- Sonia: You'll Never Stop Me from Loving You
- Bros: Too Much
- Jive Bunny & Mastermixers: Swing the Mood
- London Boys: London Nights
- Bobby Brown: On Our Own
- Gloria Estefan: Don't Wanna Lose You
- Rufus & Chaka Khan: Ain't Nobody '89
- Bette Midler: Wind Beneath My Wings
- Soul II Soul featuring Caron Wheeler: Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)
- Lil' Louis: French Kiss
- Karyn White: Superwoman
- Pet Shop Boys: It's Alright
- Gladys Knight: Licence to Kill
- Kirsty MacColl : Days
- A Guy Called Gerald: Voodoo Ray
- Michael Jackson: Liberian Girl
- Simply Red: A New Flame
- Waterfront: Cry
- The Beautiful South: Song for Whoever
- De La Soul: Say No Go
- Monie Love: Grandpa's Party
- Blow Monkeys featuring Sylvia Tella: Choice
- Simple Minds: Kick It In
- Prince: Batdance
- LA Mix featuring Jazzi P: Get Loose
- Danny Wilson: The Second Summer of Love
- Raze presents Doug Lazy: Let It Roll
- Inner City: Do You Love What You Feel
- Double Trouble & The Rebel MC: Just Keep Rockin'
- Norman Cook: Blame It on the Bassline / Won't Talk About It
- Guns 'N Roses: Patience
- Eartha Kitt & Bronski Beat: Cha Cha Heels
- The Primitives: Sick of It
- Alice Cooper: Poison
- Gun: Better Days
- The Stone Roses: She Bangs the Drums
- Paul McCartney: This One
- Jason Donovan: Sealed with a Kiss
- The Cult: Edie (Ciao Baby)
- Wendy & Lisa: Satisfaction
~~~~~
We spent this week on a coach tour of Europe and, thus, the UK Top 40 was on an embargo. It's a pity since it deprived me of the chance to potentially hear The Stone Roses and their extraordinary new single She Bangs the Drums for the first time. A week later we were back in Britain but this signpost for the future of English indie rock was already gone. A little over a year later and I was beginning to explore all sorts of realms of British alternative music, beginning with Madchester and on to grebo, a little bit of shoegaze before culminating with Britpop - but The Stone Roses failed to enter my world until the mid-nineties - and only then with a spirited if inconsequential remake of Love Spreads for Balkan war charity release The Help Album. I didn't seek them out at their very best - their '89 self-titled debut - until a year later. I've since outgrown it but She Bangs the Drums is something I still come back to from time to time - and it never fails to blow me away. With a little further ado, it's held together by some superb bass playing from Mani and the best Steve Lillywhite-Bob Clearmountain eighties big drum sound you're likely to come across c/o Reni. John Squire's guitar playing, naturally, is a tour de force - and should have made everyone who helped it squeak into the Top 40 realise that he was the ax's next big talent. Ian Brown has always been their weak link but his whispered performance works well enough, even if it's almost impossible to understand him. She Bangs the Drums was the last classic single of our year in England. A pity I wasn't able to hear it. Now on to Europe.
Day 1: Brussels-Koblenz-Ulm
Our hotel room was as dark when we awoke as it was when we wearily checked in some eight hours earlier. The Belgian capital, too, seemed to be every bit as grim as it appeared the night before. Not much interested in looking out the window of our coach, I chose to peer around the bus to get a glimpse of some of our fellow passengers. The pair in front of us were old and I think this gave me a false impression that the vast majority of our fellow package tourists were of the elderly persuasion. Our tour guide tried a bit too hard to break the ice between everyone on board but we weren't having her cockamamie idea of randomly switching seats. We stopped for an extended period at the Belgian-German border as the adults cashed in their Francs for some precious Marks; Dad was shaking his head when he eventually returned to the bus - the Euro wouldn't come into being for a few more years but it couldn't come fast enough for him. Koblenz was gorgeous but I wish I'd known how important the Danube would be to me as an ancient and medieval history student in university - a theme that would be all too common as I look back on this European coach tour.
Day 2: Ulm-Brenner Pass-Cortina-Venice
The Black Forest. Gorgeous though it certainly was, it was an unnerving and creepy region. I'd be looking out at the beginnings of the Alps and notice centuries-old castles belonging to well-bred/in-bred Teutonic counts with their obese mothers from the House of Saxe-Coburg who doubtless never left the premises. Passing into Austria and the Alps began to look like The Alps, more muscular mountains, more breathtaking passes, fewer Germanic throwbacks. Austria was there for just passing through: the sole stop the coach made was for lunch at a McDonald's in the middle of nowhere. We followed the Brenner Pass and crossed into our fourth country in two days. In The Wrong Way Home, Peter Moore writes of the stark contrast of crossing from Iran into Pakistan: pavement turned into dirt roads and civilization turned into abject poverty and destitution. I've never had close to that experience but entering Italy was eye-opening: the lush, serene landscapes of Austria suddenly turned into smokestacks and heavy industry as we crossed. But I gradually warmed to Italy though I was bitterly disappointed to discover that our hotel wasn't overlooking a filthy Venetian canal.
