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The top 49 misheard song lyrics of all time

Wed, 20 May 2026 10:24:00 Z

Music is often left open to interpretation, which can lead to certain lyrics being misheard. Sometimes they can be misinterpreted unbeknownst to the listener, while other times, they can be skewed on purpose. That is, if we, the listeners, think we’re funny and fancy being creative.

Let’s face it, some of the greatest musicians of all time are pretty hard to understand. Bob Dylan, Kurt Cobain, and Bruce Springsteen, to name a few.

One of the most iconic comedy sketches of all time is Peter Kay’s misheard song lyrics. His sketch has viewers in stitches and helps us all realise that we’re not alone in misunderstanding lyrics.

Aside from the songs in Kay’s stand-up, there are many other masterpieces that have been misinterpreted over the years.

Without further delay, here are the 49 most misheard song lyrics of all time.

49 funny misheard song lyrics

1. NSYNC - It's Gonna Be Me

Despite the clear title of NSYNC’s 2000 hit, people often get confused by this song’s content. Due to Justin Timberlake’s pronunciation of ‘me’, people often think he’s singing ‘It’s gonna be May’. In fact, every year, the internet regurgitates memes on May 1st, and they never get old.

2. ABBA - Dancing Queen

The world’s obsession with ABBA has lasted through the generations, but the Swedish group’s hit song Dancing Queen always seems to be a source of confusion. As of February 2021, the official music video has more than 469 million views and is arguably the band’s most recognisable song. But instead of singing ‘Feel the beat on the tambourine’, people swap the final word for ‘tangerine’. Surprisingly, this is ABBA’s only number-one hit in the United States. Originally, the song was named ‘Boogaloo’ but was changed as ABBA’s members found inspiration elsewhere, but not from fruit.

3. The Monkees - I'm A Believer

Again, it seems song titles mean nothing. Many listeners think it’s hilarious to sing incorrectly, ‘I saw her face, now I’m gonna leave her’. Seems a little harsh. Although it was performed by The Monkees, this song was written by singer Neil Diamond, who racked up an incredible ten number-one singles in the United States. In 2001, the song was covered by the band Smash Mouth and famously featured in the final scene of Shrek, proving the song has many layers.

4. Toto - Africa

At the time of its release, Africa was a huge worldwide hit, reaching number one in the United States and number three in the UK. And despite being more than 40 years old at the time of writing, this song has had a resurgence in popularity. As ’80s songs go, the lyrics are pretty hard to understand. The correct words are ‘There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do’, but people often sing ‘There’s nothing that a hundred men on Mars could ever do’. Easy mistake to make, right?

5. Eiffel 65 - Blue

This song contains many words that aren’t exactly plucked from the Oxford English Dictionary. In case you’re unfamiliar with Blue, its chorus’ lyrics are (word-for-word) ‘I’m blue / Da ba dee da ba di / Da ba dee da ba di / Da ba dee da ba di’… and repeat. You get the gist, right? Due to the song's obscure lyrics, people are eager to put their own spin on it, leading to some interesting interpretations. A common, and ingenious, take on the above lyrics is ‘I’m blue / Da ba dee da ba di / In Aberdeen, I will die’.

6. Eiffel 65 - Blue (again)

No, this isn’t a typo, and yes, you are seeing this entry again, but with good reason. It turns out there’s a lot to unpack in this song. When people listen to the chorus, they often hear ‘I’m blue / If I was green, I would die’. This interpretation seems quite clever and makes some sense, but sadly, it’s completely incorrect.

7. Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze

Purple Haze is the ultimate psychedelic rock song, written and performed by Hendrix. It was released in 1967 and was the second single by his group, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Although this song charted in several countries (most notably reaching number three in the UK), people tend to get one of its lines wrong. Instead of singing ‘Excuse me while I kiss the sky’, people hear ‘Excuse me while I kiss this guy.’ This song was one of the first that exposed the world to Jimi Hendrix and went down in history when performed at the legendary 1969 Woodstock festival.

8. Elton John - Tiny Dancer

It would be a crime not to include an Elton John tune in a list of misheard song lyrics. In fact, quite a few songs in his repertoire contain reinterpreted words. But our favourite misrepresentation is from Tiny Dancer. Instead of belting out ‘Hold me closer, tiny dancer’, people often sing ‘Hold me closer, Tony Danza’. If you’re unfamiliar with this name, Tony Danza is an American actor best known for starring in the television series Taxi from 1978 to 1983 and Who’s the Boss? from 1984 to 1992.

9. Fleetwood Mac - Say You Love Me

Fleetwood Mac is a timeless band, but that doesn’t excuse it from this list. The band’s iconic and upbeat hit Say You Love Me was written by band member Christine McVie and is listed on three compilation albums celebrating their best work. One of the lines from the song is ‘I’m begging you for a little sympathy’, but thirsty tea lovers sing ‘I’m begging you for a little sip of tea.’ This misheard lyric almost seems like an insult to the song’s legacy and critical acclaim. Almost. Now, somebody put the kettle on.

10. Far East Movement ft. The Cataracs and DEV - Like a G6

The Far East Movement enjoyed a surge in popularity with the release of their 2010 single Like a G6, featuring The Cataracs and Dev. The main lyrics are ‘I’m feeling so fly like a G6’, but people often hear ‘cheese stick’ instead. For those of you who are rightly wondering, ‘What is a G6?’, it’s an abbreviation for Gulfstream G650, a luxury private jet. Feeling fly like a G6 describes someone who is cool, confident, and very rich. Who knew?

11. Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds

If you didn’t know the lyrics to this song and were hearing it for the first time, you could probably make any number of guesses at what Presley is singing in the first line. The King of Rock and Roll could be singing ‘Recording a track’, ‘They call it a tramp’, or ‘We caught him a trout’, depending on people’s imaginative minds. Presley is, in fact, singing ‘We’re caught in a trap’, which makes much more sense.

12. Chic - Le Freak

If you don’t speak French, you might struggle to understand this one. Released in 1978 by American R&B band Chic, this song was co-written by Chic’s bass player Bernard Edwards and guitarist Nile Rodgers after the pair were refused entry to New York nightclub. Le Freak’s most famous lyrics are ‘Ah, freak out! / Le freak, c’est chic’, but these lyrics are often skewed in hilarious fashion. One take on them is ‘Freak cow / Le freak, c’est sheep’. We’re not sure of the deeper meaning here – but, as with most of the examples in this article, there clearly doesn’t need to be one.

13. Eminem ft. Rihanna - Monster

People seem to have glorified mustard in this misheard song lyric. The Eminem and Rihanna song begins with the lyric ‘I’m friends with the monster that’s under my bed’. However, as you might have seen on various TikTok videos, people tend to swap ‘monster’ for ‘mustard’ when miming or singing this lyric. Nice. Take this nugget of information as a friendly reminder to clean or vacuum underneath your bed. You might be surprised by what you find.

14. Ariana Grande - Thank U, Next

Pop and R&B singer Grande is known for missing out her P’s and Q’s and failing to enunciate her lyrics. Her hit 2019 song Thank U, Next, is no exception. If you’re not especially fond of swear words in songs, maybe don’t bother listening to this song. One of its lyrics is ‘I’m so f***ing grateful for my ex’, but listeners around the world have decided to hear ‘I’m so f***ing grateful for my eggs’. Because, why not? It’s unclear whether they’re referring to boiled, fried, poached, or scrambled, though.

15. Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Written and produced by Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart of new wave duo Eurythmics, Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) became their international breakthrough hit in 1983. Even today, the song remains popular, but listeners often insist on adding a fromage tinge. Instead of the line ‘Sweet dreams are made of this’, people swap ‘this’ for cheese instead. Even though the song in its original form was featured in Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, you might prefer the modified version if you’re a lover of cheese.

16. TLC - Waterfalls

Does anybody know who Jason Waterfalls is? Because people around the globe are calling out for his name when this classic hit comes on. It was released in 1995 and gained critical acclaim, earning two Grammy nominations at the 38th Annual Grammy Awards in 1996. The lyrics ‘don’t go chasing waterfalls’ refer to people chasing a dream without realising the consequences. However, some people are reframing it as ‘Don’t go, Jason Waterfalls’. If you know someone with this name, please pass this message on to them.

17. Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire

Sex On Fire was released in 2008 and won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals. A fun fact about this song is that lead singer Caleb Followill told The Sun that he was surprised the record label picked this as the lead single from Kings of Leon’s album Only by the Night. Said the lead vocalist: “I can’t believe the label picked it because the lyrics are pretty in-your-face sexual.” Although the lyrics are intended to be sexual, many people have reinvented the words as ‘dyslexics on fire’.

18. Madonna - Papa Don't Preach

Madonna isn’t escaping this list either. Upon its release in 1986, Papa Don’t Preach gained huge commercial success. The song shot to number one across the world and was Madonna’s fourth single to gain the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100. However, the best version of this song arguably came many years after its initial release. Instead of ‘Papa don’t’, listeners have suggested that it sounds like Madonna is singing ‘poppadom preach’ in an ode to the Indian appetiser. We, for one, are all for this suggestion.

19. Chaka Khan - I'm Every Woman

Chaka Khan might have been incredibly famous in the UK, but we’re not sure she knew who Terry Wogan was. Either way, some people have suggested she was singing about him in I’m Every Woman. This song was Khan’s debut single and kickstarted her solo career away from the funk band Rufus, for which she was a lead vocalist for 11 years. Fans in the UK seem to think Chaka Khan is calling herself Terry Wogan in this song instead of the actual lyric, which is, of course, ‘I’m every woman.’

20. Sister Sledge - We Are Family

As discussed in the introduction to this piece, Peter Kay famously pointed out his own interpretation of We Are Family. It’s fair to say that Kay has changed the lyrics to this tune for the purpose of comedy. Instead of ‘Just let me state for the record’, Brits love to sing ‘Just let me staple the vicar’. We don’t condone such an act, especially given the social distancing guidelines.

21. Will Smith - Gettin' Jiggy Wit It

Is there anything Will Smith can’t do? In case you didn’t know, Smith also released music earlier in his career. His song Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It was released in 1998 and won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. However, to every ’90s kid's dismay, it was ranked number 19 on AOL Radio’s list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever in 2010, so some could argue it hasn’t aged well. Some people even think the lyrics say ‘Kick a chicken with it’ or ‘Kick the chicken with it’, which sounds rather cruel.

22. Sir Mix-A-Lot - Baby Got Back

Staying in the ’90s, Sir Mix-A-Lot released this track in 1992. At the time, it caused controversy over its raunchy content and derogatory comments towards women. Sir Mix-A-Lot may love big butts, but some of the song’s listeners seem to think that he’s rapping about his love of limes. Just to clarify, he is rapping ‘I like big butts, and I cannot lie’ – not ‘I like big butts and a can of limes’.

23. Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer

Well, we’re (almost) halfway there, and no article of this nature would be complete without a mention of Bon Jovi. This song has truly stood the test of time, but its lyrics have, it seems, been a source of confusion. People often mistake the line ‘It doesn’t make a difference if we make it or not’ for ‘It doesn’t make a difference if we’re naked or not’. Easy mistake. Despite this, the song remains hugely popular and, in 2013, was certified triple platinum after surpassing 3 million digital downloads.

24. Cutting Crew - (I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight

This power ballad is Cutting Crew’s biggest hit, having peaked at number one in the United States, Canada, Norway, and Finland. However, not everyone seems to have established the exact location of the protagonist’s death. Despite the lyrics being obvious, people have been known to sing ‘I just died in your barn tonight’. Whilst that would make for an interesting concept, we’re not sure it would work for an international number-one hit.

25. The Police - Message In A Bottle

Message In A Bottle was the first of The Police’s five UK number-one singles. Rolling Stone ranked it number 65 on its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time. The song – written by frontman Sting – is apparently about a man on an island who sends a message in a bottle (in case you hadn’t realised) to seek love. A year later, he is yet to receive a letter and gives up, assuming he is destined to be alone. Days later, he sees ‘a hundred billion bottles’ on the shore and realises there are people out there who are exactly like him. The misheard lyric is ’A year has passed since I wrote my note’ – listeners seem to think that the line is ‘A year has passed since I broke my nose.’ This backstory would make sense if the protagonist became stranded on an island due to a boating accident, to be fair.

26. Take That - Back For Good

The hit 1995 song was written and produced by Take That lead singer Gary Barlow. The song topped the UK singles chart for a record-breaking 45 weeks whilst also reaching number one in 31 countries worldwide. It even won a Grammy Award. The confusion in this song lies with the background vocals. Other band members sing ‘I want you back’ during the chorus; however, it also sounds like ‘wash your back’, which is far less romantic.

27. Duffy - Mercy

Duffy’s 2008 single "Mercy" was one of the tracks from her debut album, Rockferry. This ’60s-sounding retro-soul tune peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart in February 2008, remaining atop the charts for five weeks, and became the third-best-selling single of 2008 in the UK. Welsh singer Duffy has a wonderfully distinctive voice, but fans seem to think that in the line ‘I’m begging you for mercy’, she’s singing ‘I’m begging you for birdseed.’

28. The Cars - Drive

The Cars’ Drive is the band’s highest-charting US single and second-highest-charting single in the UK. The song was re-released a year later after Live Aid and gained a higher position in the UK singles chart. The royalties from its second release (worth around £160,000) were donated to the Band Aid Trust. One of the main lines from the song is ‘You can’t go on thinking nothing’s wrong, oh no.’ However, somehow, the ‘oh no’ sounds like ‘pork pie’. Once you hear it, you won’t be able to hear anything else.

29. Michael Jackson - You Are Not Alone

This is one of the tracks from Jackson’s ninth studio album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. At the time of its release, the song set a Guinness World Record as the first song to debut at number one in the then 37-year history of the Billboard Hot 100. The actual lyrics are ‘I can hear your prayers, your burdens I will bear,’ but it does sound a lot like ‘your burgers are the best.’ Maybe the next time you get a McDonald’s drive-thru, you could put this track on in your car and sing this line to a member of staff?

30. Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On

Recorded by Celine Dion, this song serves as the theme song to the heart-wrenching film Titanic. The song received global acclaim due to the film’s popularity and became one of the best-selling songs of all time. Despite this, people are inclined to sing a more humorous version of the song. The line ‘I believe that the heart does go on’ is often replaced with ‘I believe that the hot dogs go on.’ We don’t know about you, but all these food references are making us salivate.

31. Johnny Nash - I Can See Clearly Now

I Can See Clearly Now was recorded in London after Johnny Nash had met with Bob Marley. When listening to the song now, it’s easy to hear Marley’s inspiration in the melody. This song went from number 20 to number one in the United States in just two weeks upon its 1972 release. The line that everyone who knows this song most closely associates it with is ‘I can see clearly now the rain has gone.’ However, listeners around the world have misheard this line as ‘I can see clearly now, Lorraine has gone’. Anybody with a Lorraine in the family, take note of this one.

32. Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus - Old Town Road

This song took many people by surprise when it was released a couple of years ago. It’s one of the few mainstream examples of country-rap fusion, and you’re likely to either find it very catchy or very bizarre. Wherever you stand on it, this song reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for an incredible 19 consecutive weeks. However, Billboard removed it from its Country Songs Chart because the song did not fit the genre. Genre identity isn’t the only confusing aspect of this song; its lyrics can also be misinterpreted. The correct lyrics are ‘I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road’, but some people have said it sounds like ‘I’m gonna take my horse to the watering hole.’ It’s easily done.

33. ABBA - Chiquitita (Tell Me What's Wrong)

ABBA features again, this time with a misheard lyric from their 1979 single Chiquitita (Tell Me What’s Wrong). Fans are eager to get this one wrong, and you’ll soon realise why. Instead of referencing the title, which was brought back into popularity with the 2008 film Mamma Mia, people hear ‘Take your teeth out, tell me what’s wrong’. If we make yet another obscure connection here, you could say this to your grandparents. We’re not sure how well it would go down, though.

34. R.E.M - Losing My Religion

This legendary alternative rock song was released in 1991 and set the tone for songs of that decade. The song was an unlikely hit for the group, yet it gained widespread popularity after its music video received regular airtime on MTV. Instead of the correct lyrics, which are ‘That’s me in the corner’, people hear ‘Let’s pee in the corner’. Awkward.

35. Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta - You're The One That I Want

This popular classic is one of the best-selling singles of all time, having sold more than 15 million copies worldwide since its 1978 release. Along with Hopelessly Devoted, the song was specifically written for Olivia Newton-John to sing in the Grease film. It’s understandable why people could get confused over the song lyrics, given how distractingly beautiful Newton-John looks in the catsuit and red heels. Some listeners hear ‘I got heels, they’re made of plywood’, when true Grease fans know it’s ‘I got chills, they’re multiplying.’

36. Bob Marley and The Wailers - Stir It Up

Stir It Up was Marley’s first successful song outside of Jamaica. American singer Johnny Nash produced a cover of the song in 1973. Instead of ‘stir it up’, fans think Marley is pining after food by singing ‘Cereal, little darlin’, cereal’. When you listen to this song, you can understand the misconception. We’re not sure which brand of cereal Marley would have been most partial to, though. The Wailers performed the song on The Old Grey Whistle Test, a famous television show that showcased musical talent, in 1973 during the group’s first trip to the UK.

37. Bob Dylan - Blowin' In The Wind

Blowin’ In The Wind was released in 1963, and in 1994, the song earned itself a spot in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Some creative person somewhere in the world has suggested that one of the lines sounds like Bob Dylan is singing, ‘These ants are my friends, they’re blowin’ in the wind.’ However, this song makes a lot more sense when you realise Dylan is saying that ‘The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.’

38. Queen - We Will Rock You

Did you know that, aside from the last 30 seconds, which feature a guitar solo by Brian May, the song is set in a cappella form? In fact, for the entirety of the song, mostly stomping or clapping is used. Regarding its lyrics, people often think Freddie Mercury is singing ‘kicking your cat all over the place’ when he says ‘can’ instead of ‘cat’. Thankfully, no animals were harmed in the making of this song.

39. Lorde - Royals

The song Royals was released in 2013, after Lorde wrote the lyrics in 30 minutes while driving home from an event. This is one of the young singer’s signature songs and the third track on her debut album, Heroine. Some listeners think she’s included vegetables in the lyrics, as people often get confused with the lyrics ‘you can call me queen bee’ and sing ‘green bean’ instead. To be fair, green beans would go well with some Jersey Royal potatoes, so the inference makes sense (sorry).

40. Madonna - Like A Virgin

Madonna makes her second appearance on this list with her iconic track Like A Virgin; arguably the most ’80s track to ever live. Released in 1984, this song contains ambiguous lyrics laden with hidden innuendos and has been open to various interpretations over the years. One point of contention has been over whether Madonna sings ‘touched for the very first time’ or ‘touched for the 31st time’. Due to the song’s title, we’re certain it’s not the latter.

41. Black Sabbath/Crow - Evil Woman

This song is sometimes titled Evil Woman (Don’t Play Your Games With Me) and was originally sung by the American band Crow. Black Sabbath released their cover of the song in 1970, and the song also gained another reputable cover by Tina and Ike Turner; however, the title was changed to "Evil Man." Despite the song taking many forms across different artists, people often think its lyrics contain the phrase ‘medieval woman’, which is, of course, incorrect.

42. Guns N' Roses - Paradise City

This song was inspired by Los Angeles, where the members of Guns N’ Roses lived. Apparently, lead singer Slash wanted the lyrics to be explicit, but the rest of the band watered them down so that the song was radio-friendly. Paradise City eventually became like Marmite. Some publications loved it, and others hated it. It ranked number 459 on Rolling Stone’s 2010 list of The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time. However, other publications said the song was one of the band’s worst, including Ultimate Classic Rock and Spin. Rankings aside, some fans think the band are singing ‘Take me down to the very nice city’.

43. Macy Gray - I Try

I Try is Gray’s biggest hit to date. The song peaked at number six in the United Kingdom, number five in the United States, and number one in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. It’s been featured on many television shows, such as The Office, Mrs Brown’s Boys, and Spin City. It’s a hit for the ages, but that doesn’t excuse it from this list. The lyrics ‘My world crumbles when you are not here’ are reimagined as ‘I blow bubbles when you are not here’.

44. Coldplay - Paradise

A fun fact about this song is that it was originally written for The X Factor, but bandmate and drummer Will Champion insisted it be released on the album Mylo Xyloto. The chorus repeats the title, but some listeners hear ‘pair of dice’.

45. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

Even though MTV played this song's video on repeat when it was released, ’90s kids still struggle to understand Kurt Cobain’s singing. The chorus’ official lyrics are ‘A mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, my libido’, but some people hear ‘I’m a lion, I’m a vinyl, I’m a skittle, I’m a beetle’. Let’s face it – both sets of lyrics are equally random.

