Thursday Thirteen - Music from the decades version 2

Got the ouchies again and I'm desperate for something to take my mind off it. The best way I have for that is to do something nice for someone but opportunities have been lacking lately.

So it's time to dive into music instead. Theme is similar to the last one, except that instead of doing 70s, 80s, 90s etc this one will be ages 0-10, 11-20, 21-30 and 30-too many :

Age 0-10 (1974-1984) is dominated by things I grew up with :

1 - Star Wars theme by John Williams. I was just about old enough to watch Return Of The Jedi in the cinema when it first came out and we always watched the movies when they were a Xmas essential. The movies (all 6 - I'm a forgiving fan) were amazing and are still good today. They've been joined by some excellent books too but ignore the New Jedi Order series and ANY book written by Kevin J Anderson.

2 - Strange Land by Clannad. Another series I grew up with was Robin Of Sherwood (the Michael Praed version). The series hasn't aged particularly well (it wasn't that great to start with !) but the music is pure Irish magic. Clannad are one of those groups that keep coming out with music with plenty of character, driven by the pure vocals of Maire Brennan.

3 - Army Dreamers by Kate Bush. Yep, little boys have dreams about what they'll be doing when they grow up and I was no exception. Although with me, that was coloured by living in Northern Ireland until 11 when the Troubles were starting to wind down. Oh, this track could have been the Milky Bar Kid ad tune, as I was as much a lookalike as the Milky Bar Kid lookalike in the video.

Age 11-20 (1985-1994)

4 - We're the Bunburys by Barry Gibb. I was never too good at football at school and rugby was too muddy (although I was devastating on the wing until knee injuries intervened). Cricket was ace, it gave me an outlet for wanting to run around that fit in perfectly with how my body has always been set up : short bursts of intense action with time to recover. Had some happy days with the cricket and collected a few trophies along the way. This track got adopted as one of the unofficial cricket anthems for a while.

5 - Who Wants To Live Forever by Queen. I have special reasons for posting a song with a theme like this ... A toast to memories, may they last forever even if we don't.

6 - More Than The Blues by All About Eve. I'm a huge All About Eve fan but may not have turned into one if not for this song. It's good but not their best (Apple Tree Man, Scarlet, Are You Lonely and many more) but it caught me when it came on the telly live (quite possibly that linked performance). They have a beautiful singer with a voice that's always been one of my favourites. Great songs, great band, amazing singer.

Age 21-30 (1995-2004) - oh wow this is a hell of a decade for me. University, starting work, big relationship and running straight into a traumatic breakup.

7 - Changes by David Bowie. (iTunes claims it's 1999). So many changes ... I went from school and living with the parents to university and surviving with new friends to starting work and very definitely surviving on my own. And then relationship to incoming breakup.

8 - Should be Intense by Alisha's Attic and I can't believe that's not on Youtube anywhere ... This was a fairly intense time, 2 big relationships (I don't go in for small flings, it's all my heart or nothing) plus all the studying for uni. Then needing to find a job after uni and bouncing round the country on placements for the first 2 years of work. Definitely intense. But also fun amongst the heartache.

9 - What Do I Do Now ? by Sleeper. Which was exactly what I was thinking after uni ... There's a curious contrast between Sleeper and All About Eve. Sleeper's singer outshone her band, which did them a lot of damage. All About Eve's singer was a vital part of their band, you thought of them as All About Eve and not Julianne Regan + band whereas Sleeper was definitely Louise Wiener + band. However, Julianne Regan is an infinitely better singer than Louise Wiener. It's curious the way things like that happen.

Age 31-37 (2005-now)

10 - It's All Over Bar The Crying by Garbage. This time started with me running straight into a major relationship breakup, which happened a fortnight after returning from the USA on a holiday of a lifetime type thing. It's incredibly rare that I'm brought to actual tears but this period had me very close to them on many occasions. It's not so much the shock of a "This Is The End" type thing, it's first dealing with the fallout where I had to lean heavily on the support of friends and then looking at a great gaping void where you thought the future used to be.

11 - If There's A Rocket Tie Me To It by Snow Patrol. Yes, I listen to male singers too occasionally! Snow Patrol can come out with a very raw emotional sound and while I don't show mine too much, it's the same under my skin.

12 - Don't Kiss The Broken One by Hannah Peel. Hannah Peel's music makes me grin. And this one kinda sums me up too. Despite thinking there might be something there a few times since the Ravenwolf (aka Evil Ex but I'm burying that codename from now) breakup, it's not been a mutual attraction. Rejection I can handle but I struggle to deal with being ignored, which is what those few times turned into. I also have a habit of chasing the unattainable while completely missing the obvious

31 to 37 too maudlin ? Perhaps I'm still living in 2005 and haven't moved on sufficiently yet. Or it's a reflection of how I'm feeling at the moment - I'm having trouble ignoring a sore back.

Last one - bonus track which sums me up : Still A Weirdo by KT Tunstall :-) And that's : Weird and proud of it.