I grew up with parents that listened mainly to classical music, and apart from some 60s ditties from their youth, they were very much of the "what's that noise, there's no tune" school of parenting - Top of the Pops was a no-no in our house for a long time, and I'm sure my parents did this on purpose so that my biggest act of teenage rebellion would end up being popular music. I used to religiously buy Smash Hits magazine every fortnight (not easy when we were living in Germany) and copy out the lyrics to every hit of the day in order to learn them off by heart.
The peak of my music buying years covers the decade from the late 80s to late 90s, and even now I veer wildly from a love of the cheesiest 80s pop ever to being more of an early 90s indie kid. So, without further ado:
After their earlier mention, I had to include the Stone Roses - for me probably I Wanna Be Adored. I don't know what it is about this song, but just hearing the intro brings me out in goosebumps when I hear it (that bassline!) and I guess the lyrics are such an obviously teenage angsty thing to go for.
Secondly, the song that OH and I always said we should have chosen as first dance at our wedding (we went for Frank Sinatra's Come Fly With Me in the end) - Fatboy Slim's Praise You (and the video is just hilarious):
Next up - how my life sometimes feels - Road to Nowhere by Talking Heads:
Next, probably the newest song in my list (don't seem to get much chance to listen to as much music as I would like these days - funny that). We saw these guys at the Radio1 Big Weekend last year, when we had a moment of feeling very young and trendy and childless. Needless to say, the tent was full of middle-aged types feeling exactly the same thing. They were great, though.
Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
The last one has to go back to my teenage years. I was never a Duranie, or into Spandau Ballet - my weakness was the Nordic cheekbones of Morten Harket and the boys from A-ha. I saw them in concert twice and swooned (and would love to see them on their farewell tour this year if I can somehow arrange it! Anyone want to join me?!)
However, I am going to cheat and add in a little extra - the last call has to go to the song that gets played most often in our house - to my daughters it is simply "Sha La La La" and if it was up to them we would play nothing else. The Comic Relief version was number 1 in the UK charts when DD1 was born, so has a special place in my heart for that, if nothing else.
So - finally, I need to tag some fellow bloggers with this one. I think most people have probably seen it now, so just tagging two people I hope haven't already been tagged yet (apologies if you have):
Notes to Self Plus Two - as she is currently going through pregnancy, which always seemed like a good time to remember some favourite songs
A Small Hand In Mine - simply for the fact that she was my 100th Twitter follower
