Like everyone else on the planet, this morning I downloaded The Essential Michael Jackson from iTunes.
I confess I’m always confused by public outpourings of grief for celebrities – everybody dies, right? And it’s not like anyone actually knew him … and while he’s left behind some rich cosmetic surgeons and some very screwed-up children, he’s also left us with the utterly brilliant, surprising, clever, unstoppable music. So here’s to MJ, fucked-up genius.*
Who doesn’t love iTunes, and an iPod, specially the ‘shuffle’ function? Our crappy old CD player died a while ago, so when we moved back home I “invested in” (don’t you love how magazines always use that phrase for shopping?) one of those dinky little fold-up speaker pod thingies. Set it to shuffle within pop, or R&B, or jazz, and off you go…
Anyhoo, all this MJ revival has made me decide I need a Music to Cook By playlist. Needs to be upbeat enough to allow a little benchside boogie while you flambe the fish, but not too frenetic – some particularly fast Latin music, for example, turns a pleasant morning’s cooking into a speedy janglefest. You’re pretty safe with funk, disco or some nostalgic singalong pop, I reckon. Here are some definites to go on my kitchen playlist.
- Can You Feel It – Michael Jackson, RIP
- Use Me – Bill Withers
- Everyone’s a Winner – Hot Chocolate
- Grace Kelly – Mika
- Is She Really Going Out With Him? – Joe Jackson
- Love Serenade – Barry White
- My Sharona – The Knack
- Little L – Jamiroquai
- Got To Get You Into My Life – Earth Wind & Fire
- I Don’t Feel Like Dancing – Scissor Sisters
- You’re So Vain – Carly Simon
- Pump it Up – Elvis Costello
- Can’t Get You Out of My Head – Kylie
- Love Will Keep Us Together – Captain & Tenille
- Rescue Me – Fontella Bass
- I Will Survive – Cake
Think this will be a work in progress for some time. And your own cookery playlist? Love to hear some more suggestions ….
* If you are looking for an antidote to all the ghoulish sentimental drooling over MJ, this may be interesting (thanks to reeling & writhing for the Twitter link); and so is Germaine on Michael (and thanks to Matt for that link).
How to shuck an oyster 