Articles

Intro

Well, a few days ago I realised it was my 3rd anniversary. Unfortunately, it was my 3rd birthday back on the 9th October. So, in true Martinesque fashion this journal is well over a month late. So I apologise for this very late journal, hopefully the content is worth the wait.

My 3rd Year

It’s been a bit of a funny old year really. I am sure I haven’t bought as many albums as I had this time last year. Were as last year, I was largely filling in the gaps of my music collection, this year almost all of my purchases have been new artists (except from a few new releases from bands already on my ipod). This seems to have largely been based around my attendance to a few gigs and trying to get as much of the bands back catalogue as possible both before and after the gigs. As well as new artists been added to my charts, there has been some movement in amongst my charts for the more established artists. From about 6 downwards, there has been movement. The top 5 still remains, but below there has been major movement which is an encouraging sign. The top 5 looks like it could finally get broken in the near future too. I feel this is last year’s purchases taking effect which have established some artists into higher positions.

The Gigs

Well since October last year, I have been to some cracking gigs. My first of that period was Priest Feast back in February of this year, were I saw Judas Priest, Megadeth and Testament. Now I had seen Megadeth before and was quite familiar with they’re material (see my charts ;-)) but I hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing Judas Priest or Testament or hearing they’re material. I checked both bands material and frankly both of them were very good. Testament were my favourite of the two though, but I must say that Judas Priest were the best of the bunch live. I have bought almost of each bands material now, which just demonstrates how gigs are a great way of finding great music.

My next gig was in April, with The Prodigy supported by Dizzee Rascal playing at Sheffield. I knew all of The Prodigy material however wasn’t expecting much of Dizzee Rascal and wasn’t intending to check out his material. But despite my low expectations for the bloke, he was brilliant. He had so much energy and he pulled off the beats brilliantly. In fact the whole venue was rocking, including myself! Despite Dizzee Rascal been somewhat of a positive surprise, The Prodigy would truly blow me away. They were absolutely phenomenal and remain the best act I have ever seen. They were so intense and I think I must have lost about a pint in sweat! I came out absolutely fucked and was still fucked in the morning.

The next gig was Progressive Nation in October. This was a good gig, but it wasn’t as good as it could have been. Despite me boning up on some Opeth, the majority of their set was from other albums. The same problem happened with Dream Theater, though this time it was even worse as I actually owned quite a few of their albums, yet they still barely played any material from them! Very disappointing, but just bad luck I suppose.

As a result of these gigs, I have checked out some quality bands who will make an impact on my charts within the next year or two. I am going to see Rammstein next year too, so I am checking out they’re material as we speak :-)

Hip-Hop: A Youtube Phenomenon?

One of the more bizarre events of this last year on Last FM was my “discovery” of Hip Hop via You Tube. Don’t ask me why, but one day I decided I would check out some Hip Hop/Rap on You Tube. I was at work and was a little bored. I decided rather than spend my time browsing the internet; I would design a signature for another site I post on. I started having a go, but couldn’t concentrate. I needed some music, but unfortunately my ITunes library at work was out of action. So I turned to You Tube and sat they’re thinking what I could listen to. I didn’t want to listen to rock/metal, I wanted something different or maybe something I hadn’t heard before. In the end, I thought of what was the opposite of metal. In a split second I thought Rap and decided to check some out. I instantly thought of Wu Tang Clan because I had heard Gravel Pit a few times and kinda liked it. That was the beginning of the end and I started checking out other Wu Tang Clan stuff. In a strange way, it helped me concentrate; I could appreciate the intelligent word play as well as the subtle beats in the background. Amongst my favourites of Wu Tang Clan were Protect Ya Neck, Da Mystery of Chessboxin' and Triumph. I then checked out some N.W.A, BodyCount and some Skee-Lo. So, for a genre I once hated, I discovered stuff I liked within a week. I haven’t bought any Hip Hop stuff, but it’s certainly a genre I would want to check out in future. So, watch this space guys!

Stats

As with the last “Last FM Birthday” journal I will analyse my top 10 and what’s happened well since last October/November within my top 10.

1. Megadeth

Overall Plays – 4,312
Plays Since Last Birthday – 1,193
Summary – Still top by a comfortable margin and frankly not much has changed. A new album gave these guys a boost but I think by and large these guys are living off the sheer amount of material I have of theirs already. They’re large discography allows them to have a heavy presence in the shuffles I play, so it’s certainly going to be a long time before these guys from the top spot. Not saying they are not a great band, but I have been listening to them a while and I am not as much of a fan boy as I used to be.

