My top 30 films - No.26

26. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) - "One man's struggle to take it easy."

Let me start by saying that I have had genuine excuses for missing school days in the past. These include a whole morning of vomiting, breaking my neck in PE (I'm never doing the high jump again) and the fact I'm not Ranulph Fiennes and will break something if I tried walking through ice and snow. During these days off, I just sat at home and did something useful like homework or watched TV. I will look back on them and think "What if I was Ferris Bueller?"

Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a teen film from John Hughes, who early in his career as director made a name for himself with teen and coming-to-age movies like this film, Weird Science, Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club. The plot, Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick (The Lion King)) decides to take the day off school by faking an illness to his parents and his sister (Jennifer Grey). However, his sister knows that he's faking and hates how he can so easily defy authority. Someone else who believes that Ferris is faking it is the Dean of Students at his school Edward Rooney (Jeffrey Jones), mainly due to Ferris' poor attendance record. He therefore leaves the site and goes to Ferris' house to prove that he is skipping school. Ferris drags along his girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) and his reluctant best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck), along with Cameron's dad's Ferrari 250 GT California, to spend the day in Chicago. They're leave the car in the hands of two "capable" attendants at a garage and set off to visit many on Chicago's famous sites. These include the Sears Tower, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Wrigley Field. Meanwhile, they are unaware that news of Ferris' illness has been made public and there is a campaign started to "Save Ferris". Ferris then crashes the Von Steuben Day Parade and lip-syncs to Danke Schoen by Wayne Newton and Twist And Shout by The Beatles. But then Ferris must get back home before his parents and sister, hoping they don't realize what he has been up to, without running into Edward Rooney.

What to say? This was pretty much early in Matthew Broderick's career, but it definitely is his most memorable performance, apart from The Lion King. Many regard Broderick's trade mark as being his boyish charm, which you can is all over this film. All the students regard Ferris as a cult hero, because, for example, he is getting one student out of summer school and how else can he convince  his parents that he is "ill". Broderick did received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, but he should have received more recognition than that. Do you know who else was considered for the role of Ferris? Michael J. Fox, Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Cruise, to name just a few. If Tom Cruise was in it, it would basically be a sequel to Risky Business. Two years before, Johnny Depp had made his acting debut in A Nightmare On Elm Street; Michael J. Fox played Marty McFly in Back to the Future in 1985 and  Robert Downey Jr. did appear in Hughes' Weird Science. Alan Ruck also does a job of portraying Cameron, even though he was nearly 30 at the time. There were suggestions for Paul Gleason to play Edward Rooney. If he was, would he play the same character as he did in another John Hughes film (which coincidentally is next in my list). Plus, it is ironic that Charlie Sheen is playing a drug addict in this film. All the adults in this film play second fiddle to the kids; they don't understand them. This also occurs in other John Hughes films, such as Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club.

I am not promoting skiving off school at all. Many would say that what Ferris Bueller does is wrong and in modern times there would be severe punishments for what he did. However, it is so bizarre what he does in his day off and you have the urge to do exactly the same. There are certain lessons to be learned from films, but the main one from Ferris Bueller's Day Off is this - "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

My top 30 films - No.27

27. Dougal And The Blue Cat (1972)

This was one of my favourite films as a child and looking back on it, it is a masterpiece in stop motion animation. It has to be an influence on Wallace And Gromit and I loved them just as much. I am sorry if this review is shorter than some of the others, but I only found our VHS copy in the loft 3 months ago, along with some other childhood favourites.

