Well, I've extracted a Top Ten from Mrs Abahachi, and thought that I might as well go ahead and get the discussion rolling. On reflection, Valentine's Day might be the last date we should get involved in questions of musical incompatibility with one's other half; it might make singletons like Sourpus feel even more left out of things (or, quite possibly, deeply relieved), and anyway the debate then tends to be about choice of romantic viewing rather than music: I say Casablanca, you say Notting Hill...
Actually that reminds me of an important caveat: the point of this discussion is not to sneer or snigger at the musical tastes of our significant others - after all, they probably overlap with those of someone else on the 'Spill - but to wonder how (to paraphrase Duke Ellington on the subject of jazz) such great extremes as currently exist can rub along together under the same roof. So, in considering these lists (and I do hope you're all going to join in), what matters is not so much the contents in their own right as the juxtaposition with a given Spiller's known preference for, for example, classic 80s pop, miserable Scottish indie, noise-drone-rumble-core or, in the case of the Abahachi household, avant-garde European jazz with occasional NWOBHM and Bob Dylan.
Mrs Abahachi's Top Ten
1. Mozart, Requiem
2. Night and Day, sung by A Male Singer who probably isn't Frank Sinatra
3. Vivaldi, Mandolin Concerto
4. The crowd at Cardiff Arms Park singing Mae Hen Wlad fy Nhadau
5. La Cumpasita, as heard on Some Like It Hot
6. Barbara Dickson, Another Suitcase in Another Hall
7. Billy Joel, The Stranger
8. Mozart, Marriage of Figaro
9. Beatles, Let It Be
10. Emma Kirkby, Columba Aspexit
Incidentally, if I'd been guessing at this I'd have got five out of ten.
28 comments:
I showed this post to The Device, and amazingly, she's totally up for it!
Glad you go the ball rolling Abahachi, makes for most interesting reading.
OK, I'm with Mrs Abahachi on Mozart, Vivaldi & Barbara Dickson. My tastes are fairly eclectic but centre on folk / blues whereas Mr Munday likes Metallica, Black Sabbath, Buddhist chants, Mahler, Celine Dion (??)and Hendrix. We meet up somewhere around Arvo Part, Queens of the Stone Age, Rory Gallagher, Toumani Diabate and John Martyn. Jazz is a bit neglected in our house unless you count some fairly non-challenging Pat Metheney, Weather Report and Dave Brubeck, which I think we agree on.
Overlaps?? Erm... I quite like Billy Joel in small doses, and the Mozart Requiem. We more or less agree on Joe Jackson, kd lang, Abba and a couple of Shania Twain songs. That may be about it...
Hmm, Jon and myself have frighteningly similar taste in music and spent the 90s at the same gigs, without knowing each other. In fact, had he not scored full marks in my lyrics quiz on a forum, we might not have met in real life. So. hmmm. There are some minor differences: he's very fond of massed harmonies and slightly more shoe-gazery type indie than me and I edge towards slightly edgier female vocalists, but in the main, we match very well indeed.
I printed the comments that started this off, and biro-ed at the bottom "Your All-Time Top Ten, please dear" as a note for the (still-sleeping) DarceysMam before I set off for swimming. You should have seen the look she gave me when I got home!!
:o(
You may be waiting some time for hers . . .
This is hilarious: hubby was instructed to compile a list on his way back from the gym, he's just dictated it, surrounded by our shelves of CDs and he's in absolute agony, making me chop and change the list. Anyway, this is his initial response, plus his initial chop and change.
Kingmaker Armchair Anarchist
The Cure Pictures Of You
New Order Temptation
Joy Division Atmosphere
Carter USM Girls Can Keep A Secret
Flaming Lips Race For The Prize
Billy Bragg Accident Waiting To Happen
Belle and Sebastian State That I’m In
Boo Radleys Lazarus
dEUS Hotel Lounge
Bang Bang Machine Geek Love
Radiohead True Love Waits
Pulp Common People
Brendan Benson Metarie
The last three fell out of his original list and now he's shouting more from the bath...
@TracyK
Hubby's list is a great list! I narrowly missed out on seeing Kingmaker back in the day, with a certain band called Radiohead in support!! My mates went along, can't remember why I didn't..
...just a bit more pestering and we should have Mrs Japanther's list....
Hubby saw Radiohead supporting Belly at a small gig in, I think, Leicester. He went looking for the loos, opened a door and found himself face-to-face with a very surprised Thom Yorke. That would've been a good gig!
I did love hearing your wife's reactions to your music. Didn't know about 'uresei' either.
Mrs. Shoegazer, reluctantly offered up these:
New Order - Blue Monday
David Bowie - Life On Mars
Soft Cell - Tainted love
Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl
Colourbox - The Moon Is Blue
Blondie - Heart of Glass
Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding
Band Aid - Feed The World
Stranglers - Golden Brown
Scritti Politti - The Sweetest Girl
She also wanted Jarvis Cocker reading a Lion Called Albert until I pointed out it wasn't a song & she seemed to like the last Elbow album but doesn't know what any of the songs are called.
