Month: September 2018

Top TV Theme Tunes

Posted on by Hayley Beasley Dye

I mean, I am so obsessed with listing my favourite things, I have now gone as far as telling you my favourite TV theme tunes. It’s an important one. Deciding which ones are my favourites and then putting them diligently in order for you. I know you’re grateful, I can sense it via the internets and you are most welcome. So here they are, 15 of my favourite TV theme tunes in order and yes I have done a Spotify list at the end, which I know you will listen to all day. Also, if you don’t like my list, but want to check out a similar list, why not pop over to sex God Phil Taylor’s blog and read his post HERE and see what TV theme tunes he’s included (we have a few in common).

15. Big Brother UK 

The original of course and I was absolutely obsessed with it. Yes, I used to listen to it in my flat at full volume. Cos I was cool like that.

14. Panorama

I just love the dramatics, man.

13. University Challenge

For those of you who don’t know, University Challenge is a delightfully nerdy quiz show where different universities compete with each other with their general knowledge. I can usually only answer one or two questions per episode at the most. This theme tune suits the programme and its contestants perfectly.

12. Blockbusters

If you’re of a certain age, you probably loved this programme. It was a kind of a less geeky version of University Challenge, but with secondary (high) schools instead of universities. And with a block grid thingy. And the theme tune was absolutely solid. I was never more excited to hear it than when my very own school featured on it. I *think* we did quite well.

11. Grange Hill

80s British childhood succinctly represented with one perfect theme tune. Watch out for the sausage!

10. The A Team

Of course.

9. Cheers

Featuring this classic theme tune is not helping my current Ted Danson obsession any.

8. Bergerac

So we all danced to this theme tune in a kind of embarrassing reggae style with our best mate on a regular basis….didn’t we?

7. The Flintstones

Hearing this theme tune tells me it’s almost dinner time! How long will dinner be, Mum? I’m staaaaarrrrrving!

6. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Come on then, let’s do this rap together word perfectly.

Top 5

5. Cagney and Lacey

Best cop show ever. Don’t argue with me. And I love this theme tune so much, it is the actual ringtone on my phone. Fact.

4. Happy Days

Quite possibly one of the most cheerful TV theme tunes out there suiting it’s programme perfectly.

3. Ski Sunday

Oh yes, I did. Come on, it is fucking brilliant. Incidentally, it is also my highest ranking British TV theme tune. Oh and I couldn’t find a clip of the opening titles, so have an actual orchestra playing the theme tune instead.

2. The West Wing

Possibly my all time favourite American TV drama, but that aside this is a wonderful theme tune. Both my husband and I are such fans of this show that at our wedding we walked back down the aisle to this theme tune together. I told you I was cool.

And my all time favourite TV theme tune is…..

.

.

.

.

.

1. The Muppet Show

If Happy Days is a cheerful theme tune, then this is cheerful whilst smacked up on E numbers on Christmas Eve. Hearing the theme tune reminds me of the start of Saturday evening TV and cosy Saturdays with my family in the 80s. It makes me feel warm and safe inside. This theme tune and of course the programme itself is, in short, everything that is right with this world.

So, you know the score. Please tell me which is your favourite TV theme tune in the comments below.

Next week, Top Ten Tunes is starting up again, so see you next week for 1960!

Top Tunes From Musicals

Posted on by Hayley Beasley Dye

So, here’s a little unknown fact about me. I love me a musical. I love all that singing and dancing at inexplicable moments. I love the cheesiness. I love how cheery musicals are quite often made about dire and disturbing subject matters (Oliver! is quite often described as cheerful, but is essentially about maternal mortality, orphans, homelessness, poverty, child exploitation, crime, prostitution, domestic violence, child abduction and murder. Oom-pah-pah indeed). I love the formulaic storylines. And love all that thigh slapping (who doesn’t?). But here’s a tough question. Which song out of all those heart rending/heartwarming musicals, is the best? I tried to make this a Top Ten, but as I am weak, it is a Top 15 instead. As always, there’s a little Spotify list at the end- a bumper playlist of 40 songs from musicals. Heres my personal favourite 15 songs from musicals in actual order this time.

15. Tradition– Fiddler on a Roof

14. And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going– Dreamgirls

13. The Man That Got Away– A Star is Born

12. All That Jazz– Chicago

11. Take Me or Leave Me– Rent

10. Time Warp– Rocky Horror Picture Show

9. Cabaret– Cabaret

8. Do-Re-Mi– Sound of Music

7. You’re the One That I Want– Grease

6. Memory– Cats

 

TOP 5

5. When I Grow Up– Matilda

4. Over the Rainbow– The Wizard of Oz

3. As Long As He Needs Me– Oliver!

2. Defying Gravity– Wicked

And my all time favourite song from a musical is….

.

.

.

.

