The Music Meme
A few days ago, Jane from Firedoglake passed along this music meme (for those that don't know what a meme is... uh, don't ask me, just Google it) which is making its way around the blogosphere. Being that I am a music junkie (and always looking for ways to either shout out my knowledge, turn people onto new stuff, or get turned on by myself), this is right up my alley. It's interesting that I got this this week, as some of the stuff listed here dovetails sort of nicely with some of the essays I've been writing/thinking about and which are to come (hopefully sooner rather than later) here. This is also a hard list to compose because, even though I've spent a fair amount of time thinking about this, I know that in a few days I'm gonna stumble on something that makes me go "Shit! How could I forget to put this in the meme!?" Oh well, here goes nothing!
Top Five Lyrics That Touch Your Heart
1. Thursday, "War All The Time":
War all the time
In the shadow of the New York skyline
We grew up too fast, falling apart like ashes of American flags
If the sun doesn't rise, we'll replace it with an H-bomb explosion
A painted jail cell of light in the sky,
Like Three-Mile-Island nightmares on TV used to sing us to sleep
They burn on and on like an oil field, or a memory of what it felt like
To burn on and on and just fade away
All those nights in the basement, the kids are still screaming
On and on and on...
2. Nas, "Affirmative Action":
Life's a bitch, but God forbide the bitch divorce me.
3. Rilo Kiley, "Portions For Foxes":
There's blood in my moth, because I've been biting my tongue all week
I keep on talking trash, but I never say anything
And the talking leads to touching
And the touching leads to sex
And then there's no mystery left
And it's bad news, baby I'm bad news
I'm just bad news, bad news, bad news...
4. U2, "Bullet The Blue Sky":
And I can see those fighter planes
And I can see those fighter planes
Across the mud huts where the children sleep
Through the alleys of a quiet city street
You take the staircase to the first floor
You turn the key and slowly unlock the door
As a man breathes into a saxophone
And through the walls you hear the city groan
Outside it's America
Outside it's America
Across the field you see the sky ripped open
See the rain through a gaping wound
Pounding on the women and children
Who run...
Into the arms...of America
5. Jets to Brazil, "Cat Heaven"
In the dream that awakened me, you had taken me to a sea of stars
Everything we saw was beautiful and strong, and I knew we belonged.
Then the birds came and carried us to the sky and married us
On a bed of stars, where I was always yours, you were mine.
Everything I saw was everything I’d want, and this world had just begun to
live.
Don’t wake me up, don’t wake me up, don’t wake me up,
I can’t wake up from this.
(Note: I hesitated including these lyrics here, because they basically were the soundtrack for the longest, most intense, most beautiful relationship of my life, so thus it is hard to even listen to "Cat Heaven" anymore. Nevertheless, it is an absolutely beautiful song, and those lyrics do move me, so I included it.)
Top Five Instrumentals
Before we get into this, I will say this was the hardest category for me. It would have been easy to just list five tracks off of DJ Shadow's Endtroducing and call it a day, but that would have been a cop out (and besides, I've got lots of stuff to say about that album coming soon).
1. Metallica, Orion: Listen to the staggering genius that was Cliff Burton. Hear how the boys just lock into a groove and absolutely pummel it, starting off slowly and then building to a fist pumping cresendo, with an epic breakdown in the middle. The first rock instrumental that showed me that instrumentals weren't just half-finished jams tacked on to the end of albums because someone was too lazy to write lyrics.
2. Placebo, unnamed (at least to me) bonus track at the end of "Swallow": Fast forward to the 14:52 mark, and you find this hidden gem of a song (I'm dying to find an MP3 of just this part, so that I can throw it on mixtapes). It is a rolling, subtle piece of music, with flowing guitars and beautiful use of piano. It is just a heart-wrenching composition that just grabs me for some reason. I've often said that if someone were to ever make a movie of my life, this song would be the perfect soundtrack for a montage articulating my current stage of life. It is also a fantastic song to zone out with while on the Subway or train.
3. The Pixies, Cecilia Ann: It's only two minutes long, but those two minutes are packed with fun, funky, driving guitars that just charge straight for your head. The song is a brilliant way to open the Bossanova album, as it sets the stage nicely for what's to come (Placebo's "Bulletproof Cupid" does the same thing for their Sleeping With Ghosts album). I discovered this song randomly one day when the shuffle function on my iPod stumbled upon it.
