Hello to anyone who may be viewing this!
so about 6 months ago i came up with a totally unoriginal idea of starting a blog to write my own reviews and thoughts on music, because in the days of the internet and social networking and such, no one has ever done that! The driving force behind it was to review my friends band Promise Me Tomorrow and to give them a little bit of exposure to a few people who may not know about them (see previous post). I then wrote about 4 other blogs and decided to never log back in and do anything else on here, but as Bob Dylan said "the times they are a changing"
So with that thought in mind, i scrapped any other posts i wrote, as it was basically me wittering on about a nothing of any interest, and decided on a drive i took this evening i am going to get behind this blog and give people some views on all things musical (by this i mean music, not broadway productions)
I am going to be approaching it from a different angle this time, i will not be reviewing albums like a cookie cutter magazine or website, it will be more the sharing of some thoughts, and opinions.
I wont just talk about hardcore or metal or whatever the trends are these days with the scenesters, but everything and anything that decides to take me fancy. If i want to tell you how great a grindcore record is... i will... if i want to gush about how rad i think the cast of Glee are... then i will... if you choose not to like it that day, then dont read it, but i can garuntee that you will stumble across some musical rantings you will find forthright and incisive.
You may or may not care, a few notes about me, so you get an idea of the kinda music nerd you are dealing with here and you can brace yourself for the nonsense i will be speaking.
Im 28 years old and been a music fan since i got given my first cassette tape and player for my 8th birthday way back in 1990. Id love to tell you it was something cool like Bleach by Nirvana, or maybe The White Album by The Beatles... however it was the soundtrack to the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Film (and yes i probably could still sing every word to T.U.R.T.L.E power!) But even so, it opened my eyes to music, and i was hungry for more, albiet cheesy late eightes early ninties pop music, and a fine selection of motown and soul such as Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, and Luther Vandross that my mum used to play in the house alot!
I first realized music could have a voice and anger at the age of 10 when a friend at primary school bought in a cassette tape he had got from his older brother, none other than N.W.A's Straight Out Of Compton...
I borrowed it and made a copy of it, and my little Sony walkman probably got sick of hearing it. I had no idea about the struggle in South Central Los Angeles, and i certainly didnt care for "guns and bitches" all i knew was these guys were pissed off and wanted everyone to know about it (not until many years later did i actually do my homework about what N.W.A were all about)
So for a few years hip hop dominated my listening pleasures until about 1993 when i heard Nirvana, and everything changed. Yes i was a late bloomer to grunge and punk rock, but form the moment i heard Lithium for the first time i knew then music for me was never going to be the same, and not just something i put on and listened to the beat.
I wont bore you to details with moments of musical history in my life such as the first time i heard The Smiths and thought it was the worst thing ever then end up having Morrissey as the biggest inspiration in my life and seeing Morrissey live 5 times and crying my eyes out like a little girl whos pigtails had bee ripped out.
but you get the idea!
Ive worked in record shops pretty much for 10 years now, independents and chains stores, ive seen the downloading industry cripple singles charts, and pretty rule sales of music, and the way we listen to and access our music change completely... so if anyones says i dont know what im talking about when it comes to music, they are wrong... big headed as that may sound, its true.
So with that said... i welcome you to this blog, and i hope it finds you well, and you find it interesting.
please feel free to send me love or hatemail, or if you are an aspiring artist or band and want me to give you a mention on here and talk about your music, then drop me an email at: allnightdrivesxo@hotmail.co.uk
i will leave you with a fitting epitaph from the excellent book "High Fidelity"
"Do i listen to pop music because im unhappy, or am i unhappy because i listen to pop music?"
Glen xo
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