Shoeteen #1
Snow Patrol - Signal Fire
Wombats - Let's Dance to Joy Division
David Bowie - Life on Mars
Coldplay - Clocks
Delgados - Mr. Blue Sky
Arctic Monkeys - Brainwash
Snow Patrol - If There's a Rocket Tie Me To It
Coldplay - Strawberry Swing
KT Tunstall - The Other Side of the World
Carter Burwell - Bella's Lullaby
Shoeteen #2
Snow Patrol - Run
The Fray - You Found Me
Coldplay - Lost
Snow Patrol - Set the Fire to the Third Bar
Coldplay - Crack the Shutters
Coldplay - Lovers in Japan
Snow Patrol - If There's a Rocket Tie Me To It
Boys Like Girls - Hero Heroine
Wombats - Let's Dance to Joy Division
Shoeteen #2 would like to point out that, unlike me, she can count & I missed Colplay - Warning Sign
First of all, I should point out a discrepancy that might confuse people. You know how 32 Farenheit is 0 celsius? well, in America, a top 10 always contains 15 tracks. It just does, you'll have to take my word for it.
Mr. Steenbeck would like you to know this is what came to mind without thinking about it too much, what he likes to listen to recently...
1.Keys to My Heart--101ers
2. I Wish I had a Million Friends--Tom T Hall
3. Talking Casey Jones--Mississippi John Hurt
4. Jurassic 5-- I am Somebody/Freedom
5. Mos Def--Fear Not for Man
6. Fela--No Agreement
7. Marin Marais--La Folia
8. Hilo--Sol Hoopii
9. Billie Holiday--Solitude
10. Mikey Dread--Heavy Weight Sound
11. Childz Play--Cee Lo Green
12. Nina Simone--Feeling Good
13 Belle & Sebastian--Expectations/String Bean Jean
14. ATCQ--Bugging Out
15.Reckoner--Radiohead
And, for comparison, here's the list I came up with last week.
1. Jimi Hendrix--Remember
2. James Brown---Try Me
3. Clash--Know Your RIghts
4. B&S--lonliness of the Middle DIstance Runner
5. Smiths--Stretch out and Wait
6. Ethiopians--One
7. Bob Marley--Mellow Mood
8. Bob Dylan--Don't THink Twice, it's Alright
9. Black Star--Respiration
10. Mulatu Astatqé--Tezeta
11. ATCQ--Check the Rhyme/midnight/lyrics to Go/8 million stories
12. Nina Simone--Sinnerman/Jellyroll/Feeling Good/22nd Century/Ooh Child
13. Fela--Viva Nigeria
14. Pete Rock & CL Smooth--Mecca and the Soul
Brother
15. Mississippi John Hurt--Stockwell
15.5 Outkast Gasoline Dreams
@Shoey & Steenbeck - you both seem pretty compatible with your other halves I must say and some great tunes mentioned.
Mrs Japanther hurriedly offered these, but insists it is not a top ten just the first ones she thought of, here they are in the order they tumbled out of her mouth:
Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK
Clash - Stay Free
Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop
Fast Cars - The Kids Just Wanna Dance
Finger Five - GakenTengoku
Watanabe Misato - My Revolution
Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen
Laughin' Nose - Get the Glory
Ramones - Rock'N'Roll High School
Supercar - don't know which one..!
I'm happy to report that I wholeheartedly support each and every one of these....now if we could just get Hum of the Druid into the songbook at the local karaoke place I might just be able to bring her round to my way of thinking.....
As I have no Other'Arf, I have resorted to asking mrdebbyjr for his current Top Ten (msdebbyjr's would involve a lot of "If You're Happy And You Know It, Clap Your Hands"-type stuff, she's not advanced to *pop* yet...although she DOES like "Mamma Mia", sigh)... so, off the cuff we have:
Snow - RHCP
Knock Me Down - RHCP
This Suffering - Billy Talent
All My Life - Foo Fighters
Times like These - Foo Fighters
Burn Away - Foo Fighters
Walking Alive - Foo Fighters
Strip My Mind - RHCP
Hard to Concentrate - RHCP
Carvel - John Frusciante
Which rather surprised me, as he's had John Frusciante on a 24-hour-loop for weeks now, and is fretting that the new CD still hasn't been released over here AND he's a major Arctic Monkeys fan. Must be the flu he's still recovering from.
(Actually, anyone interested in the AM/RHCP influence should pop over to myspace and ask it for thebox, making sure to click on the Hamburg alternative)
There's a couple of RHCP songs I don't mind at all - our family music sessions often include Desecration Smile (cos I know easy chords for it!) - but I soon discovered I was WAY past the sell-by date for Green Day, Billy talent and the like.
