Thanks, I'll be perched tomorrow to finish it somehow!
#15 HOLE - LETTER TO GOD
A song written by Linda Perry but that suits Courtney Love like a perfect shoe. Redemption, resignation but roaring fury. A person thinking that has lost everything, tried everything, looked for everything, believed in everything, got disappointed of everything but still wants to go on. Courtney Love as a person has many detractors but she and company is able to release great songs like this one. Simple, dark but full of feelings. She did it this time.
#14 GARBAGE - FELT
The Smashing Pumpkins style guitars. Well Butch Vig, drummer and producer of this band produced The Smashing Pumpkins widely praised 'Siamese Dream' and also importantly their debut record. He also produced the generation changing 'Nevermind' by Nirvana. Also a chunk of Killdozer material, Urge Overkill's 'Americruiser', Sonic youth's 'Dirty', and many more important records which you can look up and should. In other words, he's a rock legend. Does it show on this song? Let's just say Garbage's 'Not Your Kind of People' remained an underground album. Interesting phenomena for the it band of 96, 97, 98 and 99. Musically the album delivered, and let's say this song reflects that. Shirley Manson has a unique singing style and lyrics, also, the instrumentals accompany well that feeling here. Talking about how real love is but how real feelings can go away or be that, just feelings. Nostalgic but cathartic guitars that scream "I still live" and an ecstatic finale with Shirley doing some yodeling that puts the scottish origins of Shirley in a savory but slightly sweet and natural flow of excitement made of redemption and thriving.
Stomping guitar riff sampled off of Sleigh Bells's 'Treats' is better executed here on a "I give a ****" anthem. Abrasive song that just prompts you to shake whatever part of your body you want. Move that ass and shoulders with that "I just give a damn, damn, damn" phrase and jump histerically on the following breakdown. Just do.
#12 LORDE - TENNIS COURT
How cool. A freak and an underground queen flirting. Isn't it really interesting (and very cool)? 'Pure Heroine' is simple kind of minimalistic pop but when you've got a good melody, you don't need to do much, not that I'm not encouraging anyone to do as much as possible. Lorde's voice is the center of her songs and when she's such a fine writer and crisp lyricist, things just work out. Subtle synths go with her voice quite well empowering the delivery of her singing. And yeah, I love the flow of this song, you should, too.
Can't you rush it? But oh well, at least it'll still be completed.
I'll be watching in Your Top Ten, then, I suppose.
I can rush it now. I thought it would be closed by today but if it's still up for the whole day, or tomorrow, I'll finish it.
#11 ARCADE FIRE - REFLEKTOR
Very intriguing video and a boldness in the performance. This change of sound Arcade Fire had for this album is a welcomed one. This one's a great band. While Radiohead went more obscure in each album, Arcade Fire goes to the dance rock route, with influences of disco, latin and african music. It sounds with finesse, not your simple dance song, the build up is slow and the ending is ecstatic. I love a band that experiments and it was brave of them translate their musicality to dance music this clear.
This song takes me to a lonely pier, the sky is orange, the sun is fading. Then there's an old rustic beach club but everything's empty and there's nobody. Just memories. This also takes me to remember childhood games, take it from the child voices in the track but the melody carries that on. My favorite song from their awesome album, 'TNT'. Tortoise could be overlooked for being too ambient but no, this track contains big emotion in what someone who doesn't pay much attention could consider a lounge song for an art gallery, it's so much more than that.
#9 RIHANNA - WE FOUND LOVE (FEAT. CALVIN HARRIS)
A true modern music classic. The best song I've listened written by Calvin Harris, and he has achieved to write some pretty bombastic songs after this one but Rihanna's undeniable talent is shown here. She can deliver emotion through repeated lyrics without failing. Her voice and how far she can take a song is what proves the awesome musician she is. I'm never getting tired of her.
