Head Bangers Unite: Rock Music to Fuel Your Inner Rock God

I may be an 80's pop queen in my heart but my soul belongs to rock n roll. Hard rock, classic rock, blues rock, I'm there in all my head banging, foot tapping glory.

Of course it wasn't always that way.

In the late 70's and the early 80's I was a disco dancing pop queen. First with the Bee Gees and Abba,  then onto the likes of  Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, Spandau Ballet and all the rest. Pop for me was it.  Then again I was only 10 so what did I know.

Secretly though rock music had an almost dangerous allure for me.

This was the music after all that the black t-shirt brigade listened to.  The bad boys who wore faded jeans, black t-shirt's (often with a band's logo on them), drove beat up cars and were the kind of guys your mother warned you about.  Mates who hanged around together drinking, smoking and listening to rock music while girlfriends came and went.

I admired them from afar until I became one of those girlfriends and my first love and I bonded over music. I introduced him to The Cure, The Clash and The Jam while he introduced me to AC/DC, Def Leppard and the ultimate rock legends - Led Zeppelin.

From the moment I heard the first few bars of Friends, The Immigrant Song and Kashmir I was hooked and my love of rock music has stayed with me ever since.  After all who can resist those moments when you can get in touch with your inner Rock God.

Led Zeppelin Head banging rock just wouldn't be the same without these guys.

They are the ultimate in rock gods and deservedly so.  My only regret is that I was too young to see them at their finest during the early 70's and that I had to make do to listening to their music on vinyl and admiring Jimmy Page on the posters on my wall.

Yeah that bad boy rock guitarist did it for me again.

Jethro Tull Aqualung is considered one of the best albums... ever.  It certainly is a must have album for any dire hard music fan and my own copy was frequently played when I brought it back in 1985.

An unlikely rock band Jethro Tull managed to combine rock, folk and even a touch of classical music to produce a unique sound that was all their own.

And all fronted by the amazing Ian Anderson and his flute.  Who knew that a flute could rock music the way it could.

Cheap Trick Not as well known here as they are in their native America Cheap Trick had the reputation for being one of the best rock bands to see live and their album Live at Budokan is considered another must have album for any music fan.

I discovered them courtesy of  American Top 40 which I listened to religiously every Sunday morning as a teenager.

Guns N' Roses Tattooed, drug taking, model dating hard rock gurus Guns N' Roses burst onto the music scene in 1987 with their album Appetite for Destruction and a rock legend was born.

Sadly 6 years later the magic was gone and the band fell apart but the legacy of their music lives on in such head banging classics as Welcome to the Jungle and Paradise City.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers One of my all time favourite bands Tom Petty and the Hearbreakers are my go to music for starting any road trip.

Their songs are the songs I can bop my head along to while singing loudly to the words.

American  heartland rock at it's best I'm just surprised that they've never played a song of theirs on my favourite show Supernatural.  Because they so need to.

Inappropriate books for young people

Here in libraries, we're used to the stereotypes. We're all dull intellectuals with the sense of humour of a damp lettuce sandwich, and can possibly be incited to murder by the sight of a book shelved out of sequence. Just try it sometime.

Either that or we fall vaguely into one of these categories:

1) Sci fi and fantasy geeks who come to blows over whether Anne McCaffrey's books really count as fantasy when the dragons are genetically engineered.

2) Repressed madams who just want a man to unleash our inner tiger.

3) Beaming freaks who address everyone like a class of kindergarteners, clap our hands a lot and think everything is "woooonderful"!

No one - no one - ever views us as crusaders for social justice, or defenders of your freedom to speak. But we're that too.

There was a piece in the Daily Mail recently that really pissed me off. Ha. I can say things like that because I'm a librarian and we don't censor. Here's the link (with thanks to Syfygirl): http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2256356/The-sick-lit-books-aimed-children-Its-disturbing-phenomenon-Tales-teenage-cancer-self-harm-suicide-.html

You may remember me having a go at Sherryl Jordan for criticising violence in teen fiction, particularly The Hunger Games. Well, would you believe it, this author deplores books like The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (and presumably the likes of New Zealand's own See Ya, Simon) that feature dying teenagers. They're "distasteful", apparently. Kaayyyyy. Furthermore, the argument goes, they are preoccupied with sex and swearing. I would posit that the author knows few teenagers. And if she does, that she doesn't recognise that they too are capable of wanting more than mere escapism.

I'm the first to admit that I don't like books like John Green's. While I admired See Ya, Simon, and would recommend it to anyone, it's not the sort of book I would normally go for, either. Terminal illnesses, teen pregnancy, self-harm, abuse and doomed love - I avoid them all like the plague. But why should I stop others reading about them? The people who say that teens aren't ready for such books are also the ones who then complain that teenagers care about nothing but themselves, live in a fairyland, and want only to be famous (or marry someone who is). Which is it? Do we "protect" our kids from reading about real issues - and these are
real issues - and then curse them for not understanding?

I think teens read what they are ready to read. If a book disturbs them, they won't read any more like it - but they will have learned. Like the child psychologist says at the end of the piece, parents' role is not to ban them, but to be there for them, and support them in their questioning. Or do we stop them asking questions too? I would suggest that a lot of society's worst problems are the ones that happen in silence. It's sad that some teens feel inspired by books about suicide and self-harm - but the double standard Carey talks about between newspapers and books is there for a reason. The books are generally about fictional characters, or, obviously, by survivors warning of the dangers of adolescent life. They're about misery.

Newspaper articles are about real people. Bans on reporting suicides prevent fingers getting pointed at grieving families. Also, think of the public reaction, and the vast outpouring of grief. It is this that can cause copycat behaviour among teens, seeing the love and remorse that are released after someone takes their own life. They think: "They'll be sorry too when I'm dead".

