Teenage Kids

A bit of parental-adolescent psychology for today’s Sciencebase blog post, encapsulated in a song. You’ll remember The Undertones’ classic – Teenage Kicks – a song of nostalgia, of lost youth, of unrequited love, of the pleasure, the pain, the angst of teenage years. Well, I re-hashed Sharkey’s words to adopt the perspective of a parent watching from the sidelines…

Teenage Kids (to the tune of Teenage Kicks, obviously)

Well, teenage kids so hard to beat
They’re so much bigger with the stuff they eat
And, then there’s Red Bull and those energy drinks
Gives them a power that makes you think

I wanna talk to, wanna talk to right
My teenage kids but they’re out all night

I’m gonna call up on my mobile phone
But they’re on Facebook or they’re not alone
Bed room’s disgusting and it needs a clean
It’s the foulest state you’ve ever seen

I wanna talk to, wanna talk tonight
My teenage kids on Mighty White

Those teenage kids, well they’ve got it hard
Exams and pressures like we never had
Like who to friend on the Facebook next
Moral dilemma that’s got them vexed

I wanna talk to, wanna talk not fight
My teenage kids about wrong and right

I wanna talk to, wanna talk not fight
My teenage kids about wrong and right

Alright

Muse, Telstar and electronic keyboards

As many Sciencebase readers will know Telstar was a generic name given to a range of communications satellites (the idea for which was first posited by author Arthur C Clarke). The first two Telstar satellites were experimental. Telstar 1 was launched atop a Thor-Delta rocket on 10th July 10 1962 and successfully relayed the first television pictures, telephone calls, and fax images through space. Telstar 2 was launched May 7, 1963. Telstar 1 and 2, though no longer functional, are still in orbit as of August 2012.

Having just got back from a day at The London 2012 Olympic Games (we saw two men’s hockey matches, preliminary rounds, photos here, prog rock band Muse were in my mind when LilyThePurr mentioned the record label Telstar. Muse, of course, wrote and performed the London 2012 anthem. Intriguingly though, frontman Matt Bellamy‘s father was none other than Sunderland-born George Bellamy, rhythm guitarist with The Tornados (Billy Fury’s backing band). who had a hit with a space-age novelty track called…you guessed it, Telstar. The song recorded by infamous and ingenious record producer Joe Meek in his upstairs flat recording studio in the Holloway Road, London, featured an early electronic keyboard known as a clavioline. The upbeat and electronic sounds evoked the positive space-age and pro-science spirit of the 1950s and early 1960s.

The instrument was invented by Constant Martin in 1947 and comprised a keyboard and separate amplifier and speaker unit. It covered three octaves and tone controls to add vibrato and other effects. The instrument used by Meek was the Univox Clavioline, a successor to earlier models used on recordings since the early 1950s. Meek’s somewhat tragic story is told in the 2008 biopic Telstar. The sound of the much later Stylophone was rather reminiscent of the Clavioline and their limited but weird sounds have featured prominently in various recordings that grasp the retro cache tightly.

Meanwhile, I was hoping to unearth a comment from Lord Coe that connected him to Matt Bellamy, Bob Dylan and the whole Telstar legacy. Maybe I could ask my friend Clare, who is Matt B’s cousin instead…

Watch where you put that microphone, Seb, interviewed by Abi Griffiths.

Multitasking and listening to mood music

When you’re feeling blue, put on a sad song. Getting in the party spirit? Turn up the dance music. We are all well aware that music can fit our mood and even reinforce certain emotions. Now, researchers at Philips Research in The Netherlands have demonstrated that background music can affect our mood even while we are directly focused on another task. Their work, described in the International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics might have implications for those investigating the benefits of music therapy, music in the workplace, commercial environments or even in healthcare.

Music is almost ubiquitous for many people, they listen wherever and whenever and with modern portable electronic gadgets it is almost impossible to be without one’s music collection even when on the move; at least until the batteries are expended. Music is often the primary activity at any given time, listening for pleasure and relaxation. It is well known that music can strongly influence a person’s mood under such circumstances. However, what was not entirely clear from previous scientific research was whether music can influence mood so significantly if it is being played in the background, secondary to a person involved in another activity.

