And welcome to Part Three, everybody! It feels good to know that people are actually reading this. Even thought I'd be doing it anyway. But I do want to say that part of the reason I'm doing this is to encourage discussion. So please, if you have something you want to tell me, go ahead and leave a comment. You don't even need a blogger account to do so.
Also, at the suggestion of one Jonathan Shaffer, I'm adding links to the songs on YouTube. So if I mention I song that you want to listen to, you can click the title, and you'll be taken to it. I'll also be editing the previous posts so that they're the same. And now, to the music.
30. “The Science of Selling Yourself Short” by Less Than Jake
I love Ska Punk. It’s a genre I recently discovered that I strongly encourage that people give a chance. And while hardcore Ska fans tend to write off Less Than Jake, especially their newer stuff, they’re my personal favorite. And this song demonstrates why. This song tells you that your life may suck, you may be stuck in your hometown working at the same place you did in high school, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time anyway. We’ve all been there. It may not last forever, but then again it might. So let’s all just have fun while we still can.
29. “Radar Love” by Golden Earring
This song has a really weird concept. It’s about a guy trying to get home to his wife, with whom he happens to have a telepathic link. And you thought the song about aliens was weird. But despite (or maybe because of) this strange storyline, the bass really pops, the guitars seemingly respond to each other, and the song in general is just a trip. And watch out if this song comes on when you’re driving, or you might catch yourself speeding. This song does that to people. It’s the quintessential driving song.
28. “Freewill” by Rush
Okay, so the point of this song is kinda obvious. But the song just sounds so happy when it says “It doesn’t matter what you choose to do.” In an era where every other song was a political commentary on almost anything, ranging from war to taxes, hearing a song that tells you that you can do whatever the hell you want to do would have been refreshing.
27. “Mr. Roboto” by Styx
You’d be surprised how many songs tell stories of post-apocalyptic or dystopian futures. One of my personal favorites is the story of how a totalitarian regime tried to extinguish Rock’n’Roll, and how the leader of the rebellion gets captured and imprisoned, and then escapes by disguising himself as a robot to escape. There’s also a small part about how technology will be the end of us, but I tend to ignore that part. This song is still amazing, and I’ll listen to it any day of the week.
26. “Brave Heart” by Miyazaki Ayumi
I've tried to write the description for this song five times now. It's hard to describe why I love this song so much. It's the only non-English language on my list, so there's gotta be something special about it, right? The best I can come up with is that I love everything about this song. The vocals are great, the guitar solo is great, the layered instrumentation is great, and the lyrics sound beautiful (though when translated they're kinda cheesy). I guess the only way to know what I'm talking about is to just listen to the song. Link's above. Help yourself.
25. “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd
This is a no-brainer. If you know anything about Southern Rock, you know the legendary status that this song has attained. From the empathy you experience when you hear a man telling a woman that he can’t stay with her because he has too much of the world left to see, to the first soaring guitar solo, to the 6 minute epilogue with three or four guitars playing at any one time, trading the melody between them. While “Sweet Home Alabama” is usually people’s first experience with Southern Rock, this should definitely be their second.
24. “Pinball Wizard” by The Who
I love pinball. But not as much as the protagonist in this song. A kid has all the highest scores on all the machines in and around New Jersey. And yet one day, he finds that another kid, who is both deaf and blind, is beating his high score. The experience, and this song, is a lesson in humility. You can’t always assume you’re the best at something, because a challenger can come from even the least likely of places and usurp your position. And if that does happen, just accept it and offer your congratulations to the new top dog.
23. “Gimme Shelter” by The Rolling Stones
This song is sort of the antithesis of “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” Instead of a commentary on the uselessness of rebellion, “Gimme Shelter” was a foretelling of an apocalypse brought on by the people in power at the time. It also eventually segues into how love and understanding can pull us through the destruction. It can be a depressing song at first, but the mood does pick up, and leaves you with a little bit of hope. Because, as everyone knows, all you need is love.
22. “Paint It, Black” by the Rolling Stones
Then again, love can sometimes drive you insane. “Paint It, Black” is a song about a man who has been driven mad by the loss of a loved one. He sees the beauty of the world that surrounds him, but it disgusts him, and he wants to cover it all up so it can be as dark and angry as him. It’s a very depressing song, but that’s what makes it so powerful. We all have our dark thoughts from time to time. This song serves as a warning to not let those thoughts and the emotions they’re rooted in go unchecked.
21. “Baba O’Riley” by The Who
This is the last song by The Who, I promise. Now, you’d never know this by listening to the lyrics, but this song is actually about a dystopian England, where the people are apathetic and life is mundane, and where a couple hears about a concert that’s occurring soon that will hopefully wake up and shake up the people so that they care again, so they leave their farm to attend the huge event. That’s not why I love this song though. This song is one of my favorites because it has the best synthesizer riff I’ve ever heard, and a fiddle solo that blows many guitar solos out of the water.
As you can tell, now we're getting into the Classic Rock songs that make up most of my list. Hopefully this won't sway you away from waiting for the rest, especially you contemporary music fans. If you want more, come back tomorrow for Part the Fourth.
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