tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27967583226175746442024-03-14T07:51:47.355+00:00dotmunddotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.comBlogger713125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-16352980780060570322020-04-14T10:30:00.000+01:002020-04-14T11:27:38.934+01:00Top 40Today is my 40th birthday. Happy birthday to me. As a present to you, I have chosen 40 of my favourite albums from my 14,610 day stretch. You have probably heard most of them, because if nothing else I am extremely vanilla. But if you haven't, here are some free recommendations.<br />
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All subsequent recommendations will be £12.99 each.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFA0Gh4b9VoB4zfDnhXYSlqnRpSy3ycYSN-6telg1koF58BTddYvpzJbyVdIa3r4dEQOFdhgRvJ4LTWorWVYdv23tr2Z9Z_O7iwPBre9jf8w80yij-gsQGxKDn3DiP-2Ea409Qyh2xqEPI/s1600/the+band.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFA0Gh4b9VoB4zfDnhXYSlqnRpSy3ycYSN-6telg1koF58BTddYvpzJbyVdIa3r4dEQOFdhgRvJ4LTWorWVYdv23tr2Z9Z_O7iwPBre9jf8w80yij-gsQGxKDn3DiP-2Ea409Qyh2xqEPI/s1600/the+band.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
<b>The Band - The Band (1969)</b></h2>
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">An analogue, wooden relic of a time past, several times ago. Still bursting with good things.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-isaVMnR_CzvkpUCPQ8DlvVouEaUtUHBgnEAcGg-k2r2Ik0yq6TIGAiU-D9IeCoI5_QPQWfhyphenhyphenGD1k98UnkUS5L82I4uADEsjyvZDsGlqwWxubQqCRUltUrersk5f6GKAqjqRhGb2mGumc/s1600/dusty+in+memphis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-isaVMnR_CzvkpUCPQ8DlvVouEaUtUHBgnEAcGg-k2r2Ik0yq6TIGAiU-D9IeCoI5_QPQWfhyphenhyphenGD1k98UnkUS5L82I4uADEsjyvZDsGlqwWxubQqCRUltUrersk5f6GKAqjqRhGb2mGumc/s1600/dusty+in+memphis.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
<b>Dusty Springfield - Dusty In Memphis (1969)</b></h2>
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Britain's greatest soul singer makes her greatest album, all marvel.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo56Nk4oqOI9bcZUtomdbNZDYiNDEKbPRxD_wqMASvCrZJVvut7oOlHwWVbet-RSxBfIqy2hcsi4oZh5IWOKmhdNmLhcDBwoR4Kn3kfn9DJP6Z4MTtFBurpb-sOU8SP3b6Rfv9nAlUxsNw/s1600/highway+61.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo56Nk4oqOI9bcZUtomdbNZDYiNDEKbPRxD_wqMASvCrZJVvut7oOlHwWVbet-RSxBfIqy2hcsi4oZh5IWOKmhdNmLhcDBwoR4Kn3kfn9DJP6Z4MTtFBurpb-sOU8SP3b6Rfv9nAlUxsNw/s1600/highway+61.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (1965)</h2>
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">I love this record unreservedly. The only reservation being I don't particularly like the final track, <i>Desolation Row</i>.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG8nj_lQmCg-fQPQBXLX1vN_nau_P5nu-mGfvibEtr-tDJrBRK40hMmNUlJJUQfus9KqgR78WzZ9A33iXUtbIJ7AWA6mcCHLKtqfinHUReL3t69xDGNaAoh-F17Rwr0Yk7KfVgADip1iUz/s1600/rubber+soul.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG8nj_lQmCg-fQPQBXLX1vN_nau_P5nu-mGfvibEtr-tDJrBRK40hMmNUlJJUQfus9KqgR78WzZ9A33iXUtbIJ7AWA6mcCHLKtqfinHUReL3t69xDGNaAoh-F17Rwr0Yk7KfVgADip1iUz/s1600/rubber+soul.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
The Beatles - Rubber Soul (1965)</h2>
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">One of the most often-asked questions in the history of popular music answered definitively: this is the best Beatles album.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9E5EfNQP0RnY82PypKHk6sgVbHlMbcf-d4Bfdhma4oCaVdslFmgPCDlhnt4U3Y9_jmx-PG-M5IKbHRItln3_h6jwcXJeOKPdRnfXJJaTv7BdF8KHbBhiS1t6wKWpD1o1ZQA-afwgCwr0G/s1600/wild+honey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9E5EfNQP0RnY82PypKHk6sgVbHlMbcf-d4Bfdhma4oCaVdslFmgPCDlhnt4U3Y9_jmx-PG-M5IKbHRItln3_h6jwcXJeOKPdRnfXJJaTv7BdF8KHbBhiS1t6wKWpD1o1ZQA-afwgCwr0G/s1600/wild+honey.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
The Beach Boys - Wild Honey (1967)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">After Brian Wilson went mad trying to make the aborted <i>Smile </i>album, the sainted Beach Boys went back to basics and recorded this. It is their soul album and I love it like a son.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjthnEGze1PzZzw9zmkWjlgOdXASxwbR8zqC9y6sfAP7rrlEzGGIyk0nTpLHqGN5ADKJ7y5MP0-B3hxRMPeHdR7un3GKw3lzhWKNAWKips28wUO1YeR8b5-leVgRwP777BsmALud0tqUen2/s1600/vu+nico.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjthnEGze1PzZzw9zmkWjlgOdXASxwbR8zqC9y6sfAP7rrlEzGGIyk0nTpLHqGN5ADKJ7y5MP0-B3hxRMPeHdR7un3GKw3lzhWKNAWKips28wUO1YeR8b5-leVgRwP777BsmALud0tqUen2/s1600/vu+nico.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
The Velvet Underground and Nico - The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Simultaneously the prettiest and ugliest record ever made. A clattering artistic statement of vast magnitude and influence.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7rJLqWMf0K3plwasUJYZjJ-PfdbRbt2z9jwdjKMhnOo08vuOHPF359thBs7MH7DPAdUwp8ATANC7Z0Q4ztE_Z2tbeedhoFvdQc77uunaQo_SLd_6z5KAllh2pNM0VAv9jgxJChs7ZhPl/s1600/astral+weeks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7rJLqWMf0K3plwasUJYZjJ-PfdbRbt2z9jwdjKMhnOo08vuOHPF359thBs7MH7DPAdUwp8ATANC7Z0Q4ztE_Z2tbeedhoFvdQc77uunaQo_SLd_6z5KAllh2pNM0VAv9jgxJChs7ZhPl/s1600/astral+weeks.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks (1967)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">One of the most beautiful records ever made. The best part of all was that it was created out of absolute necessity, as Sir Van was completely skint.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3vl5Y9EwrIVrwJ8ZdfsHhlGf9b1-1toUWfZOZSTMdvczDUJxQWG6_OwRv8YnnfBw8GR8xe2ePLcig5jVOwXkDYHh3W22OWt1F-gcFeNMM3loID9ScfLsGYEmYhCU9EqqxNZw-ImmvaeSN/s1600/the+clash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3vl5Y9EwrIVrwJ8ZdfsHhlGf9b1-1toUWfZOZSTMdvczDUJxQWG6_OwRv8YnnfBw8GR8xe2ePLcig5jVOwXkDYHh3W22OWt1F-gcFeNMM3loID9ScfLsGYEmYhCU9EqqxNZw-ImmvaeSN/s1600/the+clash.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
The Clash - The Clash (1977)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">A triumphant existential yelp. One of the most vicerally exciting records ever made.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTKy-mI4qJGTsnbzaTUQtUHNO6uxuqSiFy3gIUSiPPdGkVBxMXnU2vXm5mxZnlutEHKiIWu4aWJjGmb3nNhDLQYSUm1rKnbBmcnwupHimBzMl260QSg1Nypz4rj8R4upIQr3Ve-9NAqwX6/s1600/basement+tapes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTKy-mI4qJGTsnbzaTUQtUHNO6uxuqSiFy3gIUSiPPdGkVBxMXnU2vXm5mxZnlutEHKiIWu4aWJjGmb3nNhDLQYSUm1rKnbBmcnwupHimBzMl260QSg1Nypz4rj8R4upIQr3Ve-9NAqwX6/s1600/basement+tapes.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
Bob Dylan and The Band - The Basement Tapes (1975)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Originally a bootleg collection of unreleased recordings by a recouperating Dylan and his backing group in 1966, now one of the most notable repositories of modern folk music. Essential.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzaQok2jbbMNuuwJwS7mYlMdolhyphenhyphenMaipqRfD8O3bWLCtASEdvN_9EV8jE_0TGqpvp4espZnIvnUDQn7CVpexh_WAUuTW_JmAfeusPA4W9gr5jyRQSNXk574CKyXHwk4-D6mFuuQ7o1jw4t/s1600/ok+computer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzaQok2jbbMNuuwJwS7mYlMdolhyphenhyphenMaipqRfD8O3bWLCtASEdvN_9EV8jE_0TGqpvp4espZnIvnUDQn7CVpexh_WAUuTW_JmAfeusPA4W9gr5jyRQSNXk574CKyXHwk4-D6mFuuQ7o1jw4t/s1600/ok+computer.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">If it isn't too trite, our generation's Sergeant Pepper. Only with a shitter cover.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxl8yyEov1wjEEG1vFv3_RYwmbWtipY7EBV7SHB_SzjiOQ2O1AKegRlFHofe0nuCQ4Ra6X5I-BC18zmvw4Qid9EJNhUX9WD-bCIHmBdgmmcEuFqvrPrvb-pmo6b3x-fLefMKO1lMoUN_A0/s1600/pet+sounds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxl8yyEov1wjEEG1vFv3_RYwmbWtipY7EBV7SHB_SzjiOQ2O1AKegRlFHofe0nuCQ4Ra6X5I-BC18zmvw4Qid9EJNhUX9WD-bCIHmBdgmmcEuFqvrPrvb-pmo6b3x-fLefMKO1lMoUN_A0/s1600/pet+sounds.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1966)</h2>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">The great artistic statement of one of the 20th Century's greatest composers.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkiL1gQ_v_7NfOs1a33Z3rb5bdMY6KtwgD_zev7F2L_-U9B9rs0OVkyVOku96jCOJua3bwQQ_7yePQV-N0cDZbNsSuz88ip1-e4231rXOJ_sELVsHfR5x8o-hQ_uvAXmIbQTrRcJNwJcZR/s1600/modern+lovers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkiL1gQ_v_7NfOs1a33Z3rb5bdMY6KtwgD_zev7F2L_-U9B9rs0OVkyVOku96jCOJua3bwQQ_7yePQV-N0cDZbNsSuz88ip1-e4231rXOJ_sELVsHfR5x8o-hQ_uvAXmIbQTrRcJNwJcZR/s1600/modern+lovers.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers (1976)</h2>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">All the best parts of American garage rock, new wave and pre-punk, condensed into one perfect biscuit for our enjoyment.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMA7zy994ay2U1Q7gI4Byal45nvGmwVJONZfuCilI3FHk2nUBkKDHc7-7Ez7rO1skqVcgvp2QxJ_3SYDxi4t_ski3EjQEIRu7oImv7kKApflhxVLgqh_xZHYyXSAS1_fjPRX2EdWDOZMhL/s1600/warm+leatherette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMA7zy994ay2U1Q7gI4Byal45nvGmwVJONZfuCilI3FHk2nUBkKDHc7-7Ez7rO1skqVcgvp2QxJ_3SYDxi4t_ski3EjQEIRu7oImv7kKApflhxVLgqh_xZHYyXSAS1_fjPRX2EdWDOZMhL/s1600/warm+leatherette.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
Grace Jones - Warm Leatherette (1980)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">A perfectly chosen, immaculately produced and brilliantly performed selection of songs, by one of the world's most outstanding artistic performers.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihXfQrDw0rhDqMLKH9WPuGWAqRP9cAo5j4clGypSYzqFRysGgYNcD2R6kv5kzPolJnTci5m2up4AKGHlRNlHhgZ-_uB-S-LhFW4iTh7q_BKAMGbvDUWw7L8f93Znk76d53Gj1IXs4BUlbv/s1600/all+things+must+pass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihXfQrDw0rhDqMLKH9WPuGWAqRP9cAo5j4clGypSYzqFRysGgYNcD2R6kv5kzPolJnTci5m2up4AKGHlRNlHhgZ-_uB-S-LhFW4iTh7q_BKAMGbvDUWw7L8f93Znk76d53Gj1IXs4BUlbv/s1600/all+things+must+pass.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass (1970)</h2>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">All the bits George had been sitting on in one, hugely satisfactory, post-prandial artistic fart.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisDiPsGqvd62uoJWoKYAwyOdAjM49NV8z-YP4nB7VrTBZu0xEMMT1SfPGrLaPbo6n_h-9ldNd8328f8abIGaPCK3pVWt9GM43ll9nO7thHP5yH3bGdMzz9BCzdtyaSMWYnAuTQXWzFZzDv/s1600/ziggy+stardust.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisDiPsGqvd62uoJWoKYAwyOdAjM49NV8z-YP4nB7VrTBZu0xEMMT1SfPGrLaPbo6n_h-9ldNd8328f8abIGaPCK3pVWt9GM43ll9nO7thHP5yH3bGdMzz9BCzdtyaSMWYnAuTQXWzFZzDv/s1600/ziggy+stardust.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars (1972)</h2>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">One of the great auteurs of the pop music era. <i>Hunky Dory </i>was more influential but this one has all the biggest bangers.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx2gyhzRgG1mgHB08d74rk5QcdmNy-vtx4IfFuAKQiWZ3Y7fY422KP3VDu4CKshSVTxC6osVGSce_W2LZFIPXHR5-xKUzAxD5XT0WEJC40RNqnLN7zBa31KF0A0QPTax3S5EvIcNyIuXFa/s1600/dusty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx2gyhzRgG1mgHB08d74rk5QcdmNy-vtx4IfFuAKQiWZ3Y7fY422KP3VDu4CKshSVTxC6osVGSce_W2LZFIPXHR5-xKUzAxD5XT0WEJC40RNqnLN7zBa31KF0A0QPTax3S5EvIcNyIuXFa/s1600/dusty.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
Dusty Springfield - Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty (1965)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The Immaculate Collection.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4s_xHEHjL4wKfPT-oSnovANd_eYbyxl0eNTlW_y0_eBJRBcKRn0_L0UZIbE3_RzerOD3iPTR2DY-1w6doVtPzOFbEnUkrsNSAuDKtRieCBzJYtmTXvl28fStQzv_LmTor_CSN5_novyPg/s1600/safe+as+milk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4s_xHEHjL4wKfPT-oSnovANd_eYbyxl0eNTlW_y0_eBJRBcKRn0_L0UZIbE3_RzerOD3iPTR2DY-1w6doVtPzOFbEnUkrsNSAuDKtRieCBzJYtmTXvl28fStQzv_LmTor_CSN5_novyPg/s1600/safe+as+milk.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Safe As Milk (1966)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The debut album of one of popular music's most unique and visionary geniuses. The entire history of the blues played at double speed by a maniac.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGFupOgnGgaMDXFn9j1wD0bWCKYquY7zpMi3wV5Bfnk_9qVe-pcFb_58OYUQsZHO1mh_O7GFpPz_sS194hq037XYCFbFb6uEy1ThBS6RuHEqHIQOIgJb7yWsHqsk1Y4Sc0vOZa8MEddCR/s1600/time+out+of+mind.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGFupOgnGgaMDXFn9j1wD0bWCKYquY7zpMi3wV5Bfnk_9qVe-pcFb_58OYUQsZHO1mh_O7GFpPz_sS194hq037XYCFbFb6uEy1ThBS6RuHEqHIQOIgJb7yWsHqsk1Y4Sc0vOZa8MEddCR/s1600/time+out+of+mind.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
Bob Dylan - Time Out Of Mind (1997)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The great late masterpiece of the most significant artist of the last century. World weary, swirling and poetic.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGQ7Fi4bmbU2-zvG4hyphenhyphenlY2mnzQNC_EBwj2_ElWCW3aRaY4Mnu4pLpRgEWcwDlDO9LDHmVjrNDxe5JR7_BpbFhmTMD_cNOouopS5fDDhLxAvYzdxuBG19DI7Gs0JePMW8mST0OZ14l6dWjd/s1600/abbey+road.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGQ7Fi4bmbU2-zvG4hyphenhyphenlY2mnzQNC_EBwj2_ElWCW3aRaY4Mnu4pLpRgEWcwDlDO9LDHmVjrNDxe5JR7_BpbFhmTMD_cNOouopS5fDDhLxAvYzdxuBG19DI7Gs0JePMW8mST0OZ14l6dWjd/s1600/abbey+road.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The considered final statement of the most important rock and roll band who can ever be.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGcXvc9qo0vPJw1k3ALw7GMxnMJ2syD0yTiN-Mw9RhMZIlx5chKcHZKl34nPuS6aojW07Q1Ef7Nd7JiwH-rwM1IQJx_Zp4Mqb-tKd_9HqlJxuKYQYtKa9WvFfEcVRgrre5y3edxwEXah82/s1600/too-rye-ay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGcXvc9qo0vPJw1k3ALw7GMxnMJ2syD0yTiN-Mw9RhMZIlx5chKcHZKl34nPuS6aojW07Q1Ef7Nd7JiwH-rwM1IQJx_Zp4Mqb-tKd_9HqlJxuKYQYtKa9WvFfEcVRgrre5y3edxwEXah82/s1600/too-rye-ay.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
Dexys Midnight Runners - Too-Rye-Ay (1982)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Each of the canonical Dexys Midnight Runners records are completely wonderful, but this chaotic blue-balled screech for acceptance is the most compelling.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3MkE9Mvwp6rmLd6l_yJRfN97B8_pG89n1NXdaznBmLGedKDzH7N8UlaN6w9T7Y3eJI9ctzrJaV3NX1sGFI1mPFzus_LYxwos6tkm39sb3bCNWkpi4gnVPyAInRKCZz0a0XSsicvxCPUS1/s1600/exile+on+main+st.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3MkE9Mvwp6rmLd6l_yJRfN97B8_pG89n1NXdaznBmLGedKDzH7N8UlaN6w9T7Y3eJI9ctzrJaV3NX1sGFI1mPFzus_LYxwos6tkm39sb3bCNWkpi4gnVPyAInRKCZz0a0XSsicvxCPUS1/s1600/exile+on+main+st.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street (1972)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Millionaire tax exile rock stars dodging HMRC by taking piles of cocaine in a French villa, clattering out raggedy blues. Completely wonderful.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVkmjsp441z4nkFlwkpsInV7aVhiwBLr_TTxpoiI0Kgwuv6AqSD3xdcnAgbIv0Fo8RROpeRqxshaSH7c7vCvClc_ji9YA_g4hRlykQzy5LKr1BiP6R8PRt5z4w3l3MyC_kATnMBzJsRWyK/s1600/kind+of+blue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVkmjsp441z4nkFlwkpsInV7aVhiwBLr_TTxpoiI0Kgwuv6AqSD3xdcnAgbIv0Fo8RROpeRqxshaSH7c7vCvClc_ji9YA_g4hRlykQzy5LKr1BiP6R8PRt5z4w3l3MyC_kATnMBzJsRWyK/s1600/kind+of+blue.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">There are so many special Miles Davis records, but this one stands above them all. A masterpiece by any standard or measure.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBsm6ZXA-MitoS2peBH5t9mQbG3LOY9bcdLJ3IQqfiodXVXF0gvJ1cOgH382E4zkqX5ruLWaKuzxzLgnIvacCtnfZXOYvUiyqa90X8GPEMQ5chyphenhyphen_wQNRr1848oghMb2ZAtYR7mrjVcTcYa/s1600/specials.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBsm6ZXA-MitoS2peBH5t9mQbG3LOY9bcdLJ3IQqfiodXVXF0gvJ1cOgH382E4zkqX5ruLWaKuzxzLgnIvacCtnfZXOYvUiyqa90X8GPEMQ5chyphenhyphen_wQNRr1848oghMb2ZAtYR7mrjVcTcYa/s1600/specials.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
The Specials - The Specials (1979)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">British society reaping the innumerable benefits of West Indian immigration.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3kAt1HsqL9xlt3h907EpdQeeXktdJs0Z3DLPpZQsO6ooTkpctEXj1cAi2MRyyaZYDjvcUWEsbaCHApV5gZNUPHP-mYAqoVYTmg3GToxKxlYDPHskygB269eYvgmuI-0ow2Hdhts9xUa-E/s1600/loaded.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3kAt1HsqL9xlt3h907EpdQeeXktdJs0Z3DLPpZQsO6ooTkpctEXj1cAi2MRyyaZYDjvcUWEsbaCHApV5gZNUPHP-mYAqoVYTmg3GToxKxlYDPHskygB269eYvgmuI-0ow2Hdhts9xUa-E/s1600/loaded.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
The Velvet Underground - Loaded (1970)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The Velvet Underground make a pop album for our listening pleasure.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMWKNF4YyJOLFKhBfdiDdjp-UwR7fsWytgOq2VH_5Znnh09YuMOpGPt0fhOkfi1wv7hLmlHFtz1doGLQU2ds04CrHuc4F1LpnQX2dXzGNzQqohuKG0fOpLKD2H4pUxfkKWgNgAYh3kNUMy/s1600/moon+safari.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMWKNF4YyJOLFKhBfdiDdjp-UwR7fsWytgOq2VH_5Znnh09YuMOpGPt0fhOkfi1wv7hLmlHFtz1doGLQU2ds04CrHuc4F1LpnQX2dXzGNzQqohuKG0fOpLKD2H4pUxfkKWgNgAYh3kNUMy/s1600/moon+safari.png" /></a></div>
<h2>
Air - Moon Safari (1998)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">A vision of the future as seen from the past.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6c268kp-RuZ8eHTfOxW8Q4x42sq1F-f-PbKoNv-bgaISuyZpwwB4TV6xINzi3P50qyoYg3c9igCm_iKGjRE-7bSU8Ry_lsu9wk0H4kSES1gRpUPBAjbI3_9o7UZkGq5EJ-fRw8l3VOmQV/s1600/sunflower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6c268kp-RuZ8eHTfOxW8Q4x42sq1F-f-PbKoNv-bgaISuyZpwwB4TV6xINzi3P50qyoYg3c9igCm_iKGjRE-7bSU8Ry_lsu9wk0H4kSES1gRpUPBAjbI3_9o7UZkGq5EJ-fRw8l3VOmQV/s1600/sunflower.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
The Beach Boys - Sunflower (1970)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">A complete delight.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBuScV32hBH_1auoFQNbAEhgKIZHUfFZQXEzhQ52zTiN2-1c4NOPyTaSFpvk393ONjRGYgJ3rR2afFAPKdVKfdwiYcD9hvTR2Bor601PBpyrtzatyJV0xOC28LZDvGIzL8d-Y0liKWeEBj/s1600/pink+moon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBuScV32hBH_1auoFQNbAEhgKIZHUfFZQXEzhQ52zTiN2-1c4NOPyTaSFpvk393ONjRGYgJ3rR2afFAPKdVKfdwiYcD9hvTR2Bor601PBpyrtzatyJV0xOC28LZDvGIzL8d-Y0liKWeEBj/s1600/pink+moon.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
Nick Drake - Pink Moon (1972)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">A Rizla-thin wisp of beautiful melancholy.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiabya0OaFgTwE43KGy1S0hMxqysx9EYGTPidl7sLi9y9TnzVvGR0PvJZJ004CDGfLz9wljvrWnhbgRFondMQ4Ybcxl-rKOg4HpteeP50W3xQ4Jt2i_04nKEBBOSvnC42blwLNcQ-GHKPoU/s1600/bootleg+v4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiabya0OaFgTwE43KGy1S0hMxqysx9EYGTPidl7sLi9y9TnzVvGR0PvJZJ004CDGfLz9wljvrWnhbgRFondMQ4Ybcxl-rKOg4HpteeP50W3xQ4Jt2i_04nKEBBOSvnC42blwLNcQ-GHKPoU/s1600/bootleg+v4.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series vol. 4: Live 1966 (1998)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The most famous concert in popular music history, immaculately recorded. An historical document.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiyvAhcH7wt7-a5KPe-AXTIfAjrAG1wkE3nfmzU6w_b4cisce-1gwo40cncg11Rab6jhJMe-XVyjhUHydJG6lMTHAb9KbD0T99b1GezA1sDIbMGvF1mTG8v8Duxur4DdRhFG3SCxl1EIU/s1600/melody+nelson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiyvAhcH7wt7-a5KPe-AXTIfAjrAG1wkE3nfmzU6w_b4cisce-1gwo40cncg11Rab6jhJMe-XVyjhUHydJG6lMTHAb9KbD0T99b1GezA1sDIbMGvF1mTG8v8Duxur4DdRhFG3SCxl1EIU/s1600/melody+nelson.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire De Melody Nelson (1971)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The Frenchest, funkiest and filthiest record on record.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcEyURGlr4R9tZXtJON2Utu1nlpjE8K7WwiyZmcNsUAqUC_rqnwCrQ5_tdmB24i_rAjTjJR3tEPtBFOj4cEWM6Wqmk1epF0HCQI-Ho2QoikmtSzDg43B22IQgRpjiI8_o7j9oFde-2d52S/s1600/three+eps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcEyURGlr4R9tZXtJON2Utu1nlpjE8K7WwiyZmcNsUAqUC_rqnwCrQ5_tdmB24i_rAjTjJR3tEPtBFOj4cEWM6Wqmk1epF0HCQI-Ho2QoikmtSzDg43B22IQgRpjiI8_o7j9oFde-2d52S/s1600/three+eps.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
The Beta Band - The Three EP's (1999)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">A shaken up electro-house-folk brilliancy. Quite unlike anything else before it.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLsGt07YbQaIzJJJeILS9tDTPdzfArMqXqr2hTLEc6mgGjkLe8Onbuao9mTGQRmrQ_ApD93K2s6LoeiIYiDW10l4IJ6mxmTvR8oC7H2CIh_9Drb5pDGh254QWgAvSBD2p5AerTTkBQI3bn/s1600/electric+ladyland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLsGt07YbQaIzJJJeILS9tDTPdzfArMqXqr2hTLEc6mgGjkLe8Onbuao9mTGQRmrQ_ApD93K2s6LoeiIYiDW10l4IJ6mxmTvR8oC7H2CIh_9Drb5pDGh254QWgAvSBD2p5AerTTkBQI3bn/s1600/electric+ladyland.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland (1968)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">A thorough exploration of the oeuvre of pop music's greatest virtuoso.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGDPBtHDb1sYt0evDbl3WC7TVKKnlaBD4ByXxfUBpvtwIzT6g9RnSTpDEAxFazj7ZLIfj20HFVf086RRayfPCoGqStsKZlWVQuUrGoAJdfWvjbZEWUa009UHr1FgzHNyYoFRAfJ5PX275B/s1600/parklife.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGDPBtHDb1sYt0evDbl3WC7TVKKnlaBD4ByXxfUBpvtwIzT6g9RnSTpDEAxFazj7ZLIfj20HFVf086RRayfPCoGqStsKZlWVQuUrGoAJdfWvjbZEWUa009UHr1FgzHNyYoFRAfJ5PX275B/s1600/parklife.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
Blur - Parklife (1994)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">A brilliantly weighted and observed snapshot of fin de siecle British life? Well yes, actually.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTyK42CpZHTpa_gzRnZqwaVedZYk79LNSI02mBLA_c79GVUlkCmCKfjZVigyhbhGZz7Lm3gZMO0lxBHElRSrxVniaWg_MtUrDDFf-vcPb40xbeP024QwhibIjPpdx85xdUdbYkBW2sNdI/s1600/station+to+station.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTyK42CpZHTpa_gzRnZqwaVedZYk79LNSI02mBLA_c79GVUlkCmCKfjZVigyhbhGZz7Lm3gZMO0lxBHElRSrxVniaWg_MtUrDDFf-vcPb40xbeP024QwhibIjPpdx85xdUdbYkBW2sNdI/s1600/station+to+station.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
David Bowie - Station To Station (1976)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">A record Bowie could recall nothing of making thanks to prodigious cocaine intake. A chugging monument to white kids playing soul music everywhere.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl-UTw_XDslFdpsjZ2XpPBMxmKO0dxo82M3h7qq-QnM1ckRiIaGCmdFYMx8uj_a0cwTY3XxmmWPCF5lmmABje6L0PTDwcD4AMhx02Y2nmPfMGzmTJd1HNwnR6UdxXk9mmm38mIymZFzTB_/s1600/electro+shock+blues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl-UTw_XDslFdpsjZ2XpPBMxmKO0dxo82M3h7qq-QnM1ckRiIaGCmdFYMx8uj_a0cwTY3XxmmWPCF5lmmABje6L0PTDwcD4AMhx02Y2nmPfMGzmTJd1HNwnR6UdxXk9mmm38mIymZFzTB_/s1600/electro+shock+blues.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
Eels - Electro-Shock Blues (1998)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Grief counselling for the alt-rock era.</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOhhemOjDhNBZgwipxS5xAzguGL6pvwE-mmxBCQY7_3Fla8Z8DXessRAvtRHojXRheXMEJdgEmREgXwA4BfsQnzG7j-FBXo8nZI0FDRa3-gKaJJ-OzfOfudFtzLiXHORdi4Zd0pn8IMV0y/s1600/everything+must+go.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOhhemOjDhNBZgwipxS5xAzguGL6pvwE-mmxBCQY7_3Fla8Z8DXessRAvtRHojXRheXMEJdgEmREgXwA4BfsQnzG7j-FBXo8nZI0FDRa3-gKaJJ-OzfOfudFtzLiXHORdi4Zd0pn8IMV0y/s1600/everything+must+go.jpg" /></a></div>
<h2>
Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go (1996)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">I was never one of those Manic Street Preachers people (you know the ones), but there is no denying that something very special happened here.</span></h3>
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<h2>
Supergrass - In It For The Money (1997)</h2>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Britpop's final hurrah, played out by its nicest young men.</span></h3>
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<h2>
Ian Dury and The Blockheads - New Boots and Panties (1977)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The most complete and accurate musical portrait of life in the south-east of England.</span></h3>
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<h2>
Joy Division - Closer (1980)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">A valedictory triumph and tragedy.</span></h3>
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<h2>
Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey (1975)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">An education.</span></h3>
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<h2>
Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul (1969)</h2>
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<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Don't fight it, just accept it: the greatest soul record ever made.</span></h3>
<br />dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-18625705410451313772019-10-11T08:49:00.000+01:002019-10-11T09:09:06.365+01:00To be fair though, I was rightI deleted my Twitter account today. I deleted my Facebook account early this week so I suppose it has been coming, but I didn't see it coming. I had been merrily tweeting away just minutes before, in fact.<br />
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But I have, for a number of years now, earnestly been telling everyone who listens that I think Twitter has become something of a social problem and I'm pleased that I've finally demonstrated any kind of moral backbone. If I'm completely honest, I had only been maintaining my Twitter account because I had joined the VENERABLE MICROBLOGGING™ SITE in February 2007 and as such was something of an early adopter. It made me feel like an internet wizard.<br />
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When it came to the crunch, it was all Andrea Leadsom's fault.<br />
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Earlier in the morning I'd tweeted that Andrea Leadsom is a daft moo. John Dobson, who is well worth following if you are one of the BRAINWASHED SHEEPLE still on Twitter, replied "but... she's... a mother", which if you ask me was a pretty ribald comeback.<br />
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I replied that I had not implied she wasn't my moral superior, merely stating that she was a [lots of swearwords] moo. This obviously triggered a mechanism deep within the bowels of the Twitter engine. Irregardless of the fact I had at no point tagged Andrea Leadsom (the daft moo) anywhere, nor referenced her in the specific tweet that Twitter took umbrage at, I was naughty stepped for 12 hours.<br />
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Hmm, I thought. This seems punitive, considering that earlier this week Twitter had let Leave.EU tweet a bundle of hideous racism without so much as a query. I concluded that Twitter was, finally, broken beyond repair.<br />
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Andrea Leadsom IS a daft moo. Swearing is wrong.<br />
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So, I finally gave Twitter what it has wanted from me for 12 long years - my mobile phone number - so that I could delete the offending tweet and be redeemed, welcomed back into the bosom of society once again. But! It was my cunning plan. As soon as I was back into my unlocked account, I FUCKIN' DEACTIVATED IT! Woof. Game, set and match to me.<br />
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So anyway, that's why I'm not on Twitter any more. Or Facebook. Actually, there are different reasons for my leaving Facebook which I will not trouble you with, but needless to say I was right about <i>that</i>, too. If my parting has caused you unimaginable grief, you can still find me here, on <b><a href="https://www.instagram.com/dotmund/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> </b>or you can email me using the email address you will find on this very site.<br />
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If I like you enough, maybe we'll even become WhatsApp buddies? (Yeah, right)<br />
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My only regret is that almost everyone who actually wants to be party to this information will never see it, because I can't tweet it out. Still, I figure if you're not clever enough to have found it anyway, I almost certainly didn't want to talk to you.<br />
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This is why I fear no backlash from Andrea Leadsom, who is a daft moo.dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-67534328937122698312019-01-30T11:30:00.000+00:002019-01-30T11:30:02.651+00:00Get Back, outsideSpeaking personally, I avoid going out wherever possible, but other people do venture forth into the wide blue and when this happens they will no doubt sometimes find themselves in attendance at live music performances. There are countless of these taking place right now all over the world, and save for the occasional unplanned pregnancy or Damascene moment of self-realisation, little or nothing about them will be remembered by history.<br />
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Of course, it is not always this way. Nothing that is possessed of the power of music could always slide by unnoticed and as a result there have been some performances so shattering, so profound and so memorable that they have – directly or otherwise – shaped the course of more or less everything that happened next. This is a fact that is particularly on my mind today, for reasons that I will get into shortly. However, I feel it would be germane at this point to first provide some examples of gigs that sent ripples far beyond their own pond, just in case any of you think that I am lying.<br />
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<b><u>Case study 1: Bob Dylan is so Punk it's unbelievable 1965-1966</u></b><br />
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One of the curious and unexpected effects of the rise of technology that still threatens to end us all was the re-emergence of the folk music scene in America during the 1950s and 1960s. The apex of this movement was the Newport Folk Festival, an annual three-day analogue happening on the picturesque New England coast; THE place for all the insufferable hairshirt-wearing, hempy draft-dodgers to assemble for a coffee clatch, smoke a doobie and listen to Pete Seeger sing a scurrilous eighteen-verse song about King George II as two shirtless men chop wood at the side of the stage. <br />
