- Soul II Soul featuring Caron Wheeler: Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)
- Sonia: You'll Never Stop Me from Loving You
- London Boys: London Nights
- The Beautiful South: Song for Whoever
- Pet Shop Boys: It's Alright
- Rufus & Chaka Khan: Ain't Nobody '89
- Gladys Knight: Licence to Kill
- Bobby Brown: On Our Own
- Bette Midler: Wind Beneath My Wings
- Prince: Batdance
- Karyn White: Superwoman
- A Guy Called Gerald: Voodoo Ray
- Queen: Breakthru
- Guns 'N Roses: Patience
- Cyndi Lauper: I Drove All Night
- Double Trouble & The Rebel MC: Just Keep Rockin'
- M: Pop Muzik '89
- Michael Jackson: Liberian Girl
- Monie Love: Grandpa's Party
- Sinitta: Right Back Where We Started From
- Jason Donovan: Sealed with a Kiss
- De La Soul: Say No Go
- U2: All I Want Is You
- Donna Allen: Joy and Pain
- Waterfront: Cry
- D Mob featuring LRS: It Is Time to Get Funky
- Danny Wilson: The Second Summer of Love
- Kirsty MacColl: Days
- LA Mix: Get Loose
- Gloria Estefan: Don't Wanna Lose You
- Norman Cook: Blame It on the Bassline / Won't Talk About It
- Guns 'N Roses: Sweet Child o' Mine [remix]
- Simply Red: A New Flame
- Madonna: Express Yourself
- The Bangles: Be with You
- Clannad featuring Bono: In a Lifetime
- The Cult: Edie (Ciao Baby)
- Public Enemy: Fight the Power
- Fuzzbox: Pink Sunshine
- Blow Monkeys featuring Sylvia Tella: Choice
~~~~~
We're now less than a month away from our return to Canada - and, with it, the end of this blog - and I have to confess that I feel at something of a loss when trying to come up with anything substantial to say about the contemporary music scene. This isn't without precedence: back in April I was making a habit out of dissing the Top 40 but at least that selection of songs I didn't care for inspired me to spew some venom; now we're in July and all I feel is numb.
The singles on the hit parade don't help matters. I was thoroughly sick of Back to Life by this point (which, incidentally, brings to mind how easy it is to get bored by a month of one song on top - even when it happens to be a good one) and had little to no interest in the ever increasing number of bloodless American hits soundtracking movies I had no desire to see. Michael Jackson's first seven singles from Bad failed to raise me from my torpor so Liberian Girl, the eighth, didn't have much hope. I didn't care about the likes of Queen (still don't in fact) and Madonna and some of the new entries from Gloria Estefan and Simply Red were just more of the same. (The fact that I'm reduced to bringing up such acts speaks volumes to the chart's ennui)
With all due disrespect to the dullards occupying the chart, these latter stages of our year in England seem defined by an overall indifference on my part. A quick glance at my dad's notes from the time is a record of stuff I chose to take a pass on:
Sun Jul 9 Train to London, walk: Southwark of Shakespear (sic.) and Dickens
Wed Jul 12 Drove to dinner with John and Mary S__________
Sat Jul 15 Drove to The Hoop in Stock and Summer Fair at Mayflower
Mum and dad invited me to come along for all three of these outings and each time I shrugged, declined and flipped on the telly. Not once did it occur to me that we only had so much time left and that I had to make the most of it. A Shakespear/Dickens walk meant little to me, dinner with a kind older couple seemed supremely unimportant and the last thing I wanted to do was spend a Saturday at my school. (My mum was especially disappointed that I spurned the Mayflower Summer Fair; she had a knack for bringing it up as much as possible for the next couple years) I was now twelve and more content just to do my own thing: lots of telly, walking over to Laindon Town Centre for a chocolate bar and to leaf through the records, just being an increasingly good-for-nothing adolescent.
Was this indifference on my part, however, getting to people? Were my chums at school fed up with me? It was about this time that I began to notice that Neil, Richard and Sean were avoiding me. I was initially taken aback when our General Science teacher Mr McLean began to allow us to sit with who we wanted, rather than being grouped by alphabetical order: the three of them promptly snapped up a table, leaving me reduced to sharing with Grant and the other Neil, boys I kind of liked but who couldn't fail to leave me feeling like I was being left out. Then, they began going off without me during playtime and lunch. Why don't they want me around? What did I do? Something was up. I suddenly didn't feel quite so indifferent.
~~~~~
young Paul's favourite: It's Alright
older Paul's retro pick: It's Alright
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