Time for another 11 songs. The best? My favorites? Some are here. It's more like . . . the first 11 songs I felt I needed to include on this list. Why 11 songs? If you don't know why "this one goes to eleven" spells rock and roll, I can't explain it.
1) Barbarian. Last year I got a hankering to hear The Darkness again, and found this track off their brand-new album. It totally blew me away. I had put it on and figured, they might be comparable to their original stuff. No, it was better. And I'd missed a progression of great music in between. I quickly snapped it up, and went to see them live.
2) One Way Ticket to Hell (And Back). Needs more cowbell, which is why fans bring their own to the show. Perfectly, awesomely hyper-smart lyrics about cocaine with a great smart-stupid refrain.
3) Is It Just Me? Is it just me or am I all on my own again? Yes. Very AC/DC riff here, too.
4) I Believe In a Thing Called Love. This is the first song by The Darkness that I heard. At the time I liked this woman, I can't recall her name offhand - just her face, that probably doesn't help - and she also liked The Darkness. That didn't go anywhere, but my interest in this band sure did.
Best YouTube comment on this video? "Best Star Trek episode ever." Might be.
5) Girlfriend. This is extremely catchy, fun to sing along to, and has funny lyrics. Plus, the video. Yeah. You can't unwatch it, but you can re-watch it.
6) Open Fire. This is pretty close to being to the best song I ever heard by The Cult. It's like they distilled The Cult into The Darkness and did both. Remember that line in Almost Famous about "incendiary" guitar? This is it.
7) Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End). The link tells it all. I actually play this a lot around Christmas.
8) Love on the Rocks (With No Ice). I didn't really love this song until I saw them live - and they did a smoking version of it with Justin Hawkins being carried around the crowd. Great show, great song.
9) Givin' Up. Another drug related song, like One Way Ticket. Singalong refrain.
10) Every Inch Of You. Got to give it up for a mentioned of TDK 90 cassettes. That's how I listened to so, so many bands.
11) Hammer and Tongs. Just because I can't ever skip over this song, no matter what. I love the Georgia Satellites feel it has.
And if I can close this out with a recommendation - see these guys live at least once. They're one of the best live bands I've ever seen.*
* Their drummer when I went was Rufus Taylor, which I'm counting as a half-credit towards seeing Queen.
Showing posts with label 11 Songs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 11 Songs. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
11 Songs: Green Day
The first time I heard Green Day was on the radio, driving up to NY State to see a girl. It was a stopped-in-my-tracks moment. I remember Longview coming on, turning it up, and being really grabbed by the song.
So I've liked Green Day since then. I went out and got Dookie and my cousin passed me a copy of Kerplunk! and I taped them back-to-back on a cassette. I listened to that enough that when I hear the songs I can picture myself where I was living at the time - Maryland/DC - and driving around.
I didn't always follow them closely - I skipped most of their albums between Dookie and American Idiot - but kept listening to what I had and always cranking them up when their songs came on. Well, all except the (to me) inexplicably popular "When I Come Around." Yeah, it's good, but it never really connected with me.
I did pick up International Superhits, though, in between. As a Green Day mix goes, it is awesome. I keep that in mp3 form in my car and periodically just let it roll from "Maria" all the way to "Macy's Day Parade."
I will say that there is nothing from Foxboro Hot Tubs on here, but that seems fair. I like FHT, but Green Day playing as FHT feels different enough that I didn't want to mix them here.
So without much further ado, here are my 11 Green Day songs.
1) Longview.
The song that got me in the first place. I love the speed changes.
2) Basket Case.
If I had to play one song for someone to explain Green Day to them, it would be this. Minority would be a strong second, but this one is . . . the band in a nutshell in the same way Whole Lotta Love will tell you everything you need to know about Zep.
I stayed up late to see them on Letterman and give the performance linked here. No, I don't know what's with the video cut away in it, and I can't find my VHS tape of the original to check it. I love the raw but sharp sound they get here, complete with some distortion but just enough of it to add to the performance.
3) Burnout
Amazing drums at the start - brump, brump, brump. It's even better on the album, when it feeds into Having a Blast/Chump/Longview in what feels like one long song.
4) J.A.R.
Memorial/Story song. I like story songs. I also like clear emotional connections between the band and the content. This song really conveys loss without getting maudlin.
5) Minority
Yeah. Free for all, fuck 'em all. One of the smartest and most eloquently smart songs I know.
