Music to my ears!

Music is a powerful media. While you’re listening to music, you can feel so many things and memories can come flooding back or the memories can make the tears flow. It could be your favourite TV show you love the music to, your favourite video game or even your favourite wrestling superstar. I’m going to link the track in the name which should be in blue and I will give a short explanation as to what that particular song means to me!

Imagine Dragons – Monster

Now if you clicked on the link above, this will link you to WWE “version” of this. I attends Wrestlemania 30 and Daniel Bryan was going to be in possibly 2 matches and the hype around the “YES” movement was real. This was a track that to this day when I listen to it, I picture Daniel Bryan in the ring with the WWE championship. Seeing the confetti fall from the ceiling and everyone putting their arms in the air and chanting “YES”. This along with My Way by Limp Bizkit are pretty much synonymous with wrestlemania for me. imagine dragons wins since I was at the arena for this insanely memomerable and fun mania!

Rick Derringer – Real American

When it comes crashing down and it hurts inside….This for me is and always will be the best and I mean best wrestling entrance song. If this comes on when I’m listening to songs I will sing along to this. Now the live version with Rick Derringer isn’t that great at all. This IS Hulk Hogan and when you hear this music, you picture him ripping off his shirt or dropping the leg on someone. A truly amazing song for an amazing performer!!

Gustavo Santaolalla – The Last of Us
Ok I was going to put a tune from Mass Effect in here but I’m hey I’ve already talked about that in another blog and was thinking what song from a video game brings back memories? For me it’s this from The Last of Us. I can’t talk too much about this game as if Robbie is reading it I can’t spoil this game for him. Simply put this is one of the best games I’ve ever played. Not just over the last few years but this game is easily in my top10…sorry top 5 games of all time. The relationships you form with the characters, the music in the game and the storyline makes this one of the greatest games available! Roll on The Last of Us 2!

Murray Gold – Vale Decem

I’d never really watched a lot of Doctor Who when it came back or even when it first aired. David Tennant was my first doctor. He was the reason I started to watch Doctor Who and there was a two part special called “The End of Time”  and this would be Tennant’s last time as the magnificent Doctor I had grown to love! Vale Decem is the song that the Ood sing to the Doctor as he goes into the tardis before he utters the heartbreaking words “I Don’t want to go” which was exactly what I was feeling. He is on the top of my most wanted to meet at a convention and thank him for his potrayal in Doctor Who and for making me the fan of the show today that I am.  This music still reminds me of his time as the Doctor and gives me chills of what he accomplished.

Queen – Friends will be Friends

Ok this is a personal favourite of mine. Who doesn’t love Queen? Friends will be Friends, when you’re in need of love they give you care and attention is one of the lyrics and it means so much. Like I said before that songs can resonate with you and this is one of them. Freddie Mercury is one of the greatest frontmen ever. I always know my friends are there for me when I need them and this song reaffirms that. When you listen to this song you think about your friends and the tough times they’ve helped you with and the lyrics, basically all of them will probably mean something to you! Give it a listen and I’m sure you’ll think about some time a friend has been there for you or realise how lucky you are with the friends you have. If you’re reading this I’m thankful to have you as a friend in my life and thank you for being there for me!

John Williams – A New Hope and End Credits

Of course a track from Star Wars had to be on the list and this was the one that made the cut. Revenge of the Sith is my favourite soundtrack of all time and I remember sitting in the cinema while this track was playing and thinking “I’ll never see a new Star Wars movie in the cinema again” and I cried. Of course this is before the new movies came out. This music just always reminds me of that moment. The moment that I watched the twin suns on the cinema screen and heard John Williams amazing tune at the end of my favourite of the prequels.

The Beatles – Free as a Bird

The Beatles were already my fathers favourite band. No question about it. This is my favourite track of theirs and was released not too long ago as almost a lost track. I remember Dad showing me the music video and pointing out the references of other Beatles songs in the video. This was going to be a song played at my fathers funeral but i decided to go for ones that they sang about love. When he passed, he was free from pain and free from the cancer that he had for around 5 years. He was as Free as a bird with all the love we could give him as love is all you need. 

Music is all around us, nearly every media will have it and we all have our favourite songs and artists. Be pretty boring if we all liked the same things wouldn’t it? Play your favourite song or album after you’ve read this and see what feelings you have that come to the forefront of your mind.

