post sixty-seven: big change.

Last week I was apathetic. This week I'm excited!! The music we listened to in class was awesome! I really liked the Exploding Hearts; they reminded me of the Beatles in a more punk way. A harder rock. The Strokes were awesome because the beat even if it seemed easy or repetitive always made me tap my toes no matter what. Very catchy. Nicely done by these two bands and I think I will be getting this music from Mr. A. It's well worth listening to. So tragic how The Exploding Hearts died but it happens, and their music clearly is still listened to today

post sixty-six: current favourites.

I don't know what's going on with me. Lately, the music that makes me smile hasn't been doing so. I don't have any current favourites to talk about, and I hate to sound like a student that just doesn't want to write, I really and honestly do not have anything to talk about, because no music is catching my eye (ear?) at the moment.
I want to list things and talk about them. I want to show some of the songs that make me smile no matter what. But the songs that are supposed to make me smile, aren't.
I'll write about one song in particular that I can think of that I've been tapping my foot to lately. It's "Gone Gone Gone" by Phillip Phillips. The melody is beautiful, his guitar playing is fantastic, and the lyrics are some "pick me up" lyrics that I guess make me lift my head a little bit when I'm feeling upset. It reminds me of someone who is very very important to me, and I feel like we would say the words to this song to each other. I'll paste the video here.

post sixty-five: i don't know what to write about.

My thoughts about the music in class have been so/so. The music we've been listening to isn't bad, but it isn't good either. It's right in the middle; I'm not opposed to listening to it but I wouldn't put it on my iPod. I'm feeling apathetic, not about the class, I really enjoy the class, but I'm feeling apathetic about the music we're listening to. It's just not my cup of tea. If everyone else likes it, that's good, it's just not my preference. I feel bad for not having an opinion on it but it could really go either way for me.
Maybe soon we'll listen to some music that appeals more to me; I know not everything is going to go my way, it's just this particular unit that doesn't quite grab me. It has been like this with other units as well, like when we listened to disco. Sometimes certain kinds of music just don't appeal to some people and I am one of those people in this case.

post sixty-four: ACL.

I'm literally so excited for some of the acts in ACL. Mostly Fun., Arctic Monkeys, Passion Pit, Atoms for Peace, and The Cure. We listened to Portugal the Man in class today and I really enjoyed it.
I told Mr. A I would put up my favourite Arctic Monkeys song for him, and here it is. It's called Dangerous Animals.

It's really great and I love the beat and ongoing bassline through it. Take a listen to it and let me know what you think.

I wish I could go to ACL so badly, because I really love Fun.. One of their songs has really gotten me through lately and I love all of their other music as well, the lead singer has a fantastic voice and can complete vocal runs like no other.
I also want to see Passion Pit, a VERY underrated band. I think they need to be taken more seriously and need to get bigger in the music industry because they're extremely talented, more so than a lot of artists in the industry.

post sixty-three: this week overview.

I haven't really liked the music we've listened to in class this week. I enjoyed the diversity of it but it's not exactly the kind of music I'd download onto my iPod. I don't want to sound like one of those people that says "turn it down, it's too loud" (no one likes them let's be real) but it just sounded like noise to me. I really respect RHCP as artists and I think they're great musicians, but I just don't like their music. It isn't for me.
Primus was absolutely 100% a no for me. I thought they were TERRIBLE. Too loud, and they had lyrics that didn't make sense, and on top of all of that I felt like they played up the eccentricity card a little too much and tried to distract from their mediocre talent with a shock factor, similar to a current day Lady Gaga.

post sixty-two: my current shazams.

Shazam is an app on the iPhone that allows you to put the phone up to the speaker and have it identify whatever song is playing, letting you know what song it is.
Songs that strike my interest on the radio (usually 93.3 KGSR) get Shazammed (is that a verb? I'm going to consider it one) on my phone, and I thought I'd share those with you, and hope you could check them out with me.

Recovery by Frank Turner is great because of Turner's unique voice. You can hear his accent very clearly (I love when you can hear singers' accents for the most part) and the lyrics are very nice. Good jam.

