Sex, Hugs and Rock & Roll, Part 2

But All Over You...fuck, I love this song. And that was even before I read the interpretation of the lyrics and realized that it is, in fact, a song about me, in that it's a song about being in love with someone who doesn't love you back (again, there are multiple interpretations, but that's my favorite). I remember blasting this song as I drove from Sarasota to the University of Central Florida in Orlando to visit Tina during my senior year of high school and her freshman year of college. I was in my parents' green minivan and I had this song up to full volume as I blasted down the East-West Expressway, and I'll admit, I was singing along. This song just makes me happy...it's one of those songs that just makes you love the fact that songs exist.

I will admit that Hold Me Up, listed below, is rapidly ascending my ladder of love when it comes to Live songs, and is likely close to equaling All Over You in my estimation. However, All Over You gets the edge because of its context and the fact that it's already lasted almost a full decade as one of my favorites.

Other Favorites From Live:  Run to the Water, The Dolphin's Cry, Dance With You, Overcome, Hold Me Up   
Yes, Overcome is "that September 11th song" (though it came out just before that day, so it wasn't written for that event), and yes, Dance With You is middle-school-dance-esque, but divorced from the context of a million terrible YouTube September 11th memorial slideshows (one girl even used Overcome on a September 11th piece in the TV Production class I was taking that semester) and potential cheese, I do love these songs. I remember first hearing The Dolphin's Cry as I was driving around Sarasota in early 2000...it was on the way to school one morning (I think it was also used in The Beach, but I haven't seen the movie yet). And then Run To The Water...well, my friend Jackie might remember that song, with its lyrics instructing her to "rest Yeastie, baby, rest Yeastie...."

"Leave," R.E.M.

I think the reason I'm only choosing one song per artist/band is because it would be very easy for me to fill up a Top 10 list with songs from just Live, R.E.M., U2 and Foo Fighters. I guess one could say that those are my favorite four bands, even though I know very little about the people behind the music. But that being said, it's a bit of a challenge to choose just one song from each of those bands as my "favorite," and I think that R.E.M. provides the most difficult choice.

As I'll discuss below, I love me some Sweetness Follows, some Losing My Religion, some Everybody Hurts and others, but I guess I'll choose Leave as the representative in the winner's circle. Maybe that's because Leave is semi-epic (7:18) and feels more anthemic than some of those others. I am a sucker for a good "stadium rock" song. But then there are also the lyrics themselves:

Lift me, lift me,
I attain my dream
I lost myself, I lost the
Heartache calling me
I lost myself in sorrow
I lost myself in pain
I lost myself in clarity,
Memory, leave, leave

I'm not an authority on R.E.M. lyrics...in fact, I think I remember one of my friends once saying that Michael Stipe often purposefully wrote confusing lyrics. But from my basic reading comprehension skills, Leave appears to be a song that speaks to, well, leaving something/someone behind and other frustrated emotions. I first heard this song while out here in Los Angeles and it's just a good song to blast in the car after a frustrating day. I wouldn't say that Leave is as defining as something like Losing My Religion, but I think my current worldview leans more in this direction than, say, Shiny Happy People.

Other Favorites From R.E.M.:  Losing My Religion, Everybody Hurts, Sweetness Follows, It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

Not only is Everybody Hurts just a great song when you're throwing yourself a massive pity-party, but it also reminds of a movie my friends and I made in high school entitled Dangerous Mines, wherein one of the characters slit her wrists after a relatively absurd series of events while this song played on the soundtrack. An easy laugh, perhaps, but it still makes me smile. Sweetness Follows...I have to admit, I first heard this song in Vanilla Sky, but that doesn't diminish its greatness as a song (and actually, I liked Vanilla Sky). It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine), well, who doesn't like this song? I debated including The One I Love here, too, but I'm still trying to limit the "additional favorites" songs, too...I mean, really, I would have been okay including that song, Shiny Happy People, What's The Frequency Kenneth?, Bad Day, Man on the Moon, Nightswimming, Strange Currencies...there are so many great R.E.M. songs (though I will use this platform to once again express my disappointment about Radio Song...it starts off as an amazing song and then devolves into crap...fucking Radio Song). And then there's Losing My Religion, which, in my opinion, is the band's signature song. It also happened to be one of my late stepdad's favorite songs, so I tend to think of him whenever I hear it now (/maudlin sentiment).

