30 Day Music Challenge: Day 15

Day 15: What song do you hate the most?

Easy answer, but I couldn't tell you why.  I've hated this song from day one and I always will.  Thankfully it is no longer popular and I doubt it will ever make it into "classic 80's" airplay.

Horrible song, Horrible Band. 'Nuff Said.

30 Day Music Challenge: Day 14

Day 14: What was your first music purchase?

That one I remember well.  I had just started seventh grade and turned thirteen a few months before.  I had some birthday money left over that my mom said I could use to buy whatever cassette I wanted.  I don't remember what led me to choose this album.  I wasn't a fan of the band (yet) and don't remember hearing of them until I got the album.  Everybody I knew was snatching up Nirvana's Nevermind which had come out a few weeks before and I wanted to try something different.

Here's My favorite song from that album.

That's right.  Despite my sheltered Midwestern upbringing and all-around uncoolness during my adolescence, I was a fan of Pearl Jam before they hit the big time.

Fun Fact: Despite the general assumption that Pearl Jam rode Nirvana's coattails to success, Ten came out weeks before Nevermind, it just took longer to become popular in the mainstream.

30 Day Music Challenge: Day 13

Day 13: What son represents the 00's to you?

What kind of question is this?  The 90's were hard enough to try to sum up.  The first decade of the 21st century is was too recent to be able to pick a song that represents it well.

So instead, here's one of my favorite songs and videos of the decade.

There you go.

30 Day Music Challenge: Day 12

Day 12: What song defines the 90's for you?

I'll start with the song this time, then do my best to defend it.

Here's how I figure it.  This song protests "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland which began in the 60's but pretty much wrapped up in the 90's.  The 90's also say the popularization of Grunge music with it's power chords and melancholy lyrics, which I think are well represented in this song.  I also wanted to showcase one of the few Irish bands to be popular in the US in the 90s.  I can only think of U2, The Corrs, The Cranberries, and Sinead O'Connor that fit that criteria.

The 90's also say the decline of the female rock vocalist.  There has been a shortage of them for the past 10 years, which is as depressing a fact as I can think of.

30 Day Music Challenge: Day 11

Day 11: What song defines the 80's to you?

Holy cow.  I thought the defining song of the 70's was hard.  Just an FYI, the following albums all came out during the 80's

Appetite for Destruction
Thriller
Hysteria
Slippery When Wet
Purple Rain
Like A Virgin
Back in Black
The Joshua Tree
Open Up and Say AHHH
1984
Pump
Born in the USA

Every one of those is iconic in it's own genre, and a few of them rise above classification.  It was during the 80's that I became aware of music as an art form, and the music of that decade was the soundtrack of my childhood.

Here's the 80's defining song, IMHO:

David Lee Roth was the anthropomorphic personification of the 80's.  Period.

30 Day Music Challenge: Day 10

Day 10: What song defines the 70's to you.

This is actually a pretty tough one, since for me the 70 are experienced only through other people's experiences. So here's what I got for you.

So here's why.  The 70's were a fantastic time for music.  Many of the elder statesmen of music, all genres, were in their heyday during that time.  There was a lot going on.  Disco, while not my favorite type of music, could not be ignored during this decade.

Pinball Wizard encapsulates much of the feeling of the 70's.  The style and theatrics are a nod to the disco culture, but The Who can only be defined as a rock band.  Even Elton John, who's performance is the most iconic, was known at the time as a rock musician, rather than the glam pop persona he is today.

It is not the best Who song, nor is it my favorite song of the decade, but I think it represents the decade quite well.

30 Day Music Challenge: Day 9

Day 9: What is the earliest song you can remember from your childhood?

There are a lot of them.  Some I've mentioned in earlier posts. I remember this one from my preschool days.  I have no idea why it was popular with a bunch of four-year-old kids, but there you go.  It just goes to show that some things were "going viral" long before the internet existed.

Who knew John Oates, Kenny Loggins, Grizzly Adams, and Huey Lewis could make something so iconic together?

30 Day Music Challenge: Day 8

Day 8: What was the last song you listened to?