Dougal And The Blue Cat was a feature length spin-off of The Magic Roundabout, the classic TV series from the late 60s. It features everybody's favourite characters from the TV series, including Dougal, Florence, Brian, Ermintrude, Dylan and Zebedee. One day, Dougal is rudely awakened by his cuckoo clock after what has been a very strange night and decides to go and talk to Zebedee about it. That night, he was first woken by an owl, but then he hears two voices coming from the abandoned treacle factory, particularly the words "Blue is beautiful, Blue is best. I'm Blue, I'm beautiful, I'm best!". Zebedee doesn't know what to think and questions whether or not Dougal had dreamt the whole incident. All he can suggest is that he goes and talks to Florence. However, everybody is uninterested in what Dougal has to say because of the arrival of a blue cat called Buxton. They decided that Buxton should stay at Dougal's house, despite the fact Dougal doesn't actually offer it to him. When everyone else leaves him, Buxton goes off to the factory and is met by the blue voice (Fenella Fielding). Once there, he has to pass through seven doors in order to be crowned king and decides to take over the garden. However, he underestimates Dougal.

Even though there are only two people doing the voices and you don't see the characters' lips moving, it works for me. It is like a strange fairytale, yet it does also have certain nightmarish qualities to it, especially with Fenella Fielding as the blue voice and when Buxton enters one particular room in the factory. That particular scene is what it must feel like to have a hallucinogenic trippy experience. Like The Magic Roundabout, it was written and narrated by Eric Thompson, and his grumpy attitude for Dougal struck a chord with adults of the time, as he was based loosely on Tony Hancock. As you may know, The Magic Roundabout was originally thought up by a Frenchman, Serge Danot, and he called it Le Manège enchanté. Danot originally called Dougal "Pollux", but he thought that the English had renamed it De Gaulle. In fact, many have interepted the character as representing French politicians of the time. Also, in Le Manège enchanté, the rabbit was Spanish and called Flappy. I don't know about you guys, but I prefer him being a hippy and called Dylan; we can obviously see that he was named after Bob Dylan.

I loved Dougal And The Blue Cat and it is nostalgia. Even though it was from the 70s, we had it on VHS and it was an important part of my growing up, along with the likes of Pingu, Wallace & Gromit and Thomas The Tank Engine. I love the visuals, the early stop motion animation is interesting and shows us just how far we have come. Somebody once described the film as if David Lynch had "taken over children's film making". If you haven't seen it, you'll be able to find a cheap VHS copy online, or you can buy the remastered version, which includes its French equivalent, Pollux et le Chat Bleu. When I release the up-to-date top 30 or 50 list (I haven't decided yet), this may not be in there anymore, but it is such a great piece of cinema, even if it is bizarre. I loved it before I became a teenager and, like I said, I found it in the loft 3 months ago; it hadn't changed. Watch it at least once and whilst you're watching it, just imagine David Lynch saying "I think I'm going to make a kid's programme. Let's see what happens..."

My top 30 films - An apology

As you may know, I am doing a countdown of my top 30 films. However, in the prologue, there was a tribute to great film that I had not seen and I included The Shining by Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver. Since I wrote that post, I have seen both these films and this has totally messed up the original top 30 that I came up with before starting this countdown. To compensate, I will continue with the original top 30, but this was as of 1st November 2011. Then after I get to no.1, I will give a revised version of my top 30 or even 50 (depending how I feel), because there are still many great films which I haven't seen which I could before we get to no.1. I am of course talking about The Godfather trilogy, The Exorcist, The Fly, Annie Hall and (a film I didn't mention in the prologue, but hope is as good as everyone says) Raging Bull. Plus, I may end up re-watching some, so it could be not so different or change dramatically.

My short review of The Shining - another masterpiece from Stanley Kubrick, Jack Nicholson's performance is psychotic and memorable, mind you the scene with the naked lady in the bath is disturbing
My short review of Taxi Driver - Robert De Niro's stand-out performance, what a chilling piece of cinema, features memorable soundtrack by Bernard Hermann and perhaps one of the greatest movie quotes ever - "You talkin' to me?"

My top 30 films - No.28

28. In The Loop (2009) - "Things are about to spin out of control."

Over 135 uses of the f-word, at least two mentions of c*** and other constant profanities and insults crammed into a 106 minute British satirical black comedy. Only we could have this much swearing in a movie and make it so hilarious.