"My Hero," Foo Fighters

Damn Varsity Blues...they took this awesome song and slapped it on some lame-ass, forgettable football scene, and for a while, people associated this song with that wretched movie (remember? James Van Der Beek..."Ah don't wahnt yoahr life"?). It was actually a challenge to decide between this song and Everlong for Foo Fighters' entry on this list. I think, ultimately, this song got the nod because a) the whole high school thing again, and b) it's just fucking awesome. Sure, Everlong is great, but My Hero is just one of those songs that builds and builds until it explodes in a semi-coherent eruption of lyrics, guitar and drums.

Quick story: I worked at a Publix Supermarket during high school, and if you're familiar with the Sarasota area, it was the one at Palmer Ranch, with the large glass and metal facade in the front. As one gets easily bored while being a cashier, I would often imagine a Die Hard-esque action movie taking place in the spacious and relatively sleek store, wherein a group of terrorists would take over the store for the safe (yes, the local supermarket safe) and only one plucky cashier was there to stop them. Eventually, with the whole parking lot filled with cops, fire trucks and onlookers, and with the entire terrorist team stopped, the movie ended with the plucky cashier and the lead bad guy facing off as the cashier held a familiar detonator in his hand. The cashier would raise the detonator to eye level so the bad guy could see how his once foolproof escape plan was now in the hands of the good guy, and the cashier would utter his triumphant words: "Paper...or plastique?" And then the cashier would set off the C4, which would blow up the entire front of the store, which somehow meant that the bad guy lost (I don't know how that works, but it did). Anyway, this whole thing would then involve motorcycles somehow and, in my head, it was all scored with My Hero. The end. (Whatever, I was 16 years old...not that my cinematic tastes have necessarily become more refined, but....)

Anyway...great song and one of my favorites...though I have to say, I saw Foo Fighters live last year and recently got a copy of their Wembley Stadium performance on Blu-ray, and it irks me slightly that Dave Grohl has the crowd sing part of this song every time. I guess it's sort of cool, but I just wanted to hear them demolish this one in a gigantic stadium without "backup singers."

Other Favorites From Foo Fighters:  Everlong (regular and acoustic), The Best of You

Again, Everlong is definitely my second favorite Foo Fighters song...the regular version, that is. However, the acoustic version is not without merit, so I'll include it here. And then there's The Best Of You, which is more recent, but I find myself liking it a great deal. It's interesting: I really like a bunch of Foo Fighters songs (Next Year, Learning to Fly, The Pretender, Walking After You), but I wouldn't call them "other favorites." Still, great band.

"The Sweetest Thing," U2

Huh...that's surprising. To give some insight on how I'm making these choices: I went through and rated every single song in my library here on my computer, and to choose my favorites, I went to my 5-star songs and am making the choices from there. But it seems that The Sweetest Thing is the only U2 song I have that I rated 5 stars...the others all have 4 stars (or lower...sorry, Vertigo). That's unexpected...I mean, I could easily switch it up with something Pride (In The Name of Love) or Sunday Bloody Sunday, but...I think I'm okay with this choice. My friend Chris is (was?) a huge U2 fan, so he might be disappointed in this pedestrian choice (if he's reading), but as opposed to the issue-based songs, like the above two, or their more "experimental" work (Discotheque, maybe?), this one's pretty straight-forward: ain't love the sweetest thing?

I actually tend to think about Sandra when I hear this song, oddly enough. I think that's because I brought this song into my collection around the time when I had my crush on her, and the lyric "Blue-eyed boy meets a brown-eyed girl" seemed appropriate, which then led to the entire song feeling appropriate. This song also reminds me of my semester abroad in London during college, as all of that Sandra stuff happened around then. It's a simple, yet effective, song, and although it might feel like heresy to name it as my favorite U2 song...oh well. Frankly, I don't think I've really loved anything of theirs since their 2000 album, All That You Can't Leave Behind. I just heard their recent single on the radio...eh. But certainly, their earlier work still blows me away.