Actually, I've been so busy that I haven't had too much time to listen to music.  The last time may have been on Monday when I had to drive across town on an errand for he church.  I know for a fact that I listened to this song on the drive.

This song is rapidly becoming my favorite Killers track.  I like the dissonance that lurks just below the surface.  And you just can't go wrong with Lou Reed

30 Day Music Challenge: Day 7

Day 7: What song do you play when you're chilling out?

One thing I find as a grown up is that I rarely have time to chill out.  One of the reasons that I'm doing this 30 day blog challenge is that I don't have time right now to sit and type out a long post.  So I have to think back to the last time I've been able to just relax and enjoy some tunes.

That being said, I do feel more calm and relaxed when listening to some songs.  Here are a couple of them.

I love the lyrics to that one. "We lived in the noise and the sweet amber poison."  Reminds me of good times with good friends.

And Leonard Cohen is simply the coolest person ever.

30 Day Music Challenge: Day 5

Day 5: What song do you play when you're feeling sad?

Elton John had it right when it comes to sad songs.  It feels so good to hurt so bad, and suffer just enough to sing the blues.  Melancholy songs have been a staple of my listening palate ever since the days of puberty.  Even today, when I am for the most part happier than ever with my life, I still get down occasionally.  When I do, I love nothing more than to turn on some music and listen to the sorrows of others.

As an added bonus, here's another great one.

30 Day Music Challenge: Day 4

Day 4, What song do you play when you're feeling happy?

Well there are a lot of them, but one of my all time favorite good time songs is right here.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, QVC presents, live in your living room, AC/DC!!!!!!!!"

Sorry about the inside joke intro.  Unless you're the among the handful of people who got it.

30 Day Music Challenge: Day 3

Not much time to talk today, but here is the song with the highest play count on my iTunes, as well as being a solid contender for my favorite song.

One of the best rock songs I've ever heard by a band who actually harmonizes!  Awesome!

Thirty Day Music Challenge: Day Two

Day Two of the Thirty Day Music Challenge.  What song was #1 on your birthday?

There you have it.  Boogie Oogie Oogie by A Taste of Honey.

I remember having a conversation with my daughter.  She was asking which decade her family was born in.  Her grandparents told her that they were born in the 50's, my wife told her that she was born in the 80's.  When she asked me what decade I was born in I had to answer, "Daddy was born in the 70's.  That's why I'm so funky."

Funky Indeed.

See you tomorrow for day three of the music challenge.

Thirty Day Music Challenge: Day One

Hello Everybody.  Thanks for stopping by.  

Music has been a huge part of my life for a very long time.  The first time I remember completely losing myself while rocking out to a song was when I was five years old.  The song was "Robbie Robot" from Up With People's 1983 album, Live in Concert.  I got the tape as a gift from my grandmother and listened to it on my Fisher Price Cassette player.  I can still sing the chorus to that goofy song.

I saw this daily blog challenge on Cooper Avenue, a mommy blog that my wife introduced me to.  I've been exceptionally busy these past few days and it doesn't look to be letting up for several more weeks, so hopefully this will allow me to put out some moderately interesting stuff even if I'm too busy to sit down and write a full post.

Here is the outline for the 30-day challenge.