As you may know, In The Loop is a spinoff of the TV series The Thick Of It, which satirises how the modern British Government works. Both of them were written by comedian Armando Iannucci, who was a fan of the political sitcom Yes Minister from the 1980s. He described The Thick Of It as "Yes Minister meets Larry Summers". Both of them star Peter Capaldi as the violent, foul-mouthed Scot that is Malcolm Tucker, the Prime Minister's Director of Communications. He is outraged after the Minister for International Development Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) haphazardly tells BBC Radio 4 that a proposed war in the Middle East is "unforeseeable". Malcolm tries to ban Simon from any media appearances until he can be trusted to "keep the line". However, Simon encounters the press later that day and says "To walk the road of peace, sometimes we need to be ready to climb the mountain of conflict." Malcolm's response to this is one of my favourite lines in the film - "You sounded like a f****** Nazi Julia Andrews!" He decides to send Simon and his aide Toby (Chris Addison) to Washington, D.C. to be "room meat" whilst many of America's key political and military figures discuss the cases for and against war. However both sides want to use Simon in their favour and he has no idea what to do. He, to some extent, is representing the audience, so we imagine what would happen to us in that situation. Despite the fact they are on the verge of war, there are issues closer to home for him, which could damage his reputation as a minister further.

Apart from Peter Capaldi, most of the cast from The Thick Of It appear in the film, including Chris Addison, Alex MacQueen, James Smith and Joanna Scanlan. However, the only returning characters from The Thick Of It are Malcolm and Jamie McDonald (Paul Higgins), Senior Press Officer in the Office of the Prime Minister and "the crossest man in Scotland", but those who also appeared in it are essentially playing the same characters, but with different names and jobs. I like that because you would rather want somebody in a spinoff who you are familiar with from the original series. Plus, the characters they are playing in In The Loop aren't that different to those they played in The Thick Of It. Other cast members include Gina McKee, Mimi Kennedy, James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) and
Steve Coogan, who Armando Iannucci worked with before on I'm Alan Partridge.

One of the filming techniques used was to film each scene twice. The first time is meant to be a word perfect version of the final script, because it was written by five people - Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche and Ian Martin. The second time the actors add their own words to it and the camera is following them, instead of them following the camera, so you are able to see the changes in expressions very easily. There are many scenes where the audience can see a look of fear on the characters' faces or when Malcolm is wanting to give someone a b******ing.

The plot of this film satirises Anglo-American politics, particularly around the time of the invasion of Iraq. You can relate to the fact that Britain and the United Nations got dragged into the war in Iraq by America and it's much the same in this film, especially when the Americans use Simon's infamous words - "climb the mountain of conflict." There is one scene where they've typed that out in a variety of different fonts and Toby suggests that they use the style associated with the SS. Apparently, some of the bizarre scenes in the movie aren't that different to what actually happened. Were there meetings between key official in some child's bedroom whilst there was a formal reception downstairs? But one of the other things that is satirised is the reason why this film and the TV series are brilliant. There is popular belief that Malcolm is based mainly on Alastair Campbell, who was Tony Blair's Director of Communications. They both have a reputation for shouting their heads off at people, constant swearing and Alastair Campbell admits to doing something that Malcolm does in the film, which is talking on two mobile phone at the same time, even though he didn't like it. Peter Capaldi actually believes that in some cases he shares the same qualities as "Lord" Peter Mandelson and some of the other great spin-doctors in history.

