Top 10 gym songs

Having music playing really can help you get through a tough training session. This doesn’t necessarily have to be your favourite music, I have found that Metallica, Pantera, Slayer etc. is a little too heavy to get me going and my other favourite bands (The Beatles and Pink Floyd) can also be avoided as they just don’t inspire me the way that they should. The kind of thing that tends to work are energetic tunes with pace rather than Power and feel good tunes, or Rousing anthems that carry you through the momentum. Power pop bands like “You and me at six” seem to fit this bill quite well as they are nice and light and you can just let the music drift over you and keep going. I Normally have my MP3 player on Shuffle so although I recognise the tracks as belonging to the band I cannot actually name any of the tunes, for this reason You and Me at Six don’t get a place in my list.

10 In Bloom – Nirvana – I was never a huge Nirvana Fan but I am always happy when this track turns up. It seems to be at just the right pace to plod away to…Just let your feet follow the beat and drift away.

9 Theme from Rocky – This goes into the category of “Rousing anthem”. I have been a little vague with the description as it works with the original Theme but it also works with the Rocky III, eye of the tiger music. You cannot help but picture yourself in the grey track suit running up those stairs.

8 Unwritten – The Gas light anthem – This band has become one of my favourite new bands of the last few years. There are a few tracks on the CD that are good for training as they maintain a decent tempo.

7 Coming to America – Neil Diamond – This is another from the “Rousing Anthems” category. It is impossible to dislike Neil Diamond; his music is played at every family party or cheesy disco so it just gets accepted. I didn’t even know I had this track on my Ipod yet when it came on midway through my run it made me break into a huge smile.

6 The Trooper – Iron Maiden – This is a great track to run to. If you are flagging or getting to the point in the run where you energy levels are dropping this will always give you that extra burst of adrenaline needed to take you to the finish line.

5 Place your hands – Reef – This song ticks all of the boxes. As soon as it comes on it makes me smile and I can just listen to the song and forget that I am running. It is certainly “Rousing” but I am not 100% sure if it could be classed as an anthem but it is certainly a firm favourite when it comes to a Gym track.

4 Away from Here – The Enemy – I saw this band a few years ago and this was the opening track of the set and by far the stand out track. The attitude and tempo fits well and it is a nice easy track to listen to. It has almost a Punk feel to it that gets the blood pumping.

3 Dance Dance – Fall out Boy – I first became aware of this song by playing Burnout on the Xbox so it has always been associated with speed. The section just before the chorus was always the part that made me hit the boost button that made the car go speeding around the streets. I feel like I have always hit the boost button when I hear this track at the Gym.

2 Brick by Boring Brick - Paramore - There are quite a few Paramore tracks on my work out playlist. I think it is the drumming more than anything that makes it “Gym friendly” but I have come to love these songs both in and out of the training environment.

1 The Pretender - Foo fighters – The foo’s….It had to be a Foo Fighters track at Number 1. My mate says that he finds “Monkey Wrench” to be a great running track but I think there are a few too many stops and starts. There are quite a few songs that I could add to this list by Dave Grohl’s tribe. “Everlong” could be included as it is a nice slow builder that eases you in while “All my life” could have been chosen for its power, another Gym favourite is DOA but I have decided to choose “The Pretender”. This makes my list simply because we have been through so many interval training sessions. It is nicely broken up into sections where you can go at a nice steady pace followed by the chorus where you have to go crazy, whether you are on the Bike or the treadmill the chorus will always make you go faster and then 30 second or so later you are back to recovery rate before you are hurled head long into another 30 second blast.

Top 5 “Explicit Lyrics” – Be warned…Do not read if easily offended.

