My last two posts have seen me hark back to 1976, the year of The Long Hot Summer, and I think I even came out and said I keep doing that because it was the last time I was truly happy with no worries of any kind.
What a load of tosh!
We definitely have a selective memory when it comes to revisiting the music of our youth and somehow forget the upset caused by a missed homework deadline, or the feeling we get when the boy we have long admired becomes romantically involved with our best friend.
40 years on from 1976 was the year 2016 which was a really happy one for me as I launched What’s It All About? Looking back at my stats for that year I published 109 posts and wrote over 110,000 words. I don’t know how I did it now as I still went to work every morning, ran the family business in the afternoon and looked out for my elderly mum who was still living semi-independently. DD even came back home to live in the middle of that year. I definitely didn’t watch a lot of telly in 2016 (I seem to have become an addict since Lockdown 1) and Mr WIAA was probably somewhat neglected, but I had this new hobby and was loving all the interaction with my fellow bloggers. To call me a ‘music blogger’ is probably a stretch, but people were kind and added me to their sidebars which helped this place build up a following that’s kept me going ever since.
Perusing the pop charts of 2016, I definitely wasn’t writing about current music back then, as once the BBC called time on TOTP, I kind of lost track of new chart artists and their output. Oh no, instead I was revisiting decades past and strangely enough discovered a new affinity for the music of 1967 which I had been too young to truly appreciate back then. It all made me very happy.
One song I do remember well from 2016 however was Can’t Stop the Feeling! by Justin Timberlake – A really happy song written for the film Trolls.
I got this feeling, inside my bones
It goes electric, wavy when I turn it on
I got that sunshine in my pocket
Got that good soul in my feet
I can’t stop the feeling
So just dance, dance, dance
Justin got to perform it as part of the interval act at the grand final of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden, watched by an audience of around 180 million. Regulars around here know I am a fan of Eurovision and even went to the live event in Vienna in 2015. A year too early to witness Justin in action but he probably made a lot of new fans, as the Eurovision audience is broad indeed. Prolific Swedish songwriter/producer Max Martin was behind the making of the song which might also have had an influence on his selection.
I was too old to really appreciate Justin when he first appeared with boy band NSYCH in the late ’90s, but over the years his music kept popping up on DD’s compilation CDs and even I couldn’t fail to notice he was becoming a bit of an all-round sensation. He could sing, dance, act and had a real charisma on stage which can’t be manufactured (although many try). He is now aged 40 and is apparently referred to as the President of Pop by contemporary journalists. Until I looked up his bio for this post I really don’t think I’d appreciated how big a star he has become and is already a contender for ‘Best Male Pop Star of the 21st century’. Who knows, as still nearly 80 years to go until decision time and I won’t be around to see it, but quite something.
So, ‘What’s It All About?’ – Apologies for having been a bit miserable around here of late. It’s been a tough couple of years and like most of us I’ve had my ups and downs, and mood swings, which can come through in the blog. Still plenty of happy songs out there though and we don’t always have to go back to the 1960s to find them. I went to bed last night thinking yesterday had been a really good day, a happy day. In this post-pandemic world that’s about as good as it gets.
Until next time…
Can’t Stop the Feeling! Lyrics
(Song by Justin Timberlake/Max Martin/Johan Shuster)
I got this feeling inside my bones
It goes electric, wavy when I turn it on
All through my city, all through my home
We’re flying up, no ceiling, when we’re in our zone
I got that sunshine in my pocket
Got that good soul in my feet
I feel that hot blood in my body when it drops
I can’t take my eyes up off it
Moving so phenomenally
Room on lock the way we rock it
So don’t stop
And under the lights when everything goes
Nowhere to hide when I’m getting you close
When we move, well, you already know
So just imagine, just imagine, just imagine
Nothing I can see but you
When you dance, dance, dance
Feeling good, good, creeping up on you
So just dance, dance, dance
Come on
All those things I shouldn’t do
But you dance, dance, dance
And ain’t nobody leaving soon
So keep dancing
I can’t stop the feeling
So just dance, dance, dance
I can’t stop the feeling
So just dance, dance, dance
Come on
Ooh, it’s something magical
It’s in the air, it’s in my blood, it’s rushing on
Don’t need no reason, don’t need control
I fly so high, no ceiling, when I’m in my zone
I can’t stop the feeling
So just dance, dance, dance
I can’t stop the feeling
So just dance, dance, dance
I can’t stop the feeling
So just dance, dance, dance
I can’t stop the feeling
So keep dancing, come on
Postscript:
Justin’s Eurovision performance also featured the song Rock Your Body which I have in my digital library courtesy of one of DD’s Pop Party CDs from 2003. She’s all grown up now, and such CDs have long gone, but her mum obviously had the foresight to load them onto her computer in the event she might someday start a music blog. Probably didn’t expect to write about this song, but just goes to show, ‘the tracks of our years’ are rich and varied indeed.
