Avinash Meetoo

In 1994, I was in Réunion Island having started my higher studies in Maths, Physics and Computer Science. I stumbled upon a music magazine with an article on a little known Icelander called Björk. She had just released her debut album, appropriately called Debut, and one of the tracks was Violently Happy.

I don’t know why but there was something in the article or on the cover of the album which prompted me to purchase the CD. I remember a good friend telling me that, surely, an album from Iceland would be crap.

Instead, I got an amazing album with gems such as Human Behaviour, Venus as a Boy, Play Dead, Big Time Sensuality and, of course, Violently Happy which, as one music critic said, was “insanely addictive”.

Madonna is Madame Provocative. But she’s also a damn good singer.

Drowned World/Substitute for Love was a track on her Ray of Light album released in 1998 and produced by William Orbit. I love this live version which Madonna sung in 2006 during the Confessions Tour.

This is another of my reference tracks when I test audio equipment when the bass and drums come at 1:15. Of course, I use the album version to do that as it has much better sound quality.

Bad is the title track from Michael Jackson’s 7th album, also called Bad. The album was released in 1987 to critical acclaim and was co-produced by Quincy Jones.

I was 14 when I first heard Bad, probably on the radio. The next day, I had purchased the album on cassette and, for the next few weeks, I would listen to it hundreds of time.

All the songs on the album were world-class but Bad, as the opening track, was so full of energy and the sound quality was so good that even my oh-so-crap Tatung audio system sang. Brings back so many good memories…