Other Favorites From U2:  Pride (In The Name of Love), All I Want Is You, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Mysterious Ways, Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me

I think Mysterious Ways would probably be my second choice for favorite U2 song...well, either that or Pride (In The Name of Love). But whenever I think of the latter, I always think of the music video I saw for the song in college with a close up of Bono just belting out the lyrics into the microphone. From that description, it doesn't sound odd, but it just seemed so amusing, much to the consternation of my then-roommate Chris. And speaking of amusing U2 moments, I would also suggest finding the Doo Wops' version of Sunday Bloody Sunday. No, it's not a funny song, and yet one can't help but chuckle heartily at this different version:

But the real song is pretty great, too. And Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me, well, that's just residual Batman Forever/summer 1995 nostalgia right there. It also happens to be a good song, but it's the nostalgia that puts it over the top. All I Want Is You also happens to be a good song, but it also reminds me of the "Len-umentary" I did in college, which was a short documentary about my friend Len's desire to become a rock star. At the end of the piece, he performed the song in Union Square for a small group of park-goers.

And while they didn't make the above list, I would also recommend Beautiful Day (which was so over-used in the early 2000s), Everlasting Love, Discotheque, and of course, With Or Without You, all of which could have easily made my list above (in addition to Bono's backup singing on some random version of Fools Rush In). I used to like The Hands That Built America quite a bit, but now...not so much.

"Glycerine," Bush
And now we start to get away from the obvious big band choices (though I don't think Live is so big anymore). Prior to around 1996, I pretty much exclusively listened to soundtrack music. Sure, I liked some songs here and there, but I really wasn't familiar with many bands or songs of the day. I remember we had a band for my Bar Mitzvah and the lead singer asked what songs I'd want to hear, and all I could suggest was Mrs. Robinson (having heard it in Forrest Gump the year prior). But it was that summer of 1996 when I bought my first CD with actual songs on it...granted, it was the Mission: Impossible soundtrack, but it wasn't the score, it was the one with songs "inspired by" the movie. And actually, I ended up trading that CD for the score soundtrack a few months later, but still, it was a baby step into the world of popular songs.

So it shouldn't be surprising that I didn't often listen to the radio before high school, and it should help explain why Glycerine stuck in my head as one of the first songs I fell in love with from the radio. It's a moody song, to be sure, and seems to basically be about someone beating themself up over a failed relationship. But its evocative lyrics, keen electric guitar and raspy singing combined with its "woe is me" aesthetic just makes me swoon like a 12 year old emo girl. But I don't think it's necessarily a "guilty pleasure"...I think of all the "wah wah lost love" songs out there, this is one of the absolute best. Maybe it's because it seems to have a touch of anger to it, maybe it's because of the semi-poetic lyrics, maybe it's the "hey, we're both to blame here" and "love is crazy" sentiment. Or maybe it's because the song is inexorably linked to my time with Tina and rang in my head when things were falling apart. But it's more than just that...if it had just been that, it would have fallen away with my feelings for her. No, it's just a great song...not something I would choose for a party, but a great song nonetheless.

Also, one of the few funny things The Simpsons has done in the last decade was a semi-parody of this song in their otherwise-miserable 90s episode:

Other Favorites From Bush:  Come Down, Machinehead, The Chemicals Between Us

I think Come Down probably at least equals Glycerine in terms of my affection, but again, due to its context and history, Glycerine gets the edge. Plus, it's hard to listen to Come Down and not hear him saying "I don't wanna come back down from this clown," especially near the end when he's just yelling "This clown! This clown!" (It's supposed to be "cloud.") But it's an amazing song and would definitely be an alternate choice for Bush. Machinehead and The Chemicals Between Us...I don't think I have any stories about them, but they're just great songs. I don't know where Bush (the band, that is) stands in the world of music today, but I'm pretty fond of the few songs I've heard (also including Mouth, Out Of This World and The People That We Love [Speed Kills], which was originally just called Speed Kills, but had the misfortune to be released either on or just after September 11th, 2001, so it was renamed).

