Shuffle=Life

I read this thing on the Rate Your Music forums asking people to shuffle their iTunes and describe the first 20 songs and see how they define them as music listeners. I like the idea, but since it’s a 6 page thread that no one cares about I’d rather post something like this here, especially since I haven’t posted in a while. So...20 randomly shuffled songs from my iTunes. I’m going to hone down onto my “NO FAIL” playlist which is made of like 600 songs which I would listen to on the train during my NYC commute last year and working with Hofstra Concerts in the office. Yeah 600 songs on a playlist. It used to be called “The Unskippables” but since I end up skipping songs I felt that “NO FAIL” is better, because while I may skip songs, it doesn’t mean they “fail”. So let’s go.

1. Notorious B.I.G.- Machine Gun Funk

Biggie is an obvious rapper to have on ones iTunes, and “Machine Gun Funk” is one of his more well known songs, but it’s not like “Juicy” or “Hypnotize” where it’s gotten to the point where every annoying non-rap fan can spit along with him. This is a raw track, probably my favorite B.I.G. track. I remember one time at work this 35 year old black guy like challenged me when I said I liked B.I.G and put me on the spot to name one of his songs that I liked, and when I said this one he was like "Wow, good call."

2. The Dead Weather- Blue Blood Blues

Over the past year and some change I’ve really grown to love Jack White’s The Dead Weather. The textures and sounds that White and the crew choose to make their sound are pretty crazy. This song in particular kicks pretty hard, the bass has this effect on it where it sounds tougher than any distorted guitar. I mean, it’s not like a life changing song, but it creates this dirty, down south, real sex driven sound. Some people kinda hate on this album for White’s weird lyrics, but I dig ‘em.

3. Van Halen- Hot For Teacher

Don’t have to explain much here. This song has an awesome intro, the guitar tapping is pretty nutty. I remember I brought this song into Jim Clark, my old guitar teacher and said “I want to learn this,” and he was like “No, you want to learn that guitar part in the beginning,” and I was like “Yeah.” But the song is classic. Great song, great album it’s on. One of the best bands of all time.

4. The Doors- Peace Frog

I’ve never been a huge Doors fan, but this song I think is near perfect. The way it layers from drums to guitar to bass to keyboard to Morrison’s vocals is awesome. This song is on my mental list of tracks to cover before I die. Also when Morrison says “Blood on the street in the town of New Haven” I always go “Hey! My dad works in New Haven!’

5. Mos Def- Hip Hop

Oh boy, Black on Both Sides is like a perfect hip-hop album. What I think makes Mos Def great (and better than his Black Star partner Talib Kweli) is his charisma. Like he’s not the best rapper alive lyrically, but the way he delivers his words and adds the layers of himself rapping to add emphasis to what he’s saying. It also says a lot about the state of the game when he put this track out 12 years ago.

6. Black Milk- Give the Drummer Sum

I bought Tronic because people kept saying it was the best hip-hop album of 2008. But I remember I never found it when I went to FYE or indie record stores, and then like 8 months later I saw one copy at Best Buy and snatched it up. I really like the snare drum on the beat of this song, I think it drives Black Milk’s flow. I don’t listen to Black Milk enough.

7. The Who- Squeeze Box

There’s an episode of Freaks and Geeks where Lindsay’s Dad is skeptical about whether or not to let her go to a Who concert and he is listening to “Squeeze Box” with this look of horror on his face. I remember like being familiar with the song, but never really loving it until I saw that episode of Freaks and Geeks, I love the chorus’ vocal harmonies. And Mrs. Weir saying “They’re talking about an accordion!” I mean, they are. And there’s a banjo solo.

8. The Cutoff Frequency- As We Move Along

A few former band mates and a few friends make up this band, but that’s not the reason I have it on this playlist. I really like this song, I think the lyrics are really potent, and I think that anyone can relate to a song like this at some point in time. I also like the vocal harmonies a lot. And this version of the song (off their free LP Back to the Underpass) shows how a band can grow from release to release, even with the same material.