The Black Forest. Gorgeous though it certainly was, it was an unnerving and creepy region. I'd be looking out at the beginnings of the Alps and notice centuries-old castles belonging to well-bred/in-bred Teutonic counts with their obese mothers from the House of Saxe-Coburg who doubtless never left the premises. Passing into Austria and the Alps began to look like The Alps, more muscular mountains, more breathtaking passes, fewer Germanic throwbacks. Austria was there for just passing through: the sole stop the coach made was for lunch at a McDonald's in the middle of nowhere. We followed the Brenner Pass and crossed into our fourth country in two days. In The Wrong Way Home, Peter Moore writes of the stark contrast of crossing from Iran into Pakistan: pavement turned into dirt roads and civilization turned into abject poverty and destitution. I've never had close to that experience but entering Italy was eye-opening: the lush, serene landscapes of Austria suddenly turned into smokestacks and heavy industry as we crossed. But I gradually warmed to Italy though I was bitterly disappointed to discover that our hotel wasn't overlooking a filthy Venetian canal.
Day 3: Venice
Holy crap, this town is expensive! Okay, fine, I understand the gondolas being overpriced. But bottles of Coke? Ponchos for an afternoon downpour? Wholly unappetizing-looking pizzas in every restaurant window? Venice is fortunate that it's as charming and unique as it is because it has absolutely nothing else going for it. This was probably my first experience of travel being uncomfortable and annoying but nevertheless fulfilling. Self-righteous, I-don't-go-to-touristy-spots types probably wouldn't get much out of it but more than the inevitable gondola ride and visiting the Bridge of Sighs, the real treat in discovering Venice is losing oneself down its maze of ever-narrowing back streets. Definitely a place everyone should go to - even though once is enough.
Day 4: Venice-Assisi-Rome
My sister and I began making friends with some of the other young people on our coach. I especially liked Paul, a boy a couple years older than me and who may have been from around Birmingham, and Nealam (spelling?) who I think was in university and was travelling with his dad and sister. Music was something we all discussed at length and Paul and I bonded over the Italia 90 World Cup t-shirts we bought on a street in Rome. We took an evening bus tour of the capital which was mostly enjoyable due to the Italian tour guide and her peculiar habit of ending every sentence with a pronounced "uh". We were all sitting at the back of the bus and began laughing hysterically and mocking this speech tick. All the parents tried reprimanding us but their protests were undermined by not being able to fully repress their own laughter. It was twilight by the time we reached the Trevi Fountain - I'm sure others in our group had images of La Dolce Vita in their heads at that moment but all I could picture was National Lampoon's European Vacation. We were then taken to a superb multi-course meal
Day 5: Rome-Vatican City
The Heat. So much heat. Our day in Rome was all about the heat. As soon as we would step of our coach, I would think about soon getting right back on. We took in the Vatican and all I wanted to do was get back on the bus. I was awed by the Colliseum but my desire to get back on the bus was still nagging at me. It wasn't as if our coach was all that splendid: it was about as comfy as any other bus I've ever taken outside of Southeast Asia, the a/c was fine but it had one thing in its favour during these dog days in an Italian summer: a fridge filled with ice-cold Cokes and Sprites. At one point I boarded the bus and immediately opened the ice box to help myself to a can of pop. By late in the afternoon we were back at our hotel. Having opted out of our tour group's evening activity, we were on our own for dinner. Unfortunately, our hotel was way out on the outskirts of Rome and we were presented with very few dining options. The somewhat shifty manager of the Holiday Inn took forever trying to decide if my dad and I should be let in to their dining room because our shorts violated the dress code. He inexplicably stalled and that only made matters worse. We stormed out and that was my first lesson in dealing with mind-boggling cultural differences. (I like to think my techniques in that field have improved considerably since)
Day 6: Rome-Florence
The heat wasn't getting to some of the older members of our tour group. After taking in a Renaissance museum we had the afternoon to ourselves. While we were sweating up a storm wandering the streets of the once-great city of art and finance, they were sipping hot tea at an open-air cafe, their cardigans buttoned up. Florence's heritage made little impact on me but I did enjoy just having a look around, seemingly the first city we'd been to since Amsterdam that lent itself to a stroll. Taking a long walk in a stiflingly city is something I've always enjoyed and this was one of my first opportunities to do so. And, thinking about it now, I'm proud to say that I wasn't spouting out nothing but complaints as we ambled. That night we enjoyed the rooftop patio and bar at our hotel as I chatted with some of my new pals. We'd be on our way back to Britain soon.
