I don't like Linkin Park very much mow. They've done a Coldplay, which means they've changed their sound so much I don't even know who they are anymore. "Mylo Xyloto" is pretty shitty. I'm more of a "Parachutes" man. This is very much like Linkin Park. I think the only newer song I liked was "Waiting for the End", but I haven't bothered with their newest albums. "Meteora" is my favourite album, which will probably polarize a lot of you readers.
"Meteora" gets a lot of crap for apparently sounding the same as "Hybrid Theory", but I haven't listened to that album. The singles are good enough. Meteora on the other hand, you've got the song seguing into each other and Chester and Mike get an equal contribution on everything. "Breaking the Habit" is the exception. That is Chester's song. For sure. Mike doesn't rap on it, there's no distorted guitars. Just a lot of keyboards and synth-strings. It's very emotional.
The "Breaking the Habit" video is the first of Linkin Park's that I can actually remember watching on the TV when it was released. It freaked me out. There's nothing wrong with it. It's just that when I was seven, my uncle got me this "Animatrix" DVD which is supposed to link in with "The Matrix" film series. It is also rated fifteen by the way. That DVD was so confusing and fucked up - I think I can remember a person's head being squashed or something - and the animation for "Breaking the Habit" reminded me of it. So I didn't want to watch the music video for a while. I got over it though.
I'm very happy. Today marks the first time I make a blog from my new laptop.
No more will I have to suffer with the forever slow and freezing mess that is the family desktop. If you guys want a laptop, ASUS is the way to go. Forget Dell. My sister has a Dell laptop that's basically falling apart. Whether that's due to the manufacturer or if my sister abused it I'm not sure. I know that I'm not messing this mine up though.
Now with that intro out of the way, is this my first Red Hot Chili Peppers post? Because I'm pretty sure I haven't touched upon one song of theirs. They probably don't have a lot of songs beginning with the letter 'A' that I know of. Except for "Aeroplane" of course.
So... Red Hot Chili Peppers..... Ah! "Fight Like a Brave". That was the first song I'd ever heard by them, thanks to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. When they released "By the Way" in 2002, I had no idea that it was the band who wrote that song until I actually looked at the in-game menu.
In 2002, I wasn't really into music. Being six/seven at the time, I was either incessantly up at early hours in the morning to watch Cartoon Network or Thomas the Tank Engine videos. 2006 was the year that I can actually remember the build up towards a Red Hot Chili Peppers album, which we all know is the double album "Stadium Arcadium".
I can remember it now, the video for "Dani California" premiered at midnight on Channel 4. It was then played every hour on MTV2 the next day. My sister and I liked it. She had a friend who liked the band, who then gave her the "Greatest Hits" album. This is where "Breaking the Girl"comes in.
The song became a favourite of my sister's. I recall not liking the song as much as the others though. I thin it was the fact that amongst the others on the compilation, this was a tune that I had actually never heard before. Even when I did listen to it, I found it... boring.
However when I downloaded "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" a few months ago, I found myself wailing along to the chorus and air drumming to the trash-can percussion in the instrumental break. I loved it. "Breaking the Girl" isn't boring at all. The eleven-year old me was a silly child. If you are going to write a song about a meaningful relationship that went wrong and you feel as if you are to blame, you probably wouldn't want to make it a funky jam as the Peppers normally did around that time. Something more melodic will do. This is that song you want to write. Yes.
Wha-hey. Another Green Day song in a matter of days. What a song too. Let me tell you alllll about it.
So the year is 2005. I get "American Idiot" for my birthday, I look at every Green Day fan site to gather as much information as I can about the three guys and their music. Green Day were my favourite band ever. What better place to find stuff about them then their offical website?
Circa 2005, the Green Day website had an "American Idiot" theme about it. Colours of red, black and white, with a lot of heart-hand grenades too. The website also put up all of their official music videos. YouTube was just about just getting started, so the only way to watch them was through RealPlayer and Windows Media Player; it was a real pain if you didn't have the top speed needed to let the videos play at maximum quality. They always needed to buffer and all that nonsense. Being a single, "Brain Stew" was able to be viewed.
"Brain Stew" was released from the band's fourth album "Insomniac". Not just by itself, but with its companion "Jaded" which comes right after it.
The song is the ravings of a man who cannot get to sleep at night. One who suffers from insomnia, if you will. Although I can't remember a time where I've felt so restless that I thought my eyes were going to be bleed whilst they were bulging out of my skull. I felt nervous during the night before my exam results day, and I had a bit of a tummy problem. That was about it though.