Malcolm Tucker should go down as one of the greatest characters in TV/film history. The Guardian compared him to the likes of Rigsby, Basil Fawlty and Edmund Blackadder. Johnny Dee said "It's not just the brilliance of these creations that links these comedy giants, the pathos of all four men comes from their resigned certainty that they alone know what they are doing amid a sea of fools." He's one of those characters which you don't often see, but when you do they stand out. There's a reason why there are five writers and they allow Peter Capaldi to add his own words. How many writers can come up with great outbursts such as "This is a government department, not some f****** Jane f****** Austen novel! Allow me to pop a jaunty little bonnet on your purview and ram it up your s****** with a lubricated horse c***!" and "We burned this tight-arsed city to the ground in 1814. And I'm all for doing it again, starting with you, you frat f***. You get sarcastic with me again and I will stuff so much cotton wool down your f****** throat it'll come out your arse like the tail on a Playboy bunny"? I'm not interested in politics and probably never will be, but some of the best films take a subject that might not appeal to you , put on the screen in the most entertaining way and you're hooked. It's Britain's version of The West Wing, but ruder, funnier, swearier and with a demented Scot...

My top 30 films - No.29

29. Kick-Ass (2010) - "I can't fly, but I can kick your ass."

Ever wanted to be a superhero? We all must have at some point. The only problem is we don't have any special abilities. Plus, no one has really tried to jump off a building. There are occasions when you've seen someone several storeys up, but then you think "Hang on, he's with Fathers For Justice."

Kick-Ass was written by Matthew Vaughn (Stardust and Layer Cake) and Jane Goldman (Stardust and The Debt) and is about a teenage boy called Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson (Nowhere Boy)) who wants to become a real life superhero. However he has no super powers, apart from being invisible to girls and his friends believe that if anyone tried to be a superhero they would be dead within a day. Nevertheless, he buys a turquoise wetsuit off the Internet and sets out to stop crime. His name - Kick-Ass. But to start with he is more like ass-kicked. He soon becomes a sensation on YouTube after a fight with a group of thugs and tries to help out the girl of his dreams. However, he discovers that he is isn't the only masked vigilante around, in the shape of Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) and Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage (The Rock and Lord Of War)). Meanwhile, they are going after New York gangster Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes)), who they have had previous with. Kick-Ass then joins forces with Red Mist, who is actually Frank D'Amico's son, Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad)), despite the fact Frank believes that Kick-Ass is responsible for the death of several of his men and wants him dead.

Some people are amazed that even uncut the film is still only a 15 certificate, not an 18. The BBFC actually say "Contains strong language, once very strong, & strong bloody comic violence". The violence is well justified because it doesn't dwell too much on the infliction of pain and suffering. The main issue is the language, especially the scene in which Hit Girl says "Okay you c***s, let's see what you can do now." Is it appropriate for an eleven year old to be using this kind of language? Probably not, but there are example of other great films which include kids swearing, like Linda Blair in "Dr" Mark Kermode's favourite film The Exorcist. The BBFC also say that it was used as a "comic" effect. That's fine by me, but there are some 18 certificate films which you might question because that is how modern teenagers talk and behave, particularly in Sweet Sixteen by Ken Loach and Shane Meadows' This Is England (which did receive a 15 certificate in Bristol).

My response after I first saw Kick-Ass - I was pleasantly surprised. Before seeing it I though "Oh, God. Not another superhero film." However, it is so much more than that. The last film I was pleasantly surprised about was Sherlock Holmes, because it was the most un-Guy Ritchie movie ever made by Guy Ritchie and Robert Downey Jr. does do a decent British accent. It is well written by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman, who both did an OK job with X Men: First Class. Apparently it only cost $30 million and all that was contributed by Matthew Vaughn. That does make up for some of his earlier rubbish, such as Mean Machine and Swept Away.

In terms of the cast, the stand out performance for me is that of Chloe Grace Moretz. She gets all the best lines, she gets all the action scenes and she is the most dominant character on the scene. Vaughn said that she is part of "the ultimate father-daughter relationship, where Barbie dolls are replaced with knives, and unicorns become hand grenades." She does outshine Aaron Johnson in my opinion, even though it is a very good performance from him. It's still fairly early in his career, so I wouldn't be surprised if we see him in another blockbuster movie in the near future. The other performance I thought was good was that of Nicolas Cage. For ages, he has appeared in some awful movies, but this is probably the role he has been most suited for in a long time. Vaughn describes Big Daddy as being a little bit Elvis and a little bit Adam West and Cage does deliver some of the lines with that kind of style. Plus there are the Batman links.

