music

2025, quantified

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For the third year running, I’m summarising all those end of year reviews that apps like Spotify and Goodreads offer you. You can take a look at 2024 and 2023 if you want.

Countries and counties visited

Unlike last year, I did manage to leave England a couple of times – Athens in June, and Wales in July. I also spent some time at Amsterdam Schipol Airport in the Netherlands, but as I was airside the whole time, I’m not really counting it.

Over the course of the year, I have spent at least some time in the following English counties:

  • West Yorkshire
  • North Yorkshire
  • South Yorkshire
  • East Yorkshire
  • Lincolnshire
  • Greater Manchester
  • Lancashire
  • Cheshire
  • Norfolk
  • County Durham
  • Merseyside
  • West Midlands
  • Oxfordshire
  • Northamptonshire
  • Staffordshire
  • Tyne & Wear

That’s a few more than last year – East Yorkshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Staffordshire and Tyne & Wear weren’t on last year’s list.

Most distant points

The furthest compass points I have been to are:

  • Furthest North: Gateshead, Tyne & Wear (May)
  • Furthest South: Athens, Greece (June)
  • Furthest East: Athens, Greece (June)
  • Furthest West: Anglesey Sea Zoo (July)

My trip to Athens was something of an outlier, but we also went further west than last year. Not so far north this time, though.

Methods of transport used

For the first time since doing this, I can include planes in this (Athens again). There was also a lot of driving, in our old and new cars, and I continued to mostly take the train to work. No trips to London last year, but I did travel by train to and from Manchester Airport, when heading to Athens, and to Leeds. Apart from those Manchester trips, which included time on Transpennine Express, all my journeys were with Northern. Speaking of which, I had 8 successful Delay Repay claims, totalling £6.25 (78p on average).

I’ve been on a few buses and trams as well. No ferries last year, but I did spend some time on a boat in Oxfordshire.

Music listened to

A screenshot of my most popular bands and songs from 2025 from Spotify Wrapped

Over the year, I scrobbled 15,063 tracks on last.fm, which is more than the past few years. That’s a little over 41 songs per day, so on average I listened to six additional songs per day in 2025 compared to 2024. Assuming an average song is around three minutes, I listened to slightly over two hours of music every day on average. My ‘listening age’ was 42 – only out by a year, which is nice.

Whilst I don’t exclusively listen to music on Spotify, on there, trance was my top genre this year (it was pop last year), according to my Spotify Wrapped. My most-listened to song was Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra – look, a song that was released in 2025 – as it’s one of our (now) ten-year-old’s favourites. Similarly zeitgeisty was my top album – the soundtrack to K-Pop Demon Hunters.

My top artist was Alex Christensen, which is a weird outlier; he released several albums of classical cover versions of dance music which I marathon-listened to one day. Last year’s top, Armin van Buuren, was second.

A screenshot of my Goodreads Year in Books

Books read and listened to

According to My Goodreads Year in Books for 2025, I read 76 books this year, which is one less than last year (and 17 fewer than 2023). Unfortunately, I set my 2025 reading challenge at 80 books, so didn’t achieve it. Also, books ‘read’ include those that I have listened to as audiobooks.

The shortest book I read, at 64 pages long, was ‘Our Super Japanese Adventure‘ by Sarah Graley and Stef Purenins (not available on Amazon), who we met at Thought Bubble. Meanwhile, the longest book was ‘Rule of Cool‘ (sponsored link) by Matthew Siege at 479 pages, although I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by Felicia Day over 12 and a half hours. The longest audiobook was ‘Neurotribes‘ (sponsored link) by Steve Silberman, which was over 20 hours and probably the longest audiobook I’ve ever listened to, although the print edition is 477 pages (two less than the Rule of Cool)

Overall, the average length of book that I read was 270 pages, which is 39 more than 2024. ‘A Brief History of Time‘ by Prof Stephen Hawking (sponsored link) was the most popular book that I read last year. Although, I found it a struggle in parts and, unsurprisingly, some of the science has changed in the 37 years since it was first published.

Beers and ciders consumed

I log the beers and ciders that I drink using Untappd, and these stats are from my year in beer. Like last year, I drank less than one per month (11 in total) and my main style was ‘non-alcoholic’.

Steps taken

My total steps taken was very similar to 2024 and 2023. Overall I took 3,455,761 steps, which is only slightly less than 2024. My average is 9,468 per day; January was my most sedentary month and July was my most active, but not by much.