"Brain Damage" is the penultimate tune from Pink Floyd seminal 1973 album "The Dark Side of the Moon". I first listened to "The Moon" in 2009, when I randomly started downloading albums for fun from weird dutch websites.
When I became interested in Pink Floyd, I was more of a guy who was into "The Wall" more than anything. "Another Brick in the Wall" was the band's video that played on the TV when I was much younger and freaked me out a bit. I have the feeling I've told this story before. I think it was in the post for "Any Colour You Like". Check that out too. That's another song on this album.
I digress. "Dark Side" was an album that I always knew existed, but all the comments and acclaim about it made me think that it couldn't be that good. It is a really cool album; I guess I should have been born in the 50s or so to really understand how extraordinary this album is, but I'm not complaining.
I am also a mega fan of albums where the songs segue into one another, so The Dark Side was heaven for me. It irks me when I download an album and there's a click or a sudden stop between songs which are meant to flow into each other. "Brain Damage" ends quite abruptly because it does this into the next song. I would have included that song in this post, but that's a bit of a cheat.
"Brain Damage" was the song that stayed in my head for some time after I listened to the album in 2009. The calm verses are quite hypnotizing with Roger Waters' cool vocals until they eventually build in intensity for the choruses where the title of the album is mentioned. The album's overall theme is madness, and the individual songs are on a subject that apparently lead all human beings to madness (time, money, death etc.) so "Brain Damage" along with "Eclipse" is the climax that the whole album has been leading towards.
It's also a small tribute to former lead singer Syd Barrett, who went a bit mad.
I thought I would have a hard time with this post. I've enjoyed it though, I hope you like it.
"The Boy Who Ran Away" was Mystery Jets' third official single in 2006. Their first album "Making Dens" was out, and they were played a minority of the time on MTV2. Most of their airtime came in the NME Chart, before NME up and went to go and have their own channel.
At first, "The Boy Who Ran Away" wasn't to my liking. I would always skip the channel everytime the video came on. I take that back - it's not that it wasn't to my liking, it was just that I barely gave it a chance.
I did like their other songs though. "Alas Agnes" was a good one, as was "You Can't Fool Me Dennis" which weirded me out because the lead singer looked very similar to a friend I had in primary school. "The Boy Who Ran Away" must be alright then, shouldn't it?
Well, yes it is. I wouldn't be wasting my time on writing about a song I didn't like. The majority of people in the UK liked the song too; it reached #23 over here and remains to be the band's highest charting single.
The song tells a story about... a boy who runs away. From home apparently. But he ends up in a rubbish place, and goes home back to his parents even though he knows they don't like him. Pretty miserable. It's an upbeat song, so you probably wouldn't realise the tragedy.
Look out for the 'lo-lo-lo' bridge singalong too. That's catchy as hell.
A FACEBOOK CONVERSATION MY FRIEND AND I HAD UPON OUR FIRST LISTEN OF YEEZUS
14th June 2013(GMT)
Friend: YEEZUS LEAKED 19:19
OMFGODBOSBFOUSBNCONOSIC
Me: No way, where 19:26
wtg
wtf
show me
Friend: BRO ARE YOU STILL THERE?! 19:40
ILL SEND YOU THE LINK
TO DOWNLOAD
http://www.sharebeast.com/riate2ihstqp (Link doesn't work anymore)
Me: HOLY SHIIIIIT 19:44
Friend: I JUST STARTED PLAYING IT 19:44
I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF MATHS
MATHS IS SUCH A DICK
Me: I was doing biology 19:52
OMDZ
Friend: HOLD MY LIQUOR AND IM IN IT 20:03
OMDS
AND NEW SLAVES IN GOOD QUALITY
HALF WAY THROUGH
IM ALMOST CRYING
Me: MATE I'M ON BLACK SKINHEAD 20:04
THIS SHIT IS CRAZY
Friend: LOOL 20:04
I AM GOD IS SO BLASPHEMOUS
HOLD MY LIQUOR MY CURRENT FAV
Me: THIS IS SO SICK 20:04
I'M ONLY ON THE 2ND SONG
Friend: IT IS SERIOUSLY ONLY GETTING BETTER 20:09
I HAVE CHANGED MY FAV SONG 3 TIMES
Me: THIS ALBUM GOES IN SO HARD 20:09
Friend: BLOOD ON THE LEAVES 20:09
OMDS
WE AINT GONNA REVISE FOR ANOTHER HOUR
LMAO
Me: IT'S FINE 20:11
I HAVE TO SIT THROUGH THIS
Friend: WE HAVE TO, HAVE TO 20:11
SWEET BABY YEEZUS HAHAHAHA
Me: :D 20:13
Friend: I CANT TELL WHO SOME OF THE COLLABERS ARE 20:14
Me: SAME
THE GUY AT THE BEGINNING OF HOLD MY LIQUOR SOUNDS FAMILIAR 20:15
I THINK HE'S IN DARK FANTASY
Friend: OMDS KEEP GOING 20:15
KID MOTHERFUCKING CUDI
COMING UP SOON
ITS SO PERFECT
OH YEAAHHH
OMDS THE LAST TRACK HAS A BEAT LIKE ITS MIXED FROM ALL HIS ALBUMS
LOVING THIS
Me: OH MAN... 20:20
Me: dude. 20:40
that was an experience
Friend: im pulling an all nighter today 20:55
that is my fuel
-------------
So as you can see.... we were both very excited.