As always thanks very much for reading this and until next time!

One of my favourite series of movies from a galaxy far far away!

It’s been 3 months since I last watched a Star Wars movie. It’s been challenging sitting down to watch one of my favourite movie franchises tonight. No I’m not watching The Phantom Menace but these movies are more than movies to me.

3 months ago my father passed away and Star Wars was our films we always went to see in the cinema, before Marvel movies became part of them. One of my earliest memories was watching Return of the Jedi in the cinema with Dad. I remember sitting laughing at the ewok on the speeder bike is what I remember. This is why it’s my favourite Star Wars movie is because of the memories! When they brought out the prequels Dad and I would always go to see them. Heck we even went to a midnight showing for Revenge of the Sith which is currently on my tv. 

With the new ones like The Force Awakens and Rogue One we went and watched them. We got excited watching the trailers for the upcoming movies and Dad was always excited to see them which made me more excited. Although this wasn’t without its flaws…after watching the trailer for The Last Jedi, Dad said “oh Finn is in it?” Yes Dad of course he is…”oh I thought he was dead” something that made me laugh. When the new one came out, I watched it and immediately got up to go into the living room to show Dad…he wasn’t here anymore. That was my first reaction was to go and show it to someone I know would almost..almost be excited as I am to see it. I wasn’t going to see them with my parent, I was seeing them with my best friend. The journey home was always fun as I would see what questions he would have and what he thought of the movies. Even when we had the sky movie channels, he would have the Star Wars channel on. With me being such a fan, I could mention the next line and get a look as if to say “have you nothing better to remember?” 

Star Wars will always be a set of movies that are timeless and even more so the music. The few bars of the Imperial March or the beautiful music of Han and Leia can envoys so many memories and Revenge of the Sith is my favourite movie soundtrack ever! Even with The Force Awakens, some music sparks an emotional response. The aptly named “Torn Apart” where father and son are together and then…well if you’ve seen it you know, the music just helps play things in your mind. Like you’re putting your own movie ontop of that music. 

I remember sitting with Dad and when Obi-Wan gives Luke to Beru and she stands beside Lars on Tattoine I had a sudden thought “I’ll never see another Star Wars film for the first time again” and I cried. My favourite saga at that time in 2005 was done and dusted. Now we get them every year but dad was always sceptical of the Han Solo one. “Harrison Ford is Han Solo and that’s that!” 

I’ve been fortunate enough to meet Anthony Daniels (C3-P0) Ian McDiarmid (The Emperor) and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) who Dad always commented how much he loved the photo of me and him and thank them for helping creating memories for me and even having my sense of closure with Dad passing. Dad was so excited that I was meeting Ian McDiarmid and he never got to hear the story of how wonderful Ian was to meet. I was able to talk to Ian about Dad and say how excited he was that I would be meeting the emperor. I was surprised that when I was basically pouring my heart out to Ian about Dad, I didn’t break down. I wore a Star Wars shirt I bought dad to bring a piece of him with me. All my photos from Saturday at LFCC 17 have me sporting a white Star Wars polo shirt as you can see with my photo I got with Ian.

In a few months The Last Jedi comes out and while I’m excited to see it, I feel that something will be missing. That’s to create more memories with Dad and seeing it without him won’t be the same. I’ll be going with friends for sure but when someone you’ve gone with and seen near enough all of them and they’re not there anymore…it’s heartbreaking. Even when I was able to put a note on dads flowers I wrote 

“Who am I going to see Star Wars with now? Words cannot express how thankful I am to all you’ve done for me. May the force be with you and I love you”

That’s how much Star Wars means to me. I’ve talked to many friends about Star Wars and it’s one of those things that as stupid as it sounds, it’s there for you whenever you need it. To get swept up in another world and enjoy the characters you’ve grown up with very much like some people around you. No matter what you need it’s there, never judging but has something to help you in spite of what you’re feeling.

As long as I keep watching Star Wars and enjoying the fandom, like a Force ghost, I know I’ll never lose or forget the person who introduced me to this wonderful franchise and more importantly my Obi Wan, my wise bearded protector who was always looking after me and will continue to do that even after he’s gone.
May the force be with you all!