Time spent learning French

A screenshot of my Duolingo stats for 2025

I started Duolingo’s French course on the 1st January 2022 (so I have a four year streak now), and in 2025, I spent 3,560 minutes learning – that’s 59 hours in total. Compared to 2024, that’s 11 hours less, but we didn’t go to France again this year.

My Duolingo Score for French is 118, which means that I’m in the medium B2 level (‘vantage’) of the CEFR for French. Currently Duolingo’s maximum score for French is 130, which is high B2 level and should be sufficient to study a university course taught in French. I was expecting to have reached 130 by now, but clearly not.

Still, not much further to go. I’m probably going to switch to German next – I got an A* in GCSE German in 2000, but a quarter of a century has passed since then and I’ve forgotten most of it.

Podcasts listened to

A screenshot of my most listened to podcasts of 2025

I listen to the majority of my podcasts through Overcast (with the remainder in BBC Sounds). My most listened to podcast was, once again, RHLSTP (RHLSTP!) with 40 hours over the year. The Guilty Feminist, The Comedian’s Comedian, The Bugle and a new entrant, Bugle spin-off podcast, Realms Unknown, make up the rest of my top 5.

Photos taken

A new stat that I tracked in 2024 was an estimate of photos taken, although it will also include some screenshots as well. In 2025, I took 1536 photos, so less than 2024 but more than 2023.

So, that’s 2025 quantified, and a useful summary of the statistics from various web services that seem to spend their December telling me data they hold about me but in a nice way.

Playlist of the month: Novelty Christmas

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Screenshot of the novelty Christmas playlist

The last time I did a Christmas playlist, I included my favourite Christmas music. This isn’t quite the opposite of that, but instead it’s 10 novelty Christmas songs that wouldn’t really make sense to play at any other time of year. As per usual, you can listen along on Spotify – many of these songs are mercifully short and so the whole playlist is less than half an hour.

  • “Proper Crimbo” by Bo Selecta. Bo’ Selecta! was a British TV sketch show in the 2000s, which, at the time, I found hilarious but it really hasn’t aged well – especially its blackface depiction of Mel B, amongst others. This Christmas single was released at the height of its popularity where its creator, Leigh Francis, parodied Craig David, and was a hit in 2003. You may know Leigh Francis better as Keith Lemon.
  • “Mr Hankey the Christmas Poo” by South Park. It turns out there’s a whole album of South Park Christmas music, if you like that sort of thing. It also peaked at , in the 1999 Christmas singles charts.
  • “Gift Vouchers” by The Lancashire Hotpots. A brand new song for 2025! It’s all about what to get for someone when you don’t know what present to buy for them.
  • “Once Upon a Christmas Song” by Peter Kay. The 2000s were indeed a weird time for comedy, as Peter Kay dragged himself up to play Geraldine McQueen in a parody of TV talent shows. It reached in the 2008 Christmas singles chart.
  • “We Built This City (On Sausage Rolls)” by LadBaby. In 2018, LadBaby became the first YouTuber to get a Christmas single, and this was it – a parody of the Starship song. This was a feat repeated for four subsequent years, and so LadBaby has now had more Christmas singles in the UK than any other band or artist, beating even The Beatles. At least they were all charity singles for the Trussell Trust.
  • “Last Christmas” by Crazy Frog. Remember the days when people would pay to buy a ringtone? And yet, nowadays my phone is permanently on silent. This is a truly terrible cover version of the Wham! classic, the original of which finally made it to Christmas in 2023 (after the rein of LadBaby) and again last year.
  • “Jingle Bells (Goat Edition)” by ActionAid. It’s Jingle Bells, but made up of samples of screaming goats. Indeed, there’s a whole album of them, from the charity ActionAid who raises funds to provide goats to poor families in third world countries.
  • “The Very First Christmas” by Spongebob Squarepants. This song is awful. Sorry (not sorry).
  • “The Night Santa Went Crazy” by Weird Al Yankovic. We can’t have a playlist of novelty songs without a bit of Weird Al. This is one of his earlier songs, from 1996.
  • “Present Face” by Garfunkel and Oates. This is a song all about the face you have to make when opening a present that you actually don’t like, but don’t want to offend the person giving it to you.

Playlist of the month: Songs about Trains

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Screenshot of the Songs about Trains playlist

Inspired by Sunday’s blog post, this month’s playlist is all songs about trains.

