Music is My Boyfriend

Confess to pretending to be 22 again recently... joining all kinds of online social network sites - myspace, flickr, last.fm, del.icio.us, you know the sort of thing, well you might if you were 22! I keep kidding myself that it's all in the name of research and that there are even quite a few grown-ups using them too... both largely untrue. The fact is that before you know it these sites become mildly addictive and deeply fascinating as all forms of human life can be found there, and then some! And, admittedly, I also like the fact that no-one else much in my age group is doing this yet.

Anyway, by far the most satisfying is last.fm (my page is over there on the right, if you're interested). This really is a place where everyone is 22. For the techies out there it works something like this... you listen to your music via itunes or whatever, last.fm listens to what you're listening to, their 'puter then matches what you're listening to against what other people are listening to and tells you about some new stuff to listen to that those other folks are already listening to... so you then get a personalised radio full of new music that you'll probably quite like. Truly fab for a music obsessive like me, and for anyone who wants to pretend to be 22 again.

If you really want to be 22 you can also join in some of the discussion groups full of people going "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! ...woo!!!" and such like. Which is where I found the unlikely title of this post:

Music is My Boyfriend

...a group of mainly female 22 year olds, obsessing over music and wondering what it would be like if music really was their boyfriend. I liked their spirit and the group name sparked off a few ideas, something like this...

Music = Boyfriend
For music to be my boyfriend, music would need to fulfil a number of requirements:

• makes me deliriously happy
• occasionally talks about feelings n' stuff
• lets me party and dance like an idiot
• is independent and unconventional
• picks me up when i'm feeling down
• hugs me for no reason at all
• doesn't mind my shopping habit
• gives plenty of great sex
• is there, always

After pondering this list for a while, it seems to me that they're absolutely right, music could very easily be the perfect boyfriend.

Music = Emotion + Spirit + Shopping + Sex + Staying Power = Perfect Boyfriend

What's to disagree with, it's the perfect formula. Now if only I could lay my hands on one...

Which Music Would Be My Boyfriend?
Oooo, tough one that. My first port of call in researching this question was my last.fm charts, closely followed by my itunes most and recently played (lists!!! don't you just love 'em, boys... more coming soon). Since my number one, Francoiz Breut, is clearly a girl, my second favourite, Primal Scream, has to be my first choice:

• Emotion: uplifting - Moving On Up, and oh yes, the ballads - Cry Myself Blind, Sometimes I feel So Lonely...
• Spirit: rock n' roll, for sure - Loaded, Rocks, Dolls, Suicide Sally
• Shopping: CDs, downloads, gig tickets... I am a PS fan and I am an addict
• Sex: Leeds Festival 2006 - at least as good as sex, if not better... 90 minutes of pure euphoria and high for about 2 weeks afterwards
• Staying Power: 20 odd years and still going strong

WooHoo!!! Primal Scream is my boyfriend!

Or failing that, my favourite du jour, Paul Weller (wasn't he fantastic on the Beeb's Electric Proms the other week).