There are many different things you can use to play music. I mean come on people from the Caribbean can turn steel into drums and make it a whole unique sound and culture. Why not do it with something else....how about a Spoon? Yes, a spoon! Leave it to the unique individuals of the Seattle area to do it too. Well grunge rock band Soundgarden did just that. They formed in the Seattle area, and I am willing to bet they played on corner on Pikes Market a few times.
From there very popular 90s days and their Superunknown album here is iconic voice of Chris Cornell. The album has to be a staple for every rocker! If you dont know it, that is a darn shame. The band won to grammies from this album for "Black Hole Sun" and this song.
Some people love cover songs. They have become so common they do it at concerts and some artists even do one cover every album. It does cost a good deal to do this but it attracts buyers and concert goers so why not. Sadly most covers really just arent that great. Yes, I am being like Simon here but it is the truth.
One band that seems to be covered a whole lot is Depeche Mode or as some people like to call them "Dmode". Well the band Failure took "Enjoy the Silence" and made it fantastic. They released it on the tribute to Dmode album and their own album. I really like the the way they kept it the same but put more modern distortion into it and made it a bit more hard rock and still tradition at the same time.
There are some great bands out there that many people havent heard of. Back in the 90s this band caught my ear with this song. I really like it a lot since it in line with my style of music. I bought the album on a sale and loved it! I wanted more from them but of course they didnt have much success and nothing else really came. Their songs were more popular in Japan than here in the U.S.
The band hails from Santa Barbara, CA and toured with Toad the Wet Sprocket (also from Santa Barbara) and Tonic (from Fresno, CA) and Failure (also another unknown but decent band). But their songs have appeared on several soundtracks and one of them even made it on an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer...wow thats an old show.
Sometimes there are songs that really just describe the crappy view you have on life. These are one of them and for many years I really felt this was my life. Sometimes everything does fall apart and all you can do is just put it back together just to have it fall apart again. Still true today but you how you see it really is the difference.
Dog's Eye View only really had decent success with this song and it is a bit of a shame. They were pretty good. They do have some other good tracks one of which was on the Cant Hardly Wait Soundtrack. The band back in the late 90s toured with the likes of Del Amitri, Counting Crows and The Wallflowers. Not a bad way to tour I say.
YouTube is an icon now in for distributing all kinds of videos. Years a few guys from Australia in their spare time from their jobs and lives loaded a song onto YouTube in support of the Free Hugs project. It has now had well over 68 million views and launched them into stardum. They just released their third album with their second well known single which has gotten decent radio play.
The band has a name that you would think was kind of a sadist name, Sick Puppies. I mean come on who doesnt love a puppy. Well either way the music rocks! It was one of my favorite rock songs of the last 6 years.
I really just can ever get enough of this next song. Perhaps I have written about it before but I really just love this song. It is a bit old but none-the-less a goodie! Their music is a big rang from quiet and mellow to really loud and I kind of like it.
Silversun Pickups were nominated in 2009 for a Grammy in Best New Artist though technically the album released that year was their third. Apparently there was controversy over this nomination for obvious reasons. But they weren't the first to be nominated in a best new artist category when they previously had already release records/singles. This track was their big break out hit and still is my favorite. You can hear "Panic Switch" which probably earned their Grammy nod but this track is better.
There was a band that was pretty heavy into Punk that did very well off one track from their first album and had a good follow up. They did break up and subsequently have reformed minus a few founding members and had a hit song.
One of the first of a few bands that united punk/rock with rap type lyrics. Rage Against the Machine had some great hits that were great for working off aggression for me while I was in school. Plus they just rocked the speakers...perhaps that is why all my parents cars had fuzzy speakers.
It has been a while since I have written here but I have really gotten into a new song that I think is great. It took me a while to warm up to it but I really love the combo of the banjo folk scene with the rock behind. Is it singing or talking or just really good?