MUSIC CHALLENGE
Day 1 – What Is Your Favorite Song Right Now?
Day 2 – What Song That Was No 1 When You Were Born?
Day 3 – What Song Has The Highest Play Count On Your iTunes (Or Other Music Player)?
Day 4 – What Song Do You Play When You’re Feeling Happy?
Day 5 – What Song Do You Play When You’re Feeling Sad?
Day 6 – What Song Do You Play When You’re Angry?
Day 7 – What Song Do You Play When You're Chilling Out?
Day 8 – What Was The Last Song You Listened To?
Day 9 – What Is The Earliest Song You Can Remember From Your Childhood?
Day 10 – For You What Song Defines The 70’s?
Day 11 – For You What Song Defines The 80’s?
Day 12 – For You What Song Defines The 90’s?
Day 13 – For You What Song Defines The 00’s?
Day 14 – What Song Was Your First 7”/12”/Cass/CD/mp3 purchase?
Day 15 – What Song Do You Hate The Most?
Day 16 – Post A Song From Your Favourite Artist/Band
Day 17 – Post A Song That You Want The World To Hear
Day 18 – What Song Makes You Want To Sing Out Loud?
Day 19 – What Song Makes You Want To Dance?
Day 20 – What Song Makes You Want To Rock Out?
Day 21 – What Song Is Your Biggest Guilty Pleasure?
Day 22 – What Song Gets Stuck In Your Head The Most?
Day 23 – What Song Reminds You Of A Person?
Day 24 – What Song Reminds You Of A Place?
Day 25 – What Song Reminds You Of A Happy Moment In Your Life?
Day 26 – What Song Reminds You Of A Sad Moment In Your Life?
Day 27 – What Song Would You Like Played At Your Wedding/Union?
Day 28 – What Song Would You Like Played At Your Funeral?
Day 29 – What Song Would You Consider To Be The “Soundtrack Of Your Life”?
Day 30 – Looking Back On Your Answers, What Is Your All Time Favorite Song?

So here goes.

My favorite song right now is probably Like A Friend from Pulp's This is Hardcore album.  It's just a fantastic Brit-pop song with a great hook.  I'll attach a video after this disclaimer:

I hate Pulp videos.  I hate seeing how douchey their lead singer looks and acts as he sneers his way through the song.  Nevertheless it is probably my favorite song right now and it has been for several years.  "You are the cut that makes me hide my face. You are the party that makes me feel my age." is, in my humble opinion, one of the best lyrics ever written.  

Here's the vid:

See you tomorrow with the number one song when I was born.

The Princess's Top 10 Songs of the Moment

The Princess and I had some free time again this past week.  So we decided to collaborate for a second installment of our ongoing musical experiment.  If you haven't seen this post then please allow me to give you a quick run-down of what we're doing.  My music collection contains just over 7500 songs and I keep it all on my portable mp3 player.  My collection has selections from nearly every genre of music, and I am often surprised by what pops up when we shuffle through the whole caboodle.  I've downloaded music at the request of my wife, my kids, and my friends, so I'm not necessarily a fan of everything on there.  So when the Princess and I have the time, we hop in the car and put the mp3 player on shuffle.  Princess has the power of veto, and the first ten songs she approves get published here with my commentary.  This time I changed the rules a bit by making her listen to each song for at least a minute before allowing her to go to the next song.  I really think this provides some insight into her tastes in music and allows her to broaden her horizons a bit.

So without any further ado it is my great pleasure to present:

The Princess's Top 10 songs of the moment.

#1 The Kinks | The Contenders | Lola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround, Part 1
What a band! What an album! I cannot begin to tell you how I swelled with pride when Princess gave the okay to this song.  There's so much to love about this song, from the bluegrass opening to the rollicking piano line.  This coming from a girl who still would list the Jonas Brothers as her all-time favorite band. Perhaps the next generation isn't completely lost after all.

#2 Garth Brooks | We Shall Be Free | The Hits
I'm confused about why I even have this song in my collection.  Granted I was a teenager in South Dakota during the 90's, and owning a Garth Brooks album was practically compulsory back then.  But   GB never tripped my trigger.  I think I may have downloaded this album in an effort to put some country/rock playlists together for work, but who knows.  Anyway I liked this song better when John Lennon released it as Imagine.

#3 Nick Drake | Bryter Later | Bryter Later
So Princess is now 2 for 2 on her 1970 imports from across the pond.  Drake has grown on me steadily since I was introduced to this album a year or two ago.  I gave a friend of mine a hard time for putting this song on one of his top ten lists, but after hearing it a few times I'm probably going to have to eat my words.

#4 Dominic Miller | February Sun | First Touch
Between this and the previous song, I needed a cup of strong coffee just to stay awake.  I shouldn't have been surprised to see Princess's tastes lean toward laid-back guitar melodies, as she is quite possibly the most laid-back little kid I've ever met.  When the mood hits her she can be the apotheosis of merry tranquility.


