The Big Album Show

Prof. Luke O'Neill is professor of biochemistry in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College Dublin. He's also a big music fan and the lead singer of The Metabolics. In this episode of the Big Album Show he discusses the seventh studio album by Irish rock band U2 with Paul Dillon and Dan O'Neill. Achtung Baby was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 18 November 1991 on Island Records. After criticism of their 1988 release Rattle and Hum, U2 shifted their direction to incorporate influences from alternative rock, industrial music, and electronic dance music into their sound.

We talk about about Oasis's difficult 4th album Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, released on 28 February 2000. It's easy to forget what a cultural phenomenon Oasis were. Perhaps Metallica Drummer Lars Ulrich put it best when speaking about the oasis zeitgeist. He said,"In the mid-90s, wherever or whoever you were when it was going down, you felt it … in the streets, in the pubs, the music press, on the radio, in the gossip rags, the concert halls, and affecting everything from the way people dressed, the way they cut their hair, what football team they supported, the way people communicated, one’s accent … the list goes on and on. The Oasis phenomenon cut across all shapes, sizes, boundaries and classes. Everybody knew Oasis, and in some way were impacted by them. And if they didn’t love them, it was often the polarising opposite. But most importantly, nobody didn’t care. Everyone had an opinion. Everybody had a thought. Nobody ignored them. No one."We think it's fair to say that this album certainly polarises opinion.

Much of the music in The Exorcist is used as sound effects for psychological impact. It’s not traditionally scored in any true sense. In this episode, we look back at the soundtrack to the iconic film, including Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield. We also discuss the film itself.