Here Comes The Sun

The Beatles

The Beatles music not only has transcended 50 years, but still inspires every generation it touches. They are the physical embodiment of how good music can be, and how good it should be. If music today even touched this level of excellence It would certainly not only be worth listening to, but studied. Not anything like this garbage heap we call music on the radio nowadays. This was made in a time where good quality music mattered more than money. Beatles were four bright and inspired lads, had the greatest chemistry together where they created some of the most pleasant melodies and beats that no one has come close to this day and age. They lived and breath music. They were the real Rockers who rocked the world. They were a 20th century miracle. Even today when I turn on a Beatle song it generates such a great sensation within.

R E S P E C T

Aretha Franklin

"Respect" had the biggest impact, with overtones for the civil rights movement and gender equality. It was an appeal for dignity combined with a blatant lubricity. There are songs that are a call to action. There are love songs. There are sex songs. But it's hard to think of another song where all those elements are combined.

Aretha wrote most of her material or selected the songs herself, working out the arrangements at home and using her piano to provide the texture. In this case, she just had the idea that she wanted to embellish Otis Redding's song. When she walked into the studio, it was already worked out in her head.

Glory Days

Bruce Springsteen

In many ways, Bruce Springsteen is the embodiment of rock & roll. Combining strains of Appalachian music, rockabilly, blues and R&B, his work epitomizes rock's deepest values: desire, the need for freedom and the search to find yourself. All through his songs there is a generosity and a willingness to portray even the simplest aspects of our lives in a dramatic and committed way. The first time I heard him play was at a small club, the Bitter End in New York, where he did a guest set. It was just an amazing display of lyrical prowess.

Bruce has all kinds of influences, from Chuck Berry and Gary U.S. Bonds to Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie. But he's also a lot like Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando and James Dean — people whose most indistinct utterances have been magnified to communicate volumes. He is one of the few songwriters who works on a scale that is capable of handling the subject of our national grief and the need to find a response to an event like September 11th. His sense of music as a healing power, of band-as-church, has always been there. He's got his feet planted on either side of that great divide between rebellion and redemption.

Every Breath You Take

The Police

Their songs are universal — they're part of all of our lives. You hear them on both pop and classic-rock stations, and they'll be played on the radio in Germany 100 years from now. At the same time, everything they did was really smart and worked on a few levels; you could love a particular song, then realize a year later that you had totally missed the meaning.

Take "Every Breath You Take." It's a great trick — it's impossibly catchy, people play it at their weddings, but it's a stalker song. "Roxanne" is blatantly about a hooker — it's not about how Sting loves her and broke her heart, it's just about how she's a hooker. People don't realize how unique that is. All of us are lucky to have heard songs as good as "Message in a Bottle," "Walking on the Moon" and "King of Pain" on the radio. Sting already had a career and a degree when the Police made it; he wasn't afraid of sounding like a grown-up.

The Police were amazing musicians. They were professionals who came up during the punk era and found their messages later on. I'm a big fan of how they used reggae. Bands like the Clash had already mixed it with punk, but the Police did it flat-out — it was like reggae for music geeks. Sting played bass and sang, which you don't see very often. He commanded both the rhythm section and melodies in the band. Stewart Copeland is a great drummer — you have to be to give songs like "Roxanne" and "So Lonely" their drive and also throw that reggae in there. Andy Summers has both great technique and rhythmic sense. It's amazing how many rock bands with serious grooves are made up of skinny English dudes. The Police matured really quickly. All bands should pay attention to that. You should always try to keep moving forward.

She Took The Midnight Train

Don't Stop Believin

When was the last time you heard Don't Stop Believin'? Was it on the radio or in the pub? At a festival or a wedding? Was it sung by Journey themselves, the cast of Glee, a fan on YouTube, a choir of schoolchildren or a drunk friend on a karaoke machine? Mike DeGagne of AllMusic has described "Don't Stop Believin" as a perfect rock song and an anthem, featuring one of the best opening keyboard riffs in rock. It is the best-selling digital track from the 20th century with over 7 million copies sold in the United States. 

