Browse Month

March 2011

Re-living the 90s: My favourite songs from 1991

This is the second of 10 posts. One post for every year of the decade that was the 1990s. For an introduction into this series and why I felt like doing these blog posts, read this first.

As 1991 came along, my interest in music grew. So did my favourable appreciation of rap music. As you’ll read below in my conclusion, the following songs were favourites of mine at the time — not necessarily the best in popular music 1991 had to offer.

Rap pop 1991 biggest hit artists
L-R Clockwise: Naughty by Nature, Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Jeff, Marky Mark, Heavy D & Wet Wet Wet

EMF – “Unbelievable”

This was one of the most memorable hits from the 1990s. A number 1 song in the US and top 3 hit in their home country UK, EMF are largely known as a ‘one-hit wonder’. Still, given how often this song is still played and used on soundtracks, the band members are probably still living off of royalties from this song.

Naughty by Nature – “O.P.P.”

Sampling the hook from the Jackson 5’s “ABC,” this song was first big hit for Naughty by Nature.  Of course, back then as a 9-year old, I assumed “O.P.P” was an abbreviation for “Other People’s Party”… until Wikipedia told me otherwise. With this song, Naughty by Nature was officially on my ever-expanding rap radar.

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – “Summertime”

Fresh Prince a.k.a Will Smith was one of my favourite people in entertainment during the 1990s. Not just for his music with his friend DJ Jazzy Jeff, but he was also popular at the time for his sitcom “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air“. I even memorized the lyrics to the opening intro song. “Summertime” is still a fresh ‘Good Morning’ song!

Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch – “Good vibrations”

Before Mark Wahlberg became the badass actor he is now, Mark Wahlberg was a Calvin Klein underwear model, and before that, Mark Wahlberg was rapper Marky Mark. Funny, I know. Back then, he was famous for being the brother of Donnie Wahlberg (of NKOTB) and was one of the few white rappers on the pop scene.

Heavy D & The Boyz – “Now That We Found Love

I used to love the chorus for this song! Heavy D was one of the biggest rappers back then — both literally and otherwise.

Wet Wet Wet – “Goodnight Girl”

Though rap ruled my world back then, I wasn’t incapable of appreciating melodious songs from Scottish bands like Wet Wet Wet. “Goodnight Girl” was a UK number one hit back in 1991 and one of the many good songs from the group that were hugely popular in Europe, but never made it in the US.

———–

It’s funny, when I look up some of the biggest hits that came out in 1991, I found so many songs that ended up becoming favourites as I matured into the 1990s. Songs like:

Bryan Adams – “Everything I Do (I Do It For You)”

Nirvana –  “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Extreme – “Hole Hearted”

Genesis – “No Son Of Mine”

Chris Isaak – “Wicked Game”

Metallica – “Enter Sandman”

Roxette – “Fading Like A Flower”

The Scorpions – “Wind Of Change”

Queensryche – “Silent Lucidity”

So yeah, mostly rock. I guess I was still into easy pop and rap at the time. Many of these songs still rank as some of my favourite songs ever, but looking at the above list of songs, 1991 surely was one heck of a year for music!

Petronas Twin Towers top half

Malaysia 2010: Day 7 — Kuala Lumpur (Low Yat Plaza, Petronas Towers, Jalan Alor)

Date: 1st October 2010

After two wonderful days in beautiful Langkawi, it was now time for the last leg of our journey. We reached Langkawi airport for our morning flight to Kuala Lumpur. After having our breakfast at Kenny Rogers Roasters (not a whole lot of options at the airport), we checked in and waited for our 11:45am flight.

Langkawi airport runwayLangkawi airport flying school hills

Langkawi airport Air Asia morning flight
Our flight was on time (Above photos taken on Nokia E72)

We all sat together but Ramesh chose the window seat. The following are his photographs.

Leaving Langkawi Malaysia by flight

Langkawi wave breaker from plane Malaysia
That’s a wavebreaker

Langkawi islands from Air Asia flightLeaving Langkawi for KL Air Asia flightAir Asia Langkawi to Kuala Lumpur cloudsKuala Lumpur Malaysia river from skyKuala Lumpur Malaysia river from planeKuala Lumpur outskirts Malaysia from planeKuala Lumpur palm forest from sky MalaysiaLanding in Kuala Lumpur budget terminalAir Asia landing runway LCCTKuala Lumpur airport budget LCCT terminal

We landed at Kuala Lumpur Low Cost Terminal nearing 1pm and was out in 30 minutes. There were plenty of buses from KL LCCT to KL Sentral, which is the main transportation hub in Kuala Lumpur city.

