#RPGaDay2018: Day 19 - What music enhances your game?

Just listen to the open few bars of that. I'll explain in a bit.

My GM's have used music to inspire sessions or set scenes for pretty much as long as I've been gaming. I remember being in a room in the Renraku Arcology in the Shadowrun game right back at the start, with all these dolls who turned their heads to me and sung my name in creepy voices "Kamayaaa, Kamayaaa", a scene presaged when the GM started the session by playing the intro to a metal track he enjoyed. I'm not sure which song it was, but the intro was a bunch of kids singing about how they were going to get you...

The game most inspired by music was the World of Darkness campaign I played in at uni. I will always think of that game when I hear "The Final Countdown" by Europe, and The Pixies "Where is My Mind?" is the song for Malkav for me, but it's REM's "End of the World" where the GM took the most effort. He went through the song, making sure each line showed up somewhere in the Werewolf, Vampire or Hunter game. I'll never forget the NPC hunter we met as he paddled into Hudson Bay in a small dinghy to face down the Godzilla-monsters (Mokolé in their archid forms): we were nervous for him, but Lenny Bruce was not afraid.

There's been plenty of others, but not many other uses of music that have stuck with me so directly. 

Which brings me back to the video at the top. This is The Emissary's theme song, the mysterious NPC from our Exalted game - the Anathema Taji and Kito first befriended that caused them so much trouble (though not as much trouble as their presence causes him...)

The fifth paragraph of this episode is the pertinent one. Rich had established the character's theme song by having it play whenever we saw him give the laws, something we witnessed a few times at a great distance as we settled into Nexus. We then got on with the various troublemaking we liked to get up to, eventually detouring to the White Tower - the tallest building in the city and one which would give us a good view. As we stood on the path debating how to gain access, we heard the opening bars of the track and turned to the GM, eyes and mouths wide with horror. We'd completely forgotten this was where The Emissary lived, and sure enough, he was walking towards us...

For me, it was hands down the best use of music I've ever experienced in a game.

What about you? How has music enhanced your gaming? Let me know below!

#RPGaDAY2017: Day 17 - Which RPG have you owned longest but not played

Between us, Husbit & I own a fair few roleplay books, and we've played maybe two thirds of the settings. If you go further and break it down to source books, that probably gets to be even worse odds - especially if you take him out of the equation and only look at me.

But of all the books, of the ones that are actually mine, I think the one I've had longest and done nothing with is Abney Park's Airship Pirates. (I say mine, I bought it for Husbit but he wasn't all that interested so I claimed it for me ;-) ).

I bought it because I like the band Abney Park and I was entertained by the back story they created to justify their change from goth to steampunk and the concurrant change in line up. It feels like the start of a roleplay story: their plane was caught in a freak accident with a time travelling dirigible (the Ophelia). They combined with the survivors of the crash to become airship pirates (see Wikipedia and their website).

The RPG in a far future that's pretty broken, with most people living inside a huge walled city where rebels and dissenters are thrown in the 'change cage' and there's dark things going on. Outside, there are many dangers but also more freedoms. You've got people living in cloud cities, you've Neobedouin nomads, and of course the airship pirates themselves.