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Dylan's gig there in 1964 had been greeted by the kind of fervent, rapturous response normally reserved for Jesus Christ on Palm Sunday. Perhaps mindful of what happened to the J man subsequently, the following year the prophet of all of the oakiest folkies decided that the time had come to mix things up a little. On Saturday 24th, Dylan played a three-song acoustic set at an afternoon workshop, accompanied only by his guitar, harmonica and (presumably) two blacksmiths casting pewter tankards, before making the spontaneous and momentous decision to play an electric set the following day to showcase his new material accompanied by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBzp9QqJmqPpYtzTx-PnerlIv4MQ4RJCqCm5qoB-T46IpYuqulimPCU4aKFUtUM2P5JGIpudQ9iXmiXCM05Edu5nPmJ4yQhvGKB44lVUIx6kjjxLgCl0D8Oh1tFGKCQQF_pUuT0n5RDU8j/s1600/dylan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Bob Dylan injects some electricity into the Newport Folk Festival 1965" border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBzp9QqJmqPpYtzTx-PnerlIv4MQ4RJCqCm5qoB-T46IpYuqulimPCU4aKFUtUM2P5JGIpudQ9iXmiXCM05Edu5nPmJ4yQhvGKB44lVUIx6kjjxLgCl0D8Oh1tFGKCQQF_pUuT0n5RDU8j/s1600/dylan.jpg" title="Bob Dylan injects some electricity into the Newport Folk Festival 1965" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival 1965: Sing while you slave but I just get bored</td></tr>
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This Sunday evening set was completely incendiary. Dylan would again play three songs, but this time his output came courtesy of RAW POWER. He clattered through this truncated set, playing into a wall of discontent and studied outrage, before leaving the stage to a cacophony of jeering and politically appropriate anger. The evening's master of ceremonies Peter Yarrow was left on the verge of tears. Neither in his role as King of the Hippies nor or as Peter from Peter, Paul and Mary had he ever had to deal with such overt and voluble hostility and Yarrow begged Dylan to return to the stage and continue his performance. This he did, unaccompanied once more, cheered to the echo by the same crowd who minutes before had been baying for his blood. An unprepared Dylan didn't have the correct mouth organ and asked the crowd whether or not anyone had an E harmonica. The subsequent volley of metal objects that hurtled towards the stage had been quite unmatched in the area since the Revolutionary War and, now musically replete, Dylan performed two more songs to placate the crowd, whom rock historians by this point may have started to suspect of being a load of reactionary idiots. Dylan wouldn't return to folk music's hallowed spot again until 2002 where, possibly still wary of reprisals from hacky sack-playing beatnik wastrels, he played his set decked out in a wig and false beard.<br />
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But it wasn't just American folk fans who had temporarily lost the Zeitgeist: it turned out that British people can be idiots as well, and idiocy without the consoling prospect of the imminent tour of duty in Vietnam is a deadly combination indeed. The following year, during a rambunctiously adversarial European tour, on 17th May 1966 (a Tuesday) Dylan played a concert at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester which would become perhaps the most notorious, bootlegged and discussed non-festival gig ever played in the United Kingdom. <br />
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Anyone who believes that trolling is a modern phenomenon that came about with the advent of online communities need only look at the set list from that night in order to see the errors in their thinking. The first half of Dylan's show, solo and accompanied only by himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica, was largely comprised of pared-down versions of his newer material, cribbed from the contentious electric era albums. When he returned for the second half it was in the company of five other musicians, four of whom were on the cusp of finding stardom in their own right as The Band. Here, Dylan played eight more numbers, this time mainly older songs from the folk era but with a thousand volts shoved right up them. The crowd grew increasingly restless, chanting, shouting and slow handclapping their way through the gaps between songs, only for Dylan and his band to beat them back into submission with another wall of noise. The whole affair culminated in the most famous heckle in rock and roll history: “Judas!”, followed by its most famous riposte: a version of <i>Like A Rolling Stone</i> that, as per Dylan's instruction to his group, was played “fucking loud”. Dylan would suffer a serious motorcycle accident two months later and following his recuperation would choose instead to tread a less confrontational path: country rock.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMCeypcQB4-S7BRjkfxgmDlQKI9Sw1CKh_Uhs9uRvR7gdm7_aayAe6EIBqwxhKtPjLnrRP-KEY6lkARkL7VcQKgBHOkaz2J_shJksWsVvZyyiIrL2oHi0RFM9xL_aX5QbZRt7x_42KKbpA/s1600/dylan+stages+600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="152" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMCeypcQB4-S7BRjkfxgmDlQKI9Sw1CKh_Uhs9uRvR7gdm7_aayAe6EIBqwxhKtPjLnrRP-KEY6lkARkL7VcQKgBHOkaz2J_shJksWsVvZyyiIrL2oHi0RFM9xL_aX5QbZRt7x_42KKbpA/s1600/dylan+stages+600.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Case study 2: Otis Redding makes black all right for the all whites, 1967</u></b><br />
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The United States of America's black community had been quietly producing all the music that mattered for generations, only for the rest of the population to ignore it and then have it sold back to them by more "palatable" (i.e. white) British acts for much of the preceding decade. The 1967 Monterrey Pop Festival was when White America finally woke up to this fact and realised they could cut out the middle man and, in turn, help make America great again. The Jimi Hendrix Experience blew a few minds later that weekend (lest we forget that Hendrix himself had needed to leave America and go to the UK in order to gain any recognition as a solo artist, a fact which history has rendered completely absurd), but the standout moment was Otis Redding's set on 17th June 1967, a Saturday. Backed by the Stax Records house band Booker T and the MGs, it culminated in a screaming rendition of <i>Try A Little Tenderness</i> so shattering that it can, even now, still peel the skin from your face. White America, suitably chastened, would never again so wilfully close its ears en masse to the music of their black brethren. This is a considerable legacy for just an hour's work and all suitably marvelled. Unfortunately for Redding, his personal legacy would be cemented by his untimely death in an aeroplane crash just six months later.<br />
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<b><u>Case study 3: James Brown saves Boston</u></b><br />
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Martin Luther King, one of the great orators and humanitarian figures of the 20th Century was assassinated on April 4th 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. This was a Thursday and by Friday morning, many of America's inner-cities were already counting the cost of a night of protest, anger and civil disobedience. In Boston, MA, the powers that be had a bright idea: if they could get WBGH-TV to film and broadcast the James Brown show scheduled for the night of April 5th at the Boston Garden, perhaps everyone who might otherwise be keeping themselves occupied by rioting would instead be glued to their television sets. <br />
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Brown himself took some convincing: he had already signed a contract with a rival TV station for the exclusive filming of a later show in the same tour and if he allowed the Boston gig to be broadcast he would break its non-compete clause, costing him a cool $60,000. No matter: the Boston city government put their hands in their pockets and paid him the difference, in what turned out to be a particularly savvy move for all concerned. Brown's electrifying eleven song set and legendary stage show had the effect that the city council had desired. Having succumbed to riots and fires on Thursday evening, Boston remained calm that Friday night while many other major American cities continued to burn.<br />
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All of this is not to say that the whole event was without a frisson of tension, however. In fact, the whole gig was a tinderbox, but one that would be masterfully handled by the hardest working man in showbusiness. The overall effect is completely electrifying, as well as pregnant with a sense of historical significance. In the most famous point in the show, the stage was invaded by over-enthusiastic fans and Brown had to stop the concert in order to prevent the police and venue security from over-reacting in their attempts to make them stand down. Having re-established control and his authority over the situation, Brown would then turn on his audience, admonishing the crowd: “Wait a minute, wait a minute now WAIT!” Brown yelped. “Step down, now, be a gentleman….Now I asked the police to step back, because I think I can get some respect from my own people!” <br />
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<b><u>Case study 4: Jimi Hendrix breaks the national anthem, 1969</u></b><br />
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As we have previously discussed, Jimi Hendrix had gone to some lengths to get some respect from his own people and at The Woodstock Festival, New York on 18th August 1969 (it was a Monday), he would crystallise his entire experience of race and of national identity down into a single unforgettable moment. With his new band, Gypsy Sun and Rainbows, Hendrix closed the 20th Century's most legendary countercultural gathering with a middling twelve-song set (beginning at the decidedly un-rock'n'roll time of 9 am) that would become infamous for a wailing three-minute long electric guitar rendition of <i>The Star Spangled Banner</i>. Filled with feedback, distortion and notes bent way out of shape by his Stratocaster's tremolo bar, it was viewed by many as a protest - against prevailing racial politics in the US and against its ongoing war in Vietnam - and it caused quite a stir in the United States at large, already a country notably and visibly fractured along generational lines. Hendrix himself later told talk show host Dick Cavett that he didn't consider his performance unorthodox in the least. "I thought it was beautiful". Perhaps it was. Perhaps his tongue was in his cheek. It is a moment frozen in time, whose power to move and shock and provoke is seemingly captured inside the same amber. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEZRzL-Mq2sS8pzDeaM_75fkqOtB7f8f7XT0W_Hrv6CIoK2rgKGoa-6kXo_1aXhxZpJEeClSb84pdiHW0P5DUxl2tMwGV32olTPi9uRBe0SW7amrj2wGSw-lJZSgSLnK0VgXUdNFPPpVNN/s1600/bowie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, with toucan" border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEZRzL-Mq2sS8pzDeaM_75fkqOtB7f8f7XT0W_Hrv6CIoK2rgKGoa-6kXo_1aXhxZpJEeClSb84pdiHW0P5DUxl2tMwGV32olTPi9uRBe0SW7amrj2wGSw-lJZSgSLnK0VgXUdNFPPpVNN/s1600/bowie.jpg" title="David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, with toucan" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David Bowie and friend, 1973. Only one of these men is telling the truth</td></tr>
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<b>Case study 5: David Bowie kills an alien, 1973</b><br />
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Tuesday 3rd July 1973. As his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust, Bowie - a man who craved fame but who just two years previously couldn't even have gotten himself arrested - sent the entire world's youth population into spasms of uncontrollable grief with a spontaneous announcement that this would be "the last show that we ever do". That night, July 3rd 1973 (a Tuesday) Bowie - backed by Mick Ronson, Woody Woodmansey and Trevor Bolder (with additional help from Jeff Beck) - played an extensive seventeen song set, drawing on all his previous album releases as well as covers of songs by both The Velvet Underground and Jacques Brel. The resulting concert entered legend both for Bowie's dramatic announcement of his retirement (actually, he was just off to return to his home planet) and the fact the whole happening was filmed by feted rockumentarian D.A. Pennebaker. <br />
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What the anguished teens who were still reeling from the Ziggy-shaped void that had just been ripped into their souls were not to know is how lucky they had been to be getting any of this at all: earlier that day, a notorious gang of Shepherd's Bush herberts had broken in to the Hammersmith Odeon and nicked thousands of pounds worth of high end public address and recording equipment. They were, however, to put it to good use.<br />
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<b><u>Case study 6: Manchester's Big Bang, 1976</u></b><br />
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At the Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester on 4th June 1976 (a Friday), a then little-known group of London herberts (featuring Shepherd's Bush's very own Steve Jones on lead guitar) called the Sex Pistols played to an estimated crowd of as many as 40 people. Such would prove to be the cultural impact of what happened that night, almost everyone who worked in the music industry alive on Earth at the time has subsequently claimed to have been one of them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilqSu685mq1UabpbIxYmjb__naQHiWaxQx8KeG0a0A8F5seZd2OFHYtTUs24PVBoYf_BV0YAw8JoKz8rqb2kBY1xCk31g4tBW_YT8umOMqR5l5Mdp9zeowNGbml0eMMz1s9-qjm5D1WHEY/s1600/jones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols " border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilqSu685mq1UabpbIxYmjb__naQHiWaxQx8KeG0a0A8F5seZd2OFHYtTUs24PVBoYf_BV0YAw8JoKz8rqb2kBY1xCk31g4tBW_YT8umOMqR5l5Mdp9zeowNGbml0eMMz1s9-qjm5D1WHEY/s1600/jones.jpg" title="Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols " /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, off out shopping</td></tr>
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<br />
The Pistols wouldn't achieve their national notoriety until the December 1st that year (Wednesday) when Jones dropped the F-bomb on tea time television. Six months prior, on that night in Manchester the band played thirteen songs, five of which were covers, some indication as to how limited their repertoire still was at this point. The crowd sat transfixed by this clattering, antagonistic and utterly indifferent performance and then staggered out into the world with an urgent need to create their own music. Confirmed attendees that night included Mark E. Smith of The Fall; Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Steve Morris and Ian Curtis (later Joy Division and three-quarters of New Order); Pete Shelley, Steve Diggle, John Maher and Howard Devoto of The Buzzcocks; Stephen Morrissey (later of The Smiths, Morrissey and other notoriety); TV producer and future record label impressario Anthony H. Wilson and, yes, Simply Red's and sex with ladies' Mick Hucknall. "It was our Big Bang," Hook would tell the BBC years later. "It created our musical universe". It was, and it did. The course of British culture was definitively and permanently diverted as a result, in ways which can still be seen and felt over forty years later. No-one had even so much as thought to record it, one of rock's greatest oversights.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Case study 7: Radio Ga-Ga, 1985</u></b><br />
<br />
In 1985, Bob (now Sir Bob) Geldof and Midge (he got an OBE in 2005) Ure (with a smattering of help, no doubt, from Harvey Goldsmith) organised the world's biggest ever charity concert, to raise money for the victims of the brutal, pitiless, civil war and famine in Ethiopia. This became known as Live Aid and took place on 13th July 1985 (which was a Saturday) at both Wembley Stadium in London and the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, PA. The London gig had been rattling along nicely for six hours and 41 minutes by the time that Queen - a band who, variously, were largely considered to be at the time either all washed up, rock dinosaurs or (rather more troublingly) mercenary shills of the Apartheid regime in South Africa - took to the stage, introduced by comedians Griff Rhys-Jones and Mel Smith dressed as policemen. <br />
<br />
They would play six songs in a set lasting just over twenty minutes, including fragments of classic hits <i>Bohemian Rhapsody</i>, <i>We Will Rock You</i> and <i>We Are The Champions</i>, as well as their current single <i>Hammer To Fall</i>. But it was their unremittingly powerful rendition of <i>Radio Ga-Ga</i> that stole the show, no small boast for a show that an estimated FORTY PERCENT OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION was actively engaged in watching. Freddie Mercury's charismatic pull was astonishing to an extent that it has later drawn parallels with the performance of Adolf Hitler at the Nuremburg Rallies in the 1930s. This was perhaps not what the band were aiming for but then Hitler couldn't possibly compete with their record sales, which went through the roof almost immediately. It guaranteed that it this would be another good year all round for the band. And for the starving Africans, of course. <br />
<br />
It was, and is, a mesmeric performance, its power to affect quite undimmed by time, its impact still tangible from watching the recording back on YouTube 34 years removed, which I would heartily advise.<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">Up on the roof, January 30th 1969</span></u></b><br />
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But for all of this: for all of the cultural impact, for all the lives touched and the paths changed, it all pales into insignificance next to an impromptu 42-minute performance in central London fifty years ago today. It is, for me, surely the greatest concert ever played in the history of popular music. The band who gave it played just nine songs. Of these nine, only five were different: one number was repeated on no fewer than three occasions and two others were played twice. <br />
<br />
No-one had heard any of these songs before, either: the group eschewed the potential to run through their greatest hits and instead picked all new numbers from a forthcoming LP that wouldn't be released for another 14 months, by which time the band itself had broken up. Two of them were wearing their wife's coat to keep warm in the January air and the gig itself would be curtailed by the intervention of the Metropolitan Police. It was 30th January 1969, a Thursday, on the roof of a terraced office building at number 3 Savile Row, Mayfair. The group in question were The Beatles, accompanied by Billy Preston on an electronic piano. It would be the last time they ever played together in public.<br />
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Indeed, this was the first time that The Beatles had performed live ANYWHERE outside of a recording studio for 886 days, since their concert at Candlestick Park, San Francisco on 29th August 1966 (a Monday). For one of their number, it would prove to be the penultimate live performance of a brilliant career: John Lennon would appear before an audience just once more before his untimely death in 1980, once again unbilled, during the encore of an Elton John concert at Madison Square Garden, New York City on 28th November 1974. Which was a Thursday.<br />
<br />
The genesis of the idea that led them to the rooftop was a desire to recapture the spirit of live performance after two and a half years of studio-based nurdling, radical experimentation and fierce, circular arguments that had left the group on the brink of dissolution. It stemmed from the death of their manager, Brian Epstein, in the summer of 1967: the group had reinvented the possibilities of popular music but were, from a personal and professional point of view, now completely rudderless. Step forward Paul McCartney, who as the band's new self-appointed leader would spend the remainder of the group's life royally pissing everyone off. <br />
<br />
After the backbiting and ill-feeling that had marinaded the recording sessions for The White Album, McCartney had developed the theory that the solution to all of The Beatles problems would be to play live together again just as they had in the olden days, after these lost years of overdubs, tape loops and pissy arguments in windowless rooms. The rest of the band, despite some serious misgivings, went along with this idea if only to shut McCartney up and so the <i>Get Back</i> project was born. McCartney's idea ran as follows: just after the new year in 1969, the band would reconvene at Twickenham film studios to begin rehearsals for their triumphant return to the stage. The songs that they produced would form the basis of this mooted concert at the Royal Albert Hall, as well as being the contents of their next album. In addition, a film crew would accompany the group throughout, making a fly-on-the-wall documentary about how it all came together.<br />
<br />
The eventual documentary, <i>Let It Be</i>, was released the following year and portrays four men who had grown apart, going through the motions of being in The Beatles because they didn't yet know any other life. John Lennon spends much of the time huddled in a corner giggling conspiratorially with Yoko Ono and Ringo Starr sits forlornly behind his drum kit, hoping that someone, somewhere, would give him something to do. The sessions were particularly tough on George Harrison, who was the Beatle with the strongest distaste for the return to live performances. Early in the film we watch him get electrocuted twice by a microphone stand, before he receives an equally unwelcome dressing down from the matronly McCartney for his failure to play his guitar parts properly.<br />
<br />
Thankfully, what happened next did not make it into the film. On January 10th (a Friday), he and Lennon had a fearsome argument which some reported turned into a physical altercation (although this was later denied by both parties). At issue was Yoko Ono's continued attendance at rehearsals (<i>that</i> old chestnut) and Lennon's strident dismissals of Harrison's new material. At this point, Harrison had flourished as a songwriter – in one scene in the <i>Let It Be</i> film we hear him working his way through the chords for <i>Something</i> – and Lennon and McCartney's continual treatment of his creative output as an afterthought, a mere trifle or good only as album filler was becoming a serious issue. Serious enough, in fact, for Harrison to walk out of Twickenham Studios and announce to the rest of the group he would not be coming back. <br />
<br />
Days of mediation followed (although the hard-boiled Lennon's idea was to “just get Eric Clapton in”) and when George agreed to make the Fab Four again it was on the understanding that he would not be a part of any concert, at the Royal Albert Hall or otherwise. George would return to the fold with his friend, keyboard player Billy Preston, in tow. This was a time honoured Harrison trick: bring an outsider with you to recording sessions in the hope it would make the others behave. It worked, too, but McCartney's grand plans seemed to be dead in the water. <br />
<br />
Eventually, a compromise solution was agreed where the band would go up onto their office roof and play a set of the material they had been filmed working up, completely unannounced. And so it came to pass that after lunch on January 30th 1969, the Beatles emerged to play in the open air one last time. Many of the staff at Apple Corps would join them to spectate, too, taking a break from their normal day-to-day office activities – chiefly making reverse charge telephone calls to Canberra and smoking ounce after ounce of Moroccan black, according to Ringo Starr's later account of his erstwhile employees' labours.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JvjGIhsJ5UN1e_ncri5jOkyG91xiZBGFIyjjRgoECzv-n1dc_gHuhU461npldo8TpLSnWKFHh8IrxzrWyn-Z6ReHm4Q2keWo90rRLI1wBUj7EKeOoPBm7XIvrR_BME7AtA_LGJSGtBv8/s1600/rooftop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The Beatles play on the rooftop of their Savile Row office, January 1969" border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JvjGIhsJ5UN1e_ncri5jOkyG91xiZBGFIyjjRgoECzv-n1dc_gHuhU461npldo8TpLSnWKFHh8IrxzrWyn-Z6ReHm4Q2keWo90rRLI1wBUj7EKeOoPBm7XIvrR_BME7AtA_LGJSGtBv8/s1600/rooftop.jpg" title="The Beatles play on the rooftop of their Savile Row office, January 1969" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Beatles, 3 Savile Row, London; 30th January 1969 (a Thursday)</td></tr>
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The band began their set with <i>Get Back</i>. Now a song about as familiar to everyone in Britain as the National Anthem (they would play this too, incidentally, while the film crew changed the reels in their cameras), at the time it was so shiny new that it probably took anyone in earshot a minute or so to put together exactly what the hell was going on. They soon realised, however, and a genuine cross-section of British society all began to try as best they could to get a better look. In the film, we see excitable secretaries hurling themselves across busy roads, taxi drivers rubbernecking, businessmen who are old enough to have seen everything wearing faces of childlike wonder and, my own personal favourite, an old boy with a bowler hat and umbrella climbing up a ladder on the outside of a building to stand on his own roof and take in the scene with his hands in his raincoat pockets. The Beatles played <i>Get Back</i> twice in succession, with the first of these performances featuring in the final cut of the <i>Let It Be</i> film.<br />
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Next up was <i>Don't Let Me Down</i>, and again it was the first of the two performances of John Lennon's new song that afternoon that made it to the final cut of the movie, in spite of the fact that he forgets the words and fluffs a verse mid-way through. <i>Don't Let Me Down</i> would appear on the B side of the <i>Get Back</i> single that April, although it was inexplicably cut from the final <i>Let It Be</i> album by its producer. This would normally represent the biggest dick move of any producer's career, but in this case I think we can make an exception as the culprit in this instance was Phil Spector.<br />
<br />
The fourth song of the set was a first of two versions of <i>I've Got A Feeling</i>. In the film, it accompanies a slew of interviews with the spectators who had gathered on the streets below and you can easily, even if you are familiar with the record, miss the fact that the version that appeared on the final album is this live performance. It is a persuasive hint of just how tight The Beatles' playing was that day. Having not played live to anyone in almost a thousand days, on a frigid London rooftop and singing to leaden, empty January skies, here was a band who still had it, never lost it and had sufficient left to just give it away. The next song in the set, <i>One After 909</i> would also appear on the LP in its live form.<br />
<br />
Song six is <i>Dig A Pony</i>. Ringo Starr bellows “hold it!” to halt the introduction because he had been trying to choke down a cheeky cigarette and needed to extinguish it. Lennon, meanwhile, is not confident in his lyrical recall and reads them off book – held in front of him by a lackey no doubt pondering that this will probably be the greatest thing that ever happens to him in his whole life.<br />
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By this point, there is considerable commotion in and around the streets of London, as one might expect when the world's greatest rock and roll band play a free concert completely on a whim in the centre of one of the world's great capital cities. Not everyone shares quite the sense of wonder that the whole occasion engenders within me, however. This is, after all, England and English people will always react accordingly. “This type of music is all right in its place and I think it's quite enjoyable,” explains a besuited business type who could be any age from an old 30 to a young 55, “but I think its a bit of an imposition to absolutely disrupt all the business in this area”. As a fellow Englishman, it is hard to argue with him on this point, even though I feel that there need to be exceptions to many a hard and fast rule, particularly if The Beatles are involved. Perhaps he was one of the people who called in the Old Bill to sort it out. Either way, there was by now a growing police presence in Savile Row. They were initially denied entrance to number 3 by the Apple Corps staff, perhaps mindful that the building probably contained all of the drugs in the entire world. However, once the rozzers began threatening arrests for obstruction, uniformed officers slowly began to percolate throughout the building and onto the roof itself.<br />
<br />
Still treading the duck boards, The Beatles were by now onto their seventh and eighth numbers of the set, second versions of <i>I've Got A Feeling</i> and <i>Don't Let Me Down</i>. In the latter case, Lennon manages to get the lyrics right and as such a complete live version of the song could later be stitched together and released on <i>Let It Be: Naked</i>. By this point, the powers that be were really rather insistent that the band should stop making this unholy and unexpected racket. Perhaps they were just fed up with all the repetition and could have been placated with a few verses of <i>Ticket To Ride</i>? We'll never know.<br />
<br />
