Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Oh, to be a newbie again
Go ahead and play that video up there; there are no spoken words in the song it links to, so it shouldn't distract you as you read this post. Of course, for the full effect, it's best to just play it and close your eyes. Do you recognize that music? You should if you started playing before Burning Crusade was released. It's the music that played on the original log-in screen of World of Warcraft, when WoW was just WoW. I listed to that music recently, and I got the usual nostalgic jitters that I get when I listen to or watch something that I loved that I haven't seen or heard in a while. But something more than jitters overcame me that day. I was flooded with something similar to memories, but rather than a single flashback to a single event, I instead felt a certain sense. It was that sense of wonder I felt when I first started playing WoW.
Maybe you remember it, too: the time when you first started playing WoW, and everything was a new experience. It's hard for me to describe it, because, like I said, it wasn't a single memory that overcame me that day, but a sensation. The sensation I felt when all of the quests I was doing, all of the dungeons I was running, were all new. When I could walk into the next zone and literally had no idea what would be there to great me, aside form a scant few descriptions I had seen in general chat. When I took skinning and leatherworking because it was what I thought would be the best choice, not what others had told me would be the most beneficial in the leveling process. When I chose to level as Feral Combat because I thought it would be the most fun, in spite of all of the anti-feral sentiment that existed at the time (this was back when only warriors could tank).
Of course, I'm not one to wear rose-tinted glasses, and there are things that I regret about that time. I regret limiting myself to one quest at a time (my thinking at the time being that I would be better able to focus on that quest if I only had one). I regret selling my ore and leather to vendors (I thought that was how you made money with those professions; I wasn't aware of the existence of the auction house at the time). I regret staying in one zone without moving around when I ran out of quests, choosing instead to grind enemies until I was of a high enough level to do the quests I had. But these were all understandable newbie mistakes, and who doesn't have a few of those in their memory banks? We all did stupid things when we started playing the game, and only experience can teach us the error of our ways. Therein, however, lies the problem.
The loss of newbie astonishment is quite similar to the fabled loss of childhood innocence, an idea about which plenty of media has been made. In the case of the loss of childhood innocence, we (supposedly) gain knowledge about the world through our experience, but trade off the optimism of our youthful ignorance of all that is bad in the world. Of course, playing WoW isn't as bleak of a prospect as simply living in the real world, but in WoW, we still trade off our amazement at everything we experience in exchange for the knowledge that comes from experiencing that content. It's a trade off we all have to make eventually, in every game we play, if we enjoy it enough to play it again, and I certainly enjoyed leveling my druid enough to level more characters through the game again.
But it will never be the same. I now take only gathering professions on my alts, rather than a crafting profession that might add some depth to the experience, not only because I now know that to be the most efficient option (so I don't need to support my alt with donations from my main), but also because my experience has shown me that I rarely stick with an alt long enough to make it worth it to put that amount of dedication into leveling his profession. I am similarly jaded about raiding and PvP. When I first went into a battleground, the novelty was what captivated me, for fighting players--as opposed to computer controlled enemies--was completely new to me. After some time, though, once the novelty started to wear off, I realized I just wasn't cut out for PvP. I wasn't competitive enough, and hated dying as frequently as I did when I first started out, so needing to inflict that experience on other players in order to win left a bad taste in my mouth. My experiences with raiding have been similar. Though my first few raids were a fun experience, after some time, the novelty soon gave way to frustration with the constant wipes inherent in progression raiding, the monotony inherent in non-progression raiding, and the pressure to be at the top of my game and to not mess up inherent in both.
The PvP and raiding examples I mentioned may seem like me simply exchanging my former optimism for pessimism and focus on the negative, as seems to happen with the loss of childhood innocence, but it is really a case of the novelty of those experiences preventing me from noticing the things I didn't like about them. Once that novelty wore off, it was clear that raiding and PvP weren't for me. Losing the novelty of leveling, on the other hand, was different experience for me, because after the novelty wore off, I was still able to find things to enjoy about the leveling process.
So what was the difference between leveling before the novelty wore off and leveling after? It seems to me that the commonality between all of the contrasts between my nostalgia for the first time I leveled through Azeroth and my current experiences is concern. I take two gathering professions instead of a gathering profession and a crafting profession because I'm concerned about having enough money to make my alt self-sufficient. I take multiple quests at once and do them all in one go because I'm concerned about leveling efficiently. I don't grind anymore because I know it's simply not as efficient as questing (and yes, I do miss grinding). The things I used to do and enjoy are now things I shy away from because experience has taught me not to do them.
