Obsessed with video games, American culture and Buffy. Can usually be found at his laptop working.
- Game Review: Crash Bandicoot 4 – It’s About Time - 12 October, 2020
- Opinion: Hogwarts Legacy – to buy or not to buy? - 28 September, 2020
- Mobile Game: Crash Bandicoot On The Run - 11 July, 2020
Oh dear I have been asked for what’s on my playlist again. Reggie, you have been warned. These aren’t songs that I have on my playlist, but they are ones that I have recently wanted to add to my playlist (I will be downloading at the end of the month) and stick on YouTube when I am getting ready to go out.
- Macarthur’s Park by Donna Summer
Right at the top is this legend of a track. It recently got refreshed in my mind when my friend Tasha WhatsApped me to say she practically screamed this song in her boyfriend’s face when he told her he didn’t like it. Knowing the faces she pulls when she lip synchs (way too much wine and David Bowie tracks bring the experience… also there is a video floating around out there that sorely needs deleting) brought to mind the tearful rendition from RuPauls Drag Race Season Three when Manila sent Delta packing after the comedy challenge.
Basically as a result of these visuals I have had this song stuck in my head for the past month as a result. Seriously. Stuck.
The ironic thing about Donna Summer is that she is one of these legends constantly referenced by the gay community, that I never picked up the references to until I started going over these old legends a few years ago. Up until that point I was always confused by the reference in Priscilla Queen of the Desert, but the fact that the lyrics are quoted so often really shows how much of an icon Donna Summer was, how amazing this song is, and why it was such a shame she passed away a few years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tatoplO2A70
- Ayoba by Schlachthofbronx feat. Spoek and Gnucci Banana
This is a random song that I would never have paid attention to had I not recently binge watched Nurse Jackie on Netflix – a brilliant TV show about a nurse (called Jackie, shockingly) who is addicted to pain medication. Think Ellen Degeneres as a nurse on drugs and you have the kind of hilarity delivered here.
‘Ayoba’ is not a big or well-known song, but I dare you to listen to it without dancing or moving of some description. It is very much a feel good, bouncey track that you really should put on while you are getting ready to go out, because it will send you off with a kick in your heel and a bounce.
- Professional Widow (Armand Van Helden’s Star Trunk Mix) by Tori Amos
My friend/boss Mark is a Tori Amos/Kate Bush super fan, and whenever I talk about him on social media, nothing but nothing pulls off his attitude better than the Kate Bush Meme created for her last gig. On his Tori Amos CD however is this little gem from the late 90s.
This song reminds me of when I started to go clubbing almost as much as Rhianna’s ‘Umbrella’ because it was one of those songs that was still going strong as a dance track when I started clubbing around the mid-00s. It was what launched Van Heldens career as a remix artist, and opened my eyes to the possibility of liking dance music, and all of that comes flooding back whenever I hear it come on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNLnYvBfVWo
- Dancing On My Own by Robyn
I was out at a bar with some friends and heard a couple of tracks that I liked, didn’t have in my music collection, but really enjoyed listening to. This was the first and I have always liked it because it is ridiculously depressing but still manages to be upbeat and up-tempo despite very upsetting lyrics that seem to say “Yes I’m alone, but until things change I am going to keep dancing”. This song always resounded with the feeling of loneliness that I get coming at me in big swathes – because I work from home, live in a city on the other side of the country from where I grew up, and live with people I really don’t know very well, there are times when I feel ridiculously alone and this song really makes you feel all the emotions connected with that sensation. Also doesn’t hurt that it was on RuPauls Drag Race All Stars when Rujubee (Raven and Jujubee) lip synched against each other, bringing tears to EVERYBODYS eyes, forcing RuPaul to keep em both.
Robyn is a modern gay icon, having performed at the RVT, G-A-Y and various Prides up and down the country, and it is refreshing to have someone who is as good and talented a pop star create a song that is a little bit more aware of negative emotions and still write about them. ‘Dancing On My Own’ is like nihilism – the philosophy that nothing exists at all – and is meant to be treated as such, with just a moment recognising its existence as a possibility, and then to shake it off and move on.
- Can’t Rely On You by Paloma Faith
WHY IS IT THAT PALOMA FAITH ONLY MANAGED TO GET A NUMBER ONE WHEN SHE DID GUEST VOCALS ON A TRACK WHEN THERE ARE SONGS LIKE THIS IN EXISTENCE??? Seriously. Paloma Faith is an immensely talented individual, but not only that when I met her as part of the Battlefront Choir in 2012 it turns out she is dead lovely too.
This song is one of those “fuck you” tracks that really makes you wanna take it to church – maybe not the kind of song you would hear when you went out, but definitely one you would add to your karaoke list, assuming you can pull it off. Paloma Faith really suits the big band set up, and this is the best example I have heard that demonstrates why that is. And the video is cool too (with hot guys wearing not much clothing).