In short, Kick-Ass is a change from some of the repetitive superhero films of the past. It is a shame that at the box office it was beaten by How To Train Your Dragon, which I've heard is good, but also Clash Of The Titans, Furry Vengeance and the remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street. Before I saw it for the first time, which was when it came out on DVD, I tried to compare it to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and see which I should see first. Scott Pilgrim does have Edgar Wright as director which was the main appeal to me and some may call it a cult film. Also, there is Super starring Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page, which follows the same mouldKick-Ass, but this is an 18. I think, however, that people will remember it as "that film which isn't Kick-Ass", mainly because it was released after Kick-Ass. I am not by any means a die-hard comic book hero fan and I will never either be a superhero or have a special ability. However, Kick-Ass showed us that if you want to be a superhero it is not impossible, just difficult...

My top 30 films - No.30

30. Control (2007)

"I hold my hands up! I am a believer in Joy Division! F***ing hallelujah!"

Control is the feature film debut from the Dutch photographer Anton Corbijn, who famously directed the music videos for Depeche Mode's Enjoy The Silence and One by U2. However, he was a huge fan of Joy Division and this is a black-and-white biographical film about the life and unfortunate death of lead singer Ian Curtis, which is co-produced by Curtis' widow Deborah and inspired by her book Touching from a Distance.

It begins in Curtis' (Sam Riley) hometown of Macclesfield in 1973, with him listening to Aladdin Sane by David Bowie and meeting Deborah (Samantha Morton (Minority Report)) for the first time. They get married in 1975 and then he volunteers to become a singer in a band setup by his friends, after going to see the Sex Pistols. This was the time when they were known as Warsaw, but they rename themselves Joy Division by the time they release their first EP, An Ideal for Living. They then impress Rob Gretton, who becomes their manager, and Tony Wilson, who owns Factory Records and they sign with. However, Curtis has a seizure after their first gig in London and is diagnosed with epilepsy. He eventually quits his job at an employment office to go on tour, but leaves his wife and baby daughter behind. Whilst away, he tells Annik Honoré (Alexandria Maria Lara (Downfall)), a Belgian fanzine journalist, that he hates Macclesfield and his marriage was a mistake. Debbie discovers that he and Annik are having an affair and she eventually asks for a divorce. During this time, Curtis' fits are getting worse and he even tries to commit suicide by overdosing his medication. The strains of performing to the audience get too much for Curtis. At one gig he is initially unable go out there and when he does he walks off after one verse. Debbie refuses to take him back, which eventually leads to Curtis hanging himself. I am sorry if this is a spoiler for anyone, but it's a biopic and, in my opinion, you should already know a bit about the life of Ian Curtis.

The soundtrack to this film features many of Joy Division's live recordings of songs and the original incidental was provided by New Order. There are also original recordings of Drive In Saturday by David Bowie, Iggy Pop's Sister Midnight and a live performance of Boredom by the Buzzcocks, plus a version of Joy Division's Transmission by the cast. Part of that being due to the fact that Sam Riley was actually in a band called 10,000 Things. There were talks that he was going to add his own lyrics and the band their own sound. Instead you get the original sounds of Ian Curtis, so you are hearing the voice of the person you are watching develop over the course of the film. Plus, no one can sound exactly like Ian Curtis.