There’s no shortage of songs about trains – Wikipedia has a list of almost 800 – but what I did notice when compiling this is that many are minor key laments. There don’t seem to be many songs about liking trains, but instead they’re metaphors for life not going well. In other words, the subject of the song is taking the train because they don’t have a car and can’t afford to fly. I was also surprised at how many American songwriters have written songs about trains, considering that the American train network is nowhere near as extensive as it could be.

On to the playlist. As always, you can listen to this on Spotify.

  • “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne. We sadly lost Ozzy earlier this year, although not until after a massive farewell gig for charity. As far as I’m aware, Ozzy never had a train named after him, crazy or otherwise, but there is a tram in Birmingham named after him.
  • “Urban Train (Wippenberg Remix)” by Tiësto featuring Kirsty Hawkshaw. I chose this remix over the original as I think it’s superior, but also because it has a clickety-clack feel as if you’re on a train going over jointed track.
  • “Slow Train” by Flanders and Swann. This was written in 1963, and laments the closure of railway stations and lines in Great Britain as part of the Beeching cuts. Wikipedia helpfully lists every station referenced in the song; not every station mentioned actually closed.
  • “London Underground” by Amateur Transplants. The Amateur Transplants were a musical comedy double act, consisting of two doctors: Dr Suman Biswas, now a consultant anaesthetist, and Adam Kay, who quit medicine and is now better known as the author of ‘This Is Going To Hurt’. This is a parody of ‘Going Underground’ by The Jam; released in 2005, it’s a complaint about Tube drivers going on strike. Notably, it complains about the drivers earning £30,000 per year – 20 years later and it’s closer to £80,000 per year. And this is why you should join a union.
  • “I Like Trains” by LilDeuceDeuce. I had to include at least one upbeat song in here. This probably makes more sense if you watch the video, and are familiar with TomSka’s asdfmovie series on YouTube.
  • “Don’t Stop Believin'” by Journey. “She took the midnight train going anywhere…” Fun fact – when originally released in the UK in 1981, it only reached number 62 in the singles charts. It wasn’t until 2009 that it broke into the top 20, but by 2014 it had sold a million copies in the UK.
  • “The Nightrain” by Kadoc. Not much to say about this, other than that I used to have it on audio cassette.
  • “The Train” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Another downbeat song about getting the train. See what I mean?
  • “Train Kept a Rollin'” by Aerosmith. I’ll be honest, I hadn’t come across this song until compiling this list. I think it’s notable that there’s three classic rock songs in here.
  • “King’s Cross” by Pet Shop Boys. Yes, another rather downbeat song about the station and the area of London surrounding it. This was before the massive regeneration that has taken place in recent years.

Playlist of the month: Rain

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Screemshot of the rain playlist on Spotify

This month’s playlist is coming a little earlier than usual. As I write this, Storm Amy is delivering lots of wind and rain, and I’ve had a complete change of clothes having got completely drenched merely by being outside for ten minutes. So, this month’s theme is rain, seeing as I did Halloween last year.

As usual, you can listen along on Spotify.

  • “Rain on Me” by Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande. A collaboration between two of America’s biggest music stars was bound to be the first song that came up when I searched Spotify for ‘rain’.
  • “Raindrops (Encore Une Fois) by Sash! featuring Stunt. This was a 2008 remix of the 1996 Sash! original, featuring additional vocals by Stunt. One half of Stunt, Molly Smitten-Downes, represented the UK at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest.
  • “It’s Raining Men” by The Weather Girls. By far the most recognisable song on this list and a staple at every wedding disco. This original is better than Geri Halliwell’s cover version.
  • “It’s All About Me (Rain)” by Amaranthe. I mentioned Amaranthe in last month’s symphonic metal playlist, and this is another single from the same album.
  • “Let It Rain” by Eliza Doolittle. Christine and I saw Eliza Doolittle play at Bingley Music Live in 2011 and she did a really good performance with a full live band. This is from her second album and is quite lovely.
  • “Kiss The Rain” by Billie Myers. This is top tier 1990s guitar pop. Billie Myers was something of a one-hit wonder; whilst she released several albums, this single is by far her biggest hit.
  • “The Day It Rained Forever” by Aurora. Aurora were a trance act which changed to pop. This was their fourth song, and is a great driving song.
  • “Sunshine After The Rain” by Berri. Berri is also from York, like me, and this was a big hit in 1995 thanks to this remix. Berri has recently started releasing new music.
  • “Nice Weather For Ducks” by Lemon Jelly. This is quite a delightful song that came out about the same time I started university.
  • “The Rain” by The Menagerie featuring Professor Elemental. Oh look, another Professor Elemental song has snuck into a playlist. He gets everywhere, doesn’t he?