Song writing is generally a form of self-expression so it is only natural that from time to time the mood turns to the darker side of the human emotional scale and either the subject matter gets a little controversial or the language takes a turn for the extreme. Here is my top 5 uses of extreme language in a musical interlude, There may be a few surprises along the way

1, F****** Hostile – Pantera - It is generally not a great surprise to find bad language in a Heavy metal song but this has to be one of my favourites. As well as using the swearing in the song itself they obviously felt so strong about it that they used it as the Chorus and the song title. The song itself isn’t actually using the explicit content just for the sake of it, the whole lyric and feel of the tune gives you the feeling that they are genuinely annoyed about something and even without the inclusion of the F word the song stands alone and is a perfect example of a great album track, brilliant live track and even a contender to be a single but I cannot see this gaining much in the way of Airplay.

2,Little Comedian – Rialto - Another Album track from a little known band from the 1990’s. This actually takes the unique approach of using multiple swear words and sneaking them into the subject of the verses so they don’t really stand out too much unless you really listen. You could easily miss lyrics like “Knock knock I wonder who’s that, knocking everyone’s drinks back and treading s**t into the rug” Or the opening verse of “Here comes the star of the show, but he’s got P*ss down his clothes” followed by “Still he’s the one with all the front, ladies and Gentlemen, let’s have your warmest welcome, to the world’s biggest little c**t”.

3,Temptation -Wet Wet Wet - Who would have thought that these clean cut boys from Scotland would sneak a cheeky F word into the album version of one their songs. Certainly not a certain day time presenter at radio 1 who decided to play the longer version of the song rather than the radio edits. This one has caught a few Radio DJ’s out over the years and every time I hear it I listen intently to see which version is being played.

4,Room 512 – Wonderstuff - With this one I admire the variety of the language and I really cannot think of any other song that uses one of the expletives used here. “The singers frowning, cos he’s quoting phrase, from a sh*t book by some wa***er that say’s, education, that won’t get you by cos it’s crime that pays.

5,Skunk Anansie – Glorious Pop Song - I think this one is just a deliberate mickey take as they use a pop melody and an inoffensive tune to sing a few “la la la’s” before going into the chorus of “ You’re still a f***er” 4 times!

A special mention goes to Kate Bush for her "Don't want your BullSh*t line in the album track "The Song of Solomon" from the "Red Shoes" CD.

Favourite Bass Players

As a Bass Player myself it should come as no surprise that I have a top 5 of my favorite Bass Guitarists, the list is fairly typical though I am afraid with very few surprises, the only real shock will be that Roger Waters does not appear in my list but I have decided to go for personality or character as well as musical ability. There are a few missing from the list that deserve a mention, Flea is an iconic figure in the world of Bass with his style dominating the Chilli Pepper sound and his energetic displays on the live shows but to me the bass lines are all a bit too funky and can become a bit samey. I do admire his ability but find I get a little bored by him. My 2 favorite bass lines of his are the work he did on the Alanis Morissette song “ You ought to know” and a song called “ Soul to Squeeze” which is a Chilli Peppers song that was not released in the UK but features in the “Coneheads” soundtrack. I love the warm melodic feel that the bass line brings to the song. Another missing bass legend is Geddy Lee. I have previously stated that “Spirit of radio” is one of the most perfect songs I have heard but I have never really managed to wholly embrace Rush as a favorite band for some reason. They are a group that tick all of the correct boxes but somehow don’t do it for me. Lemmy was another contender, the thunderous sound of his Rickenbacker never fails to impress but sadly was not enough to ease him into the top 5 slot. For sheer performance value Blackie Lawless and his flaming codpiece should get an honorable mention but sadly can no longer claim to be a contender for the list as he has now abandoned the 4 strings in favour of the second guitar position. Alex James from Blur was also in the running but seeing as he has turned his attention to making Cheese nowadays I didn’t feel I could include him. Should I ever feel the need to compile a list of my favorite Cheese farmers then maybe he will be in with a chance. So…onto the top 5

Rob Coombes – Supergrass. I was lucky enough to see Supergrass 3 times before they decided to call it a day and they were always brilliant. Rob Coombes has to be one of the hardest working bass players out there as he always comes off stage dripping with sweat and gives every performance everything he has. There is nothing fancy going on, just a solid rhythm and sturdy bass lines but this is enough to earn my attention and achieve the number 5 spot.

