Filed under: Billy Joel, Crosby Stills and Nash, Dropkick Murphys, Led Zeppelin, drinking songs
I was in Florida this weekend for my Cousin’s wedding and contrary to what i previously had thought it was going to be like, it was totally amazing. The wedding was a 4-day party held on an island on the Gulf of Mexico, called Captiva.
There were a ton of cool people there, my grandfather was dressed and treated like Don Corleone the entire weekend, 
my mom’s side of the family pulled out all of the stops and catered to every single whim and took care of every single detail…and my brother and i being the only single men under 50 probably didn’t hurt either…
Anyway, Wednesday night, a small group of us wanted one more drink before bed so we hit up a place called the Key Lime Bistro (we were thrown out of this place the next 2 nights, but we behaved on this night). As we sat and enjoyed our drinks, the conversation turned to music. I was sitting next to a guy named John, who was visibly intoxicated. He asked me who i thought the best band ever was and after just a little thought (lets be real, there’s no correct answer to this question), i said, “Led Zeppelin.” He, without hesitation, said that Led Zeppelin was not that good and then went on to say that — i shit you not — the Rolling Stones were better than Led Zeppelin and the Beatles combined. I didn’t punch his lights out, but i didn’t talk to him the rest of the weekend either.
Another thought that i had was, “What are my Top 5 Ocean songs?” and this is that list:
5. Shipping up to Boston- Dropkick Murphy’s
This song is just fun and makes you want to dance, which i did a lot of this weekend.
4. The Lee Shore – Crosby, Stills and Nash
Probably should be higher up than this…a terrific song about the ocean and wandering and it being ok to be lost.
3. Show Me The Way to Go Home
Made famous in the scene from Jaws, and really fun to sing wandering around on the beach after 19 drinks.
2. The Downeaster Alexa – Billy Joel
Great song all around, but not real easy to get a bunch of people to sing along to.
1. The Ocean – Led Zeppelin
The first 22 seconds of this song are some of the best seconds in all of music. Hey John, GFY.
Filed under: Beatles, British Bands, Britpop, Eric Clapton, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Clash, The Cure, The Sex Pistols, The Who
My good friends Kevin and Neil have been meeting for some quality “guy time” every week and talking about music and life and probably a ton more. I haven’t been able to meet up with them yet (stupid work) but Kevin has filled me in on a couple of their topics. Here’s Kevin’s list of Top 5 British bands:
Kevo: “I don’t know if you have done this one before but you missed this top five at applebees. Top five british bands.
1.Beatles
2.Radiohead
3. Led Zeplin
4. Coldplay
5.Oasis
Any arguments?”
And to Kevin, i say, “Yes i have arguments. Isn’t that what this whole blog thing is about?”
So here we go. First, if you’re going to say “Top 5″ anything, i’ve always felt that you need to qualify your criteria a little bit. And usually that criteria can be broken down into two main sections.
1. Are they in the Top 5 because you like them?
Or 2, are they in your Top 5 because they’re influential and had an effect on the rest of the musical universe?
These things matter.
So here are my Top 5 British bands, first by larger influence and second by how much i like them.
Top 5 British bands who made an undeniable influence on musical history (With Apologies to Radiohead, Eric Clapton/The Yardbirds, The Who, Jethro Tull):
1. Beatles
2. Led Zeppelin
3. The Cure
4. Pink Floyd
5. The Sex Pistols
And here’s The Top 5 based on the British bands i like:
1. Led Zeppelin
2. Eric Clapton
3. Jethro Tull
4. The Who
5. The Beatles
So yeah, in both of my Top 5’s, Coldplay, Radiohead and Oasis don’t even sniff #5. They’d probably be in the top 10, but that’s not what this site is about now is it?
Alright, now it’s your turn for arguments. I expect to hear something back this time.
Filed under: AFI, Blessid Union of Souls, Devo, Head Automatica, Horizon, Led Zeppelin, Lord of the Rings, homecoming, prom
I can stop making excuses why i’m not posting this before noon, right? Will anyone hold it against me? I didn’t think so.
