playlist - HecklerSpray

Grunge Turns 20: When Fuzz Met Feelings

August 7th, 2012 By Mof Gimmers

Okay. Apparently, grunge is now 20 years old. Of course, grunge purists and musos will argue the toss over a whole host of dates which could signal the first flush of grunge, but everyone is agreeing on this one because it’s easier, okay?

And basically, like all grunge chat, it circles around Nirvana, who were smart enough to mix their fondness for pure pop and fuzz pedals, leaving a legacy that was, sadly for Kurt Cobain, filled with jocks like Limp Bizkit, who he so obviously loathed.

However, it goes without saying that there was so much more to grunge than Nevermind and Cobain’s suicide. Let us have a look back shall we?

HecklerPlay: Spotify Playlists – We Love You Cymru

August 7th, 2012 By Mof Gimmers

Before we get going with this, could all you Welsh readers do us a favour? Could you pretend that this is all in Welsh? We’d love to make the effort but a combination of our own stupidity and distrust of translation engines online have left us writing in Empire English, what what!

However, hecklerspray dearly loves the Welsh. They’ve got one of the best national anthems in the universe, make good beer and have created so many great bands that it is borderline ridiculous.

And what with today being St David’s Day, we’d like to give you (and anyone with an interest in Welsh music) a Spotify playlist of Welsh tunes. And we promise that there’s absolutely no Stereophonics.

HecklerPlay: Spotify Playlists – Wu Tang Samples

August 7th, 2012 By Mof Gimmers

The Wu Tang Clan are, arguably, the best thing to ever happen to hip-hop. If you got all their LPs and pulled the tape out of all their solo albums, it’d probably wrap around the Earth 36 times. It’d probably write out a great big Wu symbol too.

And such is the wealth of their backcat, there’s a lot to sink your teeth into. There’s already a Wu Tang & Associates playlist to dig from editor Mof (here) but this one we’re offering is a little different.

Avid reader Jackson Wylde got in touch and gave us a playlist based on the samples taken by the Wu Tang and, unsurprisingly, there’s loads of great soul and funk!

HecklerPlay: Spotify Playlist – Smash It, Hang Out Of The Back Of It And Sexism Galore!

August 7th, 2012 By Mof Gimmers

With Andy Gray and Richard Keys (not related to Alicia) having a bad time of it at the moment, mainly thanks to having rather horrible views about womenfolk, we thought we should make them both a Spotify playlist to cheer them up.

They’ll need familiar, soothing themes in music to make them feel like they’re not going completely mental.

As such, we’ve decided to make a playlist of amazingly sexist tunes which will horrify and delight you readers who have at least one working ear-hole.

HecklerPlay: Spotify Playlists ? Songs For Jesus And Nonbelievers

August 7th, 2012 By Mof Gimmers

You may, like hecklerspray, be a great big stinkin’ heathen and not believe in any religion of any sort. Or, of course, you might have felt the calling of a higher spirit or whatever. No matter what you believe, there’s no denying that of all the deities, Jesus has some of the best records.

That’s not to say Jesus has a wonderful record collection of rare Beach Boy acetates and the first German test-pressings of Kraftwerk albums, but rather, thanks to being taken on by America, he’s had some of the best songs written about him. Or Him.

And so, let us delve into Jesus’ back catalogue.

HecklerPlay: Spotify Playlists ? Chic & Friends

August 7th, 2012 By Mof Gimmers

Nile Rodgers and his Chic Organization are godlike geniuses. No question about it. Chic were the smartest and coolest disco outfit who ever lived, creating some sophisticated dance floor monsters that are still light years ahead of the game.

Rodgers wasn’t keen to just sit back and turn out dance tracks though. He had an eye on the wider angle of rock and pop. He, along with his musical brother, Bernie Edwards, produced some dazzling records for other artists including Diana Ross and Sister Sledge.

And it doesn’t bring us any pleasure at all to share the news that Rodgers has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, which of course, he’s tackling with all the class you’d expect of one of the world’s finest and nicest (Nile writes about it here, on his blog).

HecklerPlay: Spotify Playlists ? The Best Christmas Playlist Ever, Right?

August 5th, 2012 By Mof Gimmers

Christmas is upon us. That means, the adverts on TV are all urging you to part with money you don’t have and the prospect of sitting in, alone, blind drunk while swearing about your family friends under you breath, seems all the more appealing.

Of course, the prospect of Christmas is actually worse than the real thing. The sense of dread of the Yuletide period soon dissipates when you’re faced with a plate full of grub covered in gravy.

However, what about the music? Carols are crap and serve to remind you about stupid Jesus. Commercial Christmas records are usually a bit too saccharine or forced. What if there was a whole bunch of really cool tunes to listen to at this time of year? Well folks, your luck is well and truly in!

HecklerPlay: Spotify Playlists ? Rock ‘n’ Soul

August 5th, 2012 By Mof Gimmers

Here we are, with yet another playlist for you to get your ears around. Not literally of course. Have you ever tried to wrap a bit of your body around a sound wave? It’s impossible – unless you’ve been indulging in especially strong hallucinogenic drugs.

Anyway, this week, we’re looking at soul covers of rock classics. And there’s some very good tunes knocking about – in some cases, the soul versions surpassing the originals.

So let us hop to it and see what we have in store for you.

HecklerPlay: Spotify Playlists ? Britpop

August 5th, 2012 By Mof Gimmers

Thanks to Pulp reforming, we figured it might be a good idea to revisit that fabled period of the ’90s they called Britpop. It was a time when us Limey gits felt like we’d wrestled the pop crown back off the Americans after their onslaught of fuzz pedal grunge.

Out went plaid shirts and in came parkas, old-skool tracksuit tops and burpy lager.

And of course, there were some good records released around that time… but not all of them. Don’t mistake the notion of Britpop being brilliant with ‘I liked it when I was 18’. There’s a massive difference between the two.

HecklerPlay: Spotify Playlists ? Halloween!

August 7th, 2012 By Mof Gimmers

Woooooo! WOOOOOO! UuuuuuuUUUUUH. Grrrrrrrrooooooow! WAAAARGH! WAAARGH! WAAAARGH! Ungungungung! WAAAARRRRRRGH! Wuuuuuuuuggh! AAAARGH! SHRIEK! SCREAM! And you get the picture.

Yes, that’s right. It’s Halloween time which means it is time to dress up like a ghoul and go and beg people for money at their door under the threat of posting turds through their letter box. Or, if you an adult, it probably means dressing up like a slutty witch and trying to get off with a bloke that looks like Frankenstein’s monster… and failing… and crying in the car park of a pub to make a most unusual spectacle.

There’s got to be music for all this, so click over to get your ears around the spooky, devilish Halloween playlist!