Day 42: The Unfu**ables

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:

YouTube:
01. Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated (Joey Ramone)
02. Lyle Lovett - If I Had A Boat (Lyle Lovett)
03. Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened (Bradford Cox)
04. Motörhead - Overkill (Lemmy Kilmister)
05. Kiss - Lick It Up (They were all fuck ugly, but especially Gene Simmons)
06. Pogues - Dirty Old Town (Shane MacGowan)
07. Rush - Fly By Night (Geddy Lee)
08. Public Enemy - Fight the Power (Flavor Flav)
09. Steely Dan - Kid Charlemagne (Donald Fagan, only because he kind of looks like Rick Springfield with a melting face in this picture)
10. Dio - Rainbow in the Dark (Ronnie James Dio [PS Note how he signs headshots])
11. System of a Down - Aerials (The Whole Band)
12. Marilyn Manson - The Dope Show (Marilyn Manson [ugly even without all the makeup])
13. Lil Jon - Stop Fuckin' Wit Me (Lil Jon, haha)
14. Asia - Heat of the Moment (Steve Howe)
15. The Cars - You Might Think (Ric Ocasek)

imeem: External:

Day 42: The Unfu**ables

Go Take A Shower,
Erik

Videos of some Excluded but not Forgotten!


And Finally.


(Image by Jim Loter, Licensed Under Creative Commons)

Day 37: Drinkin' Songs

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.)

YouTube:
01. Flogging Molly - Drunken Lullabies
02. Old 97's - Melt Show
03. Big D & the Kids Table - Little Bitch
04. AC/DC - Thunderstruck
05. Guns N' Roses - Mr. Brownstone
06. Dropkick Murphys - The Dirty Glass
07. The Pogues - Sally MacLennane
08. Sublime - 40oz. to Freedom
09. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - You and Me and the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby)
10. Billy Joel - Piano Man
11. The Hold Steady - Massive Nights
12. Poison - Nothin' But A Good Time
13. Reel Big Fish - Beer
14. Gogol Bordello - Alcohol
15. Andrew W.K. - Party Hard
16. Catch 22 - Chasing the Moon
17. Garth Brooks - Friends in Low Places
18. George Thorogood - One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer
19. Metallica - Whiskey in the Jar
20. Johnny Cash - Sunday Morning Coming Down

imeem: External:

Day 37: Drinkin Songs

Stay Drunk,
Erik

Video!


(Image by discopalace, Licensed Under Creative Commons)

Day 31: Hair Metal

I know that I should apologize for making this genre tour list. But I'll stand by it. This is my definitive 80s (maybe there's an early 90s song or two on here) Hair Metal list. Not all of the "artists" on here are as glam as it gets, but this era kinda spawned a diversity of pop metal variations. It wasn't all just cock rock, there were surprisingly some really talented groups during this era.

YouTube:
01. Night Ranger - (You Can Still) Rock in America
02. Stryper - To Hell With the Devil
03. Hanoi Rocks - Tragedy
04. Dokken - In My Dreams
05. Billy Squier - The Big Beat
06. Skid Row - Youth Gone Wild
07. Victory - Rebel Ready
08. Def Leppard - Photograph
09. Whitesnake - Slide It In
10. L.A. Guns - I Wanna Be Your Man
11. Poison - Unskinny Bop
12. The Quireboys - Sex Party
13. Winger - Seventeen
14. Bon Jovi - Wanted Dead or Alive
15. Extreme - Hole Hearted
16. Firehouse - Don't Treat Me Bad
17. Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take It
18. Mötley Crüe - Girls, Girls, Girls
19. Quiet Riot - Bang Your Head (Metal Health)
20. Scorpions - Wind of Change

imeem: External:

Day 31: Hair Metal

Rock Hand,
Erik

Bonus Videos!


and.


and finally.


(Image By Pierre Nel, Licensed Under Creative Commons)

Day 28: Wildcard (6)

New week. New Wildcard. There's been a Tom Waits song already this week. Don't care. Can't stop, won't stop. Haha, idk why but "In The Neighborhood" has been listened to pretty frequently this week. Inexplicable. But what can you do? You can listen! That's what you can do.

