Nostalgia!
Nov. 18th, 2008 10:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urgencytobleedSo I've been feeling strangely nostalgic lately and now I'm going to put aside any indie cred I may have for a moment to revel in the past a bit. It's good to embrace the cheese every once in awhile, you know? Come be open-minded and unashamed with me! You know you want to.
Alright, to make the oddness of this post compared to most everything else I've posted here a little less jarring, let's start with one of my least incriminating pop loves. No Doubt is (was? I have no idea anymore) actually an undeniably talented band with a lot of quality music. I'm not sure I can say the same for Gwen Stefani's solo career but basically every single her band has ever released has been awesome. I dare you to say differently. "Simple Kind of Life" is probably my favorite song of theirs just because it's so sad in a very unfrilly and, for lack of a better word, simple way. "Now all the simple things are simply too complicated for my life/How'd I get so faithful to my freedom? A selfish kind of life." Come on, it tugs at the heart strings. And "Don't Speak" is just the quintessential No Doubt song; it's still as completely awesome now as it was when it first came out. Honestly, I don't see how anyone could not love this song just a little bit.
Well, I could care less about anything Madonna's released in the new millennium for the most part, but in the '80s and '90s she produced some great singles. "Like a Prayer" is just epic, I'm telling you! The cheesy gospel choir breakdown, the cliched lyrics, everything about it! It's just so fun to sing along to, admit it. It's so unabashedly over-the-top and bombastic, what's not to love there?
Oh, God, Evanescence. I can still enjoy some of their pseudo-aggressive songs like "Bring Me to Life" (the growly male vocals, "don't let me die here!" - the stuff of classics, people) and "Tourniquet" in a really "haha, this is so bad yet so good" way, but this song genuinely gets to me. It's so beautiful and... aching. "Don't try to fix me, I'm not broken/Hello, I'm still here, all that's left of yesterday" - that's like the ultimate emo kid's lyric, okay? And I'll cop to being moved by it on more than one occasion.
Stripped was my jam back when it came out, seriously, I listened to it every single day for a very long time. Christina has always made pretty good pop music but that album is so much more; it's actually mature and stylistically varied and musically respectable and even daring considering the sugary-sweet stuff of her debut. I don't see how anyone can argue that, honestly; it's a damn good record. "Walk Away" is just the quintessential heartbreaking power ballad and I still think the lyrics are really good, at least compared to her constituents. Not only can Christina sing circles around, say, Britney Spears, but these songs are also far more truly thought-provoking and emotionally revealing than anything Brit has ever released - I don't even care if her actual hand in the songwriting was miniscule; the girl's got talent. And "Make Over" is just this totally awesome distorted pop song masquerading as pseudo-punk/grunge; the shout-along chorus - "I just want to get away/Saving all your bullshit for another day/I'm the only one who can rescue me from me" - and then the wailing of "You want to break me down" at the end - it's just phenomenal, really. I will always have a soft spot for this album.
I love me some JT, really, I do. And this is his best song, hands down, I will not even argue this; it's a fact. Just listen to that chorus - it's so satisfying in the fact that it is absolutely, completely perfect. There's nothing that could be done to that to make it better. This song even accomplishes the monumental feat of making me mildly tolerant of Timbaland who generally annoys the shit out of me. But that "Oh - oh! - oh, the damage is done so I guess I be leaving" breakdown is fucking epic, people! Do not deny the amazingness!