I do like the monochrome look to it and it does work, because it evokes those classic images of Joy Division, especially the one of them on the Manchester flyover. Anton Corbijn did also direct the re-released music video for Atmosphere in 1988 and took pictures of the band for NME. The other things I really like are the actors. Samantha Morton's portrayal as Deborah Curtis is so much more than that of a typical housewife and she was a fan of Corbijn's photography, Touching from a Distance and Joy Division. There is some sympathy for her character, as she has to deal with a husband who is not taking his medication and having an affair. Sam Riley is absolutely amazing as Ian Curtis, especially when he is on stage showing the amount of energy that he gave in his performances. This is his breakthrough performance, which won him the British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer. Out of all the awards and nominations he received for his performance, the best one has to be the Kermode Award for Best Actor. Apparently Corbijn's initially considered Cillian Murphy for the part of Curtis but he was considered to be too short for the role. The film won 4 other British Independent Film Awards, including Best Film and Best Director, and several awards, including the Director's Fortnight when it was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

For me, Joy Division are one of the greatest British bands of all time. People still listen to them today and it's a real shame that they were only around 4 years, because they could have gained international recognition (I'm not saying that they don't). Control is a fitting tribute to Ian Curtis and the other members of Joy Division. The other cast members actually do look like Stephen Morris, Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook. I will now listen to Joy Division songs in a new light, whether it is Transmission, Atmosphere or Love Will Tear Us Apart. But the most important thing, Stephen Morris and Peter Hook liked it...

My top 30 films - Prologue

Many of the posts following this one will be a countdown of my top 30 films of all time. I'm not an expert on films, nor have I seen every film ever made. Hopefully this will give you an impression of the kind of person that I am and what I like in a film. It may also remind you of classic films from the past and introduce you to films you were previously unaware of. I recommend all the films in my top 30 to you, but first here are some honourable mentions of films that only just missed out (they are still great)...

• There Will Be Blood
• Apocalypse Now
• Senna
• Harry Potter series (P.S. Hello, Jason Isaacs)
• Airplane!
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• A Clockwork Orange
• The Hurt Locker
• The Lion King
• Chariots Of Fire
• Trainspotting
• Jaws
• Four Lions
• Psycho
• This Is Spinal Tap

There are also some films that I am ashamed that I haven't yet seen, but are regarded as classics:

• The Godfather trilogy - I haven't seen Part I and III; I drifted off during Part II on a flight back from Australia
• The Terminator trilogy - I have seen no.1 (Terminator: Salvation doesn't count as being part of it to me because it was just awful)
• Taxi Driver
• The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
• The Shining
• The Green Mile
• The Fly
• Pan's Labyrinth
• Gladiator
• Annie Hall
• The Wicker Man - the ORIGINAL with Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee, not Nicolas Cage
• Brazil
• The Exorcist - is it worth all the hype it gets from Mark Kermode?

The 1990s and Me - was there any decent music???

Being a child of the 1990s is something that I've never been proud of. There are very few events in that decade that stand out for me. The only ones that really do are Nelson Mandela becoming President of South Africa, the death of Princess Diana, France winning the 1998 World Cup, Tony Blair becoming Prime Minister, the releases of Jurassic Park and Schindler's List, the death of Ayrton Senna; that's it. Apart from that it was all a big let down. But do you know what the biggest letdown of all was? Music...

At the time, I had no interest at all in music. It was just one of these things in life that I took for granted. Now that I am much older, music has become something important to me because of what it can give. "Excitement. Gratification. Empathy. And comfort" - to quote Dougie Anderson. It makes me feels confident in myself and my diverse collection of music sums me up. After all, as I said once in a piece of AS Level French coursework "La variété est l'épice de la vie" (variety is the spice of life). However, I recently took a quiz on the website Sporcle in which they played pieces of music from the 90s. The thought that came to my head when I heard some of these clips - this sounds s***. Listening to some of these reminded me how awful and depressing the 90s was for music. The score I got on that quiz was 17/36. I then had a look at what Digital Dream Door called the 100 greatest songs of the 90s. Why the f*** is Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise at number 12? It's s****. In my opinion, it makes Don't Come Home Too Soon by Del Amitri sound like Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Over half the music in this poll isn't music; it's just noise. And that's what's wrong with modern day music. How many modern songs are there that open with the lyrics "You were workin' as a waitress in a cocktail bar"? That's a classic, from a time when music was great. It's not that I dislike all rap music or anything like that. It's just not what I'd call music. The only things close to rap music that I like are Weird Al Yankovic and the Beastie Boys: at least the Beastie Boys know what a guitar looks like and how to play it properly.