46. 98 Degrees - I Do (Cherish You)

This song was originally recorded by American country artist Mark Wallis in 1998 and later that year covered by R&B group 98 Degrees. The 98 Degrees version featured on the British-American rom-com Notting Hill, starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. The band croons ‘Your hand brushes mine’, but listeners hear ‘Your hairbrush is mine’.

47. Bryan Adams - Summer of '69

When Adams originally wrote Summer of ’69, he had no idea he was writing a hit. In fact, when he first finished the iconic song, he didn’t like it, and it was originally named ‘The Best Days of My Life’. In addition, Adams was just nine years old in 1969, which has often confused people over the years. Instead of hearing the lyrics ‘Jimmy quit, Jody got married’, this line is often sung as ‘Do we quit, or do we get married?’. This seems like an easy mistake to make if you’re hearing the song for the first time.

48. Billy Joel - We Didn't Start The Fire

Despite this song’s worldwide success, its lyrics can be confusing due to its repeated references to historical events spanning decades. The original lyrics are ‘Bagan, Reagan, Palestine, Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride’, which is already a mouthful. However, some people misheard them as ‘Bacon-making Palestine/ We love torture, Sally Ride’. Again, we’re not too sure of the narrative being conveyed here, but it’s an interesting take, nonetheless.

49. Dire Straits - Money for Nothing

This song is about rock-star excess and the easy life it offers compared to real work. Mark Knopfler wrote it after overhearing delivery men in a New York department store complain about their jobs while watching MTV. He wrote the song in the department store at a kitchen display they had set up. Note how there is absolutely nothing to do with food. The lyrics are ‘Money for nothin’ and your chicks for free’. However, some fans have heard ‘Money for nothin’ and your chips for free’. Who else is hungry?

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The 10 best reggae songs of all time

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 09:00:00 Z

Originating in Jamaica in the late 1960s, reggae is a genre of music popular just about everywhere in the world.

While the term ‘reggae’ itself is often used to describe most Jamaican dance music, the actual definition of reggae music is much more cemented than that.

Although very diverse, reggae denotes a distinct musical style. It incorporates elements and draws influence from various genres, including blues, jazz, calypso, African folk, and even mento.

For those not familiar with mento, it is a subgenre of Jamaican folk music that predates traditional reggae and ska as we know them. Acoustic guitars, banjos, hand drums and rhumba boxes are the most common instruments typically associated with mento music.

Reggae music is deeply linked to Rastafari culture and is one of the most distinctive musical genres, along with sister genres, ska and rocksteady.

Whittling the best of reggae down to just 10 songs is no easy task, but we’ve had a go – and yes, there are many more classics we couldn’t quite fit in this list.

We could be here all day – but in no particular order, here are our picks for the 10 best reggae songs of all time.

Our 10 greatest reggae songs ever

Toots and the Maytals – Pressure Drop

Recorded in 1969 and released in 1970, Pressure Drop by Toots and the Maytals is a certified classic.

After appearing on the group’s 1970 album, Monkey Man, the song helped propel their popularity outside of their native Jamaica. In 1972, it featured on the soundtrack to the film ‘The Harder They Come’, a film often considered to have introduced reggae to ‘the rest of the world’.

Toots and the Maytals formed in the early 1960s and built a reputation for having strong, well-blended vocals throughout their music. At the time, the group’s frontman, Frederick ‘Toots’ Hibbert, boasted a soulful vocal style that saw him compared to the legendary Otis Redding – often labelled one of the greatest singers in music history.

In 2004, Pressure Drop was ranked number 453 in the 500 greatest songs of all time by Rolling Stone. Old-school gamers may also recognise the tune from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which was also released in 2004.

Lyrically, the song is about revenge in the form of karma, according to a 2016 Guardian interview with the late, great Hibbert.

Many an artist has covered Pressure Drop over the years – The Specials, Keith Richards, and The Clash, to name just a few.

The Oxford English Dictionary credits Toots and the Maytals in the etymology of the word ‘reggae’. Their 1968 single ‘Do the Reggay’ was the first time the word had ever been used in a song, thus introducing it to the world.

UB40 – Red Red Wine

The original Red Red Wine was recorded and performed by American singer Neil Diamond in 1967, but it’s UB40’s ‘80s cover that makes the cut for our list of the best reggae songs of all time.

The Birmingham band’s cover went to number one in the UK charts and achieved transatlantic success across the pond, too. After its release, UB40’s Red Red Wine also went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Though the original Red Red Wine was an acoustic ballad, UB40’s version features a lighter, more reggae-style sound, which helped to broaden the song’s appeal to a wider audience.

In terms of lyrics, the song is written from the perspective of a person who uses red wine to get through tough moments. UB40 also added a verse that opened with “Red red wine; you make me feel so fine, you keep me rocking all of the time”, which was sung by the late Astro.

Although the song has been covered multiple times, writer Neil Diamond said that UB40’s version is one of his favourites. He even began playing the cover version instead of the original.

In 1988, UB40 performed Red Red Wine at the Nelson Mandela 70^th Birthday Tribute Concert – now, that’s some gig!

Bob Marley – One Love

How could we talk about reggae without shining a light on Bob Marley? The answer is – we couldn’t.

The man was and is an icon. In truth, he probably deserves an article completely dedicated to him. Not many could argue that some of the best reggae songs of all time were written and performed by Marley.

However, One Love makes the cut for this list due to its political relevance and cultural impact at the time it was written and today.

One Love was written amid the turmoil of the 1976 Jamaican elections. At the previous elections in 1972, Marley had been a big supporter of the elected prime minister Michael Manley. However, four years later, Jamaica had become an entirely different place. It was now a very divided nation, with politically fuelled violence commonplace.

Marley’s main idea behind ‘One Love’ was simple: everyone should stop fighting and become ‘one’. There is, however, a deeper meaning attached to some of the song’s lyrics.

Oppression, evil-doings and sin are talked about during the song, although these somewhat darker subjects are often overlooked in favour of the joyous, upbeat chorus.

In One Love, Marley truly mastered the art of creating a piece of music that was as angry as it was peaceful. A classic in every sense of the word.

Jimmy Cliff – Many Rivers To Cross

Perhaps the only thing more impressive than Many Rivers To Cross is that Jimmy Cliff was only 21 years old when he wrote and recorded it.

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and since its first release in 1969, Many Rivers To Cross has been covered by a plethora of artists – and not just reggae artists either. The likes of Cher, Annie Lennox and even John Lennon all recorded versions of Cliff’s classic.

Cliff first started writing songs while still at school in Jamaica, before moving to the UK to try and ‘make it’.

However, things weren’t going quite as planned for Cliff over on British shores, but in true musician style, he used his frustration to inspire his work.

From here, Many Rivers To Cross was born as a way for Cliff to document his experiences in the UK.

In the line “Wandering I am lost, as I travel along the White Cliffs of Dover”, Cliff recalls the various times he would cross the channel to France in search of ‘something’.

Though a difficult period for Cliff, from it came one of his best-known songs.

Many Rivers To Cross has a real gospel feel, thanks to Cliff’s use of an organ and backing vocalists. Rolling Stone ranked it number 325 in its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.

Sister Nancy – Bam Bam

Though you may not know it by name or artist, you’ve definitely heard Sister Nancy’s Bam Bam. And if you haven’t, then you’ve probably been living on Mars.

Inspired by Toots and the Maytals’ 1966 song of the same name, Sister Nancy’s Bam Bam is a true classic, and in 2016, was described by Billboard as “a strong contender for the most sampled reggae song of all time.”

Reggae music fans will know that ‘Bam Bam’ is a popular phrase used throughout the genre, and although Sister Nancy can’t be credited with first coining it (that particular title, of course, goes to Toots and the Maytals), she can certainly be given credit for its longevity in the scene.

The catchy, almost hypnotic nature of ‘Bam Bam’ later saw it transcend reggae and find a place in subsequent Jamaican genres like dancehall and beyond.

For more than 30 years, Sister Nancy did not receive any royalties for the number of times Bam Bam was used commercially. She decided to seek legal advice and was subsequently awarded ten years’ compensation and obtained 50% of the future rights to Bam Bam.

In recent years, artists such as Kanye West, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z have sampled Sister Nancy in their work.

Peter Tosh – Legalize It

Legalize It was the title track on Peter Tosh’s debut solo album after leaving the Wailers – the group Tosh had co-created alongside Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer in the early ‘60s.

As the song’s name would suggest, Tosh wrote Legalize It to push for the legalisation of cannabis in Jamaica, particularly for medicinal purposes. It was also written in response to what Tosh described as his own repeated ‘victimisation’ by Jamaican police for his use of marijuana.

Such was the controversy surrounding the lyrics and the song's overall stance, it was banned following its first release in Jamaica in 1975.

However, further attempts to ‘suppress’ the song and Tosh as an artist failed, fast-tracking his writer towards international recognition and stardom.

Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey

Marcus Garvey is the potent title track from Winston Rodney (better known as Burning Spear)’s third album of the same name.

Both the song and album, which many describe as the greatest reggae album ever made, are named after Jamaican National Hero and prophet of the Rastafari movement, Marcus Garvey.

Despite there being no doubt whatsoever that Rodney is the main man, the song Marcus Garvey is, in fact, a three-piece vocal ensemble, with Rupert Wellington and Delroy Hines also featured.

Though Garvey died in 1940, long before the birth of reggae, his influence on the genre is unquestionable. Burning Spear is just one example of an artist who references Garvey in their work.

Bob Marley – Three Little Birds

Surely you didn’t think we were only going to mention Bob Marley once?

Following its release, Three Little Birds cemented its place in the UK top 20, peaking at number 17 – but, interestingly, many fans still (wrongly, of course) think that the song is called ‘Don’t Worry About a Thing’ or ‘Every Little Thing is Gonna Be Alright’. This is thanks to the repeated phrases in the famous chorus.

The lyrics to Three Little Birds are said to be partly inspired by the birds that used to fly near Marley’s home at 56 Hope Road and sit on the wall.

However, three female singers from the reggae group I Threes, who regularly performed with Marley on stage, claimed the three little birds were a reference to them.

All we can say is that, as a songwriter, Marley was known to ‘observe life’ and pen things inspired by what he saw around him. So, we’ll leave it up to you to decide…

UB40 – Food For Thought

Taken from UB40’s 1980 debut album, Signing Off, Food For Thought was also the first single released by the iconic British reggae group.

Said to be partly inspired by the massacre of Kampuchea (a state which existed from 1975 to 1979 in what is now Cambodia), the song is a lament on third-world poverty and a calling-out of governments and world leaders for their failings in relieving such afflictions.

Lyrically, Food For Thought is often regarded as a Christmas song, given its reference to the ‘hypocrisy’ of Christmas. To back this up, UB40 guitarist Robin Campbell said that the original idea for Food For Thought was an “anti-Christmas song about hypocrisy”.

The band’s trumpeter, Astro, also told Uncut magazine that: “The song was basically about the hypocrisy of celebrating Christmas in the West. We’re eating and drinking more than we need. There’s so much surplus food, while millions of Africans were dying of hunger due to famine and third-world poverty. It was shocking. Politicians are putting politics before people, leaving them to rely on charitable institutions. This was pre-Band-Aid.”

Recorded in a Birmingham bedsit, Food For Thought later became the first single to reach the UK top ten (peaking at number four) without having the backing of a major record company.

Desmond Dekker – Israelites

Desmond Dekker wrote "Israelites" after overhearing a couple arguing about money while walking in the park.

Dekker claimed the woman said she needed money, to which her partner replied that his job did not pay him enough. Dekker related to this and began to sing the line ‘You get up in the morning, and you’re slaving for bread’ to himself.

According to Dekker, by the time he got home from his walk, he had the complete lyrics for the song written in his head.

Throughout large parts of the 1960s, Jamaican Rastafarians were often marginalised, with many tempted into leading lives of crime. Lyrics in Israelites, such as ‘I don’t want to end up like Bonnie and Clyde’, show that, as well as being musically catchy, the song was also a subversive statement.

Israelites was originally released in Jamaica as ‘Poor Me Israelites’, and to this day, it remains the best-known Jamaican reggae track to make the Hot 100 top ten in the US.

Upon its release, despite few being able to understand the lyrics, the song topped the charts in several countries in 1969.

Give it a listen if you haven’t before – it’s guaranteed to get you moving.

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23 funny band names you’ll wish you came up with

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 12:00:00 Z

One of the toughest challenges musicians often face is choosing a band name.

A name alone can rocket a band to success or push them into obscurity. As such, many musicians spend hours poring over name ideas. But some artists take more of a light-hearted approach, coming up with funny band names that exceed most people’s imaginative capabilities.

Here, in alphabetical order, is a list of 23 funny band names—some of which we’re still trying to get our heads around, others we simply wish we’d come up with ourselves.

You don’t want to miss some of these.

Bowling For Soup

From: Wichita Falls, Texas

Years active: 1994 – present

Members: Jaret Reddick (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Burney (guitar, backing vocals), Erik Chandler (bass, backing vocals, acoustic guitar), Gary Wiseman (drums, percussion, backing vocals)

Genre: Pop-punk

Best known songs: Girl All The Bad Guys Want, High School Never Ends, 1985, Almost

Reason for name: Bowling For Soup’s name references comedian Steve Martin’s routine about a game show called “Bowling for Sh–.” However, fearing the repercussions of having a swear word in their name, the band opted for Bowling For Soup.

Camper Van Beethoven

From: Redlands, California

Years active: 1983 – 1990, 1999 – present

Members: David Lowery (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, bass, drums), Victor Krummenacher (bass, baritone guitar, vocals, occasional lead vocals), Jonathan Segel (violin, guitar, keyboards, sitar, mandolin, vocals, occasional lead vocals), Greg Lisher (lead guitar, backup vocals), Chris Pedersen (drums, backup vocals)

Genre: Alternative rock

Best known songs: Take The Skinheads Bowling, Pictures Of Matchstick, Eye Of Fatima, Good Guys And Bad Guys

Reason for name: Camper Van Beethoven was coined by one of the band’s former members, guitarist David McDaniel.

According to David Lowery: “McDaniel was into this stuff that would sound like it made sense, but really it didn’t… He’d watch a lot of TV, accept all this mass-media stuff and spit it out all chopped up. I got the whole absurdism influence from him.”

Congratulations on Your Decision to Become a Pilot

From: Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Years active: 1999 – 2001

Members: Unknown – however, someone on a forum said that the drummer was their “English professor in college”.

Genre: Alternative rock

Best known songs: Congratulations, Orange Impossible, Why Should You Read Books That Don’t Exist

Reason for name: A friend or family member of the band was passionate about aviation, perhaps? We have no idea! Still, as funny band names go—it’s up there.

Crispy Ambulance

From: Manchester

Years active: 1977 – 1982, 1999 – 2008, 2014 – present

Members: Alan Hempsall (vocals), Robert Davenport (guitar), Keith Darbyshire (bass), Gary Madeley (drums)

Genre: Post-punk

Best known songs: Deaf, From The Cradle To The Grave, Are You Ready?

Reason for name: As we discuss throughout this blog, friends often have integral roles to play in funny band names.

Alan Hempsall said in an interview: “A close friend (Graham, who did our first single sleeve) thought it up. He has a way with words, and I thought it was such a nondescript name (silly too) that we decided on it.

Also, at the time, every other band was called ‘the…’ (fill in blank space) whereas our name gave nothing away with regard to image, musical style etc., but at the time captured the imagination.”

Dananananaykroyd

From: Glasgow

Years active: 2006-2011

Members: Callum Gunn, John Baillie Junior (both vocals), Duncan Robertson, David Foy (both guitar), Ryan McGuinness (bass), Paul Bannon (drums)

Genre: Alternative rock

Best known songs: Black Wax, Some Dresses, Muscle Memory

Reason for name: As you may have guessed, the band’s name is a play on the name of Canadian actor Dan Aykroyd, star of Ghostbusters and The Blues Brothers.

Echo and the Bunnymen

From: Liverpool

Years active:1978 – 1993, 1996 – present

Members: Ian McCulloch (vocals, guitar), Will Sergeant (guitars, programming)

Genre: New wave

Best known songs: The Killing Moon, The Cutter, Lips Like Sugar, Nothing Lasts Forever

Reason for name: As Will Sergeant explained: “We had this mate who kept suggesting all these names like The Daz Men or Glisserol and the Fan Extractors. Echo and the Bunnymen was one of them. I thought it was just as stupid as the rest.”

Flowers Must Die

From: Linköping, Malmö

Years active: 2006 – present

Genre: Psychedelic rock

Best known songs: Hit, Kompost, Hey, Shut Up!

Reason for name: Flowers Must Die’s name comes from the 1972 song of the same name by Krautrock band Ash Ra Tempel. (For the record, we don’t endorse killing flowers).

Half Man Half Biscuit

From: Birkenhead

Years active: 1984 – 1986, 1990 – present

Members: Nigel Blackwell (vocals, guitar), Neil Crossley (vocals, bass), Karl Benson (guitar), Carl Henry (drums)

Genre: Post-punk

Best known songs: Joy Division Oven Gloves, Dickie Davies Eyes, The Trumpton Riots, Every Time A Bell Rings

Reason for name: According to Nostalgia Central, the inspiration behind Half Man Half Biscuit came from a comment made by fellow Liverpool band, Instant Agony.

They used the phrase ‘half man, half biscuit’ when describing King Charles III (then the Prince of Wales). Ouch!

Hoobastank

From: Agoura Hills, Los Angeles

Years active: 1994 – present

Members: Douglas Robb (lead vocals, guitar), Daniel “Dan” Estrin (lead guitar, backing vocals), Chris Hesse (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Jesse Charland (bass, keyboard, backing vocals)

Genre: Post-grunge

Best known songs: The Reason, Crawling In The Dark, Running Away, Out Of Control

Reason for name: The brother of lead singer Doug Robb stumbled upon the name while living in Germany.

According to Chris Hesse: “There is this street out by his house that is called Hooba Street or something like that, and before Doug could pronounce the name, he called it Hoobastank, and it was kinda a cute thing, and his brother still teases him about it to this day.”

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard

From: Melbourne

Years active: 2010 – present

Members: Stu Mackenzie (vocals, lead guitar, flute, keyboards, synthesizer, mellotron, bass guitar, sitar, zurna, clarinet, saxophone), Ambrose Kenny Smith (harmonica, keyboards, synthesizer, organ, vocals, percussion, guitar), Joey Walker (lead guitar, keyboards, synthesizer, vocals, bass guitar, sitar), Cook Craig (rhythm guitar, synthesizer, vocals, keyboards, bass guitar), Lucas Skinner (bass guitar, vocals, keyboards), Michael Cavanagh (drums, percussion), Eric Moore (drums, percussion, theremin, management)

Genre: Psychedelic rock

Best known songs: Rattlesnake, Gamma Knife, The River, Flying Microtonal Banana

Reason for name: Stu Mackenzie revealed that he wanted the name to be Gizzard Gizzard: “but I think everyone thought that was just stupid.

Then someone else wanted a Jim Morrison King Lizard reference, and then Lizard Gizzard came up, then more rhymes, then a few fusion of names, and we ended up King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.”

As they say, the rest is history.

Let’s Eat Grandma

From: Norwich

Years active: 2013 – present

Members: Rosa Walton, Jenny Hollingworth (both multi-instrumentalists)

Genre: Alt-pop

Best known songs: It’s Not Just Me, Hot Pink, Falling Into Me, Deep Six Textbook

Reason for name: As Rosa Walton explained: “It’s a joke about punctuation and about comma placement. You can have ‘Let’s eat, grandma,’ which means ‘Oh grandma, let’s go have dinner’. And then you take out the comma, and it becomes ‘let’s eat grandma’. We literally just picked it as a joke.”

Let’s Get Out Of This Terrible Sandwich Shop

From: Chicago

Years active: 2004 – unknown

Members: Tony Mendoza (vocals, drums, Farfisa), Joanna Buese (bass), Thea Lux (vocals, guitar)

Genre: Indie-pop

Best known songs: Hatchet

Reason for name: Unknown, but it probably had something to do with a trip to a sandwich shop which didn’t have enough good options on the menu.

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard

From: Wrexham

Years active: 2014 – present

Members: James ‘Carat’ Carrington (drums), Paul Davies (guitars), Wes Leon (guitar, synth), Jessica Ball (vocals, bass synths), Pete Edwards (bass), Ben Griffiths (live bass), Stuart Sinclair (live bass)

Genre: Doom metal

Best known songs: Y Proffwyd Dwyll, Cithuula, Les Paradis Artificiels, Nachthexen

Reason for name: The thinking behind Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard’s name is quite simple.

