178. Lust For Life by Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop - Lust For Life

And while we're talking about Trainspotting here's another song that went straight from the movie to the  dancefloor. This was originally from Iggy's superb Lust for Life album in the seventies and I'd been playing it for ages but the opening scenes of Trainspotting made it into an anthem. Usually there was a moment in the night at The Lizard when you'd play this and Born Slippy and the crowd went mental. You never knew when to stop this beat and we never tried to, keeping the floor packed from start to finish. The Lizard created it's own playlist of anthems and because we spent so much time there we developed our own style of mashing records together that in other clubs would never of worked. And we our policy of DJs only playing half hour sets the night was relentless with tune heavy dancefloor anthems. Sing it, dance it! Drink copious amounts of beer. It works!

Here comes Johnny Yen again

With the liquor and drugs

And a flesh machine

He's gonna do another strip tease

Hey man, where'd you get that lotion?

I've been hurting since I bought the gimmick

About something called love

Yeah, something called love

Well, that's like hypnotising chickens

Well, I'm just a modern guy

Of course, I've had it in the ear before

'Cause of a lust for life

'Cause of a lust for life

177. Born Slippy by Underworld

born slippy

another Lizard lounge anthem. In 1996 the film Trainspotting came out and it was massive. Everyone was going to see the movie. everyone was buying the soundtrack and the posters were everywhere. and this song was huge. Put this on and the crowd went mental. from the opening moments it was this great singalong. starting off as the dancers moved onto the dancefloor and began reciting the lyrics.

Drive boy dog boy

Dirty numb angel boy

In the doorway boy

She was a lipstick boy

She was a beautiful boy

And tears boy

And all in your innerspace boy

You had

hands girl boy

and steel boy

You had chemicals boy

I've grown so close to you

Boy and you just groan boy

She said comeover comeover

She smiled at you boy.

And then ..here come the drums.
Culminating with the dancers reciting
Lager lager lager lager! Arms aloft and just going off. The Lizard lounge just kept getting bigger and bigger and with songs like this we had queues down the street and punters begging to get in. We had start memberships so that our usual punters and friends could get in.

176. Talk of the Town by The Pretenders

The Pretenders.....Talk Of The Town.

Imacculate pop single from 1980. The Pretenders had such a distinctive sound not least Chrissie Hynde's sexy voice but James Honeymoon-Scott's jangled guitar that just drips off the songs. I loved the first album then lost a bit of interest in them and didn't get round to ever buying their second album. I still haven't got it in these days of easy downloading. It was their singles I just loved and i kept buying the singles. Actually it was around 1981 when all I ever bought were singles and got into the habit of selling albums.
I first heard this at Michael Phillip's place. Michael started a lot clubs in the Mod days including Locomotion, The Beehive and Rubber Soul. He and Ronnie were a great team. Later I went out with his girlfriend's sister for a few years.
I never got to see the Pretenders live. She's still out there but every time she plays Melbourne it's always with some other band that I wouldn't go anywhere near.

Such a drag to want something sometime

One thing leads to another I know

Was a time wanted you for mine

Nobody knew

You arrived like a day

And passed like a cloud

I made a wish, I said it out loud

Out loud in a crowd

Everybody heard

'twas the talk of the town

It's not my place to know what you feel

I'd like to know but why should i?

Who were you then, who are you now?

Common labourer by night, by day highbrow

Back in my room I wonder, then i

Sit on the bed, look at the sky

Up in the sky

Clouds rearrange

Like the talk of the town

Maybe tomorrow, maybe someday

Maybe tomorrow, maybe someday

You've changed your place in this world

You've changed your place in this world

Oh but it's hard to live by the rules

I never could and still never do

The rules and such never bothered you

You call the shots and they follow

I watch you still from a distance then go

Back to my room, you never know

I want you, I want you but now

Who's the talk of the town?

175. Boredom by The Buzzcocks

Buzzcocks - Boredom. Rare 1980 good quality ...

When I went over to the UK I spent a lot of time looking through record shops looking for all those classic singles I had missed out on. The two I really were after was Teenage kicks and this song Boredom. I used to hear on 3RR and a girl I knew had it but I couldn't get myself a copy anywhere in Melbourne. And I find it in Blackpool in a store on the South Shore. Fantastic!  After this single the Buzzcocks lost Howard Devoto but kept making brillaint single after brilliant single. This song never turns up on compilations or greatest hits packages so it's a particular treasure. I've got a little box of vinyl singles which are really incedibly important to me. This is in it.
I think of how easy it is to track down a much loved song nowadays. This one took me 2 years to find.

Yeah - well - I say what I mean

I say what comes to my mind

I never get around to things

I live a straight - straight line

You know me - I'm acting dumb

you know the scene - very humdrum

boredom - boredom

I'm living in this movie

but it doesn't move me

I'm the man that's waiting for the phone to ring

Hear it ring-a-ding-a-f***ing-ding

You know me ...