I'd very much like to play or run it one day, but for now I'm happy just owning it and enjoying the setting.

~~~

RPGaDAY was started by Dave Chapman and is currently curated by RPG Brigade. To join in yourself, follow the questions in the graphic and blog, vlog, tweet, or otherwise share your responses with the hashtag RPGaDAY2017.

Farewell, Jareth

It's taken me a while to write this, because I'm not ready to accept it. But that's life and death and that's how it goes.

When I was toddler-sized, my favourite books were Spot's Birthday Party by Eric Hill, Meg and Mog by Helen Nicholl and Jan Pieńkowski - and Outside Over There by Maurice Sendak. My elder sister recalls hiding her fear of the story in order to read it to me over and over again as only a toddler can demand, and I think it's her love for me that is why I loved the story so much: I knew if I was ever taken by fairies, she would, without question, be there to bring me home. I have never doubted that.

So move onward a few years, and I'm watching TV. I think I must have been around 8 or 9, because I remember it as being a large, colour TV and we didn't have a colour TV until I was 8. I missed the beginning of the film I was watching, this was long before the days of pressing a button on the remote (what remote?!) to see what you were watching, and we didn't have a TV guide. I was entrhalled, but I had no idea what film it was that had me so spellbound.

Fast forward to my third year of uni. I was home alone and bored, nosing through my housemate's dvd collection. She was a huge Bowie fan, and at this point my only known exposure to him had been the mother of my French exchange student asking "Iz eet pronounced 'Boh-ee' ou 'Bough-ee'?" so I'd been enjoying educating myself on his music. But it was the dvd shelf that stunned me, because there was a film there that looked so familiar. I was sure, but afraid to be sure, to the point my hands were trembling as I put it on. 

There was one scene I remembered most vividly: the Ida character and some goblin reaching a garden by climbing up a ladder and out of a flowerpot to meet a wiseman with a talking hat. Turns out I remembered it wrong: Sarah and Hoggle don't climb out of a flowerpot. But Labyrinth was the film that I had been seeking for somewhere around 15 years.

What I'm saying is, I was late to discovering the depth of the importance and power of David Bowie, but his impact on me was no less for it. I want to write one day about why Labyrinth is an important film ("You have no power over me"), but not today: Bowie is an amazing actor as well as a wonderful musician and the Jareth character is truly sinister, but today I wanted to talk about Bowie.

I find I still don't have the words. 

I was angered when I saw a newspaper headline (I think the Sun) "Shock Bowie Cancer Death". It was not a shock: Lemmy's death was a shock, but Bowie's we knew was coming. Or at least, I saw the announcement 18 months or so ago but no paper followed the story and I managed to convince myself it had been an internet hoax. Just because the papers hadn't realised how much he meant to the world didn't mean his illness wasn't known. I've been similarly annoyed by the people who say, on listening to his latest single, "It's like he knew he was going to die!" Well, yes.

Oh, but I know my anger is the frustrated anger of the bereaved. And as with Sir Terry Pratchett last year, I feel a bit weird that I'm feeling bereaved at the loss of someone I never met. And that makes me feel weird, because somehow I've always known I'd meet David Bowie, a conviction I can't trace the root of (unless it was in that long quest to find the film...) and I'd never lingered on the thought long enough to question it until now, but the convistion is strong enough I'm beginning to wonder if there is an after life.

He was able to fluidly change himself time and time again. He was an openly bisexual person in a world of very few bisexual rolemodels. He was gender fluid in a gender binary time. And that might not seem important to everyone, but representation does matter, and he didn't just represent: he was loved. Is loved. And the huge musiccal legacy he has left us is something I am grateful for.

I feel sometimes that it must help when the person you love who's died is famous. When people close to me have died, there's been this seismic shift in the world to which most of the world seems oblivious. Not so for Bowie. Not so for Alan Rickman (whose generosity in supporting young talent from poor backgrounds and his commitment to equality needs to be more widely known). Not so for the rather striking number of famous deaths since Christmas.

Does it help to know the world mourns with you?

I didn't know what Bowie meant to me until now. It doesn't seem true that I'll never meet him. 

Farewell, Goblin King.

Musical A-Z - X,Y,Z

I found it really hard to finish this. I ended up cheating and looked for bands for X and Y. Any suggestions or recommendations in the comments please.

X

 

When searching for X, I was intrigued by the preview of this article so went and looked up the band and thought they were rather good.

Yggdrasil

I'll admit, it was the name that caught my eye ;-)

Zombina and the Skeletones

Played a gig when I was at uni and they were so much fun - full zombie/skeleton make up and costumes and fake blood. Went down well with the larp'ers! I love this song.

Z Z Top

And I kinda hadta finish with these guys. 

Musical A-Z - W

