Songs to hear again before I die...

Music does something to people, like no other form of entertainment can do. It captivates and floods your senses with memories and emotions. 

Although universal, it can be extremely personal, and despite being written for a completely different reason, we can take the song, interpret it and make it our own. We all have our favourite songs, favourite bands/artists, and the reason we like them is down to our own unique tastes.

I am one of the few people who is still rocking an iPod, and unlike other iPods I have owned in the past, my current one I have had for ten years and seems to be indestructible. It is my friend on my commute to work, my company when I am out running, and my entertainment on long drives around the country. Seeing as it is now ten years old,  I decided it needed a freshen up!

With that thought I decided to clean up my iTunes account, and remove the songs that I simply do not listen to anymore. I have been slowly building my iTunes library for the last ten years, and my music collection is extremely varied. There are songs which have had zero plays in all the years  that they have been in my account, probably due to me not be interested in them from the start.. So they went to the recycle bin.

The process was therapeutic, and as I played the various of tracks from the various genres that I had created over the years – Pop, RnB, Garage, Hip Hop/Rap, Oldies, Rock, Indie,  Classic Dance, Opera, WWE Theme Tunes etc, I found myself reminiscing on who that song reminds me of, or  where I first heard certain songs, or what I was going through in my life when that song came along.

There were literally hundreds and hundreds of songs on my iTunes which mean the world to me. Some of  them for the good times, and some for the sad times. 

Songs can instantly move you, and change your mind state. 

"Your Not Alone" by Olive, automatically brings me back to the period when my grandmother sadly lost her battle with cancer among other illnesses in our house after spending her final few months living with us when I was fourteen. She fought so courageously, and this song was so prominent on the radio at that time. The lyric of waiting til the end of time for someone, impacted me as I feel I will see her again at the end of my time.

"Hit Em Up" by 2Pac, reminds me of sitting on a wall next to my high school bus stop in 1997, being introduced to gangster rap by my friend Phil, who educated me on the East Coast/West Coast beef, a school friend who would only a year or two later be killed in a tragic car accident. Someone who I looked up to as a teenager, who never knew what those bus stop music lessons would go on to mean to me. He was the first experience of death of a young person that I would experience. It shocked the local community to the core, and I often find myself thinking about Phil to this day. He was a great kid and certainly gone too soon.

"You Got It" by Roy Orbison, takes me back to my childhood, and time spent in my parent's bedroom, my mum singing it to me as I helped her change the bed sheets (it’s weird what you recall after all the years!). This song is the song which reminds me of my Mum.

"Suspicious Mind"s by Elvis – automatically brings my Dad to mind, as he had sung that song at every karaoke event we ever attended throughout my childhood and teenage years. He may sing it out of time, and not in the same way that The King did, but its my Dads song, and I hope to hear him sing it in the months and years to come.

"Paradise" by Coldplay, taking me back to a specific day spent in Koh Phi Phi in Thailand in 2012, in which we went onto a longboat out to Maya Bay, the scene for Leonard Di Caprio film – The Beach. It was stunning and one of the happiest days of my life. It was that day that I made a specific decision about my return to the UK after living in the UAE for two years, and gave serious though about the type of people I wanted in my life, and more importantly – those I didn’t. This was going to be a new start for me and this song is symbolic of that day for me.

I therefore decided to go about creating a playlist of all of the songs which mean something to me; a playlist of songs that I simply HAVE to listen to again and again as the years roll on.

The playlist is entitled: ‘Songs to hear again before I die’. Here is a list in no particular order of just a few of of them:

1.       Everywhere – Fleetwood Mac

2.       My Destiny – Lionel Richie

3.       Only You – 112, Puff Daddy, Notorious BIG & Mase

4.       I Cant Make You Love Me – Tank

5.       You Got It – Roy Orbison

6.       Suspicious Minds – Elvis

7.       Hit Em Up – 2Pac

8.       Paradise – Coldplay

9.       My Girl – The Temptations

10.   Stand By Me – Ben E King

11.   Jump Around – House of Pain

12.   Mirros – Justin Timerlake

13.   Hero – Foo Fighters

14.   Colourblind – Counting Crows

15.   Baby I Love Your Way – Big Mountain

16.   In The End – Linkin Park

17.   World In Motion – New Order

18.   Hypnotise – Notorious BIG

19.   Wonderwall – Oasis

20.   You’ve Got It – Simply Red

21.   How Will I Know – Whitney Houston

22.   Sacrifice – Elton John

23.   Days of our Lives – Queen

24.   Time to Say Good bye – Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman

25.   Candy – Paolo Nutini

26.   My Immortal – Evanesence

27.   It’s the Way – Future Underground Nation

28.   A Million Love Song – Take That

29.   Pompei – Bastille

30.   Songbird – Eva Cassidy

31.   Vibe – R.Kelly

32.   Let Her Go – Passenger

33.   I See Fire – Ed Sheeran

34.   Smooth Criminal – Michael Jackson

35.   Other Side – Red Hot Chilli Peppers

 Have you made a similar track list of songs you have to hear again before your days are over?