#8 GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR - WE DRIFT LIKE WORRIED FIRE
Paired with 'Mladic' as the big bodies of the imponent "'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!'. Very dark in times, I'm amazed at how more than ever, Godspeed You! Black Emperor could be able to make an around 20 minutes track sound so cohesive. The awesome "Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven!" has 4 masterpieces but the changes of pace, melody, mood in the tracks could sometimes be hard, to the effect of the album it worked perfectly. However, the accomplishment of slowly morphing the song from something to something else is just incredible here. As I said, this song is dark, it could take you to many places, Chernobyl, an obscure corridor with lots of closed doors, the survival of a big war. The ending is beautiful catharsis of struggle and roaring thriving. From happiness and satisfaction gained with suffering, this song goes back to its caves then comes again like a furious fighting horse rider. Other bands that have mastered this kind of song crafting could be Swans with 'Soundtracks for the Blind', but let me tell you, they're one thing and this band is another. We need another album by this band with new material. Seriously.
#7 LED ZEPPELIN - WHAT IS AND WHAT SHOULD NEVER BE
Robert Plant has an amazing voice. He must've had detractors, right? There's a lot of emotion in what he does but he could have been perceived as messy, especially in his live performances, doing with the original melody what he wanted. Still for those who didn't like that, he's a great writer. I love the changes, Led Zeppelin are great with them. Very romantic verses and tough but seducing choruses. That beautiful guitar solo based on the vocal melody, simply amazing and the ending, don't you wanna jump? We needed more Zeppelin and we need medicine to put its full effort into creating meds to make voices last more robust. I mean I need Robert Plant and the rest of Zeppelin to play this song with the original force. I want Plant to reach those highs, even for singers in their 20s, his highs are very difficult, at least he does a decent job when he does Led now but man, who wouldn't want him to sing Zeppelin with the original register?
The depression anthem. Do you know people who feed off of misery? Just swimming through sadness, finding the justified reasons why you feel like ****. There's a thing when you just don't look for happiness seriously anymore, you gave up trying to do what others told you to in order to smile. Now you don't know why you should smile. So you rest in your misery, you find the good in it, the loneliness, the insatisfaction, feeling like garbage but at the same time loving it. This song is about loving sadness. About living in the negative lifestyle, many people live like that, always expecting nothing, expecting to lose. There's smiles, but they're perverse, they're tinted with deception, regret, anger, frustration but it's ok. It is ok to embrace all these feelings and just scream of joy while feeling like hell. This was engineered to be Garbage's biggest hit from their eponymous debut, it's incredibly catchy, very dancey, fuzzy. It managed to be a concert favorite but it didn't receive the worldwide smash attention it should have had. Well, the subject isn't a very friendly one but who cares? People should admit their misery more often, 'cause we all are miserable once in a while and sometimes more than others so yeah, gimme those sexy guitars, that emotional voice, those flowing drums and scream: "I'm only happy when it rains!"
I used to hate this band, they all seemed like they didn't try too hard and were just loved because of the cocky douche looks of Julian Casablancas. The band seemed like they didn't give a **** about anything but still had written an album that is pretty much regarded as a classic, "Is This It". And it ****ing pissed me off. Seen that 'Last nite' video obviously, right? I just loathed the way Julian just didn't try to give a good performance and seemed like he was just egging around high on stage. Indeed Julian is a great songwriter. And while their debut was enough proof of their talent, especially Julian's, "Room on Fire" solidified it, singles wise 'Reptilia' was undeniable and the album, while not as hard hitting as the debut, still could maintain The Strokes reputation. "First Impressions of Earth" changed it all, regarded as mediocre, the band stopped being a critics darling. Still, as a third single from this album they drop this. 'You Only Live Once,' my favorite song by them. Mid-tempo, suave melodic guitars that make me remember the bass line of 'Another One Bites the Dust' by Queen and Julian's performance is emotional and sincere, I love his lyrics on this song, they could be talking about lots of things, they're direct and subtle at the same time:
"1000 ways to please your man oh oh
Not even one requires a plan. I know"
Yeah, I thought you knew. Singing kind of vulnerably while still giving a respectable rock performance. 'The Motto' by Drake was dropped on 2011 but in 2006 The Strokes already introduced #YOLO to the music airwaves. They only just didn't abbreviate it and the concepts for both acts are different. In this song The Strokes encourages you to get real because you only live once, in 'The Motto' is more like you only live once so let's be douchebags. I find Drake's song fun but I'll take this #YOLO anthem over that anytime. Excellent song.