Wagner

This is the first piece of classical music I got into. Very dramatic piece of music.

Wheatus

I don't know anything else by Wheatus, but I've always enjoyed this song.

Wheezer

This is the deeper this week. Many, many years ago, I went to Reading Festival with some school friends. The mother of one drove us up: she was volunteering at the festival for a mental health charity. The others in the car thought that was stupid, they couldn't understand why people would need counselling at a festival. I was just coming to terms with my Depression diagnosis (and it was going to get a lot worse before it started to get better) and what she said next was so powerful for me: sometimes, people feel sad in places where they feel like they should feel happy, and are surrounded by people who feel happy, and it becomes much harder to bear. And that first day of the festival, my depression kicked in and I felt so lonely and if she hadn't spoken before I'd have felt even worse. Wheezer were the last act I watched that day, the only one I came close to enjoying, but I managed to find a way through and enjoyed the next 2 days. Hearing Wheezer always reminds me I'm not alone in the ways depression can beat me around.

White Zombie

Feels a bit of a cheat to include White Zombie when I've already included Rob Zombie, but I really like this song.

 

The Who

Again, I just like this song.

Musical A-Z - U/V

UB40

With both England and Wales out of the World Cup, this seemed a topical song... It wasn't this version, but this song was the one my dad used to sing me to sleep when I was little, so it'll always be special to me, no matter what Australia might do to my rugby teams.

Underworld

Iconic song of the 90's.

Vampires Rock

Cheating: not a band, but a covers set strung together with a tenuous plot about a vampire night club ("Live and Let Die"). Silly - the actors spend a lot of time corpsing on stage (pun not intended...), and the audience heckles and it's fun. Seen it a few times now: this year, the plot's moved on. Baron von Rockula was killed by Van Halensing as the club burnt down at the end of the original, and it's 100 years later and they're hiding in a ghost train. Full of plot holes, but entertaining, and one of the dancers did a routine on silks that really excited me!

Vanessa Mae

Vanessa Mae is a huge part of why I love strings so much, and this was the piece that brought her into the mainstream. She's incredible.

Velvet Underground

As a teen, I got quite into Eminem to my Dad's consternation. I'm not quite sure why, but he thought if I listened to this I might get over it... It's long, but the story is entertaining.

Vivaldi 

Spring was always my favourite growing up, but I think I prefer winter now. Both the season and the piece.

Voltaire

For geek value, I was tempted by USS Make Shit Up, but really I wanted to use God Knows because it was the first of his songs I knew. I couldn't find an official version of God Knows; this was the first that came up on the Youtube search, and I'm feeling lazy ;-)  

Musical A-Z - T

Sorry I've been a bit quiet. There's been some 'real life' stuff going on that's eaten into my time and motivation, and it's going to get worse before it gets better so I'm afraid posts are going to be intermittant and of dubious quality for a little while at least. I'll get back on track as soon as I can, so please bear with me till then.

One of the joys of these musical posts has been that I don't have to think too hard - and I get to listen to music I often haven't properly listened to in years.

Taproot

Another from my teenage years who, listening to now, I want to get back into. A friend of my friends was a really big fan - I  think he knew their bassist - so I listened to a lot when he was around. It was also he who introduced me to Pantera and reinforced my love of Fear Factory. 

Taylor Davis

This is a collaberation with Lara on the piano. I've shared my favourite of Taylor Davis's pieces (Cosmo Canyon) recently, so picked this instead. She's done a lot of fantasic covers of music that will be familiar to geeks of most ages, but it was her FFVII covers that I discovered first, so they will always be most special to me.

Third Eye Blind

Another somewhat angsty-whiney band I like anyway. My little sister thinks I'm obsessed with this particular of their songs because it's on basically every mix disc I made after I bought the album, but I think I like Ten Days Late best. Giving this song to other people was my clumsy attempt at saying "if you're standing on a ledge, you're not alone and I'll try to help if you need me to, even if it makes you hate me."

TLC

I love this song. I love their voices and I loved singing along loudly and with little understanding with my younger sister. And now I'm older, I love that there's a pop song saying it's ok to say no to guys you wanna say no to! I like others of their songs, but I love this.

Transplants

Transplants are one of the bands I've found to be fantastic driving music, so I knew I wanted to include them. Diamonds and Guns was my introduction to them, and California Babylon was my first choice for song to put here (although it was close between that and most of the rest of the album...) but this won out because a lot of people who matter to me have lost children and this song makes me think of them. 

Travis