Now surrounded by enough police officers to host an FA Cup tie, the band lurched into their final song, the last they would ever play in public together. It was a third performance of <i>Get Back</i> and it is the scuzziest yet, not helped by the fact that the groups' long-suffering personal assistant Mal Evans had been told to turn off the amplifiers by a police officer and, understandably enough, had complied with the instruction. The sound drops out as Lennon and Harrison try to wail on their axe only to get a handful of silence, before both men plug themselves in again on the fly while the song rolls on almost seamlessly. This third version is the one that was released in <i>Anthology 3</i>, complete with McCartney's improvised final verse: “you've been playing on the roof again, and that's no good, your momma doesn't like that, she's going to have you arrested!”. The song concludes hurriedly and is greeted by a loud cheer from Maureen Starkey, Ringo's wife. “I'd like to thank you on behalf of the group and myself and I hope we've passed the audition,” says Lennon to peals of part-sycophantic, part-nervous, part-genuine laughter. The Beatles may not have left the building, but they were no longer on its roof.<br />
<br />
In the end, no-one was arrested, a fact made scarcely credible by the sheer quantity of narcotics contained within the Apple building. Perhaps The Beatles had built up enough residual goodwill that the police were willing to turn a blind eye. They had just played a killer gig, after all, and as a passing vicar points out in the finished film, “it's nice to get something for free in this country at the moment...”<br />
<br />
However, the long term effects on the group would take their toll. The <i>Get Back</i> sessions had been marred by so much ill-feeling that the album and feature film were shelved, the group instead throwing themselves into recording what would become <i>Abbey Road</i>, a more fitting final hurrah for the band that had changed the course of Western culture forever. On April 10th 1970 (a Friday), Paul McCartney announced that he had left the band and The Beatles were no more. The following month, a Phil Spector-produced rehash of the turbulent <i>Get Back</i> sessions would be released as the <i>Let It Be</i> album, in tandem with a feature film of the same name. Both were hugely successful at the time but have subsequently been reviewed in a far harsher light, unfairly so in my view. There are brilliant moments in each and, although it isn't nice to see it when mummy and daddy fight, they both still love us all the same.<br />
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Imagine being there, though. That day in January, now fifty years ago. A moment of history, lovingly recorded so that we can all still be a part of it, unfolding before your very eyes and ears. It must have been hard to fully comprehend the magnitude of what you had witnessed, a process that could only truly begin once it was confirmed that these four brilliant men would never again play together. A process that still isn't over now, as current and future generations still come to grips with what The Beatles did and what they gave us. They were the big bang that created our cultural universe. This was their farewell. dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com23 Savile Row, Mayfair, London W1S 3PB, UK51.510462 -0.1395807999999760851.510152999999995 -0.14021129999997609 51.510771 -0.13895029999997607tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-45172635182162323322017-03-23T09:00:00.000+00:002017-03-23T09:37:33.685+00:00Formula 2017<i>This Sunday sees the opening race of the 2017 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season. On Monday night, with this in mind, a peculiar thing happened to me: the wife said that she was getting more interested by the F1 races. This is presumably due to her continued hazardously toxic exposure to me, but whatever the reason, she said it and there are no take-backs. As a result, I plan to spend this season trying to indoctrinate her to my own poisonous ends: i.e. watching motor racing all the time.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>To this end I thought I should begin with a pre-season primer, a broad sweep looking at the coming Grand Prix year and pointing out some potential areas of interest. Maybe it will work on her. Maybe it won't, but it will work on you. I hope so. Formula 1 motor racing, even when it is at its most soporiphic and tedious (which is anything up to 85% of the time), is GREAT and I love it.</i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE FORMULA</b></span><br />
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Formula 1 is called "Formula" 1 because the cars are designed to a formula: that is, regulations which stipulate everything about the dimensions of the car, the specifications of the tyres it is allowed to run and the size and type of engine. If you didn't know that, I have just BLOWN YOUR MIND.<br />
<br />
This year, the Formula has changed. Cars are now wider than they were last year, with bigger tyres which offer more grip and more downforce - 35% more downforce, in some cases - coming from the increased allowances in the size of the aerodynamics. The effect of all this is increased performance, a much needed change since the previous formula, which began in 2014, had seen the drivers forced to drive their cars below their full limitation in order to finish races in the shortest possible time. A 2017-spec Formula 1 car will probably begin the season lapping 4 to 4.5 seconds faster than its 2016 counterpart, with potential increases of up to 5 to 6 seconds per lap by the time the circus reaches Abu Dhabi in November.<br />
<br />
The likely result of this: more spectacular cars, more physical and mental challenge for the drivers and more flat-out driving on Sunday afternoons due to more the durable redesigned Pirelli tyres. The racing cars actually being able to race each other on the circuit may prove more difficult to due increases in aerodynamic turbulence and shorter braking distances. However, the passing we do see should be purer - less based on strategic factors - than it has been in recent years.<br />
<br />
The rules have also been tweaked. Instead of lengthy safety car periods, red flag stoppages are making a welcome return to Formula 1. Rather than countless neutralised laps behind the pace car, eating away at the total distance, races will now be stopped and the remaining competitors subject to a standing restart on the grid. It should add a little extra spice to proceedings.<br />
<br />
Pirelli continue as the sole supplier of Formula 1 rubber. There are five compounds of dry tyre available: Ultrasoft, Supersoft, Soft, Medium and Hard. Three of these compounds will be available at each race, with drivers able to choose their own allocation of each. Drivers need to run at least two different types of tyre in each race, meaning that there will be at least one pit stop each.<br />
<br />
Finally, over the winter there was a major change behind the scenes, as Bernie Ecclestone finally relinquished control of the sport he has dominated since the 1970s to the American company Liberty Media. Expect a brief period of harmony followed by inevitable, relentless, politics.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijnPpK4YYWzSmrMXlNLJOpR_5K-mWcCFhtKBWKM1Umh-4Wy4jIQNZc_FvNyuapfMocpcO2G_63Lc0xS1FnHOTWaboF_AK9JAlZGD_s5YpuARUpunXQzQ8wyNEqjbpmhzmH6JbNA3gNXj48/s1600/001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijnPpK4YYWzSmrMXlNLJOpR_5K-mWcCFhtKBWKM1Umh-4Wy4jIQNZc_FvNyuapfMocpcO2G_63Lc0xS1FnHOTWaboF_AK9JAlZGD_s5YpuARUpunXQzQ8wyNEqjbpmhzmH6JbNA3gNXj48/s1600/001.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An racing car driver, yesterday</td></tr>
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<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">THE COMPETITORS</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2017/2/2017-mercedes-breaks-cover-at-silverstone.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">AMG MERCEDES-BENZ</span></a><br />
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Mercedes have dominated Formula 1 since the sport switched to 1.6 litre turbocharged hybrid power units for the 2014 season. Of the 59 Grands Prix of the hybrid era so far, Mercedes have won 51. Last season they won a record-breaking 19 races from the 21 events, with Nico Rosberg winning nine to snatch his first World Championship. It was a Herculean effort from Rosberg, who promptly decided that he was spent and retired from Formula 1 in the following week.<br />
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<b>Car 44: LEWIS HAMILTON (GB)</b><br />
Born: 7th January 1985, Stevenage. Age: 32<br />
First GP: Australia 2007<br />
Statistics: 188 races; 53 wins; 61 pole positions; 31 fastest laps; 2247 points. 2008, 2014 and 2015 World Champion.<br />
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<b>Car 77: VALTTERI BOTTAS (SF)</b><br />
Born: 28th August 1989, Nastola. Age: 27<br />
First GP: Australia 2013<br />
Statistics: 77 races; 2 second places; 1 fastest lap; 411 points. Best Championship: 4th (2014).<br />
<br />
Hamilton is now driving his fourth season at Mercedes, an association which has brought him 32 Grand Prix wins in 78 starts. If the new car is on the leading pace, Lewis Hamilton is the most likely World Champion of 2017 because he is the most complete driver on the grid. This is the Lewis Hamilton-era of Grand Prix racing, whether people like it or not. Bottas moves across from Williams to replace Rosberg. 2017 will most likely prove to be the Finn's first season in a front-running car and so he has it all yet to prove. I would expect him to win his first race this year, but beating his teammate consistently will almost certainly be beyond his capabilities.<br />
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<a href="https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2017/2/ferrari-launch-the-sf70h.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">FERRARI</span></a><br />
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Ferrari have endured a fallow period since the departure of Michael Schumacher at the end of 2006. Their last championship title came in 2007 and, since the hybrid era began in 2014, the sport's most historically successful team have won just three races, all the victories coming in 2015. Pre-season testing suggests that this year's car is much improved, however and Ferrari go into this year's Championship chasing the title.<br />
<br />
<b>Car 5: SEBASTIAN VETTEL (D)</b><br />
Born: 3rd July 1987, Heppenheim. Age: 29<br />
First GP: United States 2007<br />
Statistics: 178 races; 42 wins; 46 pole positions; 28 fastest laps; 2108 points. 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 World Champion.<br />
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<b>Car 7: KIMI RAIKKONEN (SF)</b><br />
Born: 17th October 1979, Espoo. Age: 37<br />
First GP: Australia 2001<br />
Statistics: 252 races; 20 wins; 16 pole positions; 43 fastest laps; 1360 points. 2007 World Champion.<br />
<br />
Vettel has won more world titles than any other active Grand Prix driver but the Hamilton domination of the hybrid era has seen rather slim pickings for the German. He failed to win a race in 2016, the second season in the last four where he came up empty handed. However, if the Ferrari is quick enough to get Vettel pole positions in 2017, expect him to win a lot of races: there is no better front-runner in the field and he could easily win a fifth world title this year. Raikkonen, the oldest driver on the grid, hasn't won a race since the Australian GP in 2013 but is one of the most consistent, reliable and canny drivers in Formula 1. Quick enough to beat Vettel over a season? Probably not, but he only just missed out last year.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2017/2/red-bull-reveal-the-rb13.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">RED BULL RACING-TAG HEUER</span></a><br />
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Red Bull consistently produce the most admired chassis in the field but the hybrid era has seen them hamstrung by a weak engine. Don't be fooled by the name: Red Bull are powered by a factory team-specification Renault unit. There are signs that Renault have started to make significant strides towards equalising their performance with the Mercedes and Ferrari powertrains and if they have, a tantalisingly competitive season could be in prospect.<br />
<br />
<b>Car 3: DANIEL RICCIARDO (AUS)</b><br />
Born: 1st July 1989, Perth. Age: 27<br />
First GP: Britain 2011<br />
Statistics: 109 races; 4 wins; 1 pole position; 8 fastest laps; 616 points. Best Championship: 3rd (2014 and 2016)<br />
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<b>Car 33: MAX VERSTAPPEN (NL)</b><br />
Born: 30th September 1997, Hasselt (Belgium). Age: 19.<br />
First GP: Australia 2015<br />
Statistics: 40 races; 1 win; 1 fastest lap; 253 points. Best Championship: 5th (2016).<br />
<br />
Red Bull boast what is perhaps the strongest driver line-up in the field. Max Verstappen arrived from the junior Toro Rosso team mid-way through last season and promptly won his first race, the youngest driver ever to win a Grand Prix. His explosive, aggressive talent makes him the hottest prospect in Formula 1. Daniel Ricciardo was the moral victor of last year's Monaco Grand Prix, his brilliant weekend's work spoilt by a tactical mistake by his team in the pits. He is the sport's most bold, daring and exciting racing driver and well capable of putting a Championship tilt together in the right car. The most likely one to wear the "future World Champion" crown? Probably Verstappen, but only on account of his age.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.planetf1.com/news/new-pink-livery-for-force-indias-vjm10/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES</span></a><br />
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Force India had their best ever season in F1 last term. Aided by the superiority of their Mercedes engine and their wise decision to live within their financial means by not maintaining their own wind tunnel or building their own gearbox sees them focus their attention on the things that really matter. All of this is moot, of course, since they painted their new car pink and that became the only thing anyone noticed. But make no mistake, Force India are now a team who are capable of winning a race if things go their way.<br />
<br />
<b>Car 11: SERGIO PEREZ (MX)</b><br />
Born: 26th January 1990, Guadalajara. Age: 27<br />
First GP: Australia 2011<br />
Statistics: 114 races; 2 second places; 3 fastest laps; 367 points. Best Championship: 7th (2016)<br />
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<b>Car 31: ESTEBAN OCON (F)</b><br />
Born: 17th September 1996, Evreux. Age: 21<br />
First GP: Belgium 2016<br />
Statistics: 9 races, no points.<br />
<br />
Sergio Perez spent 2016 showing distinct signs of a hitherto unseen maturity. Previously, his Grand Prix performances had been lacking in consistency and alarmingly prone to wild and woolly on-track behaviour. Last season, though, he delivered two third place finishes and scored points on 16 occasions from 21 races, including in the last ten consecutive events: Perez looks like a driver coming into his prime. His new teammate, Ocon, spent half of last season racing for Manor but is a protege of Mercedes-Benz. 2017 is his first real chance to show what he can do, but the signs are very promising. His speed is allied to significant consistency: Ocon has so far finished every Grand Prix he has started.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2017/2/williams-officially-unveil-the-fw40.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">WILLIAMS-MERCEDES</span></a><br />
<br />
Williams are marking their 40th year as a Formula 1 constructor in 2017. They are the sport's third most successful team and the one that most neutrals root for. Their association with Mercedes-Benz has seen them pull themselves out of the doldrums to a certain degree, although last season was a little more disappointing than the two that had gone before it. Williams last won a race in 2012 and, like Force India, they will need things to go their way for that to change this year.<br />
<br />
<b>Car 18: LANCE STROLL (CDN)</b><br />
Born: 29th October 1998, Montreal. Age: 18<br />
New to Formula 1 this season<br />
<br />
<b>Car 19: FELIPE MASSA (BR)</b><br />
Born: 25th April 1983, Sao Paulo. Age: 33<br />
First GP: Australia 2002<br />
Statistics: 250 races; 11 wins; 16 pole positions; 15 fastest laps; 1124 points. Best Championship: 2nd (2008)<br />
<br />
Williams' driver line-up is perhaps the weakest on the grid, on paper at least. Lance Stroll, the son of a Canadian billionaire, is the field's only rookie at the start of 2017. He dominated last season's European Formula 3 championship, but there remain big question marks regarding his age, his experience, his consistency, his racecraft and his fitness for driving this new generation of more aggressive cars. Time will tell. His teammate is Felipe Massa, who was World Champion for 30 seconds in 2008 but hasn't won a race since he fractured his skull in a freak accident at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Massa's time as a top line Grand Prix driver is past, a fact of which he is sufficiently aware to have retired at the end of last season. However, Williams' main sponsor, Martini, contractually oblige the team to have one driver who is over 25 years of age (for the purposes of advertising hooch) and Massa found himself unretired again. He's a good driver, who at one point looked as though he was coming to be great, but Massa's likely benefit to Williams this season is his experience.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2017/2/mclaren-revive-orange-livery-with-mcl32.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">McLAREN-HONDA</span></a><br />
<br />
McLaren are now presided over by American advertising guru Zac Brown, long-time president Ron Dennis - the divisive and controversial figure who had made McLaren into the second-most successful team in F1 history - having been acrimoniously deposed last year. They have also returned to running orange cars, a welcome return for the team's traditional colour after years in silver and grey. However, that is pretty much the only piece of positive news coming out of Woking, because the car is a shambles. This will be their third year with Honda engines and both companies are openly dreaming of divorce, following a disastrous pre-season where McLaren didn't manage to run a car for more than eleven consecutive laps because of reliability issues. Will Honda get there? All recent signs suggest that they probably won't. A desperate season looks to be in prospect for McLaren unless these problems can be resolved and they may even be trying to avoid the ignimony of finishing last.<br />
<br />
<b>Car 2: STOFFEL VANDOORNE (B)</b><br />
Born: 26th March 1992, Kortrijk. Age: 24<br />
Only GP: Bahrain 2016<br />
Statistics: 1 race; 1 10th place; 1 point. Best Championship: 18th (2016)<br />
<br />
<b>Car 14: FERNANDO ALONSO (E)</b><br />
Born: 29th July 1981, Oviedo. Age: 35<br />
First GP: Australia 2001<br />
Statistics: 273 races; 32 wins; 22 pole positions; 22 fastest laps; 1832 points. 2005 and 2006 World Champion.<br />
<br />
One area where McLaren don't need to worry is in their driving strength. Fernando Alonso is one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers in the history of the sport but his luck (and judgement) are famously atrocious. Since his back-to-back titles with Renault and his fractious season as Lewis Hamilton's teammate in 2007, Alonso has managed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time with alarming consistency. He is not as adept at the politics of the sport as he perhaps thinks he is, which is a terrible pity because as a driver he is probably Hamilton's nearest rival. Since the retirement of Jenson Button, Alonso is the sport's most experienced active driver and he is starting to look royally fed up with McLaren and Honda's inability to give him what he wants, a third world title. His new teammate is the Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne. Vandoorne is highly rated thanks to a stellar and highly decorated career in the lower formulae, but more impressive yet was his drive in Bahrain last season, where sitting in for an injured Alonso he delivered a points finish in his debut Grand Prix. Paddock whispers are that Vandoorne is a potential future World Champion. But probably not in this car.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2017/2/new-look-toro-rosso-completes--17-launches-in-spain.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">TORO ROSSO-RENAULT</span></a><br />
<br />
Toro Rosso are Red Bull's junior team, operated out of Italy by what used to be the Minardi team. This will be their eleventh year in the sport and they have already brought through drivers like Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen. They have firmly established themselves as midfield runners now and are usually a good bet for picking up a lot of small points during the year. Whether or not they boast the resources or ambition to push on to challenge for podiums is open to question: often they start the season well then slide backwards as their better-funded opposition catch up. This year's neat car is also, finally, painted sufficiently differently to the Red Bull that colourblind people will be able to spot it at a glance.<br />
<br />
<b>Car 26: DANIIL KVYAT (RU)</b><br />
Born: 26th April 1994, Ufa. Age: 22<br />
First GP: Australia 2014<br />
Statistics: 57 races; 1 second place; 1 fastest lap; 128 points. Best Championship: 7th (2015).<br />
<br />
<b>Car 55: CARLOS SAINZ JR (E)</b><br />
Born: 1st September 1994, Madrid. Age: 22<br />
First GP: Australia 2015<br />
Statistics: 40 races; 3 sixth places; 64 points. Best Championship: 12th (2016)<br />
<br />
Toro Rosso's brief is to provide a home for young drivers in the Red Bull program, with a view to establishing them in Formula 1. As such, it is a peculiarly brutal place, where young talents are cast aside with alarming regularity. Daniil Kvyat can count himself fairly lucky, then, to still have a seat: he was promoted to a Red Bull seat for 2015 but lost it to Max Verstappen early in 2016 after a series of high-profile accidents with Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari. It's sometimes not easy to remember that Kvyat is not yet 23 years of age, because he is fighting for his Formula 1 life. His teammate, similiarly, has a lot to prove. This will be Carlos Sainz Jr's (he is the son of the two-time World Rally Champion, Carlos Sainz) third season at Toro Rosso and that usually means: reckoning. Sainz has shown himself to be a thoroughly reliable pair of hands but there are questions about his ultimate speed. A Red Bull drive may await him if he can prove himself, though.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2017/2/wraps-come-off-2017-challenger-from-haas.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">HAAS-FERRARI</span></a><br />
<br />
Haas are now in their second season. They are the sport's only American team, although it is hard to guess that from the outside. Indeed, much of their powertrain is built by Ferrari and their chassis is built by Italian racing car manufacturer Dallara, so there's a peculiarly European feel. This is a pity, as Formula 1 could do with some of that Stateside glitz, glamour and showmanship. They had a decent first year, scoring a remarkable 5th place at their debut race, but after that their development curve flattened out and they were comfortably overtaken by their rivals. Second seasons are notoriously difficult for new Formula 1 teams, so we will wait and see. Testing was not particularly promising, with the car suffering from brake problems that its lead driver considered to be insurmountable until Haas finds a new supplier.<br />
<br />
<b>Car 8: ROMAIN GROSJEAN (F)</b><br />
Born: 17th April 1986, Geneva (Switzerland). Age: 30<br />
First GP: Europe 2009<br />
Statistics: 103 races; 2 second places; 1 fastest lap; 316 points. Best Championship: 7th (2013)<br />
<br />
<b>Car 20: KEVIN MAGNUSSEN (DK)</b><br />
Born: 5th October 1992, Roskilde. Age: 24<br />
First GP: Australia 2014<br />
Statistics: 40 races; 1 second place; 62 points. Best Championship: 11th (2014)<br />
<br />
Haas has two pilots whose "highly-rated young driver" mantle is starting to go curly and crisp at the edges. Grosjean was fast and wild in his early years in the sport but he has matured into a fine, if not necessarily ultimately competitive, Grand Prix racing driver. Whatever the Haas car is capable of, Grosjean will deliver. Kevin Magnussen's Formula 1 career so far has been a stop-start affair: he finished 2nd in his first ever race in a McLaren that spent the remainder of the season getting slower by the race. He found refuge at Renault last year, but the car wasn't competitive enough to showcase what he can do. What can he do? We don't really know yet. Magnussen is the son of former Grand Prix driver Jan Magnussen and is one of three drivers in the field who can make a similar boast, alongside Max Verstappen (Jos) and Jolyon Palmer (Jonathan).<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2017/2/renault-launch-the-r-s-17-in-london.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">RENAULT</span></a><br />
<br />
Renault's love affair with Formula 1 blows hot and cold, but when they are determined to stick around they usually win things. Last season saw fresh investment and impetus being given to the current project and the team are starting to grow again. Renault are operated by an outfit at Enstone, Oxfordshire who originally competed as Toleman and then as Benetton before Renault bought them in 2001. In their various guises, they have won three constructors and four drivers world titles. Renault seem to be on an upward trajectory again, which will be a blessed relief after a difficult 2016 which saw the team finish in the points just twice.<br />
<br />
<b>Car 27: NICO HULKENBERG (D)</b><br />
Born: 19th August 1987, Emmerich. Age: 29<br />
First GP: Bahrain 2010<br />
Statistics: 115 races; 3 fourth places; 1 pole position; 2 fastest laps; 362 points. Best Championship: 9th (2014 and 2016)<br />
<br />
<b>Car 30: JOLYON PALMER (GB)</b><br />
Born: 20th January 1991, Horsham. Age: 26<br />
First GP: Australia 2016<br />
Statistics: 20 races; 1 tenth place; 1 point. Best Championship: 18th (2016)<br />
<br />
Nico Hulkenberg joins Renault this year from Force India, the first time that Hulkenberg will drive for a team with full factory support. Hulkenberg is an enormously well-respected driver who has been continually passed over by bigger teams because of concerns over his height and weight. There are few drivers in the field who are quite so reliable, however, and if Renault can give him a good car he will give the team good results. Maybe even his first ever Formula 1 podium: Hulkenberg is just 14 races shy of holding the unwanted record for the longest Formula 1 career without one. His teammate, Jolyon Palmer, was retained by Renault for a second season despite a difficult first year. This may be a smart piece of business by the team, as Palmer has consistently proved that he gets better with time. A better car this year could offer us an insight into what his potential might be.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2017/2/sauber-reveal-new-car-in-anniversary-livery.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">SAUBER-FERRARI</span></a><br />
<br />
Sauber have been in Grand Prix racing for 24 years now and are yet to shake off the suspicion that they are making up the numbers. Normally, such suggestions are greeted by an impressive season of point scoring, but Sauber now look as though they might now be in terminal decline. A 9th place at last season's chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix was their only return in a harrowing 2016 season, where they were often the slowest car in the field. However, their facilities at Hinwil, Switzerland are some of the finest in the world and last year saw fresh investment in the team, who have built a neat-looking car for 2017. Beating McLaren is not an unreasonable target, although Renault and Toro Rosso will probably prove too far ahead.<br />
<br />
<b>Car 9: MARCUS ERICSSON (S)</b><br />
Born: 2nd September 1990, Kumla. Age: 26<br />
First GP: Australia 2014<br />
Statistics: 56 races; 1 eighth place; 9 points. Best Championship: 18th (2015)<br />
<br />
<b>Car 94: PASCAL WEHRLEIN (D)</b><br />
Born: 18th October 1994, Sigmaringen. Age: 22<br />
First GP: Australia 2016<br />
Statistics: 21 races; 1 tenth place; 1 point. Best Championship: 18th (2016)<br />
<br />
Pascal Wehrlein is a Mercedes-Benz development driver who was impressive in an uncompetive Manor last season. His age and lack of experience cost him, however, as Bottas got the nod ahead of him when the seat at the works team became available. He was also publically sore about Force India choosing his teammate Esteban Ocon as their second driver instead of him. Still, Sauber represent a step up for Wehrlein, who needs to discover that the only way to really make your mark in Formula 1 is by delivering results and lap times. He certainly seems to have the ability to do so. His teammate, Marcus Ericsson, really IS making up the numbers. He has much to prove and, I fear, lacks the talent to do it.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE RULES</b></span><br />
<br />
Grand Prix meetings are three day affairs: on Friday (or Thursday, in Monaco) there are two 90-minute free practice sessions. On Saturday morning there is an additional 90 minute free practice, before an hour-long qualifying session at lunchtime. The cars are then put away and cannot be worked on by the teams until the race on Sunday afternoon. Each driver is allocated 13 sets of dry weather tyres and 4 sets of wet weather tyres for the race meeting, no more and no less, so teams have to limit their running to ensure they have enough serviceable rubber to be competitive on Sunday.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">QUALIFICATION</span><br />
<br />
On Saturday afternoon, there is a one hour long session to decide the order of the grid for Sunday's race. Within the the first 18 minutes - called Q1 - all twenty cars must set a time, after which the drivers who have set the five slowest lap times will be eliminated and will line up in 16th-20th positions on Sunday. After a short break, the remaining fifteen cars must set a time during the 15-minute Q2, where the 11th-15th placed starters will be decided. The fastest 10 cars then compete in the 12-minute Q3, after which the driver who has posted the fastest time celebrates wildly because they will start the race from pole position.<br />