Would I still enjoy them if I were to ignore my experience and do something considered newbish? Probably. Would taking one quest at a time, grinding every once in a while, or taking a crafting profession on my alt diminish my enjoyment of the game? Theoretically, it shouldn't. After all, I used to enjoy the game in spite of doing those things. And yet, when I consider doing them now, I am hesitant because my experience leads me to believe that I will enjoy the game more by avoiding grinding or taking multiple quests at a time or taking two gathering professions.
Herein lies the greatest irony of the issue of newbish amazement: as we gain experience with the game, we think we become better at figuring out what will make the game more fun for us, but even if we do, we stop considering things we once found fun to be enjoyable. As much as I want to confidently say that doing multiple quests at once is always more fun than doing one at a time, that leveling an alt with two gathering professions is always more fun than doing so with a gathering and a crafting profession, and that questing is always more fun than grinding, I can't. I can't, because when I think back to how much fun I used to have while doing things the "inferior" way, I realize that the game was no less fun then than it is now; in fact, it may have been more fun. Of course, I may just be looking back with rose-tinted glasses and reminiscing about enjoying those ways of playing simply because I wasn't aware that better ways exist. Maybe the way I play the game now really is the "best" way, and I'm just getting bored with it because it's the only way I play, so there isn't much variety. It's really not possible to know.
I can't really find a satisfactory way to end this post, so let me just leave you with a song by Evanescence about the loss of childhood innocence; I think it fits the theme of this post well.
Monday, September 28, 2009
My top 25 favorite songs. Part 2: 10-1
Here's the second part of my list. I did this list in two parts due to time constrains. Here's the first part if you haven't read it yet. Without further ado, lets start the home stretch.
10. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
What can I say about this song that hasn't been said before? I first started listening to this song one summer when I took up walking as my main form of exercise. As such, I listened to it mostly while walking, and thus found the lyrics about finding one's path through life to be quite appropriate. I also enjoy the slow buildup from the relaxed intro to one of the best rock and roll outros of all time. Ah, hell, it's Stairway! Do I need to explain it?
9. Nemo – Nightwish
Unlike many of the previous songs on the list, this one doesn't have a special meaning for me because of its lyrics. I actually first heard it when I watched a video of an all druid raid taking down Onyxia back in the days of vanilla WoW, and then raiding the horde capital cities afterward. That said, I don't actually associate this song with the awesomeness of the druid class; I just like it because it is a great song. It's a symphonic metal song that slowly builds up from a mellow beginning to a more energetic conclusion without ever loosing its mystic mood. That, and Tarja's voice is just beautiful.
8. Cherub Rock - Smashing Pumpkins
I don't know why, but I really love this song. The lyrics don't mean much to me, but perhaps its the fact that, like ...And Justice for All, the various instruments on this track all have a similar rhythmic structure. Meh, it's a mystery to me. I just know that I like it now as much as I did when I first heard it, and a song that I can describe that way gets major points in my book.
7. 18 and Life - Skid Row
Sure, the lyrics to this song a pretty good, but I think the reason I like this song is the mood it creates. It starts out sad to match the protagonist's sad life, then gets angry as his anger at the world grows, but loses its angry edge when our protagonist kills someone. It's a sad song, without a doubt, but its deeper message about how there are no victims in the world of drunken townies and that everything that happens to them is pretty much their fault means that the flip side is that, if you make smart decisions, bad things won't happen to you. To be honest, I never liked this song because of the lyrics; it's just a good, slow rock-out song.
6. Going Under - Evanescence
Remember how I said that I interpreted My Immortal to be about two parts of yourself, one of which you were trying to let go of? I interpreted this song as the other side of that story. I saw it as the story of someone recalling their descent into this "other" part of themselves. This was actually a repeating theme I saw in their songs, whether it is there or not, and that's probably why they meant so much to me. I also really like how the songs melody complements the mood of the lyrics: sad, but not the saddest it could be, meaning the worst is yet to come.
5. Turn The Page (Live) - Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
Now this is a perfect rock song. The lyrics, though specific to the theme of being a rock star, are truly about needing to put up a front when people expect you to be more than you can be, and how torturous it can be to keep that front up. Thus this song can have meaning to anyone who has ever pretended to be something they aren't. It also has, in my opinion, some of the best build-up of any song I have ever heard. It starts out mellow but intensely sad, and though the song gains more of a hard rock feel as it continues, it never loses that sad melody. It's just a really great song. 'Nuff said.
4. Through the Fire and Flames - Dragonforce
I'm probably going to get a lot of flack for putting this so high on the list, but I really do love this song. No matter what mood I am in, this song gets me pumped up, and few songs can do that. In fact, I'd say this is the best song for that purpose that I know. It also has a lot of meaning to me because I have tried dozens of times to beat this on Guitar Hero 3 and failed. (My best time is 83%.) But regardless of that, this song is the epitome of power metal, and Dragonforce deserves all of the fame that this song brought them.
