Another Music Meme
My good friend Eric Jorgensen has inspired me to try something on my Xanga. Here, loyal reader, is your task:
NOTE: PLEASE POST IT IN THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS ENTRY!!!
Set your iPod/iTunes/Windows Media Player to shuffle. Good job. Now, shuffle to the next song. Write a description of said song. It can be a personal anecdote relating to the artist, a thought on the lyrics, whatever you want. Then, do it for four more songs. Got that? Note: if you cannot write on a particular song, i.e. you haven't had the chance to listen much to it yet, feel free to skip to the next song.
I'll start.
1) "It's Not O.K." by Refused
Ah, good old Refused. The greatest hardcore band ever to exist, who produced the greatest album of all time, The Shape of Punk To Come. This song is not off that album. This song is, in fact, a pretty stereotypical hardcore song, and not a particularly good one, even. It's about a minute long, and there's only one line in it: "It's not O.K./to assume everything's alright." Oh Refused. You did so much better. We'll let this one slide.
2) "Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Theme Song" by HomestarRunner.com
This is off the Strong Bad Sings CD. It's a supremely silly song to Strong Bad's very own confusing cartoon. Kyle, my old roomie, hates this song with a passion, but I think it's kind of funny.
3) "Christmassacre" by From First To Last
I'm just going to start out by telling you all that, holy balls, this song is bad. Normally From First To Last is a pretty good melodic hardcore band. I don't know what it is about being on punk Christmas compilations that makes them decide they need to suck, but this is one of two different songs they have on Christmas compilations, and both of them are terrible. At least the other one has the distinction of being a cover of "12 Days of Christmas" with altered lyrics that are kind of clever. This song just has the uninspired chorus of "Merry/ Fucking/ Christmas", and it sounds like they were listening to way too much Black Metal while they were writing it. Yuck.
4) "Blast Off" by the Descendents
The Descendents basically created pop-punk. Take that as good or bad depending on if you like that or not. It should be noted, though, that they're light years better than any pop-punk band from today. However, they're just as sophmoric a lot of times. This song is about someone having diarrhea. Oh my, how clever and humorous! Oh, and you make a fart sound at the end! Good for you. They wrote this when they were in their 30's, btw. They have done much better work. My shuffle seems to be failing me.
5) "Des Moines" by Halloween, Alaska
My friend Travis and I are hoping to start a band that sounds like Halloween, Alaska. They're very, very mellow. It's good relaxing music. I don't really have a whole lot to say about it beyond that. I'd recommend it.
NOTE: I'm going to do another 5, because it's kind of fun.
6) "Hate Breeds Hate" by Refused
Everything I said about Refused in number one is true, keep in mind. This is a super early song of theirs, and it's good in some ways. It shows promise, considering how young a band they were at the time. If you can track it down, the video for this song is hilarious. It was pretty much nothing but home-recorded concert footage slapped together. It's really sloppy, and there's this one part where the words "UMEA HARDCORE!" flash on the screen for a little while. It's sad and hilarious. The other notable part of this song is that Dennis raps at the end, and it's terrible, and they admit it was a huge mistake. Let's forgive them for it and move on.
7) "City Hall" by Tenacious D
The D are hilarious, and while some people think this song is too long and not all that funny, this is probably my favorite song on their CD, 2nd only to "Karate". It describes the D leading people in a riot, and then taking over the world, and then murdering each other to gain more power. It's very funny, and I'd suggest it. I can't wait for the Tenacious D movie to come out. This summer, supposedly.
8) "Crab" by Weezer
This is off the Green Album. The Green Album represents the point where Weezer completely started to suck. Maladoit had some OK moments on it, but their new songs just sound like their old songs now. Don't believe me? Sing the words to "The Sweater Song" with the exact same melody in the exact same key over the song "Beverly Hills". IT'S THE SAME DAMN SONG. Thanks to my friend Trae for pointing this out to me.
9) "Bring the Pain" by Mindless Self Indulgence
MSI are the only industrial band I've ever liked, probably because a lot of time they only vaguely sound like an industrial band. It reminds me more of if video game music and rap got in a fight, and then industrial tried to break the fight up, and ended up getting drawn into. That's a complicated analogy, but their sound is singular.
MSI also win the distinction of being the most offensive band ever, lyrically, at least. With a singer whose stage name is "Little Jimmy Urine", would anyone expect anything less? If you're easily offended, just don't bother with this band. Although I can heartily recommend their cover of Rush's "Tom Sawyer" to anyone. It's awesome and hilarious at the same time.
10) "Generator (Live)" by Bad Religion
This is from my BR live CD that I got when I went to Germany. I didn't know it at the time, but Tested (the CD) was never released in America, so it's a rare collector's item. Which is kind of cool. "Generator" is a cool song to begin with, but the live version of it is even cooler, with it's slow intro, and a crowd of Germans attempting to sing a song with complicated lyrics in English at the beginning. Imagine, if you will, a crowd of German punk enthusiasts, many of whom probably don't speak English, attempting to sing the line: "Like a rock/ like a planet/ like a fucking atom bomb/ I remain unperturbed by the joy and the madness/ that I encounter everywhere I turn". It's awesome. Great song, and I can heartily recommend BR's entire catalog, excepting How could Hell Be Any Worse?, which is why bad old punk albums get a bad rap: they're actually pretty bad.
