Musical Chairs

Good morning, my foul little pets. Last time I said I was going to talk about music, and it seems to me the best way to do that would be to explain the random sampling of songs I gave you to muse over. For those of you who managed to figure out some of them, you may have noticed that my music tastes tend to be extrememly ecclectic, ranging from country to rap to classic rock to musicals to punk, and hitting pretty much everything in between.

1) "Love has got me down. A tear just hit the ground."

Okay, this one was easy. It's Aerosmith's "Shut up and Dance", and it's firmly in the classic rock section of my music library. This is one of those bands that I listen to not because they're deep or profound or have some sort of world shattering message. They just know how to rock unlike anyone else. Sometimes that counts for a lot.


2) "I tried to kill the pain, but only brought more."

Number two is Evanescence with "Tourniquet". I only discovered Evanescence about a year or two ago, but I was immediately hooked. The complex melodies and hard rock background give them a wonderfully eery feel, while at the same time giving the music an incredible amount of energy. Plus Amy Lee is like, the hottest thing on two legs.


3) "I don't go to therapy to find out if I'm a freak."

This is "What Do You Hear in These Sounds" by Dar Williams. My wife, Mrs. Overlord turned me on to Dar a few years ago, and I'm really glad she did. She has a quirky, folksy sound and incredibly profound songs about topics ranging from religion to sexuality to personal introspection, and she also knows how to rock. Quite a combination. Being somewhat less than mainstream, she may not be the easiest artist in the world to find recordings of (although everything is possible via the interwebs), but she's more than worth checking out. "The Ballad of Mary Magdalene", "Iowa", and "Are You Out There" are a few other incredible songs by her.


4) "When the sleigh is heavy, and the timber wolves are getting bold..."

This is Roger Waters, with "Too Much Rope", from the album Amused to Death. Roger was one of my first loves, musically speaking. I grew up listening to Pink Floyd albums like The Wall, The Final Cut, Animals, and Dark Side of the Moon, and when I learned that Roger had produced some solo albums I ate them up like popcorn. Describing Waters' work is difficult at best, but if you've ever listened to any Pink Floyd, it's like that, only more so.His work is musically nuanced, lyrically complex and charged with more raw emotion than virtually anything else I've found. It's easy to see why the band went downhill after he left.


5) "I touch the fire and it freezes me."

Okay, this one is a bit of a guilty pleasure. This is from a song called "Walk Through the Fire" by the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For those of you who aren't fans of the show, they did a musical episode in their sixth season that won them an Emmy, and this is one of the songs from that episode. Even though I love Buffy as a show, the quality and cleverness of the songs on that episode still blew me away the first time I saw it.


6) "All the world just stopped now. So you say you don't want to stay together anymore."

Tori Amos, "Tear in Your Hand". Tori is a strange subject for me. I discovered Little Earthquakes when a friend introduced me to it in high school, and I immediately fell in love with it. The album is haunting, deep, and phenomenally introspective. So naturally I went right out to find more of Tori's work. And I did. And it sucked.

The Tori fans out there are probably ready to burn me (and if you think it'll be the first time I've been burned at the stake, you're very mistaken), but I have yet to find another album of hers that was anywhere near as good as Little Earthquakes. My wife still swears by her music, but to me anything other than her first album just sounds lacking somehow.

7) "I come beatin' down the block and I bust the bedrock."

Okay, now we're getting into the bloody, still beating heart of my musical tastes. This one is "Haunted Bump", by the Insane Clown Posse. I've been an ICP fan (or Juggalo) for many years now, ever since High School. ICP is one of the funniest, most intense rap bands in the world, and their music is both visceral and intense. Although it's rarely "Deep" in the traditional sense of the word, it is often filled with twists, puns, and double meanings that reveal an incredible understanding of lyrical poetry and theatricality. Anyone who thinks that this is just a Shock Rock band with nothing going on under the surface is severely mistaken.


8) "If hello could only drop its 'O' and it stayed in the front doorway of your home, would you live there still?"

This is the song "Once Upon Your Dead Body", by Coheed and Cambria. Coheed and Cambria is a band that I only recently started listening to because of a Song of theirs called "Welcome Home" that's featured on Rock Band, a recent obsession of mine. They have an interesting and complex sound, reminiscent of Pink Floyd or Queen, that includes a high degree of theatricality and musical power. I've only listened to one of their albums so far, but I definitely plan on hearing more of them in the near future. By the way, the album is Good Apollo I'm Burning, Star IV: Volume 1. From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness; quite possibly one of the longest album titles ever.

9) "My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge."

Eminem, "Criminal". Eminem is another of my musical tastes that dates all the way back to high school. I still remember when he burst on the scene with "My Name Is" and for a while it seemed like that was the only song on the radio. Eminem is one of the recording artists that I have the most respect for because of his unflinching defiance and ability to transcend musical boundaries. Also, very, very few people put as much of themselves into their music as he does, and it shows through in the raw energy in many of his songs. Although I must admit that I like his earlier albums better than his later ones, even the worst of his work is better than most of the rest of today's pop music.

10) "The bats are in the belfry. The dew is on the moor."

Tom Waits, "Innocent When You Dream".

Oh Tom Waits... how do I describe you? Tom Waits is an artist who is self-described as sounding like "A chorus of drunken bullfrogs gargling bourbon and razor blades." It's an accurate statement. His voice is gravelly and rough, but at the same time mesmerizing, and his lyrics are so complex and expressive as to be almost indecipherable until you've heard them over and over again. Tom is probably my favorite musician of all time, and his work is among the greatest poetry in the world of music. I honestly can't describe it. Just go out and pick up Rain Dogs or The Heart of Saturday Night right now. You'll wonder why you ever listened to anything else.