My own top ten? Some day, when I've actually got time to think...
DarceysMam made me an offer last night: she would do me a list if I abandoned plans to watch the footy highlights, and let her & DarceysGran watch Mamma Mia instead.
Deal!
So...
Ultravox - Vienna.
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Staircase Mystery.
Jethro Tull - Heavy Horses.
Simple Minds - Alive And Kicking.
Elton John - Circle Of Life.
Iggy Pop - The Passenger.
The Clash - Rock The Casbah.
Black - Wonderful Life.
The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary.
Blondie - Atomic.
FGTH - Relax.
I know, I know, eleven. She always has to add the final word; know what I mean?!
;o)
Hey--maybe the Clash is the band nobody (or their spouse) actively dislikes.
Japanther--I think it's sweet that you pretty accurately predicted Mrs. Japanther's list.
Mr. Steenbeck decided this morning that he had to have Sir Duke in the list, and that he would like his Tom T Hall selection to be "I Like to Feel Pretty Inside."
@ Abahachi - I thought this was going to be a Valentine's Day thing. I told ToffeeGirl she had a fortnight or so to think about it! Standby for submissions...
This is really interesting, both the obvious domestic (musical) harmony and the love-you-despite-your-love-of-The-Cranberries type relationships. I don't think I've ever had a relationship that wasn't founded on a similarity of musical tastes (and meeting most of my partners via nightclubs has certainly ensured that to be the case). What I did find galling was when you introduce someone to the joy of a particular genre, only for them to then develop an obsession with it, thus draining all your own affection totally away. That sucks.
Sorry, Steenbeck, Mrs Abahachi hates the Clash... Exception that proves the rule?
@ steenbeck - it's 'sorry' from me - and it's 'sorry' from her. Sorry.
The nilpferds are a musically homogeneous lot.. here is the partner 'Pferd's freshly dictated top ten, none of which would exactly drive me out of the room-
Miles Davis- Bitches Brew
Archie Shepp- Theme for Ernie
Herbie Hancock- Cantaloupe Island
Kip Hanrahan- Tenderness (whole album)
Buckshot le Fonque- Wonders and signs
Miles Davis- In a silent way (whole album)
Fanfare Ciocarlia- Manea Tziganilor
Cannonball Adderley- Walk Tall
Galliano- Nothing has changed
G.M. Mclennan- Easy come, easy go
That's a nice list actually, because about a third comes from each of our collections before we met, and the rest consists of things we discovered together. Mine would be very similar in that regard.
**hippos wallow contentedly**
I think you probably know what a lucky, lucky bastard you are...
yep
(sorry if the wallowing made anyone feel nauseous..)
I'm gonna guess mrs magic's or should I say magicwoman's top ten and tell you in a few days how very off I was : US steenbeck version (tho we're in UK for now)
1. A Case Of You - Joni Mitchell
2. If You Love Me - Brownstone
3. Giving You The Best That I've Got - Anita Baker
4. Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen
5. Dust - Van Hunt
6. Lover, You Should Have Come Over - Jeff Buckley
7. Let's Stay Together - Al Green
8. As - Stevie Wonder
9. You're My First, My Last, My Everything - Barry White
10. Un-Break My Heart - Toni Braxton
11. Man Enough For Me - Whitney Houston
12. Dancing Queen - Abba
13. Don't Stop Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson
14. Whenever Wherever Whatever - Maxwell
15. Sweet Mother - Prince Nico M'Barga
I have to agree with every one of them - it's been an education too -(though my top ten would be well different)
if it's magic....why can't it be everlasting...?
Magicman, are you AMerican?
That's okay, Toffeeboy, I don't think the Clash would want everyone to like them. I was just struck by the # of folks that did.
steenbeck - no I'm not, I'm an Englishman with a green card and some years in America behind me. (maybe some ahead who knows) Los Angeles mainly.
I asked yesterday and got a big NO, but I'll try again. I've seen the contents of her ipod and there's some pretty extreme MOR stuff, but then again there was also Raekwon's The Lex Diamond Story, an album even I don't own.
Ed, just borrow the iPod and select "Most Played"; that'll do.
I'm arriving fashionable late to your party, Abahachi. Sorry and kissy kissy and all that.
Mrs Tin's top 10:
U2 - The Unforgetable Fire
Jon Secada - Just Another Day
Robin S - Show Me Love
Take That - Rule the World
Gigi D'agostino - I'll Fly With You
VNV Nation - Beloved
Scooter - How Much is the Fish
Diana Ross - I'm Still Waiting
Mary McGregor - Torn Between Two Lovers
Rebecca Lynn Howard - Forgive
Dave Matthews - Satelite
Slyver - In Your Eyes
Westlife - I Wanna Grow Old With You
The Smiths - Well I Wonder
Dido - White Flag
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