More songs that make me think of things and stuff.

Journey- Any Way You Want It.
Not the obvious choice perhaps, given the recent, and justified, revival of that one about a small town girl (which by the way, is possibly how every epic song should be written, structurally.) But this is just as good. There's no specific memory attached to it, more a recurring sense of 'everything is really good in life' which might be spurred on by my listening to this song at a really upbeat point that I just can't remember anymore.
More likely however, is that the simple fact that this song is always guaranteed to make me smile, and has the rare capacity to turn my mood around as soon as it starts, if I'm feeling crappy. I can't be unhappy while listening to Any Way You Want It.
On a somewhat related note, there is a huge sense of irony attached to liking all these 80's radio rock bands. Fuck that horrible shit, and fuck you if you use music to score hipster points. I love Journey, for real, and this song is damn near perfect in my eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFjKFDvyJ80

Funeral For A Friend- Into Oblivion.
Not one of my favoured bands, but this story is too good not to tell.
Last summer, she graduated and was moving back home, and so decided to get all of our friends together to bid a fond, extremely drunken farewell to her house she'd been living in. Cue a raucous, decadent party, which inevitably ended with bodies everywhere and ensured everyone saw the next morning in feeling like they had been hit by a train.
However, we must get home, and so we all get in the car, and begin the drive back.
As we got onto the motorway, this song began to play, and as I sat in the back trying to guess what she was thinking, about ends and beginnings, all the while knowing that she didn't know what I was thinking about my own personal closures and starts that I foresaw at the time, everything was simply cinematic.
The world literally passing by, with my friends safe together in our little bubble watching it all fly past, it felt like a physical journey towards growing up. Of course, nothing came of it in the end, but that's irrelevant here.
Imagine the awe of hearing this song (pay attention to the lyrics) as a sense of hope, tinged with fear and sadness, washes over your fragile, aching body as you the world begins to pass you by and a vast blue sky is draped over you on a sunny summer day. Imagine making plans on how your life will be from now on, with this ringing in your ears. Ignore how it fell apart for me, and just try to place yourself in that moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXDL9QG4h3g

Most of what appears here is intangible.

I like to divide things in a binary fashion. Either things are one thing or they are the other, there can be no middle ground. Everything. Has to be. Something. Or I can't cope. (I do fully understand that life is simply not this easy, hence the name of this very place. There are colours, and they illustrate and enrich and play havoc with how I want things to be, but ultimately I think it's for the best.)

And so most of what appears here is intangible. Discussion of feelings, emotions. Things that cannot be seen nor touched.

I mention all this, because I am about to talk about some things that are fairly tangible, and, to be honest, wanted to try and provide a little clarification to myself if no one else. (There is a spiral of irony here, when this is taken in context. And everything is always about context. That is indisputable.) I want to simply talk about things that cross over into the material world, away from myself, and have a feel and a colour.

Music is pretty much all I 'do'. So obviously, seeing bands is very much a pastime of mine. To date, I've seen almost everyone I want to see, which is obviously pretty cool, but there remain a few names on 'the list' who I have yet to tick off.

I really want to see a few specific bands this year. Firstly, Glassjaw. The most emotive voice in music, coupled with explosive, thundering songs full of passion and heart. The fact they are constantly beset by chronic illness and near break ups only makes this even more of a must-see, whilst I can. Now tour, and play somewhere awesome.

Possibly get Circa Survive to support. This is music that sounds like a glimpse of the future,
being retold to the present via a man reluctant to relay the things he has seen. I saw them once, for half an hour, and it was in a horrible venue, with awful sound, and I need to see them somewhere tight and intimate, and lose myself in their sound.

Narrows are meant to be playing Europe at some point this year, but with the band being literally split over the Atlantic ocean, with half living in the U.K. and the other in the U.S., it may never happen. I really hope it does, it might be the nearest I ever get to seeing Botch, one of my favourite bands ever, whos frontman is now heading Narrows. Actually, I'd just love Botch to reform, even just for a one off proper goodbye. That would be one of the best things ever.

On that note, Sikth, Cursed and Refused need to get back together too. The opportunity to see any one of these bands just one last time would make my year, and for the latter two, just a one off final farewell/fuck you we were amazing would probably be the most anticipated, couldn't-possibly-go-wrong shows ever. I miss them all so much, genuinely.

Are GY!BE still around? I don't think they are, and this is not good.

Finally, as much as I love The Mars Volta, I would pay a stupid amount of money to see At The Drive-In get back together just the once, and if they were performing Relationship Of Command in one of those Don't Look Back style shows, where the band does the album in order and it's entirety, I would spend as much as I could to ensure I was there.

I would trade you a hundred Kurt Cobains, thousands of Marc Bolans, and infinite Jim Morrisons for just one show by any of the bands I mentioned here.

The above is all largely irrelevant, maybe even pointless, but at least it's not someone bitching about Valentines Day.

The following list is comprised of things it is essential that you do not actively dislike if we are truly to be friends.

Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The Clash.
Metal.
Horror films.
Doctor Who.
The Gaslight Anthem.
Pizza.
Christian Bale.
Me, obviously.

More may be added to this when I think of them, this is just a starter.