KL LCCT to KL Sentral bus Manchester United believe
We got a ManU fan for a driver
LCCT to KL Sentral Kuala Lumpur bus journey
The bus ride costs RM8 (Rs. 117/$2.7)
LCCT to KL Sentral Kuala Lumpur heavy rain
Soon after, it began to rain heavily
Kuala Lumpur city highway powerlines
But halfway through the journey, the rain stopped

Kuala Lumpur airport to city roadKuala Lumpur city airport highway

Kuala Lumpur city highway Petronas in distance
Malaysia’s landmark in the distance
Kuala Lumpur construction near KL Sentral
After nearly an hour, we arrived at KL Sentral

After reaching KL Sentral, we then hired a taxi to where were staying.

Kuala Lumpur city Proton taxi
It cost us RM35 from KL Sentral to Berjaya Times Square

Kuala Lumpur city apartmentKuala Lumpur city overbridge

Kuala Lumpur luxury building
(Above photos taken on Nokia E72)

After a 15 minute journey, we reached Berjaya Times Square. There is a metro service from KL Sentral to Berjaya Times Square, but with our luggage, we decided to just take a cab.

Kuala Lumpur Irsia bed and breakfast hostel
The tiny white building was where we would be staying: Irsia Bed & Breakfast

We chose Irsia after much deliberation and researching on the location. We made our booking for a triple room.

Irsia bed breakfast hostel triple room Kuala Lumpur
Which by the way, looks like this

After freshening up and making our payments, we headed to Berjaya Times Square for lunch.

Berjaya Times Square is relatively old but still remains one of Malaysia’s biggest and popular shopping destinations. It’s pretty huge, with 7 floors of shopping — high ends brands in the lower floors and more affordable stuff in the higher up floors. There’s also a 5-star hotel, Berjaya Hotel — among other things.

Kuala Lumpur Berjaya times square mall info lobby

Berjaya Times Square hotel escalator floors
(Photograph by Loiyumba)

We headed all the way up to the 10th floor to the food court. We chose our meals from a place selling ‘mock non-veg’ food.

Kuala Lumpur Berjaya Times Square soya food court
Pick and choose

By that I mean, stuff that looks like chicken and fish but are actually vegetarian because they are essentially soya-filled made to look like non-veg items.

Berjaya Times Square mock chicken fish

Kuala Lumpur city SJK Julimbi building
The view from up here

When I mentioned “among other things” earlier…

Berjaya Times Square indoor roller coaster
… there’s also an indoor theme park with a rollercoaster inside the building

Berjaya Times Square indoor roller coaster ride

Berjaya Times Square indoor theme park
I tried to the get the whole theme park section of the building in one frame
Berjaya Times Square mall Kuala Lumpur
We stepped out
Kuala Lumpur Times Square monorail line
And decided to check out the area we were in

We chose to stay at Irsia because it was close to a lot of places we wanted to go. One among them being Low Yat Plaza, Kuala Lumpur’s famous IT mall.

After crossing the road, it was a short walk to Low Yat

Kuala Lumpur Plaza Low Yat side entrance
This isn’t the main entrance
Kuala Lumpur Low Yat Plaza five floors
6 floors of gadgets

I couldn’t get to spend much time in Singapore’s IT malls to pick up the things I wanted, so I consoled myself assuming I could get them at Low Yat.

Kuala Lumpur Low Yat Plaza IT store cafeSadly, the selection of camera tripods weren’t very exhaustive and I couldn’t really find everything I wanted. Also, more importantly, the prices we found for some items were far more than what we saw in Singapore. There isn’t an incentive for tourists either via a tax refund scheme like Singapore has with its GST refund and Thailand has with its VAT refund scheme.

Kuala Lumpur Low Yat Plaza stores
I checked out pretty much every floor

After lingering around for nearly 30 minutes, we left.

Kuala Lumpur Plaza Low Yat entranceKuala Lumpur street food hotel capitolWe were soon on Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur’s popular shopping district.

Kuala Lumpur Changkat Bukit Bintang streetA short walk from here is Jalan Alor, also nicknamed ‘Food Street’.

