World Wide Woozle episode #450

This episode is quick. Five songs only and brief explanations. It's the blogging equivalent of a good punk record. Short, sharp and to the point.

Track 1. Green Day. Pop-punk at its best. The longevity of the band is in no small part due to the fact that they can write a great hook, include punchy and topical lyrics and from day one have cared not a dot for what anyone else thinks.

Green Day - Burnout (live) - https://youtu.be/C_xghkxEd60?t=31s

Track 2. Steve Earle. In many ways I wish I'd been aware of Steve Earle a lot earlier. He's one of my favourite songwriters and his life story is amazing. I came to this song via The Proclaimers but it's Steve's. This track always makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Always.

Steve Earle - My Old Friend The Blues (live) - https://youtu.be/VGkHnMtp_MU

Track 3. Armoured Angel. Top shelf Australian Heavy Metal. You might not hear it in my playing all the time but Matt Green's approach to rhythm guitar is as important to me as that of AC/DC's Malcolm Young.

Armoured Angel - Madame Guillotine - https://youtu.be/cA2vjNt_WBU

Track 4. Kylie Minogue. For me, Kylie came of age musically with the 1997 release, Impossible Princess. The following tour was televised here and seeing the former "singing budgie" play with a full band was fantastic. Probably the best album she's ever made.

Kylie Minogue - Some Kind of Bliss (live) - https://youtu.be/qXW-nqafI1E

Track 5. Nena. I was playing the guitar recently with someone who had never heard of this song. Given that it's the only tune I can sing in another language I was a bit disappointed. The German lyrics are infinitely better than the English ones. It's about the war machine and impending armageddon.

Nena - 99 Luftballons (live) - https://youtu.be/4rBDQfUhdH4

Be kind to each other....and yourselves.

Rob

" They make the laws to chain us well
The clergy dazzle us with heaven or they damn us into hell
We will not worship the God they serve
The God of greed who feeds the rich while poor men starve" - The World Turned Upside Down, Billy Bragg, 1985 (written by Leon Rosselson)