#5 Traveling Wilburys | End of the Line | The Traveling Wilburys, Vol 1
One of the most likable songs ever recorded.  Possibly the greatest musical supergroup of all time.  I've never met anybody who doesn't like this song.


#6 Queen | Seven Seas of Rhye | Greatest Hits Volume I
Queen is a tough band to put into a single genre.  This song does a pretty good job of covering the bases of what makes a Queen song.  Freddy Mercury is larger than life with his vocals and lyrics, and Brian May rocks the guitar solos.  I really dig Queen, especially their "epic fantasy" songs.


#7 Kidz Bop Kids | One Thing | Kidz Bop 7
I've had a lot of time to regret obtaining the Kidz Bop albums for the Princess.  Still, they are her most frequent request when we have the opportunity to listen to music together.  Anyway this is a soulless cover of a soulless single from the Canadian rock (*cough*) band Finger Eleven.  


#8 Better Than Ezra | Breathless | Before the Robots
I've gotten to hear this band live a couple of times and I've always liked their sound.  This is one of their more generic pop-sounding songs, but I think that is what appeals to Princess.  Still, my opinion on  Before the Robots is that is was a strong release from a band that has yet to sell out to "big music" despite countless opportunities.


#9 Bad Religion | Won't Somebody | The Dissent of Man
I am completely dumbstruck with this.  My little girl digs her some Bad Religion.  I can forgive every doe-eyed sigh at the synthetic Disneyco pop icon du jour as long as she keeps punk rock alive in her heart.


#10 Eric Clapton | Change the World | Phenomenon Soundtrack
Here Princess shows that she is a girl after her mother's own heart.  I have long since come to grips with the fact that, should Mr. Clapton express an interest, The Trophy Wife would abscond so fast that a cloud in the shape of her body would materialize.  But I can't fault her; he's a hell of a guitar player. Am I the only one who noticed that, for a brief period in the late 90's, every movie was a heartfelt and generally appealing John Travolta vehicle and every song was a heartfelt and generally appealing Eric Clapton single?


So that wraps up this edition.  In honor of baseball season, I give Princess an .800 average for this showing.  Those are Hall of Fame numbers so I'll definitely be happy if she can keep it up.

Top 10 Songs Of The Moment: The Covers

I have always had a soft spot for a well made cover song.  There is something I respect about an artist who can take a well known song and pay homage to the original while still making it their own.  There are some legendary covers that have eclipsed the original in terms of quality and public recognition.  Aretha Franklin's rendition of Otis Redding's "Respect" is one excellent example, and Jimi Hendrix's version of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" is another.  For this list I tried to stick to songs that earned more recognition in their original form, thus maintaining the "homage" aspect that I feel is critical to a good cover song.


Zox | Canon | Take Me Home 
This peculiar little band released a reggae version of Pachelbel's Canon in D Major as part of their freshman album. Although the wedding circuit has ground away most of my enjoyment of the original song, I still like this fun and fresh rendition.


Type O Negative | Cinnamon Girl | October Rust 
It took me a very long time to appreciate this band.  In most circumstances I wouldn't consider myself a fan of their dark, gothic-metal sound.  The fact that they included a cover song on both October Rust and Slow Deep and Hard made me take a closer look at them and their music, much to my benefit.  


Me First and The Gimme Gimmes | Rainbow Connection | Are a Drag 
I don't know if it is fair to put a covers-only band on this list, but these guys are really good.  Their albums are well themed and fun to listen to, but it is their choice of songs that makes them a top-tier cover band.  When punk rock meets The Muppets, magic happens.


Anberlin | Enjoy The Silence | Lost Songs
I like the pop-punk feel that Anberlin does so well.  Their version of this oft-covered Depeche Mode hit adds a nice rock feel without making it too dark or heavy.


Authority Zero | Drunken Sailor | 12:34 
About ten years ago I heard a really fantastic punk cover of the famous sea chanty "What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor", and since then I have been looking for the band that made it with no luck.  Since this album wasn't released until 2007; I doubt this was it.  But it is a very good version and is absolutely worth a listen.


