Be that as it may, I would like to draw your attention to my list of artists/songs that makes me go, "Win," also known as my Top 25 Most Played list.
Also, free of charge, commentary!
A cover of the Postal Service's song, this song is just one example of how Ben Folds is epic in terms of music win. If you watch the JTV version of it - the linked one - just watch those hands. Also - the melody and the lyrics are fantastic, thankye Postal Service.
Coldplay is, in essence... my favourite band. (Shush, all of you.) I love them dearly, and this song is beautiful. Being me, lyrics are always going to matter. And these are just beautiful. Love songs get me all the time, and these ones aren't conventional and thus win.
Come now, you can't think that with Coldplay as my favourite band that this song wouldn't make an appearance? Actually, it's a little odd. It's not actually my favourite off A Rush Of Blood To The Head. However, I think I went through a phase of wanting to learn how to play it on the piano. I know very little piano, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Result? I learned how to play Clocks instead.
Gist and nub of this: if you don't know The Scientist, you're living under a boulder in the middle of the Grand Canyon, around the time when God made this fine world. If this is you, burrow your way out and find any computer. Or... just click the link. Either, or. This live version is stellar too. To be honest, I think I prefer it.
My childhood was a heavy dosage of anything featured on Triple J, along with a side salad of the Wiggles. This is thanks to my father. So alongside angst-filled Ben Lee, some melancholy Ben Folds when he was part of his Five, some pure win in the form of Dire Straits, and a heck of a lot of other bands I was introduced to through my father but that I can't actually recall, I was also given my very first tape.
("Tape? What the heck's a tape?" The voices of my future children.)
This cassette was Crowded House's finest album, Woodface. They mocked America (though I didn't understand it at the time). They sung about sausage dogs. They made so many crazy songs that I probably didn't get at the time but I belted out nevertheless. And this obsession has continued til now, but with more of an understanding. The Finn Brothers is the collaborative effort of Tim and Neil Finn - obviously brothers, Tim being of Split Enz fame and Neil of Crowded House - and this song was featured on Season 5, Episode 1, of Scrubs.
As I sat there, high on a trip from Robina and wearing peep-toe shoes that I didn't realise would kill my feet on the 31st of August 2010, I was in awe. The voices were familiar. The voices were fantastic.
And this is the song. Listen and love, and also go watch Scrubs if you're living under yet another large boulder.
I don't know why, but this song reminds me of my HSC. Maybe it's the "it's all in your mind" line, I'm not sure.
[Quick explanation on what the HSC is - it's the final exams in Year 12, NSW. I assume my audience is thoroughly Queenslandish or there abouts, and anyway. Point of the matter is, my HSC was essentially:
- 1 major work (an 8000 word short story and accompanying exegesis)
- 1 speaking exam (Donde. Vives. Tu? YovivoenWollongbarymegustamuchoporqueesmuybonita. Or something. My Spanish is failing me now, my Nana would be disgusted)
- 1 listening exam ("Hola, Maria! Como estas?" "Ay, soy muy bien, Juan! Y tu?" My reaction being, "Oh my goodness. JUAN IS OUR FRIEND RICARDO FROM SYDNEY! MIND BLOWN!")
- 6 written exams (which I really didn't study for, but instead watched Scrubs during)
They told us the HSC was vastly important but I really don't see that now.]
Anyway, so this song reminds me of my final year at school, and I remember listening to it straight after my Extension English exam, trying to get rid of Keats from my head. Keats is lovely but he gets boring fast, believe you me. It's a far better effort than the others on this album, but I haven't really appreciated The Killers since Sam's Town. Just don't listen to Human. It's not right.
A nice effort from All Time Low! This just conjures up Alice in Wonderland memories, because of course that's where I first heard this song, and every time I listen and I keep Harry's backlight on, I'm gifted with Mr Deppsir grinning freakishly back at me. I have very little else to say, but clearly I like this song. Oh yeah, these lyrics are pretty darn dandy too.
This list, for the next few songs, is going to get lame. I apologise for the very little bit of variety. I've just remembered I used to use my iPod as a torch, and A Rush Of Blood To The Head was the brightest album I could use for said torchings. (That's... not the torch I meant. We'll persevere.) Anyway, so that's why Clocks is primarily on here. It's also here because it's a good song, and I know vaguely how to play it.
The next few, no commentary, because there's no real memory or anything I associate with them.
So Melissa at my old work put me onto this song, because she too is a huge Coldplay fan. I was eagerly listening to X&Y repeatedly, and she asked me my opinions on A Rush Of Blood To The Head.
I couldn't respond, and Melissa just looked at me. "On your break," she said, "listen to Warning Sign."
So I did. Those strings at the start - I'd like to say violins, but I fear I'm just generalising - sound absolutely gorgeous, and once that part of the song's over, there's still sheer amazement... but I'll admit to skipping back to the start once or twice to hear that over again.
My wonderful friend Eliska was the one for this song. Her mother's a huge Coldplay fan and had taken her to see them once, and as we sat in the back of Robyn's car on the way home from Ballina, we were engulfed in a cloud of Coldplay.
She stole my iPod from me - I was too tired to care, and everyone else was nattering about in the front seats - and changed the song to Green Eyes. I think she said it reminded her of her mum, or maybe she liked it because she has green eyes? The more I remember, I'm pretty sure that's it. She liked this song because she used to pretend it was her song.
