Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Top 5 Songs I Love by Artists I Hate

I like a lot of music. There's a friggin' raaaange of shit in my collection, from pop to metal to jazz to hip hop to whatever - if I like it, I like it, no matter what it is. There is also a hell of a lot of music that I hate, to the very depths of my soul. However, I can admit when a song is good - even when I really, really don't want to.

5. GABRIELLA CILMI - "SWEET ABOUT ME"


This was Cilmi's debut single, and it made me fall in love with her voice. I immediately 'acquired' her album, and I immediately regretted it.

This particular song is a smooth, soulful tune that compares her to Amy Winehouse. It's edgy, it's jazzy, the lyrics are nothing spesh but the hooks make it catchy enough for that not to matter. Even more enticing, this chick was only 16 when this song was released. Fuckin' talent.

Downside? The rest of her album suuuuuucked. Just suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked. I mean, it had a couple of songs that were okay, but they were on the bad side of okay. Only a couple more smooth, soulful tunes, and the lyrics were so awful that they were hard to bear. And the rest of the tracks were just pure, bad pop (see "Messy" for the worst example of the lot). Thoroughly disappointing.

4. MAROON 5 - "MAKES ME WONDER"


First single off their second album. I was already not a fan of Maroon 5, I suppose simply because I was a rocker, and they were not. Then this song came out, and I thought everything would change.

However, it didn't.

I guess the thing that I love about songs is the hooks. If it's got a good hook and the lyrics are fun to sing, I'll love it, and this song is full of friggin' hooks that I can't resist. Following the release of this song, I thought maybe I should give Maroon 5 another chance, maybe their second album is better than the first. Maybe, just MAYBE, I could be a fan. But I'm not. The rest of the songs were too pop for me, but this song still gets me dancing when I'm drunk.

3. FINGER ELEVEN - "GOOD TIMES"



My excuse for loving this song is that I was 15 when I first heard it. 15? Maybe 14. No, I'd just turned 15. I think. Maybe I was 16... nah. Nah, I was 15.

The guitar riffs are simple but memorable, the lyrics are punchy and repetitive, the guy's voice is ... not all bad. Not all bad. But then they slowly turned into just another rock band. You know the ones. Alterbridge. Daughtry. Hinder. Finger Eleven is no different. They all make the same music, and it's never good enough to enjoy.

2. AVENGED SEVENFOLD - "BAT COUNTRY"


HOOKS, mother fucker. And this song is full of them. My mate Jenny bought the third album by these suckers when we were 16, and while she found a warm spot within it, I did not. I guess I'm not much of a metal fan, save for Manowar and the occasional song by occasional bands. I prefer melody to malice, and that's all I really hear in metal.

This song, however, is catchy and full of earworms. That is to say, it gets stuck in your head. Also, I can't resist a good throwback to awesome movies. I don't really understand why I like this song and no others by them. If I were to guess, it may be solely because of the Fear and Loathing... references. I just can't find any appeal in the rest of their songs.

1. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE - "TEENAGERS"


I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I actually love this song. It's so g.d. catchy. But, shit, man. What the fuck do you expect me to do with the rest of the MCR catalogue?

I suppose I have to admit here that I do own Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. It's not even the album that had this song on it. But if we're going to compare here (and we are, 'cos this is MY blog), Three Cheers... was better than The Black Parade, but "Teenagers" was better than any song released from Three Cheers...

But this song is good enough to be memorable. It has everything a popular song needs: identifiable lyrics, a tune that'll stick, a guitar solo that will take more than 40 seconds to learn. Just note that I said a "popular" song. Not a "good" song.

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