Alien Ant Farm | Smooth Criminal | Anthology 
I really do believe that there is something about Michael Jackson's music that lends itself well to the rock genre.  I offer both this song and Fall Out Boy's cover of Beat It as proof of this hypothesis.  But it must suck to be a one-hit-wonder for doing a cover of somebody else's song.


Metallica | Astronomy | Garage Inc.
I'll admit that I had not heard this song until I heard Metallica's version.  But the esoteric lyrics and far out references are classic 1970's prog-rock fare typical of Blue Öyster Cult.  After hearing the original version of this song, I realized that Will Ferrell truly captured the spirit of the band in the famous "More Cowbell" sketch. I especially like the references to various celestial bodies. 


Muse | Feeling Good | Origin of Symmetry
I love the sultry, jazzy feel that the band added the the Nina Simone version. (Itself a cover of a 1965 show tune.) While I am not a fan of Simone's voice, I do enjoy Matt Bellamy's nasal falsetto, especially when paired with Muse's synthetic-alternative sound.  The Muse version captures the feel of the original far better than the soulless Jennifer Hudson Weight Watchers ad ever will.


Johnny Cash | Hurt | American IV: The Man Comes Around
I almost didn't include this song on the list, because it very nearly eclipsed the original in the same way I mentioned at the beginning of this post.  Thanks to the radical difference in genres and audiences between this and the original version, I felt it safe to include this legendary cover by a legendary artist.  I love Reznor's reaction to this after seeing the video, "that song isn't mine anymore..."  a classy reaction by a phenomenal artist.


Marilyn Manson | Personal Jesus | Lest We Forget: The Best of
Marilyn Manson is unique among artists in the fact that I am more familiar with his covers than with his original works.  This song really suits his style, and he didn't add too much to the Depeche Mode original other than increased distortion, but somehow he made it his own.  I don't know how to address the fact that there are two D.M. songs on this list except they must produce excellent cover fodder.

A Lady of Breeding and Refinement

I have always been fascinated by the way my daughter's mind works.  She is now eight years old, which means that my wife and I are now facing the fact that we must give over some of the influence that we have enjoyed these past years to the outside forces of teachers, school friends, television, and of course the internet.  This is not something that we will relinquish without a fight, although we recognize and take some pride in that fact that the choices she now makes reflect the quality of our parenting over the years.  And she has not let us down.

My wife and I are both trained musicians, but our tastes in music differ greatly.  We manage to agree on a few artists, enough so that we can listen to the radio together without any major meltdowns.  We also strive to influence our daughter's tastes in music.

 

We have tried to influence her tastes before.  As a baby and toddler, we did not dress her in pink.  My wife is a somewhat reformed tomboy herself and wanted to pass that on to our little girl.  However, when she was old enough to communicate her own choices on clothing and decorations we found ourselves inundated with goods and clothing in every shade of pink imaginable.  Her room right now is enough to strike a unicorn blind.  When asked about her choice in hues, she gave an answer as profound as it is innocent: "Pink makes me happy."  And as her father, that's enough for me.

Which brings me to the point of this post.

I like recurring themes in blogs.  A friend of mine over at the professional appreciator frequently posts his "Top 10 Songs of the Moment" which I often use as a compass for groups I should listen to.  His taste in music is pretty similar to mine.  So I'm stealing his idea and making it my own.  Since this is a blog about parenting and family, the music selections will be my Princess's, not mine.

My iPod contains some 7000+ songs at the moment, so what Princess and I decided to do was listen to music together, and she would have veto power over any song she didn't like.  So we put on some headphones together, hit "shuffle all songs" and started listening. Here are the first ten songs she liked, and my comments.

Princess's Top 10 of the Moment 1/24/10

Artist | Title | Album

#1 Moxy Früvous | River Valley | Bargainville

I was introduced this this little known Canadian group during a high-school trip to North Dakota.  I like their harmonies and their humor.  For those who don't know their style, think of early work by Barenaked Ladies.