4. Tomayasu Hotei, Battle Without Honor or Humility: Quentin Tarantino used this song perfectly in one of my favorite movies, Kill Bill. Alas, now you can hear it in a bunch of car commercials (for Mazda, I believe), which sucks. However, I always say that at least once in my life I want to walk into a room somewhere and have this song blasting as everyone turns their heads to see me make my entrance. Whenever I need to get pumped up, I throw this on.
5. RJD2, Ghostwriter: Everyone compares RJD2 to DJ Shadow, and it's a valid comparison, as his debut Deadringer is similar to Endtroducing in many ways. Never mind that though-- this song is simply five plus minutes of sticky funk goodness, opening with a slick groove before the horns come in and just destroy the place. We used to play this late night at parties in college, andthe 15-20 drunkards left in the building polishing off the dregs of the kegs would get their fucking minds blown.
Top Five Live Musical Experiences
(Note: Here's where saving all of the ticket stubs throughout the years comes in handy!)
1. Rage Against the Machine/Wu Tang Clan, August 20th, 1997, Continental Airlines Arena: My mom took me and a friend to this show when I was 16 (How cool is my fucking mom? She even copped a Rage T-shirt at the end of the show!). If I remember correctly, just about the entire Clan was in the building that night (an extremely rare occurrence). I saw Rage many times (they were probably the best live band I've ever seen), but this show stands out because a few songs in, Zach sprained his ankle jumping on stage. Most bands would call it a night, but Rage only took a 15-20 minute break, then came back. Zack's ankle was bandaged and all fucked up, but he didn't care, going crazy like he always did and the whole band just killed it. As part of the encore, the RZA came out and freestyled with Zach, which was simply staggering.
2. DJ Shadow, June 3, 2002, Irving Plaza: Josh Davis pulled off some of the sickest scratch routines I've ever seen-- he completely took my fucking head off. For the encore, he brought out a live drummer and scratched in perfect rhythm with the live drumming, which had to be seen to be believed. Not to mention the fact that Shadow was so humble, thanking the crowd for their support and announcing that he'd be back at the merch booth in 10 minutes to sign anything for anyone. Just a dope performance from a really classy individual.
3. Slayer, Roseland, September 11, 1998: At the start of the show, I thought the world had ended (and I was completely sober). They played some eerie crashing sounds over the house PA, which made it sound as if a huge demon was entering the building while spooky red lights flittered throughout the stage. Just as the stomping sounds began to grow in volume and frequency, up went the curtain as the boys kicked into an absolutely blistering version of "War Ensemble" and I seriously thought that the world had ended and the Devil had chosen Slayer as his personal soundtrack to the apocalypse (again, I reiterate: I was completely sober). Insane.
4. Sasha and Digweed, last Friday of November, 2000, Twilo: This is the night that I completely fell in love with electronic music. Two of my friends and I strode into Twilo, unsure of what we were about to get. For the next six hours, we were transfixed as Sasha and Digweed threw groove after groove down in what became akin to a religious experience. Led me to devour all sorts of electronic music for the next two years of my life.
5. Deftones, July 12, 2000, Irving Plaza: One of my favorite bands, both on record and live, they put on a great show. Chino over the partitions of the stage to stand over the VIP section and make fun of the frontman of opening band Taproot (who were awful), saying things like "Stephen Richards, who the fuck are you? How are you a VIP?" It was hiliarious. The stage show was furious, as they ran through most of their hits and the best parts of their newly released White Pony (one of my favorite albums of all time).
Honorable mentions: Placebo, May 28, 2001, Irving Plaza; Sasha and Digweed, April 11, 2002 (my 21st birthday), M, Pittsburgh; Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, July 1, 2001, PNC Bank Arts Center; Rage Against the Machine, October 2, 1999, Roseland (just before The Battle of Los Angelos came out, me and my buddy paid $175 a ticket and it was well worth it); Tool, August 15, 2002, Continental Airlines Arena; Machinehead, February 12, 2000, Irving Plaza; A Perfect Circle, August 19, 2000, Roseland; Bad Religion, May 15, 1998, Irving Plaza; Metallica, February 28, 1997, Nassau Coliseum.
Top Five Musical Artists You Think More People Should Listen To
1. Thursday: Probably one of my top three favorite bands right now, they get better with every album, progressing from amateurish hardcore on Waiting to the fully developed, mature song writing force they are today on War All The Time.
2. Placebo: Merge hard driving rock with electronics to craft intelligent music built around catchy riffs and hooks and witty wordplay. Another band that has gotten better with every album they release.
