The Soundtrack To My Despair

Happy Monday everyone

A few days ago I was tagged by the fabulous Vix to do the High School Playlist

My high school years were between 1992 and 1997 and, contrary to the old adage, they certainly weren't the happiest days of my life.  In actual fact school was one long, seemingly endless nightmare for me and it took me long into my adult life to fully recover from it!  Music was one of the ways I escaped and it consequently became a huge part of my life.

So hard to narrow down to 5 tracks as I was listening to a lot of music during this time, from all different eras.  To simplify matters, I've stuck to tracks that were current to the period.

An obvious choice maybe but everyone loved Nirvana.  I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news of Kurt's death and how, after that event, a lot of my friends who wouldn't usually listen to that type of music suddenly became Nirvana fans.  Such an important band to my generation, I couldn't leave them out.

After a while I tired of everyone jumping on the grunge bandwagon and started listening to Britpop.  Inevitable I suppose.  Unfortunately I became a bit of an indie kid for a while! 

Suede were one of my favourite bands of the Britpop scene, although I'm sure they would argue that they were never really part of it. Dog Man Star is probably still one of my favourite albums to this day

As I got a bit older I became more interested in female fronted bands.  I loved the kitsch glamour of this lead singer

I had the biggest girl crush on Miki.  I recorded this video off The Chart Show (remember that?!) and watched it over and over.  I wanted to be just like her.

I was listening to John Peel's Festive 50 in 1996 when I heard this track.

It was easy to get into Kenicke.  They were only a couple of years older than me, wore cool clothes, cool make up, and were so accessible.  Plus, they were girls with guitars! 

Lauren Laverne now has her own show on BBC 6 Music as well as numerous TV presenting roles.  I think she's one of the most interesting and culturally informed women in broadcasting.

At this point I must give an honourable mention to Mark Radcliffe & Marc Riley.  Together they were Mark & Lard, a comedy duo of sorts who had their own show on BBC Radio 1 (when it was good).  They did the infamous "graveyard shift" broadcasting from BBC Manchester Studios between the hours of 10pm and midnight every Monday to Thursday.  The show ran from 1993 to 1997 and I listened to it religiously!  I had a huge crush on Mark Radcliffe before I had even seen what he looked like.  They played some excellent music from new up-and-coming bands as well as some older and more obscure artists.  The show was full of spoof documentaries, toilet humour, and cheesy gags but combined with shed loads of interesting features such as "Cult Film Corner" "Cult TV Corner", and "Poetry Corner", featuring guests like Mark Kermode, Kim Newman, Katie Puckrick, Sean Lock, Simon Armitage, John Hegley, Harry Hill (long before the TV Burp days) and Bill Bailey.

I owe a huge debt to that show.  It was a refuge for my angst ridden teenage self and introduced me to so many artists, bands, films etc. that I may never have otherwise discovered.

They played a lot of tracks by this next artist, including this one...

...and my love affair with Nick Cave began.

Phew, still with me?!

Thank you for sharing that trip down memory lane with me.  Sorry if it was a bit angsty for your taste!

Hmm, who to tag next...

...the lovely ladies behind the following blogs:-

The Freelancers Fashion Blog
Just Another Wardrobe Experience

Homesick Blues
Quirky Vintage Worlde

Misfits Vintage

Hope you can find the time ladies.  I'd be really interested to hear your choices.

Hope you're all having a lovely week.

Lucy x