Kuala Lumpur Jalan Alor food street Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur Jalan Alor evening
Not buzzing just quite yet

Kuala Lumpur alley near Jalan Alor

Kuala Lumpur city CBD traffic
Quite a lot of malls in Bukit Bintang

Kuala Lumpur Lot 10 mall junction

Kuala Lumpur monorail train
KL’s monorail service (Photograph by Loiyumba)
Kuala Lumpur monorail HSBC branch
We were walking towards Malaysia’s world famous landmark
Kuala Lumpur Hotel Istana Menara KL tower evening
It’s tall, but it isn’t KL Tower
Kuala Lumpur Petronas towers Monorail
That’s where we were headed — Petronas Twin Towers
Kuala Lumpur Menara KL Malaysia
I had plans to go to Menara KL too

Kuala Lumpur CBD road sign

Kuala Lumpur Menara Shangri La hotel Malaysia
Menara KL (or KL Tower) is in fact taller than Petronas towers, but that’s because it’s perched atop a hill
KL Petronas Tower Canon street ad
Even half of one tower is impressive to look at

Kuala Lumpur street to Petronas TowersPetronas Tower single tree shadow night

Kuala Lumpur Suria KLCC shopping mall
Suria KLCC is the shopping mall (KLCC is the convention centre I believe)
Public Bank AmBank headquarter building KL
Plenty of bank headquarters in and around Petronas Towers
Petronas Tower KL side angle
Stunning

We walked into Suria but there was a sign saying at certain sections of the mall, photography is prohibited. So we just kept our cameras in and walked through the mall and out the main entrance of Petronas Towers.

Petronas towers 1malaysia 1matlamat fullPetronas is the Malaysia’s national oil company — and one of Asia’s largest companies.  Petronas Towers is the company’s headquarters, thought I’m not sure if all 88 floors are Petronas’ offices.

Petronas Twin Towers bottom angle
But what an office to work in!
Petronas Towers building entrance lobby
The lobby is quite nice
Petronas Towers observation deck bridge at night
That’s the Skybridge observation deck. We planned to go check it out in the morning.

The reason why we we didn’t want to go up to the skybridge is because, one, we were already late as the skybridge closes at 5pm and two, there is a particular method to which you need to get the tickets to visit the observation deck — which I’ll get to in a later post.

Petronas Towers higher floorsPetronas Twin Towers top half

Kuala Lumpur Petronas Twin Towers Malaysia
I had to step back a bit to get the whole building in my wide angle

Petronas Twin Towers top floorsWe attempted a portrait shot of all three of us in front of the Petronas Towes, but because we didn’t have a tripod with us, Ramesh fit the tripod on his camera and used his Kata bag to stand the camera.

Petronas Towers glowing Mithun Loiyumba charity girl
Me donating some money to some Chinese school girl
Loiyumba Ramesh Mithun in front of Petronas Towers full
After a few attempts, we managed to get the shot

Kuala Lumpur Petronas Towers fountainsPetronas Towers entrance fountainsPetronas Towers KL angle shotPetronas Twin Towers glow treeThe Malaysian MotoGP was happening the following week, and they had some competing superbikes on display.

Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha bike Petronas MalaysiaFiat Yamaha superbike MotoGP display Petronas MalaysiaPublic Bank head office in front Petronas TowersKuala Lumpur BSN Bank headquarters Menara KLAfter nearly an hour just staring at this beautiful building, we finally left the base of Petronas Towers.

Kuala Lumpur Petronas Towers full shotThe Petronas Towers are a symbol of modern day Malaysia. Just like Burj-Al-Arab signifies Dubai, and now Burj Khalifa, the Petronas Towers are an architectural icon. Inaugurated in 1998, even to this day, the Petronas Towers design stands as ‘modern’ – and yet, truly Asian in its influence as it can be. No visit to Malaysia is complete without having seen what was once the tallest building(s) in the world.

Kuala Lumpur KLCC Suria parking entranceEven though Taipei 101 took over the throne of “Tallest building in the world” in 2004 (until Burj Khalifa did the same in 2010), the Petronas Towers are still one of the best looking skyscrapers in the world in my opinion. It shows how important good architecture is in creating a true global landmark. You can play the game of attempting to build the tallest structure in the world, but unless it looks good, the investment is futile.

If you disagree, just go around and ask people if they are aware of ‘Taipei 101’.

