Well hello there autumn! It’s time for another embarrassing or wonderful musical shuffle courtesy of my itunes and its ability to make me look shamefully cool or terribly nineties. Let’s just pray for a limited amount of cheesy party classics and Disney songs.

Song 1: Do you wanna? – Franz Ferdinand

Ha! From their 2005 album You could have it so much better. This I have such a startlingly clear memory of. I was in my History class back in senior school and we were learning about the shooting of the archduke Franz Ferdinand (I kid you not) and we were put in a group to create a news report which we would deliver to the class about the shooting. My group naturally decided to have a soundtrack and this was on it. I was the news anchor along with an old friend of mine who knew I loved Franz Ferdinand and suggested the thematic link. In the final performance in front of the class this played and we actually sang over it ‘do ya, do ya wanna go to war’ because we were so on theme and not ironic at all. I remember giggling a lot at how wonderful and clever we were.

 

Song 2: Down goes another one – Mcfly

Instantly I know this is Mcfly and I am singing along. I have an enormous not guilty at all love of Mcfly. I’ve seen them 4 times now I think? This has got to be one of my total favourites on this the 2008 album RadioActive. I remember watching the documentary that was with the album with my then best friend over and over and squealing whenever Harry (her favourite) came on screen. I then went to this tour and got too hot in the crowd and hadn’t eaten enough so I kinda fainted a little and had to leave. We had queued in a deserted car park for 5 hours with other diehard fans and painted out faces and made T shirts. I heard the gig from the bathroom where I was throwing up. Needless to say it wasn’t one of my proudest moments. My friends who did see the gig loved it and even got thrown a plectrum by Dougie. I still love this song ‘every time I cry I’m right back where you wanted,’ will be lyrics that haunt me forever. Not least because I hate throwing up and I was most certainly crying.

 

Song 3: Action Cat – Gerard Way

Oh it’s amazing how much this sounds like MCR in my head. I never truly got on with this album. One of my closest friends is a ride or die My Chemical Romance fan and I tried this out after she was so super excited about its launch. This song and The Bureau are the only two I’ve kept from this, the 2014 album Hesitant Alien. I do, however, remember very vividly the cover of the album and Gerard’s very blue suit, pale skin and bright red hair. I was never much of a MCR fan except for the obvious classics, especially I’m Not Okay which was my jam for quite some time and I distinctly remember screaming those lyrics at various points of my life with a revolving door of singing partners, and a few various others that I got used to hearing played at full volume in my student house. Listening back to this now, yeah I do like this song. Thank you shuffle.

 

Song 4: Who am I living for? – Katy Perry

Oh I knew those wails straight away. Then the beat begins with her breathy tone and yep, this is Katy Perry. But I gotta say, she might have done some questionable things, and she drops her b’s on this song which annoys me no end, but the sentiment is one I wholeheartedly agree with. Plus the chorus is stupidly catchy and I’m singing along before I realise it. ‘I can see the writing on the wall, I can’t ignore this war, at the end of it all, who am I living for?’ This was from her iconic 2010 Teenage Dream album, which might be pop fluff (remember that suggestive cover of Katy lying face down in pink clouds?), but hey I liked it. It’s an album of anthems for singing loudly in my car, which really is the best therapy I can ever suggest anyone.

 

Song 5: Wires – Athlete

Oh it was only a matter of time before something endlessly sad came up. This song makes me remember a particularly sad time of my childhood. I mean, it’s not a jolly song. From the 2005 album Tourist, and with the chord change at the end and the acoustic moment with the guitar, ‘got to get to you, got to see this through. I see hope is here in a plastic box,’ and I’m on the edge of tears all over again, despite the well over 10 year gap between when this was released and now. The song was written about the lead singer’s premature daughter, like I said it’s not jolly but it really is beautiful. It builds to a crescendo which does instil hope, ‘looking at you now, you would never know.’ My mum had this album and she used to play it a lot in the car. Where did this band go? The internet tells me they did a 10 year anniversary tour of their first album back in 2013. But for me, this is the only song of theirs I can still remember.

 

Well guys, that’s it for this month and once again I have escaped the wrath of all the Disney and Christmas music I have hiding on there. Thank you as ever to shuffle for not completely embarrassing me and I’ll see you all next month for more.