So while it's still vaguely relevant and while I know I have the time to do it, to commemorate R.E.M. who as of Wednesday are sadly (but possibly for the best) no more, I pick my 10 favourites from the huge back catalogue of the band that have probably shaped my musical taste more than any other. I also managed to choose a good mix from throughout their career and different moods.
10. Falls To Climb (Up)
9. Try Not To Breathe (Automatic For The People)
8. Fall On Me (Lifes Rich Pageant)
7. She Just Wants To Be (Reveal)
6. Country Feedback (Out Of Time)
5. Blue (Collapse Into Now)
4. Shaking Through (Murmur)
3. Life And How To Live It (Fables Of The Reconstruction)
2. Sweetness Follows (Automatic For The People)
1. Leave (New Adventures In Hi-Fi)
Sunday 25 September 2011
Friday 9 September 2011
A quick 10 recommended songs
Here's a couple of songs I'm quite fond of at the moment, a nice mixture aswell so there's bound to be something for everyone
Come As You Are - Little Roy - Yes, it is a reggae version of Nirvana. Not sure why, but it works
Midlife Crisis - Faith No More - Great rock song from the 90s
A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke - What a classic, fantastically soulful
Suffragette Suffragette - Everything Everything - Catchy indie tune with fun harmonies, EE were the band I was backing for the Mercury prize
Good Vibrations - Beach Boys - The long version is really good, I've been singing this to myself all summer
Drive-In Saturday - David Bowie - If you've not really tried Bowie yet, start here
Spanish Sahara - Foals - Almost 7 minutes of progressive excellence, no wonder it was NME's song of the year
The Storm - Big Country - Sounds pretty ahead of its time, its a driven, folky, alternative rock song
The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore - Frankie Valli - Classic, no wonder it's been covered so many times
Drive - Incubus - Smooth acoustic song, not usual for Incubus but the vocals are as impactful as any other
Come As You Are - Little Roy - Yes, it is a reggae version of Nirvana. Not sure why, but it works
Midlife Crisis - Faith No More - Great rock song from the 90s
A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke - What a classic, fantastically soulful
Suffragette Suffragette - Everything Everything - Catchy indie tune with fun harmonies, EE were the band I was backing for the Mercury prize
Good Vibrations - Beach Boys - The long version is really good, I've been singing this to myself all summer
Drive-In Saturday - David Bowie - If you've not really tried Bowie yet, start here
Spanish Sahara - Foals - Almost 7 minutes of progressive excellence, no wonder it was NME's song of the year
The Storm - Big Country - Sounds pretty ahead of its time, its a driven, folky, alternative rock song
The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore - Frankie Valli - Classic, no wonder it's been covered so many times
Drive - Incubus - Smooth acoustic song, not usual for Incubus but the vocals are as impactful as any other
Wednesday 7 September 2011
Bottom 10 Songs
So to begin this blog, I'm not sure I can find a more enjoyable thing to do than have a quick slate of some songs that are just about unlistenable
10. Young Folks - Peter, Bjorn and John
Completely iritating whistling, heard far too much on furniture ads and somehow on the soundtrack to FIFA 08, it shows why we barely ever hear songs with a lot of whistling (or songs by Peter, Bjorn and John for that matter).
9. YMCA - Village People
Can anyone think of a more cringey song? The lyrics don't even sound like they should apply to the YMCA, what did the village people think they were achieving by making songs like this about the YMCA and the Navy.
8. Rockstar - Nickelback
Seeing as there seems to be a concensus on the web that Nickelback are the worst band in the universe, it's fitting that they turn up on this list, with that dreary, overplayed "rock" track, its amazing to think such a vain song with a number of dodgy references got so much radio play.
7. The Time (Dirty Bit) - Black Eyed Peas
Will.I.Am's autotuned vocals on the chorus sound horrific, not to mention how lazy it is to take the most famous song from Dirty Dancing's chorus instead of coming up with something new before the words "Dirty Bit" are uttered and what little sense there was to be had in this song promptly flies out of the window. Honestly the first time I heard that dance beat I thought the radio was as the Germans say "Kaput".
6. Written In The Stars - Tinie Tempah
At least artists like N-Dubz and Tinchy Stryder had some good stuff while they were on the underground, but I never understood how Tinie Tempah ever managed to get anyone to listen to his stuff. Nonetheless the chorus of Written In The Stars isn't even his work, it's sung by Eric Turner and sounds like a complete rip-off of "The Impossible Dream", so how it got glommed on to a Rap song is a mystery to me. Tinie sounds as if he has some promise in his rapping but it really doesn't last for too sustained a period, so I wouldn't expect anything more from someone whose album is imaginatively titled "Disc-overy" (See what he did there? *sigh*)
5. When The Sun Goes Down - Arctic Monkeys
When Alex Turner sings the word "scummy" in this track, it couldn't sum up the feel of it better. I'm not sure I could fathom listening to some of the lyrics to this song, and claiming to simultaneously enjoy it and have self-respect. Nothing to me seems attractive about claiming to be a fan of a band that seemingly don't want to be anything but uninspired cretins, from their unnecessarily wordy album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" which sounds like it came from the mouth of a 14 year old in a tracksuit, to the album art of said album which features a drunk looking bloke with a fag in his mouth, to other naff songs such as "Fluorescent Adolescent" and "Mardy Bum"; they don't seem to want to be very likeable.
4. Changed The Way You Kiss Me - Example
Perhaps some of the most nonsensical lyrics ever feature in between some of the most dour music of this past year. The lines "I've never been afraid of the highest heights, or afraid of flying high, I've never been afraid of the wildest fights, not afraid of dying" show how great a lack of creativity is in the head of Example.
