Ah, it's so good to see Death From Above 1979 back. After 10 long years, they finally released their second album. It looked for a long time that they were going to join the "One Album Club" but kissed and made up a few years ago. It's good for music that they're around, because they are a kickass band who do hard garage rock better than most. And "Government Trash" is Death From Above all over. It's a song that packs serious punch, and it still feels crazy to think that they're only a two person band, they make so much noise and it's just bliss. This song kicks ass big time and I love playing it when I feel like putting on something to headbang to.
Welcome to the Top 10! These ten songs are very important to me. They may not all have the best lyrics, but man, they all sound good. They all get my head noggin, get me singing the lyrics, and make me feel like pressing the repeat button (not that I do). I just love these ten songs and I hope you like some of them too. If you like the respective genres (usually metal) and have not heard these songs, give them a listen. If you like the songs, you’re welcome. Let’s get down to it.
#10. “This is the New Shit” – Marilyn Manson
Released: 1/9/03
Album: The Golden Age of Grotesque
I said it before and I’ll say it again. Manson had a shit decade. I can’t see the next one being any better, I really think he’s lost it. He’s lost the magic he once consistently possessed to make quality metal tracks. But Marilyn Manson is the only artist to get two songs into my Top 10. Kudos to him.
This was his last brilliant song. I absolutely fucking love “This is the New Shit”. From the first ever listen; I fell in love with this song. It’s just great. The “babble babble, bitch bitch, rebel rebel, party party, sex sex sex and don’t forget the violence” hook is just awesome. The chorus is good too. This song lyrically, is about the fact that Manson is done being Anti-God all the time, and wants to explore different horizons lyrically. He did just that but his music waned in the process. But not with this song, it is just a piece of magic. As I said, Manson in the late nineties had the magic on a consistent basis but in the early noughties he started to lose it. Now it feels it’s pretty much disappeared. But still, this song is just so catchy, it’s hard to dislike it.
#9. “Knights of Cydonia” – Muse
Released: 13/6/06
Album: Black Holes and Revelations
Listings: Best Videos
Where to start with this song? “Knights of Cydonia” was at the time, Muse’s most overdramatic Queen-inspired song (until they made United States of Eurasia, that’s for sure). Queen-esque or not, it sounds great. From the first strums of that guitar to the last, it sounds brilliant. The video only adds to the song. On its own, you can really hear Matt Bellamy’s similar guitar playing to Brian May, and his vocals at times are very comparable with Freddie Mercury. But there’s enough of Muse’s own talent in there to make it more than good. It’s brilliant. It’s difficult to go into why it’s so good; it’s one of those songs that more than speaks for itself. “Knights of Cydonia” is my favourite Muse single and I don’t know if it will be beat in honesty.
#8. “Keine Lust” – Rammstein
Released: 28/2/05
Album: Reise, Reise
Listings: Best Riffs
If people aren’t familiar with industrial metal and want a taster of what it’s like, I’d definitely point them in the direction of “Keine Lust”. This song, in my humble opinion, is perfect to introduce people to the world of industrial metal. Not only is it a brilliant song with a good video, but it’s also got a very simple and heavy riff. I love the riff for this song, it’s not the most complicated, but it just sounds amazing. You get the feeling that it would vibrate the floors if you blasted it in a club (I’ve not heard it in a club yet, which is a shame) and it’s just deliciously heavy. The familiar machine-guitars are perfect to introduce people to the sound of industrial metal.
#7. “Romantic Rights” – Death From Above 1979
Released: 4/11/04
Album: You're a Woman, I'm a Machine
Listings: Best Riffs
I said it before and I’ll say it again, the noises that are made from the bass in this song are just unbelievable. I’m so happy to know that they’ve got back together as I hope to hear more songs like this. I love listening to this song, it’s just one of the most amazing things I’ve heard. The song itself is great too, the drummer is very good and the chorus is nice and catchy. But it’s all about the riff man, it’s all about the riff.
#6. “Only” – Nine Inch Nails
Released: 25/7/05
Album: With Teeth
Back when I did actually review songs, a silly idea I had back when I was 13 or 14, I actually gave this song five stars. It was the only song I have actually given a perfect score to. At that time I was basing it on the sound of the song, the lead singer’s voice, the lyrics, the value as a single release and the music video rating. I gave it full marks on all of them. I don’t review songs now in that format as I think it’s a bit pedantic, I think all songs have different purposes and all those purposes progress to the full album, in which as a piece of work is worth rating.
