I looked at my Top 106 countdown list and realized I had some bands way too high and some bands way too low. So I've made a few changes. The Pretenders were originally my number 50 band and that was just way too high. #60 still seems to be a bit high, but it's fine. I'll soon have a blog up for them.
Roxette had so many great songs, they were great both at the classic pop song and the great ballad. Here are their #20 to #11 best songs as decided by themusicaddict.
20) "Chances":
19) "Like Lovers Do":
18) "Soul Deep":
17) "Wish I Could Fly":
16) "Almost Unreal":
15) "Paint":
14) "Sleeping Single":
13) "Dance Away":
12) "Stars":
11) "How Do You Do":
Coming soon: 10 of the greatest pop songs of the 80s, these 10 songs happen to all be by Roxette.
I originally had Steven Patrick Morrissey at # 60 on my countdown. I was about to start writing a blog about him. I then realized that he only released one solo CD in the 80's. In 1990 he released "Bona Drag", which is a collection of singles. Normally I include 1 or 2 CDs from the early 90's in these rankings. But his 1991 CD "Kill Uncle" isn't very good. His 1992 CD, "Your Arsenal" is much better, but not enough to improve his standing in my rankings. If Morrissey knew, and cared, I'm sure he would be able to whip out a song in no time. I'm still going to include my two favorite songs from that CD.
Yes, the Smiths will be coming later in this countdown, they are much much higher than this.
I'm not including Morrissey's songs in any particular order, but I've saved my favorite songs for last.
The Go Go's formed in 1978, their first lineup was a bit different than their classic lineup. Their classic lineup is singer Belinda Carlisle, guitarist Jane Wiedlin, guitarist Charlotte Caffey, drummer Gina Schock and bassist Kathy Valentine. According to their Wikipedia page:
"They made history as the first and only all-female band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts." That's for the CD "Beauty and the Beat", which is a very good CD, it still sounds great in 2016.
I was surprised to find out that they only released 3 CDs during the 80's, their cultural footprint is much bigger than that. Those three CDs are 1981's "Beauty and The Beat", 1982's "Vacation" and 1984's "Talk Show". Also according to their Wikipedia page they are gearing up for a farewell tour. They are shooting to do that August, 2016. Now here are their 13 best songs. Six of these songs are from "Beauty and the Beat", four songs are from "Vacation" and three songs are from "Talk Show".
13) "How Much More":
12) "This Town":
11) "Beatnik Beach":
10) "Skidmarks On My Heart":
9) "Turn To You":
8) "Cool Jerk":
7) "Get Up and Go":
6) "Mercenary":
5) "Lust To Love":
4) "We Got The Beat":
3) "Our Lips Are Sealed":
2) "Vacation":
If you're anything like me, you don't think of this song when you think of The Go Go's, but after this blog this is my favorite Go Go's song. 1) "Head Over Heels":
Bonus: their cover of the Ramones "I Wanna Be Sedated":
It's been so long since I worked on the ABC blogs and it was only partially complete. I decided to break it into two blogs. I finished the previous ABC blog, which I started back on March 27th, 2016. I try not to show too many songs into one blog, which is why I like to break up these blogs.
From 1985's "How To Be A Zillionaire" (10 Songs):
"Be Near Me":
"Vanity Kills":
"How To Be A Millionaire":
From 1987's "Alphabet City" (10 Songs):
"When Smokey Sings":
"The Night You Murdered Love":
"Think Again":
"Rage and Then Regret":
"Ark-Angel":
"King Without A Crown":
From 1989's "Up" (8 Songs):
"Where Is The Heaven":
These are the best new and relatively new songs of 2016. But first some songs that aren't quite up to that level. As a rule I don't listen to the radio as I want to listen to music, not all that corporate bullshit. It works for me, but the only downside is it's hard to find out what the great new songs are. This list comes from songs I've discovered on my own with assists from Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Spin (I hadn't been aware they're still around) and iTunes.
It seems like I might be the only one that doesn't love Rihanna's recent CD, "Anti". But to me its full of a bunch of boring slow songs that go nowhere and leave one wanting more. Also she has a song titled "Sledgehammer" that's tied to the new "Star Trek" movie. To me sledgehammer signifies power a rock beat and uplifting music. It would have been more appropriate for "Sledgehammer" to have been titled something like butterfly. This just has not been a good year for Rihanna.