3. Wonderwall - Oasis
A song virtually everyone knows the words to and yet, it only has this status because it's easy to sing along to Liam's droning, dissatisfied voice, it doesn't seem right but I guess that's the way it is. Why anyone would choose to listen to this faux-uplifting number I'll never know. Maybe if they released a song like "Cast No Shadow" off "What's The Story" Oasis would be a little more acceptable, but as it stands they are thought of by me as mundane, dreary louts
2. Party Rock Anthem- LMFAO
For a song apparently about partying or rocking or antheming you'd think LMFAO could sound like they were awake to sing this song. Lyrically this has to be one of the hollowest, most generic songs ever, the tip of the iceberg being the line "Everybody just have a good time" appearing near enough twice in the chorus shows the lack of any initiative to make something that means anything. It shows how messed up the UK and the US are that what looks like it could be the most popular song of the year is so damn shallow. By the way, what even is party rock supposed to be, and why is it in the house?
1. On The Floor - Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull
29 TIMES! Why does J-Lo feel the need to say floor 29 times in this song? Why rhyme FLOOR with FLOOR with FLOOR? The lyrics make this song just unlistenable, like saying generic stuff such as "Dance the night away, live your life and stay young on the floor", paced out with many a "lalala", a list of seemingly unrelated places (said in a strange order if you think about where they are in the world) pronounced badly, and an obligatory Pitbull verse.
Well, that's a little on my 10 least favourite songs in the world, I'm going to go and listen to something exciting (I'll elaborate on that soon!) before my ears fall off
10. Young Folks - Peter, Bjorn and John
Completely iritating whistling, heard far too much on furniture ads and somehow on the soundtrack to FIFA 08, it shows why we barely ever hear songs with a lot of whistling (or songs by Peter, Bjorn and John for that matter).
9. YMCA - Village People
Can anyone think of a more cringey song? The lyrics don't even sound like they should apply to the YMCA, what did the village people think they were achieving by making songs like this about the YMCA and the Navy.
8. Rockstar - Nickelback
Seeing as there seems to be a concensus on the web that Nickelback are the worst band in the universe, it's fitting that they turn up on this list, with that dreary, overplayed "rock" track, its amazing to think such a vain song with a number of dodgy references got so much radio play.
7. The Time (Dirty Bit) - Black Eyed Peas
Will.I.Am's autotuned vocals on the chorus sound horrific, not to mention how lazy it is to take the most famous song from Dirty Dancing's chorus instead of coming up with something new before the words "Dirty Bit" are uttered and what little sense there was to be had in this song promptly flies out of the window. Honestly the first time I heard that dance beat I thought the radio was as the Germans say "Kaput".
6. Written In The Stars - Tinie Tempah
At least artists like N-Dubz and Tinchy Stryder had some good stuff while they were on the underground, but I never understood how Tinie Tempah ever managed to get anyone to listen to his stuff. Nonetheless the chorus of Written In The Stars isn't even his work, it's sung by Eric Turner and sounds like a complete rip-off of "The Impossible Dream", so how it got glommed on to a Rap song is a mystery to me. Tinie sounds as if he has some promise in his rapping but it really doesn't last for too sustained a period, so I wouldn't expect anything more from someone whose album is imaginatively titled "Disc-overy" (See what he did there? *sigh*)
5. When The Sun Goes Down - Arctic Monkeys
When Alex Turner sings the word "scummy" in this track, it couldn't sum up the feel of it better. I'm not sure I could fathom listening to some of the lyrics to this song, and claiming to simultaneously enjoy it and have self-respect. Nothing to me seems attractive about claiming to be a fan of a band that seemingly don't want to be anything but uninspired cretins, from their unnecessarily wordy album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" which sounds like it came from the mouth of a 14 year old in a tracksuit, to the album art of said album which features a drunk looking bloke with a fag in his mouth, to other naff songs such as "Fluorescent Adolescent" and "Mardy Bum"; they don't seem to want to be very likeable.
4. Changed The Way You Kiss Me - Example
Perhaps some of the most nonsensical lyrics ever feature in between some of the most dour music of this past year. The lines "I've never been afraid of the highest heights, or afraid of flying high, I've never been afraid of the wildest fights, not afraid of dying" show how great a lack of creativity is in the head of Example.
3. Wonderwall - Oasis
A song virtually everyone knows the words to and yet, it only has this status because it's easy to sing along to Liam's droning, dissatisfied voice, it doesn't seem right but I guess that's the way it is. Why anyone would choose to listen to this faux-uplifting number I'll never know. Maybe if they released a song like "Cast No Shadow" off "What's The Story" Oasis would be a little more acceptable, but as it stands they are thought of by me as mundane, dreary louts
2. Party Rock Anthem- LMFAO
For a song apparently about partying or rocking or antheming you'd think LMFAO could sound like they were awake to sing this song. Lyrically this has to be one of the hollowest, most generic songs ever, the tip of the iceberg being the line "Everybody just have a good time" appearing near enough twice in the chorus shows the lack of any initiative to make something that means anything. It shows how messed up the UK and the US are that what looks like it could be the most popular song of the year is so damn shallow. By the way, what even is party rock supposed to be, and why is it in the house?
1. On The Floor - Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull
29 TIMES! Why does J-Lo feel the need to say floor 29 times in this song? Why rhyme FLOOR with FLOOR with FLOOR? The lyrics make this song just unlistenable, like saying generic stuff such as "Dance the night away, live your life and stay young on the floor", paced out with many a "lalala", a list of seemingly unrelated places (said in a strange order if you think about where they are in the world) pronounced badly, and an obligatory Pitbull verse.
Well, that's a little on my 10 least favourite songs in the world, I'm going to go and listen to something exciting (I'll elaborate on that soon!) before my ears fall off
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)