Looking at it retrospectively, I have no idea why I was typing in caps lock. Yeezus isn't really that good of an album. That's right I said it.
I think it was just so unexpected. I was revising for my final exam and then my friend messaged me with that, it was just so sudden.
"OMDS THE LAST TRACK HAS A BEAT LIKE ITS MIXED FROM ALL HIS ALBUMS" refers to today's blog song "Bound 2", which is definitely one of the better songs from Yeezus - if not the best one. It is... kinda like my friend said, reminiscent of the many older songs where Kanye utilised his chipmunk sampling producing on his first two albums. It's basically Kanye yelling at us over a sample about his, apparently everlasting love with Kim Kardashian but with similes and metaphors all over the place which I'm not able to explain to you. Yeezus is a very loudly mixed album - it's partly produced by Rick Rubin so there's the explanation, so on a lot of the songs there is clicking and crackling everywhere. This song is no exception. Especially in the first few seconds where you can literally hear the cut and paste of the sample. The way it ends is quite abrupt and anticlimactic with the "UH-HUH HONEY" part. Nevertheless, it is a standout on an otherwise standard album.
Oh yeah, it also features vocals by the man who sings "Ooh wee" in "Signs" by Snoop Dogg ft. Justin Timberlake. Charlie Wilson, that's his name. What a G. Until tomorrow. Jamie.
Can you believe it? It has been almost ten years since "American Idiot" was released.
It seems like a few days ago I got the album as a present for my tenth birthday, listened to the story of the son of rage and love and never looked back as Green Day started to become one of my favourite artists ever.
Those of you who have the album should definitely understand what I mean when I mention 'the son of rage and love'. To those of you who don't, I can try and explain it to you but it would be better if you listened to "American Idiot" yourselves.
The album itself has a concept. To put it very short the story of a boy named Jimmy, who leaves his hometown to look for better things, but realises the things out there aren't so great and returns home. That is very basic, but you can search it up.
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" comes in after Jimmy gets a real adrenaline rush of being away from home and wakes up the next morning to find that everything around him is morose and bleak. He is alone. He walks alone too. He walks alone, he walks alone.
How did "BoBD" become so important to me that it's had a place on my portable device? I don't know. I remember liking "Holiday" a lot more. I think it was the time that I realised that the video for "Broken Dreams" is set straight after the "Holiday" video, just like the two songs are on the album. The music videos for the song were shot in the same studio too. That was quite cool to know.
"Dreams" is a proper Green Day anthem. If you are to go to one of their shows, you better be prepared to know all the words to this. You don't want to be the one mumbling the words and then singing "I walk alone, I walk alone". That's not the title of the song. There are other lyrics, people.
Personally, my favourite part of the song is the last minute when Billie Joe sings the last words and the band just rocks out, because the chord progression and the notes are so awesome. It sounds like it comes from out of nowhere.
One time when I was bored on YouTube, I remembered this cartoon from the nineties that would show on the BBC. The cartoon followed the adventures of a clumsy spider, who played around with his human friend. I completely forgot what the animation was called, until I found the other day that it was simply called "Spider".
During that time, I typed in 'spider' which instead resulted in videos involving real spiders and "Boris the Spider" by The Who. The video above was the one that I clicked onto.
This time, it's not a song by Pete Townshend. No, no. "Boris the Spider" was the second song on the band's second album "A Quick One" which is known for being the only album by the rock band to involve songs written by all four members. "Boris" was the first song John Entwistle wrote for the band, and took a tolling time of five minutes to write.
Seems about right. It's a tale of a black, hairy and very small spider, who crawls up a wall then drops to the floor, heads toward the bedroom door, comes out again, crawls into a ball and is then squashed with a book by the person who sees all of this activity. The spider's name is Boris too. And all of this is sung over a simple bass line and a haunting bridge where John puts on his falsetto.
