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Baker's Dozen

Teen Beat: Miki Berenyi’s Favourite Albums
Stephanie Phillips , August 25th, 2021 10:37

From her teenage adoration of Julian Cope to days spent trawling through the record collection of the local library, Miki Berenyi guides Stephanie Phillips through the 13 albums that made her

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The Monkees – Head

TV shows and old musicals were my first entry into actually liking music. I didn't really have parents who bought a lot of music, so watching The Monkees and having them perform on a show was really exciting. I also thought about [2021 sitcom about a Muslim female punk band] We Are Lady Parts, I did wonder if there are a bunch of people who are going to watch this who just would not be into this kind of music at all. It’s a first step for them to go, ‘maybe I need to find out about this’, and to be shown that being in a band can be really wacky and fun.

I probably got into the film [Head] because I was quite involved in the ‘80s garage scene where even people like My Bloody Valentine started off as a garage band. There were quite a lot of ‘60s references in that. I don't think I would have seen that film until that particular period of my life when I was in my late teens. It’s quite interesting that they wrote their own songs on this. Is it as good as The Monkees? I mean, it's different, but I thought there were some great songs on it. On ‘Circle Sky’, I remember there's this descending bar chord riff in it which was one of the first riffs I learned when I was trying to play barre chords, which are a nightmare when you're starting out. If you watch the film, it’s a proper wig out ‘60s moment with psychedelic lights and everything. It’s brilliant.