"Tonight, Tonight," The Smashing Pumpkins

I would be remiss in not including a Smashing Pumpkins song on this list. While most of my peers latched onto this definitive 90s band pretty early on (I remember going trick-or-treating with two friends in 1995 or so and one of them broke someone's pumpkin and made a Smashing Pumpkins joke...I didn't get it), I have to admit that I didn't open my eyes to their magnificence until around late high school...and by then, I think it was too late and they had closed up shop. Whoops.

But that doesn't mean that I didn't take several of their songs to heart and love them every bit as much as my contemporaries. However, it actually wasn't difficult to choose which Smashing Pumpkins song was my "favorite"...as much as I love Today, 1979, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, etc., Tonight, Tonight is by far my favorite. I can't wholly explain why...the only thing that comes to mind is that it's the "cleanest." Like, it starts off big and grabs you right away, and then soothes you a little bit, and then finishes huge...it's a clean structure, or something. And maybe like with Leave, it's anthemic...without getting too hifalutin about it, it feels like the anthem of, if not our generation, then at least of my high school class, in a way. It seems to cry out for just doing and living and not taking bullshit, and that just seems to resonate when I think about the promise my graduating high school class possessed. Plus, it's just a fucking great song (and has an awesome music video):

Other Favorites From The Smashing Pumpkins:  Today, 1979, Disarm, Bullet With Butterfly Wings

I saw Smashing Pumpkins in concert last year (at the same concert as Foo Fighters...it was kind of awesome). Well, I saw what was left of Smashing Pumpkins, which was Billy Corgan and some other people. I seem to remember that they did sing Tonight, Tonight and Today, but a lot of it was new stuff...it wasn't good. That being said, I do have a sneaking fondness for Honestly and Heartsong by Zwan (Billy Corgan's pet project circa 2003).

But in terms of classic Smashing Pumpkins songs, I would also highly recommend Today (apparently written on the worst day of Billy Corgan's life, which makes it deliciously wry), 1979 (which has the unfortunate distinction of being the last song heard by a girl who was a few years older than me at school who died in a car crash...the driver, another student, survived...still a good song, though), Disarm and Bullet With Butterfly Wings. It's odd: once you get past the obvious Tonight, Tonight, Today and 1979, I tend to mix up which song goes with which title. But weirdly unmemorable titles aside, these two are highly recommended (if you, like me, sat out musical pop culture in the 1990s and are now making up for lost time).

"We Built This City On Rock and Roll," Starship

Let's go a little bit further back in time for a moment, leaving the trappings of the 1990s. Let's travel back to the halcyon days of 1985. Back to the Future was lighting up movie screens everywhere, Ronald Reagan was getting into his usual predicaments, and Night Court was still blissfully on the air. Amidst all of this excitement, Jefferson Starship changed their name to just Starship and released We Built This City On Rock and Roll, off of their "Knee Deep In The Hoopla" album. And lo, it was good.

But why, out of all the thousands of awesome 80s songs, did I choose this semi-relic as one of my absolute favorites? Well, the answer is two-fold: 1) it's a good song, and 2) it has great nostalgic value for me (ah, nostalgia...where would I be without it?). Permit me to put my "personal story-telling" hat on for a moment and say that I remember my mom picking me up from pre-school and bringing me home, where she would put this song on (on the record player, no less) and we would sing and dance around the living room. A cheesy memory, perhaps, but if it makes it easier for you to swallow, then remember that my parents had recently gotten a divorce around this time. It's a nice memory of a different time...and it doesn't hurt that the song is a lot of fun. I'm not sure if I would label it as one of my favorites without that memory, but I'd still like the song a whole bunch.

Other Favorites From Starship: Sarah

To be honest, I don't really have other favorites from Starship...after my mom and I listened to We Built This City On Rock and Roll, we would sometimes let the record keep going on to Sarah (which is a good song, but not a favorite), but after that, I don't remember a single song from that album.

