I know this is a pretty old thing, and that most people have been doing this for years, but I made myself a playlist. My kids each have a playlist of favorite songs that they listen to, but recently, we changed our music service, and they had to go through and remake their playlists on that one. I decided I would make myself one too. My daughter insisted that I get cover art for it, so she found a cool picture on Pinterest, and sent it to me. Behold:
Rock and roll, baby! (Although my playlist has all kinds of things from Big Band Swing to 80s Pop and so on).
I'm an old Gen-Xer, so I listened to cassette tapes growing up, then finally graduated to CDs about the time I was graduating high school and heading to college. I like to listen to albums. Kids today seem to listen to songs. They hear a song they like and add it to their playlist, but they don't do what I do. They don't hear a song they like, and then go to the album and see if the band (or artists, I suppose, since bands barely exist anymore) has other songs that they also like.
That's how I've always listened to music. I get into bands, and do a full deep dive into their catalog. Sometimes, their catalog isn't very deep, and taking the dive doesn't get me anything. Instead, I find that there's just the one song I like. Other times, I find a new band that joins the list of my favorites, and I listen to their music for months on end.
Now, however, I'm trying out this playlist thing. I made something called My Big Playlist (no pun intended), which has all my favorite songs on all of my albums that I've accumulated over my unbelievably long life...seriously, how does someone even get as old as me and still manage to be alive?...and I just tell my phone or Alexa to shuffle it for me whenever I want to listen to music.
I've actually really enjoyed it. It's really varied, so any kind of song might pop up, but each and every one of them is good. There's not a one that I dislike. I find that I'm listening to music more recently than I have in a long time. I wonder, however, if it will prevent me from finding out about new bands and stuff in the future. That would be a bummer if that happened.
I don't really know how to discover new artists these days. The radio plays the same old stuff on the stations that play my kind of music. The top-40 stations play unlistenable dog vomit. I suppose there's probably playlists that are curated by the music services that play new stuff from my kind of music. I guess I'll have to make sure to do that sometimes. I don't know. It's a brave new world for me.
I have a lot of work to do on my playlist still. I've only made it through the Hs so far (although there's other stuff in there, because I was getting stuff at random at first). The playlist, however, is already 945 songs totaling 63 hours and 54 minutes. If I hit play, and let it go, it would be almost three days before the same song would come up again, and I'm not even halfway through the alphabet.
While we were camping at the Frio River, we were all sitting at the campfire together. Other folks in nearby campsites were having their own fires, and playing music while they hung out. We could sort of hear their music, but not very well. Many of the songs were terrible stuff we didn't really want to hear, as well. So, my kids suggested we listen to our own stuff.
I pulled out my phone, brought up my music app, and clicked the custom channel it had made for me. This was supposedly based on what I'd listened to in the past, so it ought to have songs I'd like in it. The first song was a good one, but then the second one hit. What the heck was this?
I looked at the listing for it, and was a little flabbergasted by what I saw.
"The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" by Leonard Nimoy? What the hell? First of all, who knew that Leonard Nimoy had a music album? I would never have guessed. Secondly, he has a song on it about Bilbo Baggins? Really?
Oh, jeez, the dancers on that video!
I took a screen shot, sent it to Rish, and asked him if he knew anything about this.
He texted back to tell me that yes, he knew about it, and also that he hated it.
I guess it wasn't a particularly good song, but I was still blown away that it existed at all. I mean, what a crazy genre mashup that is, though, right? It's like Mark Hamill making an album with songs about Knight Rider or Keanu Reeves doing an album with songs about the X-Men or Elijah Wood going on Yo Gabba Gabba! and doing the Puppetmaster Dancey-Dance!
Oh, wait, that last one actually happened.
Although, this is my favorite version of it, but I guess you can only see it if you click this link and watch it on YouTube. They don't allow it to be embedded elsewhere.
I published a story years ago called "The Tenth Album." It was about a guy coming from an alternate universe to our universe, and coincidentally walking into our main character's record store and discovers that in our universe Van Halen didn't die in a plane crash, but in fact made another album called Balance that he'd never heard before.