Rob Jones (the Bass Thing) – The Wonderstuff. I first became aware of the Wonderstuff when they were a support act to “All about Eve” in Birmingham. At the time they were on the verge of releasing their first album and I was hooked almost instantly. The first 2 albums went to leave a lasting impression on me and my bass style suddenly became a lot more “bouncy” all thanks to The Bass Thing (Aka Rob Jones). Sadly Rob is no longer with but he has left a legacy behind and I still remember learning the bass line to “Don’t let me down, gently” and cursing my fingers for not moving quickly enough.

John Entwhistle, - The Who. A very predictable choice here but who can deny him a place in any listing that relates to plucking the fat strings? He has been an inspiration to anyone who has ever strapped on a bass guitar and foolishly tried to play the solo bits to My Generation. My personal favorite though is “Won’t get fooled again”. There is so much going on in the background that these bass bits could have gone on to be a little solo part in themselves.

Paul McCartney - It is easy to overlook Paul McCartney. He is such a legend and a high profile musician that you simply forget that he is a bass player but the fact remains…Paul McCartney plays bass. This was his job in the biggest band ever, as well as the vocals, piano and song writing of course but in the studio and on stage the bass was always played by Paul. His involvement in the Beatles wasn’t just the reason for the listing at the number 2 slot, he earned the right to be here by making the bassy bits on his songs melodic and interesting. “Something” has to be my favorite piece of music by The Beatles as a whole but also my favorite Beatles Bass playing.

Cliff Burton – Metallica. I really wish I had got the chance to see the Metallica line up before Cliff Burton was taken from us but sadly my first live experience of the band came at the 1987 Monsters of Rock festival at Donnington park where they were fairly low on the bill. I have obviously seen the live videos of the Bass Solo’s and the man in action, full windmill but I really wish I had been there to witness it first hand. To me “Master of Puppets” was the beginning of a band who were set to take the world by storm. As it happens they did go on to achieve monumental success but to me nothing they have released since Cliff left us has lived up to their incredible third Album.

Best Guitar Solos – Top 10

When it comes to Guitar Solos I much prefer the ones that have feeling and emotion to them, every note played with just the right amount of sustain and vibrato to tug at the heart strings rather than the type that blisters up and down the fret board at a million notes a minute, for this reason you can expect not to find any Van Halen or Malmsteen solo’s in my top 10. I do appreciate the talent required to perform this type of solo and I have stood there open mouthed as the fingers blur in front of my very eyes but mostly it is just showing off rather than entertainment Someone once told me that they liked the type of guitar solo that you can sing and this sums it up perfectly to me.
 If you can get the tune in your head then it is more likely to stick with you and usually becomes an integral part of the song rather than an additional minute of music to pad out the album.
1 - Comfortably Numb. As a Pink Floyd fan this has to be number one, it is an epic solo. David Gilmour is my favourite guitar player and this is his finest work.
2 - Hotel California. Easily a contender for the number one spot with it’s shared solo but The Eagles will have to be happy in second place.
3 - Empty Rooms. One of Gary Moore’s finest solos in my opinion, it would have been easy to choose Parisienne Walkways but the mixture of the acoustic and the electric guitar during the musical interlude wins it for me.