3. Disarm - Smashing Pumpkins
And back to the sad songs. Though some people have interpreted this song to be about abortion, I see as being about the depression that comes with the loss of childhood innocence and the fact that even with all the pain we may be feeling, we still try to put on a happy face for others. Both of these themes resonate with me strongly, and the minimalist structure of the song helps to facilitate the somber mood the lyrics create. Corgan's pleasing vocals are the one happy thing about this song, but they are enough to make me able to listen to it and not cry every time. Really, it's that sad. If his voice was depressing as well, the song would be too sad to listen to.
2. Zombie - The Cranberries
Oh boy, where do I begin with this song? I first heard this song when I heard a snippet of it in some commercial for some album collection. It stuck with me after I heard it, and when I finally figured out what song it was and downloaded it, I was really glad to have finally found it. Its bass riff is right up there with the one in Rhinoceros as one of my favorites of all time, and every instrument on the track can be heard distinctly, something I love. The lyrics never played an important role in this song for me, but they are still great; though they are technically about the Troubles in Ireland, the lyrics could be applied to any situation where a group is fighting for control of your thoughts, something our culture seems to do all the time... but that's neither here nor there. In the end, I love this song. Dolores O'Riordan's vocal work is fantastic, the instruments all work really well together; I just can't say enough good things about this song.
1. Lithium - Evanescence
Ah yes, the song that defined my childhood. Before I transferred all of my songs to my new computer, this one had more play counts on my old one than any other song; at least fifty more than the next one on the list, and quite possibly a hundred. (That's no hyperbole; I loved this song that much.) So, what is so great about Lithium? Like many of my favorite songs when I was young, it was a sad song, but Lithium went beyond sad. The lyrics, the mood, the tone of Amy Lee's voice, the melody, everything about this song was meant to convey a feeling of deep depression, and I loved every second of it. However, even more importantly, the lyrics really spoke to me back then, and looking back on my youth, they speak to me even more now. In Lithium, Amy sings about how she is very sad, but finds a sort of ironic comfort in that sadness, and as such, the sadness is too familiar to let go off. If literally interpreted, the song is about a failed relationship that Amy refuses to leave, but as you can tell by now, I wasn't big on literal interpretations of Evanescence songs. Anyways, every line of the song speaks somehow to the theme of finding more comfort in the familiar emotion of sorrow than the unfamiliar one of joy. As sad as it is to say, that sentiment defined my childhood. I was not a happy child, and even when I was finally able to be happy, sorrow was too constant of a companion for me to let go of. It took me a long time to finally let go of my constant sorrow, and until I did, this song was the song that epitomized what I was feeling. To this day, this song still brings back memories of that dark place. It's haunting, really.
Honorable Mention: In Bloom - Nirvana
Nirvana is a great band, but I didn't put this on the main part of the list just because I don't like this song as much as I used to. I still enjoy the layering of the various instruments and pleasant melody the song provides, and Cobain's mysterious lyrics still boggle my mind to no end, but the fact that the song slowly speeds up over its duration always ticked me off a bit. The song has, in my opinion, a perfect speed at the beginning. Why they needed to speed it up was beyond me. Still, I won't deny that this is a fantastic song, because it is.
Well, there you go. I certainly enjoyed making this list, because I had to listen to all of these songs over and over again to put them in the order of how much I like them, and I hope you enjoyed reading it, at least a little.
10. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
What can I say about this song that hasn't been said before? I first started listening to this song one summer when I took up walking as my main form of exercise. As such, I listened to it mostly while walking, and thus found the lyrics about finding one's path through life to be quite appropriate. I also enjoy the slow buildup from the relaxed intro to one of the best rock and roll outros of all time. Ah, hell, it's Stairway! Do I need to explain it?
9. Nemo – Nightwish
Unlike many of the previous songs on the list, this one doesn't have a special meaning for me because of its lyrics. I actually first heard it when I watched a video of an all druid raid taking down Onyxia back in the days of vanilla WoW, and then raiding the horde capital cities afterward. That said, I don't actually associate this song with the awesomeness of the druid class; I just like it because it is a great song. It's a symphonic metal song that slowly builds up from a mellow beginning to a more energetic conclusion without ever loosing its mystic mood. That, and Tarja's voice is just beautiful.
8. Cherub Rock - Smashing Pumpkins
I don't know why, but I really love this song. The lyrics don't mean much to me, but perhaps its the fact that, like ...And Justice for All, the various instruments on this track all have a similar rhythmic structure. Meh, it's a mystery to me. I just know that I like it now as much as I did when I first heard it, and a song that I can describe that way gets major points in my book.
