mtvwind

[mtvwind]

“This week is obscure The Blackout reference week”

R: So since I was enjoying Matty yesterday I couldn’t share a song til today, and here’s something really sad: the song I wanted to share with you doesn’t appear to exist on the internet! I got it from MySpace, who, as we know, recently lost everything. 

J: Womp!

Until I get home to upload it to the blodge, what are your memories of MySpace?

OG MySpace, nothing! I was Bebo through and through. Would go back to Bebo. Bebo over LinkedIn any day.  Modern MySpace I remember because we were the only two people in the world registered.

Oh, new MySpace!!!

Did you forget?

I did.

I can’t understand how

The rest of the world did.

What a shame. A crying shame.

Justin Timberlake died for nothing.

The real daddy.

Right, we’re dangerously close to making this about Lance Bass.  

Ah, you discovered my plan. 

MySpace was one of my prime downloading spots back in 2006.  I was pro at finding fake profiles for bands that had been set up with downloadable songs. 

I was all about youtube2mp3.com

YouTube wasn’t really a thing yet when I was stealing from MySpace

God so old.  Limewire before that I guess.

Yeah, I guess. I uploaded to Tumblr so fingers crossed this works.  Tell me what you think of the distinctly average pop punk song.

Initially I’m disappointed that “Baby Baby” is not Baby One More Time.  Did you ever watch The OC?  It reminds me of that.  

I did not. 

It’s very that. 

Do you recognise the singer?

You mean the singer that sounds like every other singer of that era?

Yes

I do not. 

You’re in for a treat let me show you a pic of him:

Shut up?

For real!!!

Omg. Isn’t life a full circle?

This is a short-lived pop punk side project band fronted by none other than Sean Smith! (I think it came after that photo but it felt right)

I feel cheated.  Let me listen again. 

Go ahead, enjoy. 

Oh god I can hear it now.

I don’t know who else was involved

They too have faded into obscurity

Or how long ago it was, unfortunately.  However I’m sure he did YOU. ARE. DEAD. MEAT! t-shirts. I want to say it was just before Dirty Love.

There was not a t-shirt that man didn’t try to sell.

He’s still doing it with his podcast.

Jesus. 

I still have a Dirty Love t-shirt but I do not ever wear it

I once ran out of clean washing and was forced to wear a The Blackout shirt I bought from Pulp. In fact I am once more out of clean washing so watch this space

Outside?? Where people are??

To be fair I had a jumper on.  But I knew.

Fun fact: I actually have a few TBO shirts I still wear!  The numbers are dwindling as I put more and more of them into retirement. 

I like the idea of a retirement village for merch of bands that nobody cares about anymore.  Just populated by Black Veil Brides. 

It’s this drawer. 

You have many drawers.

There’s a girls medium Fall Out Boy shirt from 2007 in there, but regrettably I am no longer about the size of a medium girl.

Omg, about the size of a MEDIUM GIRL

This week is obscure TBO reference week

I have to say nothing fits me anymore that’s for sure

I have 2 XL TBO tees, one of which I have literally never worn.  The other is the one with the gates of hell on that looks like a metal band shirt.  That one is my fave.

I wish I could sell merch.

I’d buy your merch.  The ‘You Are Dead Meat’ shirts came about when Watkins still walked free.

We should use that as a historical marker, like BC/AD. 

Difficult though, because where do you pick as your day zero?  I’d pick the day that we all woke up and read about him being arrested on the BBC. 

That was literally weeks after we’d seen him if you recall.

But I know you’d pick the sentencing, aka the day you came out with “he did WHAT-kins?”

That was by far my magnum opus.

Among your best pun work.  Under appreciated by the Twitter community. 

An artist is never truly appreciated in his own time. 

Alright, Van Gogh.

There’s a joke about ears but today has been too long for me to think deep about it.

Is there?

There’s always a joke. 

There’s always a bad pun.