<br />
Drivers who make it to the Q3 top ten shootout receive an additional set of tyres that they can use for that session only. However, there is a trade-off: those drivers must start the race on the set of tyres they used to set their fastest time in Q2. The drivers who qualify in 11th-20th positions may choose which set of tyres they start the race on. The only alteration to this is if a wet race is declared, when all drivers must change to either intermediate or full wet treaded tyres.<br />
<br />
Any driver whose fastest time is 7% slower than the pole position time is deemed to be too slow and does not qualify for the race. However, this very infrequently happens and when it does, there are usually extenuating circumstances and the affected car will be allowed to start.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">RACE DAY</span><br />
<br />
Each Grand Prix race takes place over a distance of 200 miles (300 km) or two hours, depending on which occurs first (usually the former). Drivers who finish in the top 10 are awarded points and the driver with the most points at the end of the season is the World Champion. The points are awarded as follows:<br />
<br />
Winner: 25 points; 2nd place: 18; 3rd: 15; 4th: 12; 5th: 10; 6th: 8; 7th: 6; 8th: 4; 9th: 2; 10th: 1.<br />
<br />
The only changes to this come if the race is stopped before 75% of the distance is completed and cannot be restarted. In this scenario, half-points are awarded: 12.5 for the winner, 9 for second, 7.5 for third, and so on. Drivers must also complete at least 90% of the race winner's distance to be eligible to score points.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">FLAGS</span><br />
<br />
You will see flags and lights displayed all over the place during the time that the cars are on the circuit. The meanings of the flags are as follows:<br />
<br />
<b>Green</b>: Nothing to see here, get on with racing.<br />
<br />
<b>Yellow</b>: Caution - reduce your speed. (Waved yellows mean dramatically reduce your speed, double waved yellows mean be prepared to stop).<br />
<br />
<b>Yellow and red striped</b>: Slippery surface ahead.<br />
<br />
<b>Blue</b>: There is a faster car behind you. In a race, you must get out of its way within three marshalling posts or else you will receive a time penalty for blocking.<br />
<br />
<b>Red</b>: The race has been stopped, return slowly to the pit area.<br />
<br />
<b>White and black chequer</b>: The race is over. Well done, you finished.<br />
<br />
<b>Black and white diagonal</b>: A warning for unsportsmanlike behaviour.<br />
<br />
<b>Black and orange</b>: Your car is in a dangerous condition, return to the pits to have it fixed.<br />
<br />
<b>Black</b>: You have been disqualified, return to the pits and stop.<br />
<br />
There will be times during the races that the safety car will be called out to neutralise the race: cars line up behind it until the problem has been solved. There are also Virtual Safety Car periods, where drivers must drive at a pre-prescribed pace until the problem has been solved, but do not have to line up and circulate behind a pace car on the circuit. For 2017, laps behind the safety car will not count towards the full distance and races will be restarted from a standstill on the starting grid. This is all very complex and boring on paper but makes more sense when you see it taking place.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">THE CALENDAR</span><br />
<br />
There are twenty races in 2017, down from 21 in 2016 after the loss of the German GP.<br />
<br />
26th March: <b>Australian GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Grand_Prix_Circuit" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Albert Park, Melbourne</a>)<br />
9th April: <b>Chinese GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_International_Circuit" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Shanghai International Circuit</a>)<br />
16th April: <b>Bahrain GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahrain_International_Circuit" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir</a>)<br />
30th April: <b>Russian GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sochi_Autodrom" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sochi Autodrom</a>)<br />
14th May: <b>Spanish GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_de_Barcelona-Catalunya" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona</a>)<br />
28th May: <b>Monaco GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monaco_Grand_Prix" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Monte Carlo</a>)<br />
11th June: <b>Canadian GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_Gilles_Villeneuve" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal</a>)<br />
25th June: <b>European GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baku_City_Circuit" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Baku City Circuit, Azerbaijan</a>)<br />
9th July: <b>Austrian GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull_Ring" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Red Bull Ring, Spielberg</a>)<br />
16th July: <b>British GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverstone_Circuit" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Silverstone, Northants</a>)<br />
30th July: <b>Hungarian GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungaroring" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hungaroring, Budapest</a>)<br />
27th August: <b>Belgian GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_de_Spa-Francorchamps" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Spa-Francorchamps</a>)<br />
3rd September: <b>Italian GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodromo_Nazionale_Monza" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Monza</a>)<br />
17th September: <b>Singapore GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Bay_Street_Circuit" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Marina Bay Street Circuit</a>)<br />
1st October: <b>Malaysian GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepang_International_Circuit" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sepang Circuit, Kuala Lumpur</a>)<br />
8th October: <b>Japanese GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuka_Circuit" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Suzuka</a>)<br />
22nd October: <b>United States GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_of_the_Americas" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Circuit of the Americas, Austin, TX</a>)<br />
29th October: <b>Mexican GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aut%C3%B3dromo_Hermanos_Rodr%C3%ADguez" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City</a>)<br />
12th November: <b>Brazilian GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aut%C3%B3dromo_Jos%C3%A9_Carlos_Pace" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Interlagos, Sao Paulo</a>)<br />
26th November: <b>Abu Dhabi GP</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yas_Marina_Circuit" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Yas Marina</a>)<br />
<br />
<i>I hope you enjoy it. </i>dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-47662439975264042352017-03-22T09:00:00.000+00:002017-03-22T09:00:32.631+00:00England fan fiction<i>As one of the voices on the venerable white horse of internet football broadcasting that is the <a href="http://twohundredpercent.net/podcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Twohundredpercent Podcast</b></a>, I have had to do some unusual things. A while ago, when we were thinking of ideas for our <a href="https://www.patreon.com/twohundredpercent" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>subscriber special</b></a> podcast, we wondered about doing some football fan fiction. That would be a stupid idea, we thought. Well, it most certainly was: so stupid, in fact, that we hastily abandoned the concept and retired to our den to smoke our pipes and suck a thoughtful tooth.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>But with today being the day of Gareth Southgate's first game since he was officially installed as the England team's full-time manager - and with that very eventuality being the subject of the fan fiction that I had written - I rashly promised that I would put the piece up on my website. Here it is.</i><br />
<br />
The team coach crackled its way up the hotel's circular gravel driveway, dodging peacocks and Polish gardeners. This was not the usual salubrious countryside retreat where the England team would convene before a Wembley fixture, but the more modest confines of the Hertford Ramada Jarvis. It was the choice of the squad's new permanent manager, Gareth Southgate, keen to stamp his own identity on proceedings. "What's this place, gaffer?", asked a concerned Theo Walcott. "Is this where we're staying? Do they have archery?". "Yes, do they have archery?" chimed Daniel Sturridge, nervously fingering the carbon fibre carry case of his bow.<br />
<br />
"There's no archery, there's no pool table, there isn't even a golf course," came Southgate's terse reply. "But they do have excellent conference facilities and there's a love tester machine in the corner of the bar". "Can we <i>use</i> the love tester machine, boss?", Joe Hart asked. "No you may not. No you may not." came Southgate's reply.<br />
<br />
Southgate had been both the most outstanding and indeed only candidate for the position of England manager after the hurried dismissal of Sam Allardyce, whose downfall had been so swift that there remained a slice of gala pie and a jar of pickled onions the drawer of the desk in the manager's office at Lancaster Gate. Southgate had established his credentials with his even-handed and successful stewardship of the England Under-21 team, as well as with his willingness to do his own typing. No England manager had ever been so thoroughly proficient with Microsoft Office.<br />
<br />
"We're beginning a new era, so we're in a new place," explained Southgate as the team gathered in the hotel lobby. "We're here to concentrate, to work and deliver for the country and I want you to bear in mind that all of my decisions have been taken towards that end". The players shuffled about nervously, some even going as far to remove their headphones so that they could better listen to their new manager. Southgate reached into his briefcase and pulled out a single sheet of immaculately typed A4 paper, which he placed on the table.<br />
<br />
"Here are your new room assignments. Many of you will find that you have been given a new international roommate but do not be alarmed. In time, I want you to get to know one another as closely as you do your clubmates, this is my hope and my expectation". The players lurched forward as one, curious to examine the list and pair off into their new units. Many of the players were now grouped by their position, an attempt to help foster a greater understanding both on and off the field."Right, you have your rooms. You've got an hour of free time before hot yoga, so get yourselves settled in," Southgate announced. "And no sloping off to Kyle Walker's room. We all know what goes on in there". Kyle Walker put down the joint he was skinning and made a face.<br />
<br />
The team's captain, Wayne Rooney, stepped forward. "I'm not on the list, gaffer. Where do I go?". "I was wondering when you'd ask that, Wayne. You'll be with me", said Southgate. The receptionist, who had been carefully pretending not to listen to any of this, suddenly let out a loud fart with shock.<br />
<br />
Three hours later, the players were all back in their rooms. Gareth helped Wayne to peel back his sweaty leotard. "Blimey", said Rooney, "if I'd known that yoga was going to be quite that strenuous I wouldn't have eaten that third Turducken!". The two men chuckled good-naturedly until Gareth Southgate's face froze. "Wait, you've eaten three Turduckens? Today?". "Only a joke, gaffer, only a joke," said Wayne reassuringly, hurriedly kicking a wishbone underneath the Welsh dresser. The two men were now in their white hotel bathrobes and a lengthy silence developed. A minute or two passed before Wayne was the first to speak. "Why did you want me to room with you, gaffer? I've been in football a long time and I've never heard of a player being roommates with the manager". "Wayne, I needed to try and get inside of you," Southgate explained. "Get inside your mind, try and understand what makes you tick. You're still a young man with a lot to offer this team. I need to try and understand why it isn't happening for you on the pitch at the moment. Are you happy at home?"<br />
<br />
Wayne Rooney exhaled deeply. "It's been tough, gaffer. My wife has got nipples like walnuts. The actual kernels of walnuts. The nut meats. Its hard to put it out of my mind. Increasingly, I find that during the course of games my mind has started to wander. All I can see are table after tressle table of coffee cakes at a Women's Institute summer fair". Southgate put an arm around Rooney's now bare shoulder. "Wayne, I'm going to tell you something that I have never told anyone outside of my family before. In the autumn of 1996, my marriage nearly ended. My wife couldn't get past the fact that it turns out my cumface is exactly the same as the face I pulled when I missed that penalty in the shootout at Euro 96." <br />
<br />
Both men were now in tears. "Football exposes the rawest of emotions, Wayne. It is the root of its success as a sport, but it is also why it puts such a strain on the people who play it. Do you know that Denis Law is only 35 years old?" "That explains why he's got so many Ocean Colour Scene albums in his CD rack," sniffed Rooney. "I had wondered".<br />
<br />
"Ultimately Wayne, you can't get through this crazy life inside professional football without the outlet of family. So if your wife has got walnut tits and you make three hundred grand a week, there's an obvious solution. But you need to communicate". Southgate now, too, was completely naked.<br />
<br />
Rooney studied the pattern on the carpet intently for a minute or more before he looked up again. "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Shell suits spontaneously combusting in the skips outside Deepdale. I watched shadow stripes glitter in the floodlights at Ashton Gate. I've done a shit in the dressing room toilet at Goodison Park that they still can't get to go down. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. It's time to play."<br />
<br />
"I've cum on the floor", said Southgate, pulling the exact face he made when he missed that penalty in the shootout at Euro 96.<br />
<br />
<i>Don't @ me.</i><br />
<br />dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-62069498632372128572017-03-17T17:50:00.000+00:002017-03-17T17:50:38.369+00:00(Sometimes) With The BeatlesHave you ever considered the possibility that all musicians are a bunch of shiftless, dishonest bastards? It is a tantalising possibility, isn't it? Particularly with regard to groups. If you settle down to listen to a Bob Dylan LP, for instance, you can be pretty sure that ol' Bob was responsible for at least some of the sounds that you are hearing. But groups are a very different dynamic: the achingly fashionable Johnnies you saw on Top of the Pops last week might have had very little to do with their latest 45.<br />
<br />
That said, there's nothing particularly wrong with this state of affairs. Artists have employed assistants for centuries to do all kinds of different work for them, often completely anonymously and without any expectation of credit. It is said that the modern day artist is more of a manager than a craftsperson, but it was ever thus: Andy Warhol got his mum to sign his work for him and while Michaelangelo did most of the figurative painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel himself, he still had a grunt on the ground telling him where to put extra pubes, mixing his paint and passing him up sausage rolls.<br />
<br />
It is, of course, particularly rife in popular music. The majority of The Beach Boys' most famous recordings were made by the Wrecking Crew, a Los Angeles-based supergroup of session musicians. Led Zeppelin were similarly formed by players from the London recording scene. And the less said about Milli Vanilli, the better.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-rWWbHxtQOSQa_P0Ru9vv1hTJPz_JPxUtzjARNjNp4nT0O6-tbm9pNd8qy2ufq25QGlf-eQJGqBgziu3hDx3JPfLTSAPl2ybJ-0_QRaWChZV8nLbyKZjJ1Wk5Hv9m7tav2JHAy-sSFTou/s1600/beatles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-rWWbHxtQOSQa_P0Ru9vv1hTJPz_JPxUtzjARNjNp4nT0O6-tbm9pNd8qy2ufq25QGlf-eQJGqBgziu3hDx3JPfLTSAPl2ybJ-0_QRaWChZV8nLbyKZjJ1Wk5Hv9m7tav2JHAy-sSFTou/s1600/beatles.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Beatles: Jim, Peter, Gregory and Roland</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Which brings me to The Beatles, who whether you like it or not happen to be the most famous and notable recording artists in history. This is a major advantage, as from a point in around the middle of 1962, no-one closely involved in their story has been able to do so much as a fart without Mark Lewisohn noting it down. As such, we are able to establish exactly who did what, where and when. The following is a list (possibly incomplete but hopefully not too badly so) of recordings released by The Beatles which did not have all four canonical members of the group playing on them. There will be a test later.<br />
<br />
<b>YESTERDAY</b><br />
Only Paul McCartney appears on the record: the other musicians were a string quartet, arranged by George Martin and comprised of Tony Gilbert, Sidney Sax, Kenneth Essex and Peter Halling or Francisco Gabarro.<br />
<br />
<b>WE CAN WORK IT OUT</b><br />
Is is unknown for sure whether or not George Harrison is present on this recording: some have argued that he provided the tambourine but others believe that this was played by Ringo Starr. Harrison did, however, contribute to the song's composition.<br />
<br />
<b>ELEANOR RIGBY</b><br />
Ringo Starr is absent from this track, with John Lennon and George Harrison only providing vocals. The music was provided exclusively by a string nonet arranged by George Martin and comprising Tony Gilbert, Sidney Sax, John Sharpe and Jürgen Hess on violin; Stephen Shingles and John Underwood on viola and Derek Simpson, Stephen Lansberry and Peter Halling on cello.<br />
<br />
<b>LOVE YOU TO</b><br />
John Lennon is absent from this recording, with Paul McCartney only offering vocals and Ringo Starr on tambourine. The group was bolstered by the addition of Anil Bhagwat on tabla and musicians from the Asian Music Circle on sitar and tambura.<br />
<br />
<b>WITHIN YOU WITHOUT YOU</b><br />
George Harrison recorded this solo, assisted by musicians from the Asian Music Circle providing dilrubas, tabla, swarmandal and tambura accompaniment.<br />
<br />
<b>SHE'S LEAVING HOME</b><br />
Features only Paul McCartney and John Lennon, who provide only vocals. She's Leaving Home is one of a scant few Beatles tracks on which none of the canonical four play any musical instrument.<br />
<br />
<b>THE INNER LIGHT</b><br />
Ringo Starr is absent from this recording. Parts of this song, which appeared as the B-side of the single <i>Lady Madonna</i>, were recorded at a session in Bombay during the group's stay in India. It is the only song ever issued by The Beatles not to have been recorded solely in the UK.<br />
<br />
<b>BACK IN THE U.S.S.R.</b><br />
<b>DEAR PRUDENCE</b><br />
Ringo Starr left The Beatles following a series of escalating intra-band arguments and did not appear on either of the opening songs on the white album. Paul McCartney provided the percussion instead.<br />
<br />
<b>WILD HONEY PIE</b><br />
<b>BLACKBIRD</b><br />
All exclusively solo Paul McCartney projects.<br />
<br />
<b>MARTHA MY DEAR</b><br />
Paul McCartney was again the sole representative on this recording, which was bolstered by a 15-man brass and string orchestra arranged by George Martin.<br />
<br />
<b>DON'T PASS ME BY</b><br />
The first Beatles song solely written by Ringo Starr, only Paul McCartney joins him on the recording; with additional violin by Jack Fallon.<br />
<br />
<b>WHY DON'T WE DO IT IN THE ROAD?</b><br />
Paul McCartney recorded this song solo, although Ringo Starr would later overdub his own drum track which eventually appeared in the finished version.<br />
<br />
<b>I WILL</b><br />
George Harrison was otherwise occupied for the recording of this song, which required 67 takes.<br />
<br />
<b>JULIA</b><br />
John Lennon's first and only exclusively solo effort as a Beatle.<br />
<br />
<b>MOTHER NATURE'S SON</b><br />
Ironically recorded at a time of great disharmony within the group, McCartney recorded the song alone, later adding in a George Martin brass arrangement. Lennon and Starr were, reportedly, extremely peeved that McCartney had taken his own initiative.<br />
<br />
<b>LONG, LONG, LONG</b><br />
<b>SAVOY TRUFFLE</b><br />
Lennon was absent from the session in which both of these songs were recorded.<br />
<br />
<b>GOOD NIGHT</b><br />
Ringo Starr provides the vocal for this John Lennon-penned song, with orchestral accompaniment arranged by George Martin and backing vocals from The Mike Sammes Singers.<br />
<br />
<b>ACROSS THE UNIVERSE</b><br />
Paul McCartney is absent from the Phil Spector-produced version that appeared on the <i>Let It Be</i> album, although he appears on the "birdsong" version recorded for the World Wildlife Fund at the request of Spike Milligan, which was subsequently released on <i>Past Masters volume 2</i>.<br />
<br />
<b>I ME MINE</b><br />
John Lennon had left the band by the time this Harrison composition was recorded. However, the session - in which John Lennon instead spent his time dancing in the corner of the studio with Yoko Ono - appeared in Michael Lindsay-Hogg's film <i>Let It Be</i> and therefore had to be included on the finished album.<br />
<br />
<b>THE BALLAD OF JOHN AND YOKO</b><br />
George Harrison was on holiday and Ringo Starr away filming <i>The Magic Christian</i> when inspiration struck Lennon to write this song, which he recorded with help from McCartney on vocals, bass, percussion and piano.<br />
<br />
<b>MAXWELL'S SILVER HAMMER</b><br />
<b>HERE COMES THE SUN</b><br />
<b>GOLDEN SLUMBERS</b><br />
John Lennon was in a car accident in Scotland on July 1st 1969 which saw him hospitalised for six days and absent from several sessions for the <i>Abbey Road</i> album. Lennon had returned to London and to the studio by the time work began on <i>Maxwell's Silver Hammer</i>, but declined to take part because he thought the song was "rubbish". <br />
<br />
<b>BECAUSE</b><br />
Ringo Starr is absent from this song, which required no percussion. Or at least, that was their story.<br />
<br />
<b>HER MAJESTY</b><br />
A Paul McCartney solo.<br />
<br />
<i>(honourable mention: The version of </i>Love Me Do<i> that appears on the </i>Please Please Me<i> album (and also released as a single in the US market) features session musician Andy White on drums instead of then-newcomer Ringo Starr. However, Ringo is on the record, playing the tambourine. The version of </i>Love Me Do<i> that appears on </i>Past Masters Vol. 1 <i>has Ringo restored to his rightful seat.)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-91403449611652331092017-01-25T10:48:00.000+00:002017-01-27T08:18:59.027+00:00Giraffes don't* advertise<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfFkazLdfKlHW6IjnOo41antJCc0V-3rKri0zcXESYJko3pFCjdqlADHPLBs-Q4oppxyoLNHFEXJppZVCK93yzdRROzwEQHBOpWYE1TBCnIV0E3roM6VOMXxpXERgMlmNELcwq6DQv_IOA/s1600/giraffe7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfFkazLdfKlHW6IjnOo41antJCc0V-3rKri0zcXESYJko3pFCjdqlADHPLBs-Q4oppxyoLNHFEXJppZVCK93yzdRROzwEQHBOpWYE1TBCnIV0E3roM6VOMXxpXERgMlmNELcwq6DQv_IOA/s1600/giraffe7.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
* To be completely fair, this giraffe does advertise.dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-31050864509229627282017-01-23T09:17:00.000+00:002017-01-23T09:17:56.507+00:00The last 50 years in beard styles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivXSruHnbp3e3gv2iP9ebQ7YtdFcEXySNbhnbPzSWN7bLiLVEVK2zMSU-iZIKm-jrNF7CFbgHI-2FW0p89Hf-EvPhuk3-5eeXDgpsbiTIuDa-F9esTCpStNLVUHEfi_4UFY5BoH6Ka72Vt/s1600/50beards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivXSruHnbp3e3gv2iP9ebQ7YtdFcEXySNbhnbPzSWN7bLiLVEVK2zMSU-iZIKm-jrNF7CFbgHI-2FW0p89Hf-EvPhuk3-5eeXDgpsbiTIuDa-F9esTCpStNLVUHEfi_4UFY5BoH6Ka72Vt/s1600/50beards.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-56295040778581595562016-12-31T10:30:00.000+00:002017-01-27T08:20:04.793+00:00The Pengest VersionCover versions needn't be rubbish. The alchemy that makes a song great involves a confluence of so many different factors: artist, style, production, time, its relevance to current affairs, etc., that it is statistically improbable that the original version of every song should always be definitive. However, the paradigm remains intact - modern humans seem hard-wired to expect that the song's authors will produce the ultimate interpretation. It's enough to make Roland Barthes spit.<br />
<br />
It wasn't always so, of course. The people to blame, if you are the sort of person who likes to bear grudges, are the pioneers of Rock 'n' Roll. People like Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Buddy Holly were all self-contained creative hubs, a new breed of recording artists in an industry that had previously been dominated by softly crooned versions of Tin Pan Alley-penned standards. When this was adopted by the early movers and shakers in 1960s popular music - particularly by Bob Dylan and The Beatles (ironically, both extremely adept cover artists) - their contemporaries noticed how much more money they were making and the 'write-it-yourself, play-it-yourself' model became set in stone. Capitalism, there.<br />
<br />
2016 has been such a stark, uncertain and frightful year for so many people that the prospect of 2017 being a pale facsimile is enough to make the hole in your arse heal over. This was when my mind turned to cover versions, I guess: looking for examples of when history looked at the past and made it better. As ever, I took to Twitter and asked other people to do my work for me. The resulting list of cover versions of songs better than the originals was, yet again, pretty weighty and will be presented at the bottom of this post for the completists among you.<br />
<br />
However, this time I have cast democracy aside and cordoned off a perfect ten. Complaints, as always, to the usual place. Your mum.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZAajrxvDs4" target="_blank">10. Saint Etienne - Only Love Can Break Your Heart</a></b></span><br />
<br />
<i>Written and first recorded by Neil Young, initially released in 1970.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
It is still, just, 2016 and therefore let it first be said that Neil Young is a great artist and long may he reign, but his falsetto heavy version of Only Love Can Break Your Heart is really quite weedy compared to the version released by Saint Etienne twenty years later. Saint Etienne turned Young's slow-punctured balloon into a fully fledged tornado with the judicious application of breakbeats and syncopated piano. The overall effect is to switch the tone from a lachrymose, introspective after-hours bar singalong to a defiant and dubbed-out Poll Tax riot.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifAtvI48R_0" target="_blank">9. The Communards - Don't Leave Me This Way</a></b></span><br />
<br />
<i>Written by Gamble, Huff and Gilbert. First recorded by Howard Melvin and The Blue Notes, initially released in 1973. Most famously recorded by Thelma Houston and released in 1977.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
A classic example of 1970s soul when it was first released in 1973, Thelma Houston re-energised the smooth yet stodgy Howard Melvin original into a huge disco floor-filler in 1977, where it also became an enormously significant anthem for both gay rights and AIDS-awareness. However, neither version can compete with the Hi-NRG version released by The Communards in 1986, a song so bursting with passion and intent that it leaves the previous versions looking ponderously sedate. It also features what is, surely, the greatest ever House music-inspired piano break to be played on record by a licensed clergyman.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZVpR3Pk-r8" target="_blank">8. Soft Cell - Tainted Love</a></b></span><br />
<br />
<i>Written by Ed Cobb. First recorded by Gloria Jones, initially released in 1964.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Tainted Love was, in common with the majority of the songs that are now deemed to be <i>bona fide</i> classics of the Northern Soul genre, a largely forgotten recording. It failed to chart in either the US or the UK, where the record buying public at large seemed immune from its urgent, pounding rhythm. Gloria Jones was better known as Marc Bolan's girlfriend and ill-fated chauffeur by the time Soft Cell made the song a huge hit in 1981. Rather than speeding it up, they slowed it down, giving the song space to breathe. Despite this, it retains all the urgency and feeling of the original. Contrary, too, is the warmth that radiates from the recording in spite of the ice and glass of Soft Cell's electronic style.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIKBq9TeFlw" target="_blank">7. Joe Cocker - With A Little Help From My Friends</a></b></span><br />
<br />
<i>Written by Lennon/McCartney. First recorded by The Beatles, initially released in 1967.</i><br />
<br />
