What I did on my holidays

It’s been a busy few weeks, if not round the blog. I’ve been enjoying the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe, and generally feeling pretty damn tired as a result.

I have written a couple of bits for God Is In The TV zine, which I encourage you to have a look at: my Aretha Franklin obituary was written last Thursday, and you can find it here. I also contributed to the twenty best Madonna songs article on the magazine, and you can read mine and everyone else’s contributions here.

I’ve also enjoyed Mamma Mia Here We Go Again at the cinema- and should you be so inclined, here’s a piece I wrote in the very early days of the blog comparing Abba to Joy Division, and amongst other things, seen Pussy Riot and John Grant at the festival.

I don’t know about you, but I sometimes feel exhausted by the sheer amount of music that’s out there, new and old.

So, based on what I’ve written above, if you hear one track today, it should be this. Aretha Franklin’s recording of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ from her gospel album Amazing Grace. Just fantastic.

Bizarre Music Show Performances #4

Madonna and Nirvana both became massive in the UK after Top Of The Pops performances, although I suspect they probably would have done even if they had not gone anywhere near the BEEB.

Madonna had already had several hits when the title track of her second album was released. Quite why she chose to turn up wearing a god-awful outfit -and a pink wig that even Lady Gaga might have passed on remains a mystery. Her record company boss reportedly rushed down to the studio to plead with her not to appear with it, but she did, anyway…

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Meanwhile, Nirvana might have been committing career suicide, what with singing an octave lower and changing the words to the charmingly moral-majority baiting ‘load up on drugs and kill your friends.’ I have to confess when I saw this the night it went out I didn’t know the tune that well, so it bypassed me. But in time, this, like the Madona appearance, showed that bizarre appearances may also make acts, as well as break them.

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