several other tracks of theirs through tape packs I acquired in my youth but not really knowing who they were, but loved pretty much every tune I'd heard of theirs.

Fast forward to the early days of YouTube, I discover they were pretty much pop stars in Holland and had music videos to many of the tunes of theirs which I loved a decade or so earlier. I then listened to pretty much every tune of theirs which was on YouTube which included this.

Admittedly it isn't a credible tune being both Happy Hardcore and Christmas music, both of which have a reputation for being a bit cheesy. However I concluded many years ago that you're not supposed to take Happy Hardcore seriously, you just enjoy it which is exactly what I do.

In a way its a bit of a shame I didn't hear this or even see this video back when it was released because I know my young self would appreciate it much more than I did when I finally heard it. Still, I appreciate it enough to declare it my favourite Christmas tune so listen and enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Dreadzone @ Under the Bridge

On Thursday night I went to see Dreadzone at a small intimate venue called Under the Bridge which is underneath Stamford Bridge (Chelsea's football stadium for those who don't know football). It was the second time I'd seen them and both times were at the same venue.

Like many people, I first heard Dreadzone back in 1995 when they released Little Britain. I always liked that tune but never really followed them until some years later when I spotted their Second Light album going cheap at a record shop and purchased it. I discovered just how good they were and when I saw they were playing in London last year I decided to go.

The first time I saw them play it was one of the best gigs I've ever been too. Obviously the second time is never as good but it was still a top show. It was a very different set to the first one aside from Little Britain and a couple of other tunes they can't not play. They now have seven studio albums so have plenty of material to choose from.

The front man MC Spee joined the band on their fifth album, Once Upon a Time and when playing Iron Shirt he said that was the first song he recorded with them. Surprisingly though, they probably played more material from their first four albums. One of the newer tunes played was American Dread where we were told a couple had flown over from America just for the gig. There was also a big crowd sing-along to Rise Up and Next Generation. The last tune they played was Captain Dread where the crowd seemed to find another gear.

Dreadzone do play live a lot and are quite big on the festival circuit and I would definitely recommend you going to see them.

Childliners - The Gift of Christmas

What do the Backstreet Boys and Peter Andre have in common?

They both had their first taste of the UK top 40 as part of the Childliners with The Gift of Christmas 20 years ago this week in 1995.

The Christmas number one of 1994 was East 17 - Stay Another Day which is still often played around Christmas time despite the song itself having nothing to do with Christmas. A year later, East 17s Tony Mortimer pens this song which is actually a Christmas song, gathers up his friends from the pop world at the time and releases this single with all proceeds going to charity.

On paper this should have been the Christmas number one of 1995 but it wasn't to be. It reached number 9 in the charts so was by no means a flop. However its rarely, if ever been heard on the radio etc since 1995 and many people don't even remember it's existence.

One reason perhaps is whilst some of the acts were the who's who of the pop world at the time, many are more like a who's that these days.

So who else featured on the record?

Well first of all we have A.S.A.P. who never had a top 40 hit before or after this song. They don't have a Wikipedia page and on their discogs page they just have this song so you don't get more obscure than that.

Then there was The Flood who also never had a top 40 hit but have at least created other music.

West End also featured despite the fact their only top 40 single came out almost 3 years prior to this.

Then we have CJ Lewis, China Black and EYC who were more familiar names of 1995 but this turned out to be the final top 40 hit for all 3 of these acts.

Not far behind them were Deuce, Gemini, MN8, Let Loose and Nightcrawlers who had all hit the top 40 for the last time by Christmas 1996. Though Gemini did follow this up with their biggest hit on their own, Steal Your Love Away which reached 37!

Ultimate Kaos were all but finished soon after this after their lead singers voice broke but they did hit the top 40 again in 1997 with Casanova which was their first single which failed to chart the first time round.

We then had former Eastenders Michelle Gayle and Sean Maguire who carried on into 1997 despite the majority of people only remember Michelle Gayle doing Sweetness a year earlier and that Sean Maguire had some sort of brief music career.

Dannii Minogue also featured and whilst she has gone on to have some success in the music world since, at the time she had pretty much called it a day with her music and had become a TV presenter on shows like the Big Breakfast.

Finally we had Boyzone who were arguably the most popular act on the record at the time. However, they were aiming for a Christmas number one themselves with Father and Son.

Given the quality of many Christmas songs which have stood the test of time it's a shame really that this one is largely forgotten but if you really want to hear it just watch the video and enjoy!

Myself and music - A history

These days my taste in music is simply anything that's good but there are still some genres I like more than others. Here's a history:

My earliest memory of hearing music which had an impact on me was back in 1987 when I heard Pet Shop Boys - It's a Sin for the first time. This probably set the scene for my appreciation of electronic music later on in life. In those days it was basically whatever took my fancy on Top of the Pops or The Chart Show then at the start of 1988 I got bought my first Now compilation, Now 11 which quite appropriately opened with a Pet Shop Boys track. Later on that year I heard the next tune that had a huge impact on me which was Guns n Roses - Paradise City. By the end of the year I started reading Smash Hits and the next couple of years I was very much into the pop music scene.

By 1991 one group which I took a particular liking to was KLF. I was too young at the time to realise what a crazy group they were but I just loved their music and used to annoy everyone at school by singing them all the time. At the end of 1991 when Freddie Mercury died I became a Queen fan and saved up my pocket money to buy a couple of their albums. This lasted a few months and then I became a fan of Guns n Roses. I was actually banned from having any of their albums because of the explicit lyrics but managed to obtain a couple on a copied tape from a school friend.

It was at this time that many people at school started getting me into music in a big way and being a Guns n Roses fan they got me also listening to bands like Nirvana, Metallica and Megadeth. This would then lead onto listening to more heavy bands such as Pantera and Sepultura. In hindsight none of these bands were really my cup of tea and I only really listened to them to be part of the scene. However there were 2 bands I got introduced to during that time who I still like to this very day, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against the Machine.

It then became uncool to like the heavier bands including Guns n Roses and those people were getting more into Brit Pop. However I was becoming sick of rock music all together and went through a phase of only listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers who I don't really see as being a rock band. I then heard N-Trance - Set you Free which was and still is a fantastic tune which prompted me to explore the world of Rave music. During this period up to 1998 I wouldn't listen to anything that didn't belong in the rave scene. Then in 1998 I started getting more into House and Trance but also opened myself up to listen to any genre of music. One band I became a big fan of was Alisha's Attic and I even made a now defunct website about them and became a member of their fan club.

In 2000 I started listening to Eminem which opened the door to Rap music. Then in 2001 I started to go off Alisha's Attic and became a fan of the Honeyz instead which lead me onto listening to R&B. The next couple of years I was predominately listening to Rap and R&B whilst at the same time playing in a Punk band. I formed a punk band because I enjoyed playing the guitar and writing lyrics and this seemed the appropriate style to do this in but my listening of punk music didn't really go beyond Green Day.

I started listening to more dance music again in 2004 but was finding that none of it was as good as it used to be, something I never thought I would say. In 2006 I discovered youtube and spent a lot of time listening to tunes I liked in the past but didn't own and hadn't heard for years. However I didn't want to accept that all good music was in the past and made the effort via the internet to find new music I liked. I found the Hardcore Lives website which released several compilations which were excellent. I also discovered several artists across a variety of genres such as Sander Kleinenberg, High Contrast and Digitalism.   

In 2009 I came full circle by buying a Pet Shop Boys album for the first time in my life. Despite the fact they were the first act to have an impact on me and I always thought they were good, they never really had a place in my musical phases of the past. Since then I have bought a variety of different music, stream many different things and am very much anything goes when it comes to music.

Welcome to my blog

All my life my number one interest by a long way has been music. I always have a lot to say about music so I thought it would be a good idea to write a blog about it. As the title suggests anything music related could find its way into this blog.

Historically I have always been interested in the UK singles chart starting when I found my mums The Guinness Book Of Hits Of The 70's as a kid and then later having my own The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles and have found some interesting internet resources since. Therefore one challenge I've set myself for this blog is to review each year of the singles chart and pick my song of the year for each year. I will aim to do a different year each week but it may become less frequent if it proves to be quite time consuming.

I will aim to post at least one thing each week so please keep checking back and enjoy!