The story was on The Dunesteef podcast, but somehow, it is the only story that isn't on the Dunesteef Podcast channel on YouTube. I don't even have a copy of it either. It's just straight up gone. Pretty sad.
The characters in the story were based on me and my childhood friend, Jeff. We were both very into Van Halen in high school. Interestingly enough, earlier this year, I was texting with him about Sammy Hagar's new tour. Sammy was going out with Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani, and Jason Bonham, and they were going to put a particular emphasis on playing the songs from his time in Van Halen as a sort of tribute to our dearly departed Eddie Van Halen.
My friend got all excited about it and offered to fly out to Houston to go to the show with me. I was totally stoked about that. Sadly, of all the concerts I've been to in my life, Van Halen was never one of them. I never had money when the time was right. Now Eddie's gone, and with him any chance of an actual Van Halen concert, but this Sammy Hagar show sounded like it would be the closest thing to that possible.
We got tickets, my friend flew out, and the concert was the other day. We had a great time and enjoyed the heck out of ourselves listening to all of those songs from our teenage years. I did get one video of a song from the show. Check it out:
It wasn't quite Van Halen, but Joe Satriani is about as good of a replacement for Eddie as you can get. It was nice to get the chance for once.
Now, David Lee Roth needs to get together with Steve Vai and do a Best of All Worlds concert doing all his songs from his Van Halen era. I'd go to that.
I don't talk about music on here very often, because I suspect that nobody cares a whole lot about what I have to say on the subject. All I can do is pass on my opinions about music that appeals to my own personal tastes. There's precious few people who even look at my blog, and of those people, I don't think many share musical tastes with me. Even Rish, my co-host for years and years, tends to like very different stuff from me.
Nonetheless, I'm going to talk about my favorite band right now. But first, allow me to indulge in a sort of a tangent. Years ago, someone introduced me to Paramore, and I absolutely fell in love.
They gave me the album, Riot! and I listened to that until it melted in my CD player. The first time I ever realized that you could sort your songs in iTunes by number of plays, I clicked it, and the entire album arranged itself at the top, with dozens more plays than any other files I had on my hard drive. This song was the one that I'd played most of all of them by a couple of spins.
I realized that I loved rock bands with female lead singers, and started looking for others that might scratch the same itch that Paramore did. I found several bands that were pretty good, but it wasn't until I got served a targeted add that suggested I check out a band called Cherri Bomb that I really found one that appealed to me as much as Paramore did. I think this was the first video of theirs that I saw.
I loved their harmonies, their look, and their heaviness. What I thought was crazy was that this was a girl band...and I don't mean it was crazy that it was made up of all girls, that's fine. Totally cool with me. Don't give a shit who is in the band, only if their music is good. I mean that these were not adults. They were girls. I think the oldest one was sixteen, and the bass player was something like fourteen or maybe even thirteen.
I was kind of blown away by that, and the idea of it enchanted me. I imagined what I would have done as a young man if I'd been talented and been a part of a band that was heading toward the big time when I was just fourteen...or even sixteen. It felt like a real life movie to me. Josie and the Pussycats or something come to life.
I was ready to support them through their entire meteoric rise. I never pay for music. I find ways around that, but with them, I did. I figured that they needed it, and I should support them so that they could reach the heights I hoped they would. I bought their first full-length album, and I loved it, and listened to it for weeks straight.
I was planning on going to see them live as soon as they had a concert near me, but the next thing you know, they announced that they were breaking up. What the hell? I was pissed. What happened?
They never did really explain themselves, so I had to read between the lines of what they did say, and I'm pretty sure that parents had certain expectations, and they weren't being met. Like what often happens on a youth soccer team or something, the parents were mad that their child wasn't getting enough playing time, and they rebelled.
