you wake up late for school man you don't wanna go....

Right. One of my oldest and very bestest friends is in the chair as Guest Editor this week. We've grown up together, listening to various strands of ropey heavy metal over endless cups of coffee and as many Jaffa cakes as Des had left in the box: Iron Maiden, Poison, Slaughter, Motley Crue, Queensryche, Atom Seed, Infectious Grooves, Slayer.... you name it, we've listened to it (although I'm saying now that I never, ever owned a copy of "Flesh & Blood", right?). We went to our first gig together (The Cult), and then onto all kinds of brilliant shows by the likes of Thunder, Metallica, Faith No More, ZZ Top and the Little Angels. I think we even bought our first leather jackets on the same day. Oh yes, without any doubt, my hearing has suffered irreparable damage in the company of this man. He subsequently got into a load of dance shit, but I've never really held that entirely against him and we still go to Glastonbury together most years.

Ladies and gentleworms, it is my great pleasure to present for your earworming pleasure...... his music taste can't have changed that much, right?

Earworms of the week - guest editor #94 - Mik

Well I've been saying I would drop by and take part in this earworm thing for ages now, but have only just got my lazy arse into gear. So thanks ST for the open ended invitation and yes you're right, my musical tastes have changed dramatically since those angry thrash metal days of my youth!

I now work nightshifts in a factory where, unfortunately, local radio rules the airwaves. So for 10 hours a night, 4 nights a week I'm bombarded with love songs and other assorted dross. Try as I might to block it out, it's inevitable that some of this filth finds it's way in and sets up camp in my head, sometimes for a very long time. With this in mind, I can only apologise in advance for some of the songs listed below. But hey, honesty is the policy round here right......

> "Alone" - Celine Dion

I did warn you. Until recently, Celine Dion was occupying a residency at one of the big hotels in Las Vegas, performing several times a week in front of crowds who enjoy her music and had willingly paid to see her. Apparently such people do exist. Presumably due to the hard work involved in such a lengthy stint, she didn't release any new material during this time, so this source of evil was largely confined to the Nevada Desert. However, the residency is now over, and once again she has been unleashed onto an unsuspecting, undeserving audience. This cover of Heart's classic power ballad is every bit as annoying as you might imagine, and has been welcomed whole-heartedly by the late night DJ's on Rugby FM. I can only hope that she decides to take up another lengthy residency soon....I hear Guantanamo Bay will be available shortly.

> "So What" - Pink

This song has been out for a while now, but still gets played at least six times a night on the radio. Like many of her songs, it's very catchy, seems harmless at first, but ultimately becomes really quite annoying. What particularly winds me up with this one is the bit where she stretches the word "weren't" into two syllables by singing "were ent". Why not just say "were not" if you need the extra syllable? I know I'm perhaps nit-picking here, but after hearing the song so many times, it's the little things that start to grate.

> "Saturn 5" - The Inspiral Carpets

Fortunately, not every song that pops into my head comes straight from the local radio archives. I always listen to my ipod on the way to work, trying to build a kind of musical firewall to protect myself against the viruses that lie ahead. This cropped up on a random shuffle the other day and hasn't been far from my internal jukebox ever since. Great keyboards.

> "Use Somebody" - Kings Of Leon

I've been a fan of this band since their first album "Youth And Young Manhood".Back then they were a bunch of hairy blokes playing quite raw, edgy rock music. But with each new album both their music and image has become more polished and refined, culminating in their latest release "Only By The Night", which I found to be really quite disappointing indeed. This is the second single to be taken from the album and has become an integral part of the Rugby FM playlist, which in itself speaks volumes about the change in the band's musical direction. I must admit it has grown on me with each listen, but give me "Red Morning Light" or "Holy Roller Novocaine" any day.

> "Panic Attack" - The Sunshine Underground

A work mate lent me the album "Raise The Alarm" last year. I duly transferred it onto my ipod, where it lay dormant for about 3 months. When I finally got round to giving it a listen, I realised that I shouldn't have wasted so much time...it's a great album. This is the one that's been playing in my head recently, but in truth there isn't a bad song on there, each one as sing-alongable(?) as the next. My friend also lent me the latest releases by The Zutons and Hot Chip at the same time....perhaps I ought to give those a listen at some point.