NOTE: PLEASE POST IT IN THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS ENTRY!!!
Set your iPod/iTunes/Windows Media Player to shuffle. Good job. Now, shuffle to the next song. Write a description of said song. It can be a personal anecdote relating to the artist, a thought on the lyrics, whatever you want. Then, do it for four more songs. Got that? Note: if you cannot write on a particular song, i.e. you haven't had the chance to listen much to it yet, feel free to skip to the next song.
I'll start.
1) "It's Not O.K." by Refused
Ah, good old Refused. The greatest hardcore band ever to exist, who produced the greatest album of all time, The Shape of Punk To Come. This song is not off that album. This song is, in fact, a pretty stereotypical hardcore song, and not a particularly good one, even. It's about a minute long, and there's only one line in it: "It's not O.K./to assume everything's alright." Oh Refused. You did so much better. We'll let this one slide.
2) "Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Theme Song" by HomestarRunner.com
This is off the Strong Bad Sings CD. It's a supremely silly song to Strong Bad's very own confusing cartoon. Kyle, my old roomie, hates this song with a passion, but I think it's kind of funny.
3) "Christmassacre" by From First To Last
I'm just going to start out by telling you all that, holy balls, this song is bad. Normally From First To Last is a pretty good melodic hardcore band. I don't know what it is about being on punk Christmas compilations that makes them decide they need to suck, but this is one of two different songs they have on Christmas compilations, and both of them are terrible. At least the other one has the distinction of being a cover of "12 Days of Christmas" with altered lyrics that are kind of clever. This song just has the uninspired chorus of "Merry/ Fucking/ Christmas", and it sounds like they were listening to way too much Black Metal while they were writing it. Yuck.
4) "Blast Off" by the Descendents
The Descendents basically created pop-punk. Take that as good or bad depending on if you like that or not. It should be noted, though, that they're light years better than any pop-punk band from today. However, they're just as sophmoric a lot of times. This song is about someone having diarrhea. Oh my, how clever and humorous! Oh, and you make a fart sound at the end! Good for you. They wrote this when they were in their 30's, btw. They have done much better work. My shuffle seems to be failing me.
5) "Des Moines" by Halloween, Alaska
My friend Travis and I are hoping to start a band that sounds like Halloween, Alaska. They're very, very mellow. It's good relaxing music. I don't really have a whole lot to say about it beyond that. I'd recommend it.
NOTE: I'm going to do another 5, because it's kind of fun.
6) "Hate Breeds Hate" by Refused
Everything I said about Refused in number one is true, keep in mind. This is a super early song of theirs, and it's good in some ways. It shows promise, considering how young a band they were at the time. If you can track it down, the video for this song is hilarious. It was pretty much nothing but home-recorded concert footage slapped together. It's really sloppy, and there's this one part where the words "UMEA HARDCORE!" flash on the screen for a little while. It's sad and hilarious. The other notable part of this song is that Dennis raps at the end, and it's terrible, and they admit it was a huge mistake. Let's forgive them for it and move on.
7) "City Hall" by Tenacious D
The D are hilarious, and while some people think this song is too long and not all that funny, this is probably my favorite song on their CD, 2nd only to "Karate". It describes the D leading people in a riot, and then taking over the world, and then murdering each other to gain more power. It's very funny, and I'd suggest it. I can't wait for the Tenacious D movie to come out. This summer, supposedly.
8) "Crab" by Weezer
This is off the Green Album. The Green Album represents the point where Weezer completely started to suck. Maladoit had some OK moments on it, but their new songs just sound like their old songs now. Don't believe me? Sing the words to "The Sweater Song" with the exact same melody in the exact same key over the song "Beverly Hills". IT'S THE SAME DAMN SONG. Thanks to my friend Trae for pointing this out to me.
9) "Bring the Pain" by Mindless Self Indulgence
MSI are the only industrial band I've ever liked, probably because a lot of time they only vaguely sound like an industrial band. It reminds me more of if video game music and rap got in a fight, and then industrial tried to break the fight up, and ended up getting drawn into. That's a complicated analogy, but their sound is singular.
MSI also win the distinction of being the most offensive band ever, lyrically, at least. With a singer whose stage name is "Little Jimmy Urine", would anyone expect anything less? If you're easily offended, just don't bother with this band. Although I can heartily recommend their cover of Rush's "Tom Sawyer" to anyone. It's awesome and hilarious at the same time.
10) "Generator (Live)" by Bad Religion
This is from my BR live CD that I got when I went to Germany. I didn't know it at the time, but Tested (the CD) was never released in America, so it's a rare collector's item. Which is kind of cool. "Generator" is a cool song to begin with, but the live version of it is even cooler, with it's slow intro, and a crowd of Germans attempting to sing a song with complicated lyrics in English at the beginning. Imagine, if you will, a crowd of German punk enthusiasts, many of whom probably don't speak English, attempting to sing the line: "Like a rock/ like a planet/ like a fucking atom bomb/ I remain unperturbed by the joy and the madness/ that I encounter everywhere I turn". It's awesome. Great song, and I can heartily recommend BR's entire catalog, excepting How could Hell Be Any Worse?, which is why bad old punk albums get a bad rap: they're actually pretty bad.