You see there's nothing behind me

I'm already a has-been

my future ain't what it was

well I think I know the words that I mean

You know me ...

B'dum - b'dum

I've taken this extravagant journey

so it seems to me

I just came from nowhere

and I'm going straight back there

You know me ...

So I'm living in this movie

but it doesn't move me

so tell me who are you trying to arouse?

get your hands out of my trousers

You know me ...

174. Northern Sky by Nick Drake

Nick Drake - Northern Sky

I'm a big fan of folk music and can see where it fits seamlessly into rock music. Great folk music carries a weight of emotion that at times can overwhelm. When Nick Drake appeared back on everyones radar in the 90s his music came laden with his tragic death at a young age and the fact that in his lifetime he didn't sell many records. It was like finding a lost treasure.
I first came across this song while recording an album at Audrey studios with Craig Pilkington. Craig's in a band called The Killjoys. Anyway he had just finished working on a solo album with Anna Burley the lead singer of the Killjoys. On the album she does a fantastic version of this song that at times I listen to rather than the Nick Drake version. When I first heard her sing it I recognised the song but didnt know where I'd heard it before. She really captures the essence of the song. Find it and play it. You won't be disappointed.
Every now and again I bring out my slow mixtape. And by slow I mean those folky numbers or sad songs or love songs. Often the songs change. Some slow songs you get sick of and they have to be removed for fear of destroying the connection. I've never taken this one of the playlist. It's an exquisite love song.
I never felt magic crazy as this
I never saw moons knew the meaning of the sea
I never held emotion in the palm of my hand
Or felt sweet breezes in the top of a tree
But now you're here
Bright in my northern sky.

It's been a long time that I'm waiting
Been a long time that I'm blown
been a long time that I've wandered
Through the people I have known
Oh, if you would and you could
Straighten my new mind's eye.

Would you love me for my money
Would you love me for my head
Would you love me through the winter
Would you love me 'til I'm dead
Oh, if you would and you could
Come blow your horn on high.

173. In The City by The Jam

The jam_ In the city

1977. I remember reading about the Jam in NME long before I heard what they sounded like and thought "this is the band for me!". The review described them as a fast copy of Dr. feelgood meets The Who. It talked of rickenbacker guitars and devestating drum fills. I was already in love with sixties music and had just found punk music so this band seemed like a dream come true. I finally got to hear the single around at Bruce Milne's place when he was playing me some of the latest releases from the UK. The sound was everything I had imagined. And everything I wanted my music to sound like. I even wrote a song called (Nothing To Do) In  The City. Paul Weller was a huge influence on my early songwriting. I can trace a few back to their source.
Just as important I guess is that it lead to becoming a Mod. The Jam set the template for Mod bands. And gave us the lyrics to identify with.
anyway I finally got the album and played it to death. For a while there the Jam and The Clash battled it out for a place on my record player. And some days they still do.


In the city there's a thousand things I want to say to you
But whenever I approach you, you make me look a fool
I wanna say, I wanna tell you
About the young ideas
But you turn them into fears
In the city there's a thousand faces all shining bright
And those golden faces are under 25
They wanna say, they gonna tell ya
About the young idea
You better listen now you've said your bit-a

And I know what you're thinking
You still think I am crap
But you'd better listen man
Because the kids know where it's at

In the city there's a thousand men in uniforms
And I've heard they now have the right to kill a man
We wanna say, we gonna tell ya
About the young idea
And if it don't work, at least we still tried

In the city, in the city
In the city there's a thousand things I want to say to you

172. Buy Me A Pony by Spiderbait

Spiderbait - Buy Me A Pony

1996 and Lizard Lounge was incredibly busy every Thursday Friday and Saturday night. There seemed to be a bit of a competition between Thursday nights which were free entry and Saturday which was not. Thursdays started as 5 bucks entry but we could see the way the wind was blowing and just let the punters in. And did they ever come in. Usually after drinking at the Armadale. I'd pop in maybe once a month and check it out but since I was there every Friday and Saturday I wasn't in a rush. But they were playing a lot of stuff we didn't play and which gradually got onto the weekend playlists. Buy Me A Pony was one of those songs. Donna one of the door girls at the club used to keep saying Buy Me A Pony. Didn't have a clue what she was on about. Then I heard the song. Then the song got big. And the crowd went crazy for it. And I guess Australia went for it too and it went Number 1 on the JJJ top 100. Donna later went out with my good friend Dan. Not before telling me I was lacing up my Doc Martens all wrong and showing me how to do them properly.

Don't you wanna be
A personality
An ocean in the sea

But you'll never make it
If you can't shake it
So don't mistake it
Just try and fake it

And I want you to know
You don't have far to go
So we'll use all your dough

To buy new clothes
And see what flows
And powder your nose
For those photos

You're almost on your way
To popularity
And we'll teach you to play

With icy stare
And punk rock hair
And beatnik flair
We'll take you there

'Coz there's nobody else like you
And we sure care just what you're doing
After we have gone our separate ways