This song is also known for being the first in music history to incoporate the 'death growl'. Betcha didn't know that, huh?
So that's the song for today. That fake spider in the vido is very similar to one that I saw on my living room floor the other day. I was so freaked out wandering what to kill it with that it disappeared under the sofa. That bastard hasn't come out since. It's only a matter of time.
"Books from Boxes" was the comedown single from "Our Earthly Pleasures", the second album by Maxïmo Park after the high that was set up by its predecessor "Our Velocity".
I never really got into that song as many other people did. "Our Velocity" was the comeback, it was energetic and quick. After two years, the band was back with a bang. For me, it was catchy but there wasa something about it that didn't capture me as much as songs from "A Certain Trigger".
"Books from Boxes" had the complete opposite effect on me. You can tell why it wasn't released as the first single if you listen to it. Out of all their singles, this is the one that really sinks into you. Especially if you listen to the lyrics and understand what it's about.
Like yesterday, the subject of today's song is one that details a relationship. Whereas the one in "Bones" by The Killers sees it being taken further, "Books from Boxes" is from the perspective of one in an relationship that is dead, and the couple involved know it. "Two bodies in motion/This is a matter of fact/It wasn't built to last" says it all really.
All in all, the song is quite the downer. But one of my favourites by the band. If you like it, that's cool too.
After "When You Were Young" became the new hot stuff and its chorus were sung from the mouths of many a Killers fanatic, people were wondering what was going to follow from the LA four-piece. The first single from the band's second album "Sam's Town" reached number two in the UK, and has risen to become one of the band's most popular songs.
Could they match the former single's success? With a music video directed by none other than Tim Burton, I think they really wanted to. It didn't. It reached number fifteen over here. But don't get me wrong, the last thing I'm trying to do is deter you from listening to this song.
"COME WITH MEEEEEEEE"
Why is that sung at the beginning? Is it supposed to be a link between the previous song on the album? Is it a tie-in to the album's concept? Does "Sam's Town" even have a concept? Why am I asking you all these questions?
After that short but triumphant opening, "Bones" actually begins with a lovely melody played on the keyboard with accompanying guitar, bass and drums before changing into the minor key as the verse begins. The song is about a relationship where the narrator really wants to 'get to know' the other person. Originally, "Bones" was called "It's Only Natural" reinforcing the biological theme. The music video for the song takes it into creepy, yet comical levels.
"Boiled Frogs" was the second single released from Alexisonfire's third album "Crisis", which was released in 2006.
I didn't know who Alexisonfire was until that year. One of their videos played regularly on MTV2, and I really dug the contrast between the screaming vocals by George Pettit, and the melodic vocals of Dallas Green with Wade MacNeil coming somewhere in the middle. It all worked really well. It took me quite a while to find out how to pronounce their name. It is "Alexis-on-fire", and not "Alex-is-on-fire". I thought the latter was quite funny. It doesn't really matter anymore. The band broke up in 2011.
This song didn't play so much on MTV2. It was like they threw out the first single, and then completely forgot about the band. I never saw another Alexisonfire video on MTV2 UK again. I had to see "Frogs" on YouTube. I didn't really appreciate as much then though. I just thought the one song that was MTV2 was enough. I didn't give it a chance.
WARNING: INCLUDES SCENES OF NUDITY. It's only a few shots. But still.
I have heard more songs by The Dandy Warhols. Don't worry. I'm not that kind of person who's like "Ah, I listen to [insert band here] all the time" and only know the lyrics to their signature song. No, no. That's not me. I have two more songs ony my iPod by the band, so :p.
I don't need to prove anything. I don't listen to The Dandy Warhols anyway. I didn't know they were still together until I searched it up whilst typing this sentence. They are though, and that's all right.
I think I'm correct in saying that The Dandy Warhols are much more popular in the US than here in the United Kingdom. I think the only reason people here know of them is due to the Vodafone advert this song was on in the early noughties. I can't remember it at all, seeing as I was about six at the time. But thanks to that advert, the song reached number five on the charts. That wasn't really significant to me either.
In general, "Bohemian Like You" is one of those songs that you know you've heard before. Somewhere in someplace at sometime. The problem is you can't remember what the name of the artist was. Well, if you're in that situation, here you go. Problem solved.
The nude scenes were censored when they played on MTV2, so being the eager beaver I searched up the uncensored version. I was just curious that's all. Seeing the guy's private parts wasn't so great. That was years ago though. I'm much more mature now.
