Every January, I take a well deserved break from Twitter, Instagram and the housewives’ favourite, Facebook. I find I am compelled to take such a break because of how much of my time I spend (or waste) on there. I know I’ve been doing this for at least five years because the closest I’ve come to breaking was when David Bowie passed away.
So here we are, in 2021. I hear that the change hasn’t made things instantly better. If anything, this year already sounds like a parody of the one it follows. I don’t feel like I’m at a loss for missing out on it. I realise every year that I get all of my news from Twitter. I am thankfully clueless without it.
This isn’t an opportunity for me to gloat but instead to note that I find myself looking inward and feeling grateful. I’m on the verge of what feels like a huge change. Information could come my way this week that I have been waiting on for a long time. Every 11:11, I make the same wish. Here’s to hoping.
As we hit the end of the year and try to work out how much better 2021 is going to be, I thought it would be a good opportunity to dwell some more on what happened last year. I undertook a project to listen to 52 artists that I hadn’t taken the time with before. As it turned out, I got to spend a lot of my time indoors, indulging in these albums, learning about the bands and musicians behind them. I enjoyed much of what I heard but these are the ten artists that made the biggest impact and which I will undoubtedly full back on.
1. Pearl Jam There’s a lot to be said about Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam. Most notably, Just Breathe, which has made it onto a number of playlists I turn to in times of respite.
2. Thin Lizzy After listening to Phil and the gang, I was lucky enough to visit Dublin and tour the studio where they recorded many of their albums. There’s a wonderful joy to their music. It’s fun and sexy.
3. David Gray The wobbly-headed wonder was due to play some big shows in 2020. I was ready to go and cry, but alas, it wasn’t to be.
4. Wolf Alice One of the bands I missed out on when their tide rode high, it was great to listen to Wolf Alice in the hopes that I could one day see them live.
5. St Thomas The beauty of St Thomas was brought to me alongside the painful documentary, Burn The Place You Hide. More than any other artist, these are the songs that get stuck in my head.
6. Childish Gambino The final week of the Music Jar project delivered one of the greatest performers. I look forward to listening to more of his work through this year.
7. My Chemical Romance Being a sanctimonious little know-it-all, I didn’t listen to emo’s sons when they were at their zenith. Again, they were due to play some big shows in 2020 that I would have loved to have seen.
8. Weezer A band that I wrote off because they seemed what we would now call a bit basic. Weezer have an incredible backlog of songs and continue to put out great albums.
9. Cigarettes After Sex If you’re into The XX and London Grammar, if you like being sad, smoking roll ups and wearing nothing but black then Cigarettes After Sex might just be the band for you. I know they made my Top 100 thanks to the sweet Spotify algorithm.
10. INXS Another band that I missed out on because I what I thought they were, INXS were one of the most important bands of their era who became a joke and a footnote unnecessarily.
I’m still working out what projects I will take up this year. You all know I love a challenge but I wanted to draw a line under this year and the bands I’m now into.
In this, the final week of the year, I have taken the final piece of paper from the pickle jar and have been joyfully listening to Childish Gambino, the performing name of Lando Calrissian Donald Glover.
What I Knew Before It’s impossible not to know of Donald Glover, he’s one of those incredible talents who transcends all mediums and offers something up across the board. It doesn’t matter if you know him from Community, Solo: A Star Wars Story or the video for This Is America, you most certainly know him. What I certainly hadn’t done is dug into the archives and listened to his musical output as Childish Gambino. It says a lot about an artist that when I announce who I am listening to for the week, there will be an outpouring of love for them. It happened with My Chemical Romance, it happened with Prince and it definitely happened with Childish Gambino, notably by Jamie who put together this fun playlist for me.
What I Know Now Gambino has bars! I had listened to Redbone and perhaps the rest of Awaken after my good friend Benjy insisted on playing it when we were hanging out. He said he was obsessed and I took to it too, although clearly not enough to try out the rest of his discography. After independently releasing albums and mixtapes, Glover signed to Glassnote Records in 2011 and subsequently released four albums including the drop of 3.15.20 this year, marking a rare highlight in a period of gloom. It’s also worth noting that he appeared on the Time 1o0 list of the world’s most influential people. If you’re looking to dispute that then it brings me great pleasure to tell you that you are wrong. It doesn’t matter if it’s his work on Atlanta, in Spider-Man: Homecoming or giving a poignant speech at one of his many appointments, he’s a brilliant, talented and profound influence on the world.
Favourite song(s): You See Me, Redbone, This Is America, 3005
Favourite album: Kauai – and I’ll tell you for why. On Christmas morning, I grabbed my longboard and went for a skate with this album playing. Everything Childish Gambino has done is great but there’s something about the experience of listening to this album while I was out and riding and free that felt fantastic.
Week 52 represents the end of the year, as usual. Even 2020 had to finish eventually. I don’t know what comes next but I promise you it won’t be boring. Spotify my favourite songs from this project. It’s been interesting to delve into these different artists. I’ve learnt a lot about music that I should have known and discovered some bands that I will listen to henceforth.
Each week, I take a name from a jar and listen to that artist, someone that I wasn’t really into before but maybe should know more about. This week was a real Sophie’s Choice, as I was down to my final two. It is time. Charli XCX, I choose you.
What I Knew Before I had heard the name.
What I Know Now Charli XCX, formerly known as Charlotte Emma Aitchison was born in Cambridge and raised near my ends. She has released four albums as well as writing on a number of other projects. It would also be fair to say that her music is not something I would ordinarily listen to. That being said, I dedicated enough time this week to trying to engage with it and still felt at a loss. I can’t imagine she would lose much sleep over this news. I appreciate how it is produced and what she is able to do but it’s just not for me. It sounds like how they thought the future of music would sound in the eighties, which could sound like a compliment if I meant it as such.