1. One Day More– Les Miserables

And for the record, my all time favourite musical is Oliver! I could have made this top 15 up with the majority of songs from Oliver!, but you’ll probably be thankful that I restrained myself. So any other fans of musicals out there? Which is your favourite song from a musical? And which is your all time favourite musical?

See you next week for Top TV Theme Tunes!

Top Ten Tunes Review

Posted on by Hayley Beasley Dye

Hey there gang. As you may have or may have not realised, I am taking a little blogging break at the moment. It’s nothing personal, I just needed a bit more extra time in my personal life (hey, don’t we all). Anyway, despite the break, I still carried on doing my weekly Top Ten Tunes posts. Partly because I am loyal to y’all, but mainly because I have loved dong them so much. I am one for nostalgia, so it’s been a lovely trip down my musical memory lane. So, I thought I’d do a little review of my Top Ten Tunes post from over the years. Some kind of conclusion, if you like. And at the end of this post, there’s a little announcement, that I’m verrrrr excited about (because I am a musical geek. And proud). Oh and I have done one big massive Spotify playlist of my favourite songs from each year at the end.

My Favourite Years

What’s interesting is that there were definitely some years that I found easier to think of my top ten than others. Some years, I struggled to narrow it down to ten and other years it was difficult to come up with ten. Some years were definitely weaker for music, but it might also have been because what was going on in my life at the time. I have had a little think and these were my favourite years, musically:

1977

1984 1985 1986 1989

1992 1993 1994

2006

2016

And my absolute favourite year is 1989. I struggled more than any other year to narrow my songs down to only 10. 1989 = best year of music ever. No need to argue with me.

91F0B6E5-94E9-45EF-B0DA-923C6BF83AA6

Top 5 Nationalities

I don’t think the top 2 will be of any surprise, but these are the top 5 nationalities that appeared the most in my top tens.

5. Canada (appeared 5 times)

4. Iceland & Sweden (both appeared 7 times)

3. Australia (appeared 14 times)

2. U.S.A. (appeared 153 times)

1. United Kingdom (appeared 204 times)

infographic

A map of the UK and where all its famous musicians hail from.

Top 10 Acts

And here are the 10 acts that appeared in my top tens the most. Can you guess who appeared the most?

5. Kate Bush & Amy Winehouse (both appeared 5 times)

4. Bjork & David Bowie (both appeared 7 times)

3. George Michael & Beyonce (both appeared 8 times)

2. Blur & Kylie Minogue (both appeared 9 times)

And the act that appeared more than any other is:

1. Madonna (appeared 10 times)

j0fumggrssvesa9plwqx

My most surprising observations of these playlists is that I seem to like Rhianna and Adele more than I thought I did. That two of my all time favourite artists didn’t appear as much as I thought they would (PJ Harvey and Tori Amos). The 00s was a terrible decade for music and I’m clearly more of an 80s & 90s girl. And I won’t ever apologise for it either.

And an observation that I had about the news sections: it’s always been bit of a shit storm quite frankly.

Oh yes, I promised you an announcement…

So, here’s the thing. Well, here’s 3 things:

  1. I loved doing these playlists
  2. I love music and talking about music a lot.
  3. I love music from the 60s and the rest of the 70s that wasn’t included in my top ten posts.

As you may have guessed, I am continuing to do these lists, by going back in time. Back to when I was merely a twinkle in my father’s eye and beyond. Over the next two weeks, I’ll be doing two slightly different top tens posts, but then after that I will continue doing my Top Ten Tunes starting with 1960! Oh yeah, imma gonna go there. So, it will be slightly less nostalgic for me, as clearly I have no personal memory of those times, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love the music from those eras any less. Expect plenty of Beatles, Marvin Gaye, Aretha, the Kinks, Beach Boys- ooh it’s going to be grand.

5F81C4D8-99FF-45A2-9766-61180A301CEA

One Last Thing

What I’ve been really grateful for with doing these weekly music posts, is the interaction with other people. Hearing, what their favourites are and discussing music and the world events from that year, has been something I look forward to every week. The following lovely bloggers have been regular visitors to these Top Ten Tunes posts over the “years”. I encourage you to have a wander around their blogs:

Rachael Stray

Angela Noel at You Are Awesome

Willowdot21

My Mashed Up Life

Ritu at But I Smile Anyway

Cherie at thatblogwherecheriemovestogermany

Phil at The Phil Factor

Music 2 Commute 2

Em at A Brummie Home & Abroad

Sonia at Losing the Plot

Here’s the mega playlist, I promised you. And my most favourite from it and from the past 42 years? Video Killed the Radio Star. Now, I know I don’t really need to remind you, but please let me know which one is your favourite from the list in the comments below. Hope to see you all in the 60s and 70s!

For all the previous top ten tunes, please click on the year: 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

See you next week for my Top Tunes From Musicals! And Top Ten Tunes returns on Friday 5th October.