However, despite all the rubbish and the MTV influence at the time, there were some positives to come out of all this misery and woe in the US. In 1991, Nirvana popularized both alternative rock and grunge when they released Nevermind and this encouraged more and more alternative rock to come along and sign to major record labels. However, grunge went into decline due to Pearl Jam's touring problems and Kurt Cobain's death, which shook the music world. Another important group of this genre were the Red Hot Chili Peppers. By the start of the 1990s, they had released four albums, their original guitarist Hillel Slovak had died in 1988 and original drummer Jack Irons had left soon after that. The band now consisted of Anthony Kiedis, Flea, John Frusciante and Chad Smith. They enjoy mixed success with Mother's Milk in 1989, which included their first UK top 10 hit, Higher Ground. However, in 1991 they brought worldwide attention to alternative rock with Blood Sugar Sex Magik, which was recorded in Rick Rubin's haunted Holywood mansion. After that John Frusciante left the band, but returned in 1998 to help the band have just as much success with Californication. Don't get me wrong. Dave Navarro was alright, but in my opinion One Hot Minute isn't the best album they ever released.

Apart from Nirvana and the Peppers, another American alternative rock band that stands out for me was R.E.M. and they saw large success with two albums in the early 90s - Out Of Time and Automatic For The People. Anyone who says that the Helping Haiti version of Everybody Hurts is better than the original deserves to be shot. Simon Cowell doesn't care about earthquake victims; he only cares about his wallet. The number of untalented musicians they let loose on it was unbelievable. None of them can write a song, apart from Bon Jovi. Why weren't R.E.M involved in it? That would have been the only redeeming feature of it. It's hard to believe that song was released in 1993. Besides from that, Losing My Religion, Shiny Happy People and Man On The Moon were other classic hits of theirs.

Britain's answer to alternative rock came in the form of a band from Oxfordshire, who formed in 1985, but released their first single in 1992. It was, of course, Radiohead with Creep. Creep was initially unsuccessful but became famous all around the world several months later after they released Pablo Honey in 1993. The Bends (1995) increased their popularity in the UK and they received greater international fame with OK Computer (1997). They're still going today and even famous outside of music. They performed at Glastonbury this year; in 2005, in a poll set up by Blender and MTV2, Thom Yorke was voted the 18th greatest singer of all time; Ed O'Brien appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live's Fighting Talk and won; Jonny Greenwood composed the score for the 2007 film There Will Be Blood and appeared along with Phil Selway in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire.
Green Day were also one of those bands who were pioneers in their genre (pop punk) along with Blink 182 and they brought in a new audience for it. Out of all the albums they released in the 90s, the one that stands out for me is International Superhits, with its memorable hits like Basket Case, Longview, Minority and Good Riddance.

Whereas bands from the 80s such as Guns N' Roses only had success within the first half of the decade, U2 remained popular and successful throughout the 90s as well. It's fair to say that there was a bit of tension within the band at the beginning of the decade, but despite this, they were able to release Achtung Baby and it is without doubt one the greatest albums ever released. A large part of its success was the fact it was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, but also due to the improvised writing that we know as the song One. In my opinion, out of all their albums it is second only to The Joshua Tree. This was followed up by Zooropa and Pop.

Being a fan of rock music, I'm going to pretend that British acts such as the Spice Girls, Westlife, Boyzone and Take That didn't exist. They were crap then and they're crap now. Why do girls in their early 20s fancy 5 blokes who are nearly twice as old?  The only thing to say about the Spice Girls was that their singles went zig-a-zagging through the charts. Thank you Q magazine. I've wanted to use that quote in general conversation for ages. The only things that I'm concerned about from Britain in the 90s in terms of music are Britpop and Post-Britpop.