Reading about others' misery is cathartic - especially if you talk it over with adults. Reading about what could be perceived as a triumph is far more dangerous. The important thing to remember is not to let your kids read in a vacuum.

At Auckland Libraries, any borrower can borrow any book, unless there is a strict, official censorship rating. You may not be aware that children are perfectly free to wander the shelves checking out books of borderline art or illustrated bedroom manuals. With the use of self-check machines, we can't even always catch them and ask to check with parents first. If this bothers you, watch your children in the library. Taking your kids with you and showing an interest in what they're reading is also the best way to encourage them to read - it's a win-win. But it's not our job as librarians to lock ideas away.

So don't blame publishers for publishing books that challenge the reader. Don't blame libraries for stocking them, either. We believe in letting kids be kids - and that includes asking uncomfortable questions.

I'm Just An 80's Pop Queen

I have rather eclectic taste in music.

I love classic rock, hard rock, indie rock,  pop, jazz, blues and a realm of other types of music but in my heart I am an 80's chick.

The 80's was the era I grew up in.

I had the padded shoulders, the frilled shirts, the leg warmers and most importantly the music.  Boppy, poppy, new wave, new romantic music with a mix of emo thrown in for good measure.   My bedroom wall was covered in posters of my favourite bands and I had a stack of records which by the end of the 80's could fill an entire wall from floor to ceiling.

Going to music shops and flicking through records was one of my favourite things to do.  What new treasures and discoveries would I find today?

Music of course was everywhere.

This was the era that MTV started and Saturday afternoon's must-watch viewing was Ready to Roll and Sunday was filled with listening to American Top 40 on the radio and at night it was all about Radio With Pictures hosted by the very laid back Karyn Hay.

80's music was what it was all about, the era of video clips and pretty boys who sometimes wore more make-up than you did.

Duran Duran  were my 80's idols.

I had posters of them plastered across my bedroom wall and while my friends lusted after lead singer Simon Le Bon my heart belonged to the sensitive, quiet, bad boy guitarist John Taylor.

Yes even then bad boys were my thing.

Surprising as it might be to some Duran Duran are still going strong today some 30 years later and though the boys are somewhat older now and more settled with wives and children John Taylor still plays a mean guitar and makes my heart flutter just a little.

Paul Weller  Indie God, Mod God, Rock God.  Paul Weller, singer, song-writer and guitarist has been called them all and like Duran Duran he is still performing today.

Never really that well known outside of Britain, Paul Weller's music has involved and changed over the years. From the new wave mod of the Jam, to the R&B pop mix of Style Council to the raw, gritty soul/rock of the solo artist he is today.

And today he is still winning awards including the Godlike Genius Award in 2010 by NME.   Pretty good for a working class boy from Surrey.


The Cure  Not the kind of boys you would want to take home to mum The Cure were the Goth and emo band of the late 70's and 80's.

Yet despite the wild hair, pale face make-up and black eyeliner  these guys could sing and play. 

Their music was dark and tormented and mournful and I knew all the words to Let's Go To Bed and Love Cats.

Hall and Oates Admitting you like Hall and Oates is a bit like admitting you like Abba & disco.

Totally not cool. 

Then again I've never worried that much about being cool.  Kiss On My List, I Can't Go For That, Out of Touch, Private Eyes.  These were the songs that I played again and again on my cassette deck and even now I still love their up-beat boppy tunes.

Not being cool is actually kind of neat.

The Police 80's music really wouldn't be complete without these guys despite the fact that they burst onto the music scene in 1978.

From the moment we heard the words "Roxane. You don't have to put on the red light..." I and everyone else was hooked. And from then on they produced song after song of which we all had to have and sang and danced along too.

These guys were and are legends.

Unfortunate title of the week

Does anyone else think the author really should have re-thought her character name? And why didn't the publishers laugh in her face?

Every book has its day

I've read some articles lately that attack the public view of what makes a good book. First up was a piece about The Great Gatsby, in which the reviewer admitted they thought the book was utter crap. And that what most people think it's about - the parties and the celebration of decadence - completely misses the point.

Someone else sneered at Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and other bestsellers. They may be popular, the writer said - but that doesn't mean they're good. Only women's book groups like them, not real critics like me.

Fact is, everyone likes to look down on something. We all want to feel superior in our own way. Yes, I love a formulaic slasher novel, but at least I don't read romance. Yes, I read British chick lit, but I don't touch that American trash. Oh, fantasy...I prefer Margaret Atwood myself...

And so on.

Well who says what a good book is? These are the ingredients for me:

It must have a story that makes me want to keep reading.
It must have characters I like spending time with.
I must enjoy it.

Anything else is just a bonus.

Thing is, almost every book is a good book to someone. One person's tastes do not match another's. Thank God for that. At Easter I get to eat all the marshmallow eggs, because others in my house don't like them. Lots of authors get told they're unpublishable before making their first billion. It's just how life is.

If the mark of a quality book is one you read over and over, here's my own list of the classics. Take it as read that Jane Austen is on here...

Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

Feet of Clay and Carpe Jugulum - Terry Pratchett

Q & A - Vikas Swarup

The Grand Sophy - Georgette Heyer

The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper

One For the Money - Janet Evanovich

Be My Enemy - Christopher Brookmyre

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J. K. Rowling

Dead Beat - Jim Butcher

I own a lot of crime novels, naturally, but they don't feature on here so highly because it's best not to remind yourself of the ending too often. Wait a few years and then surprise yourself all over again! I recommend: Mark Billingham, Louise Penny, Stuart MacBride, C. J. Sansom, Belinda Bauer, Jussi Adler-Olsen, Adrian McKinty.