which will you go for, which will you love?

Two of my colleagues were chatting at lunchtime today.

"It's a Linda McCartney sausage"
"A what?
"A Linda McCartney sausage"
"Who's that?"

Finding it hard to believe that the younger of the two apparently didn't know who Linda McCartney was, I felt I needed to intervene.

"You know who Paul McCartney is, right?"
"Yes"
"Well, he was married to Linda"
"What, the women with one leg?"
"No.  Not that one.  His first wife.  Famous for not being Yoko and for being vegetarian.  Have you heard of Wings?"
"No"
"Well, as Alan Partridge said, they were the band the Beatles could have been...[blank look] and Linda played keyboards so she could be closer to Paul"
"Never heard of them"
"Have you heard 'Live and Let Die'?"
"Oh yes. It's on the Shrek soundtrack"
"Um.  Maybe, but it's more famously on the soundtrack to 'Live and Let Die'.  Anyway, it's by Wings."
"Right."

We talked a little more about music, and she recommended I listen to a band called Tired Pony, although I hadn't heard of any of the people she said they sounded like (they're quite good, actually).  I asked her if she could name the band that changed everything for her, and she didn't really know what I meant.  I explained the impact that first Iron Maiden and then The Smiths had on the music I listened to and my whole attitude towards music, but she just shook her head a little sadly and said she couldn't think of anything that had affected her like that.

She has just started a premium subscription to Spotify though, so as a result of our conversation, she has added Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley to her wishlist and is going to give them a try over the next couple of days.  She was particularly keen on Jeff Buckley after I told her that his most famous song - albeit another cover by Rufus Wainwright - was also on the Shrek soundtrack.  Her eyes positively lit up at that....

Honestly.

I can remember being in my early twenties, and I am pretty sure I was more curious about music than this and I was hungry to discover the music that influenced the bands that I loved.   I would have thought that the internet would have made this whole process an awful lot easier and a lot less reliant on chance finds in Our Price bargain bins, but it seems that the simple curiosity to go and find more just isn't there.

Perhaps Chloe isn't typical, and to be fair to her, she is now off to listen to some Jeff Buckley and some Nick Drake.  My mind is now racing to think of other bands that she might enjoy.  I sense a pet project (although she didn't seem at all moved by the idea of Rammstein, it must be said....).

Eels are on the Shrek soundtrack.  Perhaps I should start there.