Welcome to the Madhouse

Hello there! I'm DJ Phil, and this is my own little musically-inclined watering hole on the internet.

Since I'm a DJ and one of my greatest passions in life is music (obviously), I reckon that the time is long overdue for me to start up a music blog, something covering my thoughts, memories and general ramblings about music, plus the occasional review of albums and specific music that I'm a fan of.

I'm a big fan of all types of music, although I do tend to veer away from chart music, particularly modern chart pop music, which I think is absolutely dire. Bland chart pop music simply bores the hell outta me, and modern programmed chart pop music is extremely bland and bad. Mostly it all just sounds the same to me. Universally awful. But older chart music had a lot more character and individuality, and much better tunes to boot. So I like a lot of that, and the older the better.

I usually lean towards the more alternative and rock side of the music spectrum, although with classic oldies, anything goes, especially the less well-known stuff. I love Soul, Funk, Disco, 1960s Psychedelic and Garage and general 1960s and 1970s chart hits. To that, you can add Classic Rock, Prog Rock, Hard Rock, Punk, New Wave and Alternative, Ska, Reggae, Electronica, House, Trance, Techno and a few other genres. I think I can cover a fair bit of the music spectrum. :)

Before I start posting any music reviews, I'm going to make a few introductory posts detailing my own personal music history, both as a fan and as a DJ. To set the ball rolling, I'll begin with (in my next post) the first part of a short history of how I first started out as a DJ in my home town of Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland, the early, Golden Age of my career in the 1980s and 1990s and how my career progressed and is now beginning to wind down after more than three decades on the decks.

Given that I'm such a big fan of classic 1960s psychedelic music, I think that this rather retro, colourful theme suits the mood of the blog perfectly. If it blinds anyone, just stick on the old sunglasses. :)