In the band’s words: “We just wanted to do a really heavy doom record and not try to be anything else. We thought the name reflected this. We needed a big name. The name means something to us, but yes, there are a lot of boring bands out there with boring names, so some people may think it’s a parody.”

Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head (later known as Brite Futures)

From: Seattle

Years active: 2005 – 2012

Members: Shaun Libman (vocals, cowbell, claps, tambourine, antics), Luke Smith (vocals, guitar, keyboard, drum programming, claps), David Price (keyboard, guitar, vocals, claps), Claire England (bass keyboard, vocals, claps), Conor Sisk (drums, vocals, claps)

Genre: Electronica

Best known songs: Me + Yr Daughter, Sophisticated Side Ponytail, Beard Lust, Hush Hush

Reason for name: The band’s name came about when Shaun Libman and Luke Smith were still in school. The pair decided on the name in reference to Portman’s physical appearance in the film V for Vendetta.

It’s certainly one of the most unusual band names out there, which is likely the reason behind them switching it to ‘Brite Futures’.

Paracoccidioidomicosisproctitissarcomucosis

From: Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico

Years active: 1999 – present

Members: Isaac (vocals, drums), Saúl (vocals), Francisco (vocals, bass), Roberto (guitar)

Genre: Grindcore

Best known songs: Zombies, Viscera Infestada, Into The Grave Of The Infection And The Lust

Reason for name: It’s probably no surprise that the world’s longest band name, ‘Paracoccidioidomicosisproctitissarcomucosis’, is not a real word.

The fictional word is apparently a medical term for “a weird disease that contaminates carcasses, making them explode while killing everyone in a two-kilometre radius”. A worthy entry in any unusual but funny band names listicle.

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs

From: Newcastle

Years active: 2012

Members: Matt Baty (vocals), Sam Grant (guitar), Adam Ian Sykes (guitar), Christopher Morley (drums), John-Michael Hedley (bass), Ewan Mackenzie (drums)

Genre: Psychedelic rock

Best known songs: Feed The Rats, Shockmaster, GNT, Cake Of Light

Reason for name: The band’s frontman Matt Baty revealed in an interview: “the name came from making music with a band on its last legs, which just wasn’t fun anymore. We just wanted to start a band that was fun. It’s a ridiculous name that I thought was a good fit.”

Rage Against The Machine

From: Los Angeles

Years active: 1991 – 2000, 2007 – 2011

Members: Zack de la Rocha (vocals), Tim Commerford (bass, backing vocals), Tom Morello (guitars), Brad Wilk (drums, percussion)

Genre: Rap rock/nu-metal

Best known songs: Killing in the Name, Testify, Sleep Now In The Fire, Bulls On Parade

Reason for name: The band stumbled upon its name after hearing a song which Zack de la Rocha had written for his former underground hardcore punk band Inside Out. Kent McClard, associated with Inside Out, had coined the phrase “rage against the machine” in a 1989 article in his zine ‘No Answers’.

Rats of Unusual Size

Years active: 1989 – 2004

From: New York

Members: Jim Fourniadis (vocals, guitar), Gary Mueller (vocals, guitar), Steve Reddy (vocals, bass), Fido Kennington (drums), Tom Cassar, Andy Pagel, Ed Strelecky, Mike Burns, Tim Flynn, Steve Bennett, Marc Sloan

Genre: Punk-rock

Best known songs: Elephant Man, Can’t Call You, Flipper is Dead

Reason for name: This group’s name was inspired by the 1987 fantasy adventure film ‘The Princess Bride’, in which Westley and co. encounter R.O.U.S.s (rodents of unusual size) in the fire swamps.

Research tells us that ‘rodents of unusual size’ hail from South America and look like a scary cross between a large rat and a beaver. Why you’d name your band after them, we’ve no idea!

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

From: Springfield, Missouri

Years active: 1999 – present

Members: Philip Dickey (vocals, drums, guitar, songwriting), Will Knauer (lead guitar, songwriting), Jonathan James (bass, drums, backing vocals), Tom Hembree (bass)

Genre: Indie pop

Best known songs: Think I Wanna Die, Modern Mystery, Sink/Let It Sway, Oregon Girl

Reason for name: Despite what some may think, the name Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin wasn’t intended as a political statement.

Instead, it was a tongue-in-cheek name created by a group of high school friends in tribute to the first President of Russia, who, in their words, ‘seemed like a good and decent man’.

However, the band has gained exceptional notoriety from its distinctive and humorous name, recently enjoying lunch with Yeltsin’s friends and translators and being named cultural ambassadors to Russia. As far as funny band names go, this one certainly paid off.

Test Icicles

From: London

Years active: 2004 – 2006

Members: Rory Attwell, Sam Mehran (both guitar and vocals), Devonte Hynes (guitar, keyboards and vocals)

Genre: Indie rock

Best known songs: Circle. Square. Triangle, Boa vs Python, What’s Your Damage

Reason for name: This rather unsubtle reference to the male reproductive gland was the idea of one of the band’s original members Ferry Gouw. However, if anything, it’s a much more creative title than the previous incumbent, which was simply… Balls. Either way, it’s funny.

The Birds Are Spies, They Report To The Trees

From: Oslo

Years active: 2004-2007

Members: Henning Kleiven, Kim Epsen Johansen, Kjetil Holstad

Genre: Emo-core

Best known songs: Adam Smith International, Ftrrm, A Song for Gera

Reason for name: Band member Henning Kleiven takes the credit for this one, although apparently, there were several name suggestions that almost made the cut—‘Cheap Beer’ being one of them.

In an interview in 2007, just before the band split, Henning said: “It [the name] was to do with Allen Ginsburg and drugs. I thought I was being clever, but in retrospect, it may have come across as a bit pretentious. Luckily, our music is pretty down to Earth.”

For those that don’t know—Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and writer. We reckon his poem-come-song ‘Birdbrain’ may have something to do with this band name.

The Lonely Biscuits

From: Nashville

Years active: 2011 – present

Members: Grady Wenrich (vocals, guitar), Nick Byrd (bass), Sam Gidley (drums)

Genre: Alternative rock

Best known songs: Pacifica, Talk About, Chasing Echoes, Blue Grass

Reason for name: Originally called Gravy and the Biscuits, the band faced potential legal action because of this moniker. This prompted the band’s members to change its name to The Lonely Biscuits.

Toad the Wet Sprocket

Years active: 1986 – present

From: Santa Barbara, California

Members: Glen Phillips, Todd Nichols, Dean Dinning, Randy Guss

Genre: Alternative rock

Best known songs: All I Want, Walk On The Ocean, Fall Down, Something’s Always Wrong

Reason for name: Toad the Wet Sprocket’s name is derived from a Monty Python comedy sketch called “Rock Notes”, in which a journalist delivers a nonsensical music news report. It’s certainly at the niche end of the funny band name spectrum.

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The 10 best Eurovision songs that didn’t win

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 11:37:00 Z

Have you ever wondered what makes a Eurovision song a massive hit? Sometimes it’s not just about winning but rather the unadulterated passion an artist puts into a song that keeps it relevant through the years.

The Eurovision song contest is well known for its production value, interesting lyrics, and eccentricity, which keeps viewers coming back year after year.

Some of the most memorable Eurovision songs didn’t win, but the performance, the lyrics, the beat, or all of the above leave an impression on viewers long after the contest is over.

Take ABBA, for example. They entered “Ring Ring” into the 1973 competition and didn’t win, yet they’re still at the height of superstardom more than 50 years later.

We’ve rounded up the best Eurovision songs that didn’t win ahead of this year’s competition as a reminder that your favourite entry doesn’t necessarily have to win to become iconic.

1. “Ring Ring” by ABBA, Sweden (1973)

It’s not technically a Eurovision song, but it did come third in the 1973 Melodifestivalen, an annual Swedish song competition that determines the nation’s Eurovision Song Contest entry.

ABBA’s rise to global fame after they won the 1974 competition with “Waterloo” makes it too good not to mention. They started a pop revolution and became one of the best-selling bands of all time.

It might not be a “Dancing Queen” or “Mamma Mia!”, but “Ring Ring” is still regarded as one of the most famous Eurovision songs, and it’s undeniably catchy.

Where are they now? This will likely come as no surprise to you but, after a 34-year hiatus, ABBA returned for their Voyage tour which ran until January 2025.

1973 winner: “Tu Te Reconnaîtras” by Anne-Marie David, Luxembourg

2. “Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu (Volare)” by Domenico Modungo, Italy (1958)

Many of the best Eurovision songs pre-70s fade into obscurity, as there are so many new additions each year. But this one has only grown in popularity, being covered by the likes of Dean Martin and David Bowie.

Despite not winning, it was Billboard’s No.1 single of the year in 1958 and went down in history as the first song to win Song of the Year at the first-ever Grammy Awards.

Where are they now? Modungo went on to represent Italy multiple times in the Eurovision Song Contest and even had one of his songs covered by Elvis Presley.

He found success as a musician and actor, acting in an impressive 44 movies before his death in 1994.

1958 winner: “Dors, Mon Amour” by André Claveau, France

3. “Moustache” by Twin Twin, France (2014)

It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years since a group of French men almost stole the show singing about moustaches.

On the surface, it’s nothing more than a fun pop song. But if you pay attention to the lyrics, you’ll notice it makes a statement about the effects of consumerism on modern life.

It may have finished last in the 2014 final, but its catchy nature and vibrant music video made it a favourite with viewers, and it’s still just as addictive today.

Where are they now? Twin Twin have largely faded into obscurity in recent years, and they haven’t released any new singles since 2019.

2014 winner: “Rise Like a Phoenix” by Conchita Wurst, Austria

4. “One Step Out of Time” by Michael Ball, UK (1992)

If the title doesn’t make it obvious, this runner-up from 1992 was an 80s-inspired ballad about the singer pining after a former lover. Perhaps this is why it was so popular with an audience high on cheesy hits.

“One Step Out of Time” was a pre-competition favourite, but it lost to “Why Me?” by 16 points during the final.

Still, it’s one of the best Eurovision songs in our eyes, mostly thanks to the powerful vocals and irresistible synth-pop sound.

Where are they now? A veteran of British theatre, Michael Ball’s most recent album 'Glow' is set for release in early 2026.

The singer, actor, and presenter also added author to that list in 2022, with his latest book, The Backstage Betrayal, released in 2024.

1992 winner: “Why Me?” by Linda Martin, Ireland

5. “Just a Little Bit” by Gina G, UK (1996)

Every 90s kid knows this one from their school discos, and it still frequents many wedding playlists in the UK. It’s one of those nostalgic hits that has stood the test of time and is certainly one of the best Eurovision songs that didn’t win due to its ability to stick around.

“Just a Little Bit” is also the fourth-highest charting Eurovision song in the US. It’s rare for songs from the competition to hit the charts in America—the latest to do so was “Arcade” by Dutch singer Duncan Laurence, the winning 2019 entry.

Where are they now? After taking part in Eurovision, Gina G released multiple other UK hits in the 90s.

By the end of the 00s, she had moved to LA and stepped away from the spotlight to start her own record label (Stuntgirl Music), now dissolved.

1996 winner: “The Voice” by Eimear Quinn, Ireland

6. “Dancing Lasha Tumbai” by Verka Serduchka, Ukraine (2007)

One of the more eccentric entries the competition has seen, “Dancing Lasha Tumbai”, is one of the most famous Eurovision songs in existence. The iconic live performance from Helsinki still circulates on social media today.

Sadly, the song came in second place during the 2007 competition, losing to “Molitva” by Serbian singer Marija Šerifović. But it featured in the 2015 film Spy during a chase scene with leading actress Melissa McCarthy—not many Eurovision songs have that claim to fame!

Where are they now? Verka Serduchka was on tour as recently as 2023 and has been a judge both on the Ukrainian X Factor and at Vidbir (Ukraine’s National Selection for the Eurovision Song Contest).

They’re still very active on social media and performed a revised version of their song, now titled “Dancing Russia Goodbye” at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, which was held in Liverpool due to the war in Ukraine.

2007 winner: “Molitva” by Marija Šerifović, Serbia

7. “Spirit in the Sky” by KEiiNO, Norway (2019)

This song landed its place on our list of the best Eurovision songs that didn’t win for its spellbinding lyrics and catchy nature.

It has an 80s disco sound with a folk twist and certainly has the air of a winning song, so it placed first in the televote that year. It finished in sixth place overall, which feels like a crime, and “Spirit in the Sky” reached #2 on Spotify’s Global Viral Chart following the competition.

Where are they now? KEiiNO is still releasing music and touring today. Their song Damdiggida, released in 2024, has already reached more than 2.5m streams on Spotify.

2019 winner: “Arcade” by Duncan Laurence, The Netherlands

8. “Dark Side” by Blind Channel, Finland (2021)

Reminiscent of Evanescence and Linkin Park, this is one of the most famous Eurovision songs of recent years, amassing chart success in multiple countries following the competition.

It finished in sixth place but was nominated at the 2021 Global Metal Apocalypse Awards and helped the band land their first record deal with Sony Music.

Where are they now? Blind Channel is still releasing music, and you’ll love their 2022 single "Bad Idea" if you enjoyed their Eurovision entry.

2021 winner: “Zitti E Buoni” by Måneskin, Italy

9. “Space Man” by Sam Ryder, UK (2022)

We couldn’t create a list of the best Eurovision songs that didn’t win without including this one.

It’s the highest-charting UK entry since the Gina G hit we mentioned earlier and was the best-selling song in the country by the end of 2022.

Unashamedly inspired by Elton John’s “Rocket Man” and Bowie’s “Space Oddity”, the song carries the torch forward by adding a contemporary twist to the theme of a lonely space traveller.

It was a favourite with viewers but narrowly lost to Ukrainian group Kalush Orchestra with their entry, “Stefania!”.

Sam Ryder valiantly discussed coming in second place by saying, “They needed to win that. They were always going to win that. It’s so important that we use the platform of Eurovision to celebrate solidarity and to shine light into darkness.”

Where are they now? Since his Eurovision debut, Ryder became the first Eurovision act to be nominated for Best New Artist at the Brit Awards. He released his second studio album Heartless in 2025.

2022 winner: “Stefania” by Kalush Orchestra, Ukraine

10. “Think About Things” by Daoi Freyr, Iceland (2020)

Before Freyr’s song had a chance to win, the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest was cancelled due to Covid. The futuristic electropop song was not entered again the next year but was the favourite to win before the pandemic cut things short.

Where are they now? Freyr is still releasing music and his Eurovision entry “Think About Things” has now amassed nearly 150 million streams on Spotify.

2020 winner: N/A

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12 winter songs that aren’t about Christmas

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 08:00:00 Z

Every winter, many households have the same debate around when is too early to begin watching Christmas films, listening to Christmas songs, and putting up decorations. Some even think it’s bad luck! Thankfully, for those who want to enjoy the winter season without overdoing it on the Christmas festivities, there are plenty of winter songs that aren’t about Christmas at all.

The best non-Christmas winter songs

We’ve made an effort to include a range of genres in this list, so that there’s a good selection of winter songs for everyone to enjoy.

1. Northern Attitude - Noah Kahan ft Hozier

“If the sun don't rise
'Til the summertime
Forgive my northern attitude
Oh, I was raised on little light.”

Noah Kahan shot to mainstream stardom in 2022 with the release of his album Stick Season, on which the song Northern Attitude features. Several of Kahan’s songs could have made it into this list, as many have a distinctly wintery feeling about them, including the album covers!

It’s thought that Northern Attitude refers to the tendency to shy away from relationships, with the references to winter being a comparison between the cold weather of Kahan’s hometown and a sense of isolation. Check out Kahan’s album Stick Season (Forever) for some bonus tracks where he’s collaborated with some of the biggest names in the music industry today, such as Post Malone and Sam Fender.

2. Colder Weather - Zac Brown Band

“He said, I want to see you again
But I'm stuck in colder weather
Maybe tomorrow will be better
Can I call you then?”

If you’re a fan of country music, Colder Weather by Zac Brown Band is a great choice to add to your winter songs playlist. Zac Brown Band are a three-time Grammy award winning group with multiple tracks that have reached certified platinum (awarded when a single has sold more than 2 million copies), and Colder Weather is no exception.

In an interview with Holler, Clay Cook who co-wrote the song with Zac Brown said, “It gives me chills just thinking about when we recorded Colder Weather, everybody knew that was a really good song. That’s an age-proof, timeless song… It feels like we did something that’s going to have an effect.”

The song, from their album You Get What You Give, tells the story of a travelling musician that’s left behind someone they love during the winter.

3. December 1963 (Oh, what a night) - The Four Seasons

“Oh, what a night
Late December back in sixty-three
What a very special time for me
As I remember, what a night.”

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons are a highly successful quartet from the '60s and '70s. If you don’t recognise the name, Franki Valli sang the title theme for the hit musical Grease! For this song, however, Don Ciccone sang lead vocals to create a clear differentiation between the music of The Four Seasons and the music that Frankie Valli was releasing as a solo artist.

Originally, the song was going to be called ‘December 5^th,1933’, in reference to the end of Prohibition in the US. However, this idea was thrown out in favour of making the song about a man’s first experience of romance with a woman instead. Admittedly, the only wintery part of this song is the fact that the story is set in December, but we think it should still qualify.

4. Snow on the Beach - Taylor Swift

“And it's like snow at the beach
Weird but f***in' beautiful
Flying in a dream, stars by the pocketful
You wanting me tonight feels impossible
But it's comin' down, no sound, it's all around
Like snow on the beach.”

Snow on the Beach from Taylor Swift’s 2022 album Midnights is about the surreal feeling of falling in love with someone who feels the same way, comparing it to the sight of snow falling on a beach. Taylor is one of the world’s bestselling music artists and already has a huge amount of music awards under her belt in her thirties.

If you’re looking for more songs by Taylor with an autumn/winter feeling, her albums Folklore and Evermore fit perfectly.

5. Wolves of Winter - Biffy Clyro

“You stink of hallelujah
But you wash yourself in sin
Well have you seen her?
This heavenly creature
This is the point we have the choice to survive the winter.”

Biffy Clyro are a Scottish rock band with an interesting story behind how they got their name. Singer Simon Neil told Spin Magazine, “When Ben and I were 13 and bored in our little Scottish town of Ayr, we'd think up imaginary Cliff Richard merch products… we thought about making Cliff Richard Biro pens. We'd call them Cliffy Biros. Somehow that turned into Biffy Clyro.”

In an interview with NME, the band described Wolves of Winter as a song that represents their attitude towards everyone who didn’t think they would be successful as musicians, personifying themselves as wolves that have survived the winter by fighting off adversity. If you need a song to motivate you to get through the colder months, Wolves of Winter is it.

6. California Dreamin' - The Mamas and the Papas

“All the leaves are brown
And the sky is gray
I've been for a walk
On a winter's day.”

Next on our list of winter songs is The Mamas and the Papas’ first hit single, California Dreamin’. From the point of view of someone missing the warmer climate of LA whilst experiencing a freezing winter in New York; California Dreamin’ was released in 1966 and perfectly describes the experience of dreaming of the summer sun as winter weather rolls in.

7. November Rain - Guns and Roses

“Nothin' lasts forever
And we both know hearts can change
And it's hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain.”

A song that was years in the making, this Guns and Roses power ballad became the most requested music video on MTV at the time of its release. November Rain discusses the ever-changing emotions of romantic relationships and explores the theme of loss. If you’re in the mood for an emotional ballad to listen to on the colder nights, November Rain definitely fits the bill.

8. Landslide - Fleetwood Mac

“I took my love, I took it down
Climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills
'Til the landslide brought me down.”

No playlist is complete without including one of the best British bands of all time: Fleetwood Mac. Stevie Nicks wrote Landslide whilst living in Aspen, where she really was looking out at ‘snow-covered hills’ and resolving not to give up on her dreams of becoming a successful singer and musician. The song’s lyrics talk about the constant challenges of life, but there are multiple theories regarding what it’s about specifically. Some say the song is about Nicks’ relationship with her father, while others believe it’s about her relationship with her then-partner Lyndsey Buckingham.

Either way, the imagery conveyed in the song makes it a great addition to our winter songs list, with a powerful message about overcoming the constant changes we experience throughout life.

9. Valley Winter Song - Fountains of Wayne

“And the snow is coming down
On our New England town
And it's been falling all day long
What else is new, what could I do
I wrote a valley winter song
To play for you.”

Valley Winter Song features on the Fountains of Wayne 2003 album called Welcome Interstate Managers. You’ll most likely recognise them from their pop-rock hit Stacy’s Mom from the same album, which has since become an indie classic.