This is a rock song camouflaged into a pop song. Just replace the synthesizers and electronic instruments for guitars, drums, well there's already great bass and hard hitting drums in this song in its released form, but listen to it in your mind, it feels natural like a rock song. It's a hell of great pop tune the way it is, anyway. Many people constantly doubt Gaga's talent, people, it can be, but it's not easy to write a great song. Many, many people fail. Millions can be invested into trying to make someone untalented happen and yeah, they can get neat songwriters to get them success, but even the best songwriters are able to write a lackluster song and without having an innate music talent or ear for music you will release a bad album eventually, or two, or three and things won't go so smoothly anymore.
Gaga's voice here, raspy, upfront and kind of angry. She's been called an attention ***** for years, people claimed she used names and tried to get along with the artsy people just as a pose. But when you listen to her albums you can see the passion, see her sing her heart out, the intensity of the beats, the travelling of the melodies, the changes. She does love music. Her performances, the emotion, anger or whatever she's feeling pours out like a cascade. In this song she admits loving what she receives in exchange for sharing her music, feelings and soul to the public. I could tell you a performer feels a tremendous satisfaction after hearing a sincere applause, not ego applause, not "you're famous" applause, the applause one feels motivated to make once one's seen an awesome spectacle, and music is an spectacle, can be an spectacle. But it's not just spectacle, it's also a live work of art and the applause is the instant reward for it. Let me tell you, for a musician or artist at heart, the applause doesn't fill their ego, it fills their heart. And that fight between ego and heart is what makes the critics try to invalidate an artist, "they just do it to fulfill their ego". Critics can find any error in your work and if a critic sees you live, it's not their job to applaud, their job is to evaluate you but when a person is so mesmerized, moved, or whatever feeling they feel that he/she feels motivated to applaud, there's no better evaluation than that, is there? Screaming and cheering. This song covers that too, so yeah, I feel this is an anthem for the artists and I applaud Gaga for making a hit out of it.
Has any millennial pop star musician gone through more than Britney Spears? Hard to tell, but Britney has had a rough time proving she was the true deal. Before the teen pop explosion, post-grunge took over and mixed with electronica there was an amalgamation of different sounds that made the musical landscape very varied, until teen pop took over and it pretty much overshadowed everything. Leading the pack with N*SYNC, Backstreet Boys and Christina Aguilera, there was Britney Spears, an awesome performer, dancer and possessor of a very unique voice that screamed innocence. While an undeniable performer, for many she was a label "puppet". She didn't write any of her songs on her debut and she was accused of lip synching.
Single by single, album by album, Britney Spears tried to prove she was in control of her career as a performer and musician. First by message, on 'Oops!... I Did It Again' she wasn't that innocent, on 'Stronger' her loneliness wasn't killing her no more (as in '...Baby One More Time'). Then musically, after that, she went urban with 'I'm a Slave 4 U', kind of launching Pharrell who would later become a superstar. She did rock covers, 'I Love Rock 'N' Roll'. She was never afraid of being a pop star, 'Toxic' was bold pop. Then her breakdown occurred and after 4 albums people would say she had a decent run for a pop star. Wrong they were, 'cause she came with the dark club album "Blackout", a fan favorite, with urban bangers like 'Gimme More' and 'Piece of Me', the latter which was a straight shot at her haters and won 3 VMAs, including Video of the Year. She came even bolder with "Circus", 'Womanizer' and 'Circus' were world smashes. She didn't leave it there, "Femme Fatale" provided her 3 smashes, ''Til the World Ends' is one of her danciest tracks yet, and we can pretty much say with all of this that Britney Spears might have an innocent voice and could be a charismatic sweetheart but she's been a hell of a strong woman and an undeniable hard working pop musician.
On her 8th album, "Britney Jean", she took the "bitch" famous out of her mouth and made a strong dark electro-banger which features one synth line over the whole song and her sing-speaking. How can Britney make work a song like this? It worked for me about a hundred times when it was first dropped. Motivating, hard, it makes you wanna dance and work. I think 'Work Bitch' is proof that whatever people could have said about Britney Spears, she's a hard working woman, her emotional struggles may have affected her work through her career but she succeeded, she already proved to everyone she wasn't a puppet, she's a survivor, she's a rocker, she's a singer, she's a dancer, a human, a person who loves and a person who has been deeply heartbroken, and she kept on working, bitch.