7. 18 and Life - Skid Row
Sure, the lyrics to this song a pretty good, but I think the reason I like this song is the mood it creates. It starts out sad to match the protagonist's sad life, then gets angry as his anger at the world grows, but loses its angry edge when our protagonist kills someone. It's a sad song, without a doubt, but its deeper message about how there are no victims in the world of drunken townies and that everything that happens to them is pretty much their fault means that the flip side is that, if you make smart decisions, bad things won't happen to you. To be honest, I never liked this song because of the lyrics; it's just a good, slow rock-out song.
6. Going Under - Evanescence
Remember how I said that I interpreted My Immortal to be about two parts of yourself, one of which you were trying to let go of? I interpreted this song as the other side of that story. I saw it as the story of someone recalling their descent into this "other" part of themselves. This was actually a repeating theme I saw in their songs, whether it is there or not, and that's probably why they meant so much to me. I also really like how the songs melody complements the mood of the lyrics: sad, but not the saddest it could be, meaning the worst is yet to come.
5. Turn The Page (Live) - Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
Now this is a perfect rock song. The lyrics, though specific to the theme of being a rock star, are truly about needing to put up a front when people expect you to be more than you can be, and how torturous it can be to keep that front up. Thus this song can have meaning to anyone who has ever pretended to be something they aren't. It also has, in my opinion, some of the best build-up of any song I have ever heard. It starts out mellow but intensely sad, and though the song gains more of a hard rock feel as it continues, it never loses that sad melody. It's just a really great song. 'Nuff said.
4. Through the Fire and Flames - Dragonforce
I'm probably going to get a lot of flack for putting this so high on the list, but I really do love this song. No matter what mood I am in, this song gets me pumped up, and few songs can do that. In fact, I'd say this is the best song for that purpose that I know. It also has a lot of meaning to me because I have tried dozens of times to beat this on Guitar Hero 3 and failed. (My best time is 83%.) But regardless of that, this song is the epitome of power metal, and Dragonforce deserves all of the fame that this song brought them.
3. Disarm - Smashing Pumpkins
And back to the sad songs. Though some people have interpreted this song to be about abortion, I see as being about the depression that comes with the loss of childhood innocence and the fact that even with all the pain we may be feeling, we still try to put on a happy face for others. Both of these themes resonate with me strongly, and the minimalist structure of the song helps to facilitate the somber mood the lyrics create. Corgan's pleasing vocals are the one happy thing about this song, but they are enough to make me able to listen to it and not cry every time. Really, it's that sad. If his voice was depressing as well, the song would be too sad to listen to.
2. Zombie - The Cranberries
Oh boy, where do I begin with this song? I first heard this song when I heard a snippet of it in some commercial for some album collection. It stuck with me after I heard it, and when I finally figured out what song it was and downloaded it, I was really glad to have finally found it. Its bass riff is right up there with the one in Rhinoceros as one of my favorites of all time, and every instrument on the track can be heard distinctly, something I love. The lyrics never played an important role in this song for me, but they are still great; though they are technically about the Troubles in Ireland, the lyrics could be applied to any situation where a group is fighting for control of your thoughts, something our culture seems to do all the time... but that's neither here nor there. In the end, I love this song. Dolores O'Riordan's vocal work is fantastic, the instruments all work really well together; I just can't say enough good things about this song.
1. Lithium - Evanescence
Ah yes, the song that defined my childhood. Before I transferred all of my songs to my new computer, this one had more play counts on my old one than any other song; at least fifty more than the next one on the list, and quite possibly a hundred. (That's no hyperbole; I loved this song that much.) So, what is so great about Lithium? Like many of my favorite songs when I was young, it was a sad song, but Lithium went beyond sad. The lyrics, the mood, the tone of Amy Lee's voice, the melody, everything about this song was meant to convey a feeling of deep depression, and I loved every second of it. However, even more importantly, the lyrics really spoke to me back then, and looking back on my youth, they speak to me even more now. In Lithium, Amy sings about how she is very sad, but finds a sort of ironic comfort in that sadness, and as such, the sadness is too familiar to let go off. If literally interpreted, the song is about a failed relationship that Amy refuses to leave, but as you can tell by now, I wasn't big on literal interpretations of Evanescence songs. Anyways, every line of the song speaks somehow to the theme of finding more comfort in the familiar emotion of sorrow than the unfamiliar one of joy. As sad as it is to say, that sentiment defined my childhood. I was not a happy child, and even when I was finally able to be happy, sorrow was too constant of a companion for me to let go of. It took me a long time to finally let go of my constant sorrow, and until I did, this song was the song that epitomized what I was feeling. To this day, this song still brings back memories of that dark place. It's haunting, really.
