If anyone's asking did you get a rush? there's no point in asking; it wasn't enough

Hello.

Usually in this slot, I spend a bit of time running you down on my earworms of the week - the tunes that have sunk into my cranium and are refusing to leave. There aren't really any rules, but I try to make sure that they are genuinely songs that I have caught myself humming during the week, and not just songs that I like and want to tell you lot that I like.

In the course of a normal week, I hear music from all over the place. We all do. Adverts and theme tunes from the TV, jingles and singles on the radio, from someone else's car at the traffic lights.... Sometimes a song can worm its way into your head without even being played, through some kind of process of association; a particular combination of words in the book you are reading (or blog **cough cough**) might bring to mind a song lyric (Fox has started"No More Heroes" by the Stanglers running round my head on a permanent loop this afternoon because of a comment made in the post below).

Sometimes these songs get in for no apparent reason at all (and aren't they just the most annoying ones? especially when you catch yourself humming something really embarrassing).

I've noticed that quite a lot of you appear to be interested in music, so I thought it might be interesting to turn this feature over to a guest from time to time, so we can get away from what's on my iPod and in my head, and get some insight into someone else's mental state for a change.

So without further ado, it is with great pleasure that I hand the keys of this blog over to Flash... over to you Flash......

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Earworms of the Week - Guest Editor #1 -- Flash

Hello folks, Flash here.

May I first say how truly honoured I am to have been chosen for this auspicious occasion:
The inaugural session of...SwissToni's "Celebrity" earworms!

What's that?
Guest earworms?
Oh.

10. 'Road to Joy' - Bright eyes
An album I'm not really sure about yet, but this one got stuck in the old bonce.

9. 'King Without a Crown' - ABC
Just a truly fantastic song that's popped up a couple of times of late.

8. 'Rewind'- Stereophonics
Whisper it quietly, the phonics are good again! Almost picked "Doorman" where Mr.Jones hollers "suck my banana".

Indeed.

7. 'Hurt' - Re-flex
You may remember this lot from 1984 minor hit "The politics of dancing". This tune off the album of the same name had been lost in vinyl hell. After 10 years away I have it back.
Thank god for WinMX!

6. 'Blue Orchid' - The White Stripes
Jack n Meg back, yay! Still sounding ace, double yay!

5. 'Day Old Blues' - Kings of Leon
So there I am halfway through my first listen of their "A-ha shake heartbreak"* album & I'm thinking: I like the songs & the sound of it all but I don't like the ways he sings much. Then he sings: "Boys won't like the way I sing"! and starts yodelling! Marvellous!

*named after condition suffered by thousands of teenage girls in the presence of Morten Harkett & his pop pals back in the 80's

4. 'Jingle Jangle' - Hot Hot Heat
Does exactly what it says on the tin. [Flash - is this a tribute to Jimmy Saville? ST]

3. 'Richard III' - Supergrass
Oh those were the days. Excellent dirty guitar stomping monster of a tune with one of the finest "Whooo"s in the history of music.

2. 'Time is running out' - Muse
Exhilarating plus it gives me the chance to click my fingers, a "skill" that took me 33 years to acquire. Really.

1. 'Please stand up' - British Sea Power
A true earworm, the one that's taken up the lion's share of my head space. Initial highlight of new album "Open season" & forthcoming single. It's catchy but cool, which will do nicely, ta.

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so there you go - thanks Flash! If all goes well, we'll have another guest earwormer in the next few weeks - perhaps this time one with wildly different tastes in music to me & Flash, eh?

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Actually, Flash has reminded me about something I was reading the other day about the 'shuffle' function on the iPod. Apparently some people have decided that their iPod has a personality, and shows a distinct preference for some tunes over others, and that life isn't so random after all. The NY Times goes on about this at some length.

Whilst desperately wanting to dismiss these people as the geeks they clearly are... I have to tell you that I have sometimes wondered this myself. I have 4918 songs on my iPod now, and it definitely has a soft spot for "Such a Twat" by the Streets.

Maybe it's trying to tell me something?