Okay, here’s a question: you can pick ONE figure from our musical past back to relevance.  Who?

Oh man. Sean would be the most grateful but he’s the least talented.

In music as in sex, amen. 

Oh my god.  I was going to say Kate Bush, but, Sabrina. 

Omg.  Interesting and unexpected choice. 

I’ve been trying to bring Boys back for a few years. 

I resent your comment on Mother she’s very relevant

Correct, that’s why I changed my mind.  Oh - can I bring back the Singing Nun?

I was thinking about her yesterday! I would bring back Steve from costingless.com

Wow, I certainly would not.

He was great.

Was he, though?

We’ve remembered him.

That’s not always a positive. 

[mtvwind]

This week’s song only existed online on MySpace, which tragically lost all of its music archive, so I’ve had to upload it for your enjoyment!

[mtvwind]

“Direct from an intergalactic hooker convention”

R: This week’s selection comes from summer 2007 so you know it’s a heavy throwback.

J: Wow

This is probably 10 year old Rachel’s favourite song, at least definitely top 5

Intrigued

Here it comes, baby’s first Punk Song

Love the Windows Movie Maker lyrics video, take me back to early YouTube

Oh, so do I.  This one is very simplistic

The content tho

The lyrics are what’s important here.  Did you have a Good Charlotte phase at any point?

I did not.  I had a mystery phase around 2005 onwards when I came out of my Britney phase and then I was in my punk phase from about 2007.  There was no Good Charlotte in between. 

Fair enough, we’re talking 2003 here. Maybe 9 months after Busted burst onto the scene, like a month before Bring Me To Life happened.

Heavy into Britney then, sorry.

After Busted, Good Charlotte were the first band I was obsessed with. 

Nah they weren’t my scene, and listening to the song reaffirms that.  Because it’s just more whiny white boys singing about the cool girl who isn’t like the other girls

Omg, I accept that you’re right but I was 10 and being that girl was #goals.  I suspect you’re salty that they insult Britney. 

Deeply salty.

What about Xtina?

We had beef, with me being a Britney fan.

Right, of course.  Although they were friends?

No, there was beef for sure.  

But: 

A clever ploy by the Queen to throw you all off the scent.

Big fan of the phrase “direct from an intergalactic hooker convention” in that article. 

Beautifully written.

It’s a strong aesthetic.  Anyway, who are the GC twins with?  One of them married Nicole Richie right?  One was going out with Paris, I feel like Hilary Duff had a go with one of them at one point too.

Nicole RIchie and Cam Diaz.  Interesting.  All these women look the same.

Joel married Nicole after Hilary Duff. Benji married Cameron but first had “encounters” with Paris AND Kim K, Katy Perry, Miley and Dita Von Teese. 

Jesus. 

Miley apparently was a Halloween fuck when he was 34 and she was 20, yikes.

Hollywood :(

Of course that depends on how reputable you think whosdatedwho.com is as a source.  I wouldn’t count any of them as “riot girls”. 

See, and this is the problem.  They didn’t want riot girls.  They wanted riot girls to buy records.  

So what are we accusing them of?  Riot Grrrl appropriation?  Goth-baiting?  

I love the idea of goth baiting.  Fun concept.  

I read that term in the NME, describing Pale Waves.  

I’m out of touch with music today.

Pale Waves look like this:

But they sound like The Cranberries doing Taylor Swift songs.  I describe the look as “my friends in 2005 who were 13 and wearing black lipstick to school and being beaten up by neds”

Siouxsie called.  

I do not fuck with it at all, she’s always got her mouth open which looks bad with the black lipstick and she wears more red eyeshadow than Gerard Way.  All their songs sound the same, lyrics about the ocean and boys with cool hair and being seventeen, all the cliches.  Despite this, 4 shows supporting The 1975 and I will sing along to the songs in their set like their biggest fan.  Plus they are to thank for Goth Matty. 

Thank u goth Marty.