Only Love by Ben Howard, another good song, brilliant if you ask me actually. It's a little bit slower and the lyrics are an example of repetitive lyrics, which could be improved on, but that's okay because I really enjoy the melody of this song. Lyrics, however, are more important to me. A- for this song.

Gone, Gone, Gone by Phillip Phillips (yes that's actually his name) is an amazing song, in my opinion. He's one of the few American Idol winners who actually got somewhere and did something with his career after the show. (He's also the singer of the song Home). This song makes me feel comfortable and I enjoy listening to it. I feel emotional as well. Good song. A+.

post sixty-one: bruno mars.

I can't stand Bruno Mars.
All of his songs get way overplayed. Every single one of them. And he's just now having this big comeback. After "Grenade" came out, he seemed to disappear off the face of the earth for two or three years. I was starting to wonder if he actually DID catch a grenade for someone.
But no, turns out he's back with two songs that are both equally bad as, if not worse than, Grenade, Marry You, and Just The Way You Are. Locked out of Heaven and When I Was Your Man are two songs with horrid lyrics, one with degrading lyrics and one with whiny, childish ones.
"Cause your sex takes me to paradise" is repeated over and over again during the chorus of Locked out of Heaven, and When I Was Your Man constantly says things he should have done. Really, it means he didn't please his girl enough, she dumped him, and now he's saying "oh I'm sorry I should've bought you flowers lalala" even though we know very well that he wouldn't have if she hadn't left him.
I don't know, I just really hate Bruno Mars.

post sixty: death and what happens after.

We talked about this in class and I thought it was really interesting. What does happen after we die? Do we go to heaven? Hell? Is there a God or multiple gods in the sky that sit there and go "You're going to heaven, you're going to hell" and condemning us all? Do we turn into nothingness and simply get buried in the ground and stay there, rotting away and eventually forgotten?
Personally, I don't know what to believe. I don't want to think that there's just nothing after we die. I've had too many times where I could feel someone who has passed on with me. That sounds dumb but it's true. There have been times when I've been extremely emotionally unstable and I've almost felt a comforting hand from Ben on my shoulder (Ben being my best friend that died a couple of summers ago). I've felt like I can hear him saying "it's going to be okay", and that's what gives me hope. Ben was a bright, sparkling, warm personality, and I can't believe that he's just gone forever. He can't be.
So that leads me to believe this: I don't know about God, or multiple gods, or a specific heaven or hell. But I do think that there is something after we die. I don't know what it is, but I think that we go on after death.

post fifty-nine: songs that pull me through.

There have been songs that I've been listening to lately when I've been upset. I've been feeling really down lately, and these songs have always made me feel better, no matter what.

This song, Carry On by Fun., is really really great. The lyrics even tell you to keep going and to stay strong. "If you're lost and alone, or you're sinking like a stone, carry on." For some reason, the sound of this song is calming, and the music video is great too. I've included it above.

The next song is "In My Life" by The Beatles. This song is SO special to me. It was my friend Ben's favourite song by them, or at least one of them. Ben was my best friend, and unfortunately in summer of 2011, he was hit and killed by a car. I was devastated, but he wouldn't have wanted me to be upset. So when I'm upset or sad, missing him, feeling like nothing will make me feel better, I listen to that song. Because I know there's always a reason to pull through, even if I have to do it for my friend who is no longer with us. Very emotional song, and I connect to it so well. "All these places had their moments with lovers and friends I still can recall, some are dead and some are living, in my life I loved them all."

"All Things Must Pass" by George Harrison. Brilliant, brilliant song. It always makes me cry because it speaks the truth: "all things must pass away". Some things pass far too soon. People, relationships, fleeting moments you wish you could capture. So you should always treasure things while you have them. "Sunrise doesn't last all morning, the cloudburst doesn't last all day, seems my love is up and has left you with no warning, it's not always gonna be this grey." Things will get better, even if you have to lose some important things to realise it.

post fifty-eight: hip hop.

