Opinion | Dec 2008 | M.McKennedy

iPod Mini (click for a larger view)

First of all I must hand it to Apple for coming up with the iPod.  I have had my iPod mini for 4-5 years now.  I have dropped it many times, crashed on my mountain bike and landed on it and the thing still provides me with instant access to 1000 plus songs (yes, I am constantly adding and removing songs to keep things changing).  I use my iPod (which by the way, was a birthday gift from my wife Barbara) in the car, at work, while snowboarding, skiing, while posting to my blog (as in right now), at home – basically everywhere I can listen to music.  Sure I would still be listening to music even if the iPod was never created but having it right at your fingertips makes it much easier.  With that said I must thank Apple for such a wonderful, durable, functional devise.  Now on to the list of most listened to songs in November of 2008.

These songs are not in any particular order:

1. 

   Metric (click for a larger view)

   Metric – Help I’m Alive : This is the radio edit from the unreleased album rumored to be titled ‘Help I’m Alive’.  Seems like this one is about being afraid to find out what people will think of the new album”I tremble – They’re gonna eat me alive.  If I stumble- They’re gonna eat me alive“.  Then again, it could be about cocaine use, but I am not suggesting that the band has or has had a problem with drugs… “Help, I’m alive, my heart keeps beating like a hammer.  Hard to be soft, tough to be tender. Come take my pulse, the pace is on a runaway train. Help, I’m alive, my heart keeps beating like a hammer, beating like a hammer.”

   I have a feeling that after the release of Help I’m Alive Metric is going to experience much more attention than they are currently accustomed to.

2. UNKLE – Reign : The tune makes me want to grab my 1990′s attire, stuff a plastic pacifier in my mouth and drive to the nearest all night rave!  I have a feeling that since this is West Bolton, Vermont I would have quite a drive to find any all night raves around here!  All night hunting parties? sure!  All night logging adventures – yes, absolutely!  All night maple syrup binges – yes, this could happen! but raves??  Anyway…UNKLE kicks ass (accept when they bring rap into their songs – then they lose me, I really don’t care for rap at all, as a matter of fact I have been know to call it crap.  Sorry hommies….but I just can’t get into it!  There was a point where I truly enjoyed listening to the Beastie Boys but that was as far as it went for me.
3. Metric – Freddie : I really just can’t get enough of this song.  It’s rumored to be on the up and coming Metric release and I can’t wait to hear the studio version.  The songs has this driving force to it that keeps me listening over and over!
4. Digitalism – Pogo : This song made it to the Top 10 Most Listened To Songs Of October 2008 as well.  The song is great but one of the main reasons it made it to the top 10 two months in a row is because I made this video to go with it.  During the making of this music video I must have heard Pogo about one hundred times.
5. Radiohead – Weird Fishes/Arpeggie : How beautiful can one song possibly be? well…it is Radiohead!!  At this point in the song – “Turn me on to phantoms.  I follow to the edge of the earth, And fall off, Everybody leaves – If they get the chance, And this is my chance.” I get the chills every time!  I bet that I have listened to this song several thousand times (no exaggeration here!) since it’s official release in 2007!
6. Metric – White Gold : This is not a typical song that I would select as one of my favorites but Metric seems to take me down a different path every time I hear something else by them!  The lyrics begin with “Piss-poor, ridin high, sunbathin’ fire-side, We’re here for the porn of the sirloin, Get your T-bone, Let your backbone slide, Tunnel and sky collide, Lose friends to the air waves and the airlines.“  I wouldn’t say that this is one of my favorite songs of all time but any song that begins with ‘piss-poor’ deserves to be in some top 10 list!
7. 

   Radiohead (click for a larger view)

   Radiohead – The Gloaming : This song is f-ing great!  Enough said and I have said it before!  but I won’t stop there – this song drags you in to Thom’s world (if you allow it to).  It’s dark (Gloaming means – the time after sunset and before dark), mysterious and builds to this amazing climax.  It’s rumored to be a political song about how frightening it was that George Bush was elected into office!  but I am not Thom so I really don’t know what the true meaning is.  I do know that watching/listening to Radiohead head play The Gloaming live in Montreal (twice) was pure extacy! What a great way to begin a live show too! the lights flickering, smoke billowing up from the stage, guitars, drums and synths all working in perfect chaotic harmony, oh and Thom Yorke’s manic dancing always puts a smile on the face of the crowd!

8. 