Marjolein van der Zwaag and Joyce Westerink specialists in human perception and interaction with technology have now observed participants in sequential experiments in which people were first asked to listen to happy or sad music while doing nothing or solving a Sudoku puzzle. They also did the Sudoku with no music as a control. Later, they were asked to listen to the other type of music under the same conditions. The team measured changes in the participants’ skin electrical conductance and tension in facial muscles during the experiments as indicators of changing mood. They also interviewed the participants to obtain a more subjective but personal view of each individual’s mood.

The team found that participants’ mood responded to the different kinds of mood music – happy or sad – in approximately the same way regardless of whether listening to the music was the person’s focus or simply background sound to their solving the puzzle. The team suggests that mood music might thus be useful in calming or energising a user even when they are involved in an independent task, at work, in school or in other situations, such as driving, for instance.

Research Blogging IconZwaag, M.D.V.D. & Westerink, J.H.D.M. (2012). Inducing moods with background music, International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics, 1 (2) DOI: 10.1504/IJHFE.2012.048035

David Bradley Music

TL:DR – I have dozens of songs and instrumentals for you to download or stream through my BandCamp page right now.


Although, I’m probably best known as a professional science writer and an amateur wildlife photographer, when I’m not involved in those you might catch me singing and playing live with my band, C5 Website/Facebook, or in our community a choir (TyrannoChorus). You can hear my latest solo and collaborative recorded music on BandCamp and SoundCloud. Some of my stuff is on Spotify and iTunes too, including a few cover songs. As of 30th July 2023, Mrs Sciencebase and myself are also now veterans of the Cambridge Folk Festival having performed there live with a scratch choir organised and rehearsed by Ben and Dom.

Dave Bradley with a guitar in between songs at a pub gig with his band C5
Dave Bradley performing with C5 the band, photo by Clive Thomson. That’s lead guitarist Rich Blakesley blurred in the background.

I’ve always been in love with music, since my first baby rattle and toy guitar as a tot, been attempting to play guitar ever since. It is only in the last fifteen years or so that I have performed live in front of audiences and written and recorded my music, first with a community choir and then in a gigging band C5. I’ve sang at the Royal Albert Hall with a mass choir and recorded at Abbey Road Studios, ditto. Have also sung with The London Community Gospel Choir (twice) and with Pete Churchill’s London Vocal Project (twice). I’ve also taken part in a couple of choral workshops with classical composer John Rutter.

I’m proud to have played quite a few pubs, events, festivals, and party gigs with my band C5 and also alongside the inimitable Barbara D and others. I’ve also been guitar and assistant musical director to Barbara in the CTW pit band. We’ve both now stepped back from our roles with CTW, me after ten years.

Also proud to have had a few solo slots in front of audiences of a fair few hundred singing the lead on Billy Joel’s “The Longest Time” with the TyrannoChorus choir (led by Siobhan Lihoreau, with arranger and pianist Tim Lihoreau) at the West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge. I also sang the solo on “Be the Man” by The Young’uns for two charity events with the choir just before the 2020 lockdown. I’ve also occasionally provided guitar accompaniment on songs we have done by Cat Stevens, Sting, Paul Weller, The Who, The Divine Comedy, The Traveling Wilburys, The Beatles, and others.

This is a very short list of some of the musicians, bands, and artists I admire in alphabetical order: Alan Parsons Project, Athlete, B52s, Badly Drawn Boy, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Blondie, Blue Aeroplanes, Blur, David Bowie, Kate Bush, Camel, Glen Campbell, Phil Collins, Crowded House, The Cure, Paco de Lucia, John Denver, Al Di Meola, Thomas Dolby, Doves, Dr Dre, Duran Duran, Editors, Elbow, Fred’s House, Robert Fripp, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Steve Hackett, Steve Hillage, Carole King, King Crimson, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Manic Street Preachers, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Mike Oldfield, Pavlov’s Dog, Placebo, Porcupine Tree, Radiohead, Gerry Rafferty, R.E.M, Nile Rodgers, Rush, Seals & Crofts, Siouxsie and The Banshees, Squeeze, Steely Dan, Supertramp, Andy Summers, Talking Heads, James Taylor, Tears for Fears, U2, Franki Valli, The Willows, Yes, Neil Young, there are many others, it’s hard to think of them off the top of your head.