Hip hop/rap is what we're listening to in class right now. I think when it first started becoming popular, songs with the f word in them were much more risque and shocking, therefore more people wanted to listen to them and pay attention to them. It's a very complicated genre.
In class, Mr A proposed the question, "is hip hop still music?" of course it is. Hip hop is definitely still music, and a very hard genre to get down at that. You have to be very talented in order to pull it off just right, and I think that when it first came out, people were not only surprised by it, but also shocked at the new kind of music they had just heard.
Nowadays, in rap and hip hop songs, most of them include the f word at least once, along with many other vulgarities. It just isn't as respected because there is no shock factor anymore.

post fifty-seven: saturday night live.

What a class that was! I loved watching the SNL skits. I think my favourite one was the one with Joe Cocker and John Belushi. It's actually really interesting to me to watch Joe Cocker move. Maybe that's a rude thing to say but his past has caused that damage to him and watching him handle the neurological damage the way he does is actually kind of remarkable. Here's a video of him doing Come Together in Across The Universe; he has four parts in here I think.

He handles it really well and I think that's something he should be commended on.

Post fifty-six: Paul Simon.

I don't like Paul Simon's music while he's solo. I've heard a lot better from other artists. I'm not sure why, I've just never really enjoyed his solo stuff. It's very very boring.
I agree with the fact that he is a good lyricist but the music is about 25% of the song. When you miss completely with the music (I should say melody), the song is a 75% song. Not very good, below average. So I think that, while Paul Simon appeals to others maybe not among my age group he doesn't really appeal to me and probably won't any time soon.

post fifty-five: hair metal.

I enjoy some kinds of hair metal, but unfortunately those bands are few and far between. I just don't think hair metal is my style of music. I think it all sounds the same and it bothers me that everyone thinks they have to imitate each other in order to get a music revelation going.
I think hair metal is too alike. Why not be yourself and make your own kind of music?

post fifty four: rap.

I don't really like modern day rap, to start it off. Just in general. Maybe there's one or two exceptions, but rap from this year is just not my thing. I can't bring myself to listen to people cursing every two seconds and call it a song; if I wanted to hear that I'd go to Mr. A's class and listen to him talk.
I know not all rap songs are like that, just the cliche ones, but I still can't listen to it. It's strange, but rap from the 80s is a lot better than current rap. It's different from what we hear today but is still rap, and I like it. It's an even balance of rap and actual singing and it's something you can dance to better.

post fifty three: Michael Jackson.

Michael. Jackson. Is. Amazing.
His falsetto never fails to impress me, his dance moves are perfect and his voice is flawless.
I really enjoyed listening to thriller. My personal favourites on the album were P.Y.T., Beat It, and of course, Thriller. They all have a beat you can dance to and no one could sing these songs like he can. Someone did a cover of Beat It (I'm pretty sure it was Fall Out Boy) and it just wasn't good. Nothing will compare.
There's a reason this album broke so many records, and that reason is because it is perfect.

post fifty two: makeup.

Lately there has been a song on the radio that has caught my attention.
It's not a great song but the music is fantastic. It's almost dubstep in the way that the bass drops and how the instruments sound distorted in the background. I always jam out to it shamelessly in my car whenever it comes on.
The song is Beauty and a Beat by Justin Bieber featuring nicki minaj. It's got a great beat; and before you judge me for liking a Justin bieber song you should listen to it and just focus on the background music. It took some skill to do that and I personally think it sounds great.

post fifty-one: hell yeah, elvis costello!

elvis Costello is great! I had never really listened to him too much before this class but I really enjoyed him. I get bored easily so when this music caught my attention I was hooked.
Alison is my favourite song we listened to, I think. That or the first one, the sort of intro one. It sounds great; and worked into the lyrics are subtle references to more mature and risqué subjects, like madturbation.
Point being, costello is great and I hope we get to listen to more of him in class.

post fifty: the police and punk.