And I love this song because I remember lying in a car, seeing stars in the sky, and knowing that in this car I had people who I could count on for everything.
Liska, there's not much of a likelihood you read these ramblings, but if you do, text me, because I miss you. That is all.
Ah, another musician. Finally! Anyway, this song also reminds me of my HSC. Stupid Bladerunner stupid Frankenstein stupid questions of robotics and playing Creator and things that make my head hurt. However, the song is lovely. It's very calm and soothing too.
Alex Day and Charlie McDonnell. Need I say more? Actually, the sad thing is, it's not them singing. Obviously. But Johnnydurham - I think that's you? - the melody on this is awesome. I quite like Jonny Dark's version of it, the original winning melody. It's a catchy song. It's fun and bouncy. I get in a bright mood just listening to it.
Side note, listen to Jonny Dark's other stuff. I just heard his translate-funs version of Fireflies. And it's brilliant, he's got a lovely voice... and now for a smooth segue!
I don't care how many people say this is overrated. This is a fantastic song! It's just happy. Songs don't need to be insanely perfect, and they don't need to win Grammys. This song is one of those that can just exist in a happy bubble and be sneered at by so many but still loved.
Those who sneer, smile instead at the sky.
I know those people who espouse the whole, "Oh, old [insert band here] was far better. Then they sold out. Lame..." are, in turn, lame. I admit that I say this frequently about Fall Out Boy. I have always been a Fall Out Boy fan, and I just don't feel their new stuff works as perfectly as their older stuff did. I still do listen to their newness, though, and enjoy it.
Be that as it may, Sixteen Candles is brilliant. From Under The Cork Tree is my favourite album of theirs and this song has always been my favourite. It features at the start of Dance Dance, if you watch the video and listen closely. And the video for this, whilst incorporating vampires, also features Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco fame sitting on a car roof whilst drinking tea out of a cup and saucer set. I contemplated doing a comparison between this and Dracula, much to the horror of my high school English co-ordinator. I ended up going with Young Dracula, which he was a little more okay with.
I don't understand how he admired my comparison between Lady Macbeth and Hollywood's Famous For Being Famous celebutantes when he approached this one with such horror, but that's what you get.
Season 5 of Scrubs had the best music going. I was told that this is because Christa Miller had a bigger influence on the soundtrack then. Honestly, I don't care what the reasoning was, but this episode in particular was great. It had Kelso giving the best evil stare to JD because he was strumming on an air-guitar as he danced through the Sacred Heart halls to this song, blatantly disobeying the rule of No Air Banding. It also featured Turk doing some fantastic dancing and miming to Bell Biv DeVoe.
I have referred to these Turkish wonders before, when I was excitedly blabbering on about Eurovision and how it's probably the greatest event to hit Australian televisions ever. So I'll link you to the post about them. Essentially they combined three genres which separately generally make me recoil in horror - rap, emo-rock, and 80s synths (trust me, once you've seen Gallipoli, you can never hear synths again) - and made it into this effort, which resulted in second place. They deserved first.
(Also, look at this one. Jessy Matador, Allez Olla Ole.)
Lifehouse know what they're doing, and I particularly love this song because it describes my life with God so accurately at times. (Everyone says songs apply to them. I'm sorry for being a cliché.) However, the end of the song - at least, my version - is atrocious. Why? Because a clearly-edited voice comes and says in what I assume is meant to be a sultry and alluring tone, "Lifehouse. Broken." It's not sultry and alluring. It's not even vaguely attractive. It's just fail.
Let me save a little bit of face here, because I have a sneaking suspicion I'm getting laughed at horrendously now. I listen to Shakira. I'm totally okay with that. You may notice that I listen to her in Spanish. This is because in Spanish, everything sounds cooler. Having my Chilean roots, I've grown up on a heavy diet of South American/Spanish music. (Speaking of which, Spanish rock is crazy awesome.) Shakira is a side effect of this.
This song is this year's World Cup effort (and if you say 'For what?' I'm going to weep, because this is the only sport that deserves a World Cup), and I like it. For other Shakira wins, check out Inevitable and Hay Amores. But don't watch the one that features Beyonce, or that one called She Wolf. (I don't think they're the same...) They both fail.
Liska returns! She introduced me to these guys, and I find them to be radtastic overall. We had spent the evening taking photos, stalking Myspace's bands function ("Myspace?! WHAT'S THAT?!" my children will roar), and trying to get Liska a Facebook account. She tried saying she was born in 1901. Facebook kindly asked her to stop lying.
We also watched The Dark Knight (you have not experienced weirdness til you've heard Liska say, in all seriousness, "He's so CUTE!" in reference to the Joker. As he walks away from a hospital. And promptly blows it up) and got some really horrible news, but Hellogoodbye still made this song so cute and followed OK Go's lead with nerdy chic.
There's the list. It took me quite some time to write (though I'll admit to eating a lot of brownies and watching Jessica Simpson in her fine cinematic effort, Blonde Ambition, which I watched just for Luke Wilson - Owen who?). And it's all linked and perfect for you.
Before you close this window, listen to these two awesome songs. New Coldplay? Heck. Flipping. Yes.
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