3. Pretty Girls Make Graves: I saw this band while I was at Kenyon College on a random Tuesday night. It didn't matter that they were playing in a tiny wing off of the main area of the cafeteria (and thus the accoustics were less than splendid). Didn't matter that there were at most fifty kids there to see the show. They still fucking rawked the place. Good Health showed their blend of high octance punk rock, while The New Romance showed an increased maturity and song writing focus. I can't wait for their third album, reportedly coming this year.
4. Brand New: Yet another band that has gotten better as they've progressed, it's amazing to see the development they've made. Their first album, Your Favorite Weapon, was a pretty lame pop-punk album. Their second, Deja Entendu, is a pop-rock masterpiece, crammed with great songs which feature pulsating guitars and melodies that surgically attach themselves to your brain.
5. These Arms Are Snakes: This band may be a little too brutal or off-center for some, but they take the hardcore/post-punk conventions and drop them on their head. Fusing the intensity of hardcore with bizarre electronic atmospheric flourishes, they create a unique sonic blend which really has to be heard. Oxeneers, or The Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home was one of my favorite records of last year.
Top Five Albums You Must Hear From Start to Finish
1. DJ Shadow, Endtroducing
2. Neu!, Neu!: Thanks to Astralwerks re-releasing this band's catalogue, I was able to discover the groovy goodness of these highly influential Kraut rock masters.
3. Mobb Deep, The Infamous: Ominious and menacing, with the type of thunderous mid-90's East Coast beats I love so much, and brilliant guest shots from Raekwon, Ghostface, Nas, and Q-Tip. It's like a sixty minute swing through a war zone, delivered with nuance and superb lyricism.
4. Massive Attack, Mezzannine: Everyone cites Blue Lines as their most influential (and it probably is), but I like this one better. "Teardrop" is one of the most hypnotically beautiful songs I've ever heard in my life.
5. Outkast, Aquemini: The cream of the crop from the ATLien posse who seem to drop classic albums every time out the box.
Top Five Musical Heroes
1. DJ Shadow
2. Maynard James Keenan, Tool/A Perfect Circle
3. Tom Morello, guitar god, Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave
4. Chuck D
5. Kerry King, Slayer (if only because when I was 16, I could think of nothing cooler than to get paid to play that opening riff of "Raining Blood.")
Top Five Lyrics That Touch Your Heart
1. Thursday, "War All The Time":
War all the time
In the shadow of the New York skyline
We grew up too fast, falling apart like ashes of American flags
If the sun doesn't rise, we'll replace it with an H-bomb explosion
A painted jail cell of light in the sky,
Like Three-Mile-Island nightmares on TV used to sing us to sleep
They burn on and on like an oil field, or a memory of what it felt like
To burn on and on and just fade away
All those nights in the basement, the kids are still screaming
On and on and on...
2. Nas, "Affirmative Action":
Life's a bitch, but God forbide the bitch divorce me.
3. Rilo Kiley, "Portions For Foxes":
There's blood in my moth, because I've been biting my tongue all week
I keep on talking trash, but I never say anything
And the talking leads to touching
And the touching leads to sex
And then there's no mystery left
And it's bad news, baby I'm bad news
I'm just bad news, bad news, bad news...
4. U2, "Bullet The Blue Sky":
And I can see those fighter planes
And I can see those fighter planes
Across the mud huts where the children sleep
Through the alleys of a quiet city street
You take the staircase to the first floor
You turn the key and slowly unlock the door
As a man breathes into a saxophone
And through the walls you hear the city groan
Outside it's America
Outside it's America
Across the field you see the sky ripped open
See the rain through a gaping wound
Pounding on the women and children
Who run...
Into the arms...of America
5. Jets to Brazil, "Cat Heaven"
In the dream that awakened me, you had taken me to a sea of stars
Everything we saw was beautiful and strong, and I knew we belonged.
Then the birds came and carried us to the sky and married us
On a bed of stars, where I was always yours, you were mine.
Everything I saw was everything I’d want, and this world had just begun to
live.
Don’t wake me up, don’t wake me up, don’t wake me up,
I can’t wake up from this.
(Note: I hesitated including these lyrics here, because they basically were the soundtrack for the longest, most intense, most beautiful relationship of my life, so thus it is hard to even listen to "Cat Heaven" anymore. Nevertheless, it is an absolutely beautiful song, and those lyrics do move me, so I included it.)
Top Five Instrumentals
Before we get into this, I will say this was the hardest category for me. It would have been easy to just list five tracks off of DJ Shadow's Endtroducing and call it a day, but that would have been a cop out (and besides, I've got lots of stuff to say about that album coming soon).