4 - Brothers in Arms. An example of the “Heart clenching” music at it’s best here from Mark Knopfler, Sultans of Swing is usually the one that gets mentioned when Dire Straits are discussed but the simple understated melody and the beautiful guitar tone on Brothers in arms wins it for me hands down
5 - Lady Starlight. Possibly a song that very few people are aware of as it is an album track from The Scorpions. Very much a rock guitar solo but it does have that haunting quality that I love. I could have picked “Still Loving You” instead but I thought it would be fun to pick a song that is a little lesser known.
6 - Sweet Child o’ Mine. This is more a Guitar solo with a little bit of a song added for good measure but when you have Slash on the case then why not use him as much as possible.
7 - Dee. Any time you have a list featuring Guitar players you just have to include Randy Rhoads. I found it impossible to pick my favourite solo but this piece of music is worthy of a placement in the top 10.
8 - Blinded by the sun. This is one of those songs that had me hooked from the very first note and I have enjoyed listening to this song for years, for me it is all about the Guitar and it had to be pointed out to me that it was actually not a nice song but I still love it.
9 - Layla. Eric Clapton could have had “While my Guitar Gently Weeps” in this place but the extended version of this tune with the interaction between Guitar and Piano just edged it out of the frame.

10 - Fade to Black. Taken from the Ride the Lighting album this Kirk Hammett solo proves that even though you are used to playing the heavier music you can still be in touch with your emotions.

Stephen King Movie adaptations

I can’t say I have ever classed myself as an avid reader, I tend to only have the time to immerse myself in literature when I am on holiday. I have tried several times to read while I am at home and it always starts well but after a week or two the time I spend with my book of choice will dwindle and before you know it there is a half read book on the floor by my bed that is starting to gather dust. I have been known to get through 2 or 3 books while on Holiday and always come home with renewed excitement and promise myself that I WILL read more but that cycle of dwindling attention resulting in dust covered, discarded books is inevitable. When I do get the chance to read it is generally something by Bill Bryson, Dan Brown or my personal favourite, Stephen King. Over the years I have managed to get through several of his books and I have to admit that even though I do enjoy his work the results do tend to vary greatly. There are books of his that I have read more than once and will most likely go through again but there are others that have been nothing more than a huge waste of time. The same can be said for the movie adaptations of his books. Realistically you would expect to enjoy the film as much as the book but this all depends on the film makers interpretation of the text. As it happens, some of the books I have really enjoyed have turned out to spawn a truly dreadful movie.

Stephen Kings writing style does not always translate to film, he likes to build his characters and give the reader a lot of background to make them realise why a person acts in the way they do. The story generally builds at a slow pace so that there is a great deal of anticipation before any major events occur, we know it is coming but instead of being thrown into the middle of the action we are taken by the hand a guided through it step by step. This pace tends to hinder the film maker who needs to get the story told in a couple of hours and it is possibly the reason for some of the turkeys that have appeared at the cinema. “The Shining” is a typical example of this. I loved the book but I have tried several times to watch the film but it all seems to happen too quickly. In the novel you hear the hotel talking to Jack, you hear what it is saying and how it is twisting his mind. In the movie he turns up at the hotel and seemingly within minutes he has lost his mind. Another example of this is “Dream catcher” This is one of the books I have read more than once. I love the interaction between the 4 main characters and the story that unfolds during the book that shows how they became friends.

The film actually started off really well and seemed to be an accurate interpretation of the book but as soon as the military became involved and the story started to hot up it all fell apart. There are sections of the book that I was really concerned about as I could not even imagine how these parts could be created anywhere else but in your mind. Unfortunately, after watching these parts, I am still of the same opinion. Some of the best adaptations have been spawned from the Stephen King short stories, it seems that the shorter stories still have enough detail to

produce feature length material and they can follow the natural writing pace from the original without having to rewrite sections or simply omit key points. The best examples of this are “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Stand by me”. Both are excellent films that remain as true to the novella as possible. Stand by Me was a short story called “The Body” and appeared in a collection of King’s short stories along with “Apt Pupil” and “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”.
So, I think we need a top 5.
 These are my favourite movie adaptations of the Stephen King books that I have actually read but to be honest I don’t think the list would change too much if I were to include books that I had not read.

