Showing posts with label Green Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green Day. Show all posts

Sunday, April 28, 2013

My Favorite Music Videos

This list probably changes everyday, but that's not necessarily a reason not to put it into print.  For the most part, I have to like the song in order to like the video, but there are a few exceptions. Unlike others of my generation, I don't necessarily agree with them that, even though technology has improved, today's videos are superior to those of a few years ago. Anyway, here it goes.

"Pon de Floor" by Major Lazor. It's just too bizarre not to love. I find something new in it each time I read it, similar to when I read the Bible. I'm not suggesting that "Pon de Floor" is scripture or anything like the Bible, so please don't start casting stones at me. I was merely making an analogy.

"Like a Prayer" by Madonna. The Queen of Pop is in top form, but it's the gospel choir that makes this video.

"Just" by Radiohead. It's classic Radiohead, and there's even a bit of a plot.

"You Can Call me Al" by Paul Simon. Chevy Chase lip syncs hilariously while Paul Simon plays along on a large bongo. At one point he appears to prepare to sing, but Chevy hogs the mike. It's hard to explain why this is funny but it is. The contrast in size between Paul Simon and Chevy Chase adds to the hilarity of it.

"Bad Day"  by Daniel Powter. It's a good song with a video featuring a boy who almost meets a girl about a thousand times through each of their consecutive respective bad days until they actually make contact, all going down in Times Square. Daniel Powter pops up at odd times with his piano in Times Square just to add to the ambience.

"100 Years" by Five for Fighting. The song is deep, and the video is deep. I love the way John Ondrasik has grand pianos placed in bizarre locations - on beaches, deserts, etc. It always reminds me of a couple of years ago when some moron carried a grand piano by boat out to a sandbar in Biscayne Bay, then had his friends torch it. Why torch it?  Someone could have held  a hell of a concert out there until the waves got too high. I like almost any video by Five for Fighting.

"Down to the River to Pray" by Alison Krauss. There are scads of videos of this, but my favorite is from the movie  O Brother, Where Art Thou. 

"The Scientist" by Coldplay. The video features Chris matin waking up from an auto accident. It's bizarre but good.

"Bohemian Rhapsody"by Queen. The song gives any videographer so much with which to work, and it seems as though the tendency would be to overdo it, but in this case it is, if anything, understated.

"Good Riddance" by Green Day.  I love the song. I understand the song itself is about a breakup and is really intended to be somewhat mocking and ironic, but is often taken more literally.  The video features the singer and various others with totally blank, mindless expressions on their faces. I'm not sure I get it, but I like it.

"Sister Christian" by Night Ranger. It's old-style and cliche, with a beautiful but pious Catholic girl getting tired of watching the good life pass her by, and eventually gives in and takes off with the fun group.  The video has some great nun scenes. Not that anyone ever accused music videos of overdoing reality, but I don't think Catholic school has been quite like this since the mid 60's. Maybe the song's that old. I really don't know. I do like it, though.

"Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's. It's a bit cliche, also, but it's sweet in its own way. I probably actually like the song more than the video. It reminds me of a girl my mom has helping her with our cleaning.  The girl actually married the musician after getting pregnant at 17, then had another baby. They're still together, but he's on the road trying to make enough money to support the four of them, and, at the age of 19,  she's cleaning houses with one baby in a backpack and another in a playpen. I don't think he has any idea how heavily the odds are stacked against him actually getting anywhere in the music business, but I have to give him credit for trying, and what do I know , anyway? Maybe he will make it. My mom would like to get the girl in college. My mom's afraid they'll split and she'll have no job skills except scrubbing showers and toilets. It's a tough situation. I wish them all the luck in the world, as they're going to need it. This really has little to do with the song or the video, but I'm just typing as thoughts come out of my mind to my fingers.

"November Rain" by Guns 'n Roses. The song is beautiful and the video is basically perfect. I can't say more.

Post script: Jared still hasn't received his mission call and it's driving him nuts. typically it would havecome about ten days ago. Maybe thy're saving a really special spot for him, like Antarctia. It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.


Saturday, February 9, 2013

Another Feature of Too Much Time on My Hands: My Favorite Works of Music at the Moment

I have a great deal of time to think, quite a bit of time to listen to music, and, despite some restrictions on my computer time,  a little more time to blog than I normally would have at this time in an academic  quarter.  I choose to use this time to bloviate on the topic of my favorite musical works.  Because no one has all day to read,  and I don't even have all day to type, I'll limit my selections to twenty-five. As a disclaimer, I admit to being capricious by nature. Were I to type this blog two hours from now, it's possible that the selections would be entirely different. Nonetheless, at this moment in time, I shall list my twenty-five favorite musical works, which appear in no particular order.


