the advent calendar of earworms days 1-8

Day 1

Rufus Wainwright "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk"
Rufus Wainwright is one of the many artists who has been providing free live performances this year, with his Quarantunes / Robe Recitals series in the first lockdown. I hadn't listened to him for a few years but some of those solo home performances really blew me away. 

And it looks as though he's starting them up again. So COVID has done at least one good thing. 

Rufus was responsible for my first ever sit-down gig, at Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall sometime in either 2004 or 2005. 

Day 2

Pavement "Painted Soldiers"
Not wanting to overburden the legacy of an obscure band with Beatles references, but Stephen Malkmus was clearly the creative driver of Pavement - the Lennon AND McCartney, if you will. 

Which means that Spiral Stairs aka Scott Kannberg was the George Harrison. Perennially overlooked, his songs were at first just tuneful, route-one, and throwaway. But gradually he stared to hit a rich seam of classic guitar pop. And this song is an absolute belter. Great video, too. 

Nevertheless, it was chucked onto the soundtrack of an obscure film. 

Once Pavement split up, Spiral Stairs released a solo double album under the name The Preston School of Industry (named after an unused song he wrote for Pavement). The name of this album - "All This Sounds Gas" - is uncannily similar time the name of George Harrison's first post-beatles release, the triple-album "All Things Must Pass". 

Day 3

Silence. I could make up something achingly cool and obscure but no. 

Day 4 

A hellish mash-up of Fleet Foxes "White Winter Hymnal" and "Don't Let Me Down, Gently" by The Wonder Stuff 

I like Fleet Foxes but not this song particularly, which has become an accidental Christmas tune. I've always REALLY hated The Wonder Stuff so I can only assume that my brain was angry at me for the previous day's silence. 

Try to imagine it. Like, really try. It's AWFUL. 

Day 5

David Bowie "Star"
From "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars", of course. One of those songs where you can't quite remember it but then you hear it (in your brain) and you remember how amazing it is. 

It's fairly well accepted that everything has been shit since David Bowie died in 2016, right? 

"Just watch me now"

Day 6

More silence. Or at least I can't remember any earworms. And I respect you too much to make this up. 

Day 7

Kurtis Blow "The Breaks"

Clap your hands, everybody

If you got what it takes

'Cause I'm Kurtis Blow and I want you to know

That these are the breaks

Fairly late-in-the-day entry for a song which crops up regularly when shuffling on my internal iPod. Featuring a great example of that early hip hop sing-song vocal cadence. 

Day 8

De La Soul "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)"
I didn't really get De La Soul's second album, "De La Soul Is Dead" at the time. I LOVED "3 Feet High and Rising" and I guess I just wanted more of the same, not three guys grumpily dismantling their success.

Plus there are WAY TOO MANY skits on it.

But I went away to university with a tape (!) of a skit-less version of the album and over the years it has become the album of theirs which I play the most. Yes, it's dark and grumpy. Maybe we're all a little dark and grumpy, no?

I saw them play live in Nottingham a couple of years ago. It was like a foul-mouthed pantomime, with the audience being split into sides in a singing competition. Brilliant.

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Join me again next time to see if I can follow through with this ridiculous conceit! Will I make it? Tune in to find out!