1. 6 to 8 – AFI, off of The Art of Drowning
I once saw an AFI concert in a hockey rink in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. They melted the ice, set up a stage and played. It was cool because it was the first time i’d ever been in a moshpit that had boards around it…you know, as in you could check someone into the boards while moshing. I’m not going to lie, it was pretty great. Also, Nicole Lombardi got kicked in the head and had a concussion during the show (eventually this head inury caused her to dump Mike Lisi and date me for a while, but that’s neither here nor there. ha ha ha.) and i got to go on stage after the concert because i won the slopestyle competition earlier that day. Shaun White, eat your heart out.
This song has an great chorus:
What new friends will the day bring? One for one thousand acquainted.
What new home will the night bring? When it all comes down you just throw the bones.
Bones meaning dice because when you’re Davey Havoc, it’s all a gamble, even your choice of eyeliner, or your choice to leave a proven punk label (Nitro) for a mainstream label, completely selling-out your bandmates, your fans and yourself.
2. Solid Gold Telephone – Head Automatica, off of Decadence
Man, i loved this album. What happened to these guys? Kinda makes a guy sad.
I think my favorite song is “I Shot William H. Macy” because William H. Macy is great. Moving on.
3. Misty Mountain Hop – Led Zeppelin, off of Led Zeppelin IV
First, how cool is it that Led Zep didn’t really name all their CDs but just called them 1-4. I think that is the balls.
This song is also another one of Zep’s references to Lord of the Rings, because Bilbo went on his adventure in The Hobbit to the Misty Mountains and i’m a nerd.
This definitely isn’t one of my favorite Led Zep songs (as you can see in my Top 5), there’s just something about the keyboard and guitar harmony and way the vocals are spaced out that bugs me…and you won’t hear me say that about many Led Zeppelin songs.
4. Whip It – Devo
Uh yeah. This is one of the best shuffle’s in recent memory. Just consistently good tracks, a little old, a little new, a little retro, a lotta hilarious.
And since this song makes no sense at all, other than the sexual connotations of whipping it, whipping it good, i’ll just tell a story about Ron, because that’s always a good time.
I think it was our junior year, (or was it senior? i’m totally forgetting the details. Bonus points if you remember.) but the homecoming theme at Horizon High School that year was a trip through the decades of the 1900s (it being the year 2000, i guess we all felt nostalgic that it was the last year we could have done that). Well anyway, Monday was the 50s, Tuesday the 60s, etc. which made Thursday 80s day. And being children of the 80s, we all pulled out our leg warmers and side-ponytails and during lunch a band played 80s songs. Well i don’t remember who was all in it, but i do remember Ben Sinclair on bass and Ron as the lead singer (which must have been like the 3rd greatest moment in your life right Ron? 1. Getting married. 2. Playing at the Whiskey in Hollywood 3. Being the lead singer of an 80s cover band in high school. Is that about right?) Whoever played drums (Greg Frasetti? Nole? I can’t remember but double bonus points if you can tell me in the comments.) had an electronic drum set, which was about the sickest thing to ever enter the hallowed walls of Horizon High School and the whole band just rocked songs all through lunch. I ditched Mr. Bach’s 5th hour just to stay out and have fun (must have been senior year then). They played Blue Monday, Billy Idol-White Wedding, and a whole bunch of other great 80s songs (actually, it was definitely junior year because i rocked out next to Crazy Kate the entire time and she was a year older than me.) Good times had by all. Who would have thought i’d be looking back on high school with such fondness? Ha ha.
5. Forever for Tonight – Blessid Union of Souls, off of Home
Wow, three high school references and two Nicole Lombardi references in the same shuffle? What are the odds? And yes, if you have no idea who or what i’m talking about, you can probably just stop reading, but i’ll try to explain. This song was our prom theme senior year and Nicole was my date to that prom. This song really reminds me of CP and his never-ending devotion and adoration for BUOS, and for having the balls to theme a high school prom after a deep cut on a CD that only he had and that nobody in our school would know. And, in case you were wondering, he completely pulled it off.
This song also reminds me of Cody Kimmel playing it on his guitar and doing an amazing job of singing it during the prom fashion show a few nights before the dance. At the last minute i had to step in for someone (Tim Brooks) who didn’t show up for the event and i ended up on stage standing with someone (Lauren Teets) and standing right behind Kimmel as he sang this. It was one of those Wonder Years/Saved by the Bell/90210 moments where you’re just standing there and everything comes together in that moment and you can hear Kevin Cooper’s little voice in your head doing the voice over and talking about Winnie. Top notch all the way around.