1. Metallica, Orion: Listen to the staggering genius that was Cliff Burton. Hear how the boys just lock into a groove and absolutely pummel it, starting off slowly and then building to a fist pumping cresendo, with an epic breakdown in the middle. The first rock instrumental that showed me that instrumentals weren't just half-finished jams tacked on to the end of albums because someone was too lazy to write lyrics.
2. Placebo, unnamed (at least to me) bonus track at the end of "Swallow": Fast forward to the 14:52 mark, and you find this hidden gem of a song (I'm dying to find an MP3 of just this part, so that I can throw it on mixtapes). It is a rolling, subtle piece of music, with flowing guitars and beautiful use of piano. It is just a heart-wrenching composition that just grabs me for some reason. I've often said that if someone were to ever make a movie of my life, this song would be the perfect soundtrack for a montage articulating my current stage of life. It is also a fantastic song to zone out with while on the Subway or train.
3. The Pixies, Cecilia Ann: It's only two minutes long, but those two minutes are packed with fun, funky, driving guitars that just charge straight for your head. The song is a brilliant way to open the Bossanova album, as it sets the stage nicely for what's to come (Placebo's "Bulletproof Cupid" does the same thing for their Sleeping With Ghosts album). I discovered this song randomly one day when the shuffle function on my iPod stumbled upon it.
4. Tomayasu Hotei, Battle Without Honor or Humility: Quentin Tarantino used this song perfectly in one of my favorite movies, Kill Bill. Alas, now you can hear it in a bunch of car commercials (for Mazda, I believe), which sucks. However, I always say that at least once in my life I want to walk into a room somewhere and have this song blasting as everyone turns their heads to see me make my entrance. Whenever I need to get pumped up, I throw this on.
5. RJD2, Ghostwriter: Everyone compares RJD2 to DJ Shadow, and it's a valid comparison, as his debut Deadringer is similar to Endtroducing in many ways. Never mind that though-- this song is simply five plus minutes of sticky funk goodness, opening with a slick groove before the horns come in and just destroy the place. We used to play this late night at parties in college, andthe 15-20 drunkards left in the building polishing off the dregs of the kegs would get their fucking minds blown.
Top Five Live Musical Experiences
(Note: Here's where saving all of the ticket stubs throughout the years comes in handy!)
1. Rage Against the Machine/Wu Tang Clan, August 20th, 1997, Continental Airlines Arena: My mom took me and a friend to this show when I was 16 (How cool is my fucking mom? She even copped a Rage T-shirt at the end of the show!). If I remember correctly, just about the entire Clan was in the building that night (an extremely rare occurrence). I saw Rage many times (they were probably the best live band I've ever seen), but this show stands out because a few songs in, Zach sprained his ankle jumping on stage. Most bands would call it a night, but Rage only took a 15-20 minute break, then came back. Zack's ankle was bandaged and all fucked up, but he didn't care, going crazy like he always did and the whole band just killed it. As part of the encore, the RZA came out and freestyled with Zach, which was simply staggering.
2. DJ Shadow, June 3, 2002, Irving Plaza: Josh Davis pulled off some of the sickest scratch routines I've ever seen-- he completely took my fucking head off. For the encore, he brought out a live drummer and scratched in perfect rhythm with the live drumming, which had to be seen to be believed. Not to mention the fact that Shadow was so humble, thanking the crowd for their support and announcing that he'd be back at the merch booth in 10 minutes to sign anything for anyone. Just a dope performance from a really classy individual.
3. Slayer, Roseland, September 11, 1998: At the start of the show, I thought the world had ended (and I was completely sober). They played some eerie crashing sounds over the house PA, which made it sound as if a huge demon was entering the building while spooky red lights flittered throughout the stage. Just as the stomping sounds began to grow in volume and frequency, up went the curtain as the boys kicked into an absolutely blistering version of "War Ensemble" and I seriously thought that the world had ended and the Devil had chosen Slayer as his personal soundtrack to the apocalypse (again, I reiterate: I was completely sober). Insane.
4. Sasha and Digweed, last Friday of November, 2000, Twilo: This is the night that I completely fell in love with electronic music. Two of my friends and I strode into Twilo, unsure of what we were about to get. For the next six hours, we were transfixed as Sasha and Digweed threw groove after groove down in what became akin to a religious experience. Led me to devour all sorts of electronic music for the next two years of my life.
5. Deftones, July 12, 2000, Irving Plaza: One of my favorite bands, both on record and live, they put on a great show. Chino over the partitions of the stage to stand over the VIP section and make fun of the frontman of opening band Taproot (who were awful), saying things like "Stephen Richards, who the fuck are you? How are you a VIP?" It was hiliarious. The stage show was furious, as they ran through most of their hits and the best parts of their newly released White Pony (one of my favorite albums of all time).
