Jeroen's Micro Blog

The six hundred eleventh song: Two Tribes - Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Theme aside, the high energy of this song combines with the chaos of its explosions makes for an exciting run with a straightforward enough message, but a sound that makes you sit up and pay attention

The six hundred twelfth song: Runaway - Bon Jovi

Runaway is a pretty strong rock track. It doesn't give the depth that I think I fancy at the moment, or any of the extra things that could have helped elevate it, but it hits the beats it needs to.

The six hundred thirteenth song: Born in the U.S.A. - Bruce Springsteen

As I think I addressed in the album writeup, this song is a deceptively strong piece of songwriting, an anthem that condemns rather than celebrates and helps build a feeling of contempt for the jingoistic types that would otherwise celebrate it. It's really been worth a listen again.

The six hundred fourteenth song: World Destruction - Time Zone

I don't think I ever heard of this song, but it hits so well. The rap and rock fusion feels a bit ahead of its time, but the rebellious spirit from both hits fits the time period, a counter balance to power that matches the lyrics of Born in the U.S.A. It's powerful and works so well here.

The six hundred fifteenth song: Immigres/Bitim Rew - Youssou N’Dour

The African sound heard here is joyful. While it feels like the list puts these on here to have diversity, it means that we get the best, and this is an incredibly strong and enjoyable song.

The six hundred sixteenth song: It’s My Life - Talk Talk

Another synthy anthem, It's My Life is an oddly feel good track with what feels like an ode to individualism that again suits the eighties. It's a nice dance track, even if the lyrics make it feel like it needs a little bit more of an edge.

The six hundred seventeenth song: Smooth Operator - Sade

I wasn't expecting some British bossa nova today, but the smooth jazz track works really well. It's a really good sound that feels like it fits with a fairly standard but strong love song.

The six hundred eighteenth song: I Feel for You - Chaka Khan

The funky R&B sound of I Feel for You is enhanced by the rap vocals, to the point where they really feel like the star of the show. As a song though, this works well, and the extended chorus helps a lot having it sound that good throughout.

The six hundred third song: It’s Like That - Run-DMC

While rap has been coming up before, it feels like this is another step up - the political bent is still there, but there's a call and response that feels stronger and a harder sound in the music. It's an impressive build, partially one of production, but it feels like it's more real even as it breaks into the mainstream without compromising.

The six hundred fourth song: Rock of Ages - Def Leppard

Yeah, as a nineties kid I was wondering if I started the wrong song at first. The aggressive rock works well there, with its anthem quality in places. It's a big and bad rock song and I really like it.

The six hundred fifth song: Gimme All Your Lovin’ - ZZ Top

Gimme All You Lovin' feels like one of those classical hard rock songs - a good riff, lyrics that aren't too complicated. It gives a standard love song feel backed by a slightly more aggressive sound - even if it's far more upbeat than that might imply. It's simple and straightforward, but as a song that works.

The six hundred sixth song: Every Breath You Take - The Police

There's something sinister about this song - something that feels like it builds more in the modern world where there are so many more ways to do so. It's sweet and alluring and even that feels like it could be a commentary - even if initially the influence might not have totally been there. Even so, it's still as impressive now.

The six hundred seventh song: 99 Luftballons - Nena

This song's happy, optimistic sounding title - the release of 99 balloons - belies an underlying theme that you don't really get without hearing the German version. It's about a nuclear apocalypse, caused by the sight of these balloons, and it almost feels like the song is also creating the party before that happens. Considering the events of the 80s, when this was set, luckily it didn't go that way, but the ominous feeling really sticks there.

The six hundred eighth song: Zungguzungguguzungguzeng - Yellowman

The reggae track here has evolved a bit, but it feels like it still builds on the similar base. It is fine, decently rock inspired but not jumping to give me a lot more that I would enjoy.

The six hundred ninth song: Blue Monday - New Order

I wasn't expecting this yet - the build up from disco and synth pop to the dance music that dominated the clubs from the nineties wasn't something I thought I'd hear until later in the decade. This, however, feels like it could often fit in the club music that follows, the choral vocals set it apart too. I've enjoyed it a lot, as it really sets itself apart and gets you going.

The six hundred tenth song: The Trooper - Iron Maiden

We end with an aggressive metal tribute to soldiers and fighters, the song driving relentlessly forward. It's a hardcore metal track, perhaps a bit too much for me but it hits the notes it wants.

The two hundredth TV show: #250 Children of the Stones

Moving some other shows in and out gave us the chance for a random TV show, and I was quite lucky this one came out. Officially a childrens sci-fi show, a lot of it feels more complex than that (possibly teenager focused, I suppose) that works for the entire family. As an extended Christmas horror, this would have worked as well, and on the whole the show presents an interesting mystery with some clear paranormal elements, but keeping it quite human in some of its connections. It's good to see a father and son pairing where they actually get along and mostly believe each other. It feels more mature than the 'kids show' would imply as well, and there are a lot of moving elements that take more time to follow, with the mental submission side having its own challenges. The creepy soundtrack really helps with this too, creating an unsettling vibe at every stage. Sure, the show is seventies at times, but its contemporary setting keeps it from looking cheap and instead it keeps it compelling when you'd normally expect kids television from this era to be less compelling. It keeps the adults in mine, and it's good it doesn't talk down.

