Londonphilia Spotifiy Playlist: "D"

Here's my Spotifiy playlist of songs about London starting with the letter "D"...from Madness to Dizzee Rascal.

Londonphilia Spotify Playlist: The Letter 'A' + a Couple Numbers

I've finally joined Spotify and will be making Londonphilia playlists. I'm going through the alphabet and will be doing a playlist for each letter... plus a couple numbers. Some of the letters will be combined into one playlist.
Please enjoy!

Londonmusica: Pulp - Bar Italia

Even though Pulp are from Sheffield, a lot of their songs, especially on Different Class, are about London. This song is about a little all hours cafe on Frith Street in Soho, where all the 'broken people go'. It's where all the indie kids would go after a night out in Soho for a last coffee before the night bus home...or to someone else's home.
Of course, my Britpop loving friends and I had to go there for a late night coffee when we first came over to London on vacation...which was ironic for me because I don't drink coffee.
Bar Italia has been owned by the Polledri family since 1949.
Bar Italia was awarded the 2010 London Lifestyle Award for London Coffee Shop of the Year.

Londontelly - Spaced

The cast of Spaced

Obviously, a lot of TV shows are filmed in London too. From Sherlock Holmes to Doctor Who...every genre of television has used London as its inspiration and backdrop.
My favorite TV show set in London is the comedy Spaced. It written by Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson and directed by Edgar Wright, who went on to big screen fame with Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End...(my personal favorite of his is Scott Pilgrim Vs The World).

I will live here some day

Spaced is about two strangers, Tim and Daisy, who pretend to be a couple to get a flat in North London. The house is Spaced is located in Tuffnell Park, I used to live around the corner from it and visit it when I had a bad day. Their landlady is hard drinking, chain smoking Marsha, who's daughter Amber we never actually see, we just hear her coming and going. In the basement lives eccentric artist Brian. Tim's best friend Mike, Simon Pegg's real life best friend Nick Frost, and Daisy's best friend Twist fill out the cast...and then Colin the dog joins later.
Spaced should be required viewing for anyone moving to London. It is chock full of pop culture references and one episode was the inspiration for Shaun of the Dead. It is a surreal mish mash of music, television, film and comic book references and then a bit of real life. And that's what makes it a classic, not the references...which are amazing by the way...but that we could still relate to what they were going through. Unemployment, break ups, make ups, job hunting, ex-partners, parties, nights out in Camden, raves, losing your dog, fighting with friends, falling in love, pubs, Star Wars & zombies...basically, life in London.

Skip To The End making of Spaced documentary

Londonmusica - Songs About London

Parklife by Blur released 22 August 1994

Along with the movie blogs on Londonphilia I will be posting weekly videos about London. With Blur being my favorite band, of course I had to start with one of their many songs about London. The songs was inspired by Hyde Park as Damon said at Blur's 2009 Hyde Park show; "I came up with the idea for this song in this park. I was living on Kensington Church Street, and I used to come into the park at the other end, and I used to, you know, watch people, and pigeons...", enter Phil Daniels.

The video was directed by Pedro Romhanyi and filmed on the Greenwich Peninsula.

It won Best British Single and Best Video at the 1995 Brit Awards.

London Calling w/ Music Heritage UK & Rock n Roll Camden Walking Tour

Besides Londonphilia, I do a popular tour about Camden Town's music history, Rock n Roll Camden Walking Tour...a lot of which is about Britpop.
Several months ago, I was approached by Music Heritage UK to be interviewed about the Britpop scene in Camden. I took them around to some of the local venues and pubs...and basically did what I always do at the pub, I talked about Britpop.
Here's the finished product, which I'm very proud of and quite excited about.

London Calling Ep 2.3 - Camden Town: Birthplace of Britpop by Music Heritage Uk on Mixcloud

Coming Soon!

I run the popular Rock n Roll Camden Walking Tour in Camden Town. Now I don't just love Camden...I love London! 
I want to share my passion for all things London with people. This is where all the tours, that aren't to do with Rock n Roll or Camden, will be located!

Related articles

• Camden Town Launches £1.5m Bid For Second London Brewery