Playlist of the month: Symphonic Metal

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Screenshot of the symphonic metal playlist

This month’s playlist is all about symphonic metal, a subgenre which combines metal with classical music. That might be the use of classical music, or classically-trained singers who sing in a more operatic style.

Symphonic metal happens to be one of my favourite styles of music; music by Within Temptation has showed up in several of the previous monthly playlists. Christine and I have seen them live twice; we’ve also seen Delain live twice, although one of those was where Delain were supporting Within Temptation.

I first got into symphonic metal when I met Hari, my ex-girlfriend, as she was already into bands like Nightwish and owned a couple of their albums. Though we split up over sixteen years ago, I’ve continued to enjoy this genre of music and Christine likes it too. Anyway, on with the playlist – as always, you can listen along on Spotify.

  • “Faster” by Within Temptation. This was the first single from Within Temptation’s fifth studio album, The Unforgiving, and is their most played song on Spotify. And with good reason – it’s one of my favourites and shows off lead singer Sharon den Adel’s huge vocal range.
  • “Bring Me To Life (Synthesis)” by Evanescence. I’ve specifically chosen this newer version from Evanescence’s 2017 album Synthesis, rather than their debut single, as it’s a better fit for the genre with what sounds like a full orchestra backing the band. It also doesn’t have Paul McCoy’s vocals that were in the 2003 single version (also featured on the soundtrack to the early Marvel film Daredevil); these were not included in the original demo (also on Spotify) and were added at the insistence of the record label.
  • “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” by Xandria. It’s a gender-flipped symphonic metal cover version of the epic Meat Loaf song, and yes, it’s of a similar length too. I really like this version.
  • “Victims of Contingency” by Epica. Epica really go all in for orchestral accompaniments for their songs, and this is a really good example. It’s definitely metal, with a growly male voice during the verses, but with lead singer Simone Simmons singing the chorus.
  • “Nemo” by Nightwish. Nemo was taken from Nightwish’s 2004 album Once, which was their final album featuring their original lead singer Tarja Turunen (who has since pursued a solo career). Again, this is big with the orchestral accompaniment, especially after the key change towards the end.
  • “We Are The Others” by Delain. This song was the second single from Delain’s third album, and is a tribute to Sophie Lancaster. It’s a song about feeling like an outcast, and the importance of becoming friends with other outcasts.
  • “Hunger” by Amaranthe. Amaranthe are towards the commercial end of symphonic metal, with relatively tight songs that are more friendly to radio play. They’re also quite prolific, having released seven albums since this, their first single, came out in 2011.
  • “Magic Forest” by Amberian Dawn. This song has a bit of an 80s feel to it. I’ve listened to a few of Amberian Dawn’s songs, including their ABBA cover, but this is my favourite.
  • “Hunting High and Low” by Metalite. This is also a cover, of a song by Stratovarius, but I prefer this version. They’re relatively new, compared to many of the bands on here – this was released as recently as 2020.
  • “Edge of Your Sword” by LEAH. Unlike the others on this list, LEAH isn’t a band but a solo music project by Leah McHenry. She releases all her songs independently of a major label, and this is my favourite of hers.

Playlist of the month: Welsh pop music

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Screenshot of the Welsh Pop Music playlist

It’s almost the end of the month, and so it’s time for this month’s Playlist of the month. As I’ve been busy writing about our holiday in Wales (and I’m not quite finished), I thought I’d focus on pop bands and artists from Wales this time. As per usual, you can listen to the playlist on Spotify.