Originally the second song on The Beatles' magnum opus <i>Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band</i> album, its charm, humour and richness was nevertheless completely derailed by Joe Cocker's ferociously powerful rendition, released the following year. Just watch the video. No-one is telling me that Joe Cocker doesn't need more help from his friends than Ringo Starr. But what really sets this version apart is the addition of the full orchestration of American Soul music. Where The Beatles version is perfectly formed and calculated, Cocker's is the roaring, desperate effort of a disparate collective which all somehow keep pulling in the same direction. The overall effect is little short of shattering.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt1Pwfnh5pc" target="_blank">6. Johnny Cash - Hurt</a></b></span><br />
<br />
<i>Written by Trent Reznor. First recorded by Nine Inch Nails, initially released in 1995.</i><br />
<br />
This song was, overwhelmingly, the popular choice from my straw poll on Twitter. The original version, suffused with the hollow angst of Generation X, proved to be completely inadequate next to the heartfelt 2003 interpretation by Johnny Cash, reaching the end of his days but completely undimmed as a creative force. The enduring legacy of a cultural giant, its accompanying video has been known to completely overwhelm people of any number of certain ages.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLV4_xaYynY" target="_blank">5. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - All Along The Watchtower</a></b></span><br />
<br />
<i>Written and first recorded by Bob Dylan, initially released in 1967.</i><br />
<br />
Many people will tell you that every Bob Dylan song is better if someone else is performing it. These people are, almost always, completely mistaken. However, there's no denying this one, released in 1968: even Dylan himself freely admitted that his version couldn't hold a candle to it and he has used Hendrix's arrangement when playing the song live ever since. Dylan's will-o-the-wisp, downstated and bucolic Biblical fable is transformed into a swirling, whirling dervish rock anthem by Hendrix's unique guitar heroism, simultaneously the meat of his sound without ever overwhelming it. Telegraphing the bit where your solo is about to drop is for suckers, kids.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auUPqxI1vqg" target="_blank">4. Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U</a></b></span><br />
<br />
<i>Written by Prince. First recorded by The Family, initially released in 1985</i><br />
<br />
The original version of this song, all sparse instrumentation and peculiar harmony singing by one of Prince's many pet project groups, The Family, is bloody awful. This time, it took some pasty white people to add some genuine soul to a song. Sinead O'Connor's version, which was number 1 in the UK for four weeks at the start of 1990, is completely definitive: all that remains of the original is the stupid abbreviations in the title. Brilliant, bold and defiantly beautiful, it came complete with its own iconic video. What's not to like? Prince, of course, hated it and O'Connor's first meeting with the tiny velvet genius predictably ended in fisticuffs.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4cXsdITRgU" target="_blank">3. The Slits - I Heard It Through The Grapevine</a></b></span><br />
<br />
<i>Written by Whitfield & Strong. First recorded by Gladys Knight and The Pips, initially released in 1967. Most famously recorded by Marvin Gaye and released in 1968.</i><br />
<br />
There is no denying the fundamental power of Marvin Gaye's recording of this song. It is, quite rightly, considered one of the peaks of the Motown Records story and of its sound. Lushly orchestrated and powerfully delivered, it is one of the great single records of all time. But then along come The Slits, the chaotic "girl group" of the British punk era. Their interpretation of the song was the first thing that they ever recorded in a proper record company studio and it is possessed of a potency that defies easy description. Ari Up's vocals are packed with the confidence and attitude that only being seventeen years old can bring; Viv Albertine's clipped guitar and yelping, discordant backing vocals are endlessly beguiling and fun; Tessa Pollitt's bass turns a soul classic into a skanking uptempo dub bonanza. The fact that they all hum all of those tricky orchestral parts, rather than finding someone to play them, just seals the deal. A swaggering, energetic and life-affirming piece of work.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2aMaMkDwTA" target="_blank">2. Pet Shop Boys - Always On My Mind</a></b></span><br />
<br />
<i>Written by Christopher, James and Carson. First recorded by Gwen McRae, initially released in 1972. Most famously recorded by Elvis Presley and released in 1972; also by Willie Nelson and released in 1982.</i><br />
<br />
A country music standard, Always On My Mind's various versions have produced a series of masterpieces. Elvis Presley's interpretation was voted his greatest ever song in a poll done for ITV in 2013, while Willie Nelson's lush, yearning iteration won him a Grammy. The Pet Shop Boys' rewards were rather more prosaic: Christmas Number 1 in 1987 and now, the number two position in this list. This is not to diminish their electronic pop reading in the least. Simply put, it is one of the most magnificent pop songs ever recorded. Neil Tennant's distant, dispassionate vocal imbues the song with additional power and meaning; while Chris Lowe's layered, upbeat and punchy accompaniment cuts the traditional meandering orchestration through to the quick. The best bit? The theremin break, of course.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FOUqQt3Kg0" target="_blank">1. Aretha Franklin - Respect</a></b></span><br />
<br />
<i>Written and originally recorded by Otis Redding, initially released in 1965.</i><br />
<br />
So complete is Franklin's hold over this song that many people don't even know that it is a cover. Otis Redding's scudding, energetic version was quietly establishing itself as a soul standard when Aretha came along in 1967 and completely reinvented it. Where Redding's song was a demure plea from a browbeaten husband, Franklin's was an unashamed statement of intent from women everywhere. Nearly 50 years have past since it was first released and they have done nothing to dim the importance or relevance of her message, nor tarnish the brilliant urgency of her delivery. Aretha Franklin, herself a talented songwriter and musician, has never been bettered as an interpreter of other people's work. A genuine landmark in the development of human culture and civilisation, it should probably be the National Anthem.<br />
<br />
So, there you go. Some proof, if it were needed, that the second verse doesn't need to be the same as the first. I wish you all a happy, prosperous and peaceful 2017.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
-------------------------------------------------------</div>
<br />
<i>As promised, here is the full list of songs that you considered to be better than the originals. I can vouch for some of them, the others I'll leave up to you to decide:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal<br />
Amy Winehouse - Valerie<br />
Bahaus - Ziggy Stardust<br />
The Beatles - Money (That's What I Want)<br />
Blondie - Hanging on the Telephone<br />
Buddy Rich Big Band - The Beat Goes On<br />
The Cramps - Surfin' Bird<br />
The Damned - Eloise<br />
Depeche Mode - Route 66<br />
Dickies - Paranoid<br />
Dinosaur Junior - Feel a Whole Lot Better When You're Gone<br />
Dubstar - Not So Manic Now<br />
Foo Fighters - Baker Street<br />
The Four Tops - Simple Game<br />
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Born to Run<br />
Gary Jules - Mad World<br />
Grace Jones - Love is the Drug<br />
Guns 'n' Roses - Live and Let Die<br />
Happy Mondays - Step On<br />
Incredible Bongo Band - Apache<br />
The Jam - David Watts<br />
Jane's Addiction - Sympathy for the Devil<br />
John Cale - Hallelujah<br />
Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah<br />
Kevin Rowland - Thunder Road<br />
The Kingsmen - Louie Louie<br />
Lawnmower Deth - Kids in America<br />
Loop - Cinnamon Girl<br />
Marc Almond & Gene Pitney - Something's Got a Hold of my Heart<br />
Michael McDonald - Baby I Need Your Lovin'<br />
The Mike Flowers Pops - Wonderwall<br />
The Mock Turtles - No Good Trying<br />
Nadasurf - Love and Anger<br />
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling<br />
Nirvana - The Man Who Sold the World<br />
Prince - Just My Imagination<br />
R.E.M. - Toys in the Attic<br />
Ray Stevens - Misty<br />
Reigning Sound - Stormy Weather<br />
Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding<br />
Ryan Adams - Wonderwall<br />
Sid Vicious - My Way<br />
Sonic Youth - Addicted to Love<br />
Sonic Youth - Superstar<br />
Stereophonics - Handbags and Gladrags<br />
The Pixies - Head On<br />
The Pretenders - Stop Your Sobbing<br />
Therapy? - Isolation<br />
Toni Basil - Hey Mickey<br />
Tricky - Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos<br />
The Wildhearts - Understanding Jane<br />
William Shatner - Common People<br />
Young@Heart - Fix Youdotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-22554769796897077162016-12-14T07:43:00.001+00:002016-12-14T12:04:51.787+00:00Favourite filmsSix weeks ago, I asked Twitter <a href="http://www.dotmund.co.uk/2016/10/337-songs-that-changed-your-life.html" target="_blank"><b>what the song they most disliked</b></a> was. The response was overwhelming. As an indication of what I mean by this, consider the following fact: my use of social media is not usually the start of a chain of events wherein I am asked if I want to appear on Australian television.<br />
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Quite undeterred, last week I asked Twitter what, in a free space with no judgement, people consider their <i>favourite </i>film to be. Not the one that they think is the best or the most artistically worthy; the one that they love above all others and could watch again and again, regardless of time or situation. While the uptake on this query was distinctly more manageable, I did nevertheless receive a fair number of responses and (with just a couple of exceptions) there was very little duplication. The result was a respectably girthy list of films. </div>
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I'm confident, thanks to the number of titles and the variety of theme and style, that there is bound to be something in there for everyone to wallow in when you aren't having the best of days. Say, for instance, if your mum died and then Donald Trump was elected President of Earth a week and a half later. That is just an example scenario off the top of my head, I am sure there are as many iterations of shit days as there are movies.</div>
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Without further ado, here is the list. It is presented in alphabetical order and, as with the Kryptonite Songs before, the annotations are mine and do not represent the views of the BBC. <b>There will inevitably be spoilers</b>, so that's your warning for that. </div>
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As always, if you think that your favourite comfort blanket movie is missing, you can add it in the comments below.</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/" target="_blank">Aliens</a></b><br />
<i>Sigourney Weaver, having survived the initial trauma of battling with an alien, ends up on an exomoon that is positively teeming with them. Terrifying chaos ensues.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119822/" target="_blank">As Good as it Gets</a></b><br />
<i>Crabby author Jack Nicholson finds his humanity from looking after his gay neighbour's dog, before copping off with the only waitress in his local coffee shop who will still speak to him.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/" target="_blank">Back to The Future</a></b><br />
<i>Maniac scientist Christopher Lloyd converts a Delorean motor car into a nuclear-powered time machine. Consequently, Michael J. Fox almost has sex with his own mum.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094715/" target="_blank">Beaches</a></b><br />
<i>Two women become friends as children and then remain friends throughout their adult lives, until one of them dies of cancer.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092644/" target="_blank">Beverly Hills Cop II</a></b><br />
<i>Upon discovering that the chief of police who he infuriated in the first film had been shot by a gang of jewel thieves, Eddie Murphy returns to Los Angeles to solve the case, something seemingly beyond every police officer in the whole city.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071230/" target="_blank">Blazing Saddles</a></b><br />
<i>Wanting to build a railroad through a town of recalcitrant frontier types and hopeful that their innate racism will force them to flee, Harvey Korman sends a slave due to be hanged in to be their new sheriff. Chaos, farting and Hitler ensues.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064115/" target="_blank">Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid</a></b><br />
<i>Outlaws Paul Newman and Robert Redford are forced to flee to Bolivia to escape the old bill.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080487/" target="_blank">Caddyshack</a></b><br />
<i>A teenage boy who works as a golf caddy to pay for his college education falls under the spell of messianic golfer Chevy Chase after he is entered to play in a golf tournament. Gophers ensue.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118880/" target="_blank">Con Air</a></b><br />
<i>US Marshall Nicolas Cage is trying to get home aboard a prisoner transport plane when Ving Rhames, John Malkovich and Mykelti Williamson break free and cause havoc.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112715/" target="_blank">Congo</a></b><br />
<i>Laura Linney travels to Africa to find a millionaire's son and his diamond expedition team, but instead discovers that they have somehow taught gorillas to talk.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/" target="_blank">Die Hard</a></b><br />
<i>Bruce Willis travels to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve to meet up with his estranged wife for the holidays, only to find himself the sole line of defence against a group of highly-organised terrorist thieves.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112864/" target="_blank">Die Hard with a Vengeance</a></b><br />
<i>Bruce Willis is singled out by the leader of a terrorist group at large in New York City and forced to play a game of Simon Says while they rob the Federal Reserve.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036775/" target="_blank">Double Indemnity</a></b><br />
<i>Insurance salesman Fred MacMurray is convinced by Barbara Stanwyck that they should do away with her wealthy husband and pocket the payout. Unfortunately his mentor Edward G. Robinson smells a rat.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109686/" target="_blank">Dumb and Dumber</a></b><br />
<i>Two complete idiots stumble into a kidnapping plot, completely unbeknownst to themselves. They instead try to cop off with women while urinating and defecating freely.</i></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087332/" target="_blank">Ghostbusters</a> </b>(1984)</div>
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<i>Four idiots establish an extermination service for supernatural entities, quite coincidentally at the exact moment that a Sumerian demigod tries to take over the universe via an apartment building in New York City.</i></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119229/" target="_blank">Grosse Point Blank</a></b><br />
<i>Professional assassin John Cusack returns to his home town to attend his school reunion and cops off with Minnie Driver despite the attentions of hitman Dan Aykroyd.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107048/" target="_blank">Groundhog Day</a></b><br />
<i>Crabby TV weatherman Bill Murray finds himself forced to live the exact same day over and over again until he is able to find the strength within himself to stop being such a mard arse.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107076/" target="_blank">Hard Target</a></b><br />
<i>Jean-Claude Van Damme hunts down a rogue Vietnam veteran who hunts homeless people for sport in New Orleans and kicks the shit out of him.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067185/" target="_blank">Harold and Maude</a></b><br />
<i>A suicidal 20-year old man meets a fun-loving 80-year old woman at a funeral and they get off with each other.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049314/" target="_blank">High Society</a></b><br />
<i>Socialite Bing Crosby still has the hots for his ex-wife, Grace Kelly. Unfortunately she is engaged to be married to John Lund. When newspaper reporter Frank Sinatra arrives to cover the wedding and also falls for Kelly, the three men all try and win her hand.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104431/" target="_blank">Home Alone 2: Lost in New York</a></b><br />
<i>Staggeringly, the McCallister parents manage to leave their child on his own over the Christmas period </i>yet again<i>, allowing Macauley Culkin to meet Donald Trump and re-engage his blood feud with crooks Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern.</i></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073195/" target="_blank">Jaws</a></b></div>
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<i>The new police chief of a small island community beloved of holidaymakers finds the preparations for Independence Day seriously stymied by the arrival of an insatiably hungry great white shark.</i></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113247/" target="_blank">La Haine</a></b><br />
<i>When French police brutally beat a young Arab in Paris it sparks a riot. The victims three friends try to deal with their feelings about the issue, until they find a gun.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085859/" target="_blank">Local Hero</a></b><br />
<i>Sent by Burt Lancaster to buy out a small Scottish village, oil executive Peter Riegert is forced to reconsider his life choices after he meets all the inhabitants.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335266/" target="_blank">Lost In Translation</a></b><br />
<i>Craggly, pissed off movie star Bill Murray meets discontented newlywed Scarlett Johansson in Tokyo and the two form an intimate bond.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058331/" target="_blank">Mary Poppins</a></b><br />
<i>Horrible parents Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber appoint a new nanny for their horrible snot-nosed children and it turns out to be Mary fucking Poppins. Magical shindigs and universal suffrage ensues.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095631/" target="_blank">Midnight Run</a></b><br />
<i>Joe Pantolino engages the services of bounty hunter Robert De Niro to locate mob accountant Charles Grodin. The seemingly simple job is complicated when it turns out that both the mob and the FBI are also on Grodin's trail.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071877/" target="_blank">Murder on the Orient Express</a> </b>(1974)<br />
<i>Hercule Poirot's journey home on the </i>Orient Express<i> is severely disrupted when a fellow passenger is murdered and an all-star cast of Hollywood superstars are all suspects.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110598/" target="_blank">Muriel's Wedding</a></b><br />
<i>ABBA-loving social outcast Toni Collette dreams of getting married but her overbearing father won't even let her out on a date. When Collette meets fellow dweeb Rachel Griffiths, the pair move to Sydney and chase their dreams.</i></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125439/" target="_blank">Notting Hill</a></b></div>
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<i>A bookshop owner from the titular area of London finds his life changed forever after a chance meeting with the world's most famous film star, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he is, himself, Hugh Grant.</i></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064116/" target="_blank">Once Upon a Time in the West</a></b><br />
<i>Rail baron Gabriele Ferzetti is after the land around the town of Flagstone so sends Henry Fonda to scare off the owner, which he achieves by killing him and blaming it on an outlaw. Things are further complicated by the arrival of Jason Robards and Charles Bronson. As they would be.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066214/" target="_blank">Performance</a></b><br />
<i>James Fox is forced to flee after killing a rival in self-defence, winding up at the house of a washed up rock star, played by Michael "Mick" Jagger. Drugs ensue.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102685/" target="_blank">Point Break</a> </b>(1991)<br />
<i>FBI agent Keanu Reeves infiltrates a gang of infamous bank robbers who wear the masks of US Presidents to do their job and discovers that they are in fact a group of beach bum surfers led by Patrick Swayze who rob banks for the thrill alone. </i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093870/" target="_blank">Robocop</a> </b>(1987)<br />
<i>Omni Consumer Products win the contract to run crime-fighting cyborgs in a dystopian city of Detroit, luring police officer Peter Weller into a fatal confrontation so that they can use his body to test their technology. Unfortunately for them, Weller learns the truth and kicks some ass.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/" target="_blank">Saving Private Ryan</a></b><br />
<i>Army Captain Tom Hanks is sent behind German lines after the D-Day landings to locate Matt Damon, who has been ordered home on compassionate grounds following the death of his three brothers. Absolute bloody hell ensues.</i></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114369/" target="_blank">Se7en</a></b></div>
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<i>Kevin Spacey puts Gwyneth Paltrow's head in a box and does six other equally bad things, pursued by mismatched New York detectives Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman.</i></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105411/" target="_blank">Simple Men</a></b><br />
<i>Flat broke New York crook Robert Burke is out of options so finds his philosophy graduate brother Bill Sage and the two embark on a cross-country mission to find their father, a professional baseball player-turned-terrorist kingpin.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084726/" target="_blank">Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan</a></b><br />
<i>William Shatner is brought face to face with old enemy Ricardo Montalban, leading to an intergalactic showdown. KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN ensues.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118715/" target="_blank">The Big Lebowski</a></b><br />
<i>A layabout tries to seek compensation for the fact someone has urinated on his rug, while increasingly strange and annoying people prat about all around him.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2404311/" target="_blank">The Family</a> </b>(2013)<br />
<i>Mobster Robert De Niro enters Witness Protection after grassing up all his Mafia cohorts and is relocated to a town in France, where FBI handler Tommy Lee Jones tries forlornly to keep De Niro and his family out of mischief.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089218/" target="_blank">The Goonies</a></b><br />
<i>A bunch of insufferable little pricks go on a quest to discover what the X marks on a treasure map they have found. Alas, some criminals have had the same idea.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095705/" target="_blank">The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!</a></b><br />
<i>Hapless detective Leslie Nielsen accidentally foils business tycoon Ricardo Montalban's plot to assassinate notable public figures using hypnotic mind control techniques, while simultaneously romancing Montalban's secretary, Priscilla Presley.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093779/" target="_blank">The Princess Bride</a></b><br />
<i>Princess Robin Wright falls for her grunt farmhand Cary Elwes, but is betrothed to marry a Crown Prince. However, after she is kidnapped by the unlikely unit of Wallace Shawn, Mandy Patinkin and André the Giant, she is able to follow her heart's desires.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111161/" target="_blank">The Shawshank Redemption</a></b><br />
<i>A man wrongfully imprisoned for murdering his wife discovers how to make chess pieces from rocks, that the prison governor is an arsehole and, eventually, how to escape from the nick.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/" target="_blank">The Thing</a> </b>(1982)<br />
<i>A scientific expedition to Antarctica is damn nearly spoilt by the emergence of a shape-shifting alien life form which is hungry for delicious human flesh. Abject terror ensues.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094226/" target="_blank">The Untouchables</a></b><br />
<i>Mafia kingpin Al Capone (Robert De Niro) has his bootleg alcohol empire disrupted by the arrival of unimpeachably scrupulous FBI prohibition agent Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner), determined to bring about Capone's demise.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103074/" target="_blank">Thelma & Louise</a></b><br />
<i>Meek housewife Geena Davis joins her spunky and independent friend Susan Sarandon on a weekend fishing trip. However, when Sarandon kills a man who tries to rape Davis at a bar, their holiday turns into a cross-country flight from the FBI.</i></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092099/" target="_blank">Top Gun</a></b></div>
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<i>Young men explore their sexuality while also defending the aircraft carrier </i>USS Enterprise<i> with state-of-the-art fighter jets.</i></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088286/" target="_blank">Top Secret!</a></b><br />
<i>Pop star Val Kilmer travels to East Germany to perform at a music festival but finds himself romantically entwined with Lucy Gutteridge, who it turns out is an agent in the anti-government resistance.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098554/" target="_blank">Uncle Buck</a> </b>(1989)<br />
<i>A family emergency forces parents Elaine Bromka and Garrett M. Brown to leave their children in the care of Brown's shambolic brother, John Candy, who is forced to curb the worst of his dissolute bachelor ways to care for the needs of his niece and nephew.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105793/" target="_blank">Wayne's World</a></b><br />
<i>TV executive Rob Lowe tries to take Mike Myers and Dana Carvey's public access show to commercial television. However, the pair discover that success is not all they bargained for, particularly after Lowe steals Myers' musician girlfriend Tia Carrere.</i><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065207/" target="_blank">Where Eagles Dare</a></b><br />
<i>Allied soldiers attempt to rescue a general being held at a fort in the Bavarian Alps. However, once they parachute deep into enemy territory, they discover there is a traitor among their number.</i></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094336/" target="_blank">Withnail & I</a></b></div>
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<i>In 1969, two penniless out-of-work actors from London go on holiday to an uncle's cottage in Penrith; where they drink heavily and one of them nearly gets bummed.</i></div>
dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-74486736121888916212016-11-30T09:15:00.001+00:002016-11-30T09:15:22.654+00:00Naked POTUS, number 40: Ronald Reagan<div style="text-align: center;">
"Even the President of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked" - BOB DYLAN<br />
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His nipples are clearly visible and he used to be a film actor, it is the 40th President of the United States, <b>Ronald Reagan </b>(1911-2004). Here's what he got up to:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>RONALD REAGAN</b></span></div>
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<b>Born</b> 6th February 1911, Tampico, Illinois</div>
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<b>Died</b> 5th June 2004, Los Angeles, California<br />
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<b>Presidential Term</b> 20th January 1981 - 20th January 1989<br />
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Ronald Reagan was the first divorced man to have been the President of the United States, having separated from Jane Wyman in 1949. Three years later he would marry Nancy Davis. He was also the oldest man elected to the US Presidency, a record since beaten by Donald Trump.<br />
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He is the only President to have been born in Illinois.<br />
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Prior to politics, Reagan was a sports announcer on a radio station in Des Moines, Iowa. He first rose to national prominence as an actor, after his then girlfriend convinced him to take a screen test at Warner Brothers, where he would make over fifty movies.<br />
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He became active in politics in the 1940s, becoming the head of the Screen Actors Guild in 1947. He also testified at Senator McCarthy's House Un-American Activities Committee, although refused to name any names.<br />
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Following his acting career, Reagan worked for General Electric as a spokesman and advertiser but left the role after GE demanded that he keep his growing interest in politics out of his personal appearances. His speech at the 1964 Republican National Convention, in support of candidate Barry Goldwater, thrust him to the forefront of Conservative politics in the United States.<br />
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In 1967, Reagan was elected Governor of California, a role he served until 1975. He attempted to win the Republican Presidential nomination in both 1968 and 1976.<br />
