Let's do Top 25! With comments! Oh yeah.
25. "The Longest Hour of My Life", Everybody Else, Everybody Else
My current fave EBE song. Love Carrick's voice on this one and really just like the vibe of it. It's not as light as it sounds musically, but it's very enjoyable. I ironically listened to it the first time while waiting an hour to vote on Election Day, so I now have fond memories of how that turned out whenever I hear this song!
24. "Rip It Up", Hanson, Underneath Acoustic/"Go" single
Crowd participation plus an awesome Isaac vocal. Pretty random, but awesome! It makes me want to be at a concert though!
23. "Where Did I Go Wrong?", Martin Sexton, Live Wide Open
Really love this song. And this dude. His style is quite quirky, which I find quite appealing. This song is especially wonderful, with the falsetto coming in and just very relaxing and pleasant.
22. "Gift of Screws", Lindsey Buckingham, Gift of Screws
I cannot listen to this song and not crack up. The beat, the delivery, the maniacal laughing that occurs throughout. The yelping? The various activities that could be done whilst listening thanks to the in-song instructions? Amazing. "To the left, to the right, up an down, in and out!"
21. "Bullets", Bob Schneider, Lonelyland
Either music venues or other bands love this dude, because this song is always on the house mix before a concert. I loved it every time I heard it and I finally sought it out. Such a cool tune. Jazzy, with a horn section, kind of scatty, with a few bouts of rapid fire lyrics.
20. "Don't Stop Me Now", Queen, Jazz
It is appropriate that the album this song is on is called Jazz, because I always envision the most elaborate and exciting jazz dance routine in my mind when I listen to this song. I would use it to audition for So You Think You Can Dance. It starts all slow and then boom, you're going and going and soon you're flying and you're not going to stop! Exhiliration!
19. "Kiss and Run", Fleetwood Mac, Tusk (Remastered Edition)
I've always found that when you love a band for a long time, the new stuff gets more play than the old stuff you've always had (there may be an entry on this later). So this song, an outtake from the Tusk recording sessions, gets lots of love. Random chatting, an awesome Stevie/Christine/Lindsey harmony, just basic instrumental and a really catchy tune. I wish there was more of it, but I love it!
18. "Filthy/Gorgeous", The Scissor Sisters, Scissor Sisters
If I ever do karaoke in a public place, this is the song I'm doing. I absolutely love it. Nothing is better than shaking your ass and singing insulting remarks in falsetto. "You're disgusting! Oooh, and you're nasty!"
17. "Love From Here, Love From There", Lindsey Buckingham, Law & Order
It makes me laugh how high this song is. I admit that this is my least favorite Lindsey solo album, I barely even listened to it until recently and I found this song hilarious the first time I heard it. Now I can't stop listening to it. It's like this cheesy country song that could totally be line danced to, yet it's also Lindsey? The combination is oddly irrestible.
16. "Oh! Darling", Across the Universe
I. Love. This. Version. Of. This. Song. It's one of my alltime favorite Beatles songs, but Dana Fuchs just makes it all the more amazing, and dude on it (don't remember his name, eek!) also sounds absolutely amazing. Can't get enough of this!
15. "Grown Man", New Kids on the Block, The Block
This song could not be much more ridiculous and that is why I love it. "Gonna give you some grown man! Gonna give you some grown man!" When I saw NKOTB live, they actually had the Pussycat Doll who's vocals are featured on the song on a video screen. It's so bad it's good. Really good.
14. "Great Divide", Hanson, The Walk
I heard this song for the first time a little less than a year ago and my life hasn't been the same since. I remember hearing it that first time and being completely transported. This is the song that made me realize that Hanson was not just a part of my past, that it was time to pay attention again. It's also the song that sums up so much of their charity work, which I have to come to care quite a bit about. A really powerful, kickass song.
13. "Sweet Sophia", Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers, Glassjaw Boxer
I absolutely love the piano line on this song. It actually hurts to turn this song off because I love the piano line that much. Love Stephen's voice on this one, and the lyric "Stole my soul with a laugh and a look, and your heart shaped lips and my breath that you took."
12. "Rock and Roll Band", Boston, Boston
Everything I love about classic rock, rolled into three minutes of pure, fun, amazingness. The drum line in this song kills me, and Brad Delp's vocals are beyond sublime. I admit that I laugh every time they say "dancin' in the streets of Hyannis!", but I can't listen to this song and not end up with a huge grin on my face due to the absolute awesomeness.