In case anyone visiting this post hasn’t experienced the phenomenon that is the Eurovision Song Contest, here is the other item from that interval break in Sweden in 2016. Touted as being one of the best fillers ever, and showing that the contest really doesn’t take itself too seriously, here is Måns Zelmerlöw (the winner of the 2015 contest) and Petra Mede giving us a pastiche of past Eurovision songs. Love, Love, Peace, Peace was very funny indeed and possibly formed the inspiration for the Will Ferrell film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga written about here last year. Enjoy.
What's It All About? 
Looking at my stats it appears that 2016 was the year of peak blogging for me also: 134 posts in 12 months (doubt I’ll do more than 75 this year). It was the year we put the house on the market and I felt good that we’d be leaving ‘the north’. The house would sell the following March and wagons rolled on June 1st; seems like a lifetime ago now.
Anyway, keep writing; whether you’re up, or indeed down, your writing always makes me smile…
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I just loved putting together a blog post back in 2016 and there were sometimes three in a week. This is just my second this month and it looks as if I won’t make 50 this year. Hard to keep up the momentum but once I go back to college I’m going to have to up my game and this place helps me limber up so to speak.
It’s definitely easier to write when you’re happy and I do get that your impending move must have made you feel good. As you say 2016 seems like a lifetime ago now but it was then that everything both on the world stage (and for me closer to home) started going pear-shaped. Glad I’ve recorded everything around here but I think I would rather have had a bit less drama and more fond memories of the music. Yes, will continue writing, whether up or down. I’m not alone in having felt like this over the last year so everyone understands I’m sure.
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I am very familiar with this song from the Trolls soundtrack… it’s one of the few things I can bear about that movie. Just a great pop song.
Never feel the need to apologise for using your blog as an outlet for moaning… or I’ll be out of business!
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The film Trolls passed me by as no children in our household any more. Your description of it doesn’t really make me want to seek it out either. Didn’t know the song was from the film until today but it is as you say a great pop song and I’ve always liked it, especially after Justin popped up on the Eurovision show that year.
There is miserable moaning, and then there’s moaning with style, which is what you do. We’re all hoping there will be a bit less of it come November but if your new series is anything to go by there will always be something to moan about and being the age I now am, I get that.
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I’m not very familiar with Timberlake’s music. but I know he’s a big musical talent. And I like his acting. Have seen him in several movies and on Saturday Night Live, where he used to appear in skits occasionally.
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It seems he’s one of these people in life who is good at everything. I’ll bet he could have been a big sports star too. Grrr…
I would be jealous if I didn’t like him so much.
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“Can’t Stop The Feeling” is a great ‘pop song’ and one that will appeal to many generations. A day of ‘activities’ with our five grandkids usually ends with a ‘hot tub’ and a request that ‘Grandad play us some music’. ‘JT’ usually leads off the ‘Hot Tub Kids’ Sonos playlist, followed by too many to count songs from “Frozen” ( No I don’t want to make a snowman!). While I’ve got our kids listening, occasionally to 60s and 70s classics, it’s a challenge to get their kids interested in the Beatles, Beach Boys and Bacharach. Until then, I’ll meet them halfway with a ‘good pop song’ !
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For some reason , my post came as ‘Array’ ????
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I noticed that – Because I accidentally touched the “spam” button and had to retrieve it! Sorry.
Great comment – will reply properly soon.
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Love the sound of your get togethers with the grandkids. Also glad you’ve got a bit of JT on the playlist and that it’s not entirely songs from Frozen.
