Brick By Brick

Friday is Fun because it's MUSIC - and bonus playlists!

When I was 15 I loved Brick by Brick the album by Iggy Pop. And I loved it because of the music on it, sure. But I loved it, first of all, because I had found the poster in a music store, been given it to hang on my wall – and I thought it was cool. I’d connect with the album in many ways over the years – not limited to but including the facts that it was a) produced by Don Was, b) featured a few guitar parts by Slash, c) John Hiatt duetted and of course d) the whole B-52s/Candy-thing. Kate Pierson. What a voice.

I hadn’t listened to Brick by Brick in years – but I put it on yesterday. And loved it. And I reckon you should listen to it too. Either for the first time ever, or for your first time in years. Or maybe just your first time today…

Iggy Pop is a legend. But his solo career is patchy-as, and after the first two legendary solo records he lacks much in the way of an absolute classic. There are gems, scattered. And he’s a legend for his endurance as much as his music – for his persona, his embodiment of punk and rock and the madness that drives both and consumes many associated with either.

But if Brick By Brick isn’t a total classic – and it’s not – it’s still very much the comeback album that shaped the persona for Pop’s mature years as cool crooner. And that’s something I love.

I really want that poster back!

Anyway, I would love to say it was a random choice, packing up and heading out of the office for the day with the accompanying soundtrack being Brick By Brick – its first song Home being just so perfect and all – but it wasn’t quite so random.

It got stuck in my head because I was out buying LEGO.

My first time buying LEGO.

And this is a tenuous link to music, but it’s the way my brain works.

I sometimes need to slow my brain down. To take things offline. To just take a break, relax. And I’m working on that. (As readers here know). But there’s someone else in our house that needs to slow down a bit too. My darling son, Oscar. He’s 10 – and probably doesn’t appreciate being written about but I’ve mentioned him a few times in my writing over the years, and all over Facebook for a while. So much so that people would stop to say hello to him when he was four and five and six years old. And it started to feel a bit weird for him.

Oscar is funny and kooky, passionate and smart. He loves music, books, and movies. And of course, I both have no idea where that all came from and am proud as Punch.

But sometimes Oscar needs to slow down too – to focus. I reckon I can help him recalibrate. And so, I bought us some LEGO. I don’t expect either of us to be very good at it – to begin with. And we both don’t really like doing things we’re not very good at; it’s been a blessing and a curse in my life. I can already see it being both for him as well.

So, I bought two sets of LEGO yesterday – beginner-level stuff, I think, but with enough of a challenge for us, and hopefully enough of a pay-off for Oscar; enough of a level of interest…

What’s that? Oh…what LEGO did you get? you find yourself asking – in the middle of what is passing (however tenuously) as a music-related newsletter entry…okay, I’ll answer that one for you. I bought us a Spiderman No Way Home battle scene.

And I bought us the Minecraft Pig House. And there’s no immediate deadline, but Easter and the school holidays and the long ANZAC weekend are all racing down the hill at us, so I think we’ll find some time to complete these challenges. That’s the hope.

Oscar says, “can we have music while we do it?” And I say yes. He asks if he can choose it. Which I know means we’ll be listening to Kendrick Lamar.

And Eminem.

And Notorious B.I.G.

And I have no real problem with any of that – but I did say that if the music takes over or takes away his focus then I will be in charge.

And I’ll probably play Brick By Brick. As a reminder that we must tackle the LEGO in exactly that way. That’ll be our plan. Brick by brick.

I loved listening to that album yesterday. You will try it today (perhaps) and wonder what was ever so special about it. But time was spinning around in the rolodex of my head as I heard it anew. The production rather awful really, as it was in 1990 – arguably some of the most “80s”-sounding production of all. Flat and weirdly soft. But some of the songs are strong. And I have memories of digging it hard when I first became a fan.

It's also a weird one for me because I can honestly say I enjoy the album cover more than the album. And how often does that happen? And what can that actually mean? Well, that poster was on my wall for years. And I carried it with me from the family home I grew up in, down to Wellington for university. And then somewhere along the way it was torn to shreds and binned. Probably in a flat-move and quite possibly by mistake. I probably didn’t slow down quite enough as I was un-BluTacking it from the wall. Once a wee corner ripped, that would generally be enough to have me screwing up the whole picture and tossing it. Ruined.

Here's a weird thing to do – but I did it. I made a playlist of songs about or mentioning bricks. A few classics will spring instantly to mind for you – as they did for me. Pink Floyd no doubt. Commodores too. Jethro Tull maybe? And absolutely Elton John. The best song with brick in the title is probably Brick by Ben Folds. It’s also quite possibly the very best Ben Folds song. It’s the one that made me take him seriously as a songwriter. And we should all do that. What a rare and precious talent he is.

I started searching up songs that actually mentioned LEGO – look, it could have gone on forever if I added in songs from the LEGO movies, or songs mentioning ‘build’ or ‘construction’ but this whole thing is already predicated on a rather weak link, so I wasn’t about to do that now was I. Instead, I stuck with songs that mention or are named LEGO or brick. And I didn’t pick every single one, I left a few out on purpose. And others because they were just utterly awful.

Back when I had a Facebook page dedicated to music – yes, yes, I know it was only a month or so ago – I would ask questions like “What’s your favourite song about, or mentioning, the word brick?” And people would fill the page with answers. Picking a few I might have thought of and so many I never would. Sometimes I’d use that as the starting point for a blog topic, or the basis of a playlist. Or both. Today, in (recent) memory of that setup I decided to do it myself.

But fear not, I also have our regular weekly playlist. It’s # 59 in the forever-series of A Little Something For The Weekend. And I hope – as always – that you like (at least) some of it.

So happy weekend. And better building, everyone. We’re taking it slow. Cross your fingers for us.