The Police are always going to be a classic group, and they will never die. I loved listening to them in class today; they're a really good listen, and it's something I can jam out to; tap my foot and feel the rhythm.
The other punk artists we listened to (Patti Smith, Sex Pistols, etc) were all, surprisingly, my favourite part of this class. (Obviously besides The Beatles and Pet Sounds) I really enjoyed listening to it and I wasn't wanting to pull a Van Gogh on both ears like I was with some songs we've listened to in this class. (Faith Hill's Piece of my Heart, Norwegian death metal, Captain Beefheart, etc).
I think it's because there can be slower punk songs, faster ones, songs that sound a little more metal-ish, songs that have a semi-pop sound to them, there's a lot of different ways that you can do punk and it still sounds good. Even the Ramones, you don't know what they're saying but damn do they sound good.
All in all, I've really enjoyed this week.

post forty-nine: neat little finds to listen to.

Today I'm focusing on a guy on Youtube. His username is troubleclef and he does some of the best covers I've heard on guitar. Lots of them are Beatles covers, and it's just fingerpicking. No singing or anything. Check em out.

Maybe I'm Amazed - Paul McCartney

God Only Knows - The Beach Boys

When I'm Sixty-Four - The Beatles

Give those a listen, because I think they're amazing and worth listening to.

post forty-eight: this week's favourite.

Yup, a few more songs that I enjoy and felt I should share with you.

this is One Direction, as I'm sure you know since I've talked about them often. They were planning on making a music video, but instead they filmed it themselves of them just doing random stuff on tour, and they donated all the money they would have used to make a music video to a charity called Comic Relief. I thought that was really neat. They did a cover of Blondie's One Way Or Another, and while it is pretty pop-boy-bandy, I can't stop listening to it.

I think it's really neat that they made this video themselves, like homemade. It saved so much money, and the fact that they spent days in Ghana for charity and then donated all the music video would-be money to Comic Relief is awe-inspiring. People say that this band does nothing for society and they're in it for the money.... Clearly they aren't.

post forty-seven: albums vs singles. *makeup blog

I think that listening to singles instead of albums at a time is a new thing, because now we have the option to easily skip tracks and go to a new artist entirely. It takes about five seconds, maybe less, to switch songs to a completely different artist that we feel like listening to.
When there were just vinyls, in order to change the artist, you had to get up, walk to the record player, take off the vinyl, switch to a different one, etc, it just took too much work (for a lazy person). So most people enjoyed the album and just left it on; they didn't have the option to just download one song they like onto their iPod.
This resulted in artists now making singles that people can buy (or illegally download) so they get more money but just with one song. If you happen to like one song by one artist, you can just get that one instead of having to buy the whole album, and that's why I think most people like to listen to singles and not albums anymore. Plus, no one has the attention span. As time has progressed, music genres and types of music have broadened a LOT, so there are more types of music to listen to instead of confining yourself to one type and one artist.

post forty six: repetitive songs.

makeup blog:

I think that repetitive songs aren't necessarily as lyrically deep as other songs, they are also sometimes the most catchy. For example, I Wanna Be Sedated by the Ramones (who I will write about in another entry) is the most repetitive song I can think of at the moment; with the words "na na na na, na na na na na, I wanna be sedated" used over and over again. But everyone knows that song, and it gets stuck in your head easily.
The song "Love Me Do" by The Beatles is extremely repetitive, with only seventeen words. There is a chorus, and there's one verse, and it goes over and over again. Really a very boring song, but everyone knows it, again, and it's not hard to know the words to, hence, getting it stuck in your head easily.
Sometimes repetitive songs can be the best songs out there, I Wanna Be Sedated is very repetitive but I like it a lot and it's the perfect song to jam out to.

post forty-five: the grammys.

--edit-- I found this post and another post in my drafts and they hadn't been published. I asked Mr. A to put in a fifty for both since they didn't publish. --

I thought the grammys were debatably good. There was Taylor Swift's opening performance, and we all know how I feel about Taylor Swift; I can't stand her. She tried to make a jab at an ex boyfriend in her song (oh wait isn't that every song), once again dragging her maturity level down to age 14.

Then when Ed Sheeran performed with Elton John, I nearly FLIPPED OUT. It was PERFECT, he sounded so good. They both did. I have no complaints. The A Team is a song that I will willingly jam out to every single time, and it will never get old.