Top Ten Tunes- 2017

Posted on by Hayley Beasley Dye

Every Friday, I’m publishing my top ten songs from a single year and this week, we’re finally all caught up- it’s here, it’s the turn of 2017.

For previous top ten tunes, please click on the year: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2018 2019

https---blueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com-uploads-card-image-500496-d3461d2e-b8bf-4e44-bf98-6e02beab2457

So, 2017 wasn’t much of an improvement on 2016. In 2017, millions of people march in the Women’s Marches across the UK and the world in protest of reality TV star Donald Trump’s inauguration as the US President, a petition to stop reality TV star Donald Trump from entering the UK gains 2 million signatures, Ian Stewart is found guilty of killing his fiancee- the children’s author Helen Bailey, a terrorist attack takes place in London when a car ploughs into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge– killing 6 and injuring over 40- the driver then stabs a police officer to death, the UK invokes Article 50 which triggers the formal withdrawal from the EU, a terrorist attack takes place in Stockholm, Sweden where a lorry is driven into crowds and then crashes into a department store- 5 people die, one of which is British and 14 are injured, Ian Brady- the Moors Murderer- dies at 79- he was Britain’s longest serving prisoner, a female zookeeper is killed by tiger at a zoo in Cambridgeshire, 8 people are killed and 48 are injured in a terrorist attack when a vehicle ploughs into people on London Bridge and then subsequently the attackers stab several people to death on the street- the police shoot all 3 of the terrorists dead within 8 minutes, the UK general election takes place, but the Conservative party fail to gain enough votes for a majority win– they have to form a coalition with the DUP as a result, 1 person is killed and 10 are injured when a van deliberately rams into people outside a mosque in Finsbury, London, the Duke of Edinburgh retires from public duty at 96 years old, 15 people are killed in two terrorist attacks in Spain, Prince Harry announces his engagement to American actor Meghan Markle, the Me Too movement against sexual harassment and abuse spreads globally and results in many allegations against people especially in Hollywood (here’s my little “fuck sexual harassment” post HERE), Emmanuel Macron becomes the new French President, at least 90 people are killed in Texas as Hurricane Harvey strikes the US, in Charlottesville, Virginia, a car crashes into a crowd at an anti-racist rally and kills 1 person and injures 28 others, in Texas a gunman attacks a baptist church killing 26 people and injuring 20 others, 58 people are killed by one gunman in Las Vegas as he opens fire on a crowd of concert-goers from his hotel room.

A major fire engulfs Grenfell Tower (a 24-storey block of flats in London), which causes the deaths of 72 people and injuring 70 others. It is the worst residential fire since the Second World War. The fire was believed to have started from a faulty fridge/freezer. However, the rapid spread of the fire was caused by the exterior cladding. A new review on building regulations and fire safety has since been published.

On the 22nd May, Manchester Arena was attacked by a suicide bomber during an Ariana Grande concert. 22 people were killed and 139 were injured. More than half of the victims were children. The youngest person killed was 8 years old. Two weeks later, Ariana Grande returned to Manchester (and a day after the London Bridge terrorist attack) for the One Love Manchester concert in honour of the victims of the attack and to raise funds for the injured and the bereaved. It was attended by over 50,000 people and watched by over 22 million in the UK and across 38 different countries around the world. Shortly afterwards, in a unanimous vote by councillors, Ariana Grande was made an honorary citizen of Manchester city.

The films Dunkirk, Get Out, Wonder Woman, Baby Driver, Call Me By Your Name, Ladybird, Lion, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, IT, Beauty and the Beast and T2 Trainspotting are all released and I turn a mere 41 years old.

t2-trainspotting

Have we really reached the end?! Phewee- 42 posts later and here we are in 2017. So, here’s the top ten tunes from 2017 and it’s probably one of the least commercial playlists, I’ve done. Thank you so much for sticking with me through this journey. Next week, I’ll be doing a little review of these Top Ten Tunes post where I’ll provide a bumper playlist plus they’ll be a little announcement…

1. Green Light by Lorde

2. Don’t Kill My Vibe by Sigrid

Sigrid-lead-press-shot

3. Tomorrow by Anni

BreakFreeKansi1600

4. Everything Now by Arcade Fire

arcade-fire

5. 1998 by the Dears

thedears

6. Issues by Julia Michaels

Julia-Michaels-2017-cr-Catie-Laffoon-billboard-1548

7. Fior Di Latte by Phoenix

phoenix

8. Dear Life by Beck

full

9. New York by St. Vincent

st-vincent-nedda-afsari-billboard-1548

10. Fireworks by First Aid Kit

First-Aid-Kit-portrait

Special bonus as it’s the last week: Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Ariana Grande

At the end of last year, I said that my favourite song from 2017 was St.Vincent HERE, but almost a year on, I would now say it’s Julia Michaels. Which one is your favourite?

 

See you next week for the Top Ten Tunes Review!