Honorable Mention: In Bloom - Nirvana
Nirvana is a great band, but I didn't put this on the main part of the list just because I don't like this song as much as I used to. I still enjoy the layering of the various instruments and pleasant melody the song provides, and Cobain's mysterious lyrics still boggle my mind to no end, but the fact that the song slowly speeds up over its duration always ticked me off a bit. The song has, in my opinion, a perfect speed at the beginning. Why they needed to speed it up was beyond me. Still, I won't deny that this is a fantastic song, because it is.
Well, there you go. I certainly enjoyed making this list, because I had to listen to all of these songs over and over again to put them in the order of how much I like them, and I hope you enjoyed reading it, at least a little.
Monday, September 21, 2009
My top 25 favorite songs. Part 1: 25-11
Warning: This post contains one instance of PG-13 language (for those outside of the US, that means vulgar language that is fine for most teens, but may be inappropriate for younger children). Hide your infants and tweens.
An internet comic whose material I quite enjoy recently put up a video where he talked about his twenty favorite movies, and I thought I'd do the same for my favorite songs. Why make such a list? Because it gives you an insight into who I am, but it is more fun than writing a biography, which serves the same purpose. Why not movies? Because my taste in movies is pretty limited, but my taste in music is diverse enough that I can make such a list. Why twenty five? Because I narrowed it down to 25 and couldn't pick five to kick off of this list.
I should tell you now that I do not necessarily think that all of these are good songs, and this is not meant to be a "greatest songs" list. This is just meant to list the songs I like the most. Some of them have special meaning to me because of when I heard them, while others speak to me on a really deep level. Also, these are not my 25 current favorites, but 25 songs that I have continued to like long after I heard them, so there aren't many recent songs on here. In fact, only one has been released in the past few years. So, without further ado, let's begin.
25. ...And Justice for All - Metallica
Although this song doesn't draw out the same level of emotional reaction from me that the other songs on the list do, it does have something I am always a sucker for: during the breaks and the verses, the vocals, drums, and guitar all have similar or near identical rhythms. That earns big points in my book, and it is the main reason ...And Justice for All is on this list. Actually, there's an even longer story behind it, but I'll give you the short version. I bought Guitar Hero 3 and liked One. I bought Rock Band and was disappointed by Enter Sandman. After months of trying to figure out how to do it, I finally hooked my XBox 360 up to the internet to download songs for Rock Band and downloaded the Metallica pack, and I loved it, especially ...And Justice for All. Since then, this song has continued to please me just as much as when I first heard it.
24. Killing In the Name - Rage Against the Machine
I suppose I may be a bit biased about this one. I first heard this song in Guitar Hero II, and the cover of it was so abysmal that when I heard the actual song, I was blown away by the raw power of it. I also have to say that Zach's "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me," sounds a lot better than the lyrics Guitar Hero used to replace them, "(Now you're under control) I won't do what you tell me." The fact that the lyrics overlapped took away a lot of this song's power, so the song wowed me to no end when I first heard it. That said, the repetitive nature of the lyrics has made me like it less than I used to, but I still love this song.
23. Bulls On Parade - Rage Against the Machine
Like Killing in the Name, I first heard this song in Guitar Hero 3, and I really liked it. Though not very fun to play, this song's raw power had the same appeal to me that Killing in the Name had. After I heard this song, I tried getting into Rage's other songs, but they were more rappy than the songs I had heard, so this song stands out in my mind as the last Rage song I ever loved.
22. Angel of Death – Slayer
I can't put my finger on what I love about this song. The lyrics aren't terribly good, the guitar is fast but not complex, and ditto for the drum beats. I don't know, its one of those mysteries that I'll probably never figure out. I like it just as much as I did when I first heard it, and that's quite rare among songs I listen to, especially metal songs, so I put it on the list
21. Painkiller - Judas Priest
I first heard this song in Rock Band 2 (are you noticing a pattern yet?), and like Run to the Hills before it, it was the hardest song in the game, and that probably contributed to me liking it so much. I also have a soft spot for songs with a male singer that sings in a high octave, and this song definitely fits that category. Seriously, listen to it some time. No man should be able to get his voice that high. It's also just an all around great metal song, with every member of Judas Priest in full form. It has two guitar solos and two drum solos in the span of six minutes. Can you think of any song that tops that?
20. The Camera Eye - Rush
As great as this song is, it is very long, which can make it a bit tiring on one's patience. That said, the length could be what makes this song so good. It allows for the song to go through many different parts with different melodies, and each one is very enjoyable. The amazing thing is that the song is structured like a normal, regular length song. Despite being eleven minutes in length, The Camera Eye never feels like it could be split up into more than one song, like many other songs of great length. This never ceases to amaze me, and it's one of the many reasons I love The Camera Eye. Also, the chorus, as short as it is, is one of my favorite moments in music. Everything about it is just perfect and incredibly enjoyable.