The band decided to kick their lead singer out. They claimed in their press release that the split had been because of creative differences. They had been managed by Samantha Maloney, who had been the drummer for Hole. Without the lead singer, she wasn't interested in the job anymore, though, so she dropped them. Then they were dropped by their record label as well. All the work they'd done up until that point they'd suddenly flushed down the toilet.
The band replaced the singer/guitarist with a guitarist. Then they changed their name to Hey, Violet...which is a freaking shitty name if you ask me, especially when compared to Cherri Bomb. They put out their first few songs as Hey, Violet, and I hated them. I apparently had creative differences with the band as well. Their new stuff was crappy and soft and much more poppy than what I enjoy. So, I forgot about Hey, Violet, and moved on with my life.
Every now and then, though, I would remember Cherri Bomb, and think about what could have been. They were so good so young. What could have happened by the time the girls reached twenty years old? Well, that brings us to the point of this huge rambling post.
Back to my favorite band right now. They're called The Warning. They are a band of three sisters from Monterrey, Mexico that play some great rock and roll music. I started hearing about them a while ago, and the more I looked into them, the more I liked their stuff.
They first caught the attention of the world with this video of a cover they made of Metallica's "Enter Sandman." Check it out:
That's right. They started out as little kids as well. Look at how small the bass player, Alejandra, is! The bass dwarfs the poor girl. They better not need any really low notes, because I don't think she could even reach the end of the neck. She was only nine years old when they put out that video.
That video went viral, and the next thing you know, they were on the Ellen Degeneres show getting interviewed about being cute little girls who rock. Well, once this happened, they realized they could do a lot more with their little band than they originally thought. Up until now, it was just to have fun and make some songs that they could post on their YouTube channel for Grandma and Grandpa to watch. But now that millions of people knew then and had subscribed, it was time to kick it up a notch.
So they did. Not too long after that, they started writing their own songs. They did some shows here and there to promote things. They posted their original songs on their YouTube channel. Soon, they were signed by an independent record label, and they made their first album. This is the title track, "XXI Century Blood."
The song is pretty badass. The funniest thing about the video, I think, is still looking at Alejandra. She's still so tiny. This was years after that "Enter Sandman" cover, but she still looks like such a baby.
They kept plugging away from there. They made a second album with their independent label, and then got signed to a big label and made an album with them. Now, ten years after that first video, they are putting out their fourth album...second with the major label...and they are huge. Here's a video of them performing at the MTV Video Music Awards last year. This performance is so fugging heavy and kickass, too. It blows me away every time I watch it. Especially when the drummer, Paulina (or Pau), lets out that primal scream in the middle. Holy crap!
With Cherri Bomb, I often thought about what could have been. Well, these girls are now what Cherri Bomb could have been if they hadn't imploded. Every now and then, I'm sad to think about it, but at least these guys made it. I didn't follow them from the beginning like I did with Cherri Bomb, but after going back through their history, I almost feel like I did.
The new album came out a few weeks ago, and I love every song on it. I listen to it constantly, and love it like a sister. I guess, I'd like to recommend it to you. Check it out. Here's my favorite song from the album, and I'll see y'all here tomorrow for another inspiring Big Anklevich post.
I'm a rocker at heart. I love rock and roll. Put another dime in the jukebox, baby. It's what I love listening to the most. I listen to all sorts of music, but rock and roll is what owns my heart. I always come back to it in the end, and most of the music I prefer comes from that particular genre. From modern rock to classic rock and everything in between, I love it.
The stuff I like the very most, probably, is from the late eighties and early nineties, when I came of age. That particular brand of rock is definitely my favorite. It speaks to me the most of all. I love the soaring guitars and the insane virtuoso solos they play. Some of my favorites are people like Eddie Van Halen, Kirk Hammett, Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai. So, imagine my excitement when two out of the four guys on that list were coming in concert together.
My daughter and I went out to the 713 Music Hall here in Houston to see the Satch/Vai Tour this weekend.
