The one thing I love about music is that everyone has their own story to tell – the musician, the lyrics, the way the fans decipher them and also the way a song can also create a memory or a meaning to someone. That is what this new article is all about. Each fortnight, we will take a look at a different song and I will take you as a trip down memory lane as to what it means to me. Welcome to Music Memories.

Track: All Rise
Artist: Blue
Original Release Date: 21st May 2001

It all happened when I saw the music video for the first time, the harmonica was playing, the first lyrics started, I looked at this boyband in front of me and decided that I was going to invest my time as a 12 year old to become a huge fan and give that thing a try. Right from the start when I made that decision, I was thinking about the stories I could tell as an adult. I know that sounds crazy but it is true, I wanted to be someone to experience the fandom of a band as it was something that fascinated me. From the very early age of 3, music has always been a huge part of my life and I was fascinated by it and growing up I read a lot of music magazines like Smash Hits, Top Of the Pops and later on Kerrang. You always had these letters from a band’s top fans and whilst I didn’t want to be insane about it, I wanted to experience that. I knew I had been too late to do it for bands like 5ive so I decided to invest all my time in Blue. 

The song All Rise spoke to me as it sounded so different to all the other boy bands that were out there at the time and because I came across their debut single very early, I felt pretty special about that. I had a magazine (think it was  Smash Hits) with their first ever interview and from that moment I decided to start my very first scrapbook. Whenever there was an article about Blue, I ripped it out and kept it. Whenever there was a poster, it went on my wall, whenever they performed I tried to record it on VHS. I even wrote to TOTP magazine to try and get their autographs. I never (even now) have seen them live but to be honest I am not I want to because the world I set up for myself was enough. I have even walked past them as an adult at work and I never felt weird or deliberately didn’t acknowledge them as it felt weird. I felt more bizarre when I walked past bands like Steps, A1 and what is left of 5ive – mainly because it felt incredibly weird and I cannot link my childhood amazements to these acts to my adulthood. It just doesn’t feel real so I ignore it. 

The song All Rise was so catchy, it had a great chorus that was easy to learn and it was a great track. The one thing I loved about Blue was the fact every single member could sing, I used to get annoyed with boybands that a lot of the time it was only one or two that would take lead and then the others would be the backing track. That is where Blue sold themselves to me, they were unique. 

I still like Blue music to this day, and I find their album Roulette was amazing and their new single Haven’t Found You Yet is also very on trend and great. There is a lot of their new music I am not a fan of but these two are amazing. It is weird, the other day I came across the scrapbook and I still can not bring myself to throw it away, it makes me cringe and laugh at the same time and it just makes me laugh that one day someone will find it and also find it weird and have a lot of questions. 

Facts About All Rise

•  It was released in 21 May 2001 as the lead single from their debut album of the same name. 
•  The song contains elements from the theme from The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix (1975), composed by Bent Fabricius-Bjerre
• When the time came to release Blue’s debut single, their record company said that it wanted to bring out “All Rise”, which surprised the band themselves.
• Recorded at mixed at StarGate Studios (Norway)