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12 Songs That Helped Make Me Who I Am - Guest Post
This Top 100 thing has meant for a lot of thinking for some people, while at the same time, not much choosing. My brother came across a list he put together in 2002 - I wonder if it has changed since then?
Well, it was difficult to narrow this list down. I've decided to focus mainly on tracks that have been influential in determining my current tastes in music (both listening and making), so there is a definite focus on the early 80s. Though I'm listening to lots of other stuff these days and not living quite so much in the past as this list suggests, these are my musical signposts. Not all of them are necessarily even my "favourite" tracks for those bands now. However, many of them still have the ability to send a shiver down my spine when I do listen to them, which is as good a reason to include them as any.
Arguably the stuff I listened to before the 80s also had an influence on me, but I've not listed that because that was all an earlier version of my musical tastes, reflecting the cultural backwaters of suburban Sydney in the 70s (pub rock, anyone?). So, this list is in many respects a reaction against the stuff I had been exposed to before the "enlightenment" of the post-punk years. And, given that this stuff was such an eye-opener for me and has set my musical directions for the last 20+ years, maybe now's a good time to thanks early 80s JJJ, particularly Tim Ritchie and Peter Doyle, for actually playing adventurous music on the radio. So, here is the list, in approximately chronological order:
Maybe this is too obvious a choice, but it is a classic pop song and really one of the things those woke me up out of the pub rock malaise. With their relatively simple bass lines, Joy Division (and then New Order) had me detuning the low E on my acoustic guitar and playing bass lines. I often still find it difficult to figure out tunes by ear, but I could get a lot these.
A magnificent bass/percussion driven piece, again with mournful vocals. The characteristic Martin Hannett production. I'm one of the many who think ACR lost their way post-"Sextet". This track is one of their finest works.
Title track of their second album. I picked up on them a couple of years after this came out, but had heard their stuff on the radio without absorbing. Then, one night, this track came on and I knew I had to get it. Again, a nice repetitive driving bass line, intriguing lyrics, and a soaring saxophone solo (and I usually hate saxophone solos). "So we joked about the TV set/ calling it the eye of hell"
The proprietor of my local record shop in Dee Why kept trying to foist this one upon me. And, eventually, I realised what he was on about. An amazingly sparse record, it set the scene for my admiration of artists that can leave space in their tunes (that's something I can't do). Do not confuse this with the more commercial direction foisted upon them when they signed to a major label. A great live band in their heyday, too.
Other people have listed early Wire. My Gilbert & Lewis highlight is this track. I have tried to emulate it and failed. Again, it is relatively sparse, with a bunch of very simple elements overlaid and repeated. A classic example of a whole being greater than the sum of its parts.
A highlight of a track from a forgotten band of the early 80s Sydney scene. They were notable for adopting an eclectic mix of instruments, including a number of exotic instruments. Maybe not really original, but certainly refreshing to see live in Sydney at that time. This track has a really nice structure, a non-cliched drum machine pattern in the chorus, the sort of clear bass guitar work I love and is overall a very atmospheric track.
Another band that's difficult for me to pick a highlight from. This track epitomises the description that was applied to their music: "white noise with a beat". Although people familiar with the various noise genres will probably disagree. This is another very sparse and slow track - basically synthesised and processing percussion, bass guitar and some background feedback. And voice of course. It's haunting in its simplicity. Completely and utterly unrepresentative, as their music as changed so much over the years. This track, as well as representing Scattered Order on this list, represents the M Squared scene in general. I just don't have space in the list to also include the Systematics, The Makers of the Dead Travel fast and others.
Yeah, I know - it was a throwaway addition, and it should be laid to rest. I don't even regard it as the best track, by a long shot. But the cassette version from 83 was the first Sevs track I heard, and arguably got me started in this whole direction. Combine that with the invitation on the back cover to correspond and a Clifford Was Born. And it was one of the few Sevs tracks I could easily figure out a bass line for.
Admittedly I heard this before the album versions, but this mix combines two separate songs and still sounds amazingly cohesive. There's something really catchy about this track without it being structured in any way like a pop song.
This 12" has a special significance to me - I used to play it to Fiona in the early years of our relationship. Not only this track of course, but in some way this track has become special to both of us. After getting a CD player I stopped playing records much, but this track, and the "Sensoria" and "Or So It Seems" 12 inches were the ones I always got out when I had a hankering for playing vinyl.
This track reintroduced me to rock/pop and a new generation of bands, including The Clouds and Caligula. These were all great live bands. Headless Chickens in this era were bright and breezy whilst still having a sinister undercurrent. A nice mix of electronics and the usual rock band instrumentation.
I tend not to keep up with musical trends. Tom and others kept talking about Autechre so that was the the first of the Warp stable of bands I decided to try out. And I was hooked. For someone who is too uncoordinated/inhibited to dance, I find this irresistably danceable (or at least foot tappable) without it being the same old same old boring four on the floor doof. Utterly electronic but texturally rich, with intricate rhythms that emphasise odd beats (even the "wrong" beats). This really added a new direction for me to explore.
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Well, since it was a list of songs that made me who I am rather than current favourites, I don't think I would change that list. One thing that has changed is that I no longer reject the past so much and have started listening to a lot of the older stuff I was listening to in high school. But it's still that early 80s, post-punk, independent (that's with a lower-case 'i', not what was later called "Indie") music that I feel the most affinity for. The stuff that everybody who claims the 80s were crap musically seems to be completely unaware of.
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