It was incredible. I don't know if I could say which of the two guys I like best. Joe Satriani has so many amazing songs that I love. I could probably whistle them note for note...except when I get to the most intense parts of the solos when the notes come way too fast and furious for whistling to replicate. He's had dozens of songs that I love. Then again, Steve Vai's Passion and Warfare is likely my most listened to album of all time. I could play that album on repeat for the rest of my life and never be allowed another thing, and still die happy.
Of the two, I think I preferred Joe's performance. I think he just picked better songs from his repertoire to play. They were the most familiar and made me the happiest to hear. Steve picked songs from a wider diversity of his albums, which is fine, but, as I said earlier, Passion and Warfare is my favorite, and I wanted to hear more songs from that. We only got one, and that made me a little sad.
I love going to shows at 713 Music Hall, because it's a pretty small venue. You can get pretty close and have a great view. For this show, they put out chairs. I guess us rockers are getting pretty long in the tooth and can't stand for an entire show like we used to or something. I did see several people attending the show that had to walk with the use of a cane, so it seems to make sense. If there had been no chairs and the crowd could have compressed a little, though, I could have been twice as close, which would have been even cooler.
Sadly, the first ten minutes of the show I had to stand and move to the far side of the aisle to be able to see anything, because all the people who had arrived late or had spent their first minutes in the venue getting booze came wandering in and then stood in the aisle in front of me unable to see where their seats were in the dark. That was frustrating. We'd chosen the aisle seats because we thought we'd have less people to block our view, but that turned out to be the exact opposite of true.
This time around, I chose to not bother in recording even one song with my phone. I learned in the past that there was no need for me to record any songs. Everybody else in the crowd was doing it too, and they would post their videos to YouTube for me. I could let them do that work, and just experience the concert with my own eyes instead. Usually the people posting videos had better seats with better views and better sound than my videos anyway. For example, here's a video from the show's finale when both Vai and Satriani were out playing together. It's in 4k-60p, so it's not crap, and it's from much closer than I was sitting. So, I'll probably just download their videos and save them as my memories of the show.
These songs at the end were pretty amazing, but also pretty excessive. It was fun and funny at the same time to see these guitar masters go so insanely crazy with their solos. Each of the last three songs lasted about ten minutes a piece, because they would basically stop the song and let the two virtuosos perform dueling solos for minutes on end.
We had a great time, and really enjoyed ourselves. This was the third time I've seen Joe Satriani, but he first time I've managed to see Steve Vai. So, there's another tick off of my bucket list. My daughter is becoming a seasoned pro at concerts as well. A few years ago, she was lamenting the fact that she'd never seen any concerts, and was so jealous when I would tell her stories of the things I'd seen live. Now, she doesn't feel that way at all. We've gone to various concerts together since the pandemic passed and people were allowed to assemble again, and I think she's feeling like she hasn't missed out on a thing...well, except when I tell her that I saw Ben Folds play with the Utah Symphony at the Deer Valley Amphitheater with Rish Outfield, then she whines a little. That's one she wishes she could have gone to. She says she listens to that Ben Folds album a lot. Of course, she was only six then, so I think she wouldn't have appreciated it as much as she might now.
Blink 182 put out a new song today, and I think it's pretty great. I've never seen them got so introspective. It sounds like they've learned their lesson, though, and we won't have to see them break up again unless one of them actually dies off for real. Also fun to hear a little bit of vocals from Travis.
So glad to see them back together again. I've been doing my story, "Do Over" on my Anklecast podcast, and it's all about a guy who goes back and changes things for the better. I wonder if these guys would love to go back and change things a little bit so that it didn't require near-death experiences to get them to come together again.
Also, I couldn't stand Matt Skiba's voice. So, getting Tom back in there is such an upgrade.
I know a lot of people think that their computers and phones and Alexas are spying on them. Not to mention Chief Quimby hiding there in the garbage can.
I don't personally think that's the case. I think we provide all the free info anyone needs to be able to read our minds and hack our wants. Case in point, I've been watching certain things on YouTube recently, then I was scrolling Facebook today, when I saw an ad for this shirt.
