"the most beautiful girl in the world" - the artist formerly known as prince

"when the day turns into the last day of all time i can say i hope you are in these arms of mine"



everyone knows that the most important question in understanding a person's musical taste is "elvis or the beatles?"
in my opinion, though, the second most important question is "michael jackson or prince?"
the third question i usually add in is "ramones or sex pistols?"

i think its the second question that people don't seem to expect and is really more telling than you would think.

i don't like michael jackson. almost nothing he has done since his earliest stuff has really done anything for me. i have respect for him as an artist, he has written popular and influential songs, though i'm not keen on them. i have less respect for him as a person - i'm never sure if i believe the rumours and allegations but i do know i can't relate to him on any level. i don't think i let that influence my opinion of his music much, though its possible i do.
prince is notoriously weird. i very much doubt there's much about his life i could relate to either. but i do know he writes incredible songs, seems to play every instrument ever invented with amazing passion and somehow manages to touch me.

but i think the question - like the elvis or the beatles issue - goes deeper than your specific preference between these two artists. to me, although their styles could be considered similar they diverge enough to make the comparison significant. jackson to me represents all forms of dance and soul music, while prince represents all forms of rock music . jackson represents commercialism, prince experimentalism. jackson mawkish sentimentality, prince genuine expressions or powerful emotions.

maybe thats just the way i see it.

someone once tried to argue with me that i was just asking people to choose between black music and white music - but it's not about that, it's really not.

"today" - the smashing pumpkins

"today is the greatest day i've ever known"


today is one of the best songs about suicide ever written. it is also right up there on the list of songs that people misunderstand and like for the wrong reasons. these are mostly about suicide or drugs. i think the way that song about heroin by the las keeps getting used on adverts probably puts it at the top of that list though.

almost every day i read emma kennedy's great blog which today featured the recounting of a dream she had. the line of dialogue "i will never be as happy as i am today, i am going to die" was one of those step-back-and-say-whoah moments of random beauty that spark off strange thought processes and cause earworms.

as well as this song i also have the opening to this poem punctuating it in my head. i wrote it when i was 17, so please forgive the mawkish angsty romance

when i die i want to be
happy. when you're with me
i feel happier than i ever have before
so let me walk down to the shore
of your cheeks and drown my-
self in the ocean of your eyes
my love
let me drown in the ocean of your eyes




the really sad thing is that there were originally several stanzas of this drivel i can no longer remember

"saints and sailors" - dashboard confessional

"this is about as social as i get now"



i like the first two dashboard albums. theres an undercurrent of something smug about the band i dont really like, and the over-reliance on open tunings feels weird on my ears after a while, and the songwriting is occasionally mawkish or linguistically awkward, but there are just some lines that leap out at you from the middle of songs. lines you feel a real empathy for. lines that sum up a moment so well that all similar moments from then on seem to be soundtracked by it.


i cant remember when i last did something properly social with a real friend


i do want to kick in the head all of the muppets singing along on the dashboard confessional mtv unplugged album. but something of the band's sound has coloured or informed my acoustic playing since i heard them.