And just to see how many more names i can drop from high school in the same shuffle, Nicole wanted to dance with me during this song because it really did have some meaning for us at the time and for some reason she was dancing with Keegan Zagami when it came on. She didn’t recognize it but i did and had to pull her away from Keegan right in the middle of their dance. Sorry Keegs.
And in related BUOS information, a bunch of us went to the Chandler Ostrich Festival (do they even have this anymore?!?) that year because Blessid was actually going to play there. It may have been their first and only show west of the Mississippi of the last 15-20 years, but damnit we weren’t going to miss it. And the lead singer wore a pink mesh shirt and sang “I Believe” twice in the same show. ha ha. I think that might have been the night that CP’s Blessid fetish died.
Update #1- Tommy Schmidt played drums.
Update #2 – Nicole was punched in the head (i’m assuming it was an accident), not kicked.
Update #3 – See Ron’s comments below for the full band line-up.
Update #4 – It was definitely my junior year, and it would have been in the fall, so i guess the year was actually 1999.
Gotta thank Nole for getting this started. I was having major writers block until i saw his post and i was going to leave this in his comments and then it just got carried away. Make sure you visit Nole’s blog to see his thoughts and post on this topic yourselves too you lazy asses.
OK, top 5 zep songs of all time (with apologies to Good Times, Bad Times):
5. Since I’ve Been Loving You.
The blues riffs and solos in this song are just so smooth. And the vocals are sweet too. If Led Zeppelin had been Phish, this song would have lasted 28 minutes.
4. Kashmir – One of the coolest songs of all time. Hands down. Ever. It just is infectious. And never has a song been so simple yet sound so big and powerful. It’s only this low because of P-Diddy (and Ron), who spent many many hours rhyming over exact same riff. And no, i don’t care that he had Page and Plants permission and participation.
3. Nobody’s Fault But Mine – Gotta love the guitar in this. And the vocals (No-no-no-no-no-no-no-noooooooobody’s fault but mine). And the drums. And everything. But you have to stand and applaud at the damn harmonica. John Popper eat your cholesterol clogged heart out! (That joke doesn’t work anymore because of this.) This song, in this top 5, is like that figure skater or gymnast in the Olympics who has to do their routine too early in the program and basically can’t get 10s from the judges no matter how good they are because the judges are saving the 10s for later. It would be higher, but it can’t be higher than Ramble On or Over the Hills and Far Away (or When the Levee Breaks for that matter, but Nole already used that one.) I used to put this song on repeat and walk from class to class at ASU just listening to this over and over and blatantly singing and air-guitaring on a crowded walkway and not giving the slightest shit how weird people thought i was. And that’s how good this song is, it makes you rock out. You don’t have any control over it. This song owns you. You’re its bitch. You might as well lay back and enjoy it. It’ll be over in about 6 minutes.
2. Ramble On – Flea and Les Claypool might, and i mean might, be able to play this bassline exactly. (Alright, i’m exaggerating, Flea could definitely rock this part, but that shouldn’t take away that never, in my time playing bass, did my fingers even come close to moving that fast.) The part during the chorus is mind blowing. And the Lord of the Rings reference can’t be beat: “In the darkest steps of Mordor, i met a girl so fair, but Gollum and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her.” Now Eragon, Nate and I have to go track the Uruakai westward across the plain.
1. Over the Hills and Far Away – You never forget your first love. The guitar at the beginning almost sounds like a question being posed. And then when the drum kick comes in, that’s the beginning of the answer. And i guess the lyrics fit that too. The guy says, Hey lady, you got the love i need. Are gonna give it to me? And then goes on to convince her why she should. (I’m not on drugs, but sometimes i think if i was, that would explain a whole lot.) I’ve mentioned before my passion for songs that start out slow or quiet and build up to some amazing crescendo (G&R – November Rain, Weezer – Only In Dreams, etc.) and this song gets there in a hurry but it feels like there is more wheeling, turning, tumbling fury as the song plays until about 40 seconds left and then it bottoms out into a quietness before coming back about half volume to end the song. It’s like the guy paused to wait for the girls answer, she said yes, he grabbed her hand and walked off. I can see the scene in my head. And that my friends is MUSIC.