Just a glance at it was all I needed to be filled with want. What do you think? Are you like me? Does the sight of this shirt fill you with the desire to start wearing button up shirts? If you know, you know.
I love movie soundtracks. I have most of John Williams' repertoire, as well as James Horner, Thomas Newman, Alan Silvestri, and even a few of Hans Zimmer's (despite the fact that I hate what he's done to the film score scene). My all-time favorite soundtrack is the one James Horner did for the movie, Glory.
The other day I was thinking it might be fun to see what some other people thought were great movie soundtracks, so I searched for it on YouTube, figuring I'd click on a playlist and see if I agreed. The weird thing was what came up. Right on the side, ready to play, was this list that YouTube suggested.
Anybody else see the problem that I see? The list calls itself Best Movie Soundtracks, and then just tries to dump a bunch of TV theme songs on us. Do they not know what a movie is?
I was watching a video the other day on YouTube, and it mentioned a pop punk band called The Wonder Years. Like Rish Outfield, I am a fan of that old eighties show, and I figured I should check out any band that had the good sense to call themselves The Wonder Years, but if it's also in a genre that I like, then there's double the reason.
I searched the band, and the first song on offer was this one below. I really liked it, and I've found myself listening to it on repeat all day long. I guess it really speaks to me. Although, if a song like this really speaks to me, then what does that say about me? I think I'll do my usual and not look into that too closely. I probably wouldn't like what I see if I did.
My daughter sent me a video by this band a little while ago with no comment more than a smiley face.
I watched it, and really enjoyed it. I asked my daughter why she sent me the video. Was she a big fan? Her response:
And they have become one of my new favorites over the last few weeks. I sent a video to Rish to ask him what he thought, and he said it was like talking on the phone with Satan...funny thing is that if you only listened to the first minute or two of the song then I could see that as a pretty apt description. I guess I sent him the wrong video. Here's one that's more standard, leaving the Satan guy mostly out of it.
I don't know what to say about this video. It may be the greatest music video of all time. These guys are the schlubbiest guys I've ever seen shredding out a thunderous rock song like this. It's like a bunch of style-challenged dads took a break from telling dad jokes and grabbed instruments instead, and like when Susan Boyle stepped out and blew Simon Cowell away, these schlubs laid down one tasty ass groove that will make your head nod whether you want to or not. I love it.
Rish called me because his sister had told him that Eddie Van Halen has died. This leaves me so sad. I know Eddie had been struggling with cancer for many years, but I wish he could live forever. Neil Young said rock and roll can never die, but I guess he was wrong, because rock and roll died today.
I thought Rickrolling was a dead meme, but apparently it's still going on. I turned on the radio the other day and got Rickrolled. I couldn't believe it.
Rish posted this video on my Facebook timeline yesterday, saying "You will love this," probably because I posted this a little while ago. He couldn't have been more right. Possibly my favorite classical tune of all time, and what an interesting flashmob idea. If I had been one of the people on this street when it happened I would have been crying for joy...I mean, I kind of did just watching the video.
When I was younger, I had a cassette with Holst's The Planets and Ravel's Bolero on it. I listened to it enough that they are now both among my favorite classical music pieces. Now, in these trying times (I believe it is law that you have to put that phrase into any blog post or news story now, it's one of the riders they added to the stimulus bill), with everyone staying home, there's not a lot of opportunity for classical music. After all, an orchestra requires a lot of people. They make a 10 person ska band look positively tiny. So, creativity is required. The National Orchestra of France got creative, and put out this totally awesome video that brought tears to my eyes (though I do cry easily, and at weird things, I admit).
Bill Withers died today. Not COVID 19, just heart problems. I am not old enough to really remember his heyday. Severally of his songs are so well known that you can’t escape them, like “Lean On Me” and “Just the Two of Us”, my personal favorite from the man however is “Ain’t No Sunshine.” I’d only ever heard a cover of it by Sting, which was pretty good and I liked it a lot...
...until I went to see Notting Hill and was utterly blown away by how much better the original version was.
