SOUND JUDGEMENT
WE TAKE A LOOK BACK AT WHAT OUR MUSIC STARS SAID IN 2018
■ EIGHTIES pop star Kim Wilde returned this year with a new album, Here Come The Aliens, and she told of a life-changing experience involving, well, aliens. Or at least, seeing unidentifiable lights in the sky in her garden in 2009.
She said: “I remember it was the day after Michael Jackson had died... I was playing his records all day. I got home about 10pm and these lights appeared.
“I was in my back garden standing on the grass looking up wondering what was going on.
“It did make a big impact on me, I still look up to the sky expecting or hoping to see something.
“I’ve not seen anything as unusual as that since.”
■ THE Modfather Paul Weller talked about the “distressing” notion of his own mortality after celebrating his 60th birthday and releasing the poignant, reflective album True Meanings. He said, in September: “If there was ever a time in life that I might be reflective, it would be around turning 60. Which is pretty monumental. I think it’s also quite distressing, I suppose, the thought of my mortality really. Without being morbid, which I don’t feel it is. But I can’t help but think about how f ****** quick it has all gone, more than anything. And how much more have I got left?”
■ RICK ASTLEY, who returned with another successful album this year, admitted that he knew he wasn’t cool when he rose to fame with 1980s pop classic, Never Gonna Give You Up.
Rick said: “I knew I wasn’t cool. I just wasn’t. Look at the videos!
“The sharp end of the business where I made my break still exists today. I think it is slightly different because I think pop is cooler than it was then.
“If you look at successful artists like Adele and Ed Sheeran, they are pretty cool as well. It’s not like going back to the days where it was bright and breezy. They can sing really sincere, even dark songs with heavy lyrics and still be the biggest artist in the world.
“In terms of myself and how I would have fared now, I just think it was a very different time. I’m not saying Never Gonna Give You Up is uncool. I’m saying I wasn’t cool. I think there is a distinction there.”