Anyway, I gave this song full marks because I believed it was perfect. I still maintain that opinion today. There’s not a flaw in this song. It sounds awesome, it’s so funky, the lyrics are fantastic, the song deals with the selfish, paranoid perspective that the world revolves around the narrator of the song and everyone else are there to support him, like a main character in a story. It’s a brilliant story, and Trent sings it in a fantastic way, very reminiscent at times to Talking Heads. I believed it was the perfect choice for a music single and the music video is absolutely phenomenal. It was between this music video and Starfuckers in terms of what I chose for NIN and this narrowly lost out. Anyway, “Only” for me is a brilliant song, and is perfect in terms of what it’s trying to portray.
The next five songs aren’t “perfect”, but I like the sound of them more. As I said I’m not rating songs anymore, it’s a bit too silly for me. But as we’re approaching the top 5, I just thought it’d be good to explain that this list is simply based on the sound, I love listening to these songs, possibly more than any other songs in the decade. So let’s do this.
#5. “Down with the Sickness” – Disturbed
Released: 31/10/00
Album: The Sickness
When I think of angry metal heads feeling sorry for themselves I always imagine this song. The lyrics are woeful, they truly are. “Drowning deep in my sea of loathing” is definitely a contender for worst lyric ever. But you accept that, you make an exception for the lyrics because the song sounds so good. The buildup in the start is one of the best intros of all time, in my opinion. You know exactly what song is about to play when you hear those drums. And while the “Don’t do it again, don’t do it again” can make hard hearing sometimes, the rest of the song just really sounds fantastic. It’s a true metal anthem and is always played in clubs; it’s one of the biggest metal songs of the decade and was a contender for an entry in the unbiased list.
#4. “Y’all Want a Single” – KoRn
Released: 4/10/04
Album: Take a Look in the Mirror
A very catchy song that, because it wasn’t one of the first releases off the album, doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. This song has one of the catchiest hooks of the decade, “Y’all want a single say fuck that, fuck that, fuck that”. It’s just so simple yet so effective, anyone who has not heard this song and likes metal really should sample it. KoRn don’t often go for simple in their metal songs, yet I think if they did it more often they’d be even more successful than they are. This is possibly their simplest song and it just kicks so much ass. Seriously, give it a listen.
#3. “Disposable Teens” – Marilyn Manson
Released: 7/11/00
Album:Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)
Disposable Teens was definitely the best Manson song of the decade. The debut track off his Holy Wood album, Disposable Teens mixes a riff reminiscent from “The Beautiful People” and merges it into the new millennium. It’s just a quality song, a brilliant guitar riff and Manson’s vocals are great. The lyrics are pretty damn good too. Disposable Teens is one of Manson’s finest efforts but it does say it all that it was released on the cusp of the decade, it’s better than stuff he released later in this 10 year period but not quite as good as the stuff in the 10 years prior. But it’s still a fantastic song, extremely catchy, and Manson in his prime.
#2. “What?” – Rob Zombie
Released: 6/10/09
Album: Hellbilly Deluxe 2
This was the first major album I reviewed when I started doing this site again. The album came out in 2010 but this single was released in 2009… thank fuck for that! This song is just epic. It’s possibly my favourite Rob Zombie song, it just sounds so good, I love that very simple riff, and Zombie’s vocals are just brilliant. If people are debating whether or not Rob Zombie can still cut it today all they have to do is listen to this song, it’s as good as anything he has ever released in his entire career. I apply that rule to Hellbilly Deluxe 2 as well, that album is almost if not as good as Hellbilly Deluxe 1. Rob Zombie is back baby!
#1. “Bodies” – Drowning Pool
Released: 5/6/01
Album: Sinner
And that brings me to my #1 single of the decade. “Let the bodies hit the floor, let the bodies hit the floor, let the bodies hit the floor, let the bodies hit the… FLOOR!” It’s just fantastic. It’s one of the catchiest, coolest, most ass kicking songs of all time. Drowning Pool have never bettered this song and they never will. It’s just a song that when you think about all the ticks that are needed for a song to kick some ass, this ticks the lot. It’s a fantastic metal anthem, and it’s a song that will be played in metal clubs for a long time. You can put it up there with any metal song from the nineties and eighties, and it’d sound fantastic. Everything is perfect, for a metal anthem. The brilliant hook “ONE, nothing wrong with me, TWO, nothing wrong with me, THREE, nothing wrong with me, FOUR, NOTHING WRONG WITH ME!” It’s just unbeatable.