6) 2000 Light Years
The standout track for me on Kerplunk!, although their cover of The Who's My Generation is excellent and so is Who Wrote Holden Caufield?
7) American Idiot.
I'll admit I'd kind of lost track of newer Green Day stuff a little before this came out. Then I heard this track on WFMU and that prompted me to get the album immediately.
8) 21st Century Breakdown.
On the CD of the same name, this is a pretty good song. Live, such as on Awesome as F**k, it's really outstanding. They take it and run with it in a way that retroactively improves the album track. Much like the Rancid song "Radio, Radio" (which Billy Joe co-wrote, actually), live, it has some amazing kick to it.
9) Walking Contradiction.
Lyrically entertaining and really good musically. I'm always in the mood for this song if I'm in the mood for Green Day. "A smart ass but I'm playing dumb." That's pretty much this band, right there.
10) She
Another Dookie track I just couldn't stop listening to - and that's on a CD that really has no bad or skippable tracks, even the one I mentioned about not actually liking very much.
11) Static Age
I can't tell you what it exactly about this song for me, but I really enjoy it. It's on a CD that works better as a whole than in parts, but this is the second of two parts I liked enough from that CD to put on this list. Take that for whatever it could mean.
Really good band. So much I could have listed, but those really feel like a solid list of songs that have some meaning to me. Did I miss any of your favorites? If so, let me know in the comments.
So I've liked Green Day since then. I went out and got Dookie and my cousin passed me a copy of Kerplunk! and I taped them back-to-back on a cassette. I listened to that enough that when I hear the songs I can picture myself where I was living at the time - Maryland/DC - and driving around.
I didn't always follow them closely - I skipped most of their albums between Dookie and American Idiot - but kept listening to what I had and always cranking them up when their songs came on. Well, all except the (to me) inexplicably popular "When I Come Around." Yeah, it's good, but it never really connected with me.
I did pick up International Superhits, though, in between. As a Green Day mix goes, it is awesome. I keep that in mp3 form in my car and periodically just let it roll from "Maria" all the way to "Macy's Day Parade."
I will say that there is nothing from Foxboro Hot Tubs on here, but that seems fair. I like FHT, but Green Day playing as FHT feels different enough that I didn't want to mix them here.
So without much further ado, here are my 11 Green Day songs.
1) Longview.
The song that got me in the first place. I love the speed changes.
2) Basket Case.
If I had to play one song for someone to explain Green Day to them, it would be this. Minority would be a strong second, but this one is . . . the band in a nutshell in the same way Whole Lotta Love will tell you everything you need to know about Zep.
I stayed up late to see them on Letterman and give the performance linked here. No, I don't know what's with the video cut away in it, and I can't find my VHS tape of the original to check it. I love the raw but sharp sound they get here, complete with some distortion but just enough of it to add to the performance.
3) Burnout
Amazing drums at the start - brump, brump, brump. It's even better on the album, when it feeds into Having a Blast/Chump/Longview in what feels like one long song.
4) J.A.R.
Memorial/Story song. I like story songs. I also like clear emotional connections between the band and the content. This song really conveys loss without getting maudlin.
5) Minority
Yeah. Free for all, fuck 'em all. One of the smartest and most eloquently smart songs I know.
6) 2000 Light Years
The standout track for me on Kerplunk!, although their cover of The Who's My Generation is excellent and so is Who Wrote Holden Caufield?
7) American Idiot.
I'll admit I'd kind of lost track of newer Green Day stuff a little before this came out. Then I heard this track on WFMU and that prompted me to get the album immediately.
8) 21st Century Breakdown.
On the CD of the same name, this is a pretty good song. Live, such as on Awesome as F**k, it's really outstanding. They take it and run with it in a way that retroactively improves the album track. Much like the Rancid song "Radio, Radio" (which Billy Joe co-wrote, actually), live, it has some amazing kick to it.
9) Walking Contradiction.
Lyrically entertaining and really good musically. I'm always in the mood for this song if I'm in the mood for Green Day. "A smart ass but I'm playing dumb." That's pretty much this band, right there.
10) She
Another Dookie track I just couldn't stop listening to - and that's on a CD that really has no bad or skippable tracks, even the one I mentioned about not actually liking very much.
11) Static Age
I can't tell you what it exactly about this song for me, but I really enjoy it. It's on a CD that works better as a whole than in parts, but this is the second of two parts I liked enough from that CD to put on this list. Take that for whatever it could mean.