I like Britpop for many reasons, but one of the main ones is the influences. There were genres/movements of the past which inspired and influenced Britpop artists, which included the British Invasion (artists such as The Beatles, The Who and The Kinks), glam rock (T. Rex, Roxy Music and David Bowie) and punk rock (the Sex Pistols, The Clash, the Buzzcocks and Joy Division). It was Britain's alternative to grunge music, "a reaction against various musical and cultural trends in the late 1980s and early 1990s". The earliest bands used to refer to previous British guitar music and the majority of songs were about topics that were uniquely British. One example of these early Britpop bands was Blur, who drew influence from The Kinks and The Beatles. Blur were soon followed onto the scene by the likes of Oasis, Supergrass and Pulp. In 1995 there was "The Battle of Britpop", which gripped the whole nation. It was a battle for No. 1 in the charts between Roll With It by Oasis and Blur's Country House. NME dubbed it the "British Heavyweight Championship" and the conflict was as much about British class and regional divisions (Blur representing the south and Oasis the north). Blur won the battle, but Oasis would go on to win the war, becoming more commercially successful.

And then, there was Pulp. Pulp was the best thing to come from Sheffield since The Human League. Personally, I take my hat off to Jarvis Cocker and what he did for us. The same goes out to Damon Albarn, Gaz Coombes and the Gallaghers, but it was Jarvis who famously mooned Michael Jackson at the Brits for his "Christ-like figure with the power of healing". Noel Gallagher said following this, "Jarvis Cocker is a star and he should be given an MBE". Jarvis famously appeared on Question Time on 2nd July 2009 and was asked if "media coverage of Michael Jackson's death has been over the top". He said "Well, yes..." He also said that the greatest tradegy was that Jackson hadn't continued to make great records like he did in the 80s. When asked if he thought Jackson was a genius, he replied "Yeah, he invented the moonwalk." Personally, you can keep Thriller, Beat It and Billie Jean. They are OK, but Common People, Sorted For E's & Wizz and Disco 2000 are masterpieces.

Unfortunately, Britpop went into decline thanks largely to the Spice Girls. Bitches. However, in the late 90s Post-Britpop came along. Even though the lyrics weren't so concerned about British life and the bands had more of an American rock influence, they followed the same principles and presented rock stars as ordinary people. The bands which were particularly successful worldwide included The Verve, Travis, Stereophonics, Feeder and Coldplay - the most commercially successful post-Britpop band to date.

Anyway, here are my top 20 hits of the 1990s:

1. R.E.M. - Losing My Religion (1991)
2. The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony (1997)
3. U2 - One (1992)
4. Blur - Song 2 (1997)
5. R.E.M. - Everybody Hurts (1993)
6. Pulp - Common People (1995)
7. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge (1991)
8. Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight (1996)
9. Guns N' Roses - November Rain (1992)
10. Supergrass - Alright (1995)
11. Radiohead - Creep (1992)
12. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication (1999)
13. Travis - Why Does It Always Rain On Me? (1999)
14. Social Distortion - Story Of My Life (1990)
15. Blur - The Universal (1995)
16. Oasis - Wonderwall (1995)
17. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991)
18. Pulp - Disco 2000 (1995)
19. Green Day - Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) (1997)
20. The Cranberries - Zombie (1994)

Honourable mentions: R.E.M - Shiny Happy People, Inspiral Carpets - This Is How It Feels, Red Hot Chili Peppers - Scar Tissue, Pulp - Sorted For E's & Wizz, Beastie Boys - Sabotage

You are entitled to your opinion about music from the 1990s, but this is mine. My taste in music will never change and, to be honest, I prefer the 70s and 80s. That was for me the golden age for music, but it wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for what the Beatles did. They did something that no other British band/artist had done before them - conquer America and then the world. However, I want to pay tribute to two great musicians who unfortunately died during the 90s. The first, as I have already mentioned in this, is Kurt Cobain and the other is Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen (perhaps one of the greatest bands of all time). Out of all the rubbish from the 90s, these 20 songs are my only exceptions. Most of the rest was s***...