I did have some struggle in terms of struggling to come up with this list. I found it harder to do the biased list than I did doing the unbiased list. Choosing your favourite songs is a difficult process, and I think I did myself justice here. I’m proud of this list, it’s got songs that are well known, and songs that aren’t. But every song means something to me, every song kicks ass, in my opinion. I hope you all find something in this list and think, “I like that song”. An even bigger bonus would be choosing a song on here that you previously never heard and then like. If I do get you into any band or song in this Naughtie series, please let me know, it’ll make my day.
Oh yeah, this award goes to you, Drowning Pool, congrats!
Also, I thought I'd put this in Mixtape form. The caps are simply, I want at least one song from each year, and no more than one song per artist.
That’s the end of the biased listing. But on Thursday, the big one begins. 100 days, 100 music singles. I’ll be counting down the unbiased listing, one at a time, explaining why I think the 100 songs chosen will be remembered as greats in this decade, and any decade after it. I believe the 100 songs you’re about to see, shaped up the decade, in rock and metal. I hope to see you back here then. Have a good night.
Here we are, Part 11 of the Noughtie series. In chapters, this is the halfway point of the series, but the last two parts are going to be very long, so in days, we're no where near finished! Anyway, here's an interesting listing for you, where I talk about my 10 favourite guitar riff songs. This isn't to say they are the best, but that I love them the most. These are different riffs with different sounds, a nice variety. If you're a fan of the guitar, and have not heard some of these songs, I'd recommend you give them a listen. I've got six videos for six of the entries below, for ease. Anyway, let's go!
10. "Hash Pipe" by Weezer
As I said, I didn't claim best, but favourites. I love this riff, and I love the "uh" noises that work with the riff too. Hash Pipe is a cracker of a track, it's my favourite Weezer song. The video is good too. Weezer really did shine with this song, it's a shame it's not as popular as other tracks by the band.
9. "Bad Things" by Jace Everett
Yes I'm a True Blood fan. It's pretty much guaranteed that you are if you've heard this song before. I love the guitar in this song, the first guitar strums that bring you into the song, the guitar solo, everything. It's a killer track. Not a True Blood fan? Never heard this song? Here it is below:
8. "Beast and the Harlot" by Avenged Sevenfold
If you're a metal fan, I'd be amazed if you've not heard this song. It's featured on Guitar Hero 2 as well. The entire song, the guitars are just brilliant. I love the main riff as well, it's some great work by this band. I don't really know what else to say, apart from shame on you if you've not heard it!
7. "Shinobi vs Dragon Ninja" by Lostprophets
I don't claim to be a huge Lostprophets song but one thing is for sure is that they really got hold of a killer riff with this song, a riff that hasn't even come close to being rectified. While they're off trying to keep up with the emo bandwagon, this song remains as awesome as ever, remaining their best song, probably not going to be beat anytime soon.
6. "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes
Chances are, this is the most memorably riff of the decade. If this was an unbiased list, I'd probably place this at number 1. It's just so easy, so memorable, it just clicks. Jack White can play very difficult guitar riffs, he's a phenomenal guitarist, yet how ironic that his most famous song will be one of his simplest riffs?
5. "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" by The Queens of the Stone Age
I'd put the music video up... but it's NSFW. So this is just the song with the album cover in the background. The riff from this song is another simple one but fuck me, it kicks ass. Not as much as the guitar riff at 1:02 mind. That is a ridiculous piece of guitaristry (new word, if it gets into the dictionary I'd like you to at least credit me for it) right there. I love this song so much, it's one of my favourites by this fantastic band.
4. "Grounds for Divorce" by Elbow
This song was a sleeper hit on me. I never really paid much attention to it when it came out. Then it got put on some adverts and I kinda thought it sounded cool. Then not too long ago, I remembered it and started playing it a lot. Man, this song really kicks ass. The riff is just gorgeous, and pretty much serves as a chorus for the song.
3. "Keine Lust" by Rammstein
This is probably the heaviest riff on the listing. Being a huge fan of industrial metal, the guitar riff in this song will just blow your ears off with those machine guitars. The song is about a premonition for the future, when the band retire they'll just become lazy and fat. The video for this song represents this and is fantastic, with the band all huge and fat (apart from the keyboard who apparently doesn't eat much). It's great. Anyway, the riff for this song is just fantastic, as I said, if you like industrial metal.
2. "Romantic Rights" by Death From Above 1979
This is one of my favourite songs of the decade. You will see it very high in the biased Top 100 list that will be posted later on in the series. If you have not heard this song, seriously, listen to the song below. Yes, that's a base. That's a fucking base. How the fuck is he making that noise with a base?! It's just amazing this song, it truly is. I love the guitar in this song, I love that riff. It's so innovative. I told you in a previous listing that they have reunited, I really hope they make more songs like this, it's just awesome. By the way, I can't actually find the music video on Youtube, if you have it, let me know. They have "the making of" but not the actual video. What's up with that?!