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Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, a mentally ill man who was trying to impress Jodie Foster, in Washington D.C. on 30th March 1981. The President suffered a collapsed lung but returned to full health.<br />
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The biggest crisis of his Presidency was the Iran Contra scandal. Money from illegal arms sales to Iran was given to guerilla fighters in the Nicaraguan civil war. Ultimately, an army Colonel, Oliver North, took the fall.<br />
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Reagan initially weathered a storm of escalation of Cold War tensions. These peaked in on 1st September 1983, when Korean Air flight 007 from New York to Seoul via Anchorage accidentally strayed into Soviet airspace and was shot down. However, following the appointment of Mikail Gorbachev as the Soviet Premier, relations quickly thawed. Reagan and Gorbachev signed major nuclear arms reduction treaties and the Soviet Union began to fragment.<br />
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His domestic economic policies, which came to be known as Reaganomics, helped to rejuvenate and consolidate America as the leading global power. All of this despite the obvious handicap of being an idiot. Reagan is now held up by Conservatives as one of the greatest American Presidents.<br />
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Reagan was the first person to serve out a full two-term Presidency since Dwight D. Eisenhower, 28 years beforehand.<br />
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<i>N.B. Some parts of the above image have been redacted by the CIA for reasons of national security. An unexpurgated version of all the naked Presidents will be made available at the end of the project.</i>dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-30725607108568299562016-11-30T09:14:00.002+00:002016-11-30T09:14:46.486+00:00Naked POTUS, number 38: Gerald R. Ford<div style="text-align: center;">
"Even the President of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked" - BOB DYLAN<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu8Kfv9HC9WSoSZYLOwY7uCIJm9aeROOKM_iLKq4PdZ52YxyNQA3sDEhwwKecu74rrG4s8rDGpXAq3nTSOQ9QRQrKfdf_zeW3sX0iwXnGUNr7YbwZozYg8ZbsiYSMEqCvbM7gAkUxm8Kg0/s1600/38+ford_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu8Kfv9HC9WSoSZYLOwY7uCIJm9aeROOKM_iLKq4PdZ52YxyNQA3sDEhwwKecu74rrG4s8rDGpXAq3nTSOQ9QRQrKfdf_zeW3sX0iwXnGUNr7YbwZozYg8ZbsiYSMEqCvbM7gAkUxm8Kg0/s1600/38+ford_r.jpg" /></a></div>
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No-one asked him to be naked, but here he is. The 38th President of the United States, <b>Gerald R. Ford </b>(1913-2006). Here are the pertinent details:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>GERALD R. FORD</b></span></div>
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<b>Born</b> 14th July 1913, Omaha, Nebraska</div>
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<b>Died</b> 26th December 2006, Rancho Mirage, California<br />
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<b>Presidential Term</b> 9th August 1974 - 20th January 1977<br />
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Gerald Ford attended college on an American Football scholarship and was offered the opportunity to turn professional. Instead, he decided to attend Yale Law School.<br />
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He saw action in the Philippines during World War 2. On his return to the United States he turned his efforts to politics. He was elected to the House of Representatives and would be re-elected on eleven other occasions.<br />
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Ford was a part of the Warren Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy.<br />
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Gerald Ford is the only US President to have never been elected to either the Presidency or the Vice Presidency. He had been promoted to Vice President the year before Nixon's resignation after the elected incumbent Spiro Agnew was forced to resign due to his financial improprieties.<br />
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One of Gerald Ford's first actions as President was to officially pardon Richard Nixon.<br />
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Ford was subject to two assassination attempts, both in September 1974. On the 5th, Manson Family member Lynette Fromme tried to shoot him and on the 22nd Sara Jane Moore did likewise. On both occasions their firearm failed to function properly.<br />
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Gerald Ford's wife, Betty, established a famous addiction clinic in California after her husband's retirement from politics.<br />
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The R stood for Rudolph. He is the only President to come from Nebraska.<br />
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<i>N.B. Some parts of the above image have been redacted by the CIA for reasons of national security. An unexpurgated version of all the naked Presidents will be made available at the end of the project.</i>dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-43960464292339275092016-11-29T10:13:00.001+00:002016-11-29T10:13:31.437+00:00Naked POTUS, number 37: Richard M. Nixon<div style="text-align: center;">
"Even the President of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked" - BOB DYLAN<br />
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Not a crook, it's the bare arsed 37th President of the United States, <b>Richard M. Nixon </b>(1913-1994). Here's some knowledge:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>RICHARD M. NIXON</b></span></div>
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<b>Born</b> 9th January 1913, Yorba Linda, California</div>
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<b>Died</b> 22nd April 1994, New York City, New York<br />
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<b>Presidential Term</b> 20th January 1969 - 9th August 1974<br />
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Richard Nixon is the only US President to have been born in California. He studied and practised law before enlisting in the US Naval Reserve and serving in the Second World War. Upon his return to the United States he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946 and the Senate in 1950, both times after tenacious and aggressively-fought campaigns.<br />
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He rose to national prominence during the House Un-American Activities Committee for his tireless pursuit of former Roosevelt aide Alger Hiss, suspected of Communist leanings.<br />
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Nixon served as the Vice President under Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961. He was the caretaker President for two months in the autumn of 1955 as Eisenhower recovered from a heart attack. Nominated as the Republican Party's candidate for the 1960 Presidential Election, he narrowly lost out to John F. Kennedy. Two years later he also missed on being elected as the Governor of California. After this defeat, he gave a bitter press conference, famously saying "you won't have Nixon to kick around any more".<br />
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During the 1960 campaign, Nixon took part in the first ever televised Presidential Election debate.<br />
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Nixon won two landslide election victories after he returned to front line politics in the late 1960s. His victory over George McGovern in 1972 was the most dominant election in American history: he won 49 States and 520 electoral votes, nearly double the amount required to win.<br />
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Nixon passed the 26th Amendment, allowing all citizens aged 18 and over to vote.<br />
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Nixon was the President when man first landed on the moon on 20th July 1969. In 1970, he created the Environmental Protection Agency. However, he also signed off on National Guard involvement in a student protest at Kent State University, in which 4 students were shot dead.<br />
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Nixon became the only President in history to resign from office on 9th August 1974. He was facing impeachment due to his administration's involvement in a break-in at Democratic Party national headquarters at the Watergate building in Washington D.C.<br />
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Nixon was the first US President to visit China, having also visited the Soviet Union whilst Vice President.<br />
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The M stood for Milhous.<br />
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<i>N.B. Some parts of the above image have been redacted by the CIA for reasons of national security. An unexpurgated version of all the naked Presidents will be made available at the end of the project.</i>dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-30282542630465539752016-11-29T10:12:00.000+00:002016-11-29T10:12:58.120+00:00Naked POTUS, number 36: Lyndon B. Johnson<div style="text-align: center;">
"Even the President of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked" - BOB DYLAN<br />
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Bum and balls flapping, it is the 36th President of the United States, <b>Lyndon B. Johnson </b>(1908-1973). This is all about him:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>LYNDON B. JOHNSON</b></span></div>
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<b>Born</b> 27th August 1908, Stonewall, Texas</div>
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<b>Died</b> 22nd January 1973, Stonewall, Texas<br />
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<b>Presidential Term</b> 22nd November 1963 - 20th January 1969<br />
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Like his predecessor, Johnson was a decorated war hero: he won the Silver Star for gallantry while serving in the US Navy. Following his return to the USA, Johnson moved into politics.<br />
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Johnson won a seat in the US Senate in 1949. By 1955 he was the Majority Leader of the House, the youngest man ever to hold the position. He was the favourite for the Democratic Presidential nomination for 1960 but his refusal to leave the Senate to attend the Primaries cost him dear: by the time of the Democratic Convention, John Kennedy enjoyed unstoppable momentum and support. Johnson was selected as the Vice President in order to appeal to the Southern States.<br />
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Upon Kennedy's death, Johnson became the seventh Vice President to be promoted to the top office. He had been two cars back from Kennedy in the Dallas motorcade and was sworn in as President on board Air Force One as it stood on the tarmac at Dallas Love Field airport.<br />
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Johnson's Presidency is notable for its social progressiveness as he continued the Kennedy administration's program of civil rights reform. In 1964 he signed the Civil Rights Act, making racial discrimination illegal in the USA.<br />
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Johnson was also responsible for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which made any techniques of voting suppression illegal, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which made housing discrimination on racial grounds illegal. Johnson was perhaps the most progressive US President since Abraham Lincoln, a century before.<br />
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Johnson's own initiative was The Great Society, an umbrella of social reforms that included Medicare, Medicaid and environmental protection laws, in addition to civil rights reforms and a declaration of war on poverty in the US. As with all of his crusades, Johnson used his exhaustive network of political contacts, friends and colleagues to barter them into existence.<br />
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The war in Vietnam, a program that had been supported by the previous two US administrations, began in earnest under the Johnson government. Following the Gulf of Tonkin Incident on 2nd August 1964, Johnson finally formally committed US ground troops.<br />
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Johnson refused to stand for a third term of office at the 1968 election, stepping down in a speech to the nation on 31st March 1968. This was variously attributed to public anger over the escalating Vietnam War, his personal rivalry with Robert Kennedy (who had declared his candidacy for the top office earlier in the month) and fears about his own health - both his father and grandfather had died of a heart attack at the age of 64, which would be his own age at the end of his office.<br />
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Lyndon Johnson died of a heart attack in 1973, aged 64.<br />
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The B stood for Baines. His wife (Lady Bird), daughters (Lynda Bird and Luci Baines) and dog (Little Beagle) all shared his initials LBJ, which was also how he was popularly known.<br />
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<i>N.B. Some parts of the above image have been redacted by the CIA for reasons of national security. An unexpurgated version of all the naked Presidents will be made available at the end of the project.</i>dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-84078514515000584962016-11-10T10:20:00.000+00:002016-11-10T10:20:10.154+00:00Naked POTUS, number 35: John F. Kennedy<div style="text-align: center;">
"Even the President of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked" - BOB DYLAN<br />
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The hope of a new generation of naked Americans, it is the 35th President of the United States <b>John F. Kennedy </b>(1917-1963). Here's the stuff to know:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>JOHN F. KENNEDY</b></span></div>
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<b>Born</b> 29th May 1917, Brookline, Massachusetts</div>
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<b>Died</b> 22nd November 1963, Dallas, Texas<br />
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<b>Presidential Term</b> 20th January 1961 - 22nd November 1963<br />
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Kennedy was the son of John Kennedy Sr, a diplomat who served as the Ambassador to Great Britain during the 1930s. Kennedy served under him as a graduate before the outbreak of hostilities. He was the first American President to have been born in the 20th Century.<br />
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Kennedy rose to national prominence during the war in the Pacific, winning the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his actions in saving the crew of his small boat, PT-109 after it was scuttled by a Japanese destroyer. After his return and recuperation, Kennedy turned to politics.<br />
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Kennedy was elected to the House of Representatives in 1947 and to the Senate in 1953, winning an unlikely victory over Henry Cabot Lodge, who he would later appoint ambassador to Vietnam. Kennedy in fact never lost an election in which he was a candidate.<br />
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During the 1960 campaign, Kennedy took part in the first ever televised Presidential Election debate.<br />
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Kennedy is the only US President to have won a Pulitzer Prize. He received it for his book "Profiles In Courage", in 1957.<br />
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Kennedy spent his Presidency and life as a sickly man. He suffered from Addison's Disease, which required daily cortisone injections. He also had osteoporosis, which would frequently leave him in so much pain that he required a back brace in order to walk.<br />
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He was the first Roman Catholic to be elected President and the youngest person to be elected to the office, aged 43. He would later also become the youngest to die.<br />
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His Presidency was marked with turbulence at home and abroad. It began with the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba by CIA-backed Cuban rebels in 1961. The following year, the US discovered that the Soviet Union had installed nuclear missiles on Cuba, resulting in the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, when the world came to the brink of nuclear war.<br />
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Domestically, the US was beset with Civil Rights struggles and the rise of the movement for change led by Martin Luther King.<br />
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Kennedy oversaw the beginning of the Vietnam War, which you may have heard of.<br />
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Kennedy was assassinated during a trip to Dallas in November 1963, shot by Lee Harvey Oswald with a sniper rifle from the sixth floor of an office building. He was the fourth President to be assassinated and the seventh to die in office.<br />
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The F stood for Fitzgerald. He almost certainly porked Marilyn Monroe. Like Warren G. Harding before him, Kennedy's wife was a very tolerant sort who was in full possession of the facts about her husband's indiscretions.<br />
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<i>N.B. Some parts of the above image have been redacted by the CIA for reasons of national security. An unexpurgated version of all the naked Presidents will be made available at the end of the project.</i>dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-29677073616882246962016-11-10T10:15:00.000+00:002016-11-10T10:15:00.195+00:00Naked POTUS, number 34: Dwight D. Eisenhower<div style="text-align: center;">
"Even the President of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked" - BOB DYLAN<br />
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Wary of the military industrial complex but obviously not carrying any weapons himself, it is the 34th President of the United States, <b>Dwight D. Eisenhower </b>(1890-1969). Fact me do:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER</b></span></div>
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<b>Born</b> 14th October 1890, Denison, Texas</div>
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<b>Died</b> 28th March 1969, Washington D.C.<br />
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<b>Presidential Term</b> 20th January 1953 - 20th January 1961<br />
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Following on from Andrew Jackson and Ulysses S. Grant, Dwight Eisenhower was the third great popular military hero to be elected President of the United States. Eisenhower rose to prominence as the commander of the troops in the European theatre of the Second World War.<br />
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Although born in Texas, his family relocated to Abilene, Kansas a year after his birth, which became his home. He was originally named David Dwight, like his father and elder brother. This proved sufficiently gormless for his mother to quickly reverse his names.<br />
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Eisenhower, like Grant, attended West Point Military Academy. However, this was not the result of any great military ambition, rather it was in order that he might gain a good, free education. Initially his primary interest and focus was on playing American Football, though a potentially promising career was quickly ended by injury. Eisenhower spent 35 years in the army but retired having never seen active combat.<br />
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After the Second World War, Eisenhower was appointed Head of NATO by Harry S. Truman.<br />
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Though reluctant to enter public politics - having previously been invited to join the Democrats by President Truman - the advent of Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist crusade and the candidacy of the isolationist, anti-NATO Senator Robert Taft (son of William Taft, 27th President of the United States) for the Republican nomination convinced him to act.<br />
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Eisenhower continued the Truman Doctrine in US foreign policy, which stated that the US had the right to defend any country that was being threatened by Communism. Eisenhower was notably anti-war in his overall policies, however, opting to retain the passive strategy of containment that had been begun by his predecessor.<br />
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Eisenhower was particularly concerned with the corrosive effect that excessive defence spending had on everyday life in American society, as well as it being used to gain power and influence in Washington via what he termed the Military-Industrial Complex. He favoured the maintenance of a strong nuclear capability so that spending on conventional weapons could be curbed in favour of civic projects.<br />
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Eisenhower suffered a heart attack in September 1955 and was forced to take two months off. His Vice President, Richard Nixon, was his caretaker.<br />
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Other key incidents of the Eisenhower Presidency include the U2 Spy Plane incident, where Gary Powers' U2 was shot down over the Soviet Union shortly before planned talks aimed at arms reduction; and Brown versus The Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas. This landmark legal decision forced the desegregation of all schools in the United States and began the turbulent Civil Rights struggle of the 1960s.<br />
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During Eisenhower's Presidency, the United States in its current form was completed with the admission to Statehood of Alaska and Hawaii in 1959.<br />
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The D stood for David.<br />
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<i>N.B. Some parts of the above image have been redacted by the CIA for reasons of national security. An unexpurgated version of all the naked Presidents will be made available at the end of the project.</i>dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-3599927632052442102016-11-10T10:10:00.000+00:002016-11-10T10:10:04.478+00:00Naked POTUS, number 33: Harry S. Truman<div style="text-align: center;">
"Even the President of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked" - BOB DYLAN<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY_U6z38bRY7k94yULr0zCSXh_sQ-Ct95kOn9z5nhXmXrvhtmL-uiO37nNq0wBDLZydHJgvMHYN9_jhfAaaSYfQS0zcD0fCmvI7VwKE6EHSqFNNCUNqXQm_Dmmie4c_s9Hjmy0fKQg7RwT/s1600/33+truman_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY_U6z38bRY7k94yULr0zCSXh_sQ-Ct95kOn9z5nhXmXrvhtmL-uiO37nNq0wBDLZydHJgvMHYN9_jhfAaaSYfQS0zcD0fCmvI7VwKE6EHSqFNNCUNqXQm_Dmmie4c_s9Hjmy0fKQg7RwT/s1600/33+truman_r.jpg" /></a></div>
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Atomic fresh and ready for anything Communism can throw, it is the 33rd President of the United States, <b>Harry S. Truman </b>(1884-1972). Facts:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>HARRY S. TRUMAN</b></span></div>
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<b>Born</b> 8th May 1884, Lamar, Missouri</div>
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<b>Died</b> 26th December 1972, Kansas City, Missouri<br />
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<b>Presidential Term</b> 12th April 1945 - 20th January 1953<br />
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Harry S. Truman grew up in Independence, Missouri. He remains the only US President to hail from that State. As a child he dreamt of becoming a concert pianist. His family were staunch segregationists. Truman's mother held John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin, up as a hero.<br />
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After graduating high school, Truman was unsuccessful for much of his early life. Having failed to finish his law degree due to a lack of money, Truman worked on the family farm until his father's death in 1914. By then aged 30 and eager to strike out on his own, Truman headed to Oklahoma. He first invested in a zinc mine and then in an oil expedition, both of which proved unsuccessful and left him close to broke. (The oil rig, bought by another company, ultimately bore fruit with some additional drilling. It would have made Truman's fortune had he persisted.)<br />
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Truman instead went to fight in the Great War, the only US President to have done so. He was virtually blind in one eye but learned the eye chart beforehand and was declared fit for duty. Upon his return to the United States, Truman opened a men's clothing shop. When this also failed it left him, aged 38, bankrupt and without employment.<br />
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It was not until he turned to politics that his fortunes began to change. Within ten years of being elected to the Senate, Truman had become President of the United States.<br />
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Truman had only been Vice President for 82 days when he was summoned to the White House to be informed of President Roosevelt's death. He had only met with Roosevelt twice during this time, having been chosen by the Democratic Party for the role rather than by the President himself.<br />
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Truman was the first person to sanction the use of nuclear weapons. The US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in Japan on 6th August 1945 and another at Nagasaki three days later, effectively ending the Second World War. Truman, largely sidelined from Roosevelt's inner circle, only discovered about the Manhattan Project several days after he had assumed the Presidency.<br />
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Truman's Presidency was marked by the new Cold War realities of the atomic age. The Korean War, the Soviet Union's own acquisition of nuclear weapons and Mao Tse-Tung's Communist uprising in China all destabilised the status quo. At home, Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin began his House Un-American Activities Committee to weed out Communist sympathisers and fifth columnists in American society.<br />
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Truman himself had invoked fears of the spread of Communism in order to suit his legislative agenda, in what came to be known as The Red Scare. The Truman doctrine argued that the United States had the right to intervene when a country abroad was threatened by Communist tyranny.<br />
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Truman took numerous steps towards civil rights in American society, including desegregating the US Army and being the first President to address the NAACP. He also passed the Marshall Plan, a major humanitarian aid effort for post-war Europe, in 1947.<br />
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In 1948, Truman won one of the most unlikely election victories in American history. The Republican candidate, Thomas Dewey, led the polls so strongly that Gallup ceased all polling activity a month before the election took place. Truman's energetic, cross-country campaign had won a wavering electorate over, thanks to aggressive challenges to the Republican Senators (who had blocked legislation he wished to pass and now used Truman's failure to do so to form their own manifesto pledges) as well as his progress on civil rights and support for the new state of Israel.<br />
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Truman was the subject of an attempted assassination on 1st November 1950. Puerto Rican nationals Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola stormed the Blair House in Washington D.C., where the Trumans were staying during the renovation of the White House with the intention of killing the President. Torresola and a policeman were killed during a gunfight but Collazo was captured and sentenced to death. However, Truman commuted his sentence to life in prison.<br />
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By the way, the initial in his name didn't stand for anything, making him the second US President to have a fake middle letter. Like the first, Ulysses Grant, he chose 'S'.<br />
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<i>N.B. Some parts of the above image have been redacted by the CIA for reasons of national security. An unexpurgated version of all the naked Presidents will be made available at the end of the project.</i>dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-7724619252141486932016-11-10T10:05:00.000+00:002016-11-10T10:05:03.635+00:00Naked POTUS, number 32: Franklin D. Roosevelt<div style="text-align: center;">
"Even the President of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked" - BOB DYLAN<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNR-asccj5y3rPAV-IAkMSVr_b4ywi7QzfoTtEbvKvCLWjvNIYd2MYjp0WaHnCMZ7gHNOZDdzpUnwfSNm3BWOeLVItcGNHVcsyh-y4c-MXsssIXQB5dn5rhvCwUIs4sSj0dHAGhTheJ81/s1600/32+fd+roosevelt_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNR-asccj5y3rPAV-IAkMSVr_b4ywi7QzfoTtEbvKvCLWjvNIYd2MYjp0WaHnCMZ7gHNOZDdzpUnwfSNm3BWOeLVItcGNHVcsyh-y4c-MXsssIXQB5dn5rhvCwUIs4sSj0dHAGhTheJ81/s1600/32+fd+roosevelt_r.jpg" /></a></div>
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He is twice as naked as any other American President, it is the 32nd President of the United States, <b>Franklin D. Roosevelt </b>(1882-1945). Here are the details:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT</b></span></div>
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<b>Born</b> 30th January 1882, Hyde Park, New York</div>