Valley Winter Song describes the sadness that many experience whilst having to stay shut inside for much of the winter months, but the person singing is writing a song to try and raise the spirits of the girl he’s talking to, even while the cold, dark nights are affecting him too.

Chris Collingwood, the lead singer of the band, revealed in an interview in 2011 that the song was heavily influenced by his experience with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), which can cause feelings of low mood throughout the winter. This song makes it into our winter songs list as it reminds us to look after ourselves and each other at a time of year that can be isolating for many.

10. Winter Winds - Mumford and Sons

“As the winter winds litter London with lonely hearts
Oh, the warmth in your eyes swept me into your arms
Was it love or fear of the cold that led us through the night?
For every kiss, your beauty trumped my doubt.”

The indie folk band Mumford and Sons released their album Sigh No More in 2009, containing hits such as Winter Winds, The Cave, and Little Lion Man. The use of vintage and traditional folk instruments such as the mandolin and banjo gives Mumford and Sons a classic country-folk sound, which you can hear in full force on Winter Winds.

The song describes a relationship which has become a losing battle, as the girl in the song makes repeated attempts to save it, whilst the singer has already checked out. The winter-based descriptions are utilised in the song to describe a relationship that’s turned cold or has run its course.

11. To Someone from a Warm Climate (Uiscefhuaraithe) – Hozier

“A joy, hard learned in winter was the warming of the bed
You'd shake for minutes there and move your legs
Wrap the blanket over you and keep your head within
Let your breath heat the air until you'd feel it getting thin.”

Since Hozier’s debut single Take Me to Church, he’s had four of his albums reach the UK Billboard’s Top 10. In his songs, Hozier often discusses important topics around religion, politics, and social issues.

To Someone from a Warm Climate is a song that describes the many changes that being in love can bring to someone’s life, using the contrast between warm and cold climates as a comparison. You may be wondering what ‘Uiscefhuaraithe’ means, which is Irish for ‘something that has been chilled by water’, echoing the opening line, “The feel of coldness only water brings.” The line is an attempt to describe the unfamiliar and surprising sensation of falling in love, like being splashed with cold water.

12. Sweater Weather - The Neighbourhood

“'Cause it's too cold
For you here
And now, so let me hold
Both your hands in the holes of my sweater”

Last on our list of winter songs is Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood. Sweater Weather has become a bisexual anthem since its release in 2013, as the lyrics do not disclose any gender for the subject of the song. The lyrics create a contrast between the warmth and comfort offered by a relationship and the cold weather of winter, making an excellent song to listen to while you’re warm inside watching the rain fall.

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The 13 best music producers of all time

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 12:00:00 Z

For all the credit a band or musician gets for releasing a critically acclaimed record, the driving force behind the record is often the producer. The best music producers are the innovators; the risk-takers; the visionaries that bring ideas to life and etch them into musical history.

In no particular order, we’ve selected the 13 best music producers to have ever graced the planet.

The best producers of all time

1. Rick Rubin

Rick Rubin defines the term ‘innovator’. He helped popularise hip-hop in the 1980s, co-founding Def Jam Records and working with artists like Run DMC, the Beastie Boys, and Public Enemy.

His ability to think outside the box has seen him produce for some of the biggest names in music – from Tom Petty and Metallica to Kanye West and the Dixie Chicks.

Rubin’s impact on music is such that, in 2007, he was listed in a poll by Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People In The World. Now that’s pretty influential.

2. Dr Dre

Dr Dre is one of the few figures in music whose work as a producer is just as renowned as their previous artistic career.

His early work with N.W.A and solo rap career alone makes him one of the most seminal musicians of the last 30 years. However, more recently, he’s arguably become better known for his business acumen.

Not only does he spearhead the Beats Electronics brand, but he’s also the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment – the label which has paved the way for Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent, to name just a few.

And we guarantee you won’t find many people that haven’t heard Still D.R.E.!

3. Sir George Martin

For anyone who isn’t aware, Sir George Martin masterminded the Beatles’ rise to global stardom, producing such iconic albums as Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (all of which made the top five).

It’s incredible to think that he was underwhelmed by The Beatles when they first auditioned for him!

Aside from his work with The Beatles, Martin also produced albums for the likes of Cheap Trick and Jeff Beck. He sadly passed away in March 2016, but his legacy lives long in the memory.

4. Nile Rodgers

How could we write a blog about the best music producers without mentioning the one and only Nile Rodgers?

Rodgers, the co-founder of Chic, has some pretty impressive numbers on his CV. He’s written and produced records selling more than 500 million albums and 75 million singles worldwide, working alongside Bernard Edwards to produce classic Chic hits such as Everybody Dance.

Chic’s music is said to be a key component in the rise of hip-hop, with Daft Punk citing them as a major influence – so the wider impact of Rodgers’ work is certainly not to be underestimated.

5. Quincy Jones

As far as credentials go, Quincy Jones certainly has a few as a producer. During his illustrious career, he’s received 79 Grammy Award nominations and won 28 for his production work. Oh, and he produced Michael Jackson’s albums Off The Wall, Thriller, and Bad – no big deal.

Showing that he’s a true jack of all trades when it comes to musical production, Jones has also produced scores for films, including Banning, In Cold Blood, and The Italian Job.

Jones’ work on Banning saw him become the joint first African American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song (alongside songwriting partner Bob Russell).

6. Martin Hannett

Ask anyone who’s au fait with the Manchester music scene about Martin Hannett, and he’ll be heralded as an icon. During his career, Hannett produced albums for Joy Division, Happy Mondays, New Order, and John Cooper Clarke.

It’s widely believed that, without Hannett’s capabilities as a producer, Joy Division would have been just another late 70’s post-punk band. But, as it turned out, Hannett’s use of incorporated looping technology and drum sounds mixed with synthesisers gave the group’s songs their iconic dark undertones.

Hannett sadly died in 1991, and on his headstone in Manchester Southern Cemetery, he is fittingly dubbed ‘Record Producer And Creator Of The Manchester Sound’.

7. John Leckie

Another producer familiar with the Manchester music heads is John Leckie.

He began his career in the 70s, working with legendary artists such as John Lennon, George Harrison, and Syd Barrett, before becoming the balance engineer for Pink Floyd’s albums Meddle and Wish You Were Here.

In more recent years, he became synonymous with Manchester, after producing the Stone Roses’ iconic self-titled debut album in 1989.

Leckie also worked on the Roses’ second album Second Coming, Radiohead’s second album The Bends, and Cast’s debut album All Change. Now that’s a back catalogue worth mentioning.

More recently, he has worked with bands such as Muse and the Levellers.

8. Steve Albini

Steve Albini has many strings to his bow (or guitar). As well as being a nifty guitarist himself, he’s also a well-known producer, audio engineer, and music journalist.

During his recording career, Albini has worked with artists such as Nirvana, Pixies, the Breeders, and PJ Harvey.

His experience and loyalty to his artists is exemplary – although the exact number is uncertain, Albini believes he’s worked on several thousand albums throughout his career. However, he refuses to accept ongoing royalties for any of them, stating that it’s ‘unethical’ to pay a producer as though they’ve contributed to a record artistically.

This humble, down-to-earth attitude epitomises Albini (even if we think he’s guilty of false modesty)!

9. Linda Perry

If anyone lives and breathes music, it’s Linda Perry.

Perry was the lead singer and songwriter for American alternative rock group 4 Non Blondes – interestingly, the group only ever released one studio album; Bigger, Better, Faster, More!

After leaving the group in 1994, Perry went on to form not one but TWO record labels, producing songs for Pink, Christina Aguilera, and Gwen Stefani.

In 2015, she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for her services to the music industry. You can’t receive many greater endorsements of your musical ability.

10. Susan Rogers

After growing up in southern California, Susan Rogers’ interest in music first spiked when she moved to the bright lights of Hollywood in the 70s.

While working as a receptionist at the University of Sound Arts, she was increasingly surrounded by ‘musical types’. Her interactions with these people later inspired her to become a sound engineer and record producer herself.

Rogers’ most notable achievement as a producer is, undoubtedly, working as an engineer for Prince during the 80s.

She worked on iconic albums such as Purple Rain, Around the World in a Day, Parade, and Sign o’ the Times. You can watch her talk about her experiences of working with Prince in the video above.

Today, Rogers is also an associate music production and engineering professor at Berklee College of Music, Massachusetts. She won the Outstanding Contribution to UK Music trophy at the Music Producers Guild Awards 2021.

11. Brian Eno

Brian Eno shot to fame as one of the founding members of glam rock group Roxy Music and went on to have a distinguished solo career (with the minimalistic Music For Airports one of his most famous works).

However, he’s arguably best known for his innovative recording techniques as a music producer and is seen as one of the founding members of progressive rock music.

In between performing, Eno has produced songs for artists including David Bowie, David Byrne, U2, and Coldplay.

12. Sam Phillips

Although he’s sadly no longer with us, rock ‘n’ roll would not have evolved into the genre it is today without Sam Phillips. When he opened Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee in 1950, he couldn’t have foreseen the integral role it would play in redefining contemporary music.

Phillips discovered and developed many country and blues musicians from his studio – Sun Records was the first company to record Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Indeed, Phillips is often credited with launching Presley’s career and bringing African American-inspired music to a wider audience.

In recognition of his contribution to music, Phillips is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, and has also received a Grammy Trustees Award.

13. Berry Gordy

It says something about the scale of Berry Gordy’s achievements as a producer that his record label is more commonly referred to as a genre than a business. He couldn’t have imagined in his wildest dreams what lay ahead when he founded Motown in Detroit in 1959.

His Tamla sound, a type of soul with a distinct pop influence, became synonymous with the biggest African American names in music.

Between 1961 and 1971, the artists on Gordy’s label included the Supremes, the Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye. Put simply, Gordy shaped African American music forever.

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Song ideas: 50 songwriting prompts to give you inspiration

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 12:00:00 Z

Whether you're staring at a blank notebook or endlessly strumming the same three chords, we've all been there – desperate for a spark of inspiration. If you're just starting out in the music world and wondering how to get an idea for a song, you're not alone. Finding song ideas isn't always easy, but don't worry, we've got you covered.

In this guide, we have 50 songwriting prompts and ideas for songs to help get your creative juices flowing. We'll also share some tips on fine-tuning your song lyric ideas and where to find inspiration when you're running low. Whether you're writing pop, indie, folk, or something in between, these ideas for lyrics for a song will help kickstart your next banger.

Where do song ideas come from?

First things first: How do I get an idea for a song? Honestly, inspiration can come from anywhere – your own experiences, things you've overheard, a strange dream you had, or even the weather (yep, really).

Think of these songwriting prompts as your creative companions. They won't do the work for you, but they'll get the ball rolling.

Songwriting prompts

Here’s a list of songwriting prompts grouped into themes. Pick one that jumps out, set a timer for 15 minutes, and just write, no pressure, no perfection needed.

Love and heartbreak

Let's be honest; this theme never goes out of style. From soaring ballads to tearjerkers, here are some go-to ideas for a song about love:

The moment you realised it was over, but you stayed anyway
A love letter you never sent
Falling for someone completely wrong for you
Missing someone you never really knew
Loving someone from a distance
Saying goodbye when you don't want to

Self discovery

Songs about inner battles and breakthroughs hit deep. Here are some song lyric ideas to explore your personal journey:

The voice in your head that won't stop talking
Rebuilding after hitting rock bottom
A letter to your younger self
How it feels when anxiety takes over
What freedom means to you now
Letting go of someone else's expectations

The world and society

Want to write something with a message? Try these songwriting prompts:

Watching the world change and not knowing your place in it
A protest song for something you believe in
The moment you realised your opportunity
A song inspired by a current event or news story
Your fears for future generations
The power of community and connection

Fantasy and imagination

Let your imagination run wild. These ideas for lyrics for a song are perfect for anyone with a vivid inner world:

A conversation with a ghost
Living in a world of emotions
Falling in love with a dream
Waking up as someone else for a day
A mythical creature's lullaby

Seasons and weather

You might be surprised how much inspiration you can get from the world around you. Writing songs about winter or summer can be just as moving.

A song inspired by your favourite season
Dancing in the rain with someone you love
Feeling stuck during a grey winter
The first day of spring after a long, hard year
The heat of summer and the fun it brings
Watching leaves fall and thinking of someone who’s gone

Journeys and escapism

Everyone loves a good road trip or escape from reality. These are great for that driving-with-the-windows-down energy:

Leaving town with nothing but a backpack and a dream
Getting lost on purpose
A place you’ve never been but dream about constantly
Returning home after years away
Running from something you can’t face

Friendship and connection

Songs about friends don’t get enough love. These prompts tap into friendship and unspoken love:

The friend who stuck by you when no one else did
Growing apart from someone you used to be inseparable from
A night out you’ll never forget
A tribute to your chosen family
The moment you realised someone truly saw you

Nostalgia and memory

Perfect for those slow, reflective songs with a cinematic vibe:

A childhood memory that still haunts you
Your first heartbreak
The last time something felt truly magical
A song inspired by an old photo
Revisiting a place that once meant everything
A life-changing holiday

Dreams

For those trippy, offbeat lyric vibes that break from the expected:

A recurring dream that doesn’t make sense
Waking up in a parallel universe
A memory that might not be real
Seeing yourself through someone else’s eyes
Living in a new world

Tips for coming up with your own song ideas

Got the prompts but still feeling stuck? Here are a few simple ways to come up with your own ideas for songs when your mind is blank:

Keep a lyric journal: Write down interesting phrases, thoughts, or things you overhear. You never know what might spark a great line.
Use a random word generator: Pick three random words and write a song that includes them. It’s weird, but weird works.
Flip a cliché: Take a well-worn phrase ("time heals all wounds") and give it a new spin ("time has left scars on me").
Watch or read something new: Books, films, and even headlines can give you a fresh perspective. Misheard lyrics can even be a starting point.
Collaborate with others: Sometimes, bouncing ideas off another musician or even just chatting about life can unlock fresh ideas.

Don’t forget the basics

If you're just getting started with songwriting, make sure you've got the basics down. If you haven't yet found the right sound for you, try out some beginner instruments, or carry out some research into becoming a singer and what opportunities are available in your area.

And if you're dreaming about a music career, this post on how to become a singer is a great place to start.

The best song ideas come from you

Here's the truth: the best song ideas aren't about reinventing the wheel. They're about telling your story in your voice. You've got something worth saying, whether it's heartbreak, joy, nostalgia, anger, or confusion. Trust that.

Use these prompts as starting points, not rules. And remember, even if a song feels messy or unfinished, it's still progress. The more you write, the better you get.

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The 9 best bass guitars: All budgets and skill levels

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 11:00:00 Z

Choosing your next bass guitar can be an exciting yet overwhelming experience, especially with the many options available. Whether you're a seasoned bassist or a beginner, finding an instrument that matches your budget and skill level is important.

In this guide, we'll explore the best bass guitars across various price points and look at the reputable brands available in the UK. We'll also discuss key things to consider when choosing your perfect bass.

What to look for in the best bass guitar

Before we look at models, let's cover a few basics. Shopping for a bass isn't just about flashy colours and cool headstocks (though we love that too) – it's about how it feels, sounds, and fits you. Here's what to keep in mind:

1. Scale length

Most standard basses are 34" scale, which gives you a tight low-end and good string tension. Short-scale basses (like the Fender Mustang) are easier for beginners or smaller players to handle.

2. Neck shape and comfort

If you've got smaller hands, look for a slim neck profile. Ibanez, for example, is known for its slim and fast necks. If you prefer a chunkier, vintage feel, Fender's Precision Basses (P-Basses) might be more your style.

3. Pickups and electronics

Pickups define your tone. Here are the common ones:

Split Single-Coil (like on P-Basses): Thick, punchy, and perfect for rock.
Dual Single-Coils (Jazz Basses): More tonal flexibility with brighter highs.
Humbuckers: Often louder with more bass response—great for heavier genres.

4. Wood and build quality

Bass guitars use different woods to shape tone. Alder and ash are good for balanced tones, while mahogany adds warmth.

The best bass guitar brands

Shopping for a bass? The good news is, there’s loads of choice. Here are the most popular brands of bass guitars.

Fender

Everyone has heard of Fender. If you want timeless tone and design, the Fender Precision Bass (P-Bass) and Jazz Bass (J-Bass) are staples. They are perfect for pros and ambitious beginners alike.

Squier (by Fender)

Ideal for beginners or anyone on a budget. The Squier Classic Vibe series punches way above its price range. This is your brand if you want that Fender vibe without breaking the bank.

Ibanez

Ibanez basses are lightweight with slim necks, perfect for fast playing and versatility. They're great for beginners and advanced players.

Yamaha

Yamaha means great quality. Their TRBX series is reliable, affordable, and sounds fantastic straight out of the box.

Epiphone

Great for rock and heavier genres, the Epiphone Thunderbird is iconic and won’t drain your wallet.

Rickenbacker

Want that classic '60s/‘70s growl that’s instantly recognisable? The Rickenbacker 4003 might just be your dream bass. But be ready to invest.

Music Man/Sterling

The StingRay is ideal for funk, rock, and more. Sterling by Music Man offers a more affordable line without sacrificing too much quality.

Best bass guitars by budget

Whether you're after your first bass or finally ready to splash out, here’s something for everyone.

Best beginner bass guitars (Under £300)

1. Squier Affinity Precision PJ Bass

Price: £219

Solid all-rounder with both P and J pickups.
Classic look, super beginner-friendly.
Great value for money.

2. Ibanez GSR200

Price: £225

Slim neck, lightweight body, and active EQ for extra tone shaping.
One of the most recommended beginner basses for a reason.

3. Yamaha TRBX174

Price: £225

Super durable with a comfy design.
Great tone range for different styles.

If you’re a beginner and you’re new to caring for your guitar, make sure you learn how to replace its strings.

Best mid-range bass guitars (£300–£700)

1. Squier Classic Vibe '60s Jazz Bass

Price: £379.00

Vintage style with modern reliability.
Loads of tone options with its dual single-coil pickups.

2. Fender Player Series Jazz or Precision Bass

Price: £549.00

Sounds and feels pro-level.
A favourite for gigging musicians on a budget.

3. Sterling by Music Man Ray4

Price: £429.00

Inspired by the legendary StingRay.
Offers a classic feel and playability.

If you’re heading to gigs, make sure you carry out some research into how to keep your equipment safe on tour and while travelling internationally.

Best pro-level bass guitars (£700 and up)

1. Fender American Professional II Precision Bass

Price: £1,819.00

Classic tone, impeccable craftsmanship, and reliable electronics.
An instrument for serious musicians.

2. Rickenbacker 4003

Price: £2,799.00

Distinct look and sound, great for rock, and metal.
A pricey investment, but totally worth it if you want something unique.

3. Gibson Thunderbird

Price: £1,555

Gorgeous to look at, with deep tones and a killer rock presence.
Great for those who want something different from the Fender crowd.

Whatever bass you choose, remember to pick up a comfortable guitar strap; your back will thank you.

Bonus tips for learning and playing bass

Learning never stops if you're just starting out, or even if you've been playing for years. Thankfully, there's some great technology to help.

To get started, try using some guitar learning apps that also support bass, from tab libraries to full-blown interactive lessons.

If you're struggling to stay motivated, you can learn songs you love, jam along with backing tracks, or even record yourself.

What’s the best bass guitar?

The best bass guitar is the one that makes you want to play more. Whether it's a £300 Squier or a £3,000 Rickenbacker, your connection to the instrument matters most. Try different models, talk to other musicians, and don't rush the decision. And remember, even pro players started with budget gear. It's not about the price tag; it's about the music you make with it.

Specialist musician insurance through Insure4Music

Whichever bass guitar you choose, you may want to protect yourself through specialist instrument insurance. With instrument insurance through Insure4Music, you can protect your new guitar from theft, loss, or damage.

Learn more about specialist musician insurance, or get a quick quote online today.

The 6 most common guitar injuries

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 11:00:00 Z

We’ve all heard the saying ‘no pain, no gain’—and it’s safe to say playing the guitar can come with its fair share of pain. However, some guitar injuries are more painful than they’re worth, especially if they prevent you from playing for a while.

In this blog, we’ll look at some of the most common guitar injuries, how they occur, and, more importantly, how to avoid them.

What are the most common guitar-related injuries?

1. Blisters

They’re not the most serious guitar-related injury, but blisters on the fingertips are still a hurdle many guitarists must overcome, especially when first starting out.

The skin on our fingertips is naturally soft and fleshy. When it repeatedly rubs against the rough surface of a guitar string, the top layers of skin can wear away, which leads to blisters.

To avoid blisters (or any open wounds or finger pain, for that matter), allow your fingers adequate rest between practice sessions, or try to avoid pressing down too hard on the fretboard while playing.

