“Dad, you’re not going to play this song again,” my daughter yelled to me from the room as Lovin Renae’s sweet “Love Is Blind” started playing on my laptop.
This was more of a command than an inquiry, as evidenced by the lack of a question mark.
I’ve been playing Lenae’s second album Bird’s Eye nonstop for the last month. Its creamy R&B melodies and futuristic flourishes captivated me like nothing else for a long time. But it’s driving my family crazy.
Join Coldplay for a night of fun in America.
Photo: Karl Sandin
I have loved music ever since my sister played Abba’s Dancing Queen in 1976. A year later, I was captivated by the uplifting feel of the Sex Pistols’ Holidays in the Sun. Twelve months later, Chic’s disco monsters La Freak have become the third deity in my pop music holy trinity. Every love that followed came from one of those three songs.
My passion eventually led to my first job in a British national newspaper, which involved interviewing bands. It was a very fun and very rock’n’roll period in my life.
Spending time with REM in Los Angeles, hanging out with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Tokyo, partying with Coldplay in Washington DC, falling in love with the Foo Fighters in New York, and briefly being best friends with Oasis’ Noel Gallagher (We shared the love) of Manchester City).
Wonderful Lovin Renae.
Photo: Press shot
Sometimes things got weird. The night I drank and sang Abba songs in a London pub, Depeche Mode “kidnapped” me, and a woman from the then-hit Dutch pop group set my hotel door in South Carolina on fire. And then four noisy and overindulgent people “kidnapped” me. I almost lost my life when I spent the night on a tour bus in America with the rock band Jet.
There were also moments of bliss. One of them was chatting with Björk for two hours about music and life, she has been my heroine for a long time. It was also special to be able to interact with one of my favorite bands, New Order, backstage in Berlin.
genius bjork
Photo: Mobu26 from Flickr
But the rock’n’roll lifestyle is exhausting, and not just physically. Long before I left the UK and moved to Skellefteå, new music never really moved me. My passion has become a job. That’s not necessarily a good thing. I’m burnt out.
Fortunately, since moving to the quieter surroundings of Norland, the demands of raising a family and a healthier work-life balance have kept me from reverting to my rock and roll lifestyle. And slowly my love for music was rekindled.
Even if the kids don’t always appreciate it.
This is a column and the views are the author’s own.