1. "New Born" by Muse
It's hard choosing one Muse song it really is. I was close to choosing "Knights of Cydonia", but the main riff from this song just pips ahead. Man, the guitar riff on 1:04, is just, in my opinion, one of the best guitar riffs of all time. My ears just melt when I hear it. There's a reason why Matt Bellamy is considered the decade's best guitarist, this song being one of them. Say what you want about Muse, but there's no denying the talent Matt Bellamy has as a guitarist. Sorry, it's just not even under dispute.
I hope you enjoyed this listing, paying homage to some of rock's best guitar riffs. If there's songs on here that you've not heard before and like the sound of, you're welcome. So, what are your favourite guitar riffs of the decade? I'll be back on Thursday, starting off the second half of the decade mixtapes, with 2005.
Welcome to Part 10 of the Noughtie series. This is the fifth Mixtape, celebrating the year of 2004 in rock and metal. 2004 was, in my opinion anyway, a big turning point for the decade. Emo was starting to rise. It wasn't quite here officially yet, but it the roots were sown by now. Here are the Mixtape rules as usual.
A Mixtape is a playlist of a certain genre, band or era. The list is generally 80 minutes long, the same length of a blank CD, with further recommendations if some of the songs aren't to your taste. Remember kids, downloading is wrong!
Without further delay, let's look at my favourite songs from 2004!
The Unnamed Feeling - Metallica
Y'All Want a Single - KoRn
Hotride - The Prodigy
Roses - OutKast
She Wants to Move - N.E.R.D.
Mosh - Eminem
Mass Destruction - Faithless
Reptilia - The Strokes
Butterflies and Hurricanes - Muse
Pressure Point - The Zutons
Processed Beats - Kasabian
Massachusetts Murder Medallions - Kill Kenada
Hey You - The Exies
Two Timing Touch and Broken Bones - The Hives
Fever - Pink Grease
Rise of the Eagles - The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
Beating Hearts Baby - Head Automatica
Michael - Franz Ferdinand
Romantic Rights - Death From Above 1979
Don't like some of these songs? Try these five:
Step Up - Drowning Pool
Banquet - Bloc Party
My Band - D12
(s)AINT - Marilyn Manson
Wanna Be That Way - Ikara Colt
So those songs represent my favourite singles of the year 2004. It wasn't my favourite year but some good songs did come out. I shall be back on Tuesday for an article dedicated to the guitar and it's wonderful noise.
Hey there, Part 5 is here, if you haven't counted there's 22 parts to the Noughtie series, with the last two being very long. Don't you just get all nostalgic, when you reminisce about artists of yesteryear, that just disappear, then you remember them again? I hope that some of these artists you remember, some more than others just because they were more popular. Below are 10 bands that have disbanded since the previous decade. They all had different amounts of success and decided to pack it in for different reasons. Let's go through them now.
10. The Darkness
This is definitely one band I'm happy that have gone, although there have been rumours they may get back together. This band is probably the most popular on the list, for frustrating reasons. I hated The Darkness, yet so many people loved them, they loved their stage antics, their apparent charm, their Queen-thieving guitar riffs and their catchy songs. However their gimmick ran short, their second album was a major flop. Since then they have disbanded, and ex-lead singer Justin Hawkins has attempted and failed to stay in the mainstream music eye, with his attempts at Eurovision and newer band Hot Leg both ending with little success. Personally, I hope they don't get back together but I'm sure a lot of people disagree.
9. The Distillers
It's arguable that The Distillers were a band as lead singer and main guitarist Brody Dalle pretty much wrote every song and there were consistent line-up changes. The Distillers were a punk and hard rock combination, that had some decent success with such hits as "Drain the Blood" and "City of Angels". Brody's harsh vocals were the distinctive element in the music. As time went on from the sounds of things Brody Dalle just got fed up and disbanded her own band. She then formed a relationship with Josh Homme, lead singer of The Queens of the Stone Age, and had a child. Not long afterwards she formed a new band called Spinnerette, a band with a completely different sound and direction (I prefer Spinnerette to The Distillers by the way).
