144 - Girls

 So there I was earlier on listening to a particular song, and I had a thought about a new strand of posts for this blog... I thought about it for a moment, and decided that, yes, I really like the idea... so I'm going with it. 

This, therefore, will be the first in a series in which I have a bit of a yak about a song I either really like, or that means something to me, or is a very under-rated thing that needs more people to have listened to it. 

The only rule I'm giving myself is that each band or artist only gets one entry. I'm going to be absolutely strict on this rule, but if your interpretation of what I mean by this rule differs from mine... tough. It's my rule. I would say "I don't make up the rules"... but in the case of this blog, I do. 

The thing is, though, I'm not going to start off with the song I was listening to when I came up with, as really the first song in this series can only be...

Atta Girl, by Heavenly

I remember exactly when I first heard a Heavenly song. Well, not exactly to the date and the time and the minute. I recall it was a Friday night and it was the very much missed John Peel's show. (It is impossible to estimate just how much we miss him...) He was about to play this song. It was called P.U.N.K. Girl, and he was agonising about whether he should read the "P.U.N.K." bit as individual letters, or as the word "punk". I forget what he decided. Maybe he didn't. But, he played the song, and it was a thing of beauty. I fell in love with the song immediately. 

Shortly after, I was over in Swindon, and looking for P.U.N.K. Girl, as well as Blue Eyes Deceiving Me, by Even As We Speak, which Peel was also playing around this time. I looked in both Rival Records and HMV, and whilst they didn't have Blue Eyes... one of them did have P.U.N.K. Girl. I forget which one of the two had it, but from the other one I did also buy Her Jazz, by Huggy Bear, which at that point I'd never actually heard. It took me rather longer to buy Blue Eyes...

I listened to P.U.N.K. Girl a million times. It's b-side was, despite its jaunty pop sound, a rather tougher listen due to it being about a teenage girl who loses her virginity when she's raped. I remember it being quite shocking the first time I heard it, but I guess that was the point. 

I ended up buying a couple of Heavenly's albums on tape - Le Jardin de Heavenly, and Heavenly vs Satan - and loving them, too. So many great songs. And then came The Decline and Fall of Heavenly, which I thought (and still do) to be the best of the Heavenly albums, even at its short length... 

And then in 1995 came the There And Back Again Lane compilation CD, which was the last ever release on the Sarah Records label. I would say 21 songs of perfection, but... well, there's a couple there that just aren't that great. But... track 2...

Track 2 was Atta Girl. And as soon as I heard it, I was just blown away. I genuinely think this is the best song I've ever heard in my whole life. It starts with a blistering 75 second intro that's unlike anything else Heavenly had done at that point, and then... Bam... in come the vocals, dropping an f-bomb almost straight away. And before you even have time to think about that, suddenly there's two vocal tracks there. each singing different things... at least after an initial repetition of the opening lines. But the second track is pushed to the background and is hard to hear, and hard to make out if you don't know the words (oh, the amount of time I spent trying to work these out before the internet told me so many years later...), but they work as a counterpart to the more prominent lyrics.

It's all about a couple having an argument and splitting up. And the venom. And the memories of when things were good, until jealousy got in the way, and turning out mean (at one point both accuse the other of that), before an attempt on one side for reconciliation which is met with a snarling "fuck you, now way". And you know she is not joking. And it sounds like it should be a horrible song, but it's not.

It's wonderful.

The best song I had ever heard back in 1995.

And still the best song I've ever heard today. 

Enjoy...

Post script; my list of songs for this series is already up to 11 (literally, 11 songs!), and I'm going to do them in the order I've listed them in my handwritten list. I'll keep adding to it. Already, I've noticed something about the first 11 on the list. See if you can notice it, too. Oh, and if you've been paying attention I've mentioned the name of four of the forthcoming songs in this post... 

143 - Electrifying

 So, it's the fifth Spider-Man film overall, and the second of the Emma Stone movies (she's the best thing about this one, too), and we get to see what would happen if Duane Dibbley got turned in to a super-villain. 

'Cos I'm sure loads of people would have taken one look at Jamie Foxx's Max Dillon and instantly noted the similarity between him and the Cat's alter ego. 

This one, Amazing Spider-Man 2, is a definite step up from the previous one. It's still clearly planting loads of seeds for the future, with an appearance by a character called Felicia, who's clearly meant to be Felicia Hardy who (in the comics) goes on to be the Black Cat. You also see Doctor Octopus' arms, and the Vulture's wings in the Oscorp vault. All part of setting up the Sinister Six... plans that would never come to fruition. 

I would actually that, five films in, this is the best of the films so far. Anyone coming up with the "too many villains" whinge can jog on; the main villain here is clearly Electro, and the others (at least once powered) are little more than cameos. 