Anyway, back to Good Charlotte.  An acoustic version of this song was the B-side to GIrls & Boys, which was the first rock single I bought - before that my only knowledge of punk music was All The Small Things and Fat Lip.  

All good choices.

I certainly did not know who Minor Threat or Social Distortion were.

No, Minor Threat were much later in the timeline for me . 

I feel like they still aren’t on most of Benji’s girlfriends’ timelines.

Om g by the sounds of it I agree.

I don’t imagine Kimmy K getting down to Straight Edge.

I can actually.

If the KKKKK start wearing Xs on the backs of their hands then we’ll talk. 

[mtvwind]

“She, like me, is a slut for office supplies.”

R: This week, the artist we’ve been waiting for:

J: Ah, my queen.  I was singing this on the toilet yesterday.

Not the response I expected. 

Surprise bitch!

I’m glad we got to Kate Bush so soon

I would never stray from mother

I love this song but I don’t know the words to any of the verses.  Like, it means nothing to me in that I don’t know what it’s about but also the chorus means enough that it makes me really emotional?

Which album was this again?  Was it The Dreaming?

Yes, The Dreaming.  I can’t believe she didn’t release it as a single here.

Poor Mother didn’t have much luck with singles to be fair.  I don’t think she made the top five very often. 

True but this song is good.

So good.  The Dreaming as an album is incredible.

The Dreaming is very good but I’m also glad it didn’t get received well because that allowed for the Best Album Of All

Ah yes, The Kick Inside

*eye roll emoji*

1. The Kick Inside 2. The Dreaming 3. Hounds Of Love 4. Never For Ever 5. Lionheart  I think.

Hounds of Love is number one.  Then Never For Ever, The Kick Inside.  

Interesting choice to put N4E ahead of The Dreaming. 

I have yet to come across The Dreaming. 

I urge you to listen to it in full. 

The Sensual World is above Lionheart. 

Mmm yes. I forgot about The Sensual World. A rubber band bouncing back to life, or something. 

When I started in Shelter they had a Sensual World cassette that quickly became mine.  I get Rubberband Girl and Suspended In Gaffa muddled up sometimes. Stationery. 

Of course.  Kate Bush: office manager.

She, like me, is a slut for office supplies. 

I feel that so much.  Suspended In Gaffa is a bona fide tune.  All of The Dreaming.  I used to listen to it on repeat while I was doing funding applications in 2017 which is a very specific vibe.

That is very specific. 

So it’s kind of tainted but still fabulous. 

Suspended In Gaffa reminds me of the walk into work, I assume I was listening to it on a particularly emo day.  “I don’t know why I’m crying” is a very good lyrics for my emo days.  Spoiler: it’s usually just PMT.

I don’t know why I’m crying is a classic line and I feel it in my soul. 

Can we talk about how shit the video is? I was very disperpointed [a/n: intentional typo - I don’t remember the context anymore but it’s an important piece of our fabric]

OK, so I watched the video, and yeah okay it’s not Experiment IV levels of “Kate what are you talking about”, or even Robbie Coltrane in the National Anthem [a/n: Deeper Understanding], but it’s no more low key than The Man With The Child In His Eyes, and actually her dancing is very similar to mine so I appreciate that. 

But that had been done already, she’d made Wuthering Heights and The Man With The Child In His Eyes and Wow and Hammer Horror and Them Heavy People already.

Maybe it’s a throwback.

Kate wiggling about was getting a bit passé, don’t you think?

My mother can never be passé. 

The Dreaming [song] had some concept at least.  What does the barn have to do with the song?

The Dreaming had hella concept.  I mean short of her actually being suspended in gaffa I don’t know what she could have done. 

I’d have loved that, 

I also think there’s a commercial appeal to the video that the song doesn’t have.  Maybe people in 1985(?) [a/n: 1982] liked seeing Kate wiggling. 

But where would it appear in 1982ish?  Top Of The Pops?

Yeah, TotP probs.

