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Appetite for Destruction by Guns N' Roses
Appetite for Destruction by Guns N' Roses
1987 | Rock
7.8 (5 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"The thing about that record is that it had an honesty that rock & roll had been missing. The 80s were a terrible time when guitars didn't sound like guitars and there were drum machines, but then all of a sudden here comes this group, Guns N' Roses who plug in their guitars and just didn't mess around with any fancy stuff. And the songs were undeniable! 'Welcome To The Jungle' is an undeniable song in the same way that 'Satisfaction' has that great riff with the lyrics on top of it. Great lyrics, great imagery, and as soon as you heard that high-pitched voice that harkened back to a Robert Plant-ish approach to singing, which hadn't been heard in quite a while… Well, it still works today. That's got to be coming up to 30 years old, but you put that on today if it was a brand new band, I would say, 'Who's that?' That intro is almost symphonic, and it just defined the band. You hear that song, and then the rest of the album follows through. 'Welcome To The Jungle' is head, hands and feet above the other material. Bands have a few songs that just stand up, you know? You think Thin Lizzy, you think 'The Boys Are Back In Town'. You think the Stones, you think 'Satisfaction'. You think Led Zeppelin, you think 'Stairway To Heaven'. There are just certain songs that, either because of the melody or lyric or the sound of the song, intrinsically say, ""This is what that is"". The only band who doesn't have that thing, just because they have so many god damn good songs, is The Beatles. I don't know if [us influencing them] is the case. We never paid attention to anything. There can be scenes or not and people can be influenced or not, but at the end of the day you are left to your own devices. When you think about it, The Beatles were influenced by Motown, The Everly Brothers, Chuck Berry, etc. but then when you hear The Beatles, it's their own stuff. It's like cooks. Everybody uses salt, everybody uses vegetables, there is nothing unique, but how you mix up those elements makes it yours or not. If you can grab a style, I think it has to do with talent. Everybody cooks, but few people are cooks."

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Ballad Of The Insolent Pup by Thee Headcoatees
Ballad Of The Insolent Pup by Thee Headcoatees
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Bikini Kill was on tour and we went to this club in Brighton under the pier and the fucking coolest looking girls in the whole universe walked in. They were the band, and they just started singing and they were the Headcoatees. They were just the coolest thing and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Then I got the record and really liked their version of the song 'When You Stop Loving Me' that's on that album. I always liked garage rock and I felt like they did it so well – it was the kind of music I could listen to all day and be happy. That record is more about personal stuff and I was getting really burnt out. I don't want to just listen to stuff that's about politics all the time. I want to have my guilty pleasures and I'm not feeling guilty about finding them pleasurable. They made me think I want my music to be enjoyable, not just hard all the time. I want there to be moments where it's like: "This is really fun." I always say Bratmobile was a better band than Bikini Kill, partially because I had that anger to propel me forward and also protect me, whereas they have this sort of, "Hey we're at this summer party and we don't care that you don't even know what a summer party is, fuck you." It was like they were having a summer party on stage and I'm invited. They would literally get up, just Molly [Neuman] and Allison [Wolfe] before Erin [Smith] joined the band, and just sing stuff like, "Girl germs, no return", like childhood rhymes. They're doing it in a room full of predominantly men who are, like, Melvins fans and I was just like, "Man, that takes fucking guts." I heard people in the audience say, "I want to do this and this to the singer, we should fucking murder them" and meanwhile I was having my life changed: "This is the most incredible thing I've ever seen." I use that in my performance partially based on them and I definitely saw their vulnerability as a strength instead of a weakness. I wanted to be able to flash between characters that were very traditionally female and have a macho persona as well, so I try to have both and not just be like the Henry Rollins of riot grrrl."

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Wonderful Wonderful by The Killers
Wonderful Wonderful by The Killers
2017 | Alternative, Indie
Alternative rock band The Killers are back in business with their 5th studio album, Wonderful Wonderful. The lead single off this album, “The Man,” was an instant hit with me. I remember thinking to myself when I first heard it on the radio, “This would make a great choice for an ESPN promo song during football season.” Sure enough, once the 2017 NFL season was underway I heard the song playing during an episode of ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown. Are those good instincts or what?
 
Anyways, going back to “The Man,” if you haven’t yet been struck by the contagion of the song you are missing out! The lyrics are so puffed up and arrogant, they’re simultaneously ridiculous and fun to listen to. Altogether, the song’s fast-paced, high-energy style reminds me a lot of “Move” by the band Saint Motel. It is the perfect song to listen to if and when you need to get pumped up for something.
 
Okay, enough about “The Man.” The 9 other tracks on The Killers’ latest album are all worth listening to as well. The second most energetic song on the album, “Run For Cover,” addresses domestic abuse; another track, “Rut” focuses on the struggles of PTSD; “Tyson vs Douglas” echoes the shock that lead vocalist Brandon Flowers felt after watching Mike Tyson get defeated for the first time in the memorable 1990 boxing match. The songs in this album are all so different from one another both message-wise and sound-wise, and that’s part of what makes Wonderful Wonderful one of the best albums The Killers have released. Fun fact: In one of the songs, “Some Kind of Love,” Flowers has his 3 sons doing backup vocals near the end…how cool is that?