Ah, the three (five?) Bs – Beatles, Beach Boys and Burt Bacharach. Our daughter is definitely au fait with all of them but no grandkids for us yet so will have to wait and see how that turns out. Pop music as we knew it seems to be less popular (oh the irony) nowadays so who knows what lies ahead.
Apologies again for the accident with your comment. Smart phones have sensitive screens.
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I’m still reeling at the thought of Justin Bieber being 40! How the hell did that happen?
I’m glad 2016 also has happy memories for you, I really didn’t like to think of 1976 being the last time! I’m thinking it must have also been the year that you first found my blog and thus I found yours, so very definitely a plus for me. (And we all need a bit of a moan too sometimes, so please never feel you need to censor yourself, it’s just real life.)
In other ways though 2016 was a particularly sad year for me, the death of two lovely friends far too early as well my uncle – somehow it has just become synonymous to me with grief and loss. A low year for blog posts too although still a lot better than lately – I see my peak year for posting was 2014 with a record 85 posts, I must have been on something!
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So many Justins, but this time it’s the Timberlake one. I’ve avoided any mention of his alternate surname, although was sorely tempted.
No there certainly have been many happy years since 1976, but when you’re a kid there are few adult kind of worries like mortgages etc, so easy to have fond memories of those days. I did love the year I started blogging and don’t think I’ve ever had a hobby that took up so much of my time because I was enjoying it all so much. Only started to flag recently which is pretty good going as nearly six years in now. I think I missed the golden age of blogging as it seems to have been replaced by other things now, but it has always suited me. You were in there right at the beginning though so well done on sticking around. Glad we found each others blogs as it has led to a lovely virtual friendship and even a not-so-virtual meet-up in London. Who would have thought.
I think you had just lost your two friends when I found your blog, so a bit of an annus horribilis for you indeed. We all have them and I too have years I would rather forget for such reasons. Here’s hoping those kind of years come around infrequently.
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I’ve just started reading your blog from the very beginning, and I was so impressed with the number of posts you published in the first few months of 2016 (that’s as far as I’ve got) – but above all, I was absorbed by the content, as many of your memories are similar to mine.
How I loved The Monkees on TV at teatime on Saturdays! My sister and I used to go round to my friend Caroline’s house to watch it, and then we would devise our own Monkees adventures – I was Micky Dolenz (I loved his cheeky grin), my sister was Mike Nesmith and Caroline was Davy Jones (we had to manage without Peter Tork). We always sang the theme tune loudly, but we weren’t sure of the words, so the line “People say we monkey around” was “A pig says a monkey’s around” in our version!
You were clearly rushed off your feet in 2016, and I was too, especially in the first half of the year. I was doing work for three different organisations (which, looking back, seems crazy); my husband was also working long hours, our son was stressed out about his upcoming A Levels, and both my parents were in hospital for several months. I felt guilty that I wasn’t spending more time with my son, and more time with Mum and Dad, but there just weren’t enough hours in the day. The only time I had to myself was when I was driving to the hospital, when I could listen to CDs and sing along. The two I played more than any others were Bob Seger’s Stranger in Town and Runrig’s Searchlight – I’ve been a huge Runrig fan since I bought Searchlight on a trip to Skye in 1989. It’s interesting that you were writing about Runrig at the very time – the spring of 2016 – that I was listening to their music nearly every day.
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Gosh thanks for taking the time to journey back to the early days of this blog. Yes I was very prolific in 2016 and blogging was my number one hobby. If you keep going you will see how it kind of turned into my web-diary too and there have been a few major life changes along the way. Don’t think I would have made some of the changes if I hadn’t started this blog but I’ll never really know for sure.
Yes, as we are the same age your musical memories will be very similar to mine and thanks for that great story about your own Monkee antics. It was a great show and it turned them into a global phenomenon.
Glad you are a fan of Runrig – You probably read my story of how my other half was taught art at school by Donnie Munro, their lead singer in the classic lineup. When he told the class he was in a Gaelic Rock band they were very dismissive but he certainly proved them all wrong.
Thanks again for reading more of my posts – A bit of a nostalgia-fest for you hopefully.
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