19. Sabotage - Beastie Boys
This song has a special place in my heart because I heard it while I was going through my rap phase. I liked rock and roll before my rap phase (though it was more popular rock than genuine rock, but not pop-rock by any means), but once I entered my rap phase, I stopped listening to rock and roll. This song's hybrid nature between the two genres made me consider listening to rock again, and it was the first step on my road to recovery. (If you are curious, the second step was Guitar Hero II. That pretty much did it for me.)
18. My Immortal - Evanescence
A very sad song, no doubt, but those were the kinds of songs that spoke to me in my youth, as evidenced by all of the Evanescence on my list. Although I am usually not a fan of vocals+piano numbers, I think what made me like the song was its lyrics. Though the lyrics could easily be interpreted as being about trying to get over an ended relationship, my interpretation was that it was about trying to let go of a part of you that you have held on to for too long. Perhaps it was a part of you that hid the real you because you were afraid to be who you really are. Perhaps it was a part of you that you hid behind because the world was too scary to face head on. Either way, even though you want to move past that part of you, even though you want to let it go, it has not left you. That message speaks to me even more now, which is why this is truly one of my favorite songs of all time. That said, the style is one I am usually not a fan of, which is why I put it so low on the list.
17. Rhinoceros - Smashing Pumpkins
The meaning of this song still eludes me, but I find the first half very relaxing, with one of the best simple bass riffs I have ever heard. I also quite enjoy the second part of the song, though not as much. That said, I love the solo, which perfectly complements the transition from a more chilled out alternative melody to a more hard rock melody. It just sounds good; there's not much else I can say to explain it.
16. All the Things She Said - t.A.T.u.
Despite the fact that their lesbian relationship ended up being fake, t.A.T.u's story about forbidden love speaks to anyone who has ever felt guilty about something they knew couldn't be wrong because it felt right. It doesn't even need to be a relationship; it could be something that breaks gender stereotypes. It's also a good pop-rock song; not much else to be said.
15. Pretty Noose - Soundgarden
I really don't know why I like this song so much. It could be that I am a sucker for songs where every instrument is distinct and clear, and this song definitely fits that category. The lyrics, about a bad idea that looks good from the outside (according to Wikipedia), are also applicable to many of life's situations. The guitar solo is also great. Eh, what can I say? I like this song now even more than I did when I first heard it, and that rarely happens with any of the songs I listen to.
14. Nobody's Home - Avril Lavigne
Alright, now before everyone crucifies me for listing an Avril Lavigne song in my top 25 songs list, know that I used to be a big fan of her music, but this is the only song of hers that I have continued to like, and if you listen to the song, you can see why. The theme is a timeless one, for Nobody's Home tells the story of a girl who feels abandoned and, because of it, can't seem to find a place she calls home. Try as she might, she is so jaded by the world that she sees no redeemable qualities in it. I know I have felt that abandoned before, and this song helped me see that the world was not worth rejecting. It's also a very beautiful pop-rock song. The melody is sad at its core, with not hint of any happy emotions, but it is not quite sad enough to be considered depressing. As such, the melody itself implies that life may be bad, but it could always be worse. And you know what? This song may have my favorite line of all time from a song: "She's lost inside." She is lost in the world around her because she herself is lost. That is true poetry.
13. Viva la Vida – Coldplay
This is the only song my list that has been released within the last few years, but I think it is one of the few truly great songs to have come out of this era of music. The lyrics are about the darker side of being a king, although they could be applied to any position of power. The melody, which is grand and sad at the same time, fit this theme quite well. It's just an all-around good song.
12. Today - Smashing Pumpkins
In case the lyrics don't make it obvious, this song is about suicide. Yep, it is a happy song about suicide. This songs speaks to me in two ways. It reminds me that many times in my own life, I felt like I had a lot to be sad about, but life itself was still good, just like how the song's lyrics are very sad, but the mood is very happy. It also reminds me that a life may look pretty from the outside, but everyone is fighting their own battles. The song also just has a great melody that really carries the listener through the whole song. And it's just a little touch, but I love the signature drum fill of this song, the one where Chamberlin starts by hitting the snare and the floor tom along with the beat of the song, then does a roll on the snare.
11. The Only One - Evanescence
As much as I love the dark yet hopeful nature of this song, the lyrics are what really made me like this song. They spoke to me when I was growing up and felt abandoned by the world. The lyrics talk about how people who feel abandoned by the world often feel alone, but there are many other people in the same situation as them, and what they need to do is band together and fight back against the force that made them feel alone in the first place. The song also seemed to me to end with the singer confronting the force that made her feel abandoned. It really is a very hopeful song, and the hard-rock influences of its nu-metal style means that there is almost a hint of vengeance in the singer's intentions. Like many of Evanescence's songs, this one spoke to me at a very personal level, and Amy Lee's ambiguous writing style means that this song and many others of theirs will continue to mean a lot to me, since that meaning can evolve to apply to whatever I am facing in my life.