They used it in the soundtrack and it turned a normal breakup montage into a heart-rending moment all on its own. Here's Bill Withers performing the song on YouTube.
I've been meaning to do this post for years. I was just thinking of it today, and figured this time around, I'd actually do it. Several times over the years, Rish and I have complained about the utter failure of the Marvel Cinematic Universe wehn it comes to establishing a musical legacy. Everybody knows the Star Wars theme song, or the Indiana Jones theme song, or the Harry Potter Theme song, or the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song and so on and so on. But the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the single highest grossing movie franchise in history. How is it possible that there is no music that sticks out in memory from all of those movies.
They started back in 2008 with Iron Man, and now, many years later, there are 23 films in the series, and still nothing to write home about. I tried to see if other people were talking about it, and found some videos on YouTube on the subject with some really interesting insight into the film scoring process and industry as well. This first video by Every Frame a Painting talked a lot about the problem, and blames it on a number of problems, but mostly on temp tracks. Watch it, it's pretty interesting.
Dan Golding had a response to Every Frame a Painting, not necessarily debunking him, but taking it even further. It's not just temp tracks, but also computer assisted composing, where certain things work best, and therefore lend to music sounding very similar to everything else, thank you Hans Zimmer.
But, then comes Julien CF Durand with this last video in response to the other two. He again doesn't refute anything the others had to say, but he says that the real problem is the complete lack of repetition of the themes from film to film.
I have to admit that I totally agree. Then there's this video from HelloLillyTV, that rebuts the assertions of the first video that there is nothing memorable when it comes to Marvel movies. There's the Avengers theme! People know that one. Why do they know it? Well, as Julien CF Durand said in the last video, it's all about repetition which is lacking not just from Marvel movies, but their advertising as well.
They all have a point. Some of the music in Marvel movies isn't memorable. Hans Zimmer did screw movie music up in horrible ways. Marvel movies do need to repeat their music more often, and use it in the advertising more often. I wonder if anyone has made a video about the biggest missed opportunity in Marvel movies. You see, all of these characters appear in each others movies left an right. There is a cameo of one hero or another in pretty much every movie, with Avengers movies assembling them all in one. How amazing would it be if each character brought his theme along with him for his appearance. Does Marvel not own the rights to their own music or something? Why don't they bring those themes over from film to film. One day, by chance, I stumbled upon this video, and seeing it made me cry. It was the kind of thing that I wished had happened all along. A YouTuber took the helicarrier scene from Avengers, and re-edited the music so that each hero's theme played when they were onscreen.
Okay, it might be a little heavy handed. You probably don't have to use the themes that often, but he had to do that to fit them all in during the time alotted. Even then, it still works.
Also, the guy cheated a little. He used the theme from Iron Man 3 for Iron Man in this movie, which hadn't been written yet, because the movie wouldn't come out until the next summer. He also used the theme for Thor 2, which also wouldn't appear for even a little longer. Worst of all, he used the theme for The Agents of Shield TV show, which hadn't even been conceived of just yet. But you get the point, right?
Interestingly, Marvel did do that a tiny bit. Here's an example. This is the Captain America theme song composed by Alan Silvestri:
Now, check out this scene from Thor: The Dark World, where Thor has just sprung Loki from prison, and he is playing around with his illusions. Listen very closely when Captain America appears.
It's hard to hear, but that's the same theme playing in the background.
Their two biggest failings are not using the same song from the first movie through all of its sequels, and not using those themes in the crossovers. Marvel could have as many memorable theme songs as Superman, Batman, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jurassic Park, Jaws, Indiana Jones, and Back to the Future combined if they'd just stuck with the same theme song for each Iron Man movie and then used it in the Avengers movies, Captain America movies, and Spider-man movies that he made appearances in, and did that same thing with Thor, Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Dr. Strange, and so on and so on.
I guess they still could, really, but after 23 movies, and only one song that anybody could hum along to, it seems like it's probably too late. They do have good themes though. Check them out, here's a video that has all the themes in on place for you. You can go down to the details, and click on the time stamp to skip to the next one once you've gotten the gist of what the song sounds like if you want, or just give yourself an hour and fifteen minutes to enjoy them all.