I've been quite ill this week. It started with a sore throat two days ago, and then just escalated into a cold and now I'm sneezing all over the place with a headache, cough etc. etc. It's not great. Still, I've got a song to get through. Let's go.
Sex Pistols were the source of many a controversy during their original three year tenure in the seventies. The album's name was at the centre of an obscenity case, and the songs included sparked up even more debate.
"Bodies" is one of my favourite songs from the album. Originally, I didn't care for "Never Mind" so much. I only downloaded it in 2009 when I had my YouTube channel, where I uploaded albums so other people could listen to them. That was when whole albums couldn't be uploaded too. I didn't thing the songs were worth listening to, but I didn't take the time to actually listen to them anyway. "Anarchy in the UK" and "God Save the Queen" were the two I had heard several times. I probably assumed that all the other songs would sound the same.
I was very wrong. "Bodies" is like nothing else on the album. It's probably the most intense song out of the other eleven, not just because of the subject matter, but also musically. Johnny Rotten is very graphic in depicting a "screaming bloody mess" of an abortion, and also manages to utter the word 'fuck' in only a matter of seconds. Overall, the song's major key gives of a positive vibe. If you were to hear this in a bar or something, you wouldn't sit down to analyse the lyrics. You'd be more likely to be screaming them in the face of a random person who's also singing along to it.
It's a song that wouldn't have a chance to be released whatsoever if it was released today. I guess that's what made the band so notorious in its prime.
Probably not the most popular TMBG song, but it just has something that attracts me to it. I honestly can'#t say much about it - it's only 1 minute and a few seconds long. That's not a bad thing, but it's more of a transitional thing that sets you up for the next track.
It's very easy to memorise, the Johnny Cash sample fits in very well (however oddly placed it may sound). It sends off a very mysterious vibe. What is the 'boat of car'? Why is the narrator following the 'traces of the fingernails'?
Who am I kidding, it's nothing to get philosophical about. It probably doesn't mean anything at all.
Vocals are done by John Flansburgh's old girlfriend by the way.
You would think that after result success, I wouldn't be here for quite some time. I would be out with friends. At the cinema, at their houses, anywhere. Nope. It appears that no one is doing anything. I guess they are with their families, which is understandable. It's a good time for a lot of us. The weather wasn't very good anyway. Who would want to go out now?
When you see the word "Wheatus", what do you think of? A lot of people, especially in the society we live in now, would probably have no idea. But you and I remember "that band who had that song.... Teenage Dirtbag! Yeah!" That was released thirteen years ago. The band had another hit with a cover. After that they seemingly dissappeared from the face of the earth.
However, they actually released a few more albums afterwards. But did anyone care? Not so much. Except for Wheatus fans. To be honest I was just content with the two aforementioned tracks. That was until some time in 2005 when "BMX Bandits" came up on Scuzz.
How did I feel when the video appeared? Well I thought the song was great. The animation present in the video was a bit much, but I really liked the melody of the chorus and the quiet-loud-quiet dynamic it had when alternating between that and the verses. Then when "WHEATUS - BMX BANDITS" came up near the end, I was shocked to see that A) It was Wheatus B) A video of theirs that wasn't "Teenage Dirtbag" was on the TV and C) The song was actually worth listening to.
I took ages for me to finally listen to the song in full on the Internet. What matters is that I eventually found it and saved it on my computer.
The track was the first single from the band's 2005 release "TooSoonMonsoon", which went barely noticed by anyone. I haven't listened to that album, but I'm just going to assume that this is definitely a highlight from it.
A very recent addition to my iPod. I only put it on there for a few weeks ago. And with good reason.
From the posts I've done so far, it may seem that my favourite Beatle is George Harrison. I don't know how many I've done, but I know I've covered far more songs by him compared to the other three. Don't worry, other songs will come soon. There's no denying that George Harrison was a pretty cool guy.
I was searching around for George Harrison songs on YouTube, and I saw "George Harrison - Blow Away" which has more than a million views. So I thought it must be good if it has that many views.
I listened to it, and like the many other times when I hear something for the first time... I didn't think it was anything much. Then the chorus got into my head. Then I saw the lyrics, started to sing along to it, and realised that this may be the happiest song I've ever heard in my life. What is it about this song that made me repeat it on the way to the instrument shop to get my guitar fixed, and back home again? The song arrangement is simple with a verse-chorus-verse etc. thing going. I think it's the melody - it's just so lovely. This song is so good. It makes me cheer up so hard.