Day 7: Florence-Lake Lugano-Lake Lucerne
And on to Switzerland. The Land of Milk and Honey is hardly most people's idea of an exciting place to visit but my increasing sense of boredom didn't help. I was itching to be back in Laindon with my tapes and my telly. We once again opted out of the evening activity but this time I was bitterly disappointed to be missing out on a fondue. I took a walk and sat by a gorgeous, peaceful lake and didn't want to be there. We ended up having a good time with some of the others who chose to stay behind but I was glad this coach trip was just about done.
We had one final full day left but it wasn't especially notable. I would go into it next week but I have more than enough to write about then. I had to enjoy our last few days in England.
~~~~~
young Paul's favourite: Swing the Mood
older Paul's retro pick: She Bangs the Drums
Day 4: Venice-Assisi-Rome
My sister and I began making friends with some of the other young people on our coach. I especially liked Paul, a boy a couple years older than me and who may have been from around Birmingham, and Nealam (spelling?) who I think was in university and was travelling with his dad and sister. Music was something we all discussed at length and Paul and I bonded over the Italia 90 World Cup t-shirts we bought on a street in Rome. We took an evening bus tour of the capital which was mostly enjoyable due to the Italian tour guide and her peculiar habit of ending every sentence with a pronounced "uh". We were all sitting at the back of the bus and began laughing hysterically and mocking this speech tick. All the parents tried reprimanding us but their protests were undermined by not being able to fully repress their own laughter. It was twilight by the time we reached the Trevi Fountain - I'm sure others in our group had images of La Dolce Vita in their heads at that moment but all I could picture was National Lampoon's European Vacation. We were then taken to a superb multi-course meal
Day 5: Rome-Vatican City
The Heat. So much heat. Our day in Rome was all about the heat. As soon as we would step of our coach, I would think about soon getting right back on. We took in the Vatican and all I wanted to do was get back on the bus. I was awed by the Colliseum but my desire to get back on the bus was still nagging at me. It wasn't as if our coach was all that splendid: it was about as comfy as any other bus I've ever taken outside of Southeast Asia, the a/c was fine but it had one thing in its favour during these dog days in an Italian summer: a fridge filled with ice-cold Cokes and Sprites. At one point I boarded the bus and immediately opened the ice box to help myself to a can of pop. By late in the afternoon we were back at our hotel. Having opted out of our tour group's evening activity, we were on our own for dinner. Unfortunately, our hotel was way out on the outskirts of Rome and we were presented with very few dining options. The somewhat shifty manager of the Holiday Inn took forever trying to decide if my dad and I should be let in to their dining room because our shorts violated the dress code. He inexplicably stalled and that only made matters worse. We stormed out and that was my first lesson in dealing with mind-boggling cultural differences. (I like to think my techniques in that field have improved considerably since)
Day 6: Rome-Florence
The heat wasn't getting to some of the older members of our tour group. After taking in a Renaissance museum we had the afternoon to ourselves. While we were sweating up a storm wandering the streets of the once-great city of art and finance, they were sipping hot tea at an open-air cafe, their cardigans buttoned up. Florence's heritage made little impact on me but I did enjoy just having a look around, seemingly the first city we'd been to since Amsterdam that lent itself to a stroll. Taking a long walk in a stiflingly city is something I've always enjoyed and this was one of my first opportunities to do so. And, thinking about it now, I'm proud to say that I wasn't spouting out nothing but complaints as we ambled. That night we enjoyed the rooftop patio and bar at our hotel as I chatted with some of my new pals. We'd be on our way back to Britain soon.
Day 7: Florence-Lake Lugano-Lake Lucerne
And on to Switzerland. The Land of Milk and Honey is hardly most people's idea of an exciting place to visit but my increasing sense of boredom didn't help. I was itching to be back in Laindon with my tapes and my telly. We once again opted out of the evening activity but this time I was bitterly disappointed to be missing out on a fondue. I took a walk and sat by a gorgeous, peaceful lake and didn't want to be there. We ended up having a good time with some of the others who chose to stay behind but I was glad this coach trip was just about done.
We had one final full day left but it wasn't especially notable. I would go into it next week but I have more than enough to write about then. I had to enjoy our last few days in England.
~~~~~
young Paul's favourite: Swing the Mood
older Paul's retro pick: She Bangs the Drums
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