"Journey performing Don't Stop Believing"

"Cover of Don't Stop Believing by the Cast of Glee"

Love Myself

BTS

I clicked onto YouTube’s home page and there, in my recommendations, was “I Need U” by BTS. I was already a K-Pop fan, but this was a totally different experience. Both the song and the video embodied the paralyzing feeling of being at your worst. When I heard lines like, “The sky is so blue, the sun is so bright, so you can see my tears so clear,” I felt like they understood what it felt like to feel defeated. These seven strangers were singing about something I was going through, and though what we were all feeling was bad, I was reassured because I wasn’t the only person who felt this way. The video’s visual symbolism, including Jungkook zoning out in public, Jimin sinking into a tub and Hoseok throwing his medication into a pit of fire, was similarly sad, but it also made me feel less alone. Most of the K-Pop I was listening to at the time was upbeat and happy, so there was something comforting about seeing this kind of vulnerability. And the fact that they were making music about experiences that I shared—and that had been making me feel alienated for years—made curious about who these seven guys even were, as artists and most of all, human beings.

I Was Filled With Poison, But Blessed With Beauty and Rage

What struck me as strange was how she's managed to make so many people feel nostalgic for a time they haven't even experienced first hand. I was completely taken in too. It's all very captivating - the slightly blurred, sepia tinted depictions of kids skateboarding, teens at prom night, and other shots of vaguely peaceful, transcendental settings like fields, streams, and rivers, all of which seem very nice and airy fairy.

Her music suits this imagery. She has a nice voice - it's deep and sexy, particularly when she makes it fade out or adds a hint of vibrato - but judging her as a singer and answering "what's so great" about her means listening to her independent of everything else. The best way to do this is to check out her live performances.

My personal opinion is that while her voice is good, she lacks range, and a lot of her imperfections that are otherwise hidden on record become apparent. The fade outs and vibrato are not done with as much skill, and her songs sound a lot less tuneful. 

But what seems really striking is the lack of feels - she seems bland and insipid when you take everything else away. And then you realize that this is somewhere a part of the act.

Even in her videos, her face is devoid of any expression. The facial contortions that usually accompany the hitting of high notes are completely absent, because she never approaches those notes. This gives her a strange invulnerability.

Imagine someone singing their heart out - they may be singing well or badly, but the point is that they're trying. Now imagine going up to them and telling them that they suck. Their reaction will likely be one of hurt and anger. But you cannot hurt Lana del Rey like this, because she's above all that. Her music is of great personal significance and is only for meant for others who can empathize and find meaning in it. She's too free and surreal to care about your praise or criticism.

There are plenty of musicians and bands who create "aura" music, meant to stimulate the imagination. One that comes to mind immediately is Opeth. Thing is, they don't rigidly adhere to that weak, vague notion of melancholy, and they always explore other themes and moods in their music confidently, painting vivid mental pictures through the use of different scales and instrumental tones. 

The Last Something That Meant Anything

With tracks like “Jamie All Over,” “Black Cat,” “When I Get Home You’re So Dead,” “Jersey,” and of course “Miserable At Best,” Mayday Parade proved their brand of soft-spoken, emotion-filled (and sometimes piano-laced) rock songs were just as captivating and heartfelt as their “heavier” Warped Tour counterparts. 

I first heard of Mayday Parade when I was 13 or 14 and into an entirely age inappropriate band called Mindless Self Indulgence. I had ordered an MSI hoodie and the merchandise store included a sample of Mayday Parade’s first full length album, A Lesson in Romantics in the package. This was the first time I ever fell in love with a pop punk band.

Mayday Parade aren’t known for writing happy songs, so the tears continued for most of the night, especially when they threw three of the most emotional ones at us, one after the other. Miserable at Best is always beautiful live, and it wasn’t long until the crowd’s singing started to drown out Derek and Jake’s soft tones, making it really feel like our show.

One Good Thing About Music, When It Hits You, You Feel No Pain

Music plays a giant role in my life. It changes everyday, but still gives me the same feeling. The world is too quiet without music. The following poem is written by Janis Thompson which ultimately describes my love for music. 

Music To My Ears

I love to hear coins in a jar
parades approaching from afar
beautiful John Barry tunes
a timer ringing a second too soon.

I love to hear a cat meow
the laughter of a little child
heavy rain upon my roof
words you can accept as truth.

A ringing phone is musical
it means there is a chance in all
the world to hear a welcome voice
for moments to laugh and rejoice.

When I go shop for anything
in winter, summer, fall or spring
I look and look at each detail
until I hear the words, “ON SALE”

My ears adore the music of
sounds that speak, committed love.
Until which time God sends the elf
I’ll make them as I write myself.

There is a music sweeter than
the human ear can understand.
No inkling of a sound is heard.
The heart must listen to the words.