Kuala Lumpur Petronas Towers night sky cloudsKuala Lumpur Convention Center building MalaysiaKuala Lumpur Prince Hotel Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur city TANGS store
TANGS is a department store

We walked back and through some of the malls in Bukit Bintang district.

Kuala Lumpur Pavilion Mall street musicians
Musicians performing in front of Pavilion Mall
Pavilion Crystal Fountain, the Tallest Liuli Crystal Fountain in Malaysia
Pavilion Crystal Fountain, the Tallest Liuli Crystal Fountain in Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur Uniqlo store Bukit Bintang
Japan’s UNIQLO is now in Kuala Lumpur’s Fahrenheit 88 mall
Ferrari F430 parked in front of Fahrenheit 88 mall Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
This Ferrari F430 was parked in front of Fahrenheit 88 mall

Ferrari F430 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Bukit Bintang street performers at night
There are a few street performers at Bukit Bintang
Bukit Bintang street dancers Kuala Lumpur at night
These guys were trying to perform street dancing but looked nervous when the crowd grew big
Kuala Lumpur Bukit Bintang monorail station
Bukit Bintang monorail station

From Bukit Bintang other KL landmarks

Bukit Bintang street KL at night
It was time for us to now figure out what to eat
Jalan Alor food street Chinese restaurant tourists
So we headed to Jalan Alor a.k.a ‘Food Street’
Jalan Alor food street Kuala Lumpur at night
Quite a change of scene from earlier isn’t it?

Jalan Alor food street KL Malaysia nightlifeJalan Alor food street beef street food

Jalan Alor food street water sprinklers
These restaurants even sprinkle water in the air to cool off its guests

Jalan Alor food street Vietnam food KL MalaysiaJalan Alor food street food courtJalan Alor food street Budget Inn Kuala LumpurJalan Alor food street Kuala LumpurWhile myself and Loiyumba found enough options for dinner, as was the norm on this trip, Ramesh didn’t. So I ordered what I wanted to eat, so that we could head to some place Ramesh could get his dinner.

Jalan Alor food street KL kitchen
I ordered some duck dish, forgot what it was called
Jalan Alor food street fried fish
Was tempted to order some seafood too
Jalan Alor food street Chinese restaurant
A lot of the restaurants on Jalan Alor are Chinese

Jalan Alor food street KL crowds at nightJalan Alor fresh fish seafood on iceIt maybe a bustling place by night, but if you feel like staying amidst all the food, here are some hotels on Jalan Alor:

Hotel Alor street restoran yan kuala lumpur

Jalan Alor food street Apple Inn hotel KL
Apple Inn (http://www.appleinn.com.my/)

Once I got my takeaway, we headed back to our rooms only to stop at the 24-hour Subway store on Bukit Bintang where Ramesh picked up his dinner. (There’s also a 24-hour KFC on the same road)

We also pick up a few drinks from a convenience store on the way and had our dinner outside our hotel, where Irsia had put up a few tables for its guests.

KL street food duck meat Anglia shandy
My dinner
Berjaya Times Square from behind at night
When I say we stayed right behind Berjaya Times Square, I’m not kidding

Dinner over, we hit the bed early. Our plans were to go see the famous Batu Caves tomorrow, which we knew were on the outskirts of KL… which meant getting up a bit early.

So what was our first impression of KL? Not so good, to be honest. In fact, after a whirlwind 3 days in Singapore during a buzzing F1 weekend, it’s understandable we were a bit disappointed with Kuala Lumpur. But the fact is, things are a lot cheaper in KL, so it’s no surprise Malaysia’s capital city isn’t as glamourous as glitzy Singapore. Unfair comparison I’d say.

Oh well, we still had two more days in the city to change our minds about the place.


Other posts in this series:

Singapore & Malaysia 2010: Planning and preparing for the trip

Singapore 2010: Day 1 – Little India, CBD, Clarke Quay, China Town… and a lot of walking

Singapore 2010: Day 2 – Orchard Road, mall-hopping… and already shopping

Singapore 2010: Day 3 – Singapore Zoo, Marina Bay Sands; leaving Singapore for Penang

Malaysia 2010: Day 5 — Langkawi (Ferry ride from Penang, Cable car & Sky Bridge)

Malaysia 2010: Day 6 — Langkawi (Island hopping tour, Pantai Tengah beach, Night market)

Malaysia 2010: Day 8 — Kuala Lumpur (Batu Caves, Petaling Street/China Town)

Malaysia 2010: Day 9 — Kuala Lumpur (KLCC Aquaria, Merdeka Square, KL Tower observation deck)

Malaysia 2010: Leaving Kuala Lumpur… and about going back

Re-living the 90s: My favourite songs from 1990

Dick Clark once said: “Music is the soundtrack to your life

That statement, for sure, holds true for my life.