Really good band. So much I could have listed, but those really feel like a solid list of songs that have some meaning to me. Did I miss any of your favorites? If so, let me know in the comments.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
11 Songs: The Dead Milkmen
So I brought up The Dead Milkmen on Friday. Here are 11 songs by them. It's not necessary a "11 best songs" list or even "Peter's 11 favorite songs" but it's certainly 11 songs you shouldn't miss. Why 11?
Seriously?
10 11 Songs By The Dead Milkmen, in no particular order.
1) Punk Rock Girl.
"Someone played a Beach Boys song [. . .] It was California Dreamin' and so we started screaming, on a winter's day."
Best part of the video? Rodney walks around reading a newspaper just like he would when they'd do this song live.
This video actually makes me kind of sad, since it features so much of Dave "Dave Blood" Schulthise, who took his own life back in 2004.
Thanks to this song, I made sure to take a walk to Zipperhead one Saturday back in '99. I bought a studded bracelet I still have around here today.
2) Bitchin' Camaro.
The best intro is still the album intro. "My parents drove it up for me from the Bahamas" is a recurring line in my life.
3) I Know Where The Tarantula Lives.
I love how this feels like a Carl Spackler line. "I know where the tarantula lives, so I've got that going for me."
4) Methodist Coloring Book.
I don't even know what to say about this one. Just watch it.
5) Nutrition.
At least I give a shit about the stuff I eat. I might be that guy, sometimes.
6) If You Love Someone, Set Them On Fire.
A sentiment not to live by.
7) Big Lizard In My Backyard.
This might be the first song I ever heard from this band, thanks to my friend Tom. He had Big Lizard on cassette tape.
8) I Dream of Jesus.
Nothing beats a story song by The Dead Milkmen. "He was shorter than I'd imagined." Like Tom Cruise!
9) Stuart.
Ah, Pueblo CO, home of all sorts of mailed pamphlets. The whole "he was a daredevil!" bit and "what the queers are doing to our soil" have legs. That makes me think I need to post about The Queers, too. Good band, shame about the soil.
10) Tiny Town.
We live in a tiny town, and we don't want you coming round. I think of this as a touring song.
11) The Thing That Only Eats Hippies.
Just a great baseline on this.
This list could easily go to 11+. But you won't go far wrong with those songs. There are a lot of newer songs which are great, too. But since I got into this band so long ago, the early stuff is really what's stuck into my soul as defining music for the band.
Seriously?
1) Punk Rock Girl.
"Someone played a Beach Boys song [. . .] It was California Dreamin' and so we started screaming, on a winter's day."
Best part of the video? Rodney walks around reading a newspaper just like he would when they'd do this song live.
This video actually makes me kind of sad, since it features so much of Dave "Dave Blood" Schulthise, who took his own life back in 2004.
Thanks to this song, I made sure to take a walk to Zipperhead one Saturday back in '99. I bought a studded bracelet I still have around here today.
2) Bitchin' Camaro.
The best intro is still the album intro. "My parents drove it up for me from the Bahamas" is a recurring line in my life.
3) I Know Where The Tarantula Lives.
I love how this feels like a Carl Spackler line. "I know where the tarantula lives, so I've got that going for me."
4) Methodist Coloring Book.
I don't even know what to say about this one. Just watch it.
5) Nutrition.
At least I give a shit about the stuff I eat. I might be that guy, sometimes.
6) If You Love Someone, Set Them On Fire.
A sentiment not to live by.
7) Big Lizard In My Backyard.
This might be the first song I ever heard from this band, thanks to my friend Tom. He had Big Lizard on cassette tape.
8) I Dream of Jesus.
Nothing beats a story song by The Dead Milkmen. "He was shorter than I'd imagined." Like Tom Cruise!
9) Stuart.
Ah, Pueblo CO, home of all sorts of mailed pamphlets. The whole "he was a daredevil!" bit and "what the queers are doing to our soil" have legs. That makes me think I need to post about The Queers, too. Good band, shame about the soil.
10) Tiny Town.
We live in a tiny town, and we don't want you coming round. I think of this as a touring song.
11) The Thing That Only Eats Hippies.
Just a great baseline on this.
This list could easily go to 11+. But you won't go far wrong with those songs. There are a lot of newer songs which are great, too. But since I got into this band so long ago, the early stuff is really what's stuck into my soul as defining music for the band.
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