8. The Ordinary Boys
Indie band The Ordinary Boys fronted by Samuel Preston rose to fame in the mid noughties with their hit "Boys Will Be Boys". They didn't really follow that up with anything and Preston resorted to appearing on Celebrity Big Brother to keep interest in the band. It worked, as they re-released the song afterwards and it got to #3. They had a few other singles that got relatively high up in the charts, before disbanding in 2008. No reason has been given for the disbanding, but you can imagine it's something along the lines of the band getting fed up of Preston's consistent obsession with the media life. He's apparently releasing a solo album sooner rather than later.
7. Zwan
When Billy Corgan disbanded The Smashing Pumpkins, he wanted to go in a new direction with a new band. He decided to take artists from a load of different bands and make a band that played softer, less dark music. Zwan released their first and only album in 2003 with very little success. They finished their tour and immediately disbanded. Zwan unfortunately were more popular after their disbanding than before, only because of the constant bickering between band members after the split. Billy Corgan hasn't held any punches, calling the ex-members "dirty", and accused certain members of doing sex acts with each other in public, and with the producers girlfriend. Where are they now? Well Billy Corgan has reformed The Smashing Pumpkins. The other members have split into different projects too.
6. American Head Charge
American Head Charge was part of a huge melodic metal surge from the late nineties, including other bands like System of a Down, Slipknot, Mudvayne, Rammstein, Kittie and Static-X. Their biggest hit is arguably "Just So You Know", a decent song from 2002. They released a lot of material and toured with a lot of successful bands. In 2005 the guitarist died of what seemed like an accidental prescription drug overdose. After that, they released one more CD/DVD combo of live an unreleased material before officially disbanding in 2009. The reasons were that the lead singer didn't have the heart to continue his music career. It's not confirmed that this is because of the death of the guitarist mind. Very little information is around about the other band members and what they're doing now.
5. Wolfman
Remember Wolfman? No? Remember the song "For Lovers"? Possibly? The main chorus was "this is for lovers... running away..." Remember now? If so, I bet that brought you back a bit. The song was released in 2005, by Wolfman and it featured Pete Doherty of The Libertines and Babyshambles fame (as well as many drug-related crimes). The song got to #7 in the UK charts and was very well received by critics. It even won an award for the songwriting. But who is Wolfman? I can't find anything about him anywhere. He doesn't even have a Wikipedia page. The song "For Lovers" does, but there's nothign about him on there at all. When I do a Google search, I find nothing, as there are many music related search results to do with the term Wolfman, either songs with the word in, a soundtrack for a film, and this song in music video and lyrics form. But nothing on the man. Or is he a man? He might actually be a Wolfman for all I know. Where is he now? Haven't a fucking clue.
4. Ikara Colt
Ikara Colt were a little indie/art rock band that released two albums in the early Noughties. Their two most popular songs were off their second album "Wanna Be That Way" and "Modern Feeling" (two songs I really like). They had some minor success with these hits and had a cult following. They disbanded in 2005 however, very abruptly. They have said that the reason they split is because they want to end their music career young so they aren't remembered as a band that went too far and got old. Fair enough, but it's a shame as they had some talent.
3. Death From Above 1979
Death From Above 1979 are a two-piece band that released some EPs, one album and a remix album in the early Noughties. They were a unique act, with no lead guitar, they depended on the noise of their base and synths. And what a noise it was. The noise made from this band was huge, it was a really loud sound, hard to describe really. Their only major hit was "Romantic Rights", and all I'll say about this song is that it's one of my favourites of the Noughties. But there were problems, and they disbanded officially in 2006. These problems seemed very serious, as the man behind the bass and synth, Jessie, claims that they only finished their final tour for financial reasons for the good team behind the band.
Note: A very frustrating note too, a few weeks ago they announced they are reuniting. I compiled this list before the news came out. Apparently they are doing a festival gig in April. I don't know if it's a one off appearance of if they're officially reuniting to make more music. I hope the latter, although for the purpose of this listing it annoyed me!
2. Jerk
Jerk are an Australian band that my ex-girlfriend got me into. They're not too dissimilar to Marilyn Manson, but that being said I still like them. They only released the one album in 2003 that did okay in Australia. God knows how my ex knew about them because they never broke the UK and barely touched America. They had a song (Sucked In) on the video games NHS 2004 and Need For Speed: Underground, so fans of those soundtracks might have heard of them. Other than that they didn't get that far out of Australia. They disbanded in 2004, but some of the artists reformed into another band named Ink, that have barely surfaced.
1. The Union Underground
This band is the reason I'm writing this listing. I loved this band. A lot of metal fans loved this band. I got their only album not long after its release. It's still one of my favourite albums. Their two most popular songs are probably "