Song of the Week #30
Well, we made it. New Year’s Eve 2021. Who’d have thought we (read: The UK) would finally be over the worst of a global pandemic? One that has lasted over 18 months since the first lockdown back in March 2020. I know for many other less fortunate and developed nations, the battle with Covid-19 is still ongoing, and I keep my fingers crossed for all involved, and offer my heart out to all those volunteers who have stepped up and helped people in these unprecedented times. On a side note, it is still baffling to me to call other nations ‘less fortunate’ when everyone else doesn’t have Boris Johnson as their elected leader.
Hopefully for you and your families/friends, 2022 brings good fortune, good times, and prosperity. For myself and Alex, we’re hoping that 2022 means we sell a hell of a lot of gin, and we’re thankful after so long to finally have had some available this year to peddle out to you lucky devils.
New Year’s Eve parties are always a bit of a let down, but the actual event of New Year itself is so often a time of reflection and forgiveness. With that in mind then, I thought it fitting for the last Song of the Week of 2021 to reveal my favourite band of all time, and consequently receive your unquestioning forgiveness for my poor choices - I thank you in advance!
What draws people to a ‘favourite’ film, album, sports star or band? There has to be some element in said art or otherwise that you feel a connection with, that it represents part of you, or that you completely buy into the product because of the whole story encompassed along with it.
For me, that was completely what I felt when I purchased a part of Universal Music’s short lived “Rock Legends” series on CD in Harrogate circa 2008. It was album 4 - Mötley Crüe. I had heard Shout at the Devil from Guitar Hero 2, but otherwise I can’t honestly say what made me pick up that album. But even after I had become the mega fan I am today, there was/is something about THAT track listing, how it ebbed and flowed on the compilation that I immediately took to and still love to this day. From that album, deep dives followed into musical back catalogue, The Dirt and The Heroin Diaries, and it made me buy into the highs and lows behind the entire story of partying, heartache, rehabilitation and (according to Ozzy Osbourne’s autobiography) the enigma that is Tommy Lee’s dick. To use the old adage, they were Sex, Drugs and Rock N Roll. I could truthfully go on and explain in detail every aspect I love about the band, and the bits that are ‘lacking’, most recently Netflix’s film adaptation of the Dirt and Vince Neil’s non-existent diet and exercise regime, but I would imagine you stopped reading around the time you saw the words “Mötley” and “Crüe”, and truthfully I don’t blame you.
Here’s one of my all time favourite tracks, Wild Side. As a bonus I’ve made my 17 Y/O rocker self dressed as Alice Cooper the thumbnail - one cool dude if I do say so. Happy New Year all, best wishes to you and your loved ones. BUY OUR GIN. 2022 coming atcha!