I've had a lot more Johnny Cash on my playlist since Walk The Line came out. I'd guess a lot of people have.
For that matter, who doesn't like Huey Lewis and the news? Nevermind that their work on the soundtrack of Back to the Future stands as a monument to eighties culture, they were a damn fine musical group on their own. Trust me, this one's better than "The Power of Love."
If you've never heard D'yer Maker as a banjo instrumental, you've never heard it the way it was meant to be heard (by banjo-toting cover artists). I recommend listening to it on a warm summer evening spent sitting on the porch watching the sun set. It's probably ok to have a drink while you listen.
Best line in this song: "L.A.'s gettin' kind of crazy, New York's getting kind of cold; all I can think about is Monday, I just can't wait to get back home."
It's a nice line in a nice rock ballad. It's also the second 3 Doors Down song on the countdown.
Here's an upbeat rock song about being happy and wanting your friends to be happy too. On a farm. Full of pigeons (one presumes - from the title). I thought this song was on Marcy Playground's third album (MP3 - get it?), but actually, it's from their second, Shapeshifter. But everything on both of those albums is amazing, so you can't go wrong.
Here's another song abuot good feelings. Sort of. I haven't really figured it out. The Coral are either optimistically depressed, or the most heavily sedate rock n' roll band I've ever listened to. The music is awesome. The lyrics are great. The hooks hook you. But when it's all over you can't help but think that something really sad just happened - or maybe it was something that was really happy, in a sad way - or something. But it's good.
A-ha!! Now here' bluegrass! Rautakoura is a Finnish band who play American-style bluegrass. Dig that banjo work. It just so happens that most of their songs are sung in Finnish (that's a language, right? Finlandian? Finnese?) but this one's a straight up instrumental, so you don't have to turn on your brain's translation center to enjoy it. I'm not saying don't turn on the translation center, I'm just saying you don't have to.
This year I sort of re-discovered the early U2. They're basically unbelievable. I still have some trouble with their newer stuff ("Elevation"? "a mole, diggin' a hole"? wtf is that?) But this song is so good I've even got covers of it. (by Evergreen Terrace, Pillar (later on in the countdown), and OAR with Matt Nathanson). All of them rock, because the source material is so good.
Slow sad-sounding romantic songs to play over a candlelit dinner or the reconcilliation scene in your independent movie? The Weepies have you covered. They've also got spot #22 covered on the countdown. I don't go anywhere without at least a little of their stuff on my playlist.
You know them from their hit "California" from "The OC" soundtrack. Everything they touch is that catchy. Just look at their ex-drummer Jason Schwartzman - he went on to become an international film sensation (Rushmore, I Heart huckabees, Marie Antoinette). Just think what listening to them will do for you!
Coming up --- CHRISTMAS! (woo!) --- then more songs after the break.
1 comment:
Tom, this series has inspired me to come up with my own list of songs that have influenced my year. But I think I'll limit mine to 10.
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