Banchory Headbangers: Headbang

Six in person and six virtual for last night's Headbang. Another big effort and an early rise for Malcolm in Christchurch, and a special mention for Phil, having just moved from hospital to nursing care but still able to join us for a while. It was a bit easier for Rob G, a mere 400 miles away, and Rob D and Aidan, both just over 100 miles from Banchory - in opposite directions.

The group at Chapel House seemed to be enjoying themselves OK, as became increasingly obvious as the evening wore on - Andy may have some responsibility here when he passed round drams to the lucky 6 mid-evening.

Teams seemed to work OK this time and I'm a bit more confident about using it now that I know a bit more about it.

Anyway, a change in the batting order - Jeb had suggested we should have some sort of BOOZE related tracks, given the season we were in, so I picked out 4 very short clips, followed by a full live track of a 3 piece Thin Lizzy with Eric Bell on lead guitar, a moustache-less Phil Lynott on rhythm and Brian Downey on drums on what became their big breakthrough single:

The next theme was suggested by Andy - TRIOS - so I picked out 6 bands that met this criterion and we each had 2 votes as to our favourite performances:

Jack, Eric & Ginger's reunion gig at the Royal Albert Hall in 2005 took the honours here.

The 'GENARIANS theme had been moved from its traditional starting position but that did not signify a reduction in quality - far from it. A total of 12 acts were played, including some big hitters. This time we had 3 votes each:

It seems the older you get, the better you are appreciated. Is that why Carly Simon's year of birth, originally published as 1945, was recently changed to 1943?

Others with music connections who had recently reached their 70th birthdays were noted:

And those 80, 90 and even one CENTENARIAN:

Rob G suggested the next theme, which I loosely labelled CORPORATE ADS - basically songs that mentioned businesses and/or brands. Rob suggested a few tracks that would qualify so I set about looking for suitable quality videos and added a few more I found. Two votes each this time and the surprise winner was an act that I don't think we'd ever featured before:

Novocaine is a brand name of the drug Procaine, which is a local anaesthetic. Novocaine for the Soul was the lead single from Eels' 1996 debut album and reached no.10 in the UK singles chart.

The OBITUARIES theme had also been moved down the pecking order a bit. It had been a fairly quiet period for major rock star casualties. Two votes each for the "most missed":

The voting surprised me - I had thought Shane McGowan would run away with this theme - how wrong could I be?

Others with musical connections who had recently passed were noted:

Finally to what is usually the main event - the JUKEBOX. There seemed to have been a little confusion about whether this theme would appear or not. I had initially proposed that we might give it a rest for a little, but, by popular demand, it had a stay of execution. However, the rules would be relaxed and nominations would be on a voluntary basis - there would be no reminders issued. The upshot was that we had nominations this time from 8 of the 12 in attendance this evening. I had added a further track that (former?) Headbanger Gary had suggested and we each had 3 votes:

It was a very close battle with 4 tracks just a point apart. St Andrews College (NZ) and Kirsty MacColl tied for the lead but I decided to use my (self-appointed) casting vote for Kirsty MacColl.

The final theme of the evening saw the return of the NOW AND THEN theme for its first appearance since 2009. I picked 5 acts from when they were entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland - and they were the "now" part and merged that track with the same one from their heyday. We never got round to deciding which of the 5 acts performed best overall but we did complete the now and then comparison votes on each track: