By Lucy Jones
To bowdlerise Elizabeth Barrett Browning... how do I love thee, PJ Harvey? Let me count the ways. Well there's 'Dry' (1992), 'Rid of Me' (1993), 'To Bring You My Love' (1995), 'Is This Desire?' (1998), 'Stories from the City', 'Stories from the Sea' (2000), 'Uh Huh Her' (2004), 'White Chalk' (2007) and 'Let England Shake' (2011). There's the way you brandish a staff on stage and ate only potatoes when you made your second album. There's your duet with Thom Yorke and your give-a-shit attitude to toeing the line. Your refusal to repeat yourself and your autoharp. Your protest song about Shaker Aamer's detention in Guatanamo released earlier this year in a barren landscape of politics in music and your inspiring, ever-changing aesthetic. For the chorus in this, and the weird album artwork of 'Rid Of Me' and the fact you're not on Twitter. So happy birthday to Britain's greatest rock star, born 44 years ago today in Bridport to Ray and Eva Harvey, a stonemason and a sculptor. To celebrate, here's the best gif I could find, courtesy of torohoover. Leave your favourite PJ Harvey moments in the comments below.