Nylon strings can also be more forgiving than other materials, such as steel, whilst your skin adapts to playing the guitar.

Unfortunately, there’s no real way to avoid blisters completely—all guitarists experience them at some point—but what’s important is that you let them heal between sessions. Otherwise, you could cause soft tissue damage to your fingers in the long term.

The more you play (and let your fingertips heal afterwards), the harder they’ll become, and you’ll be much less likely to develop blisters in future.

2. A snapped string to the face

Ask most serious guitarists, and they’ll tell you they’ve had a string break and hit them in the face while tuning at least once.

There are several reasons why guitar strings can snap, such as their age or problems with the guitar nut or tuning posts. However, there are steps you can take to prevent it and the subsequent injuries.

If you regularly play live, consider restringing your guitar at least once a month. You might also want to look at your frets, bridge and tuning posts for signs of general wear and tear.

3. Tennis elbow

Tennis elbow—or lateral epicondylitis, to give it its hard-to-pronounce technical term—is a condition that affects the upper forearm. And no, you don’t necessarily need to be playing tennis to get it!

If you have tennis elbow, you’ll feel pain when you lift or bend your arm, grip an object, or twist your forearm when opening something (like a door).

It’s caused by overusing the muscles attached to your elbow, which help straighten your wrist. When playing the guitar, this can happen if you over-practice or apply more pressure on the fretboard than you need to!

4. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is a common guitar injury, but the truth is that it can affect all musicians. It’s a real showstopper, so it never hurts to increase your awareness, whatever instrument you play.

CTS occurs when the median nerve in your wrist is compressed. Symptoms include tingling, pain, numbness or discomfort in the index and middle fingers and thumb, which is far from ideal for a guitarist.

Given that the chief cause of CTS is excess pressure on the wrist, it’s no surprise that guitarists are particularly at risk of getting it.

But fear not—if you do get this injury, you can do plenty of strengthening exercises to ensure you’re back on stage in no time.

5. Tendonitis

Arguably the most common guitar-related injury, tendonitis refers to the inflammation of tendons.

Guitarists can be prone to developing tendonitis in their wrists, and most describe the feeling as a ‘dull ache’. Tendonitis causes muscle tightness, connective tissue constriction, and of course—pain.

So, it’s the same old story as far as guitarists are concerned—over-playing leads to overworked muscles, so give your wrists time to recover!

6. Tinnitus

It isn’t easy to describe tinnitus to someone who hasn’t experienced it, but it’s usually a ringing, buzzing, or humming sound in your ears or your head.

For some people, it comes and goes. But for others, it can linger for long periods or become a constant issue.

Tinnitus is usually the result of damage to the inner ear due to loud noise exposure, especially for musicians who don’t have sufficient hearing protection, like headphones or earplugs.

You should invest in adequate hearing protection if you want to prevent tinnitus. It’s especially important for protecting your long-term hearing if you’re performing live or if you like to crank your amp to full blast during practice!

Tinnitus is a common condition, which means there’s plenty of advice and remedies out there to help combat it.

Specialist musician insurance through Insure4Music

Worried about sustaining a serious injury whilst playing the guitar? You may want to protect yourself through specialist musician insurance.

Through Insure4Music, you can get cover for Personal Accidents in case you pick up an injury during a performance like the ones we’ve discussed above and cannot work or earn money for a while.

You can also protect your guitar from theft, loss, or damage through instrument insurance.

Get a quote online today to see how we could help you.

The 5 best MIDI keyboards for studio & live performance

Sun, 13 Oct 2024 11:00:00 Z

A quality MIDI keyboard can make all the difference in creating expressive, dynamic compositions, whether you’re a professional or just starting your music production journey.

Here’s our list of the best MIDI keyboards available, considering key features like playability, versatility, and integration with popular DAWs.

We’ve listed the retail price, but it’s best to shop around for the best deals—you’ll find significant discounts through third-party sellers.

1. Novation FLkey Mini, £99 (RRP)

If FL Studio is your chosen DAW and you’re on a tight budget, this could be the best MIDI keyboard for your studio sessions and performances.

You can use it as an Ableton Live controller, and its seamless integration with FL Studio paired with its excellent hands-on control make it ideal for producing—it’s a good all-rounder, considering its low price.

There are 25 velocity-sensitive keys, including 16 RGB backlit performance pads and eight rotary encoder knobs, so you have full control over each sound.

Its simplicity makes it a good choice for beginners, and at the point of purchase, you’ll receive a six-month trial for FL Studio Producer Edition.

However, if you’re looking for something more suited to a wider range of DAWs, keep your options open—the AKAI Professional MPK Mini MK3 (below) may be a better choice.

Key features:

25 velocity-sensitive keys
Touch-sensitive strips for pitch and modulation
Designed for FL Studio

Available at:

2. AKAI Professional MPK Mini MK3, £75 (RRP)

This is one of the best MIDI controllers in terms of adaptability, especially if you’re looking for an inexpensive, user-friendly solution.

It connects seamlessly with any DAW compatible with MIDI keyboards, such as FL Studio, Logic, and Ableton, so it’s ideal if you’re experimenting with different software or want to use it live and at home.

You can use the 4-way joystick to control pitch and modulation and the OLED display to check your software parameters before tweaking them with the eight endless knobs, so you’ll have no trouble getting the right sound.

The AKAI Professional MPK Mini MK3 also comes with 2GB of content, making it one of the best MIDI keyboards for those who want to make music straight out of the box.

Key features:

25 keys velocity-sensitive keys
4-way joystick for pitch and modulation
Octave selector (10 octaves range)

Available at:

3. Arturia KeyStep Pro, £399 (RRP)

Looking for a controller that can do it all at a reasonable price? If so, this could be the best MIDI keyboard for your workflow.

There’s a mix of analogue and digital ins and outs for ease of use, as seen on Arturia’s BeatStep Pro, but with a larger keyboard best suited to those who are more piano-focused—it’s a good hybrid if these features are a priority for you.

It has 37 keys with aftertouch for more control over your sound and can record all 128 MIDI notes and their velocity values. However, it’s still relatively small and lightweight if you want to use it on the go.

There’s also four sequencing channels that can record up to 64 steps—Track 1 can be used as a 24-part drum sequencer, whereas Tracks 2, 3 and 4 each have an arpeggiator.

Key features:

37 keys
Mix of analogue and digital ins and outs
7 arpeggiator modes with a 5 octave range

Available at:

4. Novation SL MKIII, £559.99 (RRP)

The Novation SL MKIII requires a higher budget, but it’s one of the best MIDI keyboards for those looking for a wider range of notes and functionality for live performances.

It connects seamlessly to Ableton Live, and the five full-colour LCD screens provide excellent visibility of your parameters. There are eight faders and knobs, alongside pads, buttons, and 49 keys, so you’ll be able to let your creativity run wild.

The included software is another draw of this keyboard, with Ableton Live Lite, XLN Audio Addictive Keys, and an ASS Session Bundle, to name a few—there’s plenty to get you started.

You’ll pay £559.99 (RRP) for this version but can pay around £90 extra for 61 keys if you’re more piano-focused.

Key features:

49 keys
Synth-style semi-weighted keybed with a scan rate of 10 kHz
16 velocity-sensitive drum pads

Available at:

5. Arturia KeyLab Essential 88 Mk3, £339 (RRP)

You can’t have a list of the best MIDI keyboards without a full-size 88-key version as popular as the Arturia KeyLab Essential.

The Arturia KeyLab Essential may look somewhat intimidating to beginners, but it’s a great option whether you’re just starting your producing journey or a seasoned musician. You have every key at hand, so you can truly own your sound wherever you’re playing.

With a semi-weighted 88-key keyboard, velocity and pressure-sensitive pads, multiple encoders and faders, and DAW controls, there isn’t much you can’t control. The KeyLab Essential Mk3’s design provides a highly efficient workflow, too.

There are also chord, scale, and arpeggiator modes, so you can take advantage of the full-size keyboard and let your creativity run wild.

Key features:

88 keys
Range of pads, encoders, faders, and DAW commands for ultimate control
World’s first eco-designed MIDI keyboard

Available at:

FAQs

Is a MIDI keyboard OK for beginners?

Yes, anyone interested in music production with no prior experience can use a MIDI keyboard. The process involves connecting to a computer or tablet, accessing virtual instruments, and experimenting with different sounds, so it doesn’t take long to get up and running.

Most of the best MIDI keyboards come with educational software to introduce beginners to their function, so you don’t have to worry about feeling overwhelmed.

What is the difference between a MIDI keyboard and a normal keyboard?

MIDI keyboards are piano-style controllers that send data to software or hardware, which then generates a sound. A normal keyboard, such as a digital piano or synthesizer, has built-in speakers and sound modules, allowing it to produce audio directly.

Since they’re designed for use with computers or external devices, MIDI keyboards are used more frequently for sound production, while normal keyboards can be played standalone.

What MIDI keyboard do producers use?

The best MIDI keyboard for one producer may not be the first choice for another—it depends heavily on their workflow and preference for certain features or capabilities.

Producers with a piano background may favour models like the Arturia KeyLab Essential 88 Mk3 or the Novation SL MKIII.

However, those who generally start with drums or work with samples rather than original music may prefer a more compact controller, such as the Novation FLKey Mini or the AKAI Professional MPK Mini MK3.

How many keys do I need on a MIDI keyboard?

Your current skill level and what you plan on using a MIDI keyboard for will determine how many keys you’ll need. Generally, if you’re a beginner or want a more portable controller, a 25 or 49-key MIDI keyboard will work fine for simple melodies and chord progressions.

A 61 or 88-key controller offers a broader range, suitable for intermediate or advanced musicians who want access to the complete piano range and a more authentic playing experience.

Specialist music equipment insurance through Insure4Music

Once you’ve found the best MIDI keyboard, you might want to protect it along with the rest of your gear through specialist music equipment insurance.

Insure4Music arrange Performance and Public Liability cover, so you have peace of mind wherever you go—and you can even include Worldwide Cover if you’re due to perform abroad.

Learn more about how we can help here, or get an instant online quote now.

The best European music festivals

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 11:11:00 Z

There really is nothing like the experience of a European music festival: camping with friends, listening to music you love or that’s entirely new, and experiencing a new culture. You’ll probably have a lot better weather than most UK festivals, too. Can you imagine not having to put your tent up in the rain or be knee-deep in mud? That’s the dream.

Today, there are loads of European music festivals covering a whole host of genres, so picking which one to attend can feel like an impossible task. But fear not—we’re here to help you do just that.

We’ve compiled a list of the top 10 European music festivals, covering various locations, budgets, and genres, so there should be something here for everyone.

What are the top 10 European music festivals?

1. Tomorrowland

It wouldn’t be a list of the best European music festivals without mentioning Tomorrowland. Now with multiple festivals and music events throughout the year, Tomorrowland is well known among festivalgoers across Europe and beyond. Unfortunately, Tomorrowland Belgium’s tickets have already sold out for 2024 (the initial ticket pre-sale reportedly sold out in just 27 minutes), so you may have to wait until 2025 to secure a ticket.

More than 600,000 people attended the festival in 2022, making it the biggest festival in Europe. With a range of accommodation options, a marketplace, and an array of top-class acts spread across 16 stages, there’s something for everyone at Tomorrowland. A three-day ticket with camping starts at €381 (£325).

Headliners: David Guetta, Tiësto, Swedish House Mafia
Music genre(s): EDM (Electronic Dance Music)
Location: Boom, Belgium
Date: 19^th July – 28^th July 2024

2. Primavera Sound

Primavera Sound has steadily grown in popularity since its inception in 2001 and now holds festivals and music events across Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, and, more recently, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Based right by the sea, Primavera Sound offers the opportunity to enjoy a range of music genres with a wealth of food and drink stalls to make the most of the long weekend. If the long weekend of festival music isn’t enough for you, Primavera also runs A La Ciutat— a series of free concerts for ticket holders held across Barcelona, which usually runs for a few days before and after the festival. A three-day ticket for the festival starts at €265 (£226) with no camping options available due to its location in the city.

Headliners: Lana Del Rey, Pulp, Disclosure, Vampire Weekend
Music genre(s): Electronic, indie, pop, metal, jazz, and rock
Location: Parc del Fòrum, Barcelona, Spain
Date: 29^th May – 2^nd June 2024

3. Exit Festival

The theme for Exit 2024 celebrates everyone’s potential to become a luminary like Tesla, Einstein, and Da Vinci: Exit Starseeds. With more than 40 stages and performance zones spread within the Petrovaradin Fortress, you’ll have the opportunity to see some big names and discover your next favourite artist all in one place.

If you aren’t too keen on camping and would prefer to stay closer to the city to do some exploring while you’re there, you can book one of several recommended hostels near to Novi Sad through the Exit website. A four-day ticket for the festival starts at €109 (£93) with the added cost of €40 with camping included.

Headliners: John Newman, Black Eyed Peas, Gucci Mane, Rudimental
Music genre(s): EDM, drum and bass, hip hop, metal, punk, reggae, rock, and techno
Location: Petrovaradin Fortress, Novi Sad, Serbia
Date: 10^th – 14^th July 2024

4. Wacken Open Air

Wacken Open Air has been showcasing heavy metal music acts for over thirty years and is hailed as the world's largest heavy metal festival. The German festival now welcomes more than 70,000 heavy metal fans to the small village of Wacken each year.

In addition to hosting some of the world's biggest heavy metal and hard rock acts, Wacken Open Air also holds the finale of the Metal Battle competition every year, where amateur bands from all over the world compete to win a record label contract. Tickets for the festival are €333 (£284), including camping. If you’re a big rock music fan, take a look at our list of the best rock drummers of all time, too, while you’re here.

Headliners: Scorpions, Korn, Amon Amarth, In Extremo
Music genre(s): Hard rock, heavy metal
Location: Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Date: 31^st July – 3^rd August 2024

5. Roskilde Festival

Roskilde Festival has been running since the 1970s and has welcomed some of the biggest names in music throughout its 50-year history. It is now the largest music and arts festival in Northern Europe.

Marketed as "eight days of music, art, activism, community, and freedom," the festival is entirely non-profit and relies upon the help of more than 30,000 volunteers to help set up and run its stages, stalls, and campsites. All proceeds go to various charities across Denmark, with the festival reportedly having raised almost £50 million since 1972. Tickets for the festival start at 2400DKK (£275) for the full eight days, including camping.

Headliners: Doja Cat, Jessie Ware, Nia Archives, Skrillex, Foo Fighters
Music genre(s): Electronic, hip hop, rock, metal, and urban
Location: Roskilde, Denmark
Date: 29^th June – 6^th July 2024

6. Open’er

You might be confused by the address for Open'er, as it's held on an abandoned airfield, which provides loads of space for festivalgoers to explore. The great thing about Open'er, though, is that it's more than just a music festival.

In addition to the great music acts the festival puts on each year, you'll also find theatre shows, mini cinemas, fashion shows, and pop-up art exhibitions—there's loads to get stuck into while you’re here. A four-day ticket with camping starts at 1305zł (£260).

Headliners: Dua Lipa, Doja Cat, 21 Savage, Måneskin
Music genre(s): hip hop, rock, pop, EDM, indie
Location: Gdynia-Kosakowo Airport, Poland
Date: 3^rd – 6^th July 2024

7. Rock en Seine

Based in a park classed as a historical monument (you'll be walking on the same ground as kings and emperors once did), Rock en Seine has multiple stages and some amazing acts to enjoy with a beautiful view of the Seine.

Located west of Paris, the festival has six stages and welcomes more than 100,000 people over four days. Ticket prices start at €219 (£187) for a four-day pass.

Headliners: Lana Del Ray, Fred Again, Måneskin, The Offspring
Music genre(s): EDM, indie, pop, and rock
Location: Domaine National de Saint-Cloud, France
Date: 21^st – 25^th August 2024

8. Sziget Festival

Sziget is a fantastic festival with a wide range of entertainment on offer. Music is played over six days and across 60 stages in Budapest, and you can even attend a boat party or castle party at the famous Fisherman's Bastion.

More than 400,000 people now attend Sziget each year, so there's always a buzzing atmosphere. It’s also a 24-hour festival, so there's something going on at all hours of the day, whether it's music acts, dancing, or even exhibitions. Ticket prices start at €199 (£170) for a three-day pass, with camping options starting at €21 per night per person.

Headliners: Fred Again, Stormzy, Louis Tomlinson, Fontaines DC
Music genre(s): Pop, hip hop, rock, EDM, techno, and more
Location: Óbuda Island, Budapest, Hungary
Date: 7^th – 12^th August 2024

9. Best Kept Secret

Marketed as a festival of music, food, and culture, Best Kept Secret offers everything from your favourite acts to a huge array of food to get stuck into. Based in the middle of a wood and boasting a waterfront stage, you’ll be surrounded by stunning nature whilst exploring the festival. Ticket prices start at €275 (£235) for the full weekend with camping included.

Headliners: Disclosure, Paolo Nutini, Justice, PJ Harvey
Music genre(s): Electric, folk, indie, hip hop, rock
Location: Safaripark Beekse Bergen, Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands
Date: 7^th – 9^th June 2024

10. NOS Alive Lisbon

Based along the Passeio Marítimo de Algés dock, NOS Alive's seven stages offer a range of music, including rock, electronic, and pop. There is no on-site accommodation for the festival, but it's close enough to the city centre to make an easy commute to and from several hotels.

The festival also has a partnership with Lisboa Camping and Bungalows, which provides regular shuttles to and from the site. A three-day festival ticket starts at €190 (£162), with three nights at Lisboa Camping starting at €26.

Headliners: Arcade Fire, Dua Lipa, Pearl Jam, Sum 41
Music genre(s): Alternative rock, pop, electronic, rock
Location: Passeio Marítimo de Algés, Algés, Oeiras, Portugal
Date: 11^th – 13^th July 2024

Specialist musician insurance through Insure4Music

No doubt you'll agree that these are some of the best European music festivals around, but whether you're playing to thousands at Primavera or to twenty people in your local pub, the likelihood is that you'll need specialist musician insurance to do so.

Through Insure4Music, you can get up to £5m worth of Public Liability cover to protect you should you accidentally injure someone or damage third-party property when performing live. And as a touring musician, you’ll probably already know that most venues will ask you for proof of this before allowing you to play.

That’s why many musicians choose to get specialist cover before loading up the tour bus. Find out more about specialist music insurance, or get an instant online quote today to ensure you never miss a gig.

9 stage presence tips to thrill your audience

Mon, 02 Oct 2023 16:26:10 Z

Stage presence is something that all performers aspire to have. The ability to create an unforgettable energy that captures your audience’s attention and catapults you to success is the pinnacle of performing live shows.

In the modern music industry, you can hit the charts but disappear into obscurity if you don’t connect and resonate with your audience.

So, it’s never been more important to learn how to come across as an authentic and unique performer, no matter your goals as an artist.

Here are our top tips for improving your stage presence to build an audience that can’t get enough of your shows.

1. Understand your identity as a performer

A huge part of improving your stage presence is discovering your musical identity. What we mean by this is knowing how you want to be perceived by your audience when they see you perform.

While things like your chosen music genre, singing style, and dress sense can inform this, looking at your internal values and beliefs before you work on the exterior elements is a good idea.

Things that inform your inner identity as an artist include:

your musical influences
your personal experiences
your strengths and vulnerabilities
your perspective on the world

Starting here can help you establish and embrace the truly unique things about you and help you craft your external image and energy before you take to the stage.

2. Know your audience

This goes hand in hand with crafting your stage persona, as it’s easier to know who you are when you’re aware of who you’re performing for.

Think to yourself—who do you want to enjoy your music?

Most musicians want to inspire and light people up with their work or at least make them question something about the world. There doesn’t have to be a huge mission behind your performances, but there must be a reason you want to share your work with the world.

Let’s look at The 1975, a successful mainstream band with a solid fan base.

Whether you like them or not, they frequently make headlines through their stage presence. They know exactly who they speak to through their music and the characters they want to portray on stage.

The band’s frontman, Matty Healy, is known for on-stage antics, such as eating raw meat and cheekily mentioning controversial topics before the next song cuts him off.

He has an ironic sense of humour that resonates with their target demographic—predominantly young adults.

Speaking to the crowd at one of his recent live performances, Healy said:

“I’m only doing this because I want to make you guys laugh and feel good because that’s what my favourite art does.”

Use this example to think about who your audience is. It can help to think about:

who or what inspired you to write music
what kind of audiences you are a part of
how you want people to feel at your gigs

3. Create a unique look

Now comes the fun part. Once you’re in touch with yourself as an artist, you can begin crafting a look that reflects your personality and boosts your stage presence.