"Signal Fire," Snow Patrol
I can almost hear my cool music-loving friends now: "Fucking Snow Patrol? Seriously??" Calm down, imaginary friend...and yes, seriously. Even worse, this song was "inspired by" the wretched mess of a movie known as Spider-Man 3. One would think that the only song that could be inspired by Spider-Man 3 would be "Overlong, Overstuffed Shitty Movie" (probably by The Shins). Take that, hand that feeds me!

But this song...I don't know why, but I love it so. It's another of these "love is crazy!" sort of songs, wherein the lead singer appears to be, as my friend Chris once put it about another song, "wheedling for the booty." And yet...I have to say, if there's a recent band that piques my interest, I think it might be Snow Patrol. All of their songs sort of follow the same path (quiet, loud, quiet, REALLY LOUD) and have similar themes, but I really love their stuff so far, and this song is my favorite of theirs. That's not to say that I don't like other contemporary songs and artists/bands, but Snow Patrol just seems to snuggle up to that part of me that's a big, soft girl...and I love them for it. Fuck yeah, I'm including Signal Fire on my list, and I'd do it again!

Other Favorites From Snow Patrol: Run, If There's A Rocket Tie Me To It, Chasing Cars, Open Your Eyes

I think the first time I heard Run was on the way to see Wicked with my friend Val, her fiance (now husband...) Andrew and Val's sister. I remember asking Val's sister what song it was (it was on the radio) and she introduced me to the world of Snow Patrol. I don't remember how Chasing Cars came about, but Open Your Eyes was used in the Stop-Loss trailer and If There's A Rocket Tie Me To It is from their new album. Mmm hmm, that's some good Snow Patrol.

Gee, only two spaces left...and yet, so many songs on my list from which to choose. I guess now's a good a time as any to say that I'm still skeptical of a favorites list when it comes to entertainment. I mean, yes, the ten songs I'm listing here are definitely favorites, but I'm leaving plenty of songs off the list (and even off the "other songs" list) that are still awesome and are potential favorites, given the right circumstances. I mean, at this point, it looks like I'm going to have to leave (Don't You) Forget About Me by Simple Minds off the main list, and I love that song. So while I wouldn't say that this has all been an exercise in futility, I will say that the very concept of a list is flawed, though I'll try to play by the rules for the sake of the experiment.

"Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)," The Arcade Fire
It's sort of interesting how so many songs seem to remind me of high school and of Tina, my first girlfriend. And yet, when I think about my other relationships (few though they may be), I don't really associate many songs with them. Perhaps that's due to simple math: I was with Tina for three years, I was with Krystal for ten months, and I was with Alexandra for only three or four months. Maybe it's because my time with Tina corresponded with my formative years wherein songs and movies really sunk in and became a part of me. Maybe it's just because you always remember your first, and apparently, everything associated with your first. And along those lines, maybe one only really assigns songs to a first relationship, and after that, there aren't as many "musical interludes." Which isn't a bad thing.

But if I had to link a song to my time with Krystal, outside of a few incidental tunes that remind me of her (she loved Dream On by Aerosmith, she made me a mix CD with some great songs on it), I suppose Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) might be that song...even though it's sort of not. I mean, the song itself has little to do with her and I'm not associating the lyrics with any of our experiences. It's just that the song was recent and in heavy rotation in my car when I was with her, so while I could assign the song to my time with her, I could also assign it to my move to Los Angeles, which happened at the same time. But I do remember a night at her apartment on Staten Island when I was in town for Thanksgiving of 2004 and we were lying in bed, listening to my mix CDs, and I wanted her to hear this song.

Memories aside, it's just a great song, particularly when the singer seems unable to contain himself any longer around 3:41 and the song explodes into a joyful release for the remainder. I listened to this song so many times and, in what appears to be a common theme here, it made me happy. It was so evocative and new...I just fell in love with the song.

Other Favorites From The Arcade Fire: Intervention

For someone who supposedly loved Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) so very much, I can't say that I've really followed the band's new songs or heard much more from them, aside from Intervention, which is also pretty damn great. I should probably try to hear a few more tracks....