And you had to have known that JT fangirling was going to lead directly to some *NSYNC fangirling. If you want the truth, I am sometimes embarrassed to admit that I used to be the biggest teenybopper in regards to *NSYNC ever. They were probably my first musical obsession. And as potentially mortifying as that is, I can't deny the fact that being so obsessed with them probably contributed to my immense love of music today. I've gotten rid of a lot of my old CDs by now but I still hold onto my massive *NSYNC collection (imports, singles, you name it, I've got it) and all of my other various memorabilia related to them because I just loved them so much that I can never completely let go. I still fondly remember attending the No Strings Attached tour with my then best friend, being stuck way up in the nosebleed section, but still being totally ecstatic anyway and dancing along faithfully to the chorus of "Bye Bye Bye". And then convincing my dad to take me to the Celebrity tour - which turned out to be their last so thank goodness I went, right? - just because that same friend was going and I was jealous of her. Ahh... such innocent times. It's funny to listen to them now that I'm no longer a preteen and hear how totally fucking dirty songs like "Digital Get Down" actually were (seriously - so filthy); I was so oblivious at the time. Anyway, I could probably talk about them forever because a teeny-tiny piece of my fangirly heart is still holding out hope that they'll reunite someday, and I don't care how cringeworthy that sounds.
To make this an even ten songs, I was going to include "In My Pocket" by Mandy Moore but it's proving a bitch to find and I don't have the patience at the moment. I guess she's a semi-respectable singer-songwriter now but most of the music she made in her early years was totally terrible, even for mainstream pop. It's a bit odd then that such a genuinely good song like "In My Pocket" was practically ignored when it came out; I seem to remember a lot of people hating on it. But it is extremely catchy and almost... avantgarde considering it was coming from the same girl who sang "Candy" just a few years earlier. So if you can track it down, it's my tenth "guilty pleasure" recommendation, and if I manage to track it down at some point, I'll edit it into here.
Now go listen your little hearts out! You'll thank me later. ;)
Ahem... to reattain that indie cred that I've totally lost a bit, here are a few intriguing tidbits for you all. First of all, you can buy the new Copeland record in mp3 at Amazon for only $3.99 at the moment, so I recommend you do that. It's very, very good and this is coming from someone who wasn't really impressed by them until now. Also at Amazon, if you didn't download the new Lydia record when it was on sale last week, you can get a song from it right now for free - I Woke Up Near the Sea. It's perfect because I'm pretty sure I haven't posted that one here so it's brand new to you if, for some unfathomable reason, you haven't checked out the entire album yet. (Which, need I tell you, you should do right now?)
And with the next post, things will return to normal and we will return to our regularly scheduled programming. Though this one was actually a lot of fun to make.
Alright, to make the oddness of this post compared to most everything else I've posted here a little less jarring, let's start with one of my least incriminating pop loves. No Doubt is (was? I have no idea anymore) actually an undeniably talented band with a lot of quality music. I'm not sure I can say the same for Gwen Stefani's solo career but basically every single her band has ever released has been awesome. I dare you to say differently. "Simple Kind of Life" is probably my favorite song of theirs just because it's so sad in a very unfrilly and, for lack of a better word, simple way. "Now all the simple things are simply too complicated for my life/How'd I get so faithful to my freedom? A selfish kind of life." Come on, it tugs at the heart strings. And "Don't Speak" is just the quintessential No Doubt song; it's still as completely awesome now as it was when it first came out. Honestly, I don't see how anyone could not love this song just a little bit.
Well, I could care less about anything Madonna's released in the new millennium for the most part, but in the '80s and '90s she produced some great singles. "Like a Prayer" is just epic, I'm telling you! The cheesy gospel choir breakdown, the cliched lyrics, everything about it! It's just so fun to sing along to, admit it. It's so unabashedly over-the-top and bombastic, what's not to love there?
Oh, God, Evanescence. I can still enjoy some of their pseudo-aggressive songs like "Bring Me to Life" (the growly male vocals, "don't let me die here!" - the stuff of classics, people) and "Tourniquet" in a really "haha, this is so bad yet so good" way, but this song genuinely gets to me. It's so beautiful and... aching. "Don't try to fix me, I'm not broken/Hello, I'm still here, all that's left of yesterday" - that's like the ultimate emo kid's lyric, okay? And I'll cop to being moved by it on more than one occasion.