At first I thought the song was about the weather. The video only reinforced that idea. The whole weather imagery is just a metaphor for Harrison's feelings. He was feeling down, and so he wrote the song to remind himself to be more optimistic.
I'm so happy.
I don't know if I can write enough for today's song. I might not be able to concentrate. Let's do it.
Well, well, well. It's Green Day.
It's the year 2000. I am five years old. I have no clue who Green Day are at this point. The band on the other hand have their fair share of fans after gaining a lot of success during the nineties.
Then comes the twenty first century, and the rise of boybands. Everyone begins to love boy bands again. What can Green Day do to regain their status? Nothing much to be honest. They release their sixth album "Warning" which - however bleak the album cover may be - captures the band at their most sophisticated point, mixing their original punk style with more accessible melodies and a wider use of instruments.
That's not apparent in "Blood, Sex and Booze", which is probably the band's sleaziest song to date. Well, the song's not sleazy. The narrator describes their love for being dominated in the bed. That's all. It's not my favourite from the album, but it rocks pretty hard. It deserves its place on my iPod.
I can't write any more. I can't think of anything to say.
If I have any British followers who also got their results today and got their places... CONGRATULATIONS. I'm happy for you.
This song has an actual music video, but it appears to have been banished from the Internet. At least in my country, anyway.
The single was an exclusive on MTV2. I remember, the video would come on and then a banner at the top had a message along the lines of: 'Hope of the States are back with their brand new song "Blood Meridian". Watch this exclusive new video.' Something like that. It made them sound like this really important band that had been gone for ages. I had never heard of them though.
The music video is weird too. It's made to be set in a Russian-esque type factory, and a lady lip-syncs over the words. That's about it. So I still didn't know what the band looked like. That was until they released the next single, "Sing It Out", which shows the band being electrocuted whilst playing their instruments. I like that song too.
The lyrics to "Blood Meridian" remind me of a film that I've seen, or a book. Lyrics like "emergency, emergency, someone acted honestly, we should beat 'em up, lock 'em up and throw away the key' seem really familiar. Almost like it's happened in real life. I can't quite put my finger on it.
Listen to the song. See if you like it.
What's happened to Hope of the States? They released their last single, and then split up. All in 2006.
I've contemplated on whether I should keep this song on here. "Blood" is an alright song, but I don't really like Editors anymore. I wasn't a big fan of them in the first place. Their singles are pretty good, but there was nothing that appealing about the band that made want to listen to all of their albums or whatever.
"Blood" was released as a single from the band's debut album "The Back Room" in 2005, the year that all these 'post-punk revival'/'indie' bands started releasing new music. It was an exciting time. I think the first song I heard by Editors - this may apply for many other fans too - was "Munich", which has become to be the band's most notable song. They released that song once in 2005, and then again in 2006. It only took two releases, but the band got their first top-ten single.
The band did the same thing with Blood, only it didn't do so well the second time reaching 39 when a year earlier it got to 18 the year before. Chart positions are not the main focus though. The main priority is to tell you why I like this song.
Well, one thing is that sound that the lead guitarist Chris Urbanowicz gets on his instrument. It's got one similar to a police siren, and is used throughout their first album and their follow up "An End Has a Start". He left the band this year. The chorus is probably the best part of the song, I've always wondered about the way Tom Smith pronounces veins. To me it sounds like "venes" as in 'jeans' or 'genes', I guess the actual way it said wouldn't have sounded that good.
If you want to find out more about Editors, search them up on Wikipedia and listen to their stuff on YouTube.
What do I think of when I listen to this song.... Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3...... that's about it.
Yeah, "Blitzkrieg Bop" was another tune that would play on my PS2 weekends when I would spend most of the two days on the console playing FIFA and other games. What made it stand out from so many other songs on the soundtrack - I've said how good the soundtrack is already - was how simple it sounded.
It's got a very noticeable riff which repeats throughout the song and the whole thing is based around only four chords. I didn't know any of the lyrics though, the only ones I made easily made out was the "AI OH LET'S GO" chant and when the lead singer says the song title. The rest of the time I could only mimic the way Joey Ramone sang.
It was later on when I actually bothered to look up the lyrics. It was at that time that I realised the line "shoot 'em in the back' was censored in the game. My Year 4 studies had taught all about the 'blitzkrieg' and what it's significance was, so I assumed that the song was just a description of a scene when the 'blitzkrieg' was happening. The song's meaning is vague apparently, so I won't go much into it.
