Luciano Pavarotti: 1935 - 2007

31st December 1999. Two boys were torn. Should they join the Deputy Prime Minister, some dangdut star and 150,000 people at the base of the Petronas Twin Towers? Or should they head over to the street party in another part of the city, where the Three Tenors were scheduled to croon before some 60,000 others?

They were torn. But one wasn't too thrilled about opera. And the other wasn't too decisive during those pensive teenage years. So the two boys boarded the train, and counted down the millennium in the presence of laser lights and spouting fountains. It was nice.

====//=

That was the closest I got to Pavarotti. And these days, whenever I get some prissy gal waxing lyrical about how Russell Watson is 'The Voice', or how Josh Groban makes their mummy cry, I remember that evening in December, and think to myself: I wish I had gotten closer.

Zucchero, Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli - Miserere (from Zucchero & Co.)

Tony Wilson: 1950 - 2007

The man, the legend, clocked out at 6.05pm on August 10th, 2007.

The mogul behind the seminal careers of Manchester heroes Joy Division and The Happy Mondays, Wilson constructed the Manc club empire, drawing largely from his experience of watching the Sex Pistols show at the Lesser Free Trade Hall.

He leaves behind his legacy as the founder of the now legendary Factory Records, the also equally legendary Hacienda club, a movie based on his life (24 Hour Party People) and tons of scathing remarks about Morrissey ('A nasty human being' who 'treats people like shit').

In bucking the trend of posting songs by either the Mondays, Joy Division or New Order, we instead bring you two songs by two rather seminal bands who were obviously a bi-product of the man's legacy.

Mr. Manchester will be missed.

Interpol - Pioneer to the Falls (from Our Love to Admire)
Primal Scream - Some Velvet Morning (from Evil Heat)