I grew up with musical tastes that were non-committal more than eclectic; between them mum and dad had records by everyone from Abba to ZZ Top, and on long journeys in the car we'd listen to mix tapes composed of whatever dad had recorded off the radio recently (remember the good 'ol days when home taping was killing music?). I liked some songs more than others, I quite liked some of the techno and hip hop that made the charts, but it was mostly just background noise.
And then I heard Nevermind, and my whole world changed. Suddenly music mattered, really mattered, and I picked a side; I became a grunge and metal kid. No more dreary grey chart pap for me; from this point on it was all guitars, all the time.
Naturally, this precluded me from all sorts of other guilty pleasures. Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Duran Duran, Public Enemy, MC Tunes (my first record) were all off the playlist; and of course, dance music was completely out of the question. Because I didn't like it anymore. Because I was a grunge and metal kid.
But then in the mid nineties, something weird started happening. Rock clubs were playing The Prodigy; Fear Factory and Nine Inch Nails each released startlingly good remix albums; and this game got released on the Playstation.
Wipeout 2097 was a game in which you piloted an anti-grav rocket sled at breakneck speeds around insanely twisting neon-lit tracks, all to the accompaniment of pounding pounding techno music. I was reliably assured by a friend of mine (who was wise about such things) that it was even better when you were pilling your tits off; but even to a clean living square like me it was bloody brilliant. And part of what made it was the soundtrack, littered as it was with such luminaries as The Prodigy, Underworld, Photek, The Chemical Brothers, Future Sound Of London, Fluke...
...and of course, the greatest band in the world ever (this week): Orbital.
It was a bit of a turning point for me. This track was intense, textured, and faintly sinister... and dammit, just plain cool. Maybe I did like bleepy stuff after all...
Truth be told, I've never gotten into dance and electronica in the same way as I did all that angsty and angry stuff. But I know what I like... and I like Orbital.
Website: http://www.loopz.co.uk/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_(band)
Oh every one likes a bit of Orbital every now and then - you are not such the subversive guitar fan, you know - check out some LFO for a joyous, melodic slightly stoned sort of bleep :)
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