- We're Australians. We're the masters of bastardising authenticity!
- If it's bleeding I'll shoot it
- I'd have wanted Ralph Lauren to have jizzed on it for $500!
- I'm an endangered species because I'm unique!
- She was so small, it was basically statutory rape.
About this blog
This blog has been inspired by the novel "High Fidelity" by Nick Hornby, and the movie adaptation. For those of you who don't know, throughout the story, the lead character, Rob(a record store owner), mentions several all time top 5 lists of things. Before I mention my own, it seems only fair to directly quote some sections from the novel, and state Rob's Top 5s.
The novel opens with: "My desert-island, all-time, top five most memorable split-ups, in chronological order:
1. Alison Ashworth
2. Penny Hardwick
3. Jackie Allen
4. Charlie Nicholson
5. Sarah Kendrew.
These were the ones that really hurt. Can you see your name in that lot, Laura? I reckon you'd sneak into the top ten, but there's no place for you in the top five; those places are reserved for the kinds of humiliations and heartbraks that you're just not capable of delivering. That probably sounds crueler than it is meant to, but the fact is that we're too old to make each other miserable, and that's a good thing, not a bad thing, so don't take your failure to make the list personally. Those days are gone, and good fucking riddance to them; unhappiness really meant something back then. Now it's just a drag, like a cold or having no money. If you really wanted to mess me up, you should have got to me earlier."
"What came first - the music or the misery? Did I listen to music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to music? Do all those records turn you into a melancholy person?
People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenagers watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands - literally thousands - of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss. The unhappiest people I know, romantically speaking, are the ones who like pop music the most; and I don't know whether pop music has caused this unhappiness, but I do know that they've been listening to the sad songs longer than they've been living the unhappy lives."
Rob then goes on to explain each of the break ups in detail; but I just felt I had to quote the opening few paragraphs here alongside the list as it is one of the greatest openings to a novel I have ever read in my life.
The following 'Top Five' lists Rob mentions throughout the movie are as follows.
Top 5 Subtitled Films
1. Betty Blue
2. Subway
3. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
4. The Vanishing
5. Diva
Top Five Films
1. The Godfather
2. The Godfather Part II
3. Taxi Driver
4. Goodfellas
5. Reservoir Dogs
Floor-fillers at The Groucho
1. "It's a Good Feeling" by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles
2. "No Blow No Show" by Bobby Bland
3. "Mr. Big Stuff" by Jean Knight
4. "The Love You Save" by The Jackson Five
5. "The Ghetto" by Donny Hathaway
Top Five Elvis Costello Songs
1. "Alison"
2. "Little Triggers"
3. "Man Out of Time"
4. "King's Horse"
5. "Everyday I Write the Book"
Rob's Dad's Top Five Films
1. Genevieve
2. The Cruel Sea
3. Zulu
4. Oh! Mr Porter
5. The Guns of Navarone
Rob's Mum's Top Five Films
1. Genevieve
2. Gone with the Wind
3. The Way We Were
4. Funny Girl
5. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Top 5 Episodes of Cheers
1. The one where Cliff found a potato that looked like Richard Nixon
2. The one where John Cleese offered Sam and Diane counseling sessions
3. The one where they thought the chief of staff of the US armed forces had stolen Rebecca's earrings
4. The one where Sam got a job as a Sports Presenter on TV
5. The one where Woody sang his stupid song about Kelly
Best Side One Track Ones
1. "Janie Jones", The Clash, by The Clash
2. "Thunder Road", Born to Run, by Bruce Springsteen
3. "Smells Like Teen Spirit", Nevermind, by Nirvana
4. "Let's Get It On", Let's Get It On, by Marvin Gaye
5. "Return of the Grievous Angel", Grievous Angel, by Gram Parsons
Top Five Bands or Musicians Who Will Have to Be Shot come the Musical Revolution
1. Simple Minds
2. Michael Bolton
3. U2
4. Bryan Adams
5. Genesis
Five Dream Jobs
1. NME Journalist: 1976 - 1979
2. Producer for Atlantic Records: 1964 - 1971 (approx)
3. Musician (any kind except rap or classical)
4. Film Director (any kind except German or silent)
5. Architect (eventually changed to owner of a record store)
Favourite Records (singles)
1. "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye
2. "The House That Jack Built" by Aretha Franklin
3. "Back in the USA" by Chuck Berry
4. "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais" by The Clash
5. "Tired of Being Alone" by Al Green
The novel opens with: "My desert-island, all-time, top five most memorable split-ups, in chronological order:
1. Alison Ashworth
2. Penny Hardwick
3. Jackie Allen
4. Charlie Nicholson
5. Sarah Kendrew.
These were the ones that really hurt. Can you see your name in that lot, Laura? I reckon you'd sneak into the top ten, but there's no place for you in the top five; those places are reserved for the kinds of humiliations and heartbraks that you're just not capable of delivering. That probably sounds crueler than it is meant to, but the fact is that we're too old to make each other miserable, and that's a good thing, not a bad thing, so don't take your failure to make the list personally. Those days are gone, and good fucking riddance to them; unhappiness really meant something back then. Now it's just a drag, like a cold or having no money. If you really wanted to mess me up, you should have got to me earlier."
"What came first - the music or the misery? Did I listen to music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to music? Do all those records turn you into a melancholy person?
People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenagers watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands - literally thousands - of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss. The unhappiest people I know, romantically speaking, are the ones who like pop music the most; and I don't know whether pop music has caused this unhappiness, but I do know that they've been listening to the sad songs longer than they've been living the unhappy lives."
Rob then goes on to explain each of the break ups in detail; but I just felt I had to quote the opening few paragraphs here alongside the list as it is one of the greatest openings to a novel I have ever read in my life.
The following 'Top Five' lists Rob mentions throughout the movie are as follows.
Top 5 Subtitled Films
1. Betty Blue
2. Subway
3. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
4. The Vanishing
5. Diva
Top Five Films
1. The Godfather
2. The Godfather Part II
3. Taxi Driver
4. Goodfellas
5. Reservoir Dogs
Floor-fillers at The Groucho
1. "It's a Good Feeling" by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles
2. "No Blow No Show" by Bobby Bland
3. "Mr. Big Stuff" by Jean Knight
4. "The Love You Save" by The Jackson Five
5. "The Ghetto" by Donny Hathaway
Top Five Elvis Costello Songs
1. "Alison"
2. "Little Triggers"
3. "Man Out of Time"
4. "King's Horse"
5. "Everyday I Write the Book"
Rob's Dad's Top Five Films
1. Genevieve
2. The Cruel Sea
3. Zulu
4. Oh! Mr Porter
5. The Guns of Navarone
Rob's Mum's Top Five Films
1. Genevieve
2. Gone with the Wind
3. The Way We Were
4. Funny Girl
5. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Top 5 Episodes of Cheers
1. The one where Cliff found a potato that looked like Richard Nixon
2. The one where John Cleese offered Sam and Diane counseling sessions
3. The one where they thought the chief of staff of the US armed forces had stolen Rebecca's earrings
4. The one where Sam got a job as a Sports Presenter on TV
5. The one where Woody sang his stupid song about Kelly
Best Side One Track Ones
1. "Janie Jones", The Clash, by The Clash
2. "Thunder Road", Born to Run, by Bruce Springsteen
3. "Smells Like Teen Spirit", Nevermind, by Nirvana
4. "Let's Get It On", Let's Get It On, by Marvin Gaye
5. "Return of the Grievous Angel", Grievous Angel, by Gram Parsons
Top Five Bands or Musicians Who Will Have to Be Shot come the Musical Revolution
1. Simple Minds
2. Michael Bolton
3. U2
4. Bryan Adams
5. Genesis
Five Dream Jobs
1. NME Journalist: 1976 - 1979
2. Producer for Atlantic Records: 1964 - 1971 (approx)
3. Musician (any kind except rap or classical)
4. Film Director (any kind except German or silent)
5. Architect (eventually changed to owner of a record store)
Favourite Records (singles)
1. "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye
2. "The House That Jack Built" by Aretha Franklin
3. "Back in the USA" by Chuck Berry
4. "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais" by The Clash
5. "Tired of Being Alone" by Al Green
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