Unfortunately, I had a very busy weekend and couldn't finish the list. Expect part 2 next week.
Edit: Here's the link to part two for your convenience.
An internet comic whose material I quite enjoy recently put up a video where he talked about his twenty favorite movies, and I thought I'd do the same for my favorite songs. Why make such a list? Because it gives you an insight into who I am, but it is more fun than writing a biography, which serves the same purpose. Why not movies? Because my taste in movies is pretty limited, but my taste in music is diverse enough that I can make such a list. Why twenty five? Because I narrowed it down to 25 and couldn't pick five to kick off of this list.
I should tell you now that I do not necessarily think that all of these are good songs, and this is not meant to be a "greatest songs" list. This is just meant to list the songs I like the most. Some of them have special meaning to me because of when I heard them, while others speak to me on a really deep level. Also, these are not my 25 current favorites, but 25 songs that I have continued to like long after I heard them, so there aren't many recent songs on here. In fact, only one has been released in the past few years. So, without further ado, let's begin.
25. ...And Justice for All - Metallica
Although this song doesn't draw out the same level of emotional reaction from me that the other songs on the list do, it does have something I am always a sucker for: during the breaks and the verses, the vocals, drums, and guitar all have similar or near identical rhythms. That earns big points in my book, and it is the main reason ...And Justice for All is on this list. Actually, there's an even longer story behind it, but I'll give you the short version. I bought Guitar Hero 3 and liked One. I bought Rock Band and was disappointed by Enter Sandman. After months of trying to figure out how to do it, I finally hooked my XBox 360 up to the internet to download songs for Rock Band and downloaded the Metallica pack, and I loved it, especially ...And Justice for All. Since then, this song has continued to please me just as much as when I first heard it.
24. Killing In the Name - Rage Against the Machine
I suppose I may be a bit biased about this one. I first heard this song in Guitar Hero II, and the cover of it was so abysmal that when I heard the actual song, I was blown away by the raw power of it. I also have to say that Zach's "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me," sounds a lot better than the lyrics Guitar Hero used to replace them, "(Now you're under control) I won't do what you tell me." The fact that the lyrics overlapped took away a lot of this song's power, so the song wowed me to no end when I first heard it. That said, the repetitive nature of the lyrics has made me like it less than I used to, but I still love this song.
23. Bulls On Parade - Rage Against the Machine
Like Killing in the Name, I first heard this song in Guitar Hero 3, and I really liked it. Though not very fun to play, this song's raw power had the same appeal to me that Killing in the Name had. After I heard this song, I tried getting into Rage's other songs, but they were more rappy than the songs I had heard, so this song stands out in my mind as the last Rage song I ever loved.
22. Angel of Death – Slayer
I can't put my finger on what I love about this song. The lyrics aren't terribly good, the guitar is fast but not complex, and ditto for the drum beats. I don't know, its one of those mysteries that I'll probably never figure out. I like it just as much as I did when I first heard it, and that's quite rare among songs I listen to, especially metal songs, so I put it on the list
21. Painkiller - Judas Priest
I first heard this song in Rock Band 2 (are you noticing a pattern yet?), and like Run to the Hills before it, it was the hardest song in the game, and that probably contributed to me liking it so much. I also have a soft spot for songs with a male singer that sings in a high octave, and this song definitely fits that category. Seriously, listen to it some time. No man should be able to get his voice that high. It's also just an all around great metal song, with every member of Judas Priest in full form. It has two guitar solos and two drum solos in the span of six minutes. Can you think of any song that tops that?
20. The Camera Eye - Rush
As great as this song is, it is very long, which can make it a bit tiring on one's patience. That said, the length could be what makes this song so good. It allows for the song to go through many different parts with different melodies, and each one is very enjoyable. The amazing thing is that the song is structured like a normal, regular length song. Despite being eleven minutes in length, The Camera Eye never feels like it could be split up into more than one song, like many other songs of great length. This never ceases to amaze me, and it's one of the many reasons I love The Camera Eye. Also, the chorus, as short as it is, is one of my favorite moments in music. Everything about it is just perfect and incredibly enjoyable.
19. Sabotage - Beastie Boys
This song has a special place in my heart because I heard it while I was going through my rap phase. I liked rock and roll before my rap phase (though it was more popular rock than genuine rock, but not pop-rock by any means), but once I entered my rap phase, I stopped listening to rock and roll. This song's hybrid nature between the two genres made me consider listening to rock again, and it was the first step on my road to recovery. (If you are curious, the second step was Guitar Hero II. That pretty much did it for me.)