   The Cure - The Top

   The Cure – Piggy In The Mirror : 1979!  I was 9 years old when The Top originally came out and Piggy In The Mirror this is one of my most listened to songs?  Yes it is!  I recently introduced a younger guy from work to the Cure (the older Cure, I am talking The Top, Pornography, Faith etc…all the way up to Disintegration (1989)) and in doing so I began a month long Cure listening party.  Robert Smith is a true poet, who else could write lyrics like “Footsteps on a wire, High above my head. The stain reveals my real intention. I’m the waiting beast. I’m the twisted nerve – As I dance dance – Back to the body in my bed.“

9. Metric – Torture Me : This one made it to the list for one unique reason.  My sons and I have a ‘game’ we play where if Torture Me comes up on the iPod (it’s on most of my play lists) I turn into a zombie and walk/run around the house trying to attack them.  When the song is over one of them usually runs to the iPod to replay the song!
10. Led Zeppelin – Babe I’m Gonna Leave You:  Rock and Roll!  This is rock and roll!  This is classic rock at it’s finest!  Robert Plant and the boys were on fire.  Originally written in the late 1950′s by Anne Bredon and covered by Zeppelin in 1969, this song still reminds me that Led Zeppelin were and will always be Rock Gods!  The song sends you up and over the emotional mountain wearing Jimmy Page’s famous ‘moon pants’ while carrying his legendary double-necked guitar and back down again to a bed of clouds.

Music….I listen to it in the car on my twenty-five mile commute to work.  I listen to it while I work my standard eight hour shift.  I also keep music playing in my house.  I usually create a playlist per month on the old iPod (it really is old, it’s an iPod Mini and must be five years old) and I put it on shuffle.  What the hell did I do before I had an iPod?  Well…at home I had one of those clunky twenty-five CD changers (it has been retired to the basement for potential future use and replace by a cord that attaches to the iPod) and I would put that on shuffle but in the car I was stuck skipping songs on CDs….oh iPod, I am so thankful that you came along….am I talking to my iPod again?

So why the top ten list?  You (the reader) might not really care what I have been listening to and to that I would say, “then stop reading now and go away (but do come back)”!

Anyway…here are ten songs that I listened to quite a bit back in October of 2008.  The number one song does not necessarily mean that I think this is the best song…in other words this list is not in any particular order.

1. Dead Kennedys – Buzzbomb From Pasadena (This song is a bit dangerous, makes me “put the petal to the metal” but since I drive a Kia (it’s a long story) I don’t have to worry about speed too much, the thing probably tops out at eighty MPH!)
2. Digitalism – Pogo (I really don’t know much about the band Digitalism – I was turned on to them by a co-worker but they often pump music into my ears, damn good music too!)
3. Modeskeletor – Happy Birthday (I was turned on to Modeskeletor from the Radiohead website)
4. Metric – Give Me Sympathy (off the unreleased newest album)
5. One Little Plane – The Snails Are Out (a beautiful song…simply beautiful! I think that I was turned on to this band from Mr. Yorke (Thom Yorke of Radiohead that is) – I don’t know him personally but he sure does have good taste!)
6. Radiohead – Last Flowers To The Hospital (I just can’t get enough of this one…as a matter of fact, I am going to listen to it now!)
7. Stone Roses – Fools Gold (aka “I Am The Resurrection” – this one takes me way back to 1989)
8. UNKLE – What Are You To Me (it’s just a great song! that’s all!)
9. Portishead – Machine Gun (the name couldn’t be more fitting, this song really does resemble the sound of a machine gun, wait…a terrific sounding machine gun?)
10. Metric – Joyride (from the unreased new album (possible album title? ‘Help I Am Alive’ – this one was number one for September)

This is not an ‘all time’ favorite list.  This list represents the songs I most frequently listened to this month.  My #1 all time favorite band is Radiohead – hands down!

Metric

Radiohead

U2

The Cure

Emily Haines...

Black Sabbath

The Song Joyride By Metric Takes Number 1 For September 2008.

A few reasons why I selected this particular song as my most frequently listened to song of September 2008…the first reason is because it really was the song I listened to the most. Secondly, because it’s new Metric music and I always excited to hear something new from these Canadian folks and this one hasn’t even been released yet! Check out the video for yourself.

Song #2 Was Also Taken By Metric

On The Sly is smooth…enough said! I must tell you that Metric has been taking me by storm for over two years now. I have devoured everything I can get into my ears. The sound of Metric is not something that I normally go for either. I really can’t explain this sort of addiction I have to them. Much of it is due to the amazing voice of Emily Haines but I can’t give her all the credit, the band as a whole brings it all together.

Check Metric out at ILoveMetic.com although as of right now there aren’t any links on the homepage, (except to their MySpace page) all I see is a series of colored columns – maybe someone is working on the site to get ready for the new album? If so, they might want to think about using some more advanced HTML – the current page is set up using tables – tables are dead people – make way for the div! (sorry about the geek-speak).

For all you music critics out there I must admit that Radiohead kicks the crap out of Metric! In Rainbows has been in everyone of my playlists since the recording came out (ok, actually before it came out – yes, I was one of those people who somehow found the ‘leaked’ version -but I did by the disc as well as the special edition boxset – and I saw them live this summer in Montreal so they got plenty of my money)! Kid A is probably my favorite album of all time but that is another article all together….