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<b>Died</b> 12th April 1945, Warms Springs, Georgia<br />
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<b>Presidential Term</b> 4th March 1933 - 12th April 1945<br />
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Roosevelt was born into considerable wealth and privilege in New York. His fifth cousin Theodore was the 26th President of the United States. Franklin studied law and practised as a lawyer before going in to politics.<br />
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By the outbreak of the Great War he was part of the apparatus of government, serving as the Assistant Secretary to the Navy and visiting the front line in France and Belgium during early 1918. Following the Wilson administration, Roosevelt was elected Governor of New York.<br />
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Roosevelt was crippled throughout his Presidency. He contracted polio during the summer of 1921 and was unable to walk unaided until the end of his life. However, this fact was artfully concealed from the majority of the American public.<br />
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Roosevelt devised and implemented The New Deal in order to create jobs, boost manufacturing and stimulate the US economy out of Depression. As part of the program, Mount Rushmore was completed in 1939.<br />
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One of Roosevelt's first acts as President was to pass the 21st Amendment, which repealed the 18th Amendment and ended Prohibition.<br />
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He is best remembered for being the President who took America into the Second World War. Roosevelt was pro-war but unable to raise enough popular sentiment until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7th December 1941. Before this he had been instrumental in the creation of the Lend Lease Act, which assisted Britain with food and materiel in their fight against Germany.<br />
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Roosevelt is the only US President to have served more than two terms of office. In the end he won four, although he died shortly after the beginning of his final term, which began on January 20th 1945. January 20th, now the traditional day of the Presidential Inauguration, became the date during the Roosevelt administration, after his re-election in 1936.<br />
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Roosevelt was the first American President to visit Russia, for the Yalta Conference in 1945. He was also the first American President to fly in an aeroplane during his term of office, although his cousin Theodore had done so while he was a private citizen.<br />
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Roosevelt was the seventh President to die in office. His health had been failing throughout much of the War years. He suffered a fatal cerebral haemmorhage at his holiday retreat at Warm Springs, Georgia on 12th April 1945, just four weeks before the end of hostilities in Europe.<br />
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The D stood for Delano, his mother's maiden name.<br />
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<i>N.B. Some parts of the above image have been redacted by the CIA for reasons of national security. An unexpurgated version of all the naked Presidents will be made available at the end of the project.</i>dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-25418378140693526202016-11-10T10:00:00.000+00:002016-11-10T10:00:18.374+00:00Naked POTUS, number 31: Herbert Hoover<div style="text-align: center;">
"Even the President of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked" - BOB DYLAN<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4qAJYSZODei4tI8eKXt1s_B1DKxTSGSqepNhAHlgV3zdzFk64RfREN_OC2LfIA6HnFxNvKcXKMQmKgS3SekuQYfQtyd_i9rZQqrBlqbmeLATmoVQK6bFX6CbTcRxAU1mqhyU32LDU17rh/s1600/31+hoover_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4qAJYSZODei4tI8eKXt1s_B1DKxTSGSqepNhAHlgV3zdzFk64RfREN_OC2LfIA6HnFxNvKcXKMQmKgS3SekuQYfQtyd_i9rZQqrBlqbmeLATmoVQK6bFX6CbTcRxAU1mqhyU32LDU17rh/s1600/31+hoover_r.jpg" /></a></div>
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Unable to afford clothes, it is the 31st President of the United States, <b>Herbert Hoover </b>(1874-1964). Let's absorb information:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>HERBERT HOOVER</b></span></div>
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<b>Born</b> 10th August 1874, West Point, Iowa</div>
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<b>Died</b> 20th October 1964, New York City, New York<br />
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<b>Presidential Term</b> 4th March 1929 - 4th March 1933<br />
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Herbert Hoover was the son of a blacksmith. He was the first Quaker to be the President of the United States and the only Chief Executive so far to have been born in Iowa.<br />
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He and his wife were in China during the Boxer Rebellion. During their escape back to the United States they became fluent in Mandarin and would often speak it later in the White House if they didn't want anyone to know what they were saying.<br />
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He is most famous for being the President during the Great Depression, which began after the Wall Street Crash on 24th October 1929. This made him a particularly unpopular President.<br />
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Hoover came out of retirement in 1946 to help co-ordinate post-war famine relief.<br />
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In spite of the fact that they had pretty much the exact same head, Herbert Hoover was no relation to the head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover.<br />
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<i>N.B. Some parts of the above image have been redacted by the CIA for reasons of national security. An unexpurgated version of all the naked Presidents will be made available at the end of the project.</i>dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-34290289764139187042016-10-28T11:03:00.000+01:002016-10-28T11:03:11.528+01:00Naked POTUS, number 30: Calvin Coolidge<div style="text-align: center;">
"Even the President of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked" - BOB DYLAN<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0cgp8LvFAddwh4w-5q2WXoaxIIZDfn_puxWbMvkydDd7JL0afAQziCR5dh4fCtYu-9TzSX7LOLoTQFIvc5znxZI9FLZj48FSaqDP52z1KhgjhUNnf8IyO8h5hbrUkkSLVKCC-Un9-IpTJ/s1600/30+coolidge_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0cgp8LvFAddwh4w-5q2WXoaxIIZDfn_puxWbMvkydDd7JL0afAQziCR5dh4fCtYu-9TzSX7LOLoTQFIvc5znxZI9FLZj48FSaqDP52z1KhgjhUNnf8IyO8h5hbrUkkSLVKCC-Un9-IpTJ/s1600/30+coolidge_r.jpg" /></a></div>
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He might be quiet, but I assure you that this is the naked 30th President of the United States, <b>Calvin Coolidge </b>(1872-1933). Here are the details:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>CALVIN COOLIDGE</b></span></div>
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<b>Born</b> 4th July 1872, Plymouth Notch, Vermont</div>
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<b>Died</b> 5th January 1933, Northampton, Massachusetts<br />
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<b>Presidential Term</b> 2nd August 1923 - 4th March 1929<br />
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Coolidge was the sixth Vice President to be promoted to President. In 1924, he became the second after Theodore Roosevelt to be elected to a second term of office.<br />
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He was the son of a storekeeper who was also a Justice of the Peace. Coolidge is the only President of the United States to have been born of the 4th of July.<br />
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His wife, Grace, was deaf. Their son Calvin Junior died of septicaemia after a blister he sustained playing tennis became infected while his father was the sitting President.<br />
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Coolidge was responsible for the passage of the 1924 Immigration Act, which limited the number of migrants to the United States to 150,000 per year.<br />
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He chose not to seek a third term of office, instead pursuing other interests. He was the chairman of the Railroad Commission, honorary president of the Society of the Blind and wrote a weekly newspaper column called "Calvin Coolidge Says".<br />
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He died of coronary thrombosis in 1933.<br />
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<i>N.B. Some parts of the above image have been redacted by the CIA for reasons of national security. An unexpurgated version of all the naked Presidents will be made available at the end of the project.</i>dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-42539417365468476752016-10-28T11:02:00.000+01:002016-10-28T11:02:14.596+01:00Naked POTUS, number 29: Warren G. Harding<div style="text-align: center;">
"Even the President of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked" - BOB DYLAN<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDrnasS8ALTLpZ3zFQsI-rWdvrY5oz312KoEzb3tdaTSSM-rqQC_j8FIoJtCMMmg0b7NKWErhtrewsr9ZNkz_Cccetm1rnIspXW1PgrsFCEcPKo8w1OccAHG1BP4n2ELdRBNzk0rh5f4Ih/s1600/29+harding_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDrnasS8ALTLpZ3zFQsI-rWdvrY5oz312KoEzb3tdaTSSM-rqQC_j8FIoJtCMMmg0b7NKWErhtrewsr9ZNkz_Cccetm1rnIspXW1PgrsFCEcPKo8w1OccAHG1BP4n2ELdRBNzk0rh5f4Ih/s1600/29+harding_r.jpg" /></a></div>
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Pictured here with no clothes on, his usual plumage, it is the 29th President of the United States <b>Warren G. Harding </b>(1865-1923). All about him:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>WARREN G. HARDING</b></span></div>
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<b>Born</b> 2nd November 1865, Corsica, Ohio</div>
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<b>Died</b> 2nd August 1923, San Francisco, California<br />
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<b>Presidential Term</b> 4th March 1921 - 2nd August 1923<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Warren G. Harding was the son of two doctors, but he made his name as a newspaper editor and proprietor. He made his paper, The Marion Daily Star, into one of the largest in the country before he turned to politics.<br />
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Harding was the first US President to have been born post-American Civil War.<br />
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He was a divisive figure. Harding controversially filled his cabinet with close personal friends. The major fallout from this was the Teapot Dome scandal, where a Harding crony - Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall - secretly sold the oil rights to Teapot Dome, Wyoming in exchange for money and cattle.<br />
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Harding was a progressive, ordering that the White House and Washington D.C. be desegregated. He also pardoned the Communist politician Eugene V. Debs, imprisoned by his predecessor Woodrow Wilson for speaking out against the Great War. Harding was in fact responsible for ending that war: due to the US Senate's refusal to join the League of Nations, the conflict was not technically over until ratified by the US President.<br />
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Harding is best remembered for his magnificent sexual incontinence. He had a lengthy affair with Laurie Fulton Phillips, while another mistress Nan Fulton, sired him an illegitimate daughter. His wife was a peculiarly understanding woman.<br />
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Harding became the sixth US President to die in office. He had a heart attack while visiting San Francisco on 27th July 1923. Subsequent examination showed that he was also suffering from pneumonia and he died of a cerebral haemmorhage a week after he fell ill.<br />
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The G stood for Gamaliel.<br />
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<i>N.B. Some parts of the above image have been redacted by the CIA for reasons of national security. An unexpurgated version of all the naked Presidents will be made available at the end of the project.</i>dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-78649103293577689832016-10-28T11:01:00.000+01:002016-10-28T11:01:09.675+01:00Naked POTUS, number 28: Woodrow Wilson<div style="text-align: center;">
"Even the President of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked" - BOB DYLAN<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGFVSjxqBXPTl3HQwsk2QkBFCIE0bNPtb-bMgD4GuPSIQSoqCXC_7VZ9SCnrF2DiYstbGd-jJKbSmBVxMKqAt5Fb0rYCBcCqRBBX6icMgDtuWkykJXwzaqHrCr2AZYzo3aFVc5eKFd09Rt/s1600/28+wilson_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGFVSjxqBXPTl3HQwsk2QkBFCIE0bNPtb-bMgD4GuPSIQSoqCXC_7VZ9SCnrF2DiYstbGd-jJKbSmBVxMKqAt5Fb0rYCBcCqRBBX6icMgDtuWkykJXwzaqHrCr2AZYzo3aFVc5eKFd09Rt/s1600/28+wilson_r.jpg" /></a></div>
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Say it loud, he's naked (and white) and he's proud. It's the 28th President of the United States, <b>Woodrow Wilson </b>(1856-1924). Here are the details:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>WOODROW WILSON</b></span></div>
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<b>Born</b> 28th December 1856, Staunton, Virginia</div>
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<b>Died</b> 3rd February 1924, Washington D.C.<br />
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<b>Presidential Term</b> 4th March 1913 - 4th March 1921<br />
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Woodrow Wilson was the first US President to have a Ph.D; he gained his in the study of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. He gained national prominence as the progressive President of Princeton University.<br />
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Wilson passed the 17th and 18th Amendments to the US Constitution. The 17th made the election of members to the US Senate a matter for the popular vote. The 18th proved significantly less popular: in 1920 it outlawed the purchase or manufacture of alcoholic beverages.<br />
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Wilson's wife, Ellen, died from kidney failure on 5th August 1914, just days after Germany had declared war on Russia and invaded neutral Belgium, drawing Britain and France into the conflict and beginning the Great War.<br />
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During the Wilson Presidency, America found itself heavily involved in foreign affairs. The US Army overthrew Pancho Villa to quell the Mexican Rebellion in 1916.<br />
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He is best remembered for being the President who took the US into the Great War. Anti-German sentiment began to rise after their U-Boats sank the British passenger ship Lusitania, with many US citizens aboard. Wilson demanded that Germany cease their submarine warfare, severing diplomatic ties in protest in February 1917. The US formally entered the war on 6th April 1917.<br />
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Wilson became the second American President to win the Nobel Peace Prize in the conflict's aftermath for his efforts to form the League of Nations. Ironically, the United States would never join the League of Nations after the Senate opposed it. This diminished its importance and efficacy on the world stage and ultimately led to its collapse.<br />
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Wilson wasn't all wine and roses. He was a virulent racist who supported segregation and whose book "History of the American People" was quoted in D.W. Griffiths' infamous pro-Ku Klux Klan historical epic motion picture <i>Birth of a Nation. </i>Under the Wilson administration, Washington D.C. was re-segregated.<br />
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On 2nd October 1919, Wilson suffered a major stroke while visiting Pueblo, Colorado. This left him paralysed down his left side and a virtual recluse for the final year of his Presidency. Many of his duties were carried out in secret by his new first lady Edith, whom he had married in December 1915. Wilson never fully recovered and died three years after his term had ended.<br />
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<i>N.B. Some parts of the above image have been redacted by the CIA for reasons of national security. An unexpurgated version of all the naked Presidents will be made available at the end of the project.</i>dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-74405737992868587732016-10-28T11:00:00.000+01:002016-10-28T11:00:21.771+01:00Naked POTUS, number 27: William H. Taft<div style="text-align: center;">
"Even the President of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked" - BOB DYLAN<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitCnNfJLWMw3TiAv-UJ_W-KjIxWhX5hrUb2sGAQv_pgz0SbkFYpSy0SU2BY-P-HMDazpkvB0Rrabvug3mOgAe0n-5o-V97ppA0EJ6S3wehq9tuuytZtZTJv8RWyU2NyRosw1DwThxxpoGQ/s1600/27+taft_r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitCnNfJLWMw3TiAv-UJ_W-KjIxWhX5hrUb2sGAQv_pgz0SbkFYpSy0SU2BY-P-HMDazpkvB0Rrabvug3mOgAe0n-5o-V97ppA0EJ6S3wehq9tuuytZtZTJv8RWyU2NyRosw1DwThxxpoGQ/s1600/27+taft_r.jpg" /></a></div>
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Your eyes don't deceive you, this really is the bath-fresh 27th President of the United States, <b>William H. Taft </b>(1857-1930). Fact:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>WILLIAM H. TAFT</b></span></div>
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<b>Born</b> 15th September 1857, Cincinatti, Ohio</div>
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<b>Died</b> 8th March 1930, Washington D.C.<br />
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<b>Presidential Term</b> 4th March 1909 - 4th March 1913<br />
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Taft came from a political family. His father helped found the Republican Party. Like his father, Taft was a lawyer before he began his own political career. He spent the early 20th Century as Theodore Roosevelt's Vice President.<br />
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Supported by Roosevelt, he won the 1908 Presidential election from William H. Bryan. His time in office was marked by a strong pursuance of the anti-Trust policies of his immediate predecessors.<br />
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During his Presidency, the 16th Amendment was added to the US Constitution, allowing the collection of Federal income taxes for the first time.<br />
<br />
Taft presided over the completion of the 48 Contiguous United States, with the admission of New Mexico and Arizona to Statehood in 1912.<br />
<br />
Taft (the 'H' stood for Howard) was the largest ever US President. He stood 1.82 metres in height and at his heaviest, weighed in at an enormous 332 lbs. He once got stuck in the White House's bathtub, forcing a larger model to be installed.<br />
<br />
He was opposed by Roosevelt for the 1912 Presidential Election. T.R. went as far as to run against him for the Republican Party nomination, before forming his own rival party which allowed the Democrats to split the vote. Following his loss in the election, Taft returned to law. In 1821 he was appointed the United States' Chief Justice, where he served until a month before his death in 1830. Taft remains the only former Chief Executive to have held the role.<br />
<br /></div>
<i>N.B. Some parts of the above image have been redacted by the CIA for reasons of national security. An unexpurgated version of all the naked Presidents will be made available at the end of the project.</i>dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-53625238797827570732016-10-25T10:12:00.004+01:002016-10-27T07:45:37.372+01:00337 songs that changed your lifeLast Saturday evening, hungover to tits and listening to The Velvet Underground, the conversation turned to the maddeningly inexact science that is musical taste. As with any such discussion, the issue of the one song that you really cannot stand was never far from our thoughts.<br />
<br />
In a moment of idle curiosity, I asked Twitter for some nominations.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/dotmund/status/789917455925833728" target="_blank"><i>The moment that torpedoed my next 72 hours</i></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It is safe to say that I had never anticipated what would happen next. By Sunday afternoon, my Twitter notifications were giving me a microcosmic indication of what it might be like to be famous. It turns out that being famous isn't all cocaine and hookers: or rather, if it is, those people aren't on Twitter. You wouldn't have the time: it turns what is normally a desert of anguish and boredom into a full-time occupation. I tried to imagine what it would be like if a significant proportion of each new tranche of notifications were abusive, quickly concluding that it would be straight up bullshit. Gary Lineker is an admirable man.<br />
<br />
If I'm honest, I expected my tweet to go much the same way as all the other 68-odd thousand I'd done: shout into the abyss, wait for echo, forget it entirely, repeat until death. This time, however, I had touched a nerve. The medium was prepared just right: time of day, day of the week and subject matter all made for an extremely fertile thread. Overwhelmingly so, at times.<br />
<br />
However, it was all entirely positive. One hundred percent. Not one single response was even slightly antagonistic, let alone insulting or to tell me that I had done a poo on a football pitch. It was a reminder of the goodness in people, and that social media is just as capable of reflecting this goodness as it is the badness. The whole thing was a genuine pleasure and if you are one of the many people who contributed, thank you.<br />
<br />
So far, 337 songs have been nominated for the list. Some have been mentioned countless times - countless because I didn't realise that I should probably have been counting them and now I just don't have the time nor the inclination to wade back through. Others are outliers, including some entries that provoked astonishment at their inclusion.<br />
<br />
Overall, it is a thrilling glimpse into the fragility of the human mind. I hope that some people were heartened to find themselves a ready-made online support community while others were just able to get something off their chest. The resultant Spotify playlist, which I have called <a href="https://open.spotify.com/user/natzini/playlist/3K72V4TfIlpLIDQZtbumwq" target="_blank"><b>Kryptonite Songs</b></a>, is perhaps the most tantalising song roulette anyone could ever play. If you are anything like me, you probably like a significant percentage of the following songs and can tolerate a large rump of the remainder. But it's in there, isn't it? Just waiting for you.<br />
<br />
Without any further waffle from me, here is the list. Free from the (admittedly slim) restraints of Spotify's library, it appears in its unexpurgated form. There is one small rider to this, which is that I will have almost certainly forgotten to include some of the songs: things were coming so thick and fast on Sunday afternoon that in the time it took to write up the latest 50 replies, there would be 65 more. So, if I missed yours off, I apologise. However, the list - and my Twitter - remains open, so I can almost certainly be nudged to fix any mistakes. Finally, if you haven't contributed yet and would like to, the original Twitter thread can be found <a href="https://twitter.com/dotmund/status/789917455925833728" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>, or you can leave your nomination in the comments below.<br />
<br />
<b>10cc – Dreadlock Holiday</b><br />
<b>10cc – I'm Not In Love</b><br />
<b>The 88 – At Least It Was Here</b><br />
<b>Ace Of Base - All That She Wants</b><br />
<b>The Animals – House of the Rising Sun</b><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<b>21 Pilots – Ride</b><br />
<i>The inclusion of this song riled up one respondent's teenage daughter. This delighted me: people were playing the Spotify list to their children. Hearts and minds.</i><br />
<br />
<b>4 Non Blondes - What's Up?</b><br />
<br />
<b>ABBA – Dancing Queen</b><br />
<i>I love this song. More updates on this as we get them.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Aerosmith – I Don't Want To Miss A Thing</b><br />
<b>Aerosmith – Janie's Got A Gun</b><br />
<i>Aerosmith. Music for people who like to be uplifted but hate music.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Akon – Lonely</b><br />
<br />
<b>Amy Grant – Big Yellow Taxi</b><br />
<i>The Big Yellow Taxi saga was interesting. Many replies just said "anything by [artist]" or "any version of [song]". Big Yellow Taxi, however, was unique. Initially picked with the stipulation that it was any except the Counting Crows version. Within an hour this, too, was on the list.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Andrew Gold – Lonely Boy</b><br />
<b>Anohni – 4 Degrees</b><br />
<b>Aqua – Lollipop (Candyman)</b><br />
<b>Artful Dodger ft. Craig David – Re Rewind</b><br />
<br />
<b>The B52's - Love Shack</b><br />
<i>Oh, this one is really, REALLY unpopular</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>B*Witched – C'est La Vie</b><br />
<b>Babybird – You're Gorgeous</b><br />
<br />
<b>Babylon Zoo – Spaceman</b><br />
<i>The most disappointing song of all time?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Bananarama - I Can't Help It</b><br />
<b>Band Aid – Do They Know It's Christmas?</b><br />
<b>Barry Manilow – Mandy</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>The Beatles - Across The Universe</b><br />
<b>The Beatles - Hey Jude</b><br />
<b>The Beatles - She's Leaving Home</b><br />
<b>The Beatles - When I'm 64</b><br />
<b>The Beatles - Yellow Submarine</b><br />
<b>The Beatles – Yesterday</b><br />
<i>The Beatles, objectively the greatest pop group in history. Just accept it. However, I can't particularly argue with any of these selections. </i><br />
<br />
<b>The Beautiful South – Perfect 10</b><br />
<i>BUT SHE WEARS A TWELVE</i><br />
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<b>Bee Gees – More Than A Woman</b><br />
<br />
<b>Belinda Carlisle – Circle In The Sand</b><br />
<b>Belinda Carlisle – Heaven Is A Place On Earth</b><br />
<b>Belinda Carlisle – Leave The Light On For Me</b><br />
<i>Some have queried whether Belinda Carlisle deserved such shoddy treatment. But the people have spoken and what they said was, do our ears deserve such shoddy treatment?</i><br />
<br />
<b>Beyonce – Single Ladies</b><br />
<b>Billy Joel – My Life</b><br />
<b>Billy Joel – Piano Man</b><br />
<b>Billy Joel – Uptown Girl</b><br />
<b>Billy Ocean – When The Going Gets Tough The Tough Get Going</b><br />
<b>Billy Ray Cyrus – Achy Breaky Heart</b><br />
<b>Bjork - It's Oh So Quiet</b><br />
<br />
<b>Black Crowes – Hard To Handle</b><br />
<i>The person who nominated this song tells me it is an FM radio staple in America. No wonder things are getting so fraught over there.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Black Eyed Peas – I've Gotta Feeling</b><br />
<i>This is one of the most nominated songs. The level of angst that it inspires, if harnessed properly, could end our reliance on fossil fuels.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Black Lace – Agadoo</b><br />
<br />
<b>Blondie - Heart of Glass</b><br />
<b>Blondie – Rapture</b><br />
<i>I was glad these were nominated. It's nice to have some great songs in any playlist.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Blue Mink - Melting Pot</b><br />
<i>No argument.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>The Bluebirds - Young At Heart</b><br />
<i>Dunghampers.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Blur - Song 2</b><br />
<b>Bobby McFerrin – Don't Worry Be Happy</b><br />
<i>Two songs by otherwise popular acts, completely ruined by their ubiquity.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Bobby Pickett - Monster Mash</b><br />
<b>Bon Jovi – Livin' On A Prayer</b><br />
<i>These two are on rotation as the elevator music in hell.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Bonnie Tyler – Total Eclipse of the Heart</b><br />
<b>Brand New Heavies – Midnight At The Oasis</b><br />
<b>Bruce Hornsby – The Way It Is</b><br />
<br />
<b>Bryan Adams - Everything I Do, I Do It For You</b><br />
<i>Sixteen weeks at number 1. Sixteen! Someone must have been switching out the HRT pills for M&Ms that summer.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Bryan Adams - Summer of '69</b><br />
<br />
<b>Bryan Ferry – Let's Stick Together</b><br />
<i>Crap, warbled by a prick.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Buckcherry – Crazy Bitch</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>The Byrds – Mr. Tambourine Man</b><br />
<i>The worst band in history.</i><br />
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<b>Callum Scott - Dancing On My Own</b><br />
<b>Carl Douglas – Kung Fu Fighting</b><br />
<b>Carly Simon – You're So Vain</b><br />
<b>Carly-Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>The Carpenters – Yesterday Once More</b><br />
<i>A brother and sister, singing love songs to one another.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Catatonia – Road Rage</b><br />
<b>Celine Dion – My Heart Will Go On</b><br />
<b>Chas & Dave – Rabbit</b><br />
<br />
<b>Cher - Believe</b><br />
<i>Dance music for people who don't like dance music.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Cher - The Shoop Shoop Song</b><br />
<br />
<b>Cher - Walking In Memphis</b><br />
<i>My own personal choice. A song of irredeemable awfulness.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Chris De Burgh – A Spaceman Came Travelling</b><br />
<b>Chris De Burgh – The Lady In Red</b><br />
<i>Run away!</i><br />
<br />
<b>Christina Aguilera - Lady Marmalade</b><br />