I have this memory that Coldplay would release a song, then fade away, then Travis would release a song, then fade away, then Coldplay, then Travis... They're similarly nasal and droney but I always preferred Travis so was disappointed when Coldplay appeared to 'win'.

2CELLOS

These guys are fantastic and if you don't already know them you should definitely check them out. Their videos generally tell fun little stories; this video doesn't show their incredible skill to its fullest, but does have Steve Vai in it and I'm feeling guilty for forgetting him when I did S. 

2 UNLIMITED

My big sister used to go to a rollerdisco every week. 8 years younger, I was too young to be there but she used to bring me along anyway. They'd let me rollerskate up and down at the end of the hall, and every now and then one of the staff would take me for a couple of circuits of the main floor. This song was one that played there often, and brings back very fond memories of my brief flirtation with minor rebellion.

Tyr

Viking doom metal! What's not to love? 'Twas my friend Troll Luke who first got me to listen to this, and now he's run off to another part of the UK and I haven't seen him in years, which sucks.  

Musical A-Z - S (updated)

Saint-Saens

This is one of my very favourite bits of music.

Savage Garden

I know, terribly uncool, but I really like Savage Garden. Having said that, I've not listened to them in a very long time... 

They were one of very bands my younger sister and I both liked as teenagers. Her favourite was the one about chica cherry cola ('I Want You', I believe), but this one was mine because most of the lyrics were things I believed. And I vaguely recall using 'To the Moon and Back' to torment our younger brother...

Semisonic

More teenage summer songs. I was torn between this one and 'Secret Smile', but when I listened to 'Secret Smile' it was a lot whinier than I remembered, so 'Closing Time' it is.

Sepultura (UPDATE)

Just had it pointed out I missed these guys! This song is one from the club I worked in. Reminds me of collecting glasses, the stink of sweat (in a good way!) and friendly moshpits. 

Shakespears Sister (UPDATE)

I'm also disconcerted that I managed to miss this! The first song I owned: a birthday present from my big sister (along with Michael Jackson's Bad album). Oh, and another pick where I only know one song...
 

Smashing Pumpkins

The first of three today where I really only know one song, but have listened to it enough that it needed inclusion. Again, teenage angst! I do have an album of theirs, I just never got into it the way I have with other music.

Snake River Conspiracy

My friend Arthur (he of the spiked bracelet) had their album on in the background when I was drinking tea round his (he's largely to blame for me drinking tea: he'd make me a cup before remembering I didn't drink tea, so I'd drink it to be polite until I acquired a taste. I now really like tea - but I'm very fussy about how i drink it!). I really liked it - he knew I liked one of their songs (a fantastic cover of The Cure's 'Love Song') from RocSoc and was pleased i liked the rest of the album because it's one of his favourite and they're not well known (he also reintroduced me to Mr Bungle, whom I accidentally neglected on M).

They only did this one album, Sonic Jihad, before splitting, but I did have a very old tweet mentioning them recently favourited, so I understand there may be similar music to come as Mojave Phone Booth.

SOiL

This song is on one of the mix-disc's I rediscovered to play in my car. I really ought to check out more of their stuff, because I keep grabbing that disc out for this song (making this the second pick where I only really know one song). It makes me think of the friendly moshpits of the rock/metal nights I've been out on. I dunno, I just really like it. And watching the video, cannot get over how sleek the singer's hair is!

Soundgarden

Yep, this would be the third. This song feels like a good metaphor for depression, somehow. I know someone who made cd's where it was every 3rd track so she didn't have to keep skipping back to it. I like it, but not that much!

Steps 

In my defense, I wouldn't have even thought of Steps if I hadn't mentioned tormented my brother earlier (we used to sing 'Tragedy' as "Will's hair's a mess and he's in a stress; he's hard to bear; with <lyrics I forget> he's going nowhere". Siblings can be very cruel); and Faye from Steps is a metalhead. Let's just ignore that I used to know all the moves to this song, and focus on how funny it is when my West Country friend Jon sings this at karaoke in his thickest Somerset accent.

Sublime (UPDATE)

This update makes the 5th pick where I only know one song. I like ska punk but don't know loads. It may sound weird, but what I like about this song is that it shows the rapist to be a bad guy - that his behaviour deserves punishment, not applause. Feels like an "I believe you" moment.

System of a Down 

I wasn't going to pick this track to represent SoaD, but I've discovered they are my preferred driving music and at the end of a looooong week where I'd spent a fair amount of time stuck in traffic, my GM made the mistake of setting a scene as "You wake up. What do you do?" I don't often wear make up, and my character never does, which would explain his confused expression. It did at least help me wake up and engage with the game more fully...