Mumford and Sons performed their new song I Will Wait (which I LOVE), and their passion while performing is absolutely outstanding. I completely loved it. They looked so into their performances, and you can tell that they really love what they do. They were lost in the music, and that's what made me want to watch their performance more and more, I was entranced by it and was sad when it was over.

post forty-four: more recent favourites.

--edit-- I found this post and another post in my drafts and they hadn't been published. I asked Mr. A to put in a fifty for both since they didn't publish. --

Just some more recent favourites I've found.

The first song is "With You Around" by Yellowcard. The song is such a sweet one, it's a love song to his girlfriend, presumably, and there's nothing about how she cheated, or a breakup, it's simply him telling her that he loves her and that there's nothing to worry about. It's very nicely written, and this is the acoustic version, but I've always liked those better than originals anyway.

Okay, you got me. I like Fun.. But once you get past their well-known and obnoxious song "We Are Young", they're actually pretty good, and the lead singer has a good voice. This song is called Some Nights, you should give it a listen, the melody is catchy and while the lyrics aren't exactly complex, it's a good song.

Okay okay so this song isn't recent, but it's still one of my favourites that I haven't been able to stop listening to recently. The Weight by The Band is perfect and I suggest everyone listens to it, even though we've listened to it in class already, I'd like to bring it back up.

post forty three: Lennon vs McCartney.

Today, mr a asked us to choose between Lennon's Imagine and McCartney's Ram. I chose Lennon, because the songs just seem to have more emotion behind them.
But I'd also like to keep in mind that they're both extremely talented in their own way. Paul had a full voice and was the definition of versatility when it came to instruments. He could write songs with the bounciest or the most catchy melodies. While John was the lyric man. He wrote the best lyrics out of the two in my opinion. We get some stuff from him with lyrics like "you may say I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one" and you just think "wow." I think Lennon and McCartney are just as talented as the other, but in very different ways.

post forty-two: joni mitchell.

Joni Mitchell has a range and a talent like no other. It is rare to come across a talent as remarkable as hers is. Her ability to hit notes in a range I wasn't aware existed is astounding, as well as the lyrics to her songs and the stories behind them. The last song on the album we listened to has an interesting story. I was only half paying attention at first, but when we analyzed the song I was very interested. Some songs, you don't realise the pure emotions and raw talent behind them until you listen to them.

post forty-one: album bands.

I think that there are album bands, and there are song bands.
Album bands come out with bomb albums that are great all the way through, such as The Beatles, who continue to impress every single time with albums like Abbey Road, With The Beatles, The White Album, etc. Another band with a fantastic album is Fleetwood Mac with Rumours. They were in such a bad place while making that album, no one was talking to anyone, unless it was about the music. Nonetheless, it produced a great album. Led Zep came out with some good albums, I really like Houses of the Holy.
But then again there are the bands that have really amazing songs on an album but the rest of the album kinda sucks. Kind of like McCartney "(cherry bowl album)". Maybe I'm Amazed is a WICKED song, but the rest of the songs on there are kind of blah. The Who is a great example of a band that have a lot of fantastic songs, but sometimes the albums they're on are not very good. The only Who album I can really listen to all the way through and enjoy all of the songs on is Tommy, otherwise, I think The Who is a band with lots of good songs spaced out on really bad albums.

post forty: screamo.

This is going to sound really weird, but I kind of like screamo music.
My music taste has been expanding, while The Beatles will always be number one for me and have a very special place in my heart, I also have been noticing that all music that isn't classic rock doesn't suck. Another thing I noticed is that people are quick to dismiss screamo and say that it's not even music or that it's just people yelling with no talent.
I used to think that too, but that's not true. There are some bands that have really good songs, and the lyrics can be really really great. They're not all about death and destruction, as some people think. Lyrics are very important to me, as seen through all of my other posts. And bands such as We Came As Romans (one of my favourites), The Devil Wears Prada, A Day To Remember, and Woe Is Me are really great options if you're trying to look up meaningful lyrics to a song.
Now the only part is to be able to understand the lyrics. That's the only downside to screamo.

post thirty nine: Taylor swift.