MTV perhaps but I don’t think they really took to her.

The Dreaming wasn’t a commercial hit if I recall so this is maybe Kate trying to tone it down, because let us not forget, mother does not care for commercial when there’s art.  Maybe she was tired, idk. 

I can’t argue it was a mistake because it allowed for Hounds Of Love, but thank god Hounds Of Love happened. 

I honestly thank god for All Of Mother’s Creation. 

If we’re talking about her visual output and why she’s a genius, you only need to say one word: Cloudbusting.

Omg.  Yes.  That was going to be my example of Kate at her most Kate-esque. 

This video is shockingly lazy compared to Cloudbusting. 

I don’t know if it’s lazy.  Cloudbusting had a much clearer concept and a story to tell.  But Kate dressed as a pre-teen boy?  This is priceless.

It’s genius.

I can’t think of Madonna having done anything similar.

Madonna did everything else.

Androgyny, yeah, but not flat out gender play.  

What It Feels Like For A Girl?

Oh true.

Anyway no offence to Kate I love her she’s my mother but not her best visual work. 

Agreed.  We all have off days.

Or off eras.

[mtvwind]

“Literally Gossip Dog Season One”

R: So this week we’re going back to 2013 and, I think, to the exact day I fell in love with one of my favourite artists of all time!  And although we lived together at the time, this isn’t one that I remember us ever sharing or talking about, which is weird.

J: 2013 was a rough year for us.  We started the year in a bus station in Manchester.

We did sleep in a bus station, true.  Anyway, this song doesn’t have a music video but I located a lyric video, and as a fan of teen drama I am hopeful that you might be into it.

Almost certainly.

Okay, so I feel that was very much based on the first season of Gossip Dog [A/N: by ‘Gossip Dog’ he means popular teen drama ‘Gossip Girl’ - this reference is an amalgamation of it and popular children’s show ‘Dog With A Blog’ which neither of us have seen but we assume is basically the same show]

Interesting take.  So the Lana Del Rey Legend™ is that as a teen, she got very into drinking and making trouble, so her parents sent her off to boarding school, and this song covers that time of her life.

It has a very 2013 feel to it which is odd given I wasn’t listening to Lana in 2013.   Literally Gossip Dog season one - Serena comes back from a boarding school her parents sent her to after she got Too Wild with the Met Steps plastic crew.

That’s interesting, I’ve never watched Gossip Dog so I can’t compare.

I wouldn’t encourage it. 

What do you mean by ‘2013 feel’?  Like, musically or in relation to your own timeline, because you were (are) a slut for teen drama?

I don’t know, it has a nostalgic feel for 2013.  You know when a song makes you think of a time?  It feels like a sunny day at QMU [A/N: our alma mater), like, just after exams.

Were there sunny days at QMU?

Once or twice. 

So it reminds me of that time when Tumblr was like “fandom Tumblr vs aesthetic Tumblr”

Bad Days.

Fandom Tumblr only listened to My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco.  Aesthetic Tumblr loved Lana, Marina, Arctic Monkeys and the first 1975 album. 

I recall. 

It’s weird that we lived together yet I don’t recall us ever really talking about her, no?  Maybe because she wasn’t a terrible emo band.

I think that was exclusively the reason, yes.

So you said before you weren’t listening to Lana in 2013, have you listened to her before or since?

I have not.  

Do you have any thoughts on Lana or teen drama before we move on? 

My final thought on teen drama is that it is the greatest genre of TV ever created.

Amen to that. 

[mtvwind]

He Mele No Lilo - from Disney’s Lilo & Stitch

R: So the time has come.  I have our first song.  And I reckon I could let you guess what it is all night and you wouldn’t come close.

J: I truly believe that

Would you like a tweet from the day to take you right into the heat of the action?

I sure would

I stand by that

Can you spell it now? 

Privilege.  Autocorrect I think.

#development

Is the tweet related to the song?