  • “Road Rage” by Catatonia. This song came out when I was 14, and at the time I had a huge crush on a girl who was really into Catatonia. Nowadays, lead singer Cerys Matthews is probably best known for her weekly show on BBC 6 Music.
  • “Juxtaposed with U” by Super Furry Animals. Super Furry Animals originally only sang in Welsh, but found success when they started singing in English too. I like this song.
  • “If You Tolerate This, Then Your Children Will Be Next” by Manic Street Preachers. The Manics have been going for (checked Wikipedia) 39 years, and yet this was only one of two number one singles for them. The music video was also quite memorable.
  • “Dakota” by Stereophonics. I was surprised to find that Stereophonics have released 13 studio albums, since I could probably only name four. I wasn’t a big fan of their JEEP (Just Enough Education to Perform) era but “Dakota” is better.
  • “Mercy” by Duffy. Duffy was pretty big in the late 2000s, this being her debut single.
  • “Sexbomb” by Tom Jones. You can’t have a list of Welsh singers without Tom Jones, who is still performing well into his 80s. This 1990s remix of Sexbomb with Mousse T is probably my favourite of his, but with 41 (!) studio albums under his belt it’s tough to choose just one.
  • “Get The Party Started” by Shirley Bassey. And you can’t have a list of Welsh singers without the great Shirley Bassey either. Three years older than Tom Jones, I’ve included her excellent cover of P!nk’s “Get The Party Started” as it’s exactly what you would expect a Shirley Bassey cover to sound like, in the best possible way.
  • “Monster” by The Automatic. I want to like The Automatic more, as this and “Steve McQueen” are amongst my all-time favourite songs. Anyway, here’s what’s coming over the hill.
  • “Crazy Chick” by Charlotte Church. Church found fame as a child soprano, singing classical music. As a young adult, she pivoted to pop music in 2005 for an album entitled “Tissues and Issues”. There’s some good songs on there, and Church remains someone who proudly still lives in Wales.
  • “Just The Way I’m Feeling” by Feeder. “Just A Day” is my favourite Feeder song, but I’ve already used it in a playlist and so this is my second favourite of their songs. It was from their fourth album, “Comfort in Sound”, which is a bittersweet album recorded following the death of the band’s drummer.

Playlist of the month: Artists turned actors

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Last July, the playlist of the month was actors turned artists, and so this month I’m flipping it around. This time, I’m offering 10 songs from artists who then went on to star in films once they were famous. As per usual, you can listen along on Spotify.

  • ‘Gotta Tell You’ by Samantha Mumba. Samantha Mumba was big news when her debut album came out in 2000. In 2002, she had a starring role in The Time Machine, loosely adapted from HG Wells’ novel.
  • ‘Popular’ by Ariana Grande. Whilst Ariana initially found fame on TV, she’s best known as a singer who has more recently moved into acting in films. This is from the Wicked (part one) soundtrack, where she was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress.
  • ‘Magic Dance’ by David Bowie. Labyrinth wasn’t Bowie’s first film role, but it’s certainly his most well-known. At least, it is in the UK, where it performed far better at the box office than in the US, and exposed a whole generation of young people to Bowie’s crotch.
  • ‘Diamonds’ by Rihanna. Rihanna voices Smurfette in yet another upcoming Smurfs film, but she’s also known for starring in Ocean’s 8.
  • ‘Shallow’ by Lady Gaga (and Bradley Cooper). Lady Gaga was nominated for a Golden Globe award for her performance with Bradley Cooper in A Star Is Born, coming around a decade after her first single, Just Dance, was released. ‘Abracadabra’ is a big hit in our house.
  • ‘Obsessed’ by Mariah Carey. Carey’s film debut was in Glitter, which is apparently best forgotten about (I haven’t seen it), but she was lauded for her appearance in a more recent film, Precious.
  • ‘Work It Out’ by Beyoncé. This was actually Beyoncé’s debut solo single – not the more widely played Crazy In Love that followed a year later. It was released to promote the third Austin Powers film, Goldmember, where Beyoncé plays the supporting role of Foxxy Cleopatra. Later, she would also star in Dreamgirls, the Diana Ross/Supremes biopic.
  • ‘Spotlight’ by Jennifer Hudson. Speaking of Dreamgirls, Hudson was another singer-turned-actor who co-starred with Beyoncé in the film.
  • ‘Try Again’ by Aaliyah. Aaliyah’s acting debut was in the film Romeo Must Die alongside Jet Li. This song, as well as being one of her best known, was also released to promote the film. Sadly Aaliyah was killed in a plane crash a year later, in 2001.
  • ‘Believe’ by Cher. Cher has starred in a fair few films, alongside her singing career, and won an Oscar for her role in Moonstruck.

