Miscellaneous
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Boris, Billy, KC and The Cannibals – My University Career
published: 24 /
6 /
2009
Recent graduate Jamie Rowland looks back at his three years at university, and the music that provided the backdrop to his time as a student
Article
When I was asked to contribute to this feature, I assumed it would be a simple task. Surely, I reasoned with myself, there are dozens and dozens of songs that hold some meaning or memory in them which could make for an interesting article. So I happily agreed to do it, only to find that the second I tried to focus on what one of these songs or albums might be, every song I’ve ever liked immediately evacuated my brain.
I couldn’t think of anything; even songs that didn’t hold any emotional attachment, from albums I’d bought within the last few weeks, had completely deserted me. I decided to work backwards, at a significant time in my life, and see what songs came to mind.
I’ve just graduated from university - a major turning point in my life, both in terms of who I am as a person and where I’ll be going in the future. I’ve made great friends who I hope will remain part of my life for many years to come and I’ve had great experiences I’ll never forget. An undoubtedly significant time. So surely, you’d think, there must have been at least one bloody decent song that sums it all up? The fact of the matter is, several tracks come to mind – but they’re all dreadful.
Most of the music you hear in student clubs is awful; it’s either cheesey one-hit-wonders, dreadful ‘R‘n’B’ or the 'High School Musical' soundtrack. The problem is that in order to enjoy yourself with this sort of playlist, you have to drink so much that you can’t hear what’s going on around you anymore, or even remember being in the club in the first place. It’s hard to connect a song to a special memory when the memory itself has been reduced to nothing more than a vague idea that you might have dropped your keys in a urinal at some point.
But there are some songs that will always have a special place in my heart – not necessarily because they’re good (they really aren’t), but because they will forever be tied in my mind to my time studying away from home.
Due to the rather fluctuating presence of different friends during my time at uni (this comes from being housed with third-years when I was a fresher) each year was pretty distinctive from the one before it, and for some reason there are a few notable songs from my first year and only one or two from my second and third. Perhaps this has something to do with the transitional nature of the time spent as a fresher, or maybe I just varied my listening a bit more. Who knows, but I can tell you that it means you’ll get 5 small snap-shots of my university career for the price of three – take that, credit cruch!
The first song that really brings university to mind for me is Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett and the Crypt-Kicker Five’s classic(?) surf-horror anthem, ‘The Monster Mash’. That track reminds me of Halloween in my first year; the first night I really felt at home in Lancaster (I was studying in Lancaster, did I mention that?) That was the first night I really remember feeling that my housemates and I had bonded. I think a couple of people might actually have fallen out, but in my head at least it was a faultless triumph of a night!
The next track that really reminds me of my first year is ‘My Life’, by Billy Joel (I warned you they weren’t good). I remember being blissfully drunk at the end of a night out, stumbling home with one of my flat-mates, singing it at the top of our lungs. Well, we sung the only bit we knew, which was “I don’t care what you say anymoreTthis is my life”, and the piano bit that goes “duh-duh duh-duh duh, duh duh duh”. And we sang it over and over and over. It’s not a great story, but for some reason it’s one that sticks in the mind, and I can’t hear that song anymore without smiling fondly.
The last song which takes me back to my first year once again, I’m afraid, revolves around drinking (I know there’s a pattern forming here, but I promise the songs from second and third year are in no way related to memories of drinking). Again whilst winding down from a night out, I was in my kitchen, deeply engaged in a “thing-is” with my friend Andy – a “thing-is”, for those who don’t know, is that conversation you only ever have after at least 3 pints, which always begins with the words “the thing is mate…” and usually ends with an arm over the shoulder and a lot of “no, no, you’re a class guy”. Topics covered tend to be women, work and films, which even if you only vaguely like them you for some reason describe as being “beautiful”.
Anyway, during this afore-mentioned “thing-is”, Andy and I realised that we were out of mixer for our vodka, and had only three options left to us: use water from the tap, use the milk in the fridge, or stop drinking and go to bed, which of course wasn’t really ever an option at all. Feeling that the water might cancel out the desired effect, we opted for the milk, which I’m sure tasted disgusting, but at the time I declared to be “delicious”.
And so we ended up sat in a kitchen at 4am, with a glass of vodka and milk clasped in our hands and, for reasons now lost to me, heartily singing Imogen Heaps' ‘Hide and Seek’ at the top of our voices. We finished our ‘drinks’ and headed off to our respective rooms, and I’m certain that had anyone been watching as we shook hands and congratulated each other on our attempts to emulate Heap’s vocoder, they would have nodded and thought “yes – there is a friendship cast in iron”.
My second year was based around a much smaller group, and was a much more male-oriented affair. I was part of a foursome which largely cut itself off from a lot of the other students around campus, due to their unwavering propensity for fancy dress, wearing flip-flops and saying things like “that is so LOL”. Isolated in our ivory tower of judgement, we somehow managed to have a great time without losing any of our pessimism in the process – I’d like to think that a large part of that was down to the funky, summery sound of KC and the Sunshine Band’s ‘Give It Up’. I defy anyone to listen to that song all the way through and not start dancing like a grinning jerk before it’s over.
Third year was an even smaller group – at least in terms of very close friends. Two of the three guys I was secluded with the year before had gone off on work placements for a year, so at this point I was left with just Andy, my vodka and milk compatriot, and our friend Rachel, who we had lived with from the very beginning. I’ll stress that we did have other friends, but this was only due to another couple of months of hard work introducing ourselves to yet another group of people.
My lasting musical memories of this year are hard to be sure of at this point, as it’s really only just finished, but I would imagine the Fine Young Cannibal’s ‘She Drives Me Crazy’ will be a contender, due to the great levels of enjoyment Andy and myself derived attempting to imitate Roland Gift’s unique vocal style. ‘Dancing in the Dark’ could well be another, being that it could be heard coming from Rachel’s room every morning – apparently it’s “the only way to start the day”. Then there’s my karaoke favourite, the Waterboys' ‘The Whole of the Moon’, or “Marblehead Johnson” by the Bluetones, which we played constantly for a good three weeks after they played in the university venue.
Looking back, one thing’s for sure: my time at university was marked by great friendships, far too much drinking and a plethora of distinctly average music. Personally, I wouldn’t change a second of it.
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