Like I said, I'm listening to a lot of SoaD in the car. I could listen to digital music, but I'm loving having an excuse to go through my cds. Track 1 on the same album (Toxicity) is 'Prison Song', in which they speak out against the ridiculousness of imprisoning people for taking drugs when treatment and rehabilitation is proven to be far more effective... The logic there makes me think of arguments raised by Icarus Anne Riley, and you should all check out her blog because she is eloquent and pissed off and wants you to think. Also because she talks about music and gaming and other stuff you might like.

Musical A-Z - R

Hello new people who've started reading since RPGaDay! Whilst I mostly blog about roleplay stuff, a mini-project I've been enjoying has been sharing my music tastes. We're up to artists beginning with R. Hope you enjoy :)

Rage Against the Machine

Having recently ended up with my own car and started driving regularly, I've really enjoyed listening to all my old cd's again. This track was on one I'd made up for dj'ing RocSoc at uni. I was stuck in traffic so whacked the volume up and rocked out. With care and respect to my surroundings.

I love RAtM. Again, a band I discovered as a teenager. I respect that they support the political charge of their lyrics with their acts.

I was going to pick the obvious Killing in the Name so I could share an anecdote about an old job. I may have shared it before, but never mind. I worked in a pub with night club attached. The night club was predominantly a metal club and had a main bar at the front and a small bar at the back that was only really big enough for one member of staff - usually me, because I could handle it even in a crush and very rarely had mistakes in my till.

The boss also headed up security, so he'd wander round from time to time to make sure I was ok - and he always came by when Killing in the Name played so I could scream "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!" in his face. We had a great relationship: he really looked after any member of staff who worked hard. I'll miss him for a long time yet. 

Rammstein

When I was little, I learnt a tiny bit of German before visiting family there. And I really hated milk. Then years later, I (mis)heard this and was amazed to discover a song had been written about me! The confusion was dispersed when it was explained the lyrics are "You have me" and not "Du hasst milch".

Rancid

  
Remember the friend I mentioned whom I met when he accidently thwacked me in the face with spikes? His name's Arthur and everyone should be lucky enough to have a friend as awesome as he is. Anyway, he's well over 6ft (I think 6'4") and I had another friend (Boyd) of similar height, and they used to stand either side of me in mosh pits and when skanking at uni, and this song in particular always makes me think of them.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

This was another band where it was nearly impossible to pick which song to go with... but this is beautiful. The Chili's were my favourite band as a teenager; each album having its own style meant I could find something to suit nearly any mood. 

Regina Spektor

A friend at uni introduced me to Regina Spektor as "she's weird, but good. Everything about her is weird but good." I don't listen to her often enough to be able to pick a song, so just grabbed one from Youtube. I wanted to include her, though, because she always makes me think of driving with Lou.

Refused

My brother introduced me to these guys, starting with The Sound of Punk to Come. This is one of his favourites, and I rather like it too.

REM

Do you remember me mentioning that Awesome World of Darkness I played in when I was at uni? End of the World was one of the theme songs for that. But this is a song I sing to myself whenever I'm having a bad day, and it always makes me feel better.

Rihanna

This is another one that stands out... I don't actually like Rihanna's music (although she has an incredible voice), but I couldn't talk about Steve (my Late boss) without this song coming to mind. His girlfriend at the time he died  had very different music tastes to the staff and regulars, and used to put this on the jukebox over and over again to wind him up. It was a bit of fun but meant it was a long time before I could listen to this without crying. So I don't like it the way I like most of the music I share, but it has become a part of me.

Rob Zombie

 
I want this played at my funeral. Also, having recently watched The Cabinet of Dr Caligari  for the first time, I really enjoyed this video!


I may have made the mistake of asking Husbit and our friend Mazz (of Clockwork Wargaming), both former DJ's, for suggestions and they've pointed out many fantastic artists I've missed. Rose Royce, Rolling Stones and Richard Cheese nearly appeared, but I realised I was going to never end this post if I wasn't careful! There were many other music memories brought forth from their chattings.


Have I missed a favourite of yours? Any recommendations? 

#RPGaDay2015 - Day 26, Favourite Inspiration for your Game

I'm really not sure how to answer this, but let's have a go.

It feels like a question to ask a GM, and I very rarely run games (not a whole lot of confidence, love playing, have a lot of friends who really enjoy GM'ing). That's not to say there aren't plenty of things I come across that spark off the desire to create in a role play sense - either to enhance my playing or in a setting creation sense for a game I'll never run. Then again, I could think about the things that have inspired other people to run my favourite games.

Let's start with the latter.

I'm going to go back to the Final Fantasy Noir homebrew game. I've never played a Final Fantasy game to completion. I got a fair way through FF7 on a friend's PS1 before the memory card got wiped and her family got rid of FF7 because they'd nearly finished and couldn't face working through it again and I've watched other people play chunks of 8, 9, 10 and I think 12, but I've never played one all the way through.

But they are beautiful, detailed games, crafted with love.

I love this bit of music and think this is a fantastic cover.

So that might be my favourite inspiration for a game I've played in. The guy running 'Final Fantasy Noir' is a huge fan and did his best to recreate the vastness of the worlds, managing to create a very engaging game in the process. I don't think it would have been my inspiration, but I'm grateful to it.

What about things that inspire me as a player? It depends, but I like using games to try out things I'd not dare to do - to test my own morality, I suppose. I played a Ravnos in a Vampire game once. Her name was lost in the mists of time, but she went by Mathilde at the point the game started. She was a bully and a trickster - she revelled in causing emotional pain to other people. I am not that kind of person but I wanted to understand it, wanted to play with the concept. I was inspired by the idea that vampires don't feel emotion and slowly (or otherwise) lose their connection with humanity, and I wondered how one might deal with that. I guess I was inspired as much by the setting as the desire to explore what could have been a part of me if I'd been a different person.

And if I were running games... I'd love to run something set in Genevieve Cogman's The Invisible Library. I think Lords of Gossamer and Shadow would work really well: the similarities between the settings and the freedom offered by the LoG&S system mean I wouldn't have to make many changes. But I've got a couple of ideas for games set in the world(s) of LoG&S I'd want to use it for first, so that will have to wait.

I've talked about the book before. Parallel worlds with a Library connecting them (very L-space!), with the librarians of the Library trying to track down copies of all the books in existence. The universe is divided between Law (represented by the Library and dragons, although the two have their own agendas and don't work together) and Chaos (represented by the fey races). Librarians don't age whilst in the Library, need to be smart and athletic to retrieve the books, and have access to certain magics by calling on the Library. Parallel Earth's mean a setting players can recognise but which can be twisted to the GM's control.

Reckon a lot of fun could be had with that.

But mostly it's characters I'm inspired to create, as evidenced by the Character Concepts tab above. I've got several to add when I have time to write up properly, and it's all sorts of things that can inspire. Sometimes I just want to create my own version of an archetype; often something I read will send sparks flying; sometimes I'll pinch an idea from a friend or someone or Twitter (I try to get consent when I notice I'm doing it!) - and as with 'Mathilde' above and several of the cyberpunk characters, sometimes I want to explore something opposite to me.

 

Musical A-Z - Q

Let's see if you correctly guessed which bands would come up here... Part of me wanted to go away and discover new Q bands, but that felt like cheating. I Also feel like I should be a fan of Quiet Riot, but I only know 'Cum on feel the noize', and while I like it I don't have the emotional engagement with the song or band for it to meet the ephemeral criteria for inclusion.

Queen

 

This is my favourite Queen song. My big sister sang it quietly to me when my dad married my step-mum: a hugely powerful memory of being overwhelmed by love on a day I found very difficult (my step-mum and I have patched things up, but we had a very unsteady relationship at the time).

By happy coincidence, this is Husbit's favourite Bowie song. 

Queens of the Stone Age

Back to being a teenager. This was the first QotSA song I heard, on a mix-disc either from a friend or free on the front of Kerrang! magazine. Despite my music tastes, I was mostly a very straight-laced teenager and something about this song titillated me - gave me that feeling of rebellion without actually having to actual rebel and risk getting into trouble.

Anyway, I'm off work for this week for a training course. It's being run from New York so I'm doing it online (for some reason my employers weren't prepared to send me to NY for the week...), which means I'm running on American time but in the UK, which feels a little weird. The nice thing is that I'm having time to write in the morning before work rather than trying to squeeze it into my increasingly full evenings, and I'm still getting to sleep in (I'm definitely an owl). I'm also getting so see how Cat spends her home-alone days.

I set up in my normal corner of the sofa yesterday, only to be hounded out of it by the puss (who proceeded to sleep in my spot all day), so I moved laptop and course gubbins to the other side and today she's either been on my lap or outside... Contrary feline!

What do you mean you wanted to sit here? This is *my* spot

Musical A-Z - P (Updated)

As you may haev seen, I won something over on RPG Knights! Am currently downloading my prize and thought I'd get this sorted while I wait... I think DriveThruRPG is having a bad day!

