5 Releases That Have So Far Shaped My Mediocre Life

I always get the impression that if you run a music blog, you are supposed to be a certain type of person. You know, your facebook should be littered with photos of you and friends at gigs, mediocre no name band members on your friends list, belonging to disadvantaged minority groups or at the very least, join supporter groups of the aforementioned. Oww and of course you simply must have written somewhere "music is my life" or "i'd die without music".

If you're a music blogger, you should be AWESOME... right?

Wrong. You just need to master the art of blogger.com sign up. Something I can proudly say I completed with honours (after reading the sign up help tutorial document).

All I know is, bands wouldn't know me from any other arrogant arm chair know it all, I've no time or inclination to go to live gigs unless I know that no one will invade my personal space and I can't take you through my Radiohead library of rare and unreleased B-side viynls.

So since I haven't given people much to really dispise about me lately (atleast in a blog sense) and to put my mediocrity on show, I thought I'd share albums that I adore. The results are underwhelming but I think we all have our guilty pleasures.

If you are waiting for Ok Computer, Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band or god forbid, Nevermind (vomit). Stop reading now.

1. The Darkness - Permission to Land
This album absolutely set my musical world on fire. I think every fan of The Darkness had a different favourite song and I was no different. From the initial flagrant over use of the word 'cunt' in Black Shuck and Get Your Hands Off My Women to the brilliant infectious hooks of Growing on Me and I Believe in a Thing Called Love, you had only got through the first four songs on Permission to Land. Love is Only a Feeling was great but personally I saw it at the albums low point, almost like a break between great songs to follow like Givin Up & Stuck in a Rut to fire fourth one after the other in quick succession. The insanely guilty enjoyment one could get dancing freely to Friday Night, thinking of past great love affairs to the brutal Love on the Rocks with No Ice. And finally, far better than Love is Only a Feeling was Permission to Land's more appropriate slower more emotive track, Holding My Own.

While what followed from The Darkness was only really enjoyed by myself and a few others who refused to let go of the past, few could argue that Permission to Land emodied an a-typical fun release that touched on many great stock standard elements of a good rock album.



2. Lucretia - For One Reason
I've touched on these guys many times before. In my early days of youth and exuberance, this band and the members within it, filled my every weekend, every party, probably every live music event I went to. We've all got that band which made our high school years great, while most of you little bastards had The Ataris or Mad Caddies to listen to on cd and see once or twice a year if you're lucky, I partied with, attended school with and enjoyed hard rock act Lucretia which featured Whiteboydancefloor's very own Javid Van Der Piepers on vocals. The E.p included the light and shade of Never Ending, the drum driven, arguably hate filled ho down of Rhythm Keeper and the powerful slow burner of F.o.R. Lucretia even had that classic Nothing Else Matters type moment, that get your cigarette lighters sing along of Don't Want It. As individuals they were and still are very talented musicians and as a group, they had a rare chemistry that made what was a dwindling genre remain exciting and varied. They took great pride in the importance of making live shows a very personal affair and always catered setlists, crowd interaction and the music to those who were listening.

To get a bit soppy, the Lucretia years, they were some great years.

Mp3: Lucretia - Rhythm Keeper

3. Fear Factory - Demanufacture
For a kid who previously wouldn't listen to anything heavier than The Rolling Stones, Fear Factory was indeed a massive jump. While these days Fear Factory seem so blunted by in fighting, out of date music and no credible scene to operate within even if they were still good, Demanufacture is a great introduction to double kick, tuning lower than drop-D and evidence of great hooks in heavier sound.

As an average rugby league player who attended a catholic school, facing the impending doom of another pummelling at the hands of the public schools 21 year old islanders who were doing the HSC via pathways, nothing could get me more hyped for battle than the opening title track Demanufacture or the foot stomping catchyness of Replica. And when you come down from that confronting adreneline rush, Dog Day Sunrise was there to continue festivities. A great band that time out grew.





4. RHCP - BloodSugarSexMagik
This album title is still one of the very few times I will accept that intentionally incorrect spelling is acceptable (I probably made a spelling error in that sentence no doubt). This was one of those impulse buys I made because I knew RHCP's were cool and if I owned an older album it would increase my street cred. Or at least that was the plan.

By chance I ended up stumbling upon an album which for me totally wipes the floor with Californication in every way. We just aren't lucky enough to get an album of 17 songs in which it is difficult to find any of those songs that don't belong.

Sadly since those golden days, RHCP's have gone the way of many bands, totally laughable. Let's not even speak any further of the flop that was their double album. But at least in BloodSugarSexMagik we have some sheer funk brilliance. Looking past Under the Bridge or Give it Away now, this album's greatest moments for me are the less thoughtful more abrasive funk classics like The Power of Equality, Funky Monks, Mellowship Slinky in B-major and the cover They're Red Hot or even the beautifully fragile I Could of Lied.

What RHCP's are now is a prime example of what happens with less drugs and an overdose of Ginseng.

4. Kings of Leon - Youth and Young Manhood
I am one of those old hasbeens that goes out to social gatherings and hears Sex on Fire and proceeds to spend the next drunken 20 minutes babbling on about how I was there in the beginning and that their old stuff is better than their new stuff.

Aside from the fact that all those cliches get thrown out too often, I've not met many diehard Kings of Leon fans who don't agree with me. I won't say that I don't like the latest release that has brought them immense fame, but I am sad to see how they have had to gradually water down their sound as the years have gone by to get where they are.

In Youth and Young Manhood we find a group of young men with energy to burn and I question whether the Kings of Leon of today could keep up with pumping out a set of songs like those on this release. Personally it doesn't get much better than the sheer outburst of hillbilly inspired rock n roll that is Red Morning Light or Spiral Staircase. Let's not forget also what should be a total eternal classic California Waiting, one of my favourite songs of all time.

I won't sit here and say that Youth and Young Manhood is my favourite Kings of Leon release, but at that time in my life, nothing I'd heard was delivering that inaudible hillbilly vocal with such radio friendly, energetic rock n roll. Even in this primitive form of rock n roll, Kings of Leon demonstrate the song writing class and a connection to their music that still carries with them today, even if a little watered down.



5. Hilltop Hoods - The Calling
Before you scoff... hear me out.
My enjoyment of commercial music has meant that I'll give pretty much anything ago. Infact not 2 hours ago I was doing what I do most weekends and enjoyed jamming out my favourites from Taylor Swift. So I wouldn't say supreme taste is something that has always been evident in me.

Now Hilltop Hoods were gaining great exposure and gaining important slots on many festival bills. So I bought the album, just because that's what I often do, buy an album with no real knowing other than I've heard a song or two and think eh why not.

I won't go into the specific reasons, but suffice to say listening to the Hilltop Hoods reaffirmed exactly why Aussie Hip hop should never ever exist and this is one genre we should definitely leave to the Americans.

Since my encounter with The Calling, I have watched as Hilltop Hoods have gone from strength to strength with each release more ridiculous and commical than the last. I'm sorry but if you can take hip hop of the Aussie variety seriously, you're a bigger joke than my sex appeal.