Bands and Songs
Marina & the Diamonds -PrimaDonna Girl
Expect to hear this song all summer. I personally like when she kicks her feet on the bed at 1:04.
Autistic 6 year old playing Piano Man
Who dislikes this on Youtube?
Dear God by XTC
I fantastic song about not believing in God. I find a lot of it to be the way I feel.
Dear God, I hope you got the letter, and…
I pray you can make it better down here.
I don’t mean a big reduction in the price of beer
but all the people that you made in your image, see
them starving on their feet ’cause they don’t get
enough to eat from God, I can’t believe in you
Dear God, sorry to disturb you, but… I feel that I should be heard
loud and clear. We all need a big reduction in amount of tears
and all the people that you made in your image, see them fighting
in the street ’cause they can’t make opinions meet about God,
I can’t believe in you
Did you make disease, and the diamond blue? Did you make
mankind after we made you? And the devil too!
Dear God, don’t know if you noticed, but… your name is on
a lot of quotes in this book, and us crazy humans wrote it, you
should take a look, and all the people that you made in your
image still believing that junk is true. Well I know it ain’t, and
so do you, dear God, I can’t believe in I don’t believe in
I won’t believe in heaven and hell. No saints, no sinners, no
devil as well. No pearly gates, no thorny crown. You’re always
letting us humans down. The wars you bring, the babes you
drown. Those lost at sea and never found, and it’s the same the
whole world ’round. The hurt I see helps to compound that
Father, Son and Holy Ghost is just somebody’s unholy hoax,
and if you’re up there you’d perceive that my heart’s here upon
my sleeve. If there’s one thing I don’t believe in
it’s you….
The Rise of Kimbra
Everyone should be aware of this song by now:
Kimbra is 22 years old, New Zealand born and has a minor role towards the end of this Gotye’s most popular song. This is how careers get launched. Obviously with 186 million views Gotye is going to be the star. Anything this guy does for the next few years is going to be popular no matter what. That’s not the point of this post. The point is how an immensely popular song can change peoples lives. This song below is being titled by Kimbra on Sirius (even though it sounds exactly like Mark Foster – yes I think he should be the title artist).
This song is Foster the People. However with Kimbra’s name attached to it, and her success in Gotye’s song, she is going to reap the benefits of a video that has 186 million views. Plus it shows that music producers are trying to get her name out as much as possible to turn her into a huge money maker. Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance has 463 million to put things in perspective (where has her new music been?!?)(For that matter where is Kesha’s new music!?!?!?!?!?!) I just find it odd that she has two parts in small songs and I guarantee she’ll be all over the radio for the near term. You can’t try to do what happened to her. In her wildest dreams I bet she never imagined how quickly she could achieve global success. I just find the whole story fascinating because it is so unlikely. The popularity of Gotye’s song will be Kimbra’s start. 4 lines in a song. That’s all it takes.
3 Unfamilar New Wave Bands
I’m going to share something I’m not particularly proud of. When you ask someone what is their favorite type of music, you might hear answers like Rap (JayZ, Kanye), Classic Rock (The Beatles, Led Zeppelin), Grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam), or Pop (whatever is current). All of these genres I’d consider normal answers with R&B and Rock coming along with it. My favorite type of music though comes from an era that isn’t regarded as high quality music making. If you haven’t guessed, it’s 80’s alternative. My favorite station is #33 on Sirius which they label as “New Wave”. Examples of bands that are played on this station are Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, and New Order. I don’t necessarily think people consider this bad music, but if you go through the Rolling Stone’s list of top 100 bands, aside from The Police or U2, there aren’t many from this time period. It’s not like I’m totally blown away by the instrumental expertise but I like the sound and how the message of the songs is conveyed. It’s not as hard and serious as the 70’s. Sort of a weird time for music when MTV arrived and artists were just different. I’m going to defend my position with 3 bands that I really like and you’ve probably never heard of. Also notice on every video I play that the likes to dislikes is enormous.
XTC
Their 8th studio album called Skylarking was ranked #48 by Rolling Stone for the top 100 albums of the 80s. This should at least give some credibility to a band you haven’t ever heard of. I reviewed their Wikipedia and their isn’t really anything to stupendous about the band. They enjoyed moderate success, made a lot of music, and sort of did their own thing. Here are 3 songs from this band. I could link 10 of them that I really like but I think that would be too overwhelming.
Squeeze
You may have heard the song “Tempted” by Squeeze which they are even starting to play on classic rock stations. Tempted by the fruit of another… Aside from this song though I can’t imagine anyone has ever listened to Squeeze. I have one friend who tells me that all his friends make fun of him for listening to them and I’m one of the first people who agree that they have created some good music. I don’t find that they have as many listenable songs like XTC does but still an interesting sound. Here are some examples:
Oingo Boingo
Same genre as the last two, late 70’s start – mid 80’s peak, and not really a true hit. Dead Man’s Party was played by them in the Rodney Dangerfield movie Back to School. I bought the greatest hits version for that song and found about 8 others I really liked. A different sound and tons of instruments and band members.
Bruce Still Owns
When you consider good music, listen to this song. Why is this song so good? It contains a message that doesn’t involve hoes, fast cars, or bling bling. It stands for something meaningful. It gives me goosebumps listening to it. It makes me feel a sense of pride to be an American. The sound of the song is secondary to how strong a message it sends. The fact that it’s Bruce and he knows how to make a good, catchy song is just an extra bonus. So when you decide to think of what a good song is, keep this one in mind because I would like anyone to tell me that this song doesn’t move you and that’s what it’s really all about.
I also decided to post a song that will be Fun’s next single if you haven’t heard of it. I consider this good because it is catchy and fun (lol) to listen to, not because it has a significant message. Not that every song needs a message but good songs breakdown into two main parts: Sound and Lyrics.
Things I Don’t Like
Jagermeister
I own a Jagermeister skull tshirt that the Shee got from shot girls one time and I’ve implemented it into my rotation, however, I still do not like the product. I’d describe the taste as a liquid licorice. It’s really sweet and doesn’t really taste like alcohol which is why I think people like it. For some reason I like my alcohol to taste like alcohol. I rarely use a chaser when doing shots but when your at a bar the most abundant chaser is beer, and beer and jager don’t mix. This liquor has made me puke before and its not because it’s too strong like a tequila, it’s because it’s too sweet and then it makes my mouth start seriously salivating and that’s when you know you are going to spew.
Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat Beer
This beer actually prompted this post. We have a 6 pack in our apartment for over 3 years now and that’s a near impossibility with a kind of beer I even moderately like. Even the Sam Adams Cherry Wheat was consumed. Wheat beer goes down as my least favorite type of beer and that expands way past Leinenkugel. I just like my beer like beer. IPA’s, Lagers or Ales are all acceptable in any form. Beers with wheat or fruit generally aren’t my kind. I will finish this 6 pack though before I move out.
Elivs Costello
I play XTC radio (more on this in a future post) a lot on Spotify and Elvis Cotello is constantly coming up. A few songs I find tolerable are Veronica, Pump it Up, Every Day I Write the Book and Watching the Detectives. Notice I don’t even say these are great songs but I can listen to them without turning him off. I just don’t know what’s so funny about peace, love, and understanding. His music is just so boring and plain and not worth listening to. I feel like he’s a guy who gets tons of acclaim but his music is just average. I read his wikipedia and apparently his lyrics are really witty and he’s a “pop encyclopedia” but I don’t think that saves his music considering I don’t even listen to the lyrics because I can’t stand listening to the song.