Whether you remember Nicki Minaj for her colourful outfits and wigs or Gene Simmons for his metal armour, eight-inch platform heels and demon-inspired makeup, you must admit that looks say a lot about a performer’s identity.

If you’re unsure where to begin, consider your favourite artists and how their wardrobe, makeup, and hairstyle contribute to their overall image.

Pair this with your tastes, such as colour palettes and eras that inspire you, and you can’t go wrong.

You can even take it a step further by considering what your target audience would expect a performer in your genre to wear and subvert some tropes.

4. Keep the energy flowing

One of the greatest stage presence tips is always keeping your audience’s attention.

Have you ever been to a gig where the performers don’t try to connect with the audience or allow the energy to lapse?

Chances are you have, as everyone starts somewhere, and no one starts with an amazing stage presence, but there are a few simple steps you can take to prevent making rookie errors.

The main thing is to avoid creating awkward or unnecessary silences by planning your shows and ensuring you have fillers for moments between songs.

Based on your persona and the energy you want to create, you could:

have some jokes or funny anecdotes prepared
tease or share banter with your bandmates
play some killer guitar, bass, or drum solos
encourage audience participation with vocals or gestures they can imitate
share the inspiration behind your songs, whether it’s funny, sad, or both (audiences love transparency)

You can sneak a drink of water or adjust your instruments without a problem, but don’t let the energy die down.

Find a way to distract the audience and connect with them while you’re doing so, and you’re good to go.

5. Work on your body language

Your stage presence will grow if you learn to leverage your body language to better connect with your audience.

While it’s certainly not easy if you naturally feel nervous or anxious, practice can work wonders for improving how you hold and present yourself on stage.

Practice standing tall with your shoulders back, head high, and chest out. Have your feet placed shoulder-width apart and take a deep breath to relax.

This is the go-to position to appear confident and keep your audience’s eyes on you. It will eventually become natural and make you feel more confident under the surface.

Once you’ve mastered the basics, you may want to play with body language and expressions if that fits your style.

Meat Loaf took inspiration from his musical theatre background for his eccentric facial expressions and hanky-waving, and his quirkiness still resonates with rock fans today.

Bruno Mars has a confident, cheeky body language that matches his natural talent for dancing, which works perfectly for his mainstream pop persona.

Think of interesting artists within and outside your genre and study their body language for inspiration.

6. Remember, the stage is yours!

Staying in one spot is a sure-fire way to kill your stage presence. Don’t be afraid to take up the space that’s there and use it to show off your personality.

If you’re the lead singer, move around the stage, dance with your bandmates, and interact with every section of the audience (we have some tips for this below).

Stuck behind an instrument? You can still get involved—sing along or dance and remember to smile at your bandmates and the audience.

When you give it your all, the energy you put into your performance is infectious and contributes to the band’s overall stage presence.

7. Encourage audience interaction

Now, this one is a game changer for improving stage presence. Putting on a great show and showing off your individuality is one thing, but actively involving the audience in your shows takes things to another level.

Encourage the audience to sing a melody from one of your songs and get them to join you. Or ask them to clap or stomp their feet to a certain beat.

In a larger venue, you could divide the audience into sections and have them compete to see which group is the loudest.

Bringing a sense of unity and authenticity by connecting with your audience this way guarantees a memorable show for them.

Recording these moments and showcasing them online is a great way to market your stage presence and overall persona as an artist, alongside making the people who came to see you live feel like part of your community.

8. Steer clear of negative language

People come to live shows to escape the woes of everyday life. So, you want to keep the tone upbeat and positive to ensure they leave happy and spread the good word.

Avoid talking about anything too negative or dark, and don’t make sarcastic or self-deprecating jokes unless your audience already responds well to them.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where discussing controversial topics can damage your career, especially if things you say or do are shared online and taken out of context. If you keep things positive and focus on entertaining your audience, it’s much less likely to happen.

Don’t take this as a warning against authenticity, however. If you handle them carefully, talking about negative experiences is fine if the outcome is positive and hopeful.

A recent example is when Lewis Capaldi shared his experience of losing a family member due to poor mental health at Glastonbury.

But because he poured his sadness and vulnerability into a song that could help fans process their feelings of grief, this resonated with them, ultimately leading to them supporting him through a moving performance of the song.

9. Analyse your performances

It can be uncomfortable to watch yourself perform, but recording and analysing your shows is a great way to examine how the audience responds to you.

It’s also good for building your confidence, as the more comfortable you become with being uncomfortable, the more you’ll loosen up and get into the zone for performing.

Look for any lulls in energy or bored or disapproving expressions in audience members and note when and why you believe this happened. Show it to a friend or family member and ask for their opinion.

Don’t take it too personally if the audience picks up on your weaknesses. Try to see that you have something solid to work on as a positive, and you’ll improve your stage presence in no time.

Specialist musician insurance through Insure4Music

Whether you perform as a solo artist or a band, you may want to protect yourself through specialist insurance and ensure you can play at every venue—most require proof of cover before you play.

With Insure4Music, you can cover your gear against theft, loss, and damage either at home, at a performance, or during transit. You can also opt to include Public Liability cover, which protects you in case you injure someone or cause damage to a venue.

Click here to learn more about how we can help or click the button below to get an instant online quote.

The history of the acoustic guitar

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 12:00:00 Z

The history of the acoustic guitar stretches back further than you might think. We look at the story of this iconic instrument, which has undergone various transformations through the years…

Ancient beginnings

The acoustic guitar can be traced back to the Uruk period between 3500BC and 3200BC and an engraving on a small round cylinder.

The engraving, from the region of Mesopotamia in Iraq, depicts a woman playing the oud – a fretless, short-neck, plucked lute which was popular in Arabic culture at the time.

This engraving has since been acquired by Dr. Dominique Collon and is housed at the British Museum in London.

The Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Persians were among the chief pioneers of stringed instruments. In fact, the oldest surviving guitar-like instrument is a tanbur from Egypt, dating back to circa 1500 BC. This instrument is a fretted lute with three strings, a long neck and a pear-shaped sound box.

It was owned by a court singer by the name of Har-Mose, who sang for the Egyptian queen Hatshepsut. You can see the sacred ancient artefact for yourself at the Archaeological Museum in Cairo.

Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire

By around 700 BC, the kithara had become prominent in ancient Greece. This instrument sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Well, that’s because it is.

The word ‘guitar’ is believed to originate from the ancient Greek word ‘kithara’ and this instrument shares much of its successor’s characteristics.

An instrument of the lyre family, the kithara was made up of seven strings of equal length and a wooden body, usually with a flat base. It had a wooden soundboard and its body was made of two tables connected by ribs.

To play this instrument, a kithara player would hold it upright, typically stroking the “plektron” (pick) across the strings using their right hand and muting the silent strings with their left hand.

The kithara was typically played by professional musicians and became a staple of Greek public performances by the end of the 7^th century BC. It would also play a crucial role in the creation of the lute (more on that later).

Sometime around 40 AD, the Romans entered Spain (or Hispania as it was known back then) – and brought the kithara with them. Henceforth, the kithara became synonymous with Western European culture.

The Middle Ages

This was another key period in the development of the modern-day acoustic guitar – and once again, Spain was at the centre of this development.

The Moors, a nomadic people from North Africa, invaded Spain in 711 AD (which marked the start of the Moorish Invasion). They brought their ouds with them and as a result, a crucial breakthrough was made.

The Europeans combined the characteristics of the oud and cithara, adding frets to the oud and calling it a “lute”. This is simply an amalgamation of the Arabic word “Al’ud” (literally “the wood”) and the Spanish name “laud”.

With this development, the fretboard – a key feature of the modern-day acoustic guitar – was born.

The Moorish oud and European lute had striking similarities to the modern-day acoustic guitar:

Both are stringed instruments which need to be plucked or strummed by hand to create a sound.
Both include a hollow box which helps produce and amplify said sound.

The lute grew in popularity throughout the Middle Ages. A few centuries later, it would inspire the vihuela – an instrument which played a peripheral role in the development of the acoustic guitar.

The Renaissance period

A notable date of the Renaissance period in the acoustic guitar’s development is 1488, when the Heidelberger Totentanz was published. This German book contains 38 prints by an unknown author, each of which depict the figure of death holding stringed instruments of the time. These include the lute, vielle and renaissance guitar.

Two renaissance guitars feature in a set of illustrations from the book, which confirm the instrument’s existence in 1488. It wouldn’t properly emerge until the 16^th century, however.

Around this time, a fretted and plucked Spanish string instrument containing five or six doubled strings was starting to come to the fore. This instrument was called the vihuela – or vihuela de mano – which was essentially a flat-backed version of the lute.

It first rose to prominence in the Kingdom of Aragon, north-eastern Iberia, and was played primarily by the aristocracy. Like a large guitar, it had six or seven double courses of strings. It was tuned like the lute – G–C–F–A–D–G – and was the earliest string instrument relating directly to the modern acoustic guitar.

The vihuela came in three forms:

Vihuela de mano: 5 or 6 courses played with the fingers
Vihuela de penola: Played with a plectrum
Vihuela de arco: Played with a bow (ancestor of the viola da gamba)

The vihuela was commonly played in Spain, Portugal and Italy and reached the peak of its popularity in the mid to late 16^th century. By the late 16^th century, though, its usage has declined. However, it would evolve into the baroque guitar – and the classical guitar shortly after.

The Classical period

Arguably the most poignant period of musical history, the Classical period was a golden age for the guitar.

During the Baroque period from 1600 and 1750, 5-course guitars were the norm. However, come the late 18^th century, these were abandoned in favour of 6-course guitars (soon, these too would be abandoned, in favour of their 6-string counterparts).

Between 1730 and 1820, a new generation of guitar composers and performers became stars of the time – most notably in Spain. Dionisio Aguado y García and Fernando Sor were among the foremost guitarists of the Classical period and the pair were close friends.

Aguado popularised the use of fingernails when playing the guitar and invented the tripodison, an accessory used to hold the guitar instead of letting it rest on the leg.

Sor was known for his unorthodox playing style – unlike his peers, he rarely used the ring finger of his plucking hand. Instead, he opted to use the thumb, index, and middle fingers of his right hand. Sor also composed numerous arrangements for the opera, orchestra and ballet – including Introduction and Variations on a Theme by Mozart.

Sor, who is widely regarded as the best guitarist of the Classical period, passed away in 1839. Little over 10 years after his passing, a key breakthrough was made.

The Romantic period

Around 1850, a Spanish guitar maker called Antonio Torres Jurado began to transform the guitar’s structure. He owned a guitar shop in Seville, where he constructed his own guitars. From here, he made several crucial alterations.

Firstly, he increased the size of the guitar’s body to increase its volume. He also fitted it with lighter, thinner and larger soundboards which were arched in both directions.

Arguably the most important alteration Torres made to the acoustic guitar was the invention of the fan-braced pattern. This is the series of wooden struts needed to reinforce the soundboard, support the tension of the strings and prevent the instrument from collapsing under tension. They’re also an important factor in how a guitar sounds.

Torres produced a series of guitars from his Seville workshops, some of which were played by such renowned musicians as Francisco Tárrega and Miguel Llobet.

Due to his innovation and enterprise, Torres is considered the most important inventor in the history of the acoustic guitar.

Another key guitar innovator from the Romantic period is Christian Frederick Martin. He is best known for establishing the C. F. Martin & Company, a leading guitar manufacturing company from New York which is still in operation six generations later.

Martin, a German-born American, established C.F. Martin & Company in 1833. Around a decade later, between 1842 and 1843, he created what is believed to be the world’s first X-braced guitar (a video visualising Martin’s revolutionary X-bracing method is below).

This bracing method would help withstand the tension created by steel strings, which eventually became a prominent feature of the acoustic guitar in the early 20^th century.

The early to mid-20^th century

In 1902, American luthier Orville H. Gibson founded a company in Kalamazoo, Michigan. This company is known today as Gibson Brands Inc. and is one of the world’s most famous acoustic guitar manufacturers.

Gibson is credited with creating the archtop guitar, which redefined volume, tone and vibration. The archtop guitar had violin-like sound holes, an adjustable bridge and a curved body. These features enabled it to vibrate freely and produce a louder sound. It’s little surprise, therefore, that it was later adopted by jazz, country and swing musicians.

By the early 1920’s, C.F. Martin & Company had begun focusing its production on steel string guitars. These produced crisper and clearer sounds, while also enabling banjo players playing the then-popular style of country music to switch over without discomfort. The X-brace subsequently became the industry standard for the steel string acoustic guitar (for the reason given above).

Later that decade, in 1927, John Dopyera invented the resonator guitar. This was designed to project enough volume to play alongside banjos and other instruments in the rhythm section. This was then adapted and recreated through The Selmer Guitar, a French instrument developed by Selmer-Maccaferri in the early 1930s.

These developments went a long way towards improve the acoustic guitar’s loudness issues in live performance- as did the invention of the electro-acoustic guitar. Electric guitars began to take off in the 1950’s and during this decade, the Gibson J-160E was invented.

The 1960s and beyond

Believed to be one of the world’s first electro-acoustic guitars, the Gibson J-160E became one of the faces of 1960’s rock n’ roll.

It was made famous by the Beatles’ television appearances and is the only guitar to feature on every one of the Fab Four’s albums. Here it is in action in the music video for ‘This Boy’…

Between the 1960’s and 1980’s, acoustic guitar amplification reached unprecedented levels thanks to advances in design and technology.

At the start of this period, many artists simply pointed a microphone between the guitar’s neck and body for live performances. However, this often resulted in feedback issues and problems picking up sound.

To counteract this, guitar manufacturer Oviation created a ‘parabolic’ or ’rounded’ back made from a glass fibre-like material in the 1960’s. This greatly reduced feedback, enabling greater amplification of the acoustic guitar.

Oviation was once again at the centre of innovation in the 1970’s, when it developed thinner soundboards to further increase the acoustic guitar’s volume and reduce feedback when it was mic’d up. The company also put a piezoelectric pickup in the guitar’s saddle to increase sound quality.

Over in Japan, Takamine made major strides during the 1980s. The company pioneered the use of an active acoustic pickup, which featured an onboard preamp and sliding EQ controls. It also created both passive and active acoustic guitar pickups which could be tailored to different instruments and applications.

The world of acoustic guitar amplification continues to excel today, as companies like LR Baggs, Fishman, and DiMarzio continue to bring innovative technology to the market. Check out this demo of the L.R. Baggs Anthem Acoustic Guitar Pickup to see this technology for yourself…

The most successful BRIT Awards Rising Star winners

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 12:00:00 Z

The prestigious BRIT Awards Rising Star has been presented annually since 2008 to the most promising up-and-coming musicians in the UK.

Previous winners have included a diverse range of artists. These include Adele, Sam Smith and Rag’n’Bone Man, all recognised for their exceptional talent and potential to impact the global music industry.

But not all recipients of the award went on to do great things. Amidst the now-household names, many Rising Star winners and nominees struggled to live up to the hype. Potentially lacking the star power required to make it in this notoriously tough industry.

The Brit Awards Rising Star research

So, who have the most successful BRIT Award Rising Star winners? Which nascent artists didn’t quite meet the category’s high expectations? Which runners-up managed to outshine the winner in their year, and which year produced the most chart-toppers? We delved into the details to find out.

Typically, the accolade is handed to artists just before or during their expected breakout year. We therefore looked specifically at the breakout album and single chart performance of each BRIT rising star in the year following their award win. This means we can discover the success rate of the panel of experts who make the selection every year.

It also ensures that the data isn’t skewed heavily towards artists who have seen more success because they have simply been around longer.

Who are the most successful BRIT Awards Rising Star winners?

Sam Smith had the most chart success following their BRIT Awards Rising Star win

When it comes to immediate triumph in UK album and singles sales, Sam Smith reigns supreme. Their first album “In the Lonely Hour” topped the album charts for eight consecutive weeks and remained in the Top 40 for a whopping 424 weeks altogether. The album’s lead single, “Stay with Me”, became a worldwide hit, winning a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album in 2015.

Sam Smith is followed by Lewis Capaldi and Dua Lipa who despite only being named as runners-up in their respective award years, also went on to do incredible things. The former managed 10 weeks at number one with his debut album “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent”, while Dua Lipa’s number one breakout single “New Rules” remained in the UK Top 40 for a huge 66 weeks.

Who are the least successful BRIT Awards Rising Star winners?

Chloë Howl saw the least chart success of any BRIT Awards Rising Star nominee

At the other end of the spectrum, singer-songwriter Chloe Howl’s hotly tipped 2014 album and single “Rumour” didn’t manage to secure significant commercial success. The single charted at a disappointing 84 in the UK.

Winner George the Poet and runner-up Frances also make the top three, with the latter only achieving 47^th place in the UK chart for 2017 album “Things I’ve Never Said.”

Our data also found that:

Winning the BRIT Awards Rising Star accolade doesn’t always mean most chart success. Four in 10 of the top performing artists were nominated for the award, and didn’t win it
Six in 10 of the top performing artists are female
2019 produced the most successful BRIT Awards Rising Stars, with an average score of 41/100. The prize was won by Sam Fender with Lewis Capaldi and Mahalia as runners-up
The poorest-performing year, meanwhile, was 2020, with an average weighted score of just 8/100. The award was won by Celeste and runners-up were Joy Crookes and Beabadoobee

What’s clear from this data is the exceptional musical talent that the UK has to offer – as well as the success we have in identifying and nurturing that talent.

The 2023 BRIT Awards Rising Star has been named as FLO. Eyes will be on the all-female R&B group as they work on their upcoming album and subsequent singles releases. But it’s not just about the winners, of course. We therefore look forward to seeing what runners-up Cat Burns and Nia Archives also have to offer.

Research methodology

We took each artist’s breakout album or single from the 12-18 months following the announcement of the BRIT Awards Rising Star in which they either won or were nominated.

For each album and single, we took the highest chart position, the number of weeks in the chart and number of weeks at number one as ranking factors and created a weighted rank for each artist.

All the data can be found here.

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Glastonbury ticket prices could surpass £78,000 by 2072 if inflation continues

Mon, 20 Jun 2022 12:00:00 Z

Glastonbury tickets could cost more than £78,000 within 50 years if economy continues to inflate at the current rate

With Glastonbury Festival falling victim to COVID in 2020 and again in 2021, Worthy Farm hosted live music for the first time in more than 1,000 days in June 2022.

Keen festival-goers and avid music fans flocked to the fields once again, and it was great to see. The event was a complete sell-out, as expected, even despite the £280 ticket cost.

But amid spiralling prices, inflation, and, of course, the ongoing UK cost of living crisis, research by Insure4Music has unearthed some frightening prospects about what the future of Glastonbury could look like.

If Glastonbury ticket prices continue to rise at their current rate, tickets for the 2072 festival (50 years from now) will cost £78,400, according to Insure4Music data.

Glastonbury 1970: the origins

Glastonbury Festival began in 1970, but things looked much different then than they do now.

For a start, the festival was just a one-day event back then. Held on 19 September (coincidentally, the day after the death of Jimi Hendrix), tickets were £1, and entry included free milk from the farm.

According to data obtained from the CPI Inflation Calculator, £1 in 1970 is worth £16.48 in today’s money—a humble sum, still.

In 1970, the nominal average weekly wage for a UK worker in full-time employment was £18.37, according to data records kept by Our World in Data. However, with inflation, this is equivalent to £302.78 today.

That means that a ticket to Glastonbury in 1970 would have cost the average UK worker around 6% of their weekly pay.

Glastonbury as a multiple-day festival

By 1979, Glastonbury had become a three-day-long event, and tickets had gone up to £5, or £26.95 in today’s money.

The nominal average weekly wage had risen to £68.92 by 1979, too, however, which meant the price of a ticket was still only roughly 7% of a weekly pay packet.

By the time the ‘80s arrived, wages had continued to creep up too, with the weekly average surpassing £100 for the first time. In 1982, the nominal average weekly wage was £104.49, while a ticket to Glastonbury was a humble £8.

Glastonbury ticket prices: on the rise

By the year 2000, Glastonbury tickets were still priced reasonably at £87—a figure which becomes even more reasonable when you consider David Bowie and the Chemical Brothers were among the Pyramid Stage headliners.

However, the nominal average weekly wage sat at £317.42 in 2000 (which, incidentally, is worth more in today’s money than wages today, according to data).

This means that in 2000, a Glastonbury ticket cost the average UK worker 27% of their average weekly pay, representing a considerable uplift from previous decades.

By 2003, Glastonbury ticket prices had finally broken the £100-barrier, with a general admission ticket valued at £105 that year. For perspective, that’s around £176 in today’s money.

Inflation

Ten years later, tickets had surpassed £200 by Glastonbury 2013, with one setting you back £205. At the same time, wages had risen to £473.92 per week on average, meaning a ticket to Worthy Farm would swallow 43% of that.