It's a f**cked up world that we live in...

Yesterday I asked myself and colleagues around me a question – are we, as the social media generation, desensitised from shocking and gratuitous violence?  I think as a majority, we probably are. Well I certainly am. And in my opinion that is down to the way coverage is shared via social media.

I have various forms of social media, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram. Each serves its own purpose. When I learnt of the shooting of Alton Sterling, I logged into my Twitter account. With literally a few keyboard strokes, I saw video footage of two murders on my Twitter feed. It saddened me, but I certainly wasn’t shocked and moved to a new level of emotion that I probably should have been. And I blame that, not on movies and video games. But the sharing of REAL time news on social media.

The two separate videos were the murders of two black men by US police officers. I used the term murder as in my opinion that is what it was. No doubt about it in my mind. No other term is required or can be justified. The officers that killed Alton Sterling and Philando Castile murdered them. 

The police officers seemed to be a fit of rage and hysteria in the aftermath of pulling that trigger. It was almost as if the gun in their hand and uniform on their body gave them a sense of power that they were invincible, and as soon as the sound of the bullets leaving the chamber stopped ringing in their ears, they snapped into an understanding of what would happen to them from now on. 

Their lives will be turned upside down and those of their families. The split second it took to murder those men will impact those around them forever. But that is nothing in comparison for those who lost someone in that action. Children will never have their daddy back, and that is unacceptable. The US police needs to seriously review the types of people they are hiring, as they are engaging their firearms before engaging their brains. 

This morning I woke and the top trend on Twitter was #Dallas. When you see a place name trending, you know something bad has happened. And it has. In what appears to have been an organised revenge attack on police officers, resulting in eleven officers shot, five killed, and an unconfirmed number of members of the public have been shot at a #BlackLivesMatter protest in the city. Once again, events have been captured on film, and shared online. In one video which has been shared virally, we have seen the execution of one officer, who was killed doing his job. And again I wasn’t shocked. The cold hearted execution of a police officer doing his job should have moved me. But we have seen it before. 

But yesterday isn’t the first time that we have witnessed such atrocities, and certainly won’t be the last. But in recent times, I have learnt about these incidents via Twitter and Facebook. In the past weeks we have seen the mass murder in the Orlando nightclub, and although mass footage didn’t come out, individual messages and heartbreak were shared internationally on social media.

In August last year, videos flooded social media of the murders of news reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward. These videos had been filmed and released by the killer himself. The videos were shared instantly and spread like wild fire globally. They became viral. Millions of people saw the horrified look on Alison Parker's face as she literally stared down the barrel of a gun. Whether they wanted to or not. The image was shared and publisized around the world.

In yesterday’s murders, the attack in Dallas, and the murder of the news team last summer, we have witnessed someone taking human life without thought or compassion. We have seen the last moments of someone’s life, and in some videos even seen their last breath.  

And although truly heart-breaking when you think of the impact of the action upon the individuals, loved ones, families, friends, co-workers etc, we as members of the social community still share the videos on social media, with no thought of who may see it. 

Acts of violence, murder and terror attacks are part of the world we live in, but we have a duty to share the news responsibly. Social media gives everyone a voice, but in my opinion we have a responsibility about how we use that voice. There is an argument that people can share the truth on social media, the truth as it happens, compared to a filtered and censored version we may often get from the media news outlets.

We are a generation who have been brought up on violent movies, violent video games and global atrocities being shown on our screens. We are a generation who know that gratuitous violence is just a few clicks away should we want to see it. We are also a generation who have been brought up with modern cameras, smart phones, body worn cameras and live streaming. When something shocking happens, you will often see a crowd of people with their phones out filming the activity. The ability to film what is actually happening is there to prove the actions that are occurring,  which has never been more evident than in the murder of Philando Castille, who’s partner filmed and broadcasted live on Facebook the aftermath of the Police officer opening fire on him after he reached for his driving licence. In that ten minute Facebook live video, we saw the moment he passed away and her remarkable calmness and willingness to comply with the officer, as the officer seemed to become hysterical. 

Desensitization to a subject suggests a lower level of emotion in response to something you have witnessed. 