2. Iron Maiden

Overall Plays – 3,658
Plays Since Last Birthday – 1,078
Summary – Much the same as the Megadeth situation really. No new material for a while now and I say they are less likely to release new material than Megadeth are. Iron Maiden are, unsurprisingly, another non mover.


3. Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Overall Plays – 2,981
Plays Since Last Birthday – 862
Summary – Yet another band who have “stagnated” really. A new album is supposedly on its way. But I can’t see it making enough impact to move the RHCP’s into the top two. The only way is down really, especially as I have been listening to them even longer than I have Iron Maiden or Megadeth.

4. Led Zeppelin

Overall Plays – 2,445
Plays Since Last Birthday – 779
Summary – A band that I hold in higher esteem than RHCP’s but not Iron Maiden or Megadeth. I have by and large got they’re material except the odd live album and session album which I would be interested in. Unfortunately that’s not going to happen, because frankly I want to concentrate on either new bands or artists near the bottom of my charts who have little material. Another band I expect to go downhill in my charts, despite the new material I feel this will be of minimal impact.

5. Thin Lizzy

Overall Plays – 1,984
Plays Since Last Birthday – 586
Summary – Man o man, I cannot remember the last time I bought an album by these guys. A cracking rock band too. Despite been one of the more established artists in my charts, I still have plenty of material to purchase of theirs. I am very surprised they are still in the same place in my charts to be honest, they are obviously still relying by and large on the plays from the double disc greatest hits album I bought ages ago. Expect them to maybe fall before making a rise again once I get more material.

6. Madness

Overall Plays – 1,836
Plays Since Last Birthday – 791
Summary – A great year for these guys, they have moved up three places in my charts. They even have had more plays in the last 12 months than both Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy. Frankly it’s deserved after they have released what must be one of the albums of 2009 in Liberty of Norton Folgate. I still have plenty of material to check out and they are looking increasingly likely to be the first band to break the “big five”.

7. Jimi Hendrix

Overall Plays – 1,832
Plays Since Last Birthday – 741
Summary – Hot on heels of Madness, Jimi Hendrix is another artist that will break into the top five in my opinion. The man is an absolute genius and produces music that is simply out of this world. I still have a few more albums to purchase of his and like Madness, he has had more more plays in the last 12 months than Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy.

8. Black Sabbath

Overall Plays – 1,783
Plays Since Last Birthday – 505
Summary – A terrible 12 months for Black Sabbath. They have dropped like a stone by two places and could drop even further. However, like Thin Lizzy, there is hope. I do not own the majority of their albums, so hopefully they guys might “recover” if you like. Black Sabbath are another band who have been riding high on a greatest hits package and a few albums, only for the plays to dry up as other bands have developed and they haven’t. In fact, they are only rated 22nd out of 36 bands with regards to plays for the last 12 months. I think that tells its own story.

9. The Prodigy

Overall Plays– 1,761
Plays Since Last Birthday – 835
Summary – Well, the electro punks have finally gate crashed the party. I can’t think of many bands that I rate higher right now. The wall of noise they produce is downright astonishing and they are certainly trailblazers in my charts. They are the only electronica band in my charts and for them to even reach the top 10 is fantastic. They’re live show is fantastic and they’re new album is a return to form. I must say the amount of brilliant b-sides which I downloaded from ITunes recently won’t exactly have hindered they’re progression. Expect them to overtake Black Sabbath.

10. Electric Light Orchestra

Overall Plays – 1,703
Plays Since Last Birthday - 724
Summary – Certainly the nicest band in my top ten, and I can’t help feeling they’re feeling the benefit of been great revising music. But, let’s not take anything away from them. They make lush, layered, progressive rock music. They are innovators and they’re whole sound fits in well together. It helps having a cracking front man and songwriter in Jeff Lynne too. They have produced classic albums and I have barely scratched the service with these guys really. Potentially another band who could find themselves moving up my charts.

Conclusion

Boy, I never realised what an interesting year on Last FM it has been until I actually sat down and thought about it. It’s been a nice surprise really, rather than simply filling in gaps in my music collection I have found myself integrating new bands into my music library. This is down to the gigs mainly, which have forced me to discover some cracking music. Judas Priest, Testament and Opethall have exciting futures ahead of them in my charts. I am checking out Rammstein as we speak because I am seeing them in February, which should be cool. While I am in the mode of checking out new stuff, I thought I might as well action some recommendations that Stubbsy67 gave me aaaggeesss ago - Machinae Supremacy and Soulcage. So do not despair Shaun, I have been listening ;-) So another exciting year of music beckons and frankly I can’t wait to get my teeth into it. Keep your eyes peeled for my next journal by the way, which will be my top 10 album discoveries of 2009.

Hope you enjoyed reading this journal, your comments would be much appreciated :-)