"Believe in Me" by Dan Fogelberg
                  -no particular reason or meaning behind it; I just like it

"The Black Horse Troop" by John Philip Sousa
                  -I've never actually played this march, but I love it


"Less of Me" performed by someone of whom I have absolutely no idea
                 -I probably shouldn't like this song for many reasons. For one, it has a country flair --          
                   I believe it was written or at least  co-written by Glen Campbell. Two, the lyrics lay a bit
                  of a guilt trip on me, as I do not come even close to trying to live my life the way this song
                  professes that a peson should endeavor to do. Still, the message is worthy, and someday, in
                  terms of the content, maybe I'll get there, or at least approach it.



"Cello Suite Number 1 in G Major" by J. S. Bach
                 -It speaks [wordlessly] for itself.



"Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac
                 - I don't like Fleetwood Mac. My dad listens to them enough that I've had sufficient exposure
                  to make an informed decision, and I don't like them. Stevie Nicks' voice I find especially
                  grating. Still, "Landslide" is one hell of a great song, and it is Stevie Nicks' song; no one
                  else  should sing it. Ever.  Stevie Nicks' grating voice somehow works on this song,
                  Grating voice or not, it's a classic, but only with Stevie Nicks singing it.



"Crossroads" by Don McLean
               - It's on the depressing side, but it's great nonetheless.



"Good Riddance" by Green Day.
               - Some would say it has yet to stand the test of time. I'm willing to give it the benefit of the
                doubt and grant it "great" status despite its relative newness.


"Fantaisie Impromptu" by Chopin
              - In my own semi-informed opinion, it's one of the greatest solo piano works ever composed.



"American Pie" by Don McLean
              - Either the lyrics or the music by themselves would place this in the "timeless" category.



"Blackbird" by the Beatles
               -beautiful


"British Eighth March" by Alonzo Elliott (or Elliot, depending upon which source one accepts)
               - I never played this march, either, but I love it. My high school band director was too much
                of a wuss to use it in competition because he felt that the trumpet part in the trio -- almost a
                descant --  was too risky.



"You Can Close Your Eyes" by James Taylor
               - This one has sentimental value. My Pseudouncle Scott played it for me when I stayed with
                him and his wife during a few summers when I became homesick. It was and still is a
                comfort song for me.



"April  Come She Will" by Simon and Garfunkel
             - The words don't mean a great deal to me, but the song is so pretty that the words don't need to
               mean anything to me.  Incidentally, the song was featured in April's and Andy's wedding
               episode of Parks and Recreation episode, in addition to being part of the soundtrack  of
               one of the all-time great feature films, The Graduate.



"Sonata Number One for Viola de Gamba and Harpsichord" by J. S. Bach
             - I prefer the accompaniment on piano rather than harpsichord, but it's great either way. I  
              especially like the fourth movement.



"Sister Christian" by Night Ranger
             - another song for which I have no great reason for liking it; I just do, and I like the video



"Down Under" by Men at Work
             - Aussies rock.



"Miami 2017" by Billy Joel
             - prophetic in its own way, and Billy Joel is a genius



"Only the Good Die young" by Billy Joel
             - Billy works some great lyrics into this one.



"The Enigma Variations" by Edward  Elgar
            - sonic beauty; I especially like the Nimrod variation



"Eroica Symphony" No. 3 in E-flat Major by Ludwig van Beethoven
            - Despite its initial connection with Napoleon Bonaparte (it was originally to be titled
             "Bonaparte Symphony", but Beethoven  dissasociated himself and the work from Napoleon      
              when Bonaparte crowned himself emperor), and despite its relative lack of initial public
              acclaim , the work now stands on its own.



"The Standard of St. George" by Kenneth J. Alford (Frederick Joseph Ricketts)
             - It's another march I've never played, but I love it just the same, although I don't think the trio
               stands up to  the rest of the march in quality.



"Hotel California" by the Eagles
              - classic music, classic lyrics; I'm drawn to a particular line, "You can check out anytime you
                like, but you can lever leave," as it pertains in my mind  to Mormonism



"Bad Day" by Daniel Powter
              - Powter once performed this on Bill Maher' s TV program, after which Maher commented,
                quite fittingly, that the song, with only the most minor of changes, probably would have been
                a hit in any decade in which it had been recorded.



"100 Years" by Five for Fighting
              - profound



"All Will Be Well" by Gabe Dixon Band.
              - I became familiar with this song when it was used in promotion of the short-lived Dick
                WolfE courtroom drama Conviction.  It was also featured in Parks and Recreation. My
                Pseudouncle Scott plays and sings it beautifully, which is one reason I have become so
                enamored of it, but Gabe Dixon  doesn't do such a bad rendition himself. It's a good if
                obscure song.



Favorite music is not  nor should it be static. These are my favorites as of 6:53 PST on February 9, 2013. Ask me in three days and I may tell you twenty-five entirely different songs.