I tried to get into Ramones. I listened to "Teenage Lobotomy" once, and one of my friends thought "I Wanna Be Sedated" was the most awesome song. They are cool. Ramones' debut album is very good too, even if it finishes under half an hour. "Blitzkrieg" is good enough for me though.
Ramones apparently founded punk rock and every fan who loves that genre is very happy for that, including me. They are a very important band. Most of their original members have passed which is a shame. Their music and their name still lives on.
Violent Femmes are a band from Wisconsin that formed back in 1980. They've split up twice but have got back together this year.
I'm not a fan of them; this is the only song by the band that I have. Not because I've listened to their songs and thought that they were crap, but because I haven't listened to anything else they've put out. Well, apart from "Gone Daddy Gone" (not a Gnarls Barkley song), and "Add It Up" (which I can barely remember). But even those are on the same album as "Blister".
"Blister in the Sun" came on when I was on the LAUNCHcast internet radio in the mid-noughties. It immediately caught my attention when the catchy riff started, and it's hard to forget it seeing as the riff melody is the same as the lead vocal too. The song was first released on the band's debut album in 1983, but sounds like it could have been released in the sixties. I don't know what it is, when I think of the eighties I think of long hair, Footloose, keyboards and drum machines. "Blister in the Sun" sounds like the complete opposite with it's minimal instrumentation. It makes for good listening when you're walking in a park, on a nice summer's day.
I think this is the first Muse song to come up in this whole iPod thing I'm doing. That's good. At least I can interest you with a story of how I came to like the band, and why so many of their songs have their spot on my Apple product.
The year was 2003. Muse were about to release their third album "Absolution", and there was this new song of theirs.... something about running out of time. Of course I know it's "Time Is Running Out". I remember my sister liked the song a bit. I think they played the song on Top of the Pops and CD:UK and all those music shows. I remember seeing a glimpse of the video for "Sing for Absolution" on CD:UK, but I didn't think it was that good. Not as good as "Time Is Running Out" anyway.
Fast forward three years later, and everyone was getting hyped for "Black Holes and Revelations". "Supermassive Black Hole" was the hot shit, and it was on MTV2 that there were countless repeats of older Muse videos. Now that I was eleven, I could actually absorb what I was listening to. I was much more interested in music, and mostly spent my time watching MTV2. I realised that Muse weren't too bad. They were pretty awesome. They make good songs. This is where Bliss comes in.
The "Bliss" video features the lead singer Matt Bellamy falling through the earth, whilst Dom and Chris look on, until he eventually falls out the other side into space and then disintegrates into the unknown. I thought the video was cool, the rapid camera changes and the focus on Matt's flailing T-shirt really captures the urgency of the song. It's got a belter of a chorus, and is driven along nicely by Christopher Wolstenholme's bass - much like various other songs on "Origin of Symmetry", the album on which the song was on when it was released as the band's second album in 2001. Yep. Apart from Arctic Monkeys, Muse was the band that got people talking in 2006. It was a good time to be alive. Until tomorrow. Jamie.
If you wanted a song that depicted Kanye at his most vulnerable- if you can ever describe him as that - it's probably this one. For the background, he had split up with his girlfriend - who then went out with Wiz Khalifa - and was feeling all these emotions that he could only put into song.
Firstly, he raps about 'gripping' the girl in question up, 'fucking' and 'choking' her and then the next minute he's broken down singing 'I can't love you this much'. I put that in a rather simple way but I can't go through it all with you. That would take too much time. You've got rapgenius for that.
The song also features a skit about five minutes into the song, spoken by the one and only Chris Rock. The things he says are very funny, but in context with the song it's quite tragic.
Surely you can spend seven and a half minutes of your time for this? Surely?
When I look at my iPod and see that I have to write a post about a song by The Beales, a feeling of ambivalence arises. I like doing the blog, I wouldn't have started it if I thought it was a silly idea. However, in regards to songs by The Beatles... I can't really tell you anything new about them. Probably everything that can be said about them has been written by people, who know much more about music than me, on other sites. Wikipedia's full of information too. I can only repeat what I already know and what I think of it. That is what I shall do.
"Blackbird" is a pretty song. It's one of the few where it's just Paul playing by himself. It's him, his guitar, his foot tapping on the floor and a short break with a bird singing.
The music makes it seem very light, but McCartney was inspired to write it after racial tensions in the USA in 1968. For you Americans out there, the word 'bird' in the UK is slang for 'lady' and so the song is about a black girl, which makes lyrics such as 'waiting for this moment to arise' and 'waiting for this moment to be free' very thought-provoking. Once you find that the song isn't actually about a bird, it changes everything.