#2 Budapest Symphony Orchestra | Ride of the Valkyries | Watchmen Soundtrack

I was kind of proud that she picked one of my few orchestral pieces.  She told me that she recognized it from a video game she has.

#3 Lauryn Hill | Tell Him |  The Mis-Education of Lauryn Hill

I got this CD in college from one of those "Buy 12 for $1" record company deals.  I forgot to send this one back in time.  

#4  Kidz Bop Kids | Girlfriend | Kidz Bop 12

With a spot of particularly effective manipulation my Princess coerced me into obtaining the Kidz Bop musical anthology.  For those who are unfamiliar with Avril Levigne's Girlfriend it contains such poetic lines as, She's like, so "whatever".

#5 Pulp | Cocaine Socialism | This is Hardcore (Deluxe Edition bonus disc)

Pulp is a really excellent brit-pop band who hit their stride in the 90's but went on hiatus in 2003.  I was very pleasantly surprised by my Princess's inclusion of this song.

 #6 Taylor Swift | Forever and Always | Fearless

Don't judge me.

#7 Big & Rich | Filthy Rich | Comin' To Your City

My wife is more of a country music fan than I am, but I like some of their stuff too.  Though Horse of a Different Color was by far their best album.

#8 The Dixie Chicks | Godspeed | Home

One of the sweetest lullabies ever written.  I can't help it, I'm kind of a big old softie where this song is concerned. 

#9 Elton John | Your Song | The Very Best of Elton John

This is just a pleasant song.  I defy you to argue that point.

#10 Elton John | Rocket Man | The Very Best of Elton John

I only have this one EJ album, so I was somewhat surprised to hear two songs from it.

So all in all I think Princess did pretty well for her first time out.  She isn't much of a hard rocker, but then anybody who knows her wouldn't be surprised by that fact.  Luckily, I don't have any Jonas Brothers music on my iPod, otherwise that would have definitely dominated this list.  And for the record, during the process of picking out the 10 songs for this list, 114 songs were vetoed.

This was a lot of fun, so you'll probably see another top 10 list from the Princess soon.

What The Boy Wants, The Boy Gets

My son is like an onion.  Oftentimes, peeling back an outer covering exposes an outsider to some offensive vapors.  However, right now I am focusing on the fact that he is a man of many layers; tiny, adorable layers.  For example, sometimes he is content to cuddle in with Mommy or Daddy while we make various cooing noises over his hair, ears, eyes, or whatever aspect of his being captures our attention.  But in the span of a hummingbird’s heartbeat, his mood will change to that of an uninterested emperor and woe to the jester that is too slow to inspire his whimsy.  One of the ways he differs from his older sister is his range of emotion and the speed at which he traverses that range.  This has led to an ongoing search for various activities and distractions.

His favorite activities can be summed up in one category:  grabbing things that are fragile, expensive, or dangerous and firing off a million-dollar smile as Mommy, Daddy, Sister, and sometimes the dog scramble to get it before he breaks, ruins, or swallows it.

I should note that, out of all of our family members, he is the only one who enjoys this pastime.

Like all parents, I am often called upon to entertain and enrich our baby’s young life.  And like all parents, I would settle for five minutes of solid distraction.  He loves colors and music, so we will often find videos on YouTube and watch them together.  It was during one of those sessions that I was searching for music cartoons and came across this:

This has become my son’s favorite thing ever.  He dances.  He sings along.  He LOVES this video.

Apparently this Gummibär has been a bona-fide internet phenomenon since its debut in 2007.  That song alone has been viewed nearly sixty million times.  All the songs by this bear are in the same house/techno style and have seen similar popularity on YouTube. 

I’m not sure how to feel about it.  I have a very high opinion of my own tastes in music, and I’ve tried to pass them on to my children.  (Note to parents: this is a difficult battle and you will never approve of all the music your children love.  After all, compare your tastes to that of your parents.)  I know this is throwaway bubblegum phenomenon but he loves it so much and is absolutely adorable to watch while he dances along.

I suppose the best I can hope for is to not find myself humming the song hours later.