Tickets for the last Glastonbury Festival pre-COVID (June 2019) were £248. Interestingly, this is worth £264.08 today, such is the consistent rate of UK inflation. Average wages three years ago sat at £537.50 per week, so a worker earning this would have to part with 46% of their weekly pay to attend Glastonbury.

Glastonbury 2022

Glastonbury finally returned in 2022.

As is tradition by now, and with the industry feeling the full impact of COVID, tickets, of course, increased. Tickets for the 2022 festival cost £280, making it the most expensive Glastonbury yet.

The nominal average weekly wage in the UK today is £556. A ticket for Glastonbury 2022 represents 50% of this.

Glastonbury ticket prices: what could the next 50 years look like?

Had the COVID pandemic never happened, 2020 would’ve been Glastonbury’s 50^th-anniversary festival. However, that crown now falls to 2022.

The price of a ticket to Glastonbury Festival has gone from £1 to £280 in 52 years, which represents an increase of 27,900%.

Let’s say it rises by this amount again in another 50 years—a ticket to Glastonbury in 2072 would cost a mouth-watering £78,400.

In 1970, a Glastonbury ticket was worth 6% of the average weekly wage. In 2022, it’s worth half. That’s a percentage increase of 44.

Again—let’s say this trend continues for the next 50 years: a ticket would then be worth a whopping 94% of the average weekly pay.

That means the full average weekly pay in the UK in 2072 would need to be £83,404, equating to a yearly salary of around £4.3m.

Wow.

Of course, these are just projections—we have no crystal ball. All of this should be taken with a huge pinch of salt. But it’s frightening all the same.

Commenting on the findings, John Woosey, founder of Insure4Music, said: “We all know festivals can be pricey, but it’s not until you see figures laid out like this that it really hits home and you realise what the future could hold.

“These price projections are unfathomable today, but then again, so is the idea of Glastonbury costing just £1. The truth is that nobody really knows what the future is going to look like—but there are some huge changes on the horizon if history is anything, at all, to go by.”

Methodology

The price of a general admission Glastonbury ticket has risen by 27,900% since 1970. If prices continue to increase at their current rate, and hence we witness a further 27,900% increase 50 years from now, the cost of a ticket to Glastonbury 2072 will be £78,400.

In 1970, the cost of a Glastonbury ticket was £1, which equated to around 6% of the nominal average weekly wage (£18.37). In 2022, a Glastonbury ticket costs £280, which equates to approximately 50% of the nominal average weekly wage today (£556). Therefore, there has been a 44% increase in the ticket to weekly wage ratio.

If costs again continue to rise at their current rate, and hence we witness a further 44% increase by 2072, a Glastonbury ticket will then be the equivalent of 94% of the average weekly wage.

If £78,400 equates to 94% of the average weekly wage, then the full average weekly wage would be £83,404. This would make the average yearly salary a staggering £4.3m in 2072.

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The 8 best reggae artists of all time

Tue, 24 May 2022 12:00:00 Z

Musical genres don’t come much more diverse and internationally recognised than reggae.

Since originating in Jamaica in the late 1960s, it’s become popular the world over for its melodic backdrop to a mixture of euphoric but also often poignant, sociopolitical lyrics.

Reggae music has been and still is largely seen as a force for good and positive change. From holding power to account and highlighting systemic racism and inequality to religion, faith and humanity, reggae is a multifaceted genre covering a broad spectrum of themes and ideas—which means its reach and appeal is vast.

Some of the best reggae artists of all time transcend their music and are instead often viewed as important social and political campaigners, using their platform to incite togetherness and positive action, but doing so in a way that speaks to the masses—or music, to you and me.

In no particular order, here are our picks for the eight best reggae artists of all time.

Bob Marley

No list of reggae artists would be complete without the Master himself, would it?

Bob Marley is widely considered one of reggae’s finest sons. A true pioneer of the genre and Rastafari icon even to this day, Marley’s contributions to reggae helped propel the sound from the streets of his native Jamaica to the rest of the world.

Marley’s professional music career began in 1963 in a group first known as The Teenagers, alongside fellow reggae musicians Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. The Teenagers would later become Bob Marley & The Wailers—one of the best and most well-known reggae bands to ever exist.

As well as the distinctive reggae, Marley’s music was also an exciting jumble of elements from other sister genres such as ska and rocksteady. Marley’s unique vocal and songwriting style meant his music was and remains instantly recognisable.

As a lyricist, he certainly wasn’t afraid to speak his mind and stand up for what he believed in. Pan-Africanism, democratic social reforms, and the legalisation of marijuana in Jamaica were all common themes in Marley’s songwriting. But, of course, such outspokenness also often attracted a backlash.

Marley survived an assassination attempt at his home in Jamaica in 1976, which prompted him to relocate to London, where he recorded arguably his best studio album, Exodus, in 1977.

Living in London clearly rubbed off on Marley and his music. Exodus combined influences from classic British rock, soul and blues, and enjoyed worldwide acclaim.

Marley died from cancer in 1981, aged just 36, but his legacy, music and immeasurable cultural impact are still very much alive and felt today.

INTERESTING FACT

Bob Marley could palm read.

Burning Spear (Winston Rodney)

Burning Spear (real name: Winston Rodney) was another early pioneer of the reggae movement in Jamaica.

Like Bob Marley, Rodney was born and raised in the Saint Ann district of Jamaica, where he spent his youth absorbing influence from American R&B, soul and jazz on the radio.

In 1969, a casual conversation with Bob Marley soon led to Rodney seeking a record label. Burning Spear first began as a duo act with Rodney and bass singer Rupert Willington before the likes of Delroy Hinds and Jack Ruby joined as the group grew.

Rodney was a huge supporter of Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey, especially on themes such as Pan-Africanism and self-determination. Rodney’s third studio album as Burning Spear, titled Marcus Garvey, was released in 1975, opening with a track of the same name and propelling the group further into the international spotlight.

However, the group split shortly after in 1976, but Rodney kept the name and went on to release solo material as Burning Spear. By now, he’d built up a sizeable fanbase, including here in the UK.

Rodney spent the following few decades touring extensively and recording several successful live albums. He received his first Grammy Award in 2000 for his 1999 studio album, Calling Rastafari, and in 2002, he launched the label Burning Music Records with his wife, Sonia, who was already a music producer with experience working on a handful of Spear’s records.

His retirement from music in 2016 marked the end of an era for one of the best reggae artists of all time, but Rodney is still very much a face on the international reggae scene. In fact, he’s due to perform at the Rototom Sunsplash Festival in Benicàssim, Spain, in 2022 (at the time of writing).

INTERESTING FACT

Winston Rodney was awarded the Order of Distinction in the rank of Officer in 2007.

Dennis Brown

Dennis Brown’s prolific reggae career began in the late 1960s when he was just 11-years-old.

He went on to record more than 75 (yes, seventy-five) albums over the following three decades while cementing his position as one of the original trailblazers of lovers rock—a subgenre of reggae noted for its particularly romantic sound and lyrics.

Of course, love songs and love-inspired lyrics had already long been an important part of reggae music, but it wasn’t until the emergence of artists like Brown that this would gain recognition in its own right.

Lovers rock reggae suited the genre’s direction, particularly in the transition years of the early 1970s. As such, Brown was a huge influence on the several generations of reggae that would follow.

Brown was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1957 and so was just a young boy when reggae music as we know it first began to build its initial momentum.

As a child, Brown enjoyed listening to Nat King Cole and American ballad singers like Frank Sinatra, although it was older reggae-style singers such as Delroy Wilson and Errol Dunkley, whom he stated as some of the main influences on his particular singing style.

Brown had achieved international stardom by the time the mid-70s arrived, despite still only being a teenager. He was often described as the ‘Boy Wonder of Jamaica’ and was voted the nation’s best male vocalist in 1973.

He died in 1999, aged just 42.

INTERESTING FACT

Bob Marley stated Dennis Brown as his favourite singer, dubbing him the ‘The Crown Prince of Reggae’.

Peter Tosh

Peter Tosh (real name: Winston Hubert McIntosh) was one of the core members of legendary reggae group The Wailers, alongside Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer. That alone means he surely must go down as one of the best reggae artists of all time.

While having singing lessons from a young age, Tosh also taught himself to play both the guitar and keyboard after relocating to Trenchtown, Jamaica, from his birthplace of Westmoreland.

Tosh’s innate ability to play the guitar was integral to the early formation of the group that would later become the Wailers. In fact, Bunny Wailer claims that he, Bob Marley, and other group members were all first taught to play instruments by Tosh.

After leaving the Wailers, Tosh embarked on an impressive solo career, recording seven studio albums. He was a huge advocate for the legalisation of cannabis in Jamaica, particularly for medicinal purposes. His song ‘Legalize It’ was banned in Jamaica following its first release in 1975, but further attempts to suppress it failed, leading to its overwhelming success.

At Bob Marley’s free One Love Peace Concert at Jamaica’s National Stadium in 1978, Tosh lit a spliff on stage and began lecturing the crowd about legalising the drug, calling out several politicians in attendance at the gig for their failure to do so at what he saw as previous opportunities.

Tosh was murdered at his home in 1987. To this day, his family maintain a monument memorial for him in Negril, Jamaica, where his birthday (19 October) is also still celebrated each year with live reggae music.

INTERESTING FACT

The ‘Man in Business Suit Levitating’ Noto emoji is based on a photograph of Peter Tosh taken in 1964.

Toots Hibbert

Frederick Hibbert earned his affectionate nickname ‘Toots’ thanks to his role as lead vocalist for the legendary ska and reggae band, Toots and the Maytals.

A true reggae pioneer, Hibbert’s musical career spanned six decades and helped shape the genre as we know and love it today. His 1968 hit ‘Do the Reggay’ is widely credited as the origin of the term ‘reggae’ itself. This was the first time the word had ever been used in a song.

Hibbert’s vocal style is perhaps best described as ‘soulful’. So much so that it often saw him compared to Otis Redding, widely considered one of the greatest singers of all time.

Although, of course, a predominant singer, Hibbert was also a highly-talented multi-instrumentalist and could, in fact, play every instrument used by Toots and the Maytals.

Hibbert served 18 months in prison in 1966 for the possession of marijuana—an experience out of which was born inspiration for one of his group’s most well-known songs, ’54-46 That’s My Number’. Hibbert was, of course, referring to his prison number.

He’s, without doubt, one of the most influential artists to ever grace the stage, not just in reggae but in multiple other genres, too. His influence spans from Jimmy Cliff and Ziggy Marley to Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and beyond.

In 2010, Hibbert was ranked 71^st in Rolling Stone’s ‘100 Greatest Singers of All Time’ list. He died in 2020, aged 77.

INTERESTING FACT

Hibbert met future bandmates Raleigh Gordon and Jerry Matthias while working at a barbershop in Trenchtown, Jamaica as a youngster.

Desmond Dekker

Desmond Dekker’s religious upbringing meant much of his early years were spent in church practising hymns. He began working life as an apprentice tailor and then a welder in Kingston, where his workplace singing prompted encouragement from colleagues to pursue a career in music instead.

Dekker attended several professional auditions in the early 1960s but would have to persevere and wait—first for a record deal and then an actual record.

That he indeed did, however, becoming one of Jamaica’s first major reggae recording superstars in the process, gracing the UK charts an impressive seven times between 1967 and 1975.

Along with his backing group, The Aces, he sang on one of the earliest international reggae hits—Israelites—in 1968, which arguably changed the face and sound of pop music forever.

Israelites became the first Jamaican-produced song to top the UK charts in spring 1969, helping pave the way for the subsequent generations of reggae artists we now know—many of whom also feature in this blog. Israelites also peaked in the top 10 of the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1969.

In 1975, by which time Dekker was a permanent resident of the UK, Israelites was re-released and entered the UK Top 10 for a second time. Some of Dekker’s other well-known hits include 007 (Shanty Town), It Mek, and You Can Get It If You Really Want.

He’s one of the best reggae artists of all time, for sure.

INTERESTING FACT

Dekker is buried at Streatham Park Cemetery in South London.

Jimmy Cliff

Reggae fans everywhere have a lot to thank Jimmy Cliff for, that’s for sure.

In 1972, Cliff starred in the landmark reggae film ‘The Harder They Come’, which tells the story of a young man trying to make it in the music and recording business. The film’s reggae soundtrack was a huge success, selling exceptionally worldwide and introducing the genre to an extended international audience.

Though now more than half a century old, The Harder They Come remains one of the most culturally significant films to have ever come out of Jamaica.

Cliff first started writing songs while at school before trying his luck as a musician in the UK. He’s perhaps best known for songs such as Many Rivers to Cross, Reggae Night, and his cover of Johnny Nash’s I Can See Clearly Now, which featured in the classic 1993 film, Cool Runnings.

Many Rivers To Cross, in particular, encapsulates the struggles often faced by young musicians trying to find their way in the industry and has been covered by artists ranging from Cher to John Lennon since it was first released in 1969.

At the time of writing, Cliff is the only current living reggae musician to hold an Order of Merit—an honour granted by the Jamaican government for achievements in the arts and sciences.

INTERESTING FACT

Cliff was briefly a member of the Rastafari movement before converting from Christianity to Islam.

Bunny Wailer

If you’ve stayed with us for this entire blog from top to bottom, you’ll have already heard Bunny Wailer’s name mentioned a few times.

Last in our list but by no means least, Wailer was one of the original members of The Wailers alongside Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.

Wailer was a singer-songwriter and percussionist by trade, with a style heavily influenced by early gospel and soul music from the likes of Curtis Mayfield.

Though Wailer enjoyed great success with The Wailers, he called time on his stint with the group in 1973 to instead pursue a solo career. He began to adopt the name ‘Bunny’ around this time.

Wailer experimented with various other genres and subgenres of reggae music as a solo artist, achieving acclaim for his disco, pop and dancehall fusion in particular.

Wailer received a Grammy Award for the Best Reggae Album three times: for ‘Time Will Tell: A Tribute to Bob Marley’ (1991), ‘Crucial! Roots Classics’ (1995), and ‘Hall of Fame: A Tribute to Bob Marley’s 50^th Anniversary’ (1997).

Like many other reggae greats, Bunny Wailer is sadly no longer with us. He passed away in 2021 at the age of 73. Always remembered.

INTERESTING FACT

Wailer and Bob Marley were friends since childhood and later became step-brothers when Wailer’s father entered a relationship with Marley’s mother and had a daughter, Pearl. Other band member Tosh also had a son, Andrew, with Wailer’s sister Shirley—so you could say their music was very much a family affair!

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The 20 best instruments for beginners to learn

Tue, 30 Jun 2020 16:24:00 Z

There are many reasons an instrument could be suited to a beginner. The most obvious is that they’re easy to learn and play.

However, it’s worth thinking about longevity too—and there are several key questions you need to consider:

Do you want to play solo or as part of a group?
Which instrument will give you the best understanding of music
Which instrument will bring out your musical passion?
Which instruments will help lay the groundwork for learning others in future?

Whatever you’d like to get out of playing an instrument, there’s one in this article for you. Here are the best instruments for beginners.

Ukelele

The ukulele comes in a range of shapes and sizes. But ukuleles all have one thing in common—they’re like miniature acoustic guitars, with four strings instead of six and a cute, higher pitched tone. Furthermore, the ukulele shares the same techniques, principles and G-C-E-A string structure as guitar, so if you want to graduate to one in future, you’ll have a head start.

The ukulele is ideal for beginners because it’s easy to pick up and quickly learn your favourite songs. It’s also relatively small, meaning you can take it anywhere you go. Not to mention, it’s inexpensive, so quite a low-risk instrument if the whole musician thing doesn’t pan out.

Did you know?

The ukulele is a Hawaiian adaptation of the small Portuguese string instrument, the machete, after it was introduced to the country in the 1800s.

Bongos

The bongos are a simple instrument — they’re a pair of small, open-bottomed hand drums—but they’re very effective. In fact, they form the cornerstone of percussion sections in many Latin American, African, Caribbean and Spanish music styles.

You play them by holding them between your knees and striking the skin of the drum with your hand or tapping the side to produce different timbres. Each bongo is tuned slightly differently to produce tonal variety.

The beauty of the bongos is that they don’t require a lot of practice to get an infectious rhythm going. Not to mention, they’re incredibly fun to play.

Though it might be easy to get started with bongos, mastering this instrument can be a lifelong pursuit. Over time, you could add other percussion instruments like congas, claves, bells, chimes and blocks to your repertoire, to develop a full percussionist’s setup.

Did you know?

Musicians who play bongo drums are referred to as bongoseros.

Harmonica

The harmonica is a hand-held mouth organ, through which you inhale and exhale to create a sound.

The biggest advantage of the harmonica—which makes it perfectly suited to beginners—is that it’s impossible to play out of key. You don’t tune a harmonica like a guitar and the instrument itself doesn’t contain notes outside of the key it’s in. The harmonica comes tuned to a specific key already.

This means you can concentrate on your playing technique and experiment with improvisation from early on. If you miss a note you meant to hit, it won’t sound out of place, so you can style it out.

The harmonica is ubiquitous in blues, jazz, folk and rock music. It’s also the perfect accompaniment to an acoustic guitar, if you fancy being this generation’s Neil Young or Bob Dylan.

Did you know?

The first recording Rod Stewart was ever paid for was playing harmonica on Little Milly’s hit ‘My Boy Lollipop’.

Bass Guitar

The bass guitar is about the size of an electric guitar, except with thicker strings and a deep rumbling tone. You similarly need an amplifier to hear the notes, which creates many opportunities for sound and effects.

Like the ukulele, the bass guitar typically comes with only four strings, making it a straightforward instrument for beginners to get to grips with. Besides that, bass guitar is indispensable in modern music. Let the lead singers and lead guitarists battle it out for the limelight; there will always be a place in a band for a bass guitarist.

There’s room to grow with the bass as well. Somewhere down the line, you might want to experiment with fretless or 6-stringed bass guitars (as demonstrated in the video above).

Did you know?

Larry Graham, the bass guitarist of Sly and the Family Stone and Graham Funk Railroad, is credited with inventing a playing technique called slap bass. Interestingly, he’s also uncle of the rapper Drake.

Drums

Whilst they’re not the easiest instrument to learn initially, drums are one of the best instruments for beginners—particularly children—because they’re so much fun to play. Drums are one of the most kinetically stimulating instruments in existence, as you basically get to make a huge racket and hit things with a set of sticks.

If you’re thinking of introducing an instrument to your child or younger relative, drums are a great choice. They are believed to play a key role in a child’s mental development when it comes to impulse control and decision making.

Plus, a child is likely to pick up the required coordination and rhythm quicker than an adult because their minds are more susceptible to learning at a younger age. That said, if you are a bit older, what you might lack in mental malleability, you’ll make up for in perseverance and focus.

You can start small with a mini set-up of a kick drum, high hat and snare, find your groove and grow from there. Much like with the bass, if you’re keen to have somebody to play with, drummers are always in demand.

Did you know?

The Guinness World Record for the World’s Largest Drum Kit is held by Mark Temperato, at 340 pieces.

Piano / Keys

The piano is among the most expressive and versatile musical instruments ever created. From the classic grand piano to synthesisers, there have been many variations of this instrument through the ages.

Although playing with two hands might look intimidating, the piano at least lays it all out in front of you. Each key is a note and every note is right there on the piano. All you have to do is press them. Obviously, there’s much more to it than that, but the basic concept couldn’t be easier to wrap your head around. This, paired with the piano’s vital place in music, makes it the perfect instrument for beginners.

An additional benefit of learning the piano is that it forms the basis of one of the most popular tools used in electronic music production today—the MIDI keyboard. As historical an instrument as the piano is—over 300 years old—it’s never been more future-proof than today.

Did you know?

The piano has the widest tonal range of any musical instrument. The lowest note on the piano is lower than the lowest note on a double-bassoon, while the highest note on the piano is higher than the highest note on a piccolo. There’s an entire orchestra at your fingertips.

Xylophone / Glockenspiel

The xylophone and glockenspiel have come to resemble each other in modern times. The big difference between them is that the xylophone is made from wood, while the glockenspiel is made from metal. Aside from this, they share the same interface.

This interface is pervasive across many percussive idiophones (musical instruments that create sound from vibrations caused by being struck) and follows the tonal pattern of piano keys.

Both the xylophone and glockenspiel are great for beginners as they’re essentially scaled down versions of their more complex cousins, the marimba and vibraphone. You simply take a mallet in each hand and hit a bar on the instrument to make a noise.

A xylophone or glockenspiel will also familiarise you with melody, rhythm and timing—all fundamentals in music—without overwhelming you. Once you’ve mastered these fundamentals, you can work on becoming the next Roy Ayers.