Honorable mentions: Placebo, May 28, 2001, Irving Plaza; Sasha and Digweed, April 11, 2002 (my 21st birthday), M, Pittsburgh; Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, July 1, 2001, PNC Bank Arts Center; Rage Against the Machine, October 2, 1999, Roseland (just before The Battle of Los Angelos came out, me and my buddy paid $175 a ticket and it was well worth it); Tool, August 15, 2002, Continental Airlines Arena; Machinehead, February 12, 2000, Irving Plaza; A Perfect Circle, August 19, 2000, Roseland; Bad Religion, May 15, 1998, Irving Plaza; Metallica, February 28, 1997, Nassau Coliseum.
Top Five Musical Artists You Think More People Should Listen To
1. Thursday: Probably one of my top three favorite bands right now, they get better with every album, progressing from amateurish hardcore on Waiting to the fully developed, mature song writing force they are today on War All The Time.
2. Placebo: Merge hard driving rock with electronics to craft intelligent music built around catchy riffs and hooks and witty wordplay. Another band that has gotten better with every album they release.
3. Pretty Girls Make Graves: I saw this band while I was at Kenyon College on a random Tuesday night. It didn't matter that they were playing in a tiny wing off of the main area of the cafeteria (and thus the accoustics were less than splendid). Didn't matter that there were at most fifty kids there to see the show. They still fucking rawked the place. Good Health showed their blend of high octance punk rock, while The New Romance showed an increased maturity and song writing focus. I can't wait for their third album, reportedly coming this year.
4. Brand New: Yet another band that has gotten better as they've progressed, it's amazing to see the development they've made. Their first album, Your Favorite Weapon, was a pretty lame pop-punk album. Their second, Deja Entendu, is a pop-rock masterpiece, crammed with great songs which feature pulsating guitars and melodies that surgically attach themselves to your brain.
5. These Arms Are Snakes: This band may be a little too brutal or off-center for some, but they take the hardcore/post-punk conventions and drop them on their head. Fusing the intensity of hardcore with bizarre electronic atmospheric flourishes, they create a unique sonic blend which really has to be heard. Oxeneers, or The Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home was one of my favorite records of last year.
Top Five Albums You Must Hear From Start to Finish
1. DJ Shadow, Endtroducing
2. Neu!, Neu!: Thanks to Astralwerks re-releasing this band's catalogue, I was able to discover the groovy goodness of these highly influential Kraut rock masters.
3. Mobb Deep, The Infamous: Ominious and menacing, with the type of thunderous mid-90's East Coast beats I love so much, and brilliant guest shots from Raekwon, Ghostface, Nas, and Q-Tip. It's like a sixty minute swing through a war zone, delivered with nuance and superb lyricism.
4. Massive Attack, Mezzannine: Everyone cites Blue Lines as their most influential (and it probably is), but I like this one better. "Teardrop" is one of the most hypnotically beautiful songs I've ever heard in my life.
5. Outkast, Aquemini: The cream of the crop from the ATLien posse who seem to drop classic albums every time out the box.
Top Five Musical Heroes
1. DJ Shadow
2. Maynard James Keenan, Tool/A Perfect Circle
3. Tom Morello, guitar god, Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave
4. Chuck D
5. Kerry King, Slayer (if only because when I was 16, I could think of nothing cooler than to get paid to play that opening riff of "Raining Blood.")
posted by Black Charles at 4:19 PM
2 Comments:
Wow! Have I got my work cut out for me, making my way through all that. Awesome choices, Dan. A most excellent job. Tom Morello is a stone-cold rock god, now doubt about it.
(BTW, went to the post office on Thursday & disk hadn't arrived, I'll let you know & keep checking).
Must dash, put link up...
Jane,
I felt a little guilty about using Slayer, because one of the other people you sent this too used them, but I just had to get that story out there. That's why I enjoyed doing this, because it allowed me to really recollect on some good experiences (the concerts) and really dig through my record collection (lyrics and instrumentals) and allow me to get some stories that I think are cool out there (like the Slayer one or the Rage one or the PGMG one). I think this was probably the favorite post that I've written so far, so I thank you for sending it to me.
I also checked out Ladies and Gentleman... today, and I dug it. I'm definitely gonna have to give it several more spins, but I definitely enjoyed it. So thank you for turning me onto them. Maybe I in turn can do the same for you through my meme...
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