With the new "Ghostbusters" movie the classic "Ghostbusters" song has been updated, but definitely not improved. The Walk The Moon, Pentatonix and Fall Out Boy covers are decent, but not vital. I was liking Mark Ronson's "Get Ghost" until the lame completely unnecessary rapping started. A great song isn't helped by some lame rapper rapping on a song most of the time. This trend needs to be stopped, rarely has a guest rapper helped a song. Also I love Elle King and "Good Girls" is a decent song, however it's time to expand her subject matter. She's sang a lot about her rebel spirit, now it's time to branch out. It's appropriate that Ray Parker Jr.s' version is on the new soundtrack as his version won't ever be topped:
Other less than inspiring music this year include anything by Beyonce, including her much loved "Formation". Sorry that's just a boring song. Gavin DeGraw's "She Sits The City on Fire" isn't very flammable. Gwen Stefani's "This Is What The Truth Feels Like" should be titled this is what boredom feels like. Another great musician with all the talent in the world, but for some reason an absolutely boring CD. Also I'm disappointed by the new Pretty Reckless song. "Take Me Down". Where did the snarling, butt kicking Pretty Reckless go? There's nothing wrong with a slower song every now and then, but not this slower song.
I also keep on reading about all the love heaped on Baby Metal, but I just don't get it. Screeching vocals, they seem to be confused about what genre their music is and songs that just aren't very good. In fact they border on unlistenable. I just don't get all the love this band is getting.
But easily the worst song of 2016 is Fergie's "M.I.L.F. $", what a stinking turd of a song it is. What segment of population is she trying to appeal to, those with no intelligence or taste? I don't know anyone else that would like this song that's similar to other of her own and much better songs. This song idea should have been immeadiately thrown away. Then what's with the cover of the single with Fergie showing a lot of cleavage. The song and cover will be one of the first inductees into the lowest common denominator Hall of Shame. This whole mess is a failure all around. Fergie fans, like myself, expect so much more next time!
Okay enough of the less than inspiring new music of 2016, here's the good stuff now. With the new Red Hot Chili Peppers CD "The Getaway" being pretty average I'm surprised how much I like the new Blink-182 CD. "California" is a great CD, with a lot of great songs. I'm not going to lie I'm so surprised how much I like this CD. It has been on heavy rotation as my drive music for the last few days. Both Blink's sound and lyrics have matured and their music is better for it. Although I still love a lot of their older stuff. Here are four of my favorites from "California":
"She's got a black shirt, a black skirt and Bauhaus stuck in her head.", "She's Out Of Her Mind":
"Kings of the Weekend":
"Teenage Satellites":
"Rabbit Hole":
If you read my recent concert review for twenty one pilots, you know that I quite like them. Two of my recent favorites are "Heathens":
and "The Ride":
I'm also all aboard the Struts bandwagon, I especially love "Put Your Money On Me":
and "Kiss This":
Other great new or relatively new songs include:
Sia "Cheap Thrills":
Pink "Just Like Fire":
The song is okay, but that voice is amazing!! Andra Day "Rise Up":
This is still such a great song, Lukas Graham's "7 Years":
Carrie Underwood "Church Bells":
A great singer and one of the most beautiful women in the world. "Choctaw County Affair":
Sorry I'm having a moment here, Carrie again on "Paradise City":
Probably the best NEW song from the new "Ghostbusters" soundtrack is 5 Seconds of Summer's "Girls Talk Boys":
The amazing Rachel Platten has struck again with "Stand By You":
Another female artist I love is Brandy Clark and that's because of songs like "Girl Next Door":
This is a decent song, but where are the rock songs with crunch now? Thrice's "Black Honey":
These are the best songs from Expose's second and third CDs. No really, this is 100% accurate. "What You Don't Know" was released on June 13th, 1989. Then three years later their self-titled CD was released, on October 9th, 1992.