9. Tool- Schism

I’ve never been a huge Tool fan, but I feel like any rock fan under the age of 30 has to dig “Schism”. I remember in marching band one of the guys in my section used to play this guitar line all the time and it got me mad because A) I couldn’t play it and B) he wasn’t playing the marching band music. Also, this song really builds into a pretty heavy groove that rocks really hard.

10. Lily Allen- The Fear

I covered this song last year. It’s an awesome song. I like it because while it is a bitter view of fame and selling yourself, Lily kind of bought into a lot of this stuff between her first and second album. So like the line, “It doesn’t matter as long as I’m getting thinner’ is actually pretty resounding because Lily went from being like an average girl to like a super-hot pop star and this song kind of verifies that maybe it’s not all for personal gain.

11. The Kinks- This Time Tomorrow

One of the many songs I love due to a Wes Anderson movie. I remember learning this song on guitar and just playing it and singing along in my dorm. I really like the piano kind of simply going in the background while the guitar and organs are in the foreground. I also like the imagery here. This song kind of makes me feel like I don’t matter at all, but at the same time I am the man.

12. Guns N’ Roses- My Michelle

Dude. This song makes me want to fight someone. Axl Rose is not a great singer, but he is perfect in this song. He’s just like telling you that all of this terrible things are happening to you. Like when I’m listening to this song I imagine Axl pointing at me and telling me my mom does heroin. And I’m not like “My mom is a nice lady, stop that.” I’m like, “Okay Axl. Yes sir.”

13. Atmosphere- God Loves Ugly

The opening line “I wear my scars like the rings on a pimp” is totally awesome. And it’s just the beginning. The beat on this track is so bare and it has this dark quality to it, where the piano paints this slightly off, somewhat creepy plain in which Slug just weaves lyrics. I can’t recommend Atmosphere enough to people that haven’t given them a listen.

14. Billy Joel- Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)

I don’t like Billy Joel at all, but I love this song. And there is one reason. It’s the woodwinds that play in the chorus. Otherwise I’d say enough of this, but I can deal with Joel’s annoying lyrics if it means I get that cool sax line.

15. Chris Brown featuring Swizz Beats and Lil’ Wayne- I Can Transform Ya

This song is just awesome. The beat is awesome. Chris Brown is the worst part. I think this is a real moment in time song. Like everyone was like “Am I allowed to like this song?” and I think that’s why Wayne has two verses, because it’s sort of a pandering track. The easiest way for him to get back into relevance is with Lil’ Wayne. But it’s so damned catchy

16. Raekwon featuring Inpsectach Deck, GZA, Ghostface Killah and Method Man- House of Flying Daggers

From Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...pt 2, this track is like Wu-Tang telling the world that they were still relevant and capable years after entering the game. It’s got that dark beat with the chorus looped in the background and the stringline chugging along. And the video for this song is awesome.

17. Lynrd Skynrd- Gimme Back My Bullets

Jay and Mark Briscoe used to come out to this song. And I remember when I first got really into Ring of Honor I listened to this song like 100 times a day. It’s such a badass, gritty song about southern boys bein’ southern boys. It’s also my ringtone.

18. Lordz of Brooklyn- Saturday Nite Fever

LoB is like an Italian version of House of Pain, which is pretty lame. But this song is cool because the beat is a sample of “American Woman” there is a line where the Everlast wannabe says “This is my pizzeria.” Like this song and this group aren't good by any stretch, but it's catchy.

19. Peter Gabriel- Sledgehammer

Peter Gabriel is a nutcase but this song is pretty incredible. I think the arranging of this is it’s strongest point. Also the tone on the bass is really full and cool. I like the chorus chiming in letting Peter rock around like the middle aged freak he was when he wrote this song. Mike Falzone does a good cover of this song.

20. James A. Johnston- Break The Walls Down

Chris Jericho’s entrance theme is the best entrance song of all time. And I am not ashamed to listen to it. I am ashamed looking at how frequently I listen to it, but not at listening to it. It rocks pretty hard.

That's that. I've been getting some questions about writing about Wrestlemania, so I'll do something for that soon. I've also been SUPER busy on Rate Your Music, doing microreviews a lot, sometimes a few a day. So if you want short music-only stuff catch me over there! Until next time!