Sunday 29 January 2012

31 Days of Blogging - Day 29


Day 29 – Goldfrapp – Strict Machine



As I’ve already told you, Mrs PM and I do not share the same taste in music at all. The good news is, however, that we do have the odd song in common that we both like.

Strict Machine is another one of them.

For me the song has a style takes me back to the early 1980’s and a time I have already described that I am fiercely nostalgic for.

For Mrs PM, it is just another pop song she likes.

We needed some music that we had in common; particularly when we were working on our new house.

As I said in the previous post, we bought our house in 2002 and it needed some work. It needed more than just “some” work – it needed LOADS.

It is an old three bedroomed Edwardian terrace built in 1906 and is a bit like Dr Who’s TARDIS. From the front it looks small but when you open the door it just goes back and back.

The previous occupants were an old couple who didn’t have much money to spend on the house. They sold up because the area where I live is a fairly popular area and the housing boom meant that the house was worth a lot more than they had paid for it originally. The moved to a smaller, cheaper house on the outskirts of Stockport and made a fair amount of profit I believe.

Sadly, the house was not decorated to our taste. Every room was covered in woodchip.

The main bedroom was like a cave. The walls were painted a dark avocado green and the old couple, when they moved out, took all of the bulbs with them and replaced them with useless low wattage excuses for bulbs.

“What have we done?” asked Mrs PM as we struggled to see each other that first night.

“We’ll sort it out,” I said.

And we have – well sort of.

The main bedroom was first. We stripped all of the wallpaper, replaced the horrific carpet, plastered the room and bought loads of new furniture.

The main living room was next. Originally it had an awful fake brick façade straight out of the 1970’s. We smashed it all down, bought a new mantelpiece and fire, new carpet, new furniture, new wallpaper etc..

And so it went on. Every year since then we have had some major work done to the house including a new bathroom, new kitchen and lots of plastering.

Finally – FINALLY – it is in a state that Mrs PM is happy with.

I have been throwing cash at builders, decorators, furniture stores, carpet stores, DIY stores and all manner of other people to get the house in good state.

Of course, we have contributed hard work ourselves. And this is where the tiny overlap in our musical tastes has helped.

When I am painting or doing anything like that I NEED music to keep me sane. Sadly, playing heavy metal and rock music has a negative effect on Mrs PM.

“If you play ONE MORE SONG from Dream Theater I will pour that pot of paint over your head.”

My reaction was similar except the main artist to drive me nuts was Lady Gaga – or J Lo – or the Black Eyed Peas – you get the drift.

In the end we just played stuff that we both liked. The problem is that Mrs PM gets fed up of old music really quickly so now we have another approach to our problem.

When we are in the car driving somewhere that involves a journey of say an hour or two, we take it in turns playing three songs each. That way we endure around fifteen minutes of Hell followed by fifteen minutes of Heaven.

Sadly this has had a bad effect on me – like walking down the street and suddenly, out of the blue singing Lady Gaga songs:

Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah!
Roma-Roma-ma-ah!
Ga-ga-ooh-la-la!
Want your bad romance

before realising what I am doing and then screaming “SHIT!!! WHAT AM I DOING????” to alarmed passers-by.

I just hope that Mrs PM suffers from the same embarrassing affliction.

9 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

I am sure she does. It appalls me some days the things I know about things I hate - simply because the smaller portion likes them. I guess it means that we are indeed never to old to learn - even if said learning is done kicking and screaming.

Kath Lockett said...

Sounds like you two have made a good compromise and I'm sure you look at bits and pieces of your house and certain songs come back to you.....?

If it's any consolation, maybe Mrs PM blurts out a bit of Dream Theater when she's rummaging through the oranges at the shops. :)

River said...

This reminds me of a day spent with my mum and younger brother one summer, mum had a new record player and we took turns playing a favourite record. Classical for mum, boppy pop for me and not quite heavy rock for my brother. Surprisingly, we all liked all of the music.

River said...

I'm beginning to realise the music you heard in the top end of the world is so much different to the stuff we heard downunder. Since the 31 days began, you've listed so many bands and individuals I never heard of. That could be because I'm in an older age bracket, but also because much different music was played on Aussie radio. I remember a fair bit of English stuff, but mostly bands like Herman's Hermits, Gerry and the Pacemakers, even Cliff Richard. In between all the yankee stuff. Then there was the Beatles too.

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi EC,

mmm - there are some things I don't want to learn, though.

:0)

Cheers

PM

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi Kath,

Yes - particularly "The Hand That Feeds" by Nine Inch Nails - which Mrs PM actually likes.

I would LOVE that to be true.

I'd love to hear her singing "He's a Monday morning lunatic ..." at Tesco.

:0)

Cheers

PM

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi River,

I don't think Mrs PM likes my music at all - and vice versa (I know that for a fact) - but I live in hope.

I think it might be an age thing - though you are not that much older than I am really.

There are some great Aussie bands - don't know whether you have heard of Airbourne (a current favourite of mine - hard rock of course).

And of course the legendary AC/DC.

Also like Jet, INXS from Down Under too.

:0)

Cheers

PM

drb said...

LOL
I imagined the last scene: You were bopping your head up and down, stepping in beat with the tune.

:-P

That's Ok, your partner do get 'under your skin' (in a good way) after a while...

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi drb,

That's one of the (slightly) better tunes. I think if I catch myself singing "I Got A Feelin'" by the Black Eyed Peas I might go to see a therapist.

;-)

Cheers

PM