upside downer

I reckon it's inevitable as we get older that we find less and less in the three minute pop song to excite us because, as the cliche goes, we've heard it all before. There'll be the odd one or two that hark back to a personal favourite or we find toe-tappingly irresistible but despite the various pop genres involved it can get predictably formulaic.

Metal Postcard (Mittageisen) - Siouxsie and the Banshees

Yes! We Have No Bananas - Louis Prima

I'm with @Nail Soup on this one, I could only dream of getting anyone to try these. And I've tried, oh, how I tried. Holiday in Cambodia - Dead Kennedys Bikini Girls With Machine Guns - The Cramps Poptones - Public Image Ltd Let's (alternative) rock! Now, I just need some gigs! Oh, and a willing band. Hmmm.

Superfly Guy - S'Express

Beat Down Babylon - Junior Byles

Hanging On the Telephone? Just use Zoom, Debbie!

Big Girls Don't Cry - Frankie Valli

Too late! Erm..... Boney Maroney - Sha Na Na

96 Tears - Question Mark and The Mysterians

I'd Rather Jack - The Reynolds Girls

Oh Bondage! Up Yours! - X-Ray Spex

To a reasonably competent pub gig level I'd say bass and rhythm guitar, could also probably get away with a short set of saz and ukulele tunes, too. Got around thirty instruments like bouzouki, cifteli, oud and setar but there's no way I'd claim to have any grasp of the skill needed to say I was a player of them. They're simply there for me to dabble with and enjoy and explore the different styles, modes and tones of music from around the globe.

Meg White. We'd call our band Bom Bom and the Rootnotes.

Dance of Death - Iron Maiden

Where Are You - PiL

Here Comes the Rain Again - Eurythmics

I'm On Fire - Bruce Springsteen

Pump Up the Jam - Technotronic

History Repeating - Propellerheads & Shirley Bassey

Chop Suey - System Of A Down

Open Up - Leftfield & Lydon

Knights of Cydonia - Muse

So What - Anti Nowhere League

It's probably given me the chance to improve my overall playing skills, not just on the bass. This lockdown has allowed me to play around with the multitude of different instruments I have at home and, without wishing to sound grand, I feel I've gained some appreciation of overall musical theory that may have been lacking beforehand. Haven't been in a band (pub covers) for getting on for 15 months now and wasn't particularly missing it but I'm starting to get the desire back to do something. That could be just a reaction to this isolation period we're experiencing. I'm probably conveniently forgetting the hassles involved and I think it's also going to be a very different and difficult scenario for pub bands when restrictions start to be lifted.