Which is your favorite of the themes for the characters that have more than one? I personally like all the Thor movie themes, for example, but I think Thor 2 is best. Probably Iron Man 3 is best. Captain America 1 is my favorite. Agree? Disagree? Let me know.
Despite the title, I'm not going to mention Metallica at all. Just stuff that makes me think of them. I think it's probably some kind of Gen X thing, but I love classic rock and metal, pretty much all of it, but I love a specific style of it most of all. I think it's best demonstrated by Steve Vai's 1990 album Passion and Warfare. Here's a great example, the first song off the album called "Liberty":
Anytime I hear stuff that sounds like it, I can't help but like it. I'm sure there are tons and tons of people out there that find it cheesy and awful. I think one guy I used to work with said that when Steve Vai plays his guitar cheese comes out of it instead of sound. That's a fun visual. Imagine some kind of Cheese Wiz flowing out of the speakers and splatting into your ears as you listen to it...an all new and exciting form of synesthesia.
Anyway, I saw a video the other day (I tried to go back and find it so that I could embed it here for you, but I couldn't. Sorry. If I come across it again, I'll come post it, but that won't help you, because you will have already moved on with your life) that said that studies have proven that the music you listen to around the time that you are fifteen or sixteen is the music that you will like the best throughout your life. You'll listen to and enjoy other stuff, but you'll always love that stuff that you were listening to at that age. It must be some kind of magical time. Ask anybody what their big guilty pleasure tune is, and it'll probably be some New Kids On The Block (or similarly cheesy band) song from the time they were about fifteen or sixteen.
Anyway, guess what age I was in 1990 when Passion and Warfare came out, and I listened to it about three times a day for three months or more? That's right, I turned sixteen a month after the album came out.
What does this rambling prologue have to do with anything? Why am I telling you all this? Well, the other day, I was thinking it would be cool to hear a rock version of Star Wars soundtrack music, so I did a search for it. The first thing that came up was this video, which almost made me cry it hit the spot so perfectly:
And to me, it sounds so much like the sound of Steve Vai's Passion and Warfare that I'm basically hardwired to like it. I have no free will in the matter. If there were some sort of subliminal message hidden in it, it couldn't control me any more than it already did.
So, I spent the entire day listening the guy do music from tons of different soundtracks, and this is where I overwhelm you with embedded video of his songs. First there's the Star Wars stuff, a bunch of lovely John Williams tunes getting that metal treatment that they always deserved.
Revenge of the Sith's "The Battle of the Heroes"
A medley of imperial songs:
"Rey's Theme" from The Force Awakens
And my other fave from The Force Awakens, "The March of the Resistance"
But it didn't stop with Star Wars, he's done dozens of songs from Marvel movies too:
He has tons more of these, those were just two of my favorites.
He also does other random things like the Game of Thrones song:
And the opening song from the X-Men cartoons from the 1990s:
And much more. All of it kicks ass, and I guess what I'm saying here is that you should check this guy out. I bet there's other guys out there who do similar things. I think I might have to see what else I can find. I may not be able to get my writing done today after all...
Saw the Squirrel Nut Zippers for the first time ever today. I've been a fan since 1996 when their album Hot came out. I was super excited for this show.
here’s a video of them doing their most famous song “Hell” from the show the other day.
This was the encore at the show. The band came down into the crowd and marched through the aisles...
...Then they went out into the lobby and finished the show there, before hanging out and taking pictures with the fans and stuff.
This is my selfie that I took with Jimbo Mathis.
Jimbo is the only guy left in the band from the original lineup, and I have to admit that I really missed Katherine Whalen's voice in the band. She was probably the thing I liked most about the band. But, some of the new additions were really impressive, and so I have nothing to complain about at all. The show was really, really exciting and high energy. I haven't seen anything like this show in a really long time...maybe ever.