I would describe myself as an emotive and passionate person, yet with all of the things I have seen recently, with the additions of coverage of huge events over the years such as: 7/7, 9/11, Sandy Hook, Columbine, and not to mention the countless violent or abusive videos random Facebook friends have liked or shared, I would certainly say that I view things with a lower level of emotion towards them, compared to how I would have felt in days before social media. I am sure I am not alone in feeling that way. 

I seem to be tweeting the same thing quite often now days : "Its a fucked up world we live in."

My thoughts and condolences go out to the families of all of the people who have lost their lives in recent events. RIP.

2016 - The Dark year for much loved Celebs...

Despite the year only approaching its fifth month, we have already lost many much loved stars and personalities. 2016 had already seen the passing of global stars such as pop-star David Bowie, actor Alan Rickman, and arguably Europe’s best ever footballer Johann Cruyff. Whilst here in the UK, icons such as Sir Terry Wogan, Ronnie Corbett and Victoria Wood have also lost brave battles with illness.

Prince, live in Abu Dhabi 2010

Yesterday a true global icon passed away aged just 57. Prince, was a superstar, whose music touched millions. He inspired a generation, and his music will live forever. I was lucky enough to watch him perform live in Abu Dhabi in 2010, at the closing party for the Formula 1 Grand Prix. He performed for over three hours, embracing the crowd with three encores, inviting 50 fans onto the stage to dance with him, and giving the thousands in attendance a night they would never forget. His passing, similar to David Bowie’s in January has led to their back catalogue of albums and singles storming back to the top of the music charts, bringing their music to a new generation of fans.

The BBC have reported that nearly double the number of obituaries have been used at this stage in a year, than in previous years. Almost five times the number from this time four years ago.

It is interesting to know, that major broadcast produce obituaries in advance of people dying. There is a catalogue of obituaries which are updated accordingly over the years, in advance of someone passing away. According to a BBC article, they have 1500 obituaries on file, waiting for the celebrity, sports star, politician, or even member of the Royal family to pass away, so that they can run the footage if the sad news breaks.

But why has 2016 been such a dark year in terms of much loved people passing away? There have been various articles and news pieces in recent days, and it raises some very interesting points.

Firstly, the rise of popular culture in the 1960s and the arrival of the television in most households lead to more people becoming famous. Back then, if you became a star, you would be in front of an audience of millions. It launched the start of celebrity as we know it. In the UK for an example, a popular light entertainment show could attract 18million viewers on a Saturday night. In that pre internet, pre social media, pre YouTube generation, if you were on television, you would become a genuine house hold name, instead of the Z-listers we have forced down our throats nowadays.

Secondly, the people who became icons in the 1960’s or 1970’s are now in their 70s and 80s and simply starting to die, as is common for us all as humans. It certainly helps that the boom in people becoming famous had led to higher figures. There are simply more famous people than there used to be. Many of these people were born in the post WW2 era, where the population grew due to the famous baby boom. With more babies born in the baby boom, at the same time where these babies grew into the age of the launch of television and pop culture, more and more people became famous.

Thirdly, various reports state that we, as the social media generation, are highlighting and spreading the word of more deaths than ever before. We post #RIP messages about people and share our stories or our pictures of said celebrity, which we probably learned of their passing via social media. In the old days, you wouldn’t find out that someone had passed unless they were important enough to make it on to the evening news, or in a newspaper obituary column. 

This image titled 'Dear Cancer...' went viral after the passing of three global stars. Motorhead front man Lemmy, David Bowie and Alan Rickman

We as this current generation, have grown up watching these older figures, and have formed an affinity to them. Alan Rickman for example was, to me, The Sheriff of Nottingham in one of my favourite movies, Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves. As I mentioned, Prince was one of the best gigs I have ever seen. Sir Terry Wogan was a UK television and radio legend who I watched every year for Children In Need. As a boy I learnt the ‘Cruyff turn’ from very early football training sessions inspired by the Dutch football icon’s signature move. David Bowie to me, was the actor in Labrynth, which was the last film my Grandfather ever worked on, who referred to Bowie as the ‘young rock star’ despite Bowie approaching his 40^th birthday when they made the film. I didn’t become a fan of his music until much later in life. When each of these people died, I, like thousands of others, wrote our own words on social media to pay our respects.

As the year rolls on, there is a huge chance that we will continue to lose many much loved stars. But that is life, and life goes on. Death waits for no man. It is just such a shame when we lose someone we care about. 

Top to bottom (L-R) Alan Rickman, David Bowie, Denise Robertson, Sir Terry Wogan, Victoria Wood, Ronnie Corbett

David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Sir Terry Wogan, Lemmy, Johann Cruyff, Harper Lee, Sir George Martin, Paul Daniels, Ronnie Corbett, David Gest, Chyna, Victoria Wood, Prince and all of the others who I haven’t mentioned. #RIP