Did you know?

Nobody really knows the origin of the xylophone. It’s thought to have come from Southeast Asia or Oceania and its earliest published reference was in 1511, when it was labelled a “wooden clatter”.

Kalimba

The kalimba—also known as the mbira in its native Zimbabwe and the finger harp in other parts of the world—is a hand-held instrument that belongs to the lamellaphone family. To make a sound, you pluck thin strips of metal called tines. This produces a high-pitched ding that sounds a little like a music box, only with more depth to it.

Aside from its beautiful sound, the kalimba is lightweight and low-cost, making it an attractive instrument for beginners. When acoustic, the wooden casing contains a hole to resonate the sound, much like an acoustic guitar, so it’s small and completely self-contained.

If you choose to learn the kalimba, the technique required to play it might seem second nature. That’s because the kalimba is held quite like a mobile phone, and you use your thumbs to pluck the tines. If you can master a mobile phone-sized QWERTY keyboard, you can master a kalimba.

Did you know?

In Africa, many cultural groups have their own type of kalimba with their own name. The mbira is played by the Shona people of Zimbabwe and used in a ceremony called a bira. During this ceremony, the Shona people use the mbira to play the favourite songs of their ancestors in order to communicate with their spirits and stay on good terms.

Clarinet

The clarinet is a member of the woodwind family which, interestingly, doesn’t indicate the material the instrument is made of, rather how it’s played. Clarinets are made from all kinds of materials, but one thing remains consistent—you play them with a reed.

Traditionally, a reed is a thin strip of wood that vibrates as you blow to create the woodwind sound. But these days, many are made from synthetic materials.

Beginners typically find the blowing technique hardest to overcome, which is why a B-flat soprano clarinet is the best choice. Not only is it the easiest and most versatile clarinet to play, it requires less tuning than other clarinets. It’s also made of durable materials, for those not used to the more delicate and expensive extended family of clarinets.

Traditionally, you’ll hear the clarinet in classical and Dixieland jazz music. However, recently it’s also emerged in electronica and downtempo from artists like Bonobo and The Cinematic Orchestra.

Did you know?

Numerous celebrities have played the clarinet over the years, including Jimmy Kimmel, Julia Roberts and Steven Spielberg.

Trombone

The trombone is often regarded as the easiest brass instrument to learn. This is partly because the tone isn’t controlled by valves (as with the trumpet, tuba and baritone horns), but by a slide.

When trombone players push part of the instrument back and forth while they play, this is the slide. When the slide is further out, the trombone creates a lower sound, and when it’s further in the sound is higher.

Given that there are no frets or keys dedicated to notes—only positions on the slide—you can get a feel for the distances between each note you want to play. While this sounds difficult, muscle memory will kick in with practice. Besides, this isn’t much of a compromise given how complicated, for instance, the French horn can be to learn.

If you can’t shake your love of that deep, pumping brass sound, the trombone is your best bet if you’re new to playing musical instruments.

Did you know?

When Beethoven wrote the trombone part for his Fifth Symphony, it was the first ever to be written for a symphony.

Guitar

The guitar might not be first to come to mind when somebody mentions instruments for beginners. But, fear not—nobody will expect you to shred out an Yngwie Malmsteen solo within the first few attempts. You’ll advance through various difficulty levels, but with the guitar each progression is as rewarding as the next.

You can play—or write—something simple yet effective using only a handful of chords. Not to mention, you can teach yourself practically every guitar technique through the internet. Due to the guitar’s universal popularity, there are endless resources available to you.

Guitar tabs, for example, are simplified versions of musical notation which are developed specifically for guitar. They’re easy to follow and allow you to play your favourite songs with little requisite theoretical knowledge.

Another example is the fact the minor pentatonic scale has the same box shape as the major pentatonic scale; you just start on a different fret. This means if you can play one, you can play the other. The guitar offers lots of tricks like this.

Given the mythology and popularity of the guitar, you probably have a few friends who at least dabble with it already. This network of mutually enthusiastic, aspirational guitarists will do more to keep you playing than the instrument’s difficulty level. You can figure things out together and help each other grow along the way.

Did you know?

Jimi Hendrix was left-handed but played a right-handed guitar stringed like a left-handed guitar because he liked the tone controls and whammy bar above the strings. That’s why his guitar looked upside down when he played it.

Recorder

When most people think of the recorder, they think of an entry level woodwind instrument typically found in school music classes. While this isn’t a totally fair characterisation, it’s true the recorder is useful for teaching children and those with limited experience of playing a musical instrument.

Often, those who start out playing the recorder go on to learn more complicated instruments. So, in the long term, this might be a great instrument to kickstart your musical journey.

Unlike some other woodwind instruments, the recorder doesn’t have a complex mouthpiece. The mechanics of a recorder are easy to wrap your head around too, as it’s such a small instrument. You’ll also be learning core techniques that you can apply to other instruments like the flute of clarinet once you build your confidence.

The recorder also has a long history of its own. It was particularly popular in the Baroque period, which conjures images of medieval inns, castles and knights. The sound persists today in many forms of folk music.

Did you know?

When Henry VIII wasn’t busy beheading his wives, he was actually an accomplished composer and collector of musical instruments. Before his death in 1547, he had amassed a total of 76 recorders.

Steel Tongue Drum

This is a rounded piece of metal with grooves cut into it to distinguish certain tones. These cut-out sections are called tongues, which you play by striking them with your hands and thumb (much like a bongo), or with mallets.

The steel tongue drum is relatively new and is built on the same principles as the hang, a flying-saucer shaped instrument. The sound is muted and relaxing and has a deeper, almost wind-chime or steelpan tone.

One of the reasons the steel tongue drum is so suited to beginners is that it’s tuned to a pentatonic scale. This means every note is in the same key and each note harmonises with every other. Put simply, this makes everything you play on it sound good as there are no wrong notes.

All that’s left to master is rhythm, technique and melody. Thankfully, each note is numbered, which makes following notation for a melody easy to grasp.

Did you know?

Prior to their commercial manufacturing, steel tongue drums were made from the bottoms of propane tanks. Players would cut the grooves in themselves and tune them by varying the length of the cut or adding weights to the tongues.

Minibrute 2

This entry is quite different to others on our list. Every other instrument named here creates its own single sound — its timbre — with only basic deviations at most.

The Minibrute 2, however, is a synthesiser. This means a new musical dimension is added—you control the tone the instrument produces. It’s an entirely separate musical discipline.

Most synthesisers are built on the same interface as a piano, and while familiarity with the piano will come in useful for playing the sounds you create, no amount of piano playing experience will teach you how to synthesise sound. The real music is inside all the knobs and dials.

Also, between step sequencers and arpeggiators, you could argue that the keyboard interface is optional. It depends on how you want to play—and synthesisers like the Minibrute 2 give you that choice.

This is the ideal starter synth because it’s inexpensive compared to other synthesisers. It’s also compact and will teach you the fundamentals of synthesisers—from oscillators and filters to envelopes and even modular synthesis.

The beauty of the Minibrute 2 is that, even if you advance to a legendary synth like the Prophet-5, it never becomes obsolete. You’ll only return to it with new ideas for how to use it.

Did you know?

The first true synthesiser was the RCA Electronic Music Synthesizer. It was made in 1955 and was big enough to fill an entire room.

Theremin

While we’re on the topic, one of the more peculiar members of the synthesiser family is the theremin. Played by waving your hand in the space between vertical and horizontal antennae, the theremin is about as unconventional a musical instrument as you can get. The horizontal axis controls pitch, and the vertical axis volume. Essentially, it’s an instrument you play by not touching it.

Owing to its playing technique, the theremin was actually one of the hardest instruments to learn to play for a long time, making it a cult instrument. These days, however, many theremin models allow you to tune the antennae to a particular key.

This means, much like the kalimba or steel tongue drum, the instrument won’t let you hit bum notes. This innovation makes them suitable for all skill levels and means you can increase the difficulty as you progress.

The typical sound of a theremin is a clean sine wave, or sustained beep, which you vary in pitch and volume. That said, modern models allow you to sample a sound and control it via the theremin interface. We’d recommend the Moog Theremini.

Oddly enough, the way you interact with the sound of a theremin is similar to how you play the trombone. For example, you slide through the frequency spectrum to reach the desired note. This same comparison can be made to playing the violin, or any fretless string instrument.

Did you know?

The theremin was popularised by Jerry Goldsmith when he used it for the original Star Trek theme song. This is quite fitting, given that the instruments looks like something from the show.

Harp

The harp is quite a large string instrument that traditionally stands upright from the ground, with the harpist playing sat down. Harps come in various sizes and some even sit on your lap.

For beginners, we’d recommend a floor harp if you have the space and money. Balancing or holding a lap harp and trying to play is tricky when you’re not even familiar with the instrument.

Unlike the violin or guitar, you don’t have to press somewhere on the string to achieve the note you want. Each string is tuned to a single note and you pluck them to play them. This makes the harp accessible to new learners.

The harp is really encouraging for beginners, as it sounds beautiful even when you’re just dabbling and improvising. It doesn’t take long to learn a piece you like either.

In a sense, the harp is comparable to a piano in terms of logic, as a single string equates to a single tone the way a single key does. The similarity to piano doesn’t end there, though—the harp also adopts the same double stave sheet music as piano. Double stave sheet music is where you get separate notation—staves—for each hand.

Did you know?

The harp has been Ireland’s national symbol since the 1400s. Guinness, the famous Irish stout beer, also features a harp in its logo.

Cello

With four strings, the cello is played like a violin or viola—you glide a bow across the strings to produce its tone. However, a cello is taller than a violin or viola. It stands upright and is typically played at a register with much deeper, rich tones.

The cello playing technique isn’t difficult to understand but takes practice to perfect. It’s an instrument that requires perseverance but, once you make some headway, you’ll understand its versatility and potential.

It’s worth noting that, as it’s is often played as part of a string quartet, symphony, or orchestra, the cello encourages understanding of harmony—both in the music and between other musicians.

Did you know?

The cello has such a wide tonal range it can fulfil the role of every string instrument in an orchestra.

Violin

It’s safe to say that the violin is the most iconic and popular string instrument. It has a long classical history and remains a staple in film soundtracks and modern music. When used in folk music, the violin is typically called a fiddle. The only difference is the style of music being played.

The violin is a particularly good choice for children as it’s small and lightweight. Plus, their smaller fingers might find it easier to find notes on the fretboard. Starting early will stand them in good stead if they decide to pursue it more as they get older.

It might be tempting to get an electric violin to save your neighbours or family the earache, but they’re not entirely appropriate for a beginner. It’s best to learn on the traditional instrument before branching out.

If you’re drawn to the violin, it’s important to get one of good quality. Even a virtuoso is only as good as the violin’s ability to maintain its tuning. For help with this, read this helpful article from Caswell’s Strings.

Did you know?

Niccolò Paganini is widely considered the first ever ‘rockstar’ violinist. Dubbed “The Devil’s Violinist”, he was suspected to have sold his soul to the devil for his exceptional violin ability. He was known all over Europe for his playing technique, womanising and partying.

Double Bass

The funkier cousin of the cello, the double bass looks almost identical. There are a few major differences between them though.

Firstly, the double bass is tuned E-A-D-G, like a bass guitar. Secondly, the double bass is typically played by plucking the strings with your fingers as opposed to gliding a bow across them (though this is still typical in orchestras). Thirdly, the double bass has a lower register than the cello, typically between a sixth to an octave below a cello. It’s also a bit bigger.

The double bass is an ideal instrument for beginners for many of the same reasons the bass guitar is. It forms the backbone of many ensembles and bands, particularly jazz in the case of the double bass. Not to mention, the transition from double bass to bass guitar is pretty smooth if you want to branch out.

Double basses come in multiple sizes, so you don’t need to feel overwhelmed by the instrument. Speaking of which, there are only four strings so it’s at least a little more merciful than the guitar.

The difficulty of the instrument is in finding the correct notes. The neck is fretless, meaning there are no markers for notes. But, as with most instruments, if you practise enough, you won’t even have to think about where the notes are. It’ll become second nature.

Did you know?

Throughout the 1950s, the double bass was the most frequently used instrument in live performance, even after the bass guitar was introduced.

Flute

If you’ve dabbled with a recorder in primary school, you might be tempted to pick up the flute and learn to play in earnest.

The flute is perfect for beginners as it’s easily transportable, reasonably priced and its playing technique is quite straightforward.

That said, it’s one thing getting a tune out of a flute; it’s another getting a good one. Mastery of the instrument lies in your control and technique. The blowing technique takes some practice in the beginner stages, and you’ll probably find yourself out of breath, but your lungs will gradually strengthen if you stick with it.

Though traditionally a classical instrument, the flute has well-established application in jazz and progressive rock too. You’ll always find opportunities to play with others as you improve.

Did you know?

Practically every culture around the world—Ancient Egyptians, Japanese, Indians, Chinese, Greeks—all developed their own versions of the flute with their own timbres and tuning. Once you’re proficient with one flute, you’ll find it easier to experiment with them all.

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We’re pretty confident you’ll find the instrument you’re looking for on this list, and if none of them works out, well, at least there’s still the triangle.

Once you’ve picked out the instrument you like, remember to insure it. A musical instrument is an investment in yourself and, over time, will grow very close to your heart. The thought of it being lost, stolen or damaged would be devastating.

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A History Of The PA System

Sun, 27 Aug 2017 12:00:00 Z

A live concert at an iconic music venue is nothing without a solid PA system. An amplified electric guitar riff, pulsating drum beat and vocal vibrato is something concert-goers have been accustomed to for years.

Great things have humble beginnings, however. Although top PA systems are now associated with the Super Bowl half-time show, or a sell-out gig at Wembley, it started out as simply a moving coil loudspeaker with a 34-inch horn!

In this article, we explore how the PA system was invented, where it was first used and how it has evolved over time.

The ‘bellowing telephone’ and co.

PA stands for ‘public address’, which reflects the most common applications of a PA system – whether it be train stations, sports stadiums, shops, hospitals, airports or hotels. The three core components of a PA system are – the microphone, which captures sound vibrations and converts them into an electrical signal; the amplifier, which increases and controls electrical signals, and the loudspeaker, which converts an electrical audio signal into vibrations and broadcasts them as a sound.

Up until the late 19th century, all forms of public address were done using architectural acoustics – there was no viable alternative to improve speech comprehension. However, the first step towards completely changing how people perceived sound came in 1875, when British-American inventor and music professor David Edward Hughes invented the carbon microphone.

This was the first device which enabled proper voice transmission and was built by Hughes using toy boxes, sealing wax and wires in the drawing room of his home. The carbon microphone contained two metal plates and worked by sound waves striking its diaphragm, causing the carbon granules contained inside to vibrate (allow Google to demonstrate!)

The higher the pressure on these granules, the lower their resistance and the closer they are pushed together, resulting in a sound current being passed between the plates. Hughes coined the term ‘microphone’ to describe his invention, as he saw it as the audio equivalent of the microscope. Thus, the first component of a modern-day PA system was born.

A couple of decades later, the world’s first experimental moving coil loudspeaker was invented by British physicist Oliver Lodge. Known as the ‘bellowing telephone’, this invention contained the same basic features as today’s loudspeakers – a diaphragm vibrated by a voice coil, the sound of which was then amplified by a flared horn.

The final piece of the PA system puzzle came in 1906, when American inventor Lee DeForest invented the Audion – the first device capable of amplifying an electrical signal. This amplification was made possible by the device’s three electrodes, which are a heated filament, a grid and a plate.

The PA system pioneers

Once these three components had been invented, the quest to peace them together for the purposes of sound production began.

Edwin Jensen and Peter Pridham, engineers from the American electronics company Magnavox, were among the early pioneers of sound reproduction and amplification. During a series of tests in their laboratory from 1911 to 1915, they connected a microphone and loudspeaker to a 12-volt battery, resulting in the first ever occurrence of acoustic feedback.

Through their research, Jensen and Pridham developed the ‘Magnavox’, the world’s first electric PA system used to amplify speech. This was a dynamic moving coil loudspeaker featuring a one-inch voice coil, a three-inch corrugated diaphragm and a 34-inch horn. The Magnavox system was publicly unveiled at San Francisco City Hall on December 24, 1915, with 100,000 people turning up to listen to the broadcasting of Christmas music and speeches.

In the years that followed, Jensen and Pridham continued developing PA systems, one of which was used by US President Woodrow Wilson to address a 75,000-strong crowd in San Diego – the first time a President used such a system to address the public.

Another key PA system pioneer was the British telecommunications company Marconi. Throughout the 1920’s, Marconi manufactured a high volume of PA systems to meet the growing demands of this emerging market. Such was their popularity, that a Marconi PA was used by King George V to address 90,000 people during the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1925.

World War Two, The Beatles and beyond

The PA system underwent rapid redevelopment during World War Two, due to an increased expectation for more efficient methods of amplified communication. Amplifiers became so big that they used radio transmitter valves to feed output into loudspeakers.

However, commercial PA systems were yet to catch on. Up until the 1950’s, the output levels of such systems did not exceed 25 watts (W) – it was the advent of the electric guitar and rock ‘n’ roll music which kickstarted an upsurge in amplification levels.

Suddenly, musicians were performing live using 50-100W valve PA amplifiers, pushing PA systems into distortion to achieve the sound they wanted. By the 1960’s, live bands were taking their own PA systems on tour – although these were relatively small systems and most bands still relied on house PA systems at the venue in which they were performing.

A watershed moment in the history of PA systems came in August 1965, when The Beatles played at Shea Stadium in New York. In preparation for this unique event, four Altec 1570 amplifiers, each giving 175W of sound, were distributed around the stadium. At the time, such levels of power output were virtually unheard of for a live concert.

The idea didn’t go to plan, however, as the crowd of 42,000 screaming girls completely drowned out the PA systems. It’s estimated that the noise coming from the crowd was 135 decibels (dB) – more than double the output coming from The Beatles’ sound equipment.

A little over a year later, the Fab Four had ceased from touring, so in many ways this concert can be viewed as a live music disaster. However, if nothing else, it was a catalyst for change.

The bigger, the better

If bands were going to play live shows, they needed a bigger sound to (literally and figuratively) stand out from the crowd and make their gigs a memorable experience. As touched on earlier, The Beatles’ Shea Stadium performance left little to be desired and bands largely relied on outdated house PA systems.

In the words of British audio engineer Charlie Watkins: “They were bloody awful – they were terrible! It was usually horrible old war-surplus equipment with 12-inch hard-cone speakers with boxes spread all round the hall. I don’t know why it went on so long.”

Watkins is labelled the ‘British father of PA’ and was peripheral in redefining live music production. It was he who championed the mixer-to-power-amp-to-speaker arrangement that still figures in most contemporary PA systems.

At the Windsor Jazz & Blues Festival in 1967, Watkins unveiled his Slave PA system, which was capable of generating 1,000W of power. A little-known band called Fleetwood Mac made their first live music appearance at the festival and their sound was engineered using Watkins’ system, only he wasn’t present to enjoy it – because he was arrested for disturbing the peace. From this moment on, kilowatt PA systems became the norm at British music festivals.

Then there was the 70’s – the decade in which modern-day sound amplification was created. In February 1970, American sound engineer Bob Hall was tasked with building a sound system for rock band The Grateful Dead, ahead of their gig at the Fox Theatre in Missouri, United States. The result was a 20,000W system which broke world records – some advancement from the ‘bellowing telephone’ (just for the record, we don’t want to encourage hearing damage – we just think these statistics are amazing!). The Who and Deep Purple later battled it out for the title of ‘world’s loudest band’, with The Who coming out on top for their 1976 gig at The Valley in London, which reached 126 dB.

An array of sound

Loudspeaker capability continued to develop into the 1980’s and 90’s, with a growing number of audio manufacturers moving into the concert market to take advantage of this trend. Among them were American manufacturer Easter Acoustic Works, which made its name by developing the KF580 loudspeaker system in 1985. A 3-way ‘arrayable’ loudspeaker, this system was the benchmark for live sound for many years. To this day, it is included in more technical specifications for live performances than any other loudspeaker.

Over in France, Dr Christian Heil and his team of sound engineers at the manufacturer ‘L’Acoustics’ revolutionised modern sound production by developing the modern line source array loudspeaker in 1993. This system overcame the interferences caused by closely aligned loudspeakers and helped push sound energy further, with a more even frequency response. Line arrays are very much a product of the computer age and today, nearly every professional audio loudspeaker manufacturer adopts the line array model for their premier touring systems. As such, Heil is widely recognised as the ‘father of the modern line array’.

To use a completely unintentional pun… we’re out (insert mic dropping sound). Hopefully you found this an interesting read!

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