GREENYGREY’S RAMBLES

I watched a couple of BBC documentaries today, with one tracing the history of heavy metal music to the British midlands, and the other arguing that meat inspired humanity’s evolutionary leap away from other animals.

First of all, I’d like to thank the Greenygrey for making my writing day more enjoyable, as I wasn’t too eager to write while there was a clear sky and sunshine first thing.

Heavy Metal History UK

Heavy Metal Brittanica is a documentary available on BBC iplayer in the UK until March 12th:

It was a good trip down memory lane, although I only got into the genre towards the end of the doc’s history.  It traces the roots and original metallers from the late ’60s more.

It reminded me why I got into metal, but also why I started to prefer the west coast American bands more: blues influence and escapism.  Some great music and footage though.

Horizon on Cooked Food Inspiring Evolution

Meanwhile, Horizon’s Did Cooking Make Us Human? argued that our early ancestors took evolutionary leaps by cooking food, as it digests easier than raw, and that freed up our bodies to provide more energy to our brain’s development.

This may be working against us now, as our brain’s have become used to reward, and this can lead to obesity.

This documentary reminded me of the work of Claude Levi-Strauss, who didn’t make jeans, but was a famous philosopher.  I encountered his philosophy a while ago, and when I just had a look at Levi-Strauss’s wikipedia page it seems very Folding Mirrorish!  Did it influence my creation of the poetry form? 

I’ve had a fruitful day at the writing desk and have edited and sent off a book for publication, created three poems from ideas that came to me over the last couple of days, and I just published an article identifying the best years and decades for rock music according to the Planet Rock listeners’ 12,000 strong poll.

One of the poems: a 3-d Folding Mirror column poem about building the foundations of independence from the information provided by the extremes is up on the fm poetry site.

Have a great weekend!

Over 12,000 Planet Rock listeners voted for their favourite ever album and here are the top 40 as voted for by thousands of devoted classic rock fans:

1 Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon  (1973)

2 Led Zeppelin – IV  (1971)

3 AC/DC - Back in Black  (1980)

4 Led Zeppelin – II  (1969)

5 Guns ‘n’ Roses - Appetite for Destruction  (1987)

6 Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti  (1975)

7 Pink Floyd - The Wall  (1979)

8 Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here  (1975)

9 Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell  (1977)

10 The Who - Who’s Next  (1971)

11 Thin Lizzy - Live & Dangerous  (1978)

12 Deep Purple - Deep Purple in Rock  (1970)

13 Rush - Moving Pictures  (1981)

14 Rush – 2112  (1976)

15 Metallica – Metallica  (1991)

16 Deep Purple - Made in Japan  (1972)

17 AC/DC - Highway To Hell  (1979)

18 Deep Purple - Machine Head  (1972)

19 Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland  (1968)

20 Wishbone Ash – Argus  (1972)

21 Led Zeppelin – I  (1969)

22 Queen - A Night At The Opera  (1975)

23 Rainbow – Rising  (1976)

24 Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast  (1982)

25 Genesis - Lamb Lies Down On Broadway  (1974)

26 Nirvana – Nevermind  (1991)

27 Metallica - Master of Puppets  (1986)

28 Black Sabbath – Paranoid  (1970)

29 Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run  (1975)

30 Yes - Close to the Edge  (1972)

31 Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath  (1970)

32 U2 - Joshua Tree  (1987)

33 Led Zeppelin – III  (1970)

34 Def Leppard – Hysteria  (1987)

35 Black Sabbath - Heaven & Hell  (1980)

36 David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust  (1972)

37 UFO - Stangers In The Night  (1978)

38 Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath  (1973)

39 Eagles - Hotel California  (1976)

40 Pearl Jam – Ten  (1991)

Hi, I’ve written a couple of articles on the Planet Rock radio station for Suite 101 over the last two days; the first an overview and the second on its listeners’ top forty album chart. 

The latter contains new and exclusive analysis of which were the most successful bands in the chart, so please have a look if heavy rock and groundbreaking research interest you!