New site

http://themusicaloutcast.com/

Monday 30 September 2013

Back When Boy Bands Were Great.....

On Saturday night I had quite a strange experience involving my girlfriend, a bottle of Jack Daniels and ‘N Sync… Trust me people you have no idea.

Anyway the next day when my headache had started to subside, that frankly bizarre set of events from the night before got me thinking. How good were boy bands back in the day!
I mean really, for my money there was a golden era between like 1995 and 2004, give or take a few years either side depending on your taste. This isn’t an exact science folks it’s a man with a laptop. Here’s a roll call for you…. East 17, Take That, Backstreet Boys, ‘N Sync, Five, Blue and Busted. (I don’t care if Busted held guitars or not they were a damn boy band!)

Fast forward to 2013 and we have One Direction who are just about the biggest thing on the planet right now, The Wanted are still hovering around and JLS have just departed. Now you have to give respect to 1D (Yeah I know) they are marketed to absolute perfection and they have created the closest thing to Beatlemania we have seen since the 60’s. But and this is a huge but…. The music doesn’t seem to have that same poppy, make you smile quality that the songs from back in the day did. I know there is a great deal of nostalgia involved but still… as a kid I loved Five ‘Keep on Movin’ when it came out.
Look, don’t get me wrong there was some absolutely horrendous stuff released over that ‘golden era’ too but I think the good outweighed the bad. Pop music especially by boy bands is designed to get stuck in your head and obligatory ballad aside to make you smile like an idiot.

Never ever underestimate the power of a good pop record. And definitely never be ashamed to love it. I mean who couldn’t love this lot!
 
 
 

Friday 27 September 2013

Feel Good Friday: Oasis - Cigarettes And Alcohol

It’s Friday and you want a feel good track to celebrate the fact that the sun is out and that the weekend is nearly here, so what better track for the job than this one.

This was the 4th single from their legendary debut album Definitely Maybe. (Also for my money the best album they ever produced) It was released 10th October 1994 and charted at number 7.

When this record came out it was said that it perfectly tapped into what the young generation at the time were feeling, and as I see not a fat lot has changed…..
'Is it worth the aggravation,
To find yourself a job when there's nothing worth working for?
It's a crazy situation, But all I need are cigarettes and alcohol’ 

That just about sums this shit up right now, turn this track all the way up and enjoy.

Friday 13 September 2013

Feel Good Friday: Culture Club - Karma Chameleon

It’s hard to imagine now but back in the day pop music in Great Britain was fantastic. There were some really brilliant records and more unimportantly they were unashamedly pop.

It’s 1983 and Culture Club are on the rise with Boy George being Boy George. Now the man has gone off the rails in spectacular fashion since and in no way am I a supporter of what he has done. But I am able to separate that from the music, this, was and still is a fantastic record.
Karma Chameleon sat on top of the UK charts for seemingly forever and in my view remains one of the best pop records ever produced. Press play and smile.


Thursday 5 September 2013

Throwback Thursday: Otis Redding - (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay

This is without doubt one of the smoothest songs ever recorded bar none, from undoubtedly one of the greatest soul singers of all time. It is still a crying shame that Redding was passed away aged only 26. There was so much more left for him to give.

As for the song itself it was written by Redding and his guitarist Steve Cropper and it was recorded just days before the singers’ untimely death in a plane crash on 10th December 1967. The track was released shortly after on 8th January 1968. It swiftly went to number 1 in the US singles chart making it the 1st ever posthumous single to ever go to number 1. The track was also released in the UK were it charted at number 3.
Everyone has covered this record from Bob Dylan to T-Rex but for me the original is by far and away the best.

Continue to rest in peace Otis, you may be gone but your music will live on forever.