This is a fun category. I remember in middle school I was listening to Avril one day in my room, and my dad came in and I was like, "This is my angry music!" and he laughed at me. Thanks, Dad. Anyway, it's always good to have that one song, or artist, or album, that you can turn to when you're mad. It's healthy, I think. Ask your therapist.
For me, one artist I can rely on in times of anger is 3Oh!3. You guys, this band is really quite awful in several ways. For some reason, I'm addicted to how bad it is. And this song, "I'm Not Comin' To Your Party, Girl" is good for a mad song. It's not good for much else. It just played on my Zune and I didn't even realize it until I looked down to find it to clarify the title. So yeah, definitely my favorite song, right?
I guess I like the "I don't need you" attitude of it. It works.
Guess what? It's difficult for me to single out an album I definitely prefer above all the rest. No surprise there. I was going to try, though. I was going to talk about Mumford and Sons, and their CD, Sigh No More. Did you know the album title is a reference to a song from Shakespeare's "Much Ado about Nothing"? I love references to the works of the bard. (English nerd alert.) I guess, since I've mentioned that, the song I'll give you is the title track, "Sigh No More."
This band makes beautiful music. I fell in love with "Little Lion Man" in January, then "The Cave" in the summer, shortly followed by the rest of the album. I like them for their unique sound (gotta love the way they use that banjo) and for their lyrics, in which I personally found some Christian themes. I'm a little disenchanted ever since I realized they're more popular than I initially guessed, because something about mainstream music often turns me off. There's something exciting about loving a band no one else has heard of.
I love that album, but I have to talk about Vampire Weekend too. Unfortunately, I can't tell you which album I prefer. At first, I was a bigger fan of their self-titled album, but when I warmed up to their second album, Contra, I realized I couldn't choose one over the other. I will pick only one song though, not because it stands out as my favorite, but just because it's the one on my mind right now. It's called :"Giving Up the Gun," and it's off their second album.
The reason this song has been on my mind is because of these opening lines:
"Your sword's grown old and rusty
Underneath the rising sun.
It's locked up like a trophy,
Forgetting all the things it's done."
The last time I heard these opening lines, I thought, "That's it. That's why I started my blog." As a writer, I felt I wasn't exercising my gift at all, that maybe my talent was going to dry up with disuse. So I thought a blog would be a good way to get my sword back out of the confines of the trophy case and wield it with pride. And now I'm writing "every day" (sorry day 18 was late. I have all this work to do for class...)
I am currently listening to the radio at work, so this is just the song I wish they would play right now.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel by Sugarland
I loved this song the first time I heard it, and the first time we sang it in chapel. There's a quiet and beautiful power in the lines, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel" as well as just in the entire song as a whole. This time of year, I love to think of this name for Christ. Emmanuel, God with us. God cared so much for us that He came down to be with us, for our sake and not His own. The idea means so much to me, seems so crazy and beautiful, and the name "Emmanuel" sums that up and always triggers that place in my heart.
This year, my friend put together a Christmas playlist for me to listen to on my Thanksgiving drive home, and he included this song as sung by Sugarland. It took my breath away, and I had to replay it. These guys have done a perfect job with this song, if you ask me. When Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush combine their voices, it creates the most beautiful sound in all of country music, with the exception of similar groups like Lady Antebellum. They have a great sound too. In fact, I would single out Lady Antebellum as my favorite country group, with Sugarland close behind.
In conclusion, this particular version of this song has become a Christmas essential for me and will stick with me for years to come, I am sure.
You know I don't listen to the radio very much. Mostly I prefer my Zune, especially for longer drives. But when I'm at home, there are a few stations I like to switch between when I'm just driving around town. And there's a song I always hear, it seems, every time I turn on the radio, on more than one of these stations. As far as I know, they've been overplaying this song since the day it was released a year and a half ago. The song is "Say You'll Haunt Me" by Stone Sour.
Now, I don't have anything against the song itself. It's okay. But the only other song I've ever heard from this band was "Through Glass," which I thought was much better. To me, "Through Glass" represents all this band is capable of, and "Say You'll Haunt Me" represents their failure to live up to that. Maybe I would believe in this band more if I heard more than just these two songs, but until I make that decision, this is all I have to go by. I'm including "Through Glass" just because it's better.
Again, I have to go with a band instead of a song. It's going to be an obvious one, and I apologize for that, but it is what it is: Linkin Park. I used to like their old stuff, and I'll admit I was even a fan of Minutes to Midnight, the album that turned almost all of their other fans off. It was honestly more like the kind of music I was listening to at the time. Which was everyone else's problem: this band sold out. Anyway, after that album it all went downhill. They don't even sound like the same band anymore, and I refuse to believe they are. So a while back, I added some of their older music to my playlist thinking I was doing myself some good, returning to the band as it should have been. Sadly, I discovered I'm not even a fan of their old stuff so much anymore. It is so angsty, as I guess I once was. I've just grown out of it.I don't hate it, but it's also not my favorite anymore. Here's one I was once crazy about: "Nobody's Listening." (I'm not including any of their newer stuff because I prefer to pretend it does not exist.)
At first I thought, "I don't feel like blogging today. Do I have to? I suppose I do..." But then I saw the topic for today, and I'm pretty excited about this one. There are two songs that jumped into my head immediately when I first considered this day of the challenge. The first is "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield. I haven't heard it in a really long time, but I used to think of it as "my song" because I felt a connection to it as a writer. I know the writing theme is supposed to be a metaphor for life, but I like to take it literally too. Maybe that's partially because, as a Christian, I don't necessarily belief my life itself is completely "unwritten." But it's great to think that, when it comes to writing, I have so much ahead of me to look forward to. I have so much potential, and since I haven't even begun a career, all of my writing is so far unwritten. But maybe today is where my book begins.
The second song is "Unwell" by Matchbox 20. I guess the theme for today is "un-." Anyway, I'm not trying to say I lie in bed making friends with shadows on my wall (odd). I don't hear voices either. But I definitely do talk to myself in public, and I can relate to dodging glances even if I don't ride the train. The way people look at you sometimes when they realize you're talking to yourself...I feel a bit like Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment. There are some times when I want to tell people, "I'm not crazy," but there are other times when I scare even myself and I wonder when they'll discover me and take me away. But I'm not crazy. Just a little unwell, right?
Enjoy the acoustic version of this one, guys. It's different, I think in a good way.
Who made this list?
Personally I think this category is a lot like yesterday's category, so I'm spinning it a little. Instead of a song no one would expect me to love, I'm giving you a band no one would expect me to love. And since most of the music I like is the kind of thing that might inspire the, "You? You like that band, really?" response, I'm going instead with a band that no one would expect me to like for the simple reason that no one else has heard of this band. You can't expect me to love a band you've never heard of, right? Call it cheating if you wish.
I don't know where I found this band, but because of their name I used to confuse them with Death Cab for Cutie. This band is not Death Cab for Cutie. This band is Cute Is What We Aim For. If cute is what they aim for, I'm not sure they're hitting the mark, but I do think they're weird but catchy, witty but sometimes lame. And I'm addicted. This band's jams are on that driving playlist I can never manage to shut up about. Here are just a couple.
This first one is called "Teasing to Please." I don't know why, but I like the bit about the ripped knees.
The second one I'd like to share is called "Time." It's a little bit more slow and sad, and you know I like that.
The only videos I could find had the lyrics, so I hope you guys don't mind that.
And that's the weird band I listen to when I drive across Kansas. I wouldn't call them a favorite by any means, but I like singing along.
