Man on the Edge

For a bit of contrast!

Number of the Beast

Not in the best of moods and not just because of Ted

The Wicker Man

A stack of not so guilty musical pleasures!

In the mood for easy listening II

Iron Maiden 1980 vintagewith original vocalist Paul Di'Annio

Seven songs for spring

Last month Roland at But I am a Liberal tagged me for a meme that I did last year. I haven’t had a chance to sort out this post until now but here goes.

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to."

A lot of spring so far has involved me sitting or lying around in a big, heavy cast and suffering from a huge dose of cabin fever. The only thing stopping me climbing the walls was the bloody huge cast!

Ennui (or should that be downright boredom?) caused me to return to my first loves of music, the punk, new wave and heavy metal of my teens in the late 70s and early 80s (plus a bit of earlier stuff). I suppose it was a bit like comfort listening. Anyway, here goes:

1 Teenage Lobotomy – The Ramones

2. Motorhead - Bomber

3. Stranglers – Tank (plus Curfew)

From Revolver (remember that show?)

4. Iron Maiden – Sanctuary

Featuring original vocalist Paul Di’Annio

5. The Clash – Straight to Hell

6. David Bowie – Heroes

7. Peter Hammill – Nadir’s Big Chance

So there you have it. Nothing too out of the ordinary but I still love these artists. Rather than nominate seven more people I will leave it open to anyone who wants to give it a go.

The Number of the Beast Devalued?

A lot of people say that television rots the brain. I say sometimes it can be an education. BBC2 showed a repeat of the cerebral spoof quiz QI last night. Interestingly it was the episode that spurred me on to this post about Thomas Midgely Junior , a great inventor who inadvertently became an environmentalist’s worst nightmare (he developed leaded petrol and determined that CFCs made excellent coolants).

In the same episode there was a question about the number of the beast. The obvious answer was six hundred, three score and six. This is an incorrect answer according to the show. The real answer may in fact be 616. Extensive research on the matter ( okay, I admit it - a quick Google) revealed that this may be the case

A few years ago advanced imaging techniques made it possible to decipher a hoard of previously illegible manuscripts discovered in an ancient dump outside the Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus. The papyri were first excavated in 1895, but were badly discoloured and illegible using the technology of the time One of the papyri contained a a fragment from the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament and showed the number 616 as the mark of the Antichrist.

I have no opinion if this is the case or not but i t did strike me that some changes may be necessary:

618 becomes the neighbour of the Beast

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia will have to be replaced by something equally long and unpronounceable

24.8193473 replaces 25.8069758 as the root of all evil.

Bruce Dickinson will also have to change the lyrics to this song:



The A616 will officially be the road to hell, while children taking the shcoolday only route from Winchmore Hill to Edmonton Green will fear for their immortal souls (it being route 616 of course...)
Who says that all tv is simply chewing gum for the eyes?

Another guilty pleasure - Iron Maiden Phantom of the Opera

Textbook NWOBHM*: long hair, spandex, and proper head banging. None of your goatee and pierced eyeball nonsense of modern HM Bands! A video from when Paul Di Annio was still the lead singer (ie before Bruce Dickinson).

* NWOBHM - New Wave of British Heavy Metal as was the phrase used circa 1980