31 Day Song Challenge - A Song To Drive To

Hiya guys I thought I'd dip back into my music challenge blog with today's nomination of 'A song to drive to'.

I know loads of people have playlists of songs they like to drive to (my brother used to always listen to the Drive soundtrack when driving at night) but as I don't drive it doesn't really apply to me. I considered songs that remind me of going places, for example Dad and I always listen to Lynard Skynard's 'Freebird' when we're going any distance. But then I had a sneaky brainwave for my choice of song.

I decided to go with The Chain by Fleetwood Mac because it was used over the BBC Formula 1 coverage before it went to Sky and Channel 4 respectively. If you say driving to me then I automatically think of Formula 1 which is my other obsession besides planes and music so I had to take the opportunity to combine them!

What songs do you guys like to drive to? Let me know!

Love Jen

XxxX

PS Congratulations to Max Verstappen on the F1 world title🥳 

31 Day Song Challenge - A song that makes you want to dance

Whilst I try not to shake my (considerable) shelf in public too often so as not to traumatise innocent people there are definitely some songs that make me want to move.

One song I like to listen to when I'm getting ready to go out is Lady GaGa 'Dance In The Dark' as it puts me in an upbeat mood and also reminds me of dancing with the rest of the Little Monsters when the Monster Ball arrived at London's O2 Arena.

The song I've gone for is from a band who are one of the best live acts I've seen for whipping up a crowd and raising the roof. That band is The Prodigy and the song I've chosen is 'Breathe'.

Dance music isn't my favourite genre as I find a lot of it repetitive or it murders classic songs that I adore (see Jonas Blue ruining Tracy Chapman's 'Fast Car') but The Prodigy are a different beast. I think I like their music because it's heavy and some songs feel almost punky which matched the lead singer Keith's (RIP 😞) aesthetic - lots of cool hair, studs and a leather jacket. When I saw them the crowd were so into it and determined to have a good time and the band fed off their energy. It's not often I want to let loose and throw myself around in public but, for better or worse, The Prodigy always make me feel tempted 😂. 

Love Jen

XxxX

31 Day Song Challenge - A Song That Needs To Be Played Loud

Hiya guys I hope you're enjoying my series of music blogs so far. Today I'm going to be talking about a song that should be played loud. The eagle-eyed amongst you may notice that I've missed out the 'song that reminds you of someone you'd rather forget' option, this is a deliberate decision as I want to keep this series positive and reflect the joy that music brings me rather than bring anything negative to it.

This post is actually quite a hard one to do as I like all my music played loud! So I'm going to try and choose something that's a good sonic experience rather than just a favourite song I listen to loudly.

Two bands I love who provide great sonic experiences are Pink Floyd and arguably their modern equivalent Muse. Both bands create intricate soundscapes where you discover something new every time you listen to them. I've had the good fortune to see Muse live 3 times and they are absolutely fantastic and do indeed sound good played loud! 

I took this photo of Muse when I saw them at The O2 Arena on the Drones tour in 2016.

So today I'm declaring a draw between the two bands and going to pick my favourite song by each band. 

I've chosen Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb firstly because it's Dad's favourite song and always reminds me of fun times we have listening to it and also the pure joy he has on his face whenever it comes on. 

I also identify with it's lyrics and themes, it starts with a confusion of voices and sounds that could be interpreted as a kind of manic confusion, it asks "is there anybody out there?" from a kind of isolation wondering if this is reality or your brain playing tricks on you. 

I love how the music changes as the song progresses, it starts calmly, almost echoing before the first guitar solo pierces through. It culminates in a really heavy guitar solo which could go on forever. In my humble opinion this is prog rock done right. 

My nomination for Muse is my favourite song of their's Hysteria. It perfectly shows Matt Bellamy's epic guitar skills, he makes it absolutely scream as if suffering from the hysteria of the song's title. It sounds just as good live as it does on record, check out this video from their 2007 Wembley Stadium Show (I was there, it was epic, enough said). If you ever get the chance to see them live then I strongly suggest that you do!

Love Jen

XxxX

31 Day Song Challenge - A Song That Reminds You Of Summer ☀

Summer is my favourite season so naturally I have an entire playlist on my iPod dedicated to songs for the sunshine. It features songs like 'Summer Of 69' by Bryan Adams (duh), 'California Dreamin' by The Mamas And Papas but also songs that aren't explicitly about summer but that remind me of summers past. This includes tracks such as 'Closer To The Edge' by 30 Seconds To Mars, 'Alejandro' by Lady GaGa, 'California King Bed' by Rihanna, 'She Will Be Loved' by Maroon 5. Alternatively I could name one of the cheesier summer holiday songs from my childhood like 'Mambo Number 5' by Lou Bega or maybe a bit of Ricky Martin 'Livin La Vida Loca'.

Thankfully though I'm going for my ultimate summer song Don Henley - Boys Of Summer. Yes it's an utter cliché but from the moment I hear the opening guitar note I can feel the sunshine and yearn for blue skies and longer days. It latches onto everyone's nostalgia for summers gone by and hangs onto every last bit of warmth well into the winter. There's also a fantastic cover of the track by The Ataris and even a dance cover I like by DJ Sammy which gets extra points for the horrific early 00s hair featured in the video 😂. 

Say no more 😂😂😂😂

Love Jen

XxxX

31 Day Song Challenge - A Song You Like With A Number In The Title

Hi guys I hope you liked my last blog where I explained what I'm hoping to do with this 'series'. I've also tagged them all under 'Music Challenge' on my blog categories to make them easier to find.

 I'm good like that!

So today's blog, as the title suggests, is about a song with a number in it's title. I've had a few ideas such as 30 Seconds To Mars - 93 Million Miles, 1000 Miles by Vanessa Carlton for summer nostalgia but I've settled on Lady GaGa - Million Reasons.

I think it's a beautiful song and shows off GaGa's amazing voice. This is off her 5th album Joanne which was a far more stripped back affair than her previous albums but has some great songs on it. If you like GaGa's more 'ballady' style then check out Speechless (I've had the privilege to hear it live and it was heart stopping) or You & I. 

Fingers crossed I get to hear them both live again soon 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

Love Jen

XxxX

31 Day Song Challenge - Day 1 A song with colour in the title 🎶

Hi guys I hope you're all doing ok and are relieved the Halloween spam is over 😂. When I was producing said spam I was reminded of how I do enjoy blogging regularly, I used to manage a couple a week, but with no inspiration other than my crap mental health and the shit services I have to endure they weren't going to be much fun. So I had a lightbulb moment when remembering the '30 Day Music Challenge' I did on my Instagram stories last year. I thought why not put it into blog form, it'll be fun and best of all I get to talk about music 🎶. I'm not intending to post every single day but hopefully I'll make it a couple of times a week at least 🤞🏻

So without further ado here's today's 'A song you like with colour in the title'. I had a couple of options here 'Fade To Black' by Metallica, 'Raspberry Beret' by Prince BUT I had to go with the legend himself Jimi Hendrix with Purple Haze.

From the first note of the opening it just makes you want to move and for its time it's so far ahead in its 'heaviness' and choppy guitar. There's been thousands of far more intelligent articles than I could ever write about Hendrix's influence on modern music but I can best sum it up by a YouTube comment I saw whilst copying the link of the song to this blog -

 

Says it all..... 

See you in the next blog 🤟🏻 

Love Jen

XxxX