"What You Don't Know":
"Stop, Listen, Look & Think":
"Tell Me Why":
"When I Looked At Him":
"Still Hung Up On You":
Only 196,000 views on YouTube, that's a crime. This is just one of the many amazing ballads of the 80s. "Your Baby Never Looked Good In Blue":
"Love Don't Hurt (Until You Fall)":
"Didn't It Hurt To Hurt Me":
"Walk Along With Me":
"I Think I'm In Trouble":
Both "In Walked Love" and "As Long As I Can Dream" are both good songs. But aren't they pretty much the same song? The ballads on "Expose" have a very similar sound.
This past Saturday my teenage daughter and I went to see twenty one pilots in concert. My daughter loved the concert, calling it the best concert she's ever seen. That's out of about 8 concerts in her life. I found out about twenty one pilots because I knew that she was a fan. Before the concert she kept on saying "it doesn't feel real". I know what you really want to know is how did her almost half-century old man like it?
Honestly I liked it quite a bit, I didn't exactly think it was the best concert I've been to though. But it was a lot better than the Billy Idol concert I saw in the spring. The concert was held in Salt Lake's Oh My Hell That's A Long Name Stadium. I'll get my two biggest complaints out of the way. It seemed the air conditioning was on the fritz as I went to a concert and a sauna broke out. My second complaint is that I wish the opening acts were better. We purposely missed Chef Special and MuteMath was okay. MuteMath doesn't so much have songs, they have song ideas. Some of the ideas seem like they could be pretty full if they were a bit more fleshed out. I've never seen a drummer featured as much as he is in this band. In fact MuteMath closed their show with the drummer featured in a solo. The other thing I liked about their concert is how all band members are the same distance from the front of the stage. Thus the drummer is near the front of the stage, equal with the singer and the other musicians. That's a genius idea.
After MuteMath left the stage the anticipation was very high. However 8:30 passed by, then 8:40 and then 8:50. At 8:54 twenty one pilots took the stage. While waiting for them to take the stage a droning sound was playing. (Old fart moment, I miss the good old days when actual music played during sets.) That helped build tension and anticipation, like any help with anticipation was needed. The crowd was getting anxious as chants of "T.O.P." and "Let's Go Pilots" were occurring. The wave even made an appearance. Does that help that in other cities or is that only an Utah thing?
Why do they have to start their concert with my favorite song. Although it is a great way to start a concert. 1) "HeavyDirtySoul":
2) "Migraine":
3)"Hometown" (featuring an intense rabbit running on the screen behind the stage) At the end of this song Tyler and Josh take off their ski masks to raucous cheers. :
4) "Polarize":
5) "Heathens", featuring a brief drum solo:
6) "House of Gold" intro/ "We Don't Believe What We See On TV":
7) Another one of my favorite twenty one pilot songs "The Judge":
8) "Lane Boy":
twenty one pilots come to a stage in the middle of the arena for "Ode To Sleep" and the medley
9) "Ode To Sleep":
10) Medley: "The Pantaloon"/"Fall Away"/"Johnny Boy"/"Forest"/"Addict With A Pen"/"March to the Sea"/"Kitchen Sink"
11) "Holding On To You":
The members of Chef Special and MuteMath join twenty one pilots on the stage for some very interesting covers.
12) "Twist and Shout":
13) "My Heart Will Go On":
14) "Love Yourself":
15) "Jump Around":
The other bands leave the stage so the pilots can close out the show.
16) "Ride":
17) "Stressed Out":
18) "Guns For Hands" (One of the boys gets in a hamster ball and rides around the crowd for several seconds.):
19) "Tear In My Heart":
20) "Car Radio":
Encore
21) "Goner":
22) "Trees":
I give twenty one pilots a solid B+ grade. They played for about two hours. There was a bit of filler between the songs, but that wasn't much of a nuisance. They act like they still remember what it's like to be fans as they mingle a lot with their adoring audience. Their setlist was good, I can't think of a song of theirs I like that they didn't play. The so so songs are a lot better in concert and the good songs are that much better. They are great performers, the vocals and musicianship were spot on. They jump around the stage, Josh even did a back flip from a piano during the show. As you can tell they perform with a lot of energy. It's the same setlist night after night, but that didn't bother me. Maybe if I saw them night after night it would. One of my favorite things about twenty one pilots is they don't swear much, I can't think of one swear word from the whole night. twenty one pilots definitely deserve the headliner slot. I would recommend twenty one pilots for all ages and music tastes. My daughter and I had a great time.
