A musical tagging

Sometimes tagging is like receiving one of those childish chain letters or emails, utterly yawn central, however occasionally a tagging causes you to stop and think, I like thinking, it's like a drug. Maybe I should stop and go watch the X-factor or I'm a celebrity, but hell no, they can prise my blog from my dead, cold fingers.

Frequent commenter "G", tagged me from here, placing a curse upon me and all male descendants for ever unless I document my top 8 musical moments (ever!), so in reverse order,

8. Royksopp, Eple - this simple but catchy techno-pop tune isn't much of a classic as far as music goes but we used to play it over and over on the office jukebox in the early days of my first software company, it just seemed to fit in an addictive kind of way, it reminds me of those heady days of optimism and creative energy.



7. Dire Straights, Money for nothing - This is the only song I can ever remember hearing at random on the radio and being captivated by it immediately, it matched my mood, the times and I knew it was going to be a hit straight away, I bought the record the same day I heard it.



6. Peter Gabriel, Solsbury Hill - I love Peter Gabriel, such a talent, this track is apparently about a "spiritual" experience he had on a hill in Somerset shortly after breaking away from Genesis, the reason it was a musical moment for me was that it was the first song I heard after finding out that my Grandfather had died, I was close to him and at the time was living miles away, I always think of him when I hear this song.



5. Genesis, The cinema show (Selling England by the Pound) - A Summer concert, favourite group (at the time) and a super track, new girlfriend, all was good with the world, what more can one ask for.



4. Coldplay, Talk - Again, not a classic track musically but addictive thanks to a neat little riff from Kraftwerk, the reason this was a moment for me is that this was the first track I was properly able to enjoy with my Son, he'd just got to the age where music (other than nursery rhymes) was becoming memorable, I played this CD in our hire car on holiday and we both instantly liked this particular track, it was such a happy moment.



3. Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto - Memorable because of my emotional state when I first heard it. I had just finished a relationship and was feeling sorry for myself, I put this piece of music on and it seemed to speak to me, at first empathising in soft mournful way building to a triumphal crescendo and slap around the face, stop feeling sorry for yourself and get back out there it said, I did, and I always remember that moment when I hear it.



2. Rush, Faithless - Helped seal my transition to Atheism, having previously been raised a Christian and throughout my early adult years not really thought about religion much, I arrived at parenthood and 9/11; later this track and the album it's on became a kind of anthem as I sorted out what I thought about the world from a new perspective and realised that a lot of people out there already thought about things the same way as me. "I still cling to hope and I believe in Love, that's faith enough for me".

1. Pink Floyd, Comfortably numb - For me one of the greatest guitar tracks of all time, memorable because of a hot day in London, good company and legal stimulants, right track, right time, Dave Gilmour's Strat seemed to be talking to me, unforgettable.