> "Racing Green" - High Contrast

This one came from a very unlikely source indeed. I recently took a night off work and was unfortunate enough to find myself in the same room as my wife while she was watching Eastenders. (I should clarify that I don't take issue with sharing room space with my wife, it's just the programme that offends!) I busied myself reading the paper, trying to ignore the shouting Cockneys on TV, but couldn't help noticing the occasional snippet of drum 'n' bass coming from the corner of the room. It seemed some of the Walford residents had gone to a drum 'n' bass night at their local club. The characters were probably the least likely people you would find anywhere near such a place, but hey, it's not actually supposed to be a reflection of real life is it? Anyway, this was one of the tunes I heard and, being one of my favourites, I was more than happy to find myself having a little dance in the kitchen the following morning with this playing in my head. These are the sort of 'infectious grooves' I'm into nowadays!

> "Rule The World" - Take That

When I think of Take That I'm always reminded of a conversation I had with my good friend Statue John and his brother Bob, sitting on a train somewhere between Prague and Berlin. It was the mid 1990's, when the band were at the peak of their popularity and countless other boy bands were filling the charts, trying to cash in on the Take That phenomenon. Bob and I were of the opinion that, while neither of us would actually go out and buy any of their music, Take That did at least write their own material, most of which was fairly good if you were into that sort of thing. This, we pointed out, is what set them aside from the many, inferior boy bands of the time. John's counter argument to this went something along the lines of "Nah bollocks, they're rubbish".

With the band's recent, renewed success, my opinion of them remains unchanged. As I'm sure, does John's.

> "Fight For Your Right" - The Beastie Boys

This is a direct result of playing too much Guitar Hero. I've been feeling pretty pleased with myself recently as I've just progressed onto the hard level, but damn it really is difficult. Great game though, and not a bad song either.

So, there you have it. A fairly mixed bag I'm sure you'll agree.Thanks again Mr T for letting me drop by and hopefully exorcise a few demons. Unfortunately, I've just been given the bad news that, as of last night I've been made redundant. Bit of a bummer really, but at least I shouldn't be waking up with Celine Dion's god-awful wailing in my head anymore. Every cloud eh.....

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Rubbish news about the job and everything, but CELINE DION? Seriously? This list has been a long time coming, and -- Sealion notwithstanding -- I take my hat off to you for being so honest about what's been tracking around your head. You're dead right about the KoL too.... the last album was their most commercially successful, but probably artistically their least successful, I would say. And you can't argue with the Inspiral Carpets either, although I would have gone for the crackers Mark E. Smith version of "I Want You", as I've always had a soft-spot for that one. Remember watching them in the pissing rain at Glastonbury in 2002? It's also probably appropriate that you've finished your list with a song we used to listen to back in 1987 when they seemed like the most dangerous band in the world and you went around Horton Crescent nicking VW signs (and hockey nets).

Ah happy days.

Thanks for playing mate, and see you next weekend.

Mikworms: over.

Have a good weekend y'all, and stay classy.

Next week: Mark

[Previous Guest Editors: Flash, The Urban Fox, Lord Bargain, Retro-Boy, Statue John, Ben, OLS, Ka, Jenni, Aravis, Yoko, Bee, Charlie, Tom, Di, Spin, The Ultimate Olympian, Damo, Mike, RedOne, The NumNum, Leah, Le Moine Perdu, clm, Michael, Hyde, Adem, Alecya, bytheseashore, adamant, Earworms of the Year 2005, Delrico Bandito, Graham, Lithaborn, Phil, Mark II, Stef, Kaptain Kobold, bedshaped, I have ordinary addictions, TheCatGirlSpeaks, Lord B rides again, Tina, Charlie II, Cody Bones, Poll Star, Jenni II, Martin, Del II, The Eye in the Sky, RussL, Lizzy's Hoax, Ben II, Earworms of the Year 2006, Sarah, Flash II, Erika, Hen, Pynchon, Troubled Diva, Graham II, Cat II, Statue John II, Sweeping the Nation, Aravis II, Olympian II, C, Planet-Me, Mike, Michael II, Eye in the Sky II, Charlie III, The Great Grape Ape, asta, Ben III, Earworms of the Year 2007, Cat III, JamieS & Wombat, Pynchon II, Briskate, Craig Cliff, Fiery Little Sod, Cody II, J, Yoko II, Rol, Lisa, Pollstar II, Joe the Troll, Eye in the Sky III, Jerry Cornelius, Stevious, Luke, FLS II, FLS III]