18. My Immortal - Evanescence
A very sad song, no doubt, but those were the kinds of songs that spoke to me in my youth, as evidenced by all of the Evanescence on my list. Although I am usually not a fan of vocals+piano numbers, I think what made me like the song was its lyrics. Though the lyrics could easily be interpreted as being about trying to get over an ended relationship, my interpretation was that it was about trying to let go of a part of you that you have held on to for too long. Perhaps it was a part of you that hid the real you because you were afraid to be who you really are. Perhaps it was a part of you that you hid behind because the world was too scary to face head on. Either way, even though you want to move past that part of you, even though you want to let it go, it has not left you. That message speaks to me even more now, which is why this is truly one of my favorite songs of all time. That said, the style is one I am usually not a fan of, which is why I put it so low on the list.
17. Rhinoceros - Smashing Pumpkins
The meaning of this song still eludes me, but I find the first half very relaxing, with one of the best simple bass riffs I have ever heard. I also quite enjoy the second part of the song, though not as much. That said, I love the solo, which perfectly complements the transition from a more chilled out alternative melody to a more hard rock melody. It just sounds good; there's not much else I can say to explain it.
16. All the Things She Said - t.A.T.u.
Despite the fact that their lesbian relationship ended up being fake, t.A.T.u's story about forbidden love speaks to anyone who has ever felt guilty about something they knew couldn't be wrong because it felt right. It doesn't even need to be a relationship; it could be something that breaks gender stereotypes. It's also a good pop-rock song; not much else to be said.
15. Pretty Noose - Soundgarden
I really don't know why I like this song so much. It could be that I am a sucker for songs where every instrument is distinct and clear, and this song definitely fits that category. The lyrics, about a bad idea that looks good from the outside (according to Wikipedia), are also applicable to many of life's situations. The guitar solo is also great. Eh, what can I say? I like this song now even more than I did when I first heard it, and that rarely happens with any of the songs I listen to.
14. Nobody's Home - Avril Lavigne
Alright, now before everyone crucifies me for listing an Avril Lavigne song in my top 25 songs list, know that I used to be a big fan of her music, but this is the only song of hers that I have continued to like, and if you listen to the song, you can see why. The theme is a timeless one, for Nobody's Home tells the story of a girl who feels abandoned and, because of it, can't seem to find a place she calls home. Try as she might, she is so jaded by the world that she sees no redeemable qualities in it. I know I have felt that abandoned before, and this song helped me see that the world was not worth rejecting. It's also a very beautiful pop-rock song. The melody is sad at its core, with not hint of any happy emotions, but it is not quite sad enough to be considered depressing. As such, the melody itself implies that life may be bad, but it could always be worse. And you know what? This song may have my favorite line of all time from a song: "She's lost inside." She is lost in the world around her because she herself is lost. That is true poetry.
13. Viva la Vida – Coldplay
This is the only song my list that has been released within the last few years, but I think it is one of the few truly great songs to have come out of this era of music. The lyrics are about the darker side of being a king, although they could be applied to any position of power. The melody, which is grand and sad at the same time, fit this theme quite well. It's just an all-around good song.
12. Today - Smashing Pumpkins
In case the lyrics don't make it obvious, this song is about suicide. Yep, it is a happy song about suicide. This songs speaks to me in two ways. It reminds me that many times in my own life, I felt like I had a lot to be sad about, but life itself was still good, just like how the song's lyrics are very sad, but the mood is very happy. It also reminds me that a life may look pretty from the outside, but everyone is fighting their own battles. The song also just has a great melody that really carries the listener through the whole song. And it's just a little touch, but I love the signature drum fill of this song, the one where Chamberlin starts by hitting the snare and the floor tom along with the beat of the song, then does a roll on the snare.
11. The Only One - Evanescence
As much as I love the dark yet hopeful nature of this song, the lyrics are what really made me like this song. They spoke to me when I was growing up and felt abandoned by the world. The lyrics talk about how people who feel abandoned by the world often feel alone, but there are many other people in the same situation as them, and what they need to do is band together and fight back against the force that made them feel alone in the first place. The song also seemed to me to end with the singer confronting the force that made her feel abandoned. It really is a very hopeful song, and the hard-rock influences of its nu-metal style means that there is almost a hint of vengeance in the singer's intentions. Like many of Evanescence's songs, this one spoke to me at a very personal level, and Amy Lee's ambiguous writing style means that this song and many others of theirs will continue to mean a lot to me, since that meaning can evolve to apply to whatever I am facing in my life.
Unfortunately, I had a very busy weekend and couldn't finish the list. Expect part 2 next week.
Edit: Here's the link to part two for your convenience.
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