Not in the slightest.  Let me set the scene for you: we are in the final weekend of bliss before I begin frenzied last minute work on The Dissertation™

Wow, so long ago

It’s 7:30pm on Saturday night, I’m at home for the weekend [from University; Jason and I shared a flat in student halls at this point], iTunes on shuffle.  And I know I just mentioned The Dissertation™ but unfortunately we will not be discussing AFI this week) [AN: I wrote my dissertation on AFI slashfic]

That’s unfortunate.  Okay I can’t remember much from that time. 

Luckily the song has nothing to do with that time.  What do you remember about 2002?

Honestly, lots. 

Well that bodes well.  This week’s song features in the opening credits of a severely underrated film from 2002. 

Omg, what do you mean?  On The Line came out in 2001. 

On The Line is the worst film we ever watched and I resent that you used my Twitter account to @ Lance Bass and tell him I enjoyed it when I left the room. 

Omg I forgot hahahahaha, I am good

Anyway this has nothing at all to do with Lance Bass

I am disperpointed* [AN: intentional typo]

Would you like me to end the suspense?

Yes, I want to know what it all means.

Here it is! :

Omg, ok. I don’t know this one so this will be a surprise.

Have you seen Lilo & Stitch before?

I have not. 

Never?  What did you think of the song?

It was nice?  I mean it was no Wuthering Heights but the dancing was nice

So what’s your understanding of Lilo & Stitch?  Cos it’s honestly great!

There’s a blue monster and he causes havoc, tres cute, something about a robot?  Happy ending?  ET for less intelligent people.

I don’t think there’s robots?  He’s an alien so yeah I see your ET thing but I’d argue it’s not less intelligent.  It has a great soundtrack of both songs like that and also Elvis hits.

I honestly wouldn’t know because I haven’t seen it.  I was thinking of this guy anyway:

Yes, that is a very different film. 

I used to love The Iron Giant

I don’t think I ever saw it all the way through

It’s been many years.  I can’t remember what happens.

Do you have any Disney jams?  I have you down as a Lion King kid, maybe because you had that Elton phase recently?

Lion King was my favourite but also Hercules

I can see that.  I never had either of those videos so they weren’t really the ones for me, you know?  I was a Pocahontas and Mulan girl. 

I like Pocahontas but I don’t think I’ve seen Mulan.

Oh man you are missing out!!! She saves China by pretending to be a boy and her commanding officer totally falls in love with her even though he thinks she’s a boy. 

That sounds pretty gay.  I’m in. 

I’ll Make A Man Out Of You is up there with the best and gayest Disney songs.  Gaston from Beauty & The Beast obv also. 

Omg nobody is gay like Gaston!

No one’s dick is incredibly thick as Gaston’s.

Omg, more Gaston content. 

Worth noting that the love interest in Lilo & Stitch is a cartoon Hawaiian surf cutie:

There’s something about sexy cartoon men.  Look at Hercules.  Gaston.  Teenage Simba. 

Simba... the lion??? 

I don’t have to justify this.  Simba is universally acknowledged as sexy.  

Y’all need Jesus.

I identify as lionsexual. 

I identify as not your friend. Do you have any closing remarks on He Mele No Lilo, or any other cartoon animals you’d like to admit to fancying?

I don’t feel this is enough of a safe space for me to discuss my feelings about cartoon animals.  

Fair. 

[mtvwind]

I’ve had a last.fm account for the last 13 years - which is half of my life - tracking my listening habits from 2006 onwards.  Jason & I have been close friends since meeting in August 2009 and over that time we’ve shared so much music with one another and have so many memories bound up with what we were listening to at the time.  We decided it would be fun to take one random song from my last.fm history each week and use it as a starting point to reminisce, discover (or re-discover) and learn new things about each other.  We’ve gone through a lot of embarrassing adolescent phases. so some weeks may be painful to bring back, but that’s part of the fun.

A note about the format: we’re conducting our discussion over Whatsapp so posts will appear in conversation format.