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Hi everyone and welcome once again to my radio show here on 2MR. My name is Stefan Sojka and tonight we are going to be finding out all about my favourite music. The music you just heard was the theme song from the Alfred Hitchcock movie the 39 steps, and was composed by my Grandfather, Jack Beaver back in 1935. It would be remiss of me not to mention my own flesh and blood in this show, so there you go. Yes I come from a musical family, but I was a lazy bugger when I was younger and never practiced. I was much more interested in showing off my god given raw talent, than putting any effort in to fine tune it. Hence my long drawn out musical career, that has sailed the high winds of mediocrity for twenty odd years, climbing the mountains of anonymity, carving a niche of mere adequacy in the beer-stained world of live entertainment. In my malaise, I find it highly therapeutic to dig out those old records that inspired me, play those old favourite tracks, and trigger memories of unrealised ambitions, lost love and the carefree halcyon days when the illusion of success was sufficient substitute for the true success that has always eluded me. Lets go back to where it all began…. POPCORN Yes, Popcorn and other switched on hits, by Electric Coconut. I was just too far ahead of my time. There is nothing in the entire world of techno music that wasn’t already done on this record. The pumping beats, the funky bass lines, the synthetic melodies… Unfortunatley I was only 9 years old, and I just couldn’t hold down my Ecstacy tabs, so I missed the bus completely and carried on with my school work. MONSTER MASH Rock and Roll, Comedy, Theartre – Bobby Boris Picket and the Crypt Kickers had it all. They spawned the death metal genre, being high on the list of inspirational artists for bands such as Sepultura, Suidical Tendencies, Iron Maiden, Pantera, and Celine Dion. MOONLIGHTING One highly underrated artist of the 70’s is Leo Sayer. His song writing ability landed him a string of huge hits, that last song, Moonlighting being one of them. I remember as a Kid just listening to the words of this song and dreaming of eloping with the love of my life. They were prepubescent emotions, but they were so strong. Not only that, but my voice was high enough to sing along with Mr Sayer. DAYS ON THE ROAD When I was about 14, I entered a junior DJ contest at the local radio station, 2GF in Grafton. I was crap, but I won a little river band record just for turning up. It ended up being a favourite of mine, and that song “Days on the Road” ended up foretelling my own life story – life on the road with a band, which I find at once spooky, and depressing. Music is such a powerful trigger of emotions and memories. Some songs just take you right back to where you were and bring back the sights, sounds, smells and feelings that you experienced when you used to listen to them. These next few do just that for me. They probably do nothing for you, but I am just going to play them, reminisce and maybe even have a bit of a fiddle under the console. SIMPLE MINDS Simple Minds from their Sons and Fascination Album of 1981 – they were really innovative at the time – while everyone else was trying to write catchy 3 minute songs, they were trying to create sound scapes and grooves, combined with ethereal vocals. They went more pop later, but their influence was strong on the music world at the time. THE TUBES – TV is KING That was The Tubes – a shock rock act from America that took the world by storm for a while there. They were funny, smart, and great musicians, whose crazy stage antics gave them plenty of publicity. These days it wouldn’t rate a mention with all the crazy band and videos we are used to now, and The Tubes now tour the Club circuit like a kind of Quaint cabaret show. I feel sorry for them… hang on a minute.. I’m doing the same thing – I feel sorry for myself!! PARANOID Black Sabbath – the original ‘eavy metal band there with Paranoid. The great thing about their music was how bloody easy it was to play, so of course my first band had, like 25 Black Sabbath Songs in the repertoire! STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN I don’t care what anybody says, this is a damn good song. No wonder it has remained an all-time favourite for so long. It’s funny listening back to it now, Robert Plant was not that great a singer – have a listen to this, he sounds like a real poonce. STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN When you think of this part of the song, you imagine him really belting it out, but he’s just chortling away like a little girl. I guess it’s because we are more used to this kind of sound now… FEAR FACTORY Todd Rundgren, the guitarist who played on Meat Loa’s Bat Out Of Hell, put out a record called A Capella, where every sound on the disc is his voice… have a listen to this… I think It’s a pretty cool concept. TODD RUNDGREN Do you have a song that every time you hear it, it makes you joyfully recall some romantic encounter you once had? The one night stand? The summer holiday fling you enjoyed that year after school when you truly came of age? That office romance? The night you got down on your knees and asked the hooker how much for just a hand job? This is my song. Don’t ask me why… it just sets the right romantic tone for reminiscing about the good times. PEACEFUL EASY FEELING And for those crazy psychotic, convoluted moments of sheer desperation… why not a quick dose of Nick cave and the Birthday Party… this dainty ditty… King Ink from Prayer on Fire. KING INK Or if you are in the mood to try and impress your new-found friends at a dinner party just how highbrow you are as an aficionado if free form experimental Jazz, slap on a bit of Jean Luc Ponty, king of the self indulgent 2 hour musical wank fest. Jean Luc Ponty One of the most underrated performer of our time are Milli Vanilli. Who cares if it wasn’t them singing? There songs were just so good… they looked great – which is very important these days - and their overacting while they mimed was second to none. BLAME IT ON THE RAIN Believe it or not, I love putting on the occasional Air Supply song… when I’m feeling all teary eyed and broken hearted, these guys are masters at tuning in to my lovelorn emotions. I don’t know how they do it, but it works. AIR SUPPLY I played with a bass player once who turned down the offer to join Air Supply when they first started off. He is now a Garbage Collector, and suffers from severe bouts of depression. I could go on all night with my favourite music. Digging through my collection I found so many artists, songs and albums from my past that I just love to put on. David Bowie, James Taylor, Pink Floyd, Midnight Oil, talking Heads, the list goes on and on… Music is so strongly connected with our moods, and I think the music we like can even be some kind of mirror to who we are. Each chord can strike a chord inside us and resonate within our souls confirming, denying, promoting, healing, inspiring some part of us that hungers for that which music and music alone can give us. Someone once said, if music be the burger of life, I’ll have fries with that. And with that ends my favourite music show. I left out so much, but I hope that what I left in was enough to trigger some thoughts and emotions within you that you may take home with you tonight. When you get home… dust off some of those old recordings and put those headphones on, and just let the music take you where it wants to go. This is Stefan Sojka bidding you farewell for another week. Next week is a free form, so please join me then. Good night TODD RUNDGREN
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Stefan is
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