That was the name of Dananananaykroyd's first album , released on April 6 2009. One day after I turned fourteen. I had not heard the song at the time. I do remember hearing the band's name one time on MTV or something and working out how to pronounce it. That was about it really.
It was months later when I had started Year 10 in autumn 2009. A video for one of their other songs played on MTV2, I liked that. So I went on YouTube to see the video and listen to that song again. It was then that I found the video for this song.
Looking at the video then I think that I may have seen "Black Wax" on TV, but I changed the channel for some odd reason. Bad mistake. It's a good thing I came back to the song. It's one of the most joyful ones I have on my iPod collection. According to Wikipedia, "The song's lyrics, written by vocalists John Baillie Jnr and Calum Gunn
are about a dream John had about the thrill of having sex on a bus made
of drums (with another musician, but he won't say who) in an underground
world in Paris, and trying to conserve the feeling by sealing it in a
wax lined tin." Now I know that Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, but that actually seems legit. I don't know what the lyrics are about, but the music is upbeat and feel good as anything. Especially the last part when guitars roar in with a triumphant shout of 'here we are' by the two vocalists before fading out with the guitar. It's beautiful stuff.
The song was then chosen by EA Sports to be included in FIFA 10. Whether or not that did anything to the band's popularity is beyond me.
Feeling good? Yeah, me too. Results day for my exams is in nine days. It's pretty scary. I'm trying not to think about time though. Next Thursday determines the rest of my life. Or at least the year that's to come. Let's hope that I get good ones.
Today is the fifth song on Arcade Fire's second album "Neon Bible", released in 2007. To summarise - for those of you who don't know who Arcade Fire are - they are a Canadian band which practically every critic came to love after they released their fist album "Funeral" in 2004. They rose in popularity, gained a lot of fans and have currently finished their fourth album which is due to be released in Autumn.
Neon Bible's release was probably as hyped as "Favourite Worst Nightmare", so everyone was waiting to see what the band would do next. My sister bought it when it came out. We listened to it on Windows Media, that's when I first heard this song.
I say that today's post is one song, but it's actually two sections just merged together to make a full product. I will guide you through them as best as I can.
First section: Black Wave
Régine Chassagne, occassional lead vocalist, sings the first part. The whole song is quite chilling and very haunting. This first part has a lighter mood than "Bad Vibrations" though. It tells the story of a couple, supposedly on the run from the law, and set sail on the ocean to lead a new life. She also sings in French for some lines too, that's cool. And mysterious.
Then everything comes to an abrupt end, and with a few strikes on a xylophone the second part then starts with a boom.
Second section: Bad Vibrations
Impending doom. That's really all I can think of when I listen to "Bad Vibrations". Weirdly, the phrase "Black Wave" is used in this and not in the first. The "bad vibrations" are only alluded to in the final lines, "The sound is not asleep/It's moving under my feet", but are also emphasised by the dark tone, Win Butler's perishing vocals and the various "oohs and aahs" in the background. It's pretty scary. The song slowly comes to a halt, and segues into the next song.
So there you have it. Another post is done.
Hope you like the song as much as I do. Listen to it. Comment if you want.
That's probably one of the funniest verses I've heard in a long time. Kanye West, at the moment, feels like he cannot be touched. He's got a hot wife, he's a father. Things are looking up for him.
What better way to show his good life off to everyone then, by writing about that (amongst other topics that interest him) in his new album, "Yeezus"?
I like Kanye West's music. Seems like forever ago when he first came out with "Through the Wire" and seemed like a modest man who, after surviving a life threatening car crash, wanted to show the world that he wasn't just a great producer but could handle his own material. With an album title such as "Yeezus", we now see how far this 'modest man' has come.
"Yeezus" came as a real surprise to me. Let me tell you why. I knew it was his next album title, and then found reports about his new song "New Slaves" being shown on the sides of buildings around the world. That was around Springtime/early Summer. So I thought, "Well, it must be next year that the album will come." That was until my friend told me that it would be released in only a few days time. Oh.... SHHHIIIIIII-
No way! The new Kanye album's coming! Ah man. I couldn't wait. That was until the album leaked, and the same friend sent me the link through Facebook. I was all over that shit. I couldn't handle it!
That's where "Black Skinhead" comes in. After being impressed by "On Sight", "Black Skinhead came in with those thumping tom-toms and I knew that some hard stuff was about to go down. One thing that struck me about the album was how loud it was, but it came to good effect on this song. This song has to be played loud. It's Kanye's theme song.
After listening to it multiple times now, it doesn't feel the same as it did on that first listen. It's definitely a highlight though.
