Daylight Savings Time? That just means we start #MusicMonday-ing an hour earlier.

Hello, Monday! You are here earlier than usual thanks to Daylight Savings Time, but that's alright. I may be sleepier, groggier, grumpier...for a while...but as I already stated, I also get to put Music Monday up an hour earlier. Yay! Not only is it Music Monday, but this week over at Dolly's it's all about the British Invasion!

© gotnolove

I'm really excited about this, because there is so much good music from England. In fact, there is too much of a good thing for this post, so I am only going to focus on three specific genres in which I feel the British have particularly excelled: Punk, New Wave and Gothic rock. It's still a LOT, but not even all I wanted to include.

One of the most important Punk bands to come out of England is The Clash. My favorite song? This one right here....

The Clash: "Train in Vain"

And in my opinion, the other most important punk band from England is none other than the iconic Sex Pistols. They're usually the first band people think of when they think of British punk bands because of all the controversy surrounding not only their music, but bassist Sid Vicious' antics both on and off stage. This sound is what I immediately think of when I hear the words "punk rock." Since "God Save the Queen" and "Anarchy in the U.K." get lots of attention, here's a different one...

Sex Pistols: "Pretty Vacant"

Not nearly as well known, but still worth mentioning here, The Damned.

The Damned: "Jet Boy Jet Girl"

And who could forget Billy Idol and his famous "Rebel Yell"?

The British definitely had punk covered, but were equally powerful in the New Wave genre. These are only a few of the many, many, MANY notable British New Wave bands.

Going WAY back with this one...

Adam and The Ants: "Prince Charming"

Probably my favorite of the British New Wave bands is Depeche Mode. And since I am very partial to Violator-era Depeche Mode, my favorite song (and this video) are from that album...

Depeche Mode: "World in My Eyes"

A somewhat under-rated British New Wave band worth mentioning here? The Psychedelic Furs.

The Psychedelic Furs: "Heartbreak Beat"

And finally, the first New Wave song I ever heard/first New Wave video I'd ever seen (on Night Tracks! Does anyone in the U.S. remember Night Tracks?) (and the band happens to be British) Modern English with "I Melt With You"

Now....for a bit of Gothic rock. Yes, all of these bands may sound quite different, but are all still considered Gothic rock. I'll start this one off by sharing a band many already know, The Cure. Disintigration was not my introduction to The Cure, but was definitely my favorite album of theirs. My favorite song is actually "Pictures of You," but it's gotten a bit overplayed over the years by being used in several commercials. So I'll share another favorite from Disintigration...

The Cure: "Fascination Street"

My favorite of the Goth-rock bands is Death Cult. Southern Death Cult. Now simply known as The Cult. They lost a lot of their gothic sound towards their most commercial release, 1989's Sonic Temple, but I loved them even more as they incorporated heavier, bluesier rock elements to their music. In my opinion, "Spiritwalker" (from Dreamtime, their first release) is their best gothic-sounding song, though "She Sells Sanctuary" is nothing short of amazing. My personal favorite of their releases was 1987's Electric, which is quite a departure musically from Dreamtime and Love. But as I said before, I liked their music even more once there was more of a hard rock/metal sound. It probably didn't hurt that I was in love with lead Singer Ian Astbury by that time, either!

The Cult: "Lil Devil"

The Sisters of Mercy is one of the bands you can't help but think of when you think of Goth in general. The Goths were/are way ahead of their time, too. Check out that stiletto manicure in the video a full 25 years ahead of the current trend! Here they are with "Lucretia, My Reflection":

And concluding my selections for this post is one of the songs that helped start the movement, obviously by one of the most important bands in the genre...

Bauhaus: "Bela Lugosi's Dead"

Well...that's MY British Invasion. Who would be included in yours?

Summer, Summer, Summer!

We're only a few days away from the official start of summer, so today's Monday's Music Moves Me!" theme is summer songs. And guess what? I'm a spotlight dancer this week! Yay!



First things first....the rules:

1. You Tube, and lock & load!
2. Grab "Monday's Music Moves Me" Button.
3. SIGN LINKY, Follow us, & Rockin' comment are good!
Finally,Boogie down to your Fellow Rockin' Bloggers. Also, bring some back with you to join us!

There are probably hundreds of songs which remind me of summer, so I'll obviously have to narrow it down.

Magic- The Cars
In the beginning of my hair metal-loving days, this was one of the few pop songs I truly adored. The Cars were always so different and their videos so innovative, so they're still a favorite to this day.



Blues Traveler - Hook
I'm honestly not even sure when this was released (Run Around was probably the song which came out the summer this album was released), but this song is just so catchy and fun and I did see it performed at a summer festival once, so that's why it'll forever be a "summer" song for me.



Mungo Jerry - In The Summertime
I've loved this song since I was a small girl. Definitely THE summer song!



.....but I bet most of you didn't know Derek Sherinian, Billy Idol and SLASH! did a cover of this as well....



Type O Negative - Summer Breeze (with "Set Me On Fire")
And now, the most missed artist on my list. Sadly, Peter Steele is no longer with us. But Type O's always done some really neat covers, and their cover of Seals & Crofts' "Summer Breeze" is one of them.



And there ya have it! Be sure to head over to XMas Dolly's to visit all your co-conductors, other spotlight dancers and participants, and play along yourself!

I'm hoping against hope my comments don't go missing like they did from my last 4M post! I am still getting around to trying to respond to those, so thank you to those of you who have been helping me with that.

Have a great Music Monday!

Note: be sure to check back soon; I've come up with so many more summer songs that I plan on making a master playlist. I haven't decided whether I'll do that in a 4Ms Free post, over at The Music Mamas, or just in a play-optional sidebar widget. But I'll definitely at least announce it here on the blog.