Stripped was my jam back when it came out, seriously, I listened to it every single day for a very long time. Christina has always made pretty good pop music but that album is so much more; it's actually mature and stylistically varied and musically respectable and even daring considering the sugary-sweet stuff of her debut. I don't see how anyone can argue that, honestly; it's a damn good record. "Walk Away" is just the quintessential heartbreaking power ballad and I still think the lyrics are really good, at least compared to her constituents. Not only can Christina sing circles around, say, Britney Spears, but these songs are also far more truly thought-provoking and emotionally revealing than anything Brit has ever released - I don't even care if her actual hand in the songwriting was miniscule; the girl's got talent. And "Make Over" is just this totally awesome distorted pop song masquerading as pseudo-punk/grunge; the shout-along chorus - "I just want to get away/Saving all your bullshit for another day/I'm the only one who can rescue me from me" - and then the wailing of "You want to break me down" at the end - it's just phenomenal, really. I will always have a soft spot for this album.
I love me some JT, really, I do. And this is his best song, hands down, I will not even argue this; it's a fact. Just listen to that chorus - it's so satisfying in the fact that it is absolutely, completely perfect. There's nothing that could be done to that to make it better. This song even accomplishes the monumental feat of making me mildly tolerant of Timbaland who generally annoys the shit out of me. But that "Oh - oh! - oh, the damage is done so I guess I be leaving" breakdown is fucking epic, people! Do not deny the amazingness!
And you had to have known that JT fangirling was going to lead directly to some *NSYNC fangirling. If you want the truth, I am sometimes embarrassed to admit that I used to be the biggest teenybopper in regards to *NSYNC ever. They were probably my first musical obsession. And as potentially mortifying as that is, I can't deny the fact that being so obsessed with them probably contributed to my immense love of music today. I've gotten rid of a lot of my old CDs by now but I still hold onto my massive *NSYNC collection (imports, singles, you name it, I've got it) and all of my other various memorabilia related to them because I just loved them so much that I can never completely let go. I still fondly remember attending the No Strings Attached tour with my then best friend, being stuck way up in the nosebleed section, but still being totally ecstatic anyway and dancing along faithfully to the chorus of "Bye Bye Bye". And then convincing my dad to take me to the Celebrity tour - which turned out to be their last so thank goodness I went, right? - just because that same friend was going and I was jealous of her. Ahh... such innocent times. It's funny to listen to them now that I'm no longer a preteen and hear how totally fucking dirty songs like "Digital Get Down" actually were (seriously - so filthy); I was so oblivious at the time. Anyway, I could probably talk about them forever because a teeny-tiny piece of my fangirly heart is still holding out hope that they'll reunite someday, and I don't care how cringeworthy that sounds.
To make this an even ten songs, I was going to include "In My Pocket" by Mandy Moore but it's proving a bitch to find and I don't have the patience at the moment. I guess she's a semi-respectable singer-songwriter now but most of the music she made in her early years was totally terrible, even for mainstream pop. It's a bit odd then that such a genuinely good song like "In My Pocket" was practically ignored when it came out; I seem to remember a lot of people hating on it. But it is extremely catchy and almost... avantgarde considering it was coming from the same girl who sang "Candy" just a few years earlier. So if you can track it down, it's my tenth "guilty pleasure" recommendation, and if I manage to track it down at some point, I'll edit it into here.
Now go listen your little hearts out! You'll thank me later. ;)
Ahem... to reattain that indie cred that I've totally lost a bit, here are a few intriguing tidbits for you all. First of all, you can buy the new Copeland record in mp3 at Amazon for only $3.99 at the moment, so I recommend you do that. It's very, very good and this is coming from someone who wasn't really impressed by them until now. Also at Amazon, if you didn't download the new Lydia record when it was on sale last week, you can get a song from it right now for free - I Woke Up Near the Sea. It's perfect because I'm pretty sure I haven't posted that one here so it's brand new to you if, for some unfathomable reason, you haven't checked out the entire album yet. (Which, need I tell you, you should do right now?)
And with the next post, things will return to normal and we will return to our regularly scheduled programming. Though this one was actually a lot of fun to make.
nice blog
Date: 2008-11-19 11:09 am (UTC)michal
http://www.lindsaylohan.eu