1 The Shawshank Redemption 

2 The Dead Zone 

3 Stand By Me (The Body)

4 Misery 

5 Christine 

 My top 5 books however, that would be very different. The Green Mile failed to make my top 5 movie adaptations. This is one of the rare occasions where I saw the film before I read the book and I really enjoyed it. After I had read the book I tried to watch the film again. Unfortunately the second viewing did not have the same impact as the book or the first viewing.

1 The Stand 

2 Dreamcatcher 

3 The Shining 

4 Different Seasons (Featuring Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption and The Body) 

5 The Green Mile

My Favourite Games Characters

As a 40 something man I am still a relatively new gamer, I think I just missed out on the whole scene as when I was a kid the types of games available were the old “bat and ball on a screen” type of game which wasn’t exactly inspiring and not really much of a single player experience. I first got into games a few years ago when my cousin convinced me to get a PS2 so we could play Burnout when he came over to my house, since then I have moved on to the Xbox 360 and although I still love Burnout and driving games I have moved on to different types as well. Over the last few years I have been introduced to a wealth of characters that a lot of people have grown up with but I am just getting to know through remakes of old games or a new instalments in a series. The new release of Tomb Raider has shown me why people can become obsessed with Lara Croft, I joked with a few people that I needed to close my eyes during some of her more gutsy movements and leaps between ledges or up cliff faces. I have also discovered that Max Payne has lead a real tough life, I have only gleamed this information from the final instalment of the Trilogy but I am now eager to find out what happened before the latest episode began. It is the same with Splinter Cell and Hitman. My first experiences of these were from Conviction and Absolution respectively and I thoroughly enjoyed the stealth aspect of both games, Hitman was my favourite as it really challenged me and made me look at the whole experience and environment in a completely different way. I am already looking forward to going back over some of the older games featuring Agent 47 and the new release for Sam Fisher and Third Echelon. Sadly there is not room for all of these characters in my top 5, only the bald, dual pistol wielding assassin has managed to secure one of these coveted places as there are so many other characters that have captured my heart or sparked my imagination. So, without further hesitation, here are my top 5 characters. I welcome your discussions or suggestions of any characters I may have missed. Who knows, I may extend this to become a top 10.
1,GlaDos - I was introduced to this character by Portal and then again in Portal 2, although the games themselves are brilliant this character really does make the game. After just a few minutes of playing I knew I needed to activate the subtitles as there were sarcastic, funny or just completely evil comments that I was missing out on. The way GlaDos taunts the test subject in both instalments of the game earns this character the number one spot in my opinion. The second game also has some very funny, but quite subtle references to the first installment.

2, Dominic Santiago - Gears of War has to be up there as one of my favourite games on the 360. The game play and story line for the whole trilogy reads like a Hollywood script with more than its fair share of action scenes. The character list in the series itself is strong and there were at least another 2 contenders for a spot in the top 5. “Marcus Fenix”, one of the main characters or “Augustus Cole train Cole”, could easily have taken a spot here but it is the selfless actions and sacrifice made in the final instalment and the moving scenes in the second episode as Dominic searches for his beloved wife that catapulted him into second place.