"Fake Plastic Trees," Radiohead

Oh hey, it displays the album art! Huh.

Anyway, I debated between choosing something more "off the beaten path" for the last slot and something a bit more well-known and, dare I say, obvious. But really, I think I would have chosen something else only out of a need to seem "cool" and "cutting-edge"...which I'm not. I love Fake Plastic Trees, and even though my list is a bit emotional and/or love-friendly, well, that's a decent representation of who I am. Besides, this is an awesome song, and like the best songs, it's even a bit sad...the common interpretation seems to be about someone (or people in general) who has to be fake to get ahead or make people like them and they hate it. That's pretty tragic. So great melody + subversive/deep lyrics = great song, and therefore, it makes the list. All right, I feel pretty comfortable with the inclusion of this song.

Other Favorites From Radiohead: Talk Show Host, How To Disappear Completely, Exit Music (For A Film), Ideoteque

There are plenty of people in the world who know more about Radiohead and their songs than me, so I'll leave it to them to say what's truly the best from the band. All I know is that I love the above songs. I first heard Ideoteque on the way to the Dallas Airport in the summer of 2003, as my friend Cassie's then-boyfriend was playing it in the car (I was there to work on Cassie's student film), while I can't quite recall the source of How To Disappear Completely...but for some reason, I think of Ashley when I hear that song. Not because of the content, but...was she playing it at some point? Maybe I heard it when I was at Pratt? I don't remember.

Talk Show Host and Exit Music (For A Film) were both used in the 1996 Romeo + Juliet, and while I didn't care for Talk Show Host at the time, I immediately fell in love with the more somber Exit Music. Talk Show Host kind of grew on me, though, and now I like it quite a bit. I would also recommend Creep and/or Everything In Its Right Place, but not as much as I would recommend the above.

So...that's my list. And again, it's such a partial list, really. Not only could many of the "runner-up" songs be bumped up to a favorite (alongside the actual favorite, not in place of), but there are several songs that could be listed as favorites that just...weren't: Eternal Flame, Better Man, Siren, I'll Fall With Your Knife, Yeah! Oh Yeah!, Fix You...even Hanging By A Moment, which used to be a joke, but now I actually love the song without irony. Maybe one day I'll come back and list a few more.

However, any list of favorite songs would be incomplete without the following track. I didn't include it on the list proper because we're talking about actual songs, but the below piece of score is possibly my favorite piece of music ever. Perhaps I'll circle back in a while and talk about my favorite moments from film scores, but the following piece deserves to be on any list of aural favorites, whether it applies or not.

I think my favorite score soundtrack of all time would probably have to be the 1989 Batman score by Danny Elfman. Sure, Elfman's 1992 score for Batman Returns has raced up the charts and probably sits almost next to the original score, but again, the original score wins out because of its, well, originality. Plus, the Batman score hit me during a very formative time in my life and has become such a part of my mental soundtrack...I think the only thing that even comes close to equaling the Batman score in my estimation is the Back to the Future theme (they're probably on par with one another, actually).

And out of the entire Batman score, my favorite moment by far is the Finale: Vicki Vale gets in the car, Alfred informs her that Mr. Wayne "might be a little late," she smiles and coos that she's "not a bit surprised." Then, as the car drives away, the camera ascends above the dirt and grime of Gotham while this triumphant, incredible score plays, and rests on Batman, standing high above the city, watching as the Batsignal gleams against the clouds. (I tried to find a YouTube clip of this, but they all sucked or were from The Dark Knight...damn kids today.) It's a moment that never fails to energize me. I remember when my mom was in charge of the Syracuse University Film Center for a while and I would visit and watch movies in their screening room, I put on my VHS tape of Batman and watched this 50-second piece over and over again at full volume...my mom had to come in and tell me that people were trying to work and I should turn the volume down. So imagine my glee when I watched the Blu-ray of Batman last week and saw the scene in crisp high definition with perfect, lossless 5.1 TrueHD audio...glorious.

Anyway...this is the track. It really starts being "my favorite" at :59....

And there you have it.