What the hell are the defined songs of the geek geek hood?

In 1991 I was in grade 11 thinking I was so cool now that I was wearing a uniform that was two piece instead of the old one piece potato sack that we were forced to wear in our junior years. I’d ditched a lot of my old good friends for some new good friends because of some internal turmoil and set about flunking my advanced math classes. I was earning some cold hard cash by working at Woolworths which allowed me to expand my cd collection. 

Shakespears Sister – Hello (Turn your radio on)

The band is best known for their song “Stay” but there is a whole underrated album that lurks behind the high pitched singing of Marcella Detroit. “Hello (turn your radio on)” is the final song on the “Hormonally Yours” album and is just waiting for someone to do a really cool remix. I love the contrast between Siobhan‘s deep voice and Marcella’s window breaking/dogs barking soprano although sometimes Marcella grates a little on prolonged listens.  The song is one of those apocalypse type ones that were such a topic for lyricists in the early 90s. It has an incredible guitar solo that begins at 2:33 with these weird electronic hand clap sounds in it that should be used at all air guitar competitions.

I bought it on the day I recorded an interview with some guys from the aids council when I was making a documentary for a school project. I spent the next two years trying to convince my friends that it was a good album but they would just pay me out. It wasn’t until we spent a few days at Claire’s house over the school holidays where I played it over and over until they were convinced. They all own copies now and I have that satisfaction of being right from the start. 🙂

U2 – One

Achtung Baby could quite possibly be the first “adult” album I ever bought. Before that my cds, vinyls and tapes were mostly teeny bopper records but this album propelled me to middle of the road. The middle eastern flavoured music video for “Mysterious Ways” peaked my interest but it wasn’t Bono’s fresh new Fly sunglasses that set the trap, it was their incredible sound that was so completely different to anything else at the time. You have to remember that u2 had just come off the “Rattle and Hum” live album with all horns and soul but now we were hearing electronic beats and jangly guitar.

“One” is the slowest song on the album with what I think are some of the best lyrics Bono has ever written. This album was primarily an “in the bedroom” record for me. I am propelled back to my teenage room with the posters on the wall, a single bed and a lonely soul. I’ll forever associate it with my dodgy all in one stereo that I got for christmas that had a cd player AND a record player. You don’t see them these days younguns.

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