Playlist of the month: Remixes

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Screenshot of the remixes playlist on Spotify

This month, I’m looking at notable remixes. By notable, I mean that they were either:

  • Had a stand-alone release sometime after the original version
  • Received significant airplay/streaming in their own right

As usual, it’s ten songs with a bit of commentary. You can listen along on Spotify if you wish.

  • ‘A Little Less Conversation’ by Elvis Presley & JXL. This was originally the B side to Elvis’ single ‘Almost in Love’ in 1968 and was a mere two and a bit minutes long. Junkie XL (credited as ‘JXL’ on this release) remixed in 2022, and the remix is now more well-known.
  • ‘Sun is Shining’ by Bob Marley vs Funkstar De Luxe. Again, during Marley’s lifetime, this wasn’t such a well-known song, having been first recorded in 1971 and then again 1978. Funkstar De Luxe released a new version in 1999 which reached number 3 in the UK singles chart – higher than any other Bob Marley song.
  • ‘Power of Love (Rob Searle Remix)’ by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. The original version of ‘Power of Love’ is occasionally considered to be a Christmas song, especially since a cover by Gabrielle Aplin was featured on the John Lewis Christmas advert in 2012. Rob Searle’s remix turns it into a banging trance tune and it was given its own single release and music video in 2001. Searle went on to also remix ‘Two Tribes’, another Frankie Goes To Hollywood song, and N-Trance’s ‘Set You Free’, both of which were released as singles in their own right. I’ve included the full club mix on the playlist, so that you can hear how the song is layered.
  • ‘Heartbreaker (Remix)’ by Mariah Carey, Missy Elliot and Da Brat. This remix was included in the original single release, rather than years later, but it was given its own music video.
  • ‘Barber’s Adagio for Strings (Ferry Corsten Remix)’ by William Orbit. William Orbit produced Madonna’s ‘Ray of Light’ album, and shortly after released his own album of reworked classical music entitled ‘Pieces in a Modern Style’. This included his version of Samuel Barber’s 1938 ‘Adagio for Strings’, which in turn was given a trance remix by Ferry Corsten. Corsten also remixed the follow-up single from Orbit, ‘Ravel’s Pavane pour une Infante Défunte’. A few years later, Tiësto also released his remix of ‘Adagio for Strings’.
  • ’19-2000 (Soulchild Remix) by Gorillaz. This was included on the single release, and is superior to the original in my opinion. Daman Albarn’s singing is speeded up and it’s a much more upbeat song.
  • ‘Protect Your Mind (For The Love Of A Princess) (Lange Remix)’ by DJ Sakin and Friends. Good grief, what a mouthful. You may know this better as the theme from the Mel Gibson film ‘Braveheart’. I believe this was Lange’s first remix, and it’s a corker with both classical and synthesised elements. Again, I’ve included the full nine minute version here.
  • ‘Silence (DJ Tiësto’s In Search of Sunrise Remix)’ by Delerium featuring Sarah McLachlan. I think Delerium are more well-known for the remixes of their songs than the originals. This is an early Tiësto remix from when he still used the ‘DJ’ prefix, and it’s another long one at over eleven minutes. You need to listen to the whole thing though. For the UK release, an alternative remix by Airscape was chosen for the radio edit, which is also very good but not as groundbreaking as this.
  • ‘Tequila (Mint Royal Chaser)’ by Terrorvision. Terrorvision’s most popular single to date was a remix by Mint Royale. They’re probably best known for their remix of ‘Singing in the Rain’ which was used in a Volkswagen advert and in a winning Britain’s Got Talent entry. Again, I’ve included the extended version as you can hear how the elements of the song were put together.
  • ‘Brimful of Asha (Norman Cook Remix) by Cornershop. There’s a story of someone who went to a Cornershop gig on the basis of this remix, which was used for the single release, and being disappointed to find that the original was a slower indie song – as were all of their other songs. Norman Cook is, of course, better known as Fatboy Slim and this is typical of his style. He also did a good remix of ‘Renegade Master’ by Wildchild.

Playlist of the month: Robert Miles’ Children

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Screenshot of the Children by Robert Miles playlist on Spotify

Last month was rock music, whereas this month, we’re mostly in dance music territory with Robert Miles’ most well-known song.

January marked 30 years since the original release of the song Children, by Robert Miles, in Italy. It went on to become one of the most iconic songs in dance music, creating a new, short-lived genre known as ‘dream house’. It was designed to be played as a more chilled track as the last song before closing at nightclubs, to help clubbers calm down and avoid getting into road accidents when driving home.