Taylor Swift is one of my least favourite artists. I'm tired of hearing about her all over the news and on the radio. She isn't even known for her music anymore, she's known for serial dating and writing five breakup songs every time the relationship ends. And it's always blaming the other person. I'm tired of her feeling sorry for herself. Why are you going to be a musician when you have the emotional maturity of a five year old and when you're going to write a song with horrible lyrics about the same thing every time? "We are never ever ever getting back together, you go talk to your friends talk to my friends talk to me." Really deep lyrics, Taylor.
I just don't get why she's more famous than other artists who are way more talented than she is.

Post thirty eight: copyright.

I think that copyright laws go a little bit far. I know that George Harrison was sued because one of his songs (I think it was My Sweet Lord?) sounded remotely like another song, and it wasn't even intentional. Sometimes people need to lighten up.
Everyone illegally downloads music nowadays. For example, if I want to download a song by Adele, I don't understand why it's trees. I'm still supporting her as an artist by listening to her music. I don't think she needs an extra $1.29 in her paycheck when she's already a billionaire. Enough said.

post thirty-seven: history repeats itself?

I completely agree when people say history repeats itself, especially in music. I feel like everyone is running out of ideas, so they just try to steal ideas from the past and bring them back.
Case in point: Lady Gaga. Everything she does is basically a rerun of Madonna. Madonna was a unique individual, with crazy outfits and wild hair with music like no one had heard before. She is a true icon from the eighties, who is still famous today.
Lady Gaga tries to shock others by trying to pass up Madonna and taking her outfits to the next level. But in the process, she has crossed some lines. There is a fine line between shocking the public and still being great, and trying too hard and looking desperate for media attention. Madonna walked that line just fine and managed a great career, but Lady Gaga has taken eight steps across that line and has just ended up looking like she's hungry for attention. Sure she's made a lot of money off of it, but I feel like the aspect of talent is disappearing and looks are becoming more important. Other artists like Ke$ha and Nicki Minaj are guilty of this as well, they're just copyists who can't be original for themselves.

post thirty-six: defending my favourite bands.

Today I had to stick up for one of the bands I really like, A Day To Remember. Apparently they're "wannabe emo screamo punk", according to Mr. A. But I like the band for a reason, obviously I enjoy their music and think it's good if I'm listening to it, so to each their own.
It bothers me when someone insults the music I listen to, I don't know why. Probably because the artist has done a lot for me, or they make me happy, or inspire me, or something like that. That's why I listen to music, because it makes me feel something. So when someone insults it, the only thing I can think is "you don't know what this band means to me". Maybe I'm just being oversensitive, but if it's one of my favourite bands, they're one of my favourite bands for a reason, and I like that to be respected.
If you don't like it that's okay, I don't mind hearing your opinion, but when someone insists it's bad and refuses to accept another opinion, that's when it bothers me.

This post may or may not be directed right at you, Mr. A. (;

post thirty-five: sly and the family stone/marilyn manson.

I had never heard of Sly and the Family Stone before class, but I knew the song Everyday People from the radio. When I listen to new music, I'm a little bit close-minded and I think I won't like them very much. I don't know why, I try to be open-minded, but sometimes I just think "I'm not going to like this" before I even listen to it.
However, I thought that Sly and the Family Stone were really good! I enjoyed the songs we listened to, it had kind of a Beatles/50s rock kind of vibe, in my opinion. And, being a big fan of The Beatles, it caught my attention. Definitely something worth a download in the future.
-----
Marilyn Manson is one of those artists that tries too hard to be noticed. Maybe I'm interpreting his artistry the wrong way, but it seems like he's just putting on this "goth satanist" act to attract attention and not to actually express himself. Music is about EMOTION, and expressing your true self, for most people. It just looks like he's trying too hard to impress, which seems like it would make it less enjoyable for him, if he has to put on an act just so people will notice him.
Maybe I'm reading too far into it,  but that's just what it seems like to me.