The Green Goblin's barely in it, and when he does appear, it's quite devastating. My memory of the scene in the clock tower at the end was that it went on for a lot longer than it actually did (that was the one major fault I'd clearly mis-remembered), and it is absolutely devastating when Peter fails to stop Gwen hitting the ground, killing her. 

And the Rhino at the end... that's all about Peter getting back in to the swing of things, getting back to being Spidey and continuing to protect the city. Ending the film just as the fight between the two is starting is the right decision... life goes on. 

I didn't even mind the ongoing thread about Peter's parents in this one; at least they dived in to what happened a bit more, and gave a bit more about the shared history between Peter's Dad and Norman Osborne. 

I am torn as to whether or not I'm glad the scene with Shailene Woodley as Mary Jane was cut; it would have been good to see her, but I guess maybe it would have just been another seed too far. I'm sure I read that you can see her, very briefly, in one scene, though. 

The fact that they never got to do any more with this iteration of Spidey means there's so many plot threads that never went anywhere. I really would have liked there to be at least a third one, but circumstances prevented it... shame. 

Anyhow, next up on the list is a film I've not actually seen before... Venom. 

142 - Bulldog

 I can't believe I didn't mention Bulldog yesterday. I'd like to see him in at least one episode of any new Frasier. And Gil as well. 

I expect there's other things I'll have forgotten as well!

141 - Listening

 So at last the news has landed that there's going to be a new iteration of Frasier; what format it will take is yet to be announced, as is who the regular cast of the show will be beyond Kelsey Grammer.

I'm very much looking to this new show, after all Frasier is probably the greatest US sitcom ever made. Yes. Better than that one you're thinking of. Whatever it is. Even if it's the other one with seven letters starting with "Fr"...

I just hope that the new version lives up to the standard of its predecessor; it can't be the same as it was before, for numerous obvious reactions most notably the death of John Mahoney who played Martin, Frasier and Nile's dad. And whatever scenario, I hope it's not completely contrived. 

I have been thinking about some of the things I'd want to see in the show;

• Some kind of tribute to John Mahoney. Maybe start the show with Martin's funeral? 
• An adult Frederick. Perhaps an element of role reversal with him looking after his dad (but not the same as the Frasier/Martin scenario). 
• Niles and Daphne and their children. They'll have had children. I imagine one of them taking after Daphne and the other Niles. They'd be teenagers.
• Lilith appearing at least once.
• If Frasier's still a DJ then keep Ros as his producer. And Alice... she'd be about 20, wouldn't she? Would she be like a young version of Ros? Or would older Ros be just like Ros of old, with Alice the polar opposite?

And things I'd not want to see in the show...

• Maris. 

I just hope it's going to be good...

140 - Laura

 I suppose there's really only the one thing to even think about talking about today and that's how wonderful Twin Peaks was. Because it was. Wonderful. 

'Cos I was thinking the other day about how over the years there had been a number of abortive attempts to bring Twin Peaks back, and how there were meant to be more movies, and how at the time each missed opportunity made me feel sad. 

But then the stars aligned, and we got the 18 part third season that Lynch described as a movie in 18 parts.

And all of a sudden I was glad these earlier attempts were not successful. 

'Cos if they were, they wouldn't have been the third season as we got it. They would have been different. And the third season of Twin Peaks is the greatest television ever made. Heck, I would go so far as to say it's the greatest work of fiction in any medium, ever. 

Yes. Even better than that thing you're thinking of right now. 

It's like a dream. When you're watching it, everything makes perfect sense. You feel it intuitively. You allow yourself to fall in to this world and immerse yourself in it. But if you try too hard to explain exactly what it is you've seen... you can't. I've read all sorts of theories as to exactly what's going on... and you know what? It doesn't matter if any of them are true. 

You experience these 18 hours. You feel them. You don't need Basil Expostion telling you what everything is. That would have destroyed it. 

It's more than fiction, it's more than a story. It just is. 

It doesn't matter that we're clearly not being shown everything in the right order (I still maintain the very first scene we see is actually set after the very last scene we see). It doesn't matter if there are multiple time lines. Things flow and seem to make sense. But don't make sense. 

And there's such heartbreak in there. The few scenes with the Log Lady really get to you - especially when you know that Catherine Coulson was dying of cancer when she filmed them, and never got to see the finished show - and when Hawk announces she's died... 

...which is counterpointed with such joyous scenes as Ed and Norma getting together, at long last. They get their happy ending. 

It defies normal narrative storytelling and does its own thing. It's David Lynch turned up to 11. 

It is an experience. It is a feeling. 

It's like a dream...

139 - Maps

 A map shows there are many ways to get to your destination. 

What matters is not the route you take, but that you end up where you need to be.

I'm on my way...