And i don’t mean to put a damper on this post by ending it this way, but my garage and car were broken into last night and what do you think they stole that bothered me the most? It wasn’t the golf clubs, the power tools, the skateboards or the feeling of peace and security that my neighborhood USED to give me. It was my fucking iPod (and 20 assorted CDs). And they took the tape adapter and the charger too so they probably drove away scrolling through my 4,000 songs, my belongings hastily thrown in the back of a truck. (I’m trying so hard not to assume their race right now but i’m guessing i didn’t have anything they wanted to hear.) Anyway, i’m not looking for sympathy or anything but it’s anecdotal evidence of how much i love music and i thought that was important to share.
Filed under: Doves, Everclear, Half-Marathon Playlist, Jack Johnson, Led Zeppelin, Wizo
1. Raum Der Zeit – Wizo, off of Survival of the Fattest
You know those songs that you love, but they just aren’t in your native language? Then you end up learning all the words — or just the sounds of the words anyway — but you have no idea what it means or what you’re saying and yet you can’t stop singing it? Yeah, you all have one. I know it.
Well this is that song for me. It’s in German, and I’m pretty sure it’s an anti-nazi song or something like that. I’m too lazy to find the words right now but I’m pretty sure the translation is available somewhere. Here’s the thing, it’s a German punk song, and it sounds exactly like you’d expect a German punk song to sound. Lots of words that sound like their being fed through a wood-chipper and some chanting. In other words, it’s a good fist-pumping song. Download it. Or I’ll send it to you.
2. One-Armed Man – Project 86, off of Drawing Black Lines
Wow, my iTunes is obviously in a hardcore mood this morning. Another great fist-pumping, head-nodding, mosh-pit song. These guys reached their peak for me back in the POD, Christian hardcore, roadie for Freeverse days. (If you don’t know what Freeverse is, you’ve probably found this blog by accident, but just ask me.) I saw these guys at the old Mason Jar (no, it wasn’t the Jar, what was the other venue? I can’t remember. It was closed because they were selling drugs out of it. And we had a high-school battle of the bands in the basement. Somebody help. The Nile Theater?) in Mesa and it was absolutely the hottest concert I’ve ever been to. It was in July or August with no air conditioning and I wore jeans and moshed in the 2nd row the whole time. I thought I was going to pass out. Anyway, this is a hardcore sing-along song and it’s pretty inspirational. It’s a good song to work hard to, it makes you want to do good things. And I think it just found itself a place on the half-marathon playlist.
3. Taylor – Jack Johnson, off of On and On
And now for something completely different… I was really feeling the harder tunes this morning and the shuffle threw me for a loop. Oh well. I love the guitar at the beginning of this song. It makes me want to play my guitar. But then I’d pick it up and by the time I got it tuned and realized that I don’t know how to play, I’d get bored and frustrated and put it away and that would just be a waste of time. I don’t have to tell you that this is a good song and that Jack Johnson is good, and supremely cool. But most of his songs sound exactly the same. Are we sure he didn’t write songs for Everclear?
4. Braun Yr Aur – Led Zeppelin
This is a song I stumbled upon through Coheed & Cambria. C&C has this little guitar ditty at the end of their most recent CD. It’s kind a secret song deal and nobody really knows what it is called or what its relevance to the CD is but it sounds a little like Braun Yr Aur and so people just started calling it that. So I downloaded the actual Braun Yr Aur and although I hear a resemblance, the 2 songs are pretty different. I’m not sure how anyone made this connection. Anyway, it’s a cool short little guitar thing and if you’re into that I’m sure you’ll like this. In the words of Nole, “Listen to Led Zeppelin.”
5. Black and White Town – Doves, off of Some Cities
I’ve been waiting for these guys to pop up for a while so I could suggest them to you. They’re kind of a trendy choice right now but my friend Tim Hill recommended them to me and I’m a fan. This is probably the most eligible single off of this CD but I recommend listening to the CD as a whole. It’s kind of a lost art these days but CDs should be listened to from start to finish. A lot of people put a lot of effort into making the songs fit together in a certain way in order to make the CD tell a story and inject it’s various moods into your experience while you’re listening. Sure it doesn’t work with Britney Spears CDs but some bands are good enough to pull this off. This is one of them. As always, I’m more than happy to burn and/or IM this CD to you. It’s a good one and I highly suggest them.
I’m off to run and put some more thought into the half-marathon playlist. Keep the suggestions coming. I’ll be unveiling a good chunk of the list on Wednesday.
