On this day in 1945, I would argue, America began a course of destructive events that would strip the world of its innocence forever; somewhere in the American Southwest the Trinity Nuclear test laid the groundwork for the technology that would be used in Nagasaki & Hiroshima.
When I say stripping mankind of its innocence, I mean it in the sense of not only an unprecedented capacity for mass destruction, but an ability for that destruction to be completely remote and impersonal. There is no understating the barbarism and brutality of war, but the ability to take the lives of 200,000 people in a single day without setting foot in the city escalated mankind's potential for chaos.
This chaos, this unbridled ability for carnage, permeated nearly every aspect of society, especially music. The loss of innocence and Cold War tensions were manifested heavily in (obviously) metal and punk, but surprisingly in pop music. I've put together a list of 10 songs about nuclear war. Enjoy.
Yay! A new Wildcard! Just so you know, I'm probably going to take next week off. I'm moving, and keeping this baby up might be a bit hard with the commotion and lack of Internet. Enjoy!
Today is a special day! On this day in 1944 and 1952, respectively, acclaimed directors George Lucas and Robert Zemeckis were born. What I feel connects these two filmmakers is their sense of fantasy and adventure; Zemeckis being responsible for Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Forrest Gump; and Lucas obviously being responsible for Star Wars.
In honor of these two movie men I've put together a list of 15 songs that encapsulate a sense of adventure. It was a tough list to whittle down because, believe it or not, there are a lot of adventurous songs; mostly because adventures can be fantastic or commonplace. I tried to assemble a list that included some of the many types of adventures out there. If you have any suggestions, feel free to drop me a line.
(Note: This list probably could have been entirely prog rock and power metal, but where's the fun in that?)
Today is a little bittersweet, for it marks what would have been George Carlin's 72nd birthday. Unfortunately, he passed away last year, leaving a huge hole in the comedy world. Being a Milwaukeean, I feel it my duty to personally make up for the fact that in 1972 Mr. Carlin was arrested in Milwaukee for disturbing the peace.
The act that got him arrested was his "Seven Dirty Words" routine. One of his legacies, of course, is his liberal use of profanity (and free speech in general). To commemorate Mr. Carlin, I've put together a list of 10 songs (some of which are short) that display my favorite use of profanity. There are a lot of songs out there that use a bunch of swears, but they come across as obnoxious to me (I'm looking at you, "My Neck, My Back" and "The Whisper Song").
Not to say some of these songs don't use profanity cheaply; they do. But, the difference is, they don't take themselves seriously, and I like that. And so should you.
There are plenty of days like this, May 7, where there isn't a whole lot going on; no notable deaths or birthdays, no holidays, no nothing. But, today is the 7th, which has prompted today's list: the Seven Deadly Sins. I've put together seven tracks that, in my opinion, best represent each of the Cardinal Sins. Enjoy, and let me know you think.
Lust(There are a lot of songs about lust, but this song really embodies the concept for me. The Deadly Sins aren't about moderation. Any of these things taken in small doses probably won't kill you. But, wanting it too much and in excess, that's the killer.) 01. Barry White - Can't Get Enough of Your Love Gluttony(I realize this song is really obvious as far as lyrics are concerned; but I felt it appropriate. And, I didn't wanna settle on "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Fat" or "Eat It.") 02. Dave Matthews Band - Too Much Greed(This song pretty much exemplifies modern rap's greed.) 03. 50 Cent - I Get Money Sloth(This song came by good suggestion. It embodies apathy and detrimental laziness about as fully as anything else out there.) 04. Green Day - Longview Wrath(Both musically and lyrically wrathful.) 05. Metallica - Seek & Destroy Envy(I love this pick. There are a lot of songs about envy, but this one really goes to the extreme. This person is so envious of someone else's love that he can barely distinguish reality from imagination.) 06. The Temptations - Just My Imagination Pride(The pride they refer to with the sins isn't being proud of something else; it's hubris. It's a love of self more than a love of anything else. Now, rap is probably the most self-obsessed genre, and Kanye West is probably the most self-obsessed person within that genre. The chorus asks, "Did you realize, that you were a champion in their eyes?" But it asks it in the third person, to which Kanye responds to his own question: "Yes I did." Gotta love it.) 07. Kanye West - Champion
On this day in 1972, Charlie Chaplin returned to the United States after a nearly 20-year exile on account of McCarthy-era Red Scare politics. Mr. Chaplin (who is best known for his silent-era comedies and physical humor) was labeled a Communist and, after leaving the country in 1952, wasn't allowed return. So he stayed away until the Academy offered him an honorary Oscar in '72.
Originally, I wanted to make a list of songs that effectively use silence. It sounds cool in theory, but I honestly don't know enough about music to make such a list. I'm sure if I had a staff of people it would be a great collaboration.
Instead, I've made a list of instrumental songs. Chaplin made great movies without talking, so I thought a cool tribute would be a list of songs without talking. Granted some of these tracks have a little bit of talking in them, but they are, for the most part, strictly instrumental.
I wanted to have a broad spectrum of musical styles here; and I think I succeeded. There's really a sampling of nearly every genre imaginable. I hope you enjoy! This list would also probably be great for studying (I know I have trouble focusing when there are lyrics going on in the background).
I apologize for the ambiguity of the title, but I wanted to keep it PG-13. This list is a dedication to ugly musicians. Those who, despite being musically gifted, may still have to pay/beg for sex on occasion. And there's no shame in it. Ugly people can be great talents.
Why this list today? Well, today is Ric Ocasek's 60th (!) birthday. For those unaware, Ric Ocasek was the ghoulish frontman of The Cars. I've sort of had the concept for this list in the back of my head for a while, but didn't have the time to pull it out. But here's my chance.
A quick note: There's a difference between being ugly and aging poorly. A lot of people consider Keith Richards ugly, but I disagree. Because back in the 60s he wasn't that ugly. Going by these standards we could judge Justin Timberlake on the same plane as John Lennon's corpse. That just doesn't seem fair. If at your most attractive you're still relatively horrifying, then you're ugly. And it's OK. Be proud of who you are.
Also, physical deformities are NOT exempt. I don't care if you were born with bad bone structure, a second face, or Marfan Syndrome (two people on the list): I sympathize with you, but it doesn't make you any less ugly.
Finally, what do we do about women? It was tough for me to come up with any girls for the list. People usually go right to Patti Smith, because she's kind of awful now. But she's like a female Keith Richards; in the 60s she was just fine. Adele? I mean she's bigger. But if she lost the weight she could be pretty cute. She has a nice face. Amy Winehouse? Yeah, she's horrifying now because of drugs. But, when she was on the top of her game, she was kind of a babe in her own way. So let it go... And here we go:
It's St. Patrick's Day! It's a time for all of us to cut loose and join the ranks of the Irish, a people who couldn't escape the stigma of alcoholism if they drunkenly killed everyone else in the world with broken bottles, enabling them to be the only people left who could possibly remember that such a stigma ever existed, despite the fact that most of their brain cells have been killed in a similar microscopic bar fight within their brains by tiny alcohol cells holding proportionately small broken bottles; even with such limited brain capacity and the rest of the world dead, these ginger-haired, freckled bastards would carry the mark of generation upon generation of inescapable dependence on alcohol.
Which brings me to today's list. Drinking songs. Enjoy! (Note: This drinking song list does not include rap. That's sort of a different ballgame. Rappers don't write songs about drinking, they write songs about partying, for the most part.)
Wildcard time!!!
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