Miles sadly passed away in 2017, but over the years Children has been covered and sampled many times. Here’s a non-complete list – alas, some of the songs I wanted to include aren’t available on Spotify. The playlist is on Spotify if you want to listen along – I’ve mainly included the original or extended mixes where available, so it’s a longer playlist than normal.

  • ‘Children’ by Robert Miles. We’ll start with the original song. What most versions have in common is the piano tune, but many also sample the guitar melody as well.
  • ‘Children’ by Tilt. This cover version followed in 1999, and took the song more in a trance direction. It’s also much longer at over 10 minutes. I bought the CD single of this, although I think I leant it to someone who then didn’t give it back.
  • ‘Children’ by 4 Clubbers. Another trance remix that followed a little later.
  • ‘Children (Future Breeze vs Junkfood Junkies Remix) by 4 Clubbers. There was also a remix included with the above single, which is more well-known. This more of a glowstick waving, hands-in-the-air track.
  • ‘Children 2012’ by Jack Holiday and Mike Candys. This was an electro-house cover version.
  • ‘REACT’ by Switch Disco featuring Ella Henderson. This song from a couple of years ago heavily samples Children, but adds lyrics written and performed by Ella Henderson. It’s one of our nine-year-old’s favourite songs.
  • ‘Closer’ by Bou. This also came out a couple of years ago, and was in the UK Top 40 singles chart at the same time as React. At the time, one in four songs in the top 40 sampled other songs.
  • ‘Children’ by Tinlicker. This seems to be the most recent cover of the original song, from 2022. It slows the melody down slightly.
  • ‘Rollin’ by Jackie Chain and Kid Cudi. I found this through the excellent WhoSampled.com. Not my preferred king of music but you can hear Children sampled throughout. This came out in 2009.

Missing songs:

  • ‘$timulated’ by Tyga. It is on Spotify but seemingly not available to stream in the UK
  • ‘Children (Mandrake Remake)’ by Mandrake. Another trance cover from 2003, which I have on an old Euphoria compilation album.

Playlist of the month: 2000s Student Union Rock night

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Screenshot of the 2000s student union rock night playlist

Last month’s playlist was all about electro swing, and this month I want to go back 20 years to my time as a student. Here are 10 songs that you would probably hear if you went to a student union rock night in Bradford in the mid-2000s – as I did many times. As usual, you can listen along on Spotify.

  • ‘My Own Worst Enemy’ by Lit. Lit have actually released 7 albums, but the massive popularity of this song means that they’re sometimes seen as a one-hit wonder. Indeed, it’s been streamed on Spotify 10 times more than any of their own songs.
  • ‘Diamonds and Guns’ by Transplants. This always went down well as dancefloor filler. Transplants were a supergroup made up of members of Rancid and blink-182, and were a punk rock/hip hop crossover.
  • ‘Chop Suey!’ by System of a Down. Another popular one for fans of heavy metal.
  • ‘Take On Me’ by Reel Big Fish. Organisers of ‘rock’ nights also needed to keep fans of rock-adjacent genres happy, and so you would usually get at least a few ska tracks in there too. This is Reel Big Fish’s cover of the a-Ha classic.
  • ‘Fat Lip’ by Sum 41. More punk rock, opening with a really powerful guitar riff.0
  • ‘The Rock Show’ by blink-182. A blink-182 song was usually guaranteed at some point. If it wasn’t this one, then it would be ‘What’s My Age Again?’ or ‘All The Small Things’ from their previous album.
  • ‘Basket Case’ by Green Day. I’m convinced there was some secret law that required all student unions to play this song at least once a month. I must’ve heard this song thousands of times by now.
  • ‘Smooth Criminal’ by Alien Ant Farm. Although the Michael Jackson original has more Spotify streams, this version seemed way more popular at the time. Alien Ant Farm are still going incidentally, with a new album out last year, but this is far and away their most famous song.
  • ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’ by Good Charlotte. I really liked Good Charlotte’s first album when it came out, and again, this song was everywhere for a while.
  • ‘Want You Bad’ by The Offspring. This isn’t their most streamed song, but nor is the breakthrough hit Pretty Fly (For A White Guy), surprisingly. I’ve included it as it best fits the theme. And yes, they’re still going after 35 years.