I’ve been told that I occasionally sound like a Geordie Glenn Tilbrook (that’s according to Dek “Mono Stone” Ham), and sometimes George Harrison, Steely Dan, Stephen Duffy, Peter Gabriel, early Oasis, Phil Collins, Alan Parsons Project, Sting, James Taylor, David Bowie (most often, admittedly), and Stephen Stills, and most recently, Cat Stevens and Neil Finn (Crowded House) on the basis of my charity single “Bridges crossed and burned“.

I couldn’t claim to have even an ounce of the talent of those people, but I do reckon I’ve finally developed my own sound now. And, more to the point, I don’t wear my influences quite so prominently on my silk kimono sleeves as with many of my earlier songs, although there are almost always allusions to many of those inspirational musicians in there some
where. I also get the feeling that if they’re commenting, then the singers they suggest I sound a bit like just happen to be ones they listen to the most.

Mastodon

Thinking, shredding and gardening

An odd mix of books on my desk for review right now including: The Haynes Fender Stratocaster Manual by Paul Palmer and A Year in the Garden by “Mr Digwell”.

Haynes are well known for their practice car maintenance manuals and their motor history museum, but in recent years they have extended the brand to other iconic technologies from bicycles to the space shuttle. This year, it’s the turn of perhaps one of the most famous of guitars, the Fender “Strat”, favoured by everyone from Hank Marvin, to Eric Clapton to Mark Knopfler and a million others in between and after. Balmer offers expert advice on choosing and buying a Strat, whether that’s brand new or a vintage model, on setting it up for your particular style of playing and on keeping your six-string electric in prime working order for those jazz licks, rock riffs and high-speed shreds.

Mr Digwell is a cartoon gardener in British tabloid newspaper, the Daily Mirror. This manual, authored by Paul Peacock, takes you through the four seasons from sowing seeds, cultivating crops to harvesting and over wintering and all the dibbling and raking in between.

Of course, it could be argued that gardening and guitar maintenance are sciences in themselves, but I make no excuse for including books on my hobbies on my site! The origin of creativity has also been puzzling me increasingly this week as I awake early with new ideas for my own book – Deceived Wisdom, Elliott and Thompson, out November.

Rush 2112 Precentenary

It’s 1st April 2012, precisely 36 years since the 1976 release of the classic progressive heavy rock album 2112 by Canadian power trio Rush. More importantly, today is the “precentenary” of the eponymous date of Side 1 of the album. It’s the simple story of rebellion, the tale of an ordinary citizen of some pseudo-utopian world where music is controlled by the “Priests” and their “great computers”. He discovers in a cave an “ancient miracle”, a guitar, tunes it to EADGBE using harmonics and then sets off to reveal this “new wonder” to those all-powerful “Priests”. They face him with their scorn and ridicule and our hero is driven to suicide…or so it seems.

The futuristic “space age” theme hooked into a burgeoning excitement about science fantasy and was probably somewhat carried higher on the wave of the movie Star Wars (the first one, the proper one, now known as Episode IV), which was released in May 1977.

Anyway, what’s any of this got to do with the science beat…well, it being the precentenary of the album’s date, I was wondering about ageing and life extension. Common sense would suggest that no one born on 1st April 1976 will be around to celebrate 2112 when it comes of age. But, there are suggestions that medical advances mean that there is a growing likelihood that those people born in the millennial year (2001, or 2000 depending on whether you are numerate or not) might very well live to see that day.

Certainly, average life expectancy has risen significantly since 1912, 1812 (I take it you spotted Rush’s musical reference in the “Overture” section) and so on. But, people like Aubrey David Nicholas Jasper de Grey (born 20 April 1963), an English author and theoretician in the field of gerontology, suggest that in theory lifespans might be stretched way beyond our nominal three-score years and ten. He has identified seven types of molecular and cellular damage caused by essential metabolic processes that are the primary causes of aging. If we can fix that damage, who knows…we might even have people born today who live not just to see 2112 but perhaps even 2212…

I have a Sciencebase blog post scheduled for 24th May 2112, it will post at 12 minutes past nine in the evening of that day assuming my heirs keep paying the server bills…

Singing the Movember Blues no more

Movember (as in moustache November) grows annually, it’s a month-long event started in 1999 in Adelaide, Australia. Since 2004, the Movember Foundation charity has run Movember events to raise awareness and funds for men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer and depression, in Australia and New Zealand. In 2007, events were launched in Ireland, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, the United Kingdom, Israel, South Africa, Taiwan and the United States. In 2010, Movember merged with the testicular cancer event Tacheback.

