It was a drunken night out in Exeter City in the middle of October 2021 that made me want to start blogging again. I had with three mates been to see Red Rum Club at the Cavern Club in Exeter. They were the first band I had seen live in eighteen months, due to lockdown restrictions and they were pretty amazing. You see in that eighteen months, I’d sort of forgotten what going to gigs was like and when I got home all I wanted to do was write down about how good ‘Calexico’ was and how you should stop what you are doing and listen to Red Rum Club.
Calexico – Red Rum Club (2019, Modern Sky Records, Taken from ‘Matador’)
It took me a month, and an underwhelming Damon Albarn gig in a freezing cold church in Totnes to finally put pen to paper and there at nearly midnight on a Tuesday evening in November, No Badger Required was created.
Polaris – Damon Albarn (2021, Transgressive Records, Taken from ‘The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream’)
Today marks the second birthday of this blog. To be honest its lasted nearly eighteen months longer than I expected it to, because you see I thought I’d told all the stories that I could tell and I thought I’d written about my favourite albums enough and I thought I’d explored every feasible topic about music that could be explored – on that how does 20 Songs with ‘friend’ in the title sound, interspersed with stories about stupid things some of my friends have done…
All My Friends – LCD Soundsystem (2007, DFA Records, Taken from ‘Sound of Silver’)
Apparently, I was wrong though, because here we are. Two years is young for a blog especially when there are others that have been going ten, eleven, fifteen years, blogs that continue to inspire, entertain and occasionally enrage me just as much as they every did. If you are one of them, you are brilliant and I salute you. Please keep going.
I’d also like to salute those of you who read this blog. I don’t expect you to read it everyday but if you do – thank you. If you read it once a month, thank you. If today is your first time, thank you, as well, you have a lot of catching up to do. If you are a member of the Musical Jury, then thank you especially. It is my aim in life to hunt you all down and get you all roundly drunk (muggings, cancelled weddings, deaths, and 11th birthday breakfasts notwithstanding) or if you don’t drink, take you out for trifle or something.
So, here’s to next year then….
On that, in January we have a choice to make.
I have a BIG countdown in mind. One that will last most of the year, one that will be great and contain loads of excellent music but I kind of love the uncertainty of the monthly themes, the chaotic randomness of it. I also love using the Musical Jury so if no one minds, I’ll just carry on shall I with a different theme every month, I mean we’ve still got to do Rocks Greatest L after all.
15 Years – The Levellers (1993, China Records)
I’m also open to suggestions for themes, just in case anyone has any good ideas….
Oh and I might do another short story thing, you see I know this bloke called Wayne and he is being framed for a crime he almost certainly didn’t do….
Innocent (taylors version) – Taylor Swift (2023, Taken from ‘Speak Now (Taylors Version)’)