Why am I here????
Hello there, and welcome. Without faffing about, let's get into the most succinct way to summarise key information known to humankind: FAQs. Play the jingle!
What is this?
Great question. This is Music Maggot Monthly. In this, I shall be sharing songs (up to 10) I have encountered in my life around a certain theme. It will be approximately monthly and will arrive straight into your inbox.
Why are you doing this?
Another great question. My answer is threefold.
Firstly, It came from listening to Yard Act on BBC 6Music, who were curating some shows as part of the station’s rotating “Artist in Residence” series, and was thinking about what I would play if I had a radio show. The problem is, other than the intermittent football-based show I did with my friend Alex called Thriker! (Forge Radio, University of Sheffield on Saturday mornings September 2012-June 2013. Listenership: unclear, but a guy did once recognise Alex just by his voice in a club, so definitely >1), it’s unlikely I’ll ever be given another one.
Secondly, I like writing, and don’t have any regular outlets to do this with an audience. I think about writing like I think about exercise. If I am just going for a jog (writing with no audience), if stop jogging (writing) / never even go jogging (writing), only I lose - and that’s just fine with me! If I play football on a team (writing with an audience), then if I stop kicking (writing), then my teammates (my audience) will lose out - and that is not fine with me. In sum, I need external pressure.
Thirdly, I hope that people might find out about some new music as a result of reading, which will benefit your life in a way that's not actually possible to measure.
Where did you get the idea?
Another great question. I stole it from a lovely man called Christopher Dean. Chris is a wonderful man - possibly the nicest man I’ve ever met (I mean that sincerely) - and is a floating brain in a jar when it comes to music. He started a weekly email newsletter called the postbox which this project will epicly fail to emulate, but is nevertheless the inspiration.
What sort of things will you talk about?
Another great question. I’ll most likely pick a theme, and then list ten songs about that theme, which will mostly tell a story of how this song/artist came into my life. Like many people, I have a deep, nostalgic connection that links different bits of music to different parts of my life that I think about all the time, so I’ll probably talk about that.
Will it just be you writing these?
Another great question. Maybe, but ideally not every time. I’m hoping that I’ll get other people to do special guest editions, but that will depend on external interest/how many friends I have. If you would like to do this, please do get in touch!
Can I suggest themes?
Another great question. Of course! I won’t be able to do anything useful like, “Niche disco tracks that I haven’t heard of”, but I will be able to do something like, “Sam, I know you love Robbie Williams - what are your top 10 Robbie songs and why?”.
What sort of tone will they take?
I’m hoping it will be mostly funny, but the emotions will depend on the theme itself. For example, “Songs I like to listen to on the toilet” - probably quite funny; “Songs that I like to feel sad to” - probably quite sad.
Is it going to be really boring and talk about technical stuff and genres and stuff?
Another great question. The answer is a resounding “NO”. I have zero technical knowledge and every time I try to describe what an artist/song sounds like or their genre I feel sick, so there won’t be much of that. You’ll have to judge for yourself if it's boring, though.
Do you even know anything about music? I thought you just like White Guys With Guitars?
Another great question. This is true, and no, I don’t really know loads about music. All I would say is, I won’t just be talking about stuff I like - just stuff that I have encountered, that brings about certain feelings.
Will you provide a playlist where I can access the songs discussed on the newsletter?
Another great question. Yes, I’ll do a Spotify playlist for each one.
Why have you given it such a horrible title?
Another great question. I think the word “maggot” is funny, and it's alliterative with music.
Do you have any self-doubts about doing this? Does it make you question why anyone would care what you think, let alone want to spend their precious time reading about it?
Another great question.
This is a very succinct, informative and well-written FAQ, but I’m still on the fence. Can you give me an idea of what I might be reading about?.
Another great question. In fact, you can read the first edition as soon as you sign up - where I talk about songs I’ve discovered via listening to BBC Radio 6Music.
Thanks for being you.
Sam x