3, Big Daddy – Bioshock was one of those games that had me hooked as soon as I started to play it, I loved exploring the underwater world of “Rapture” and all of the challenges that came with it but I really loved the unusual weapons and “Plasmids” that were available to your character. As well as having your normal enemies you also had to face “The Big Daddy”, these are the lumbering characters that protect the little sisters and move around the game really slowly until they are provoked and then you are in trouble. You are up against a fully armoured, fast moving giant with powerful weapons all ready to put your skills to the test. In Bioshock2 you actually get the chance to see what life was like on the other side of the battle as you become the Big Daddy.
4, Agent 47 – As I have mentioned before, until Hitman Absolution came out I was not familiar with Agent 47 and I was a little reluctant to give this game a try as I thought I may struggle with the concept. I have say although I did find parts of it really difficult I loved the idea and the stealthy play of the game. The reason I have chosen Agent 47 over Sam Fisher is the limited Arsenal available to him and the lack of actual gadgets. Agent 47 is more likely to use every day items to his advantage and can therefore become more “creative” in his dispatching of the enemy. The fact that there are several different ways to get though the levels also appeals to me and I did find myself replaying parts of the game to try another method or to improve my stealth skills. It was during these replays that I found areas that I had missed previously that added a new dimension to the imagination.
5, The Witch - This is a bit of an unusual one and I have only included her because she scares the life out of me. Left 4 Dead has some great characters to it, as well as the 4 main characters, Bill, Louis, Francis & Zoey you come up against the Hunter who is waiting to Pounce on you, the Smoker who strangles you with his tongue, the Boomer who vomits bile over you that attracts the infected and the Tank who is just pure strength as the name suggests. Each character has their own music to announce their arrival but it is when you hear the high pitched, staccato music that tells you there is a witch nearby that the goose pimples start and the adrenalin level raises. There are 2 ways to deal with the Witch. You can try to take her out with one shot to the head or you can sneak past slowly. I advise on the second as if you don’t succeed in a one shot kill then she comes out fighting and you had better make sure you have plenty of first aid packs!

Favourite screen villains

I have always thought that the best screen villains are not necessarily portrayed as totally evil but to be quite charismatic and likeable with the ability to switch to the psychotic side at a moments notice.  This is a characteristic that seems to be inherent in the world’s greatest dictators.  In the “Last King of Scotland”, Forrest Whittaker portrays Idi Amin as someone with great affection towards his friends but takes even the slightest act to be a serious betrayal, unleashing hell on these he considers to have crossed him.   This seems to give the character a vulnerability that you don’t expect to see in the bad guy in a film and you can almost feel sympathy towards him until you realise the extent that they have gone to in the name of betrayal.

Having this based on real events makes it all the more harrowing than many fictional characters.

Charles Logan from 24 uses the same sort of technique, he portrays himself to be an understanding and caring person but all the time is manipulating people to do his dirty work without having to get his own hands dirty.  Although he is a fictional character you cannot help to make comparisons to some people from the real world.

 As screen villains go you could not hope for a better one than Hannibal Lector, When you first see him in “The Silence of the Lambs” he has already been built up to be the essence of pure evil so the dead eyed stare from the cell sends a chill right down the spine. Although in this film he is not technically the bad guy his misdemeanours from the past have placed him in his current situation and are often referred to and he does add to his, already considerable, body count in the second half of the movie.

In Misery, Kathy Bates plays Annie Wilkes as a well meaning woman who is trying to nurse her favourite writer back to health after a car accident. When she discovers he has killed off her favourite character a switch clicks in her head and she put him through some torturous scenes until he writes the character back to life.  Although the story reads better that it is portrayed on screen I still think this lunatic deserves a mention.

One of my ultimate favourite screen bad guys isn't really shown on screen at all until the last few minutes of the film and this adds mystery to the legendary figure of Keyser Soze.  All of his crimes and acts of cruelty are referred to as past events and are portrayed as either legends or through the eyes of his victims.  A quote from one of the characters says, "The Greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”

The iconic image of Jack Nicholson smashing down a bathroom door with an axe creates the idea that Jack Torrance is the villain of this story but in this case it is the hotel itself that is really to blame.

Sometimes the epitome of evil does not take Human form, over the years we have been tortured by creatures from distant planets, hunted in our dreams and even warned of the dangers of a refreshing dip in the sea.  It seems our imaginations know no bounds when it comes to facing the bad guys but as Arnie reassuringly tells us “If it bleeds, we can kill it”!

So, I think we need a top 10. As usual in no particular order.

1, Hannibal
2, The Alien
3, Freddy Kruger
4, Charles Logan
5, John Doe (Se7en)
6, Darth Vader
7, Norman Bates
8, Jaws
9, Predator
10, Keyser Soze.