I was born in 1982, but growing up in Bahrain in the 1980s, me and my older brother were more interested in cartoons about transforming robots, transforming automobiles and transforming jets. Not Michael Jackson or 80’s hair metal. It wasn’t until I grew into the next decade that my interest in music slowly started to grow.

I remember my brother getting a tiny Black & Decker radio which my dad won at some company party, and that pretty much became our introduction to the music broadcast over Bahrain’s airwaves (mostly Radio  Bahrain 96.5fm). Since the radio, we moved up to a Sony hi-fi system, got cable, and then as the internet became a part of my adult life, I ended up listening to so much music that I link moments of my life to the songs from that period.

For the past few months on my Facebook profile, I’ve been sharing songs I grew up listening to under the ‘Re-living the 90s’ headline. It was pretty well received by my friends who, like me, reminisced about the music and went: “Man, I haven’t heard this ages!”.

So, this is the first of 10 posts. One post for every year of the decade that was the 1990s.

Now, these songs weren’t necessarily the top songs of the 90s, best, or even the greatest songs of the 90s — but yeah, they surely were big hits from the 1990s.  I’m including them in my selection because I remember them as “favourites”.

So here we go:

NKOTB Vanilla Ice Cathy Dennis MC Hammer Maxi Priest 1990s chart music
All of these guys (yes, even those pants) were cool... back in 1990

New Kids on the Block – “Step by Step”

In 1990, I was 8 years old. NKOTB was my favourite group at the time. Why? I don’t know, maybe it was because their songs were simple, catchy pop songs — or I thought their dancing was “SO AWESOME” at the time. They even had their own cartoon I used to watch. Whatever it was, I had their cassette tapes… and I loved songs like “Right Stuff” and “Hangin’ Tough” as a kid.

The last NKOTB song I heard was “Dirty Dawg (1993-94),” their attempt to break away from the cheesy pop that made them famous. It wasn’t a huge hit and NKOTB eventually broke up after that. Jordan Kinght and Joey McIntyre came back to the music scene in the late 90s and in 2008, NKOTB re-emerged with a new album and tour. But as I grew up in the 1990s with the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync, I now realize how much more vocally talented those two boy bands were compared to NKOTB.

DNA feat. Suzanne Vega – “Tom’s Diner”

Do you know that song that goes: “D0-do-doodeh, do-dodeh-do, do-de-do-do, do-dedo-do…” Yeah, that’s how I used to remember this song 🙂

Maxi Priest – “Close To You”

Maxi Priest‘s biggest hit. He also did a decent reggae cover of “Wild World“.

Vanilla Ice – “Ice Ice Baby”

The 1990s saw rap hit the mainstream. Unfortunately, it was through rap hits like this:

I was among the millions back then who loved this song! I have a fond memory of when we first got our Sony hi-fi stereo (with karaoke mic!) and my older brother rapped the lines while I was snuggled in excitement on our living room sofa. Oh the things that excited me back then.

Now I’m among the millions who laugh at the guy whose real name is Robert Van Winkle 🙂

MC Hammer – “U Can’t Touch This”

Besides Vanilla Ice, the other laughing stock of early 90s pop rap was MC Hammer. Once again, everybody loved him when he was a chart-topping success. He too had a cartoon, Hammer Man. He lived the high life, bought a multi-million dollar home, a Ferrari — and then his career fizzled out after his second album, ‘Too Legit to Quit’. Then he went bankrupt. He’s still around though.

Cathy Dennis – “Too Many Walls”

Her biggest hit — and probably the only song of hers I remember. She didn’t last too long in the public eye as a pop star. Most of you may have never heard of Cathy Dennis, but if you heard songs by S Club 7, or number 1 hits like Kylie Minogue’s  “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” “Toxic” by Britney Spears, or Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl,” that’s all Cathy Dennis. She wrote those hits.

So that’s all for the inaugural post in this series. I know it’s not a lot of songs, but I was only going on 8 then.

Cartoons were still a bigger priority for me.

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