Each week, during this hell of a year, I take the name of an artist from a pickle jar on my bar caddy and try to ignore the different ways the world is falling apart and listen to their back catalog. This week was the turn of London-born singer-songwriter Anna Calvi.
What I Knew Before I knew of Anna Calvi as she rose to fame when I was still aware of music. I have since failed to keep up so this week has been a catch-up for me.
What I Know Now Not only has Anna Calvi continued to make fantastic music, but there is a darkness and a depth to what she does that I should have appreciated a lot more. If we ever escape from whatever the hell is going on and she’s performing in London then I would love the chance to see her live.
Favourite song(s): Wish, You’re Not God, Lady Grinning Soul and Strange Weather
Each week I listen to an artist or band that I should really know more about. This week was the turn of both Prince and The Artist Formerly Known As Prince.
What I Knew Before I don’t think it’s possible to be anywhere or do anything without at least being aware of Prince. For a long time, I thought of him as a soft sex pixie of the highest order. The thing that changed that for me was when my friend showed me his performance at the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame with Tom Petty, Steve Winwood and Jeff Wayne, where he took on the solo from While My Guitar Gently Weeps with so much zeal that it made my hip twitch. I’ll post it below. It’s truly incredible. Look out for adorable Dhani Harrison in there too.
What I Know Now There is a lot to Prince. A lot of music. Most of it is very good although it sometimes suffers from being made in the ’80s and losing a lot of his genius to the mistakes of the era when it came to music. What people fail to appreciate is that Prince was a verified genius. He created constantly and brought so much music and joy into the world. My understanding is that there is a vault of additional music that we are yet to hear. Whatever happens, we are better for Prince having visited us.
Favourite songs: Well obviously, you have to include Kiss, 1999, Raspberry Beret and Purple Rain, but let’s also include Jungle Love.
Favourite album: I think I have to say Purple Rain
Each week I listen to a band or artist I’ve never explored before. How do I find them you may wonder? I asked friends to help me compile a list at the start of this hell year of people I should know more about. There are huge gaps in my knowledge and I wanted to plug them. This week was the turn of new wave darlings, Tears For Fears.
What I Knew Before I liked Tears For Fears because of their appearance on the Donnie Darko soundtrack, alongside another Music Jar band, INXS. Aside from that, I probably heard Martin Day play them on his 80s show on Essex FM.
What I Know Now It’s essentially that. Tears For Fears have some hits and they have some wonderful cover versions to discover, but they were never going to be a band to blow me away. I was however surprised to learn that they were from Bath. They don’t sound very Bath. I think it’s the lack of spa activities in their set. That aside, there’s something very pertinent about their music as that whole shoegaze romanticism rears its head once more because it’s all cyclical.
Favourite song(s): Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Shout, Head Over Heels and Mad World.
Each week, as penance for trying to make plans in 2020, I take an artist from the music jar and do what I can to ignore the world and lose myself in their music. This week was the turn of California Girl, Sara Bareilles.
What I Knew Before I recently listened to Bareilles on Armchair Expert, one of my favourite podcasts. As a result, I knew more about her than I should have done. Mostly how she came to be so adored, her work on Waitress and the issues she has with her face in profile (same here, sister).
What I Know Now More of the above, and also the undeniable fact that Sara Bareilles writes some of the best pop music in the world today.
Favourite song(s): Love Song, She Used To Be Mine, I Choose You, Bottle It Up – Live At The Fillmore and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Live at the Variety Playhouse
Favourite album: Between The Lines: Sara Bareilles Live At The Fillmore
Each week, inspired by A Beautiful Mess, I take the name of a band or artist from a pickle jar and listen to that band for the week. This time around, it’s California pop-ska-rock tromboners, No Doubt.
What I Knew Before No Doubt were, without doubt, a band who were around when I was coming of age, and absorbing all of the music of the time. I think I learnt to play Don’t Speak on guitar. I only ever knew the hits and, of course, I really appreciated Gwen’s crop tops.
What I Know Now No Doubt were around for an impressive thirty years and are currently on hiatus. They have more past members than any other band I’ve had the pleasure of listening to this year – thirteen. I listened through each of their albums, from 1992’s No Doubt all the way through to 2012’s Push and Shove and I just didn’t really feel a lot for it beyond the nostalgia of the hits. Maybe that says more about me than it does about them.
Favourite song(s): All the cliches; Don’t Speak, Just A Girl, Underneath It All
Each week, I listen to an artist or band that I should know better, taken at random from a pickle jar. This week was the turn of heartbreaker, Tom Petty.
What I Knew Before: I once worked with an older guy who took me under his wing and introduced me to a lot of bands that I wouldn’t have been into otherwise. He would turn up for work with DVDs to give to me which he would drop by my desk, much to the confusion and chagrin of everyone else we worked with. I was told to use the relationship to my advantage. I don’t know what that means. One of those DVDs was a live Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers gig. I recognised that there was something cool going on there, but ultimately, it wasn’t something that I would return to. I filed it away. The only other link I feel to Tom Petty is through the song American Girl, and its use in Silence Of The Lambs. My god, that’s a well-placed track.
What I Know Now I wanted to enjoy Tom Petty more than I did. There are some great songs in there and his work with the Wilburys is a particular treat for me, but I still wasn’t completely wowed by it. I don’t think it helped that Tom Petty was pulled from the jar in a week when I was glued to the news and unable to really focus on much else. That has all worked out well. Kamala is now our American Girl.
Favourite songs: I suppose I have to consider solo TP as well as Heartbreakers tracks. I know he was in and out with the band. I Won’t Back Down is the best Petty song but Refugee, Mary Jane’s Last Dance and American Girl are all great Heartbreakers songs.
Paul Schiernecker 