Pantera

I recently found out about the racist comments made by the leadsinger and it saddened me because I love their music. I really enjoy this kind of metal and think they are/were very talented. It's left me in a quandry!

Papa Roach

Another song with teenage nostalgia - although much less happy. It was a huge song for me in that it spoke to me about my depression (and connected me deeply with another friend in the same boat). The line "It all started when I lost my mother" cut particularly deeply. But fortunately friends at uni reconnected me with the song and gave it much happier memories. (I didn't go to Reading the year they were there but I had fun when I did go so it seemed an appropriate video)

Paul Weller 

Another bittersweet I'm afraid. I worked in a pub/club during my uni holidays. My boss, guy called Steve, learnt to sing and did Paul Weller covers as 'The Wild Woodsman'. I didn't listen to Paul Weller until after Steve was murdered and his voice has never seemed quite right to me: Steve's just seemed that bit stronger. He's someone I miss a lot - one of the best bosses I've ever had. Club never seemed quite the same without him.

Pendulum

May have mentioned before Husbit and I have eclectic but varying musical taste: you've no doubt noticed my strongest preferences are in rock, punk and metal, whilst his are more the dance end of the spectrum. The drum and bass stylings of Pendulum make a good middle ground, and we both really like the band (although he's the only one lucky enough to have seen them). This song will always get me dancing.

I didn't find the actual music video, but this amused me. You might say I'm easily entertained... 

Peter Andre 

Hanson, B*Witched and 5ive... but I think this is the only thing on the list I'm vaguely embarassed by... But again, it's all about the memories, and I was young and foolish and on my first school trip where we stayed away over night. Safely encased in canvas, the girls sang - or rather, shouted - the chorus late at night between the tents, to the annoyance of the teachers, parents and boys.

And that's not a six-pack. What he did was shave some hamsters and tape them to his stomach. Fact. :p

Pink Floyd (updated to include)

Oh my goodness! How could I forget Pink Floyd? They are one of my Dad's favourite bands - possibly his favourite. I grew up listening to them and have always loved this song. I think it's very beautiful. Not seen the video before. 

Pitchshifter

Turns out I don't know Pitchshifter as well as I thought. Listen to them when I'm out or round friends but turns out I didn't know what any are called! Oh well...

Placebo 

Right up until this morning, the song was going to be Pure Morning. Maybe Bitter End or Meds. But I got Every Me and Every You in my head as I was leaving work so switched. Love Placebo. Bought an issue of Kerrang! in the way back when because it had a Placebo meets Judge Dredd comic and my dad's a Judge Dredd fan. Showed it to him and turned out he already knew and "quite liked" Placebo. The teenage me cheered at that!

Prodigy 

Another in the Venn diagram of Husbit & my tastes - although he's just pointed out he thinks this is one of their worst songs. Apparently, his opinion is popular because it didn't get on to the album. I love it though. This and Breathe alternate between top spot as my favourite. Husbit would have picked Voodoo People (and has pointed out I could have mixed it up with Pendulum and given their remix of it).

Professor Elemental

My lovely friend Pat introduced me to the good professor when I was having a bad day a few years back. Been lucky enough to see him live when he played a gig at the end of my local pier. Great fun.

Musical A-Z - O

Obsessive Compulsive

These guys played the Alt May Ball one year when I was at uni (for me, a great deal - a fraction of the price of the actual May Ball and with bands and music I was actually interested in). Of the various bands who came, they were my favourite. Their music was fantastic and after their set they came and hung out with us and were really nice people. Really excited that they seem to be getting recognition. 

My favourite of their songs are actually from the ep I bought when I saw them, and their official YouTube channel doesn't carry any of them so I went with this because that line "I speak my truth, I wear my scars" comes from one of those songs.

The Offspring

Probably not much of a surprise to anyone that I love The Offspring - fun and upbeats tunes of the sort that are intrinsically interwoven into my summer. 

On a side note, was recently given a link to an article analysing the accents used in pop punk, which I found really interesting.

OK Go

Another song of my teenaged summers. OK Go do some great fun videos - this one's visually very punny. There's something very satisfying about the videos, and I like the music.

Otis Redding

Having said that the kind of upbeat punk-pop epitomised by The Offspring, Blink 182, et al is the sound of my summer, this is also amongst it. This song is one of hot, sultry summer evenings, having a pint of cider and kebab in the back garden and watching the sun go down.

Our Lady Peace 

Our Lady Peace again remind me of being a teenager and particularly playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater. Pretty sure it wasn't actually on the soundtrack - think it was just what I chose to listen to when playing. But the two are pretty entwined in my mind.