<b>Chumbawamba - Tubthumping</b><br />
<br />
<b>Cliff Richard – Mistletoe and Wine</b><br />
<b>Cliff Richard – The Millennium Prayer</b><br />
<i>The first Christmas songs on the list. They will not be the last.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Coldplay – Clocks</b><br />
<b>Coldplay – Yellow</b><br />
<i>Coldplay invoke all kinds of ire, but these were the only two specific songs chosen. (Update: someone nominated every single song Coldplay have recorded, in alphabetical order of the title. Is this what my life has become?)</i><br />
<br />
<b>Coolio ft. L.V. – Gangsta's Paradise</b><br />
<b>The Coral – In The Morning</b><br />
<b>Counting Crows – Big Yellow Taxi</b><br />
<b>Courtney Barnett – Pickles From The Jar</b><br />
<b>The Cranberries – Zombie</b><br />
<br />
<b>Crash Test Dummies – Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm</b><br />
<i>Hnngh hnngh hnngh hnngh.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Crazy Town – Butterfly</b><br />
<i>The stink of RHCP all over it. Music for the tattoo parlour where you caught hepatitis.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Crystal Waters - Gypsy Woman</b><br />
<b>Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died In Your Arms</b><br />
<b>Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Want To Have Fun</b><br />
<b>D:Ream – Things Can Only Get Better</b><br />
<br />
<b>Danny Wilson – Mary's Prayer</b><br />
<i>I'd forgotten about this one. One of my favourite choices on the list, it is a howler.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>David Bowie – Across The Universe</b><br />
<b>David Bowie – The Jean Genie</b><br />
<br />
<b>Dead Or Alive – You Spin Me Round</b><br />
<i>The curse of 2016 stuck just a day later. Sorry, Pete.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Deee Lite – Groove Is In The Heart</b><br />
<br />
<b>Deep Blue Something – Breakfast At Tiffany's</b><br />
<i>Of all the songs nominated, this one inspired the most hatred and anger.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Des'ree - Life</b><br />
<br />
<b>Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen</b><br />
<i>A brilliant song by a brilliant band, so there.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Diana Ross – Chain Reaction</b><br />
<i>My mum's least favourite song.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Dire Straits – Money For Nothing</b><br />
<b>Dire Straits – Romeo and Juliet</b><br />
<i>Dire straights.</i><br />
<br />
<b>DJ Otzi – Hey Baby</b><br />
<i>Perhaps the only good argument as to why leaving the EU was a good idea after all.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Dobie Gray – Drift Away</b><br />
<b>Dodgy – Good Enough</b><br />
<b>Don McLean – American Pie</b><br />
<br />
<b>Doobie Brothers - What A Fool Believes</b><br />
<i>I sang this tunelessly the entire morning after it was mentioned. My wife left me.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Doop – Doop</b><br />
<br />
<b>Dream Academy – Life In A Northern Town</b><br />
<i>"President Kennedy... and The Beatles (scream)...". A sackcloth full of watery cum.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>The Eagles – Hotel California</b><br />
<i>The other worst band in history.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Edwyn Collins – A Girl Like You</b><br />
<b>Eiffel 65 – Blue</b><br />
<b>Elbow - One Day Like This</b><br />
<br />
<b>Ellie Goulding – On My Mind</b><br />
<i>A friend played this to his 4-year old daughter. Her response? "Why's she saying that? This isn't even a song, dad".</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Elton John – Candle In The Wind (1997)</b><br />
<i>Well, obvs.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Elton John – Crocodile Rock</b><br />
<b>Elton John – Your Song</b><br />
<b>Elvis Presley - Return To Sender</b><br />
<b>Eminem – Lose Yourself</b><br />
<br />
<b>Enigma – Sadness</b><br />
<i>For when your ambient dance track needs more Gregorian Chant.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Eve ft. Gwen Stefani – Let Me Blow Ya Mind</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>The theme tune from <i>Everything's Rosie</i> </b><br />
<i>The curse of cBeebies.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Fairground Attraction – Perfect</b><br />
<b>Fountains of Wayne - Stacey's Mom</b><br />
<b>Frank Sinatra - My Way</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>The Fratellis – Chelsea Dagger</b><br />
<i>The sound of losing your virginity in a public toilet at a darts match as they counted up the results of the EU referendum.</i><br />
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<b>Fun – Some Nights</b><br />
<b>Fun ft. Janelle Monae – We Are Young</b><br />
<br />
<b>Gary Puckett and Union Gap – Young Girl</b><br />
<i>A brilliant choice. I applaud whoever it was who suggested this one.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>George Ezra – Drawing Board</b><br />
<br />
<b>Gerry & The Pacemakers – You'll Never Walk Alone</b><br />
<i>Full disclosure: the person who nominated this song's Twitter avatar is the badge of Everton Football Club. However, it all checks out. This song is bobbins.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street</b><br />
<i>Extraordinarily popular choice. Because no-one likes saxophones.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Glasvegas – Daddy's Gone</b><br />
<br />
<b>Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive</b><br />
<i>The most nominated song to include the qualifier "I'm sure no-one else has said this, but..."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>The Goo-Goo Dolls – Iris</b><br />
<b>Green Day – Good Riddance (Time of your Life)</b><br />
<b>Guns 'n' Roses – Sweet Child o Mine</b><br />
<b>Gwen Stefani – Hollaback Girl</b><br />
<b>Hinder – Lips Of An Angel</b><br />
<br />
<b>House of Pain - Jump Around</b><br />
<i>The early leader in the popular vote. The party song for people who don't go to parties.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Idina Menzel – Let It Go</b><br />
<b>Inner Circle - Sweat</b><br />
<b>The Jam - A Town Called Malice</b><br />
<b>James Blunt – You're Beautiful</b><br />
<br />
<b>James Brown – I Feel Good</b><br />
<i>Someone was obviously having a bad day.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Jamie Lawson – Wasn't Expecting That</b><br />
<b>Jamiroquai – Canned Heat</b><br />
<b>Janet Jackson – Rhythm Nation</b><br />
<b>Janis Joplin – Mercedes Benz</b><br />
<br />
<b>Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys – Empire State of Mind</b><br />
<i>Surprisingly, this is not on Spotify. So you all dodged a bullet there.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Jennifer Rush – The Power of Love</b><br />
<b>Jim Diamond – I Should Have Known Better</b><br />
<b>JJ Barrie – No Charge</b><br />
<b>Joe Dolce – Shaddap You Face</b><br />
<b>John Lennon – Imagine</b><br />
<b>John Mayer – Your Body Is A Wonderland</b><br />
<b>Joni Mitchell – Big Yellow Taxi</b><br />
<br />
<b>Journey – Don't Stop Believin'</b><br />
<i>I have a long-standing suspicion of songs with abbreviated words in their title.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Justin Bieber – Baby</b><br />
<i>Baby baby baby, ooh (repeat x1 fucking trillion)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Kate Nash – Foundations</b><br />
<b>Kate Tempest – Circles</b><br />
<b>Katie Melua – Closest Thing To Crazy</b><br />
<b>Katie Melua – Nine Million Bicycles</b><br />
<br />
<b>Katrina and the Waves – Walking On Sunshine</b><br />
<i>Some people don't like to be happy.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Katy Perry – California Gurls</b><br />
<b>Katy Perry – I Kissed A Girl</b><br />
<b>Katy Perry – Roar</b><br />
<i>Katy Perry has three songs on the list, representing 50% of her entire artistic output.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>The Killers - Mr. Brightside</b><br />
<i>An outstandingly unpopular and awful record.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Kings of Leon - Sex On Fire</b><br />
<i>Ffffuuuu</i><br />
<br />
<b>Kings Of Leon – Use Somebody</b><br />
<b>The La's – There She Goes</b><br />
<b>Lady Gaga – Bad Romance</b><br />
<b>Led Zeppelin – Stairway To Heaven</b><br />
<b>Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah</b><br />
<br />
<b>Lighthouse Family - Lifted</b><br />
<b>Lighthouse Family – Ocean Drive</b><br />
<i>The elevator music in Purgatory.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Limp Bizkit – My Generation</b><br />
<b>Lisa Stansfield – Around The World</b><br />
<b>Little Eva – The Locomotion</b><br />
<b>Lo-Fang – You're The One That I Want</b><br />
<b>Los Del Rio – Macarena</b><br />
<b>Lou Bega – Mambo No. 5</b><br />
<b>Lukas Graham – 7 Years</b><br />
<br />
<b>Lulu - Shout</b><br />
<b>Lulu - The Boat That I Row</b><br />
<i>Lulu is not nearly as popular as Absolutely Fabulous would have you believe.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Madness – Baggy Trousers</b><br />
<b>Madonna – Like A Virgin</b><br />
<b>MAGIC! - Rude</b><br />
<br />
<b>Manfred Mann's Earth Band – Blinded By The Light</b><br />
<i>A solid choice. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Manic Street Preachers – SYMM</b><br />
<i>A song. About writing a song. About Hillsborough. A song about writing a song about Hillsborough.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Marc Cohn – Walking In Memphis</b><br />
<i>The worst song ever written, performed by the culprit.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Mariah Carey – All I Want For Christmas Is You</b><br />
<b>Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Maroon 5 – Animals</b><br />
<b>Maroon 5 – Moves Like Jagger</b><br />
<b>Maroon 5 – This Love</b><br />
<i>No-one likes Maroon 5.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Meatloaf – I'd Do Anything For Love</b><br />
<i>Do it and get off.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Meghan Trainor – All About That Bass</b><br />
<i>No treble?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Men At Work – Down Under</b><br />
<b>Mercury Rev - Goddess On A Hiway</b><br />
<b>Michael Buble – It's A Beautiful Day</b><br />
<br />
<b>Michael Jackson – Earth Song</b><br />
<i>Considering his enormous popularity, ubiquity and cultural significance, a surprising solitary vote for Michael Jackson. Then again, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen didn't get any. But then again, neither of them recorded Earth Song.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>MIKA – Grace Kelly</b><br />
<br />
<b>Mike and the Mechanics – The Living Years</b><br />
<i>This one made me nod my head so hard I think something broke off inside.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>MN8 - I've Got A Little Something For You</b><br />
<b>Mousse T ft. Tom Jones – Sex Bomb</b><br />
<b>Mr. Big – To Be With You</b><br />
<b>Mumford and Sons – I Will Wait</b><br />
<b>Natasha Bedingfield – These Words</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>The New Radicals – You Only Get What You Give</b><br />
<i>Inspires nought but rage.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Nicki Minaj – Anaconda</b><br />
<b>Nickleback - Rockstar</b><br />
<br />
<b>Oasis - Champagne Supernova</b><br />
<i>I think the original nomination sums this one up better than I ever could:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
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<br />
<b>Oasis - Shakermaker</b><br />
<br />
<b>Oasis - Wonderwall</b><br />
<i>One of the most nominated songs of them all. Is it because it has been over-played? Or just because it is shit? Or both?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Oasis – All Around The World</b><br />
<i>"IT NEVER FUCKING ENDS" argues the nominator.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Ocean Colour Scene – The Day We Caught The Train</b><br />
<b>Offspring - Come Out and Play</b><br />
<br />
<b>OMC – How Bizarre</b><br />
<i>This song inspires such ire that it renders a lot of people speechless.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Paolo Nutini – New Shoes</b><br />
<b>Paul McCartney – We All Stand Together</b><br />
<b>Paul McCartney – Wonderful Christmastime</b><br />
<br />
<b>Peter Sarstedt – Where Do You Go To My Lovely?</b><br />
<i>An exceedingly popular choice.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Pharrell Williams – Happy</b><br />
<br />
<b>Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight</b><br />
<b>Phil Collins - You Can't Hurry Love</b><br />
<b>Phil Collins – Easy Lover</b><br />
<i>You couldn't not have a bit of Phil.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Picture House – Sunburst</b><br />
<b>The Pogues and Kirsty McColl - The Fairytale of New York</b><br />
<b>The Proclaimers – I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)</b><br />
<b>The Prodigy – Firestarter</b><br />
<br />
<b>Psy - Gangnam Style</b><br />
<i>This song is the national anthem of the list.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody</b><br />
<b>Queen – Don't Stop Me Now</b><br />
<b>Queen – We Are The Champions</b><br />
<b>Queen – We Will Rock You</b><br />
<i>I like one of these songs, but you'll have to guess which one while I go and throw up.</i><br />
<br />
<b>R.E.M. - Shiny Happy People</b><br />
<i>My mate Kev's choice, the first song committed to the list.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Razorlight - America</b><br />
<br />
<b>Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Californication</b><br />
<b>Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Under The Bridge</b><br />
<i>"Whenever anyone hears a song and asks 'what is THIS shit?', the answer is always Red Hot Chilli Peppers"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Rednex – Cotton Eye Joe</b><br />
<b>The Cast of Rent – Seasons of Love</b><br />
<b>Reverend and The Makers – Heavyweight Champion of the World</b><br />
<b>Richard Harris – Macarthur Park</b><br />
<b>Ricky Martin – Livin' La Vida Loca</b><br />
<b>The Righteous Brothers – You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling</b><br />
<b>Rihanna – Take A Bow</b><br />
<br />
<b>Robbie Williams - Angels</b><br />
<b>Robbie Williams - Millennium</b><br />
<b>Robbie Williams - Rock DJ</b><br />
<b>Robbie Williams – Candy</b><br />
<b>Robbie Williams – Freedom</b><br />
<b>Robbie Williams – Mack The Knife</b><br />
<b>Robbie Williams – Rudebox</b><br />
<i>No-one has as many entries on this list than Robbie. He has touched many lives.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Robert Palmer - Addicted To Love</b><br />
<b>Robin S – Show Me Love</b><br />
<br />
<b>Robin Thicke – Blurred Lines</b><br />
<i>One of the most frequent choices. A dumb-as-shit, rape apologist, piece of fucking garbage sung by a peenarse.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>The Cast of The Rocky Horror Show – The Time Warp</b><br />
<br />
<b>Rod Stewart – Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?</b><br />
<i>Nope.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Roy Orbison – Oh, Pretty Woman</b><br />
<b>Run DMC ft. Aerosmith – Walk This Way</b><br />
<b>Rupert Holmes - Escape</b><br />
<b>Sacred Reich - 31 Flavors</b><br />
<b>Sam Smith – Money On My Mind</b><br />
<b>Sandi Thom – I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Santana – Smooth</b><br />
<i>The soundtrack to trying to pick up a really runny dog shit.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Sash – Encore Un Fois</b><br />
<br />
<b>Savage Garden – Truly, Madly, Deeply</b><br />
<i>Music for, and by, virgins.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>The Scorpions - Winds Of Change</b><br />
<b>The Scorpions – Still Loving You</b><br />
<i>The band that made people want to rebuild the Berlin Wall. Not on Spotify, you lucky people.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Scouting For Girls – She's So Lovely</b><br />
<b>The Script – The Man Who Couldn't Be Moved</b><br />
<b>Shaggy – It Wasn't Me</b><br />
<br />
<b>Shania Twain - Man! I Feel Like A Woman!</b><br />
<i>Songs with unnecessary exclamation marks in the title.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Shanice – I Love Your Smile</b><br />
<br />
<b>Shut Up And Dance – Raving I'm Raving</b><br />
<i>A rave track that samples Walking In Memphis. What's not to like?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Simply Red – Fairground</b><br />
<i>You know how smug Hucknall's face must have been when he finished this one. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Simply Red – Stars</b><br />
<b>Sister Sledge - Frankie</b><br />
<b>Sixpence None The Richer – Kiss Me</b><br />
<br />
<b>Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody</b><br />
<i>I like this one and I don't care. Although, not in October.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Smash Mouth – All Star</b><br />
<b>Snap - Rhythm is a Dancer</b><br />
<b>Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars</b><br />
<b>Social Distortion - Story of my Life</b><br />
<b>Sophie Ellis Bextor – Murder On The Dancefloor</b><br />
<br />
<b>Space ft. Cerys Matthews – The Ballad of Tom Jones</b><br />
<i>No nomination made me laugh as much as this one. It is perfect, brilliant and entirely correct.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Spice Girls - Wannabe</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>The Spin Doctors – Two Princes</b><br />
<i>One of the most magnificently unpopular songs on the list. I guarantee that when I go back to Twitter after finishing this post, there'll be a new tweet nominating this. Probably with the word "fucking" in it.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now</b><br />
<b>Starship – We Built This City</b><br />
<b>Stereophonics - Hurry Up and Wait</b><br />
<b>Stereophonics – Have A Nice Day</b><br />
<i>If you ever doubt how much people hate these two groups, just read the Twitter thread.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)</b><br />
<b>Steve Miller Band - Abracadabra</b><br />
<b>Steve Walsh – I Found Lovin'</b><br />
<br />
<b>Stevie Wonder – I Just Called To Say I Love You</b><br />
<b>Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney – Ebony and Ivory</b><br />
<i>Perhaps the two most hateful songs ever written, for any fans of irony out there.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Stiltskin – Inside</b><br />
<b>The Stranglers – Golden Brown</b><br />
<b>Supertramp – The Logical Song</b><br />
<b>Survivor – Eye of the Tiger</b><br />
<br />
<b>Sweet – Wig Wam Bam</b><br />
<i>The fucking Sweet. The other, other worst band in history.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>T'Pau – China In Your Hand</b><br />
<i>I like this, so nur.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Take That ft. Lulu – Relight My Fire</b><br />
<b>Tammy Wynette – Stand By Your Man</b><br />
<br />
<b>Taylor Swift – I Knew You Were Trouble</b><br />
<b>Taylor Swift – Shake It Off</b><br />
<i>Taylor Swift is not on Spotify so you won't be able to enjoy what a brilliant song Shake It Off is. Or how arse-clenchingly dreadful the other one is.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Terence Trent D'arby – Wishing Well</b><br />
<br />
<b>Terry Jacks – Seasons In The Sun</b><br />
<i>A tumour.</i><br />
<br />
<b>They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse In Your Soul</b><br />
<i>The inclusion of this one sparked controversy in my timeline, with calls to name and shame. Cards on the table, I like it. Many, many others do not.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Tina Turner – The Best</b><br />
<i>Hah!</i><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>TLC – No Scrubs</b><br />
<b>Tom Petty – Free Fallin'</b><br />
<b>Tony Christie – Is This The Way To Amarillo?</b><br />
<br />
<b>Toploader - Dancing In The Moonlight</b><br />
<i>Hands down, this is the popular choice for the most hated song in history. The sound of Hard Brexit happening as Jamie Oliver runs over your dog in his VW camper van.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Traditional - Jerusalem</b><br />
<i>"...when it is sung by old posh ladies". </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Traditional - Little Drummer Boy</b><br />
<b>Traditional – I'm Proud To Be An American</b><br />
<br />
<b>Trio – Da Da Da</b><br />
<b>Twista ft. Anthony Hamilton – Sunshine</b><br />
<br />
<b>U2 – Beautiful Day</b><br />
<i>A song so cataclysmically awful that it drew the fire from the remainder of the U2 canon.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>UB40 - Red Red Wine</b><br />
<b>Ultrabeat – Pretty Green Eyes</b><br />
<b>Ultravox – Vienna</b><br />
<b>Van Morrison - Brown-Eyed Girl</b><br />
<b>Vance Joy – Riptide</b><br />
<br />
<b>Waterboys – The Whole of the Moon</b><br />
<i>The overwhelming choice from Irish and Scottish respondents.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>The Weathergirls – It's Raining Men</b><br />
<b>Westlife – You Raise Me Up</b><br />
<b>Wet Wet Wet – Love Is All Around</b><br />
<b>Wheatus – Teenage Dirtbag</b><br />
<b>Whigfield - Saturday Night</b><br />
<br />
<b>Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You</b><br />
<i>My dad's least favourite song.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Wings – Mull Of Kintyre</b><br />
<b>Wizzard – I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day</b><br />
<br />
<b>Yello – Oh Yeah</b><br />
<i>Oh no.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">++ LATE NEWS ++</span></b><br />
<br />
There continues to be significant interest in this project, significant enough to increase the 337 songs to 373 and then to 380. Which is more. For the benefit of science, here are the new entries:<br />
<br />
<b>Anohni - 4 Degrees</b><br />
<b>Basement Jaxx - Do Your Thing</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>The Beatles - Octopus's Garden</b><br />
<i>And yet, still nothing for Rocky Raccoon. Or Oh-Bla-Di, Oh-Bla-Dah. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Benny Mardones - Into The Night</b><br />
<b>Beverly Knight - Shoulda Woulda Coulda</b><br />
<b>Billy Swan - I Can Help</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Bran Van 3000 - Drinking In L.A.</b><br />
<i>Songs from adverts, a surefire recipe for resentment and anger.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><b>Bros - When Will I Be Famous?</b><br />
<b>Caro Emerald - Liquid Lunch</b><br />
<b>Charlene - I've Never Been To Me</b><br />
<b>Colbie Caillat - Bubbly</b><br />
<b>Corinne Bailey-Rae - Put Your Records On</b><br />
<b>The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary</b><br />
<b>Donna Fargo - The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.</b><br />
<b>Elton John - Passengers</b><br />
<b>Eternal - I Wanna Be The Only One</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Europe - The Final Countdown</b><br />
<i>Dur dur dur dur, dur dur dur dur dur.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Flying Machine - Smile A Little Smile For Me</b><br />
<b>Fools Garden - Lemon Tree</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax</b><br />
<i>Look, I don't choose these songs, OK?</i><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b>Jeff Beck - Hi Ho Silver Lining</b><br />
<i>Although if I could, I would.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><b>LMFAO - Sexy And I Know It</b><br />
<b>Madonna - Die Another Day</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>The Mavericks - Dance The Night Away</b><br />
<i>The creeping menace of modern country music.</i><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b>M.C. Hammer - U Can't Touch This</b><br />
<b>Midnight Oil - Beds Are Burning</b><br />
<b>Nelly Furtado - I'm Like A Bird</b><br />
<b>Okkervil Rover - A Girl In Port</b><br />
<b>Outkast - Hey Ya!</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Prefab Sprout - The King of Rock and Roll</b><br />
<i>Hot dog.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Procul Harem - A Whiter Shade of Pale</b><br />
<b>R.E.M. - Everybody Hurts</b><br />
<b>Rod Stewart - Sailing</b><br />
<b>The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil</b><br />
<i>I fundamentally disagree with three out of these four choices. I will leave you to guess which is the odd one out. (It's Rod Stewart).</i><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b>Sheryl Crow - All I Wanna Do</b><br />
<b>Stan Ridgway - Camouflage</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Steve Winwood - Higher Love</b><br />
<i>Southern Sound FM, Woodingdean 1991, representing.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>The Streets - Fit But You Know It</b><br />
<b>Swing Out Sister - Breakout</b><br />
<b>Tight Fit - The Lion Sleeps Tonight</b><br />
<i>I can see how these could wear you down.</i>dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com78tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2796758322617574644.post-91711958349083236142016-10-20T09:32:00.002+01:002016-10-20T09:32:31.011+01:00Naked POTUS, number 26: Theodore Roosevelt<div style="text-align: center;">
"Even the President of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked" - BOB DYLAN<br />
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Neither a bull nor a moose, it is the 26th President of the United States, <b>Theodore Roosevelt </b>(1858-1919), in the nip. Fact squad:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THEODORE ROOSEVELT</b></span></div>
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<b>Born</b> 27th October 1858, Manhattan, New York</div>
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<b>Died</b> 6th January 1919, Oyster Bay, New York<br />
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<b>Presidential Term</b> 14th September 1901 - 4th March 1909<br />
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Theodore Roosevelt had not been expected to survive his childhood due to his severe asthma. However, he built up his strength and confidence through the practice of boxing. Tirelessly energetic, he also spent his childhood - as well as the rest of his adult life - as a keen naturalist.<br />
<br />
Roosevelt began in politics at an early age. He was already a US Senator when his first wife Alice died during the birth of their first child, also named Alice.<br />
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Roosevelt briefly resigned from politics in order to serve in the Spanish-American war, heading up a volunteer cavalry regiment that was known as the Rough Riders. On 1st July 1898, Roosevelt's men won a famous victory at the Battle of Kettle Hill.<br />
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Roosevelt was the fifth Vice President to have been promoted to the Presidency. At the time, he was also the youngest man to have served in the role.<br />
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His term was marked by stability at home and abroad, much to Roosevelt's chagrin. During his Presidency, the Panama Canal was constructed. He is mainly remembered for his contribution to foreign policy, coining the term "walk softly and carry a big stick". This was allied to The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine: Monroe sought to prevent European expansion within the Americas, but Roosevelt expanded the scope to include intervention throughout the Western world. This mixture of a strong military and a brief to protect both the interests and ideals of the American people forms the basis of the United States' foreign policy to the present day.<br />
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For all his bullishness, Roosevelt was the first American President to win the Nobel Peace Prize, for his efforts in negotiating peace in the Russio-Japanese War of 1904-05.<br />
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In 1904, Roosevelt became the first promoted Vice President to win a Presidential election in his own right.<br />
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Upon winning the 1904 election, Roosevelt immediately announced he would not seek a further term. He came to regard as this his greatest mistake. He found that he disagreed with the direction of his designated successor, William Taft. By 1912 he was seeking election again. Passed over by his Republican Party for the nomination, he formed his own Bull Moose Party. This considerably split the Republican vote but served only to allow the Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson to win the Presidency.<br />
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During the 1912 campaign he was subject to an attempted assassination. A German immigrant, John Schrank, shot Roosevelt as he prepared to make a speech in New York City. The bullet deflected off of Roosevelt's spectacles case and fifty pages that made up his speech. Though injured by the attack, Roosevelt nevertheless spoke for an hour afterwards.<br />
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Roosevelt disappointed his many followers by disbanding the Bull Moose Party during the 1916 election season, recommending that they vote for the Republican candidate Charles E. Hughes.<br />
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Roosevelt was the first US President to own a motor car and the first to wear corrective eye glasses. He is the only 20th Century President to appear in effigy on the side of Mount Rushmore.<br />
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During his Presidency, Oklahoma was admitted to the Union in 1907, which now comprised of 46 constituents.<br />
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He was the uncle of Eleanor Roosevelt, future First Lady of the United States, and the fifth cousin of the 32nd President, Franklin Roosevelt.<br />
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<i>N.B. Some parts of the above image have been redacted by the CIA for reasons of national security. An unexpurgated version of all the naked Presidents will be made available at the end of the project.</i>dotmundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272789893685683212noreply@blogger.com1