YouTube:
01. Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz - Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)
02. Ice Cube - It Was A Good Day
03. Aimee Mann - How Am I Different?
04. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
05. Rolling Stones - Sway
06. Television - Venus
07. The Clientele - Here Comes the Phantom
08. Nico - Somewhere There's a Feather (cover only, bleh)
09. Tom Waits - In The Neighborhood
10. The dBs - Black and White (N/A)
11. Marnie Stern - Ruler
12. Alcatrazz - Island in the Sun
13. Elvis Costello - Man Out Of Time
14. De La Soul - The Grind Date
15. Wale - The Manipulation
16. Dirt Nasty - Lady Killer
17. Amy Winehouse - Know You Now
18. Rjd2 (with Ric Ocasek?) - Through the Walls
19. Rick Springfield - Love is Alright Tonight
20. Kraftwerk - Europe Endless

imeem: External:

Day 28: Wildcard (6)

Nanu Nanu,
Erik

Bonus Video (more just for the song)!


(Image by Ben McLeod, Licensed Under Creative Commons)

Day 17: Michael Bay

As everyone knows, on this day in 1965, Hollywood icon/director/producer Michael Bay was born. In honor of some of his work (Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys, Armageddon...) I have decided to compile a list of incredibly shallow songs that either cover up or celebrate their shallowness through distraction in melody or guitar riff or nice beats. Now, don't get me wrong, some of these songs are great, proving that artistic value can be salvaged out of piss-poor lyrics. And, some of these songs are just plain dumb. Catchy... perhaps. But dumb. Most of them are just victims of style over substance.

Without further ado...

YouTube:
01. Metallica - Fuel
02. Black Sabbath - Iron Man
03. Foreigner - Hot Blooded
04. Journey - Any Way You Want It
05. Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar on Me
06. Rod Stewart - Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?
07. Puff Daddy - It's All About the Benjamins (Rock Remix)
08. Cash Money Millionaires - #1 Stunna
09. Jay Z - Big Pimpin'
10. Linkin Park - Paper Cut (Ironically a coincidence that these two songs were matched up for the Jay Z/Linkin Park CD)
11. Good Charlotte - Girls & Boys
12. Jonas Brothers - Burnin' Up
13. Fastball - The Way
14. Duran Duran - The Reflex
15. Kanye West - Coldest Winter
16. Queen - Killer Queen
17. The Presidents of the United States of America - Peaches
18. Kid Rock - Bawitdaba
19. Scorpions - Rock You Like A Hurricane
20. Poison - Unskinny Bop
21. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
22. B52's - Rock Lobster
23. Jimmy Buffett - MargaritaVille
24. Toto - Africa
25. The Beatles - Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! (Unavailable on imeem)

imeem: External:

Day 17: Michael Bay

And, of course, Henry the Horse dances the Waltz?
-Erik

Bonus Video, Collision Course!!!


(Image by Steve Rhodes, Licensed Under Creative Commons)

Day 8: Wildcard (2)

This week's wildcard list has some classics and some brand new hotness. Please enjoy!

YouTubers:
01. Donovan - There Is A Mountain
02. A.C. Newman - There Are Maybe Ten or Twelve (No video, link to MySpace)
03. The Lovin' Spoonful - You Didn't Have To Be So Nice
04. Cat Power - Lived In Bars (Note: My future wife)
05. MF Doom - Rhymes Like Dimes
06. Nas - Let There Be Light (Sorry, instrumental only on YT)
07. Neil Diamond - Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
08. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Don't Come Around Here No More
09. Blitzen Trapper - Furr
10. Super Furry Animals - Juxtapozed With U
11. Steely Dan - Peg
12. Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime (Maybe the greatest video ever)
13. Firehouse - Don't Treat Me Bad
14. Pavement - Cut Your Hair
15. Buzzcocks - What Do I Get?
16. Neko Case - The Needle Has Landed
17. The Clash - Stay Free
18. Beach Boys - In My Room
19. St. Vincent - Human Racing
20. Common - Forever Begins (Not the whole song, but you get the gist)

The imeem List! (Externally)

Day 8: Wildcard (2)

All the best,
Erik

(Image by Epiclectic, Licensed Under Creative Commons)