11. "Fire on the Mountain", Hanson, The Walk
It's hard for me to remember a time when I didn't know that post-11-year-old Zac Hanson actually sang lead, but such a time did exist. Then I heard this song and haven't stopped listening to it since. It's probably the song I've listened to the most over the past year. I love the theme of it, the vibe of it, the vocals, and most of all, the lyrics. "Can we pick the pieces up? We're mending Babylon, trying to right the wrong. Can we pick the pieces up? Live, learn, life, love, die, dust, gone."
10. "I Wanna Take You Higher", Sly and the Family Stone
Honestly, I downloaded this song when I found out Hanson was covering it this leg and ended up adoring it. One of the songs that make me wish I could be a part of the coke-induced craziness of the 70's. Wailing away. Rocking out. And playing drums.
9. "Bold as Love", John Mayer, Continuum
This is one of those songs I ignored for far too long and one day accidentally kept on and realized I was in love with it. Mayer sells the song, vocally and with the guitar work. Just love it. Whenever I'm at work and this song comes on, it's time to mentally check out for a few. "My yellow in this case is not so mellow!"
8. "Traci Brown (A Song for You)", Hanson
Seriously? This song exists because of a contest where the winner got a song written about them. "Traci Brown, she's got what you need/A blue-eyed West Virginian who knows what she believes." Maybe it's because they're the type of band that does that kind of thing. Maybe it's because I love the melody. Maybe it's because of all the songs Zac Hanson sings, he sounds the absolute best on this one. Needless to say, this song gets a lot of play, random as it is.
7. "Something Going Round", Hanson, The Walk
This was one of my favorite "new" Hanson songs when I rediscovered them early last year. It's safe to say I'm addicted to it. It doesn't help that this is the song they opened every show with this past leg of the tour so hearing it makes me think of the fun of seeing them live. The opening drum beats, the built in "singalong" section in the middle, just a great feel-good song.6. "Rock 'n' Roll Razorblade", Hanson, The Best of Hanson Live and Electric
It took awhile for this song to grow on me, but I adore it now. It has a very 90s rock feel to it, vaguely Smashing Pumpkins. Amazing piano solo and just a chill rock vibe to it. The harmony at the end of this is also ridiculous. Zac is singing so high I'm pretty sure the sound is coming out his nose.
5. "Makeup", Everybody Else, Everybody Else
Catchy as hell. I remember getting up when I was seeing them live to hit the bar and the merch stand during this song and just dancing away from seat and all the way back. Again, the song itself isn't as light as it sounds but it's really a fun tune. Plus, any song with the lyric "you've got a long walk home, but you've got headphones", is going to get some points.
4. "Summertime", New Kids on the Block, The Block
Oh man, this song! Makes me smile every time it's on and then I start dancing and then I envision the video and laugh. The song has everything that made NKOTB so amazingly ridiculous in 1988. They didn't even update themselves, it's just 1988 again in 2008. And I love it. And please, Donnie with his speaking over the singing? Doesn't get much better than that.
3. "Every Word I Say", Hanson, The Best of Hanson Live and Electric
This is one of those songs that I heard about before I actually had it. Hanson fans adore this song and before I heard it, I didn't get what could possibly cause it to get the reaction that it does. I get it now. It's one of those songs that just stops me from what I'm doing whenever it comes on and I'm lost in it. Taylor's voice is a little more rugged and by the end of the song, Isaac is wailing away. It's a bit different for them too, which adds to why I love it. Powerful and moving and freaking awesome.
2. "Manhattan", Kings of Leon, Only by the Night
This song currently owns me. It was one of the ones on the album I skipped the first few listens and now can't turn off any time it comes on. Like my #1, this song just has an amazing vibe to it and the vocals are so raw and moving. The lyric "we're going to show this town how to kiss these stars" nearly makes me weep every time I hear it. Which is a lot.
1. "Notion", Kings of Leon, Only by the Night
This may be the perfect rock song. I'm not even lying. The first time I heard this song, I was IN it. It just has that feel to it that I love in a song, especially as a fan of the classic rock sound of the late 70's. Amazing lead vocals, a rocking guitar bit, piano. Not does the song soar, it singlehandedly gave me hope that people of my own generation can write and record songs like this.
I will need to do another one of these soon to see how things change!
