Music Challenge – 25 days, 25 songs – Days 8 and 9 – the punk years

Carrying on with @jokossita’s music challenge that I came across on a post by @ravenruis. My last post focused on my talented friends. The themes for these two days go back in time to the late 70’s.

DAYS 8 & 9 are:

A song that reminds you of an epic summer &

A song that reminds you of your first love

These two go together and make me think of movies like Dazed and Confused. The summer after high school ends and before “real life” starts, first love, and all that crap. You see, the thing is, I don’t have any memories like that. I have no musical memories at all of my early boyfriends. So we’re going with the first boyfriend who has rich musical memories attached.

Let’s go back in time to when I was 19 and my cousin was 20. We used to go clubbing on a Friday and Saturday night, and we would go to whichever pub or club had our favourite bands, and dance all night. Our very favourite was a covers band called Billy Starr.

On the night I met Gavin, it was Billy Starr’s last ever gig. I don’t know where Shirley was, but I think I went out on my own, because there was no way I was missing it. They were playing at the Cambridge, if I remember it right, a rather rough pub we didn’t usually go to. (It’s a backpackers now, and quite respectable.)

So anyway, I ended up dancing with this young guy, who later informed me he was a punk rocker. All I knew about punks at that time was that they wore lots of safety pins, wanted to kill themselves when they turned 30 and appeared to be quite mad. He seemed quite normal. We ended up going out together for a few months and he broadened my musical tastes considerably.

A couple of days ago, @dreemit said she didn’t like punk. Well, if I like some punk, I think she can too. So this selection of some of my favourite punk and new wave artists is dedicated to Gavin, to @sift666 who also likes a lot of them, and to @dreemit.

Although @sift666 tells me London Calling was The Clash’s best album, I was most fond of their first album. It was a hard choice, but for pure punk, I couldn’t go past White Riot. 40 years later, The Clash still make me want to vigorously leap up and down. Actually, all of my choices do.

Some of you youngsters might remember Bob Geldof from Live Aid, but I remember him in the Boomtown Rats. I loved their early albums, so was there with bells on when they played at the Wellington Town Hall. (On my own again, but who cares?) I was totally unprepared for how charismatic he was. That was such a good concert! Their most well known song was probably I don’t like Mondays, but here’s Looking After Number One, from their first album, live on Top of the Pops.

Possibly my favourite artist was Elvis Costello. It was incredibly hard choosing just one song for you, but I eventually went with Watching the Detectives from his first album.

Does anyone remember the movie “Stranger Than Fiction”, especially the scene where Will Ferrell sings “Whole Wide World”? This was originally by Wreckless Eric, a punk artist on the Stiffs label. Although I love this song to bits, you probably already know it. So instead I’m going to share Semaphore Signals, which was the B side.

I’ve still got a few to go, but I think we better save some for tomorrow. I’ll finish with Ian Dury and the Blockheads. His most well known song is probably Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick, but he had some other great tracks such as Billericay Dickie and Wake and Make Love. Today let’s go with Sex and Drugs and Rock & Roll.

Thanks for reading and listening

Videos from Youtube

@jokossita’s most recent challenge post
@ravenruis’s most recent challenge post

Oh, I am SO behind!

My previous music posts

• Benefits of joining a community choir ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 1957 to 1966 ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 1967 to 1971 ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 1972 to 1976 ~
• Singing carols with the NZ Symphony Orchestra PLUS my best loved Christmas music ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 1976 to 1983 ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 1983 to 1988 ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 1988 to 1994 ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 1994 to 2001 ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 2001 to 2007 ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – 2008 to 2014 ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – some randoms ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – more randoms ~
• 60 years of my favourite music – Kiwi classics ~
• My choir singing on the streets of Wellington ~
• Some New Zealand music ~
• 60 years of music - Musicals I’ve been in ~
• Hang out in my kitchen this weekend - help me cook and listen to some music!
• What Steemit friends are for
• Rest in Peace Dad, and some music to remember you by
• Summer music routine for my arthritis class
• Music Challenge – 25 days, 25 songs – Days 1 to 3
• Music Challenge – 25 days, 25 songs – Day 4
• Music Challenge – 25 days, 25 songs – Days 5 to 7

Follow me for more health, nutrition, food, lifestyle and recipe posts.

See my last post of 2017 for a full archive of 2016 & 2017 posts, by category

If you’re from New Zealand (Aotearoa) and are looking for other kiwis, see the list on this post. Let me know if you want to be added, or want to add your location. Remember to use “kiwi” as one of your tag words on posts.

Contact me in SteemitChat to ask about one on one nutritional coaching or EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) sessions by Skype. (But don’t just say Hello. Tell me straight away why you’re messaging, without waiting for me to say Hello back.) Steem, other altcoins or Paypal accepted.