The rules

  1. Each mo bro must begin the 1st of Movember clean shaven – check
  2. For the entire month each mo bro must grow and groom a moustache – check
  3. There is to be no joining of the mo to your side burns – check
  4. There is to be no joining of the handlebars to your chin – check
  5. Each mo bro must conduct himself like a true country gentleman. – Not shot any game yet, but there’s plenty of time!

I made a start and saw very little upper-lip growth for many days, despite my chin getting heavily stubbled. I wrote a lyrical lament – The Mo’vember Blues – to draw attention to my plight. Thankfully, with just 9 days of growth to go, my lip is bristling with…well…bristles…it’s a somewhat unruly mess and would be laughed out of court if Lech Walesa were the protagonist, but it’s mine, I tell you, mine! May I stop singing The Mo’vember Blues? Is it finally worthy of a donation to the Movember cause?

The SoundCloud upload has had 48 listens, the Youtube clip has been watched 207 times, so not exactly viral…please give it a click and check out my Mo Bro page to make a donation…even if it is in pity.

Movember Blues

During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on countless faces across the globe, the aim being to raise awarness and funds for men’s health, and more specifically, prostate cancer.

But, what is a boy to do if beardy stubble is plentiful while the upper lip remains pretty much fuzz free? Sing the Movember Blues, of course. Words and music by yours truly.

Just in case you’d like to sing along, here are the words:

The Mo’vember Blues

I woke up this morning, I could swear an oath,
Went to the bathroom mirror, to check my stubble growth

Imagine my surprise, I ain’t gonna grin,
Got a forest growin’ out my face, but it’s all on my chin

I got the Movember blues, not feeling very hip.
I got the Movember blues, why won’t the hair grow on my upper lip

Four days of growing, I should be quite hirsute,
But I need hair restorer for this trivial pursuit

Reach for the razor, it’s time to recycle
Can’t bear to face this very day lookin’ like George Michael

‘got the Movember blues, not feeling very hip.
I got the Movember blues, why won’t the hair grow on my upper lip

Turned to my wife to see what she’s thinking
“You look like a goddam tramp and boy are you stinking!”

But, honey it’s for a good cause, prostate cancer awareness,
If I look like tramp, I really couldn’t care less

I got the Movember blues, not feeling very hip.
I got the Movember blues, why won’t the hair grow on my upper lip

Two weeks later, I’m cryin’ “who will save me?”
Trouble, is there’s two weeks left before anyone can shave me

The stubble’s getting itchy, my beard looks the worst
My upper lip’s still hairless, bring on December first

I got the Movember blues, not feeling very hip.
I got the Movember blues, why won’t the hair grow on my upper lip


Dedicated to my gorgeous wife, who wholly prefers me clean shaven.

Music makes us human, but what is music?

In his latest book, Harnessed, cognitive scientist Mark Changizi, reveals how and why language, speech and music exist, and why they are apparently uniquely human attributes that separate us, as a species, from the rest of life on Earth.

According to Changizi, the ‘lower’ parts of the brain, the bits that recognise the sounds of nature, the scuffs, cracks and bangs, were hijacked by the ‘upper’ parts of our brain and give us speech as we evolved from our ape-like hominid ancestors. Music emerged from our need to understand the sounds of other people moving around and how our brains are tuned to the beats of footsteps, the Doppler effect and the concept of banging ganglies…and why joggers wearing headphones are “blind” to the people around them…

Read on in my latest Pivot Points column in The Euroscientist, out today.

Periodic table of rock and metal

What if the whole of the Periodic Table were all rocks and metal? And what if it were created in 1987 by Jesus, he of the Roadside as a tribute to Guns ‘n Roses?

It is obviously a concept whose time has come, because there are several others around that attempt to knock out the non-metals and the non-rock:

Periodic Metal
Classic Rock Periods
Periodic Table of Rock Music
Chinese Periodic Table of Rock
Metal Chart