The five hundred and fifty-eighth album: #557 Kate Bush - Hounds of Love

With a partner who's a massive fan of Kate Bush, I've heard a lot already and have a lot of affinity for her work. The first side of the album pays that off - Running Up That Hill is a deserved classic (long before Stranger Things made it cool) and Cloudbusting is just so amazingly memorable. There's a lot of depth in those tracks that really resonates. The other side are their collection of tracks for a concept album, immediately starting with a more wistful sound that sets up more of a story than entirely having those feelings in the moment. Under Ice really builds on that, feeling like panic throughout. Waking the Witch, too, reaches that discomfort - although here from its discordant, deliberately fragmented nature. The Irish music it builds up to is as interesting as it invokes a link to nature in its lyrics that builds on a folksy feeling. It moves a lot between the emotions, but it manages to combine the different sounds and emotions with the story it's trying to tell in the arc the songs go through.

The five hundred ninety-fifth song: A New England - Billy Bragg

Brief and simple, A New England hits its relationship commentary, makes its point and gets out. It's good, and it does exactly what it wants to.

The five hundred ninety-sixth song: Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes

Blister in the Sun feels like a straight forward, basic punk song with meaning that even according to the writer aren't too meaningful. It hits its beats and sounds good doing it, but I'm not sure it felt that notable to me either.

The five hundred ninety-seventh song: Let’s Dance - David Bowie

Going back through Bowie's catalogue, after having hit the albums before, really highlights some of the biggest tracks. Let's Dance is instantly recognisable and its hook gets into you straight away. It's just a joy to listen to.

The five hundred ninety-eighth song: This Charming Man - The Smiths

This track feels so much more upbeat than the later album we covered yesterday, which partially makes you look at the undertones of it. Here, though, it's also nice, simple bluesy rock song.

The five hundred ninety-ninth song: Relax - Frankie Goes To Hollywood

There's a real polish to this song, a real contrast to the raucousness that sexual tracks were often dealt with in this era. It's a good, strong track, its memorable line and riff supported by noises that build to their own crescendo, not leaving that much to the imagination. It's still strong and it works with everything it tries to do.

The six hundredth song: Song to the Siren - This Mortal Coil

Simple, with a bit of extra production, the song's focus on its maudlin feeling vocals works well for its mood and set up.

The six hundred first song: Everything Counts - Depeche Mode

As a more subdued synth pop album, Everything Counts puts its message front and centre, a clear commentary on greed and capitalism and a track that builds on that feeling. It's not a simple track, but contains a more introspective feeling than what new wave usually brings.

The six hundred second song: Dear Prudence - Siouxsie & the Banshees

The ethereal sound of this track adds a different undertone to the song, elevating a love song in a way I struggle to find a place. It's psychedelic rock, out there a fair bit, with a real feeling of floating through the story.

The five hundred eighty-seventh song: Thriller - Michael Jackson

Thriller is one of Michael Jackson's tracks I know the best, but it's hard to separate where exactly that fame comes from. The music video is a production in its own right, memorable as its own short movie. Even so, the sound of the track is as good, memorable and engaging with Vincent Price's vocals just adding to that creepiness.

The five hundred eighty-eighth song: Shock the Monkey - Peter Gabriel

Shock the Monkey is tamer after the sound of Thriller, but the straight forward pop track is still good, a simple track that's quite nice with the mood it sets, still slightly off putting as it goes on.

The five hundred eighty-ninth song: Save It for Later - The Beat

As a ska influenced new wave song, Save It for Later is fairly straightforward as a listener, with a hook that's simple enough to understand and builds just enough to satisfy, but not so much that it doesn't remain, essentially, the same track throughout. It's overall mostly just a neat track that doesn't outstay its welcome but just continues to feel good.

The five hundred ninetieth song: Great Southern Land - Icehouse

Without knowing for sure, it feels like the music of Great Southern Land invokes that feeling of being lost, a large place you get lost in. The lyrics invoke an admiration for the country, a talk about Australia that works nicely to invoke a more unsettling mood about the country that feels like it suits the story they want to tell about the land.

The five hundred ninety-first song: Party Fears II - The Associates

The high, almost operatic vocals of Party Fears II creates the real unsettling background to this track's building hysteria. It starts as a nice simple pop sound, but several times builds with the lyrics to an anxious crescendo that feeds the scaredness of the lyrics. It makes it not entirely easy to listen to, but the mood it does evoke gets set up incredibly well.

The five hundred ninety-second song: Situation - Yazoo

We follow up with another synthy track, another that I had not heard of before. The track has that upbeat new wave sound, but becomes more threatening with its chorus, repeating 'move out' with a more menacing, darker voice. Quite what it's challenging, I'm not sure, but it's a worthwhile one to hear here.

The five hundred ninety-third song: Rock The Casbah - The Clash

The sound of Rock the Casbah is one you'd expect from the Clash, a slightly slurred vocal that belies the lyrics, which are smarter and a bit more political about that, addressing some semi-fictional bans on rock music that come to a head in the song. It's a good idea, and the shouted chorus really helps to enforce that defiant party atmosphere.

The five hundred ninety-fourth song: Buffalo Gals - Malcom Mclaren

Only as this track started did I realize that I had missed out on some hip hop appearing in the list at this point. I'm sure that won't be as common on later batches of songs, but here it still feels like the sound is being built up in here. The track has its rap sounds and a lot of scratching, the latter of which feels a lot less common these days, but it also has the musical interludes and synth sounds that feel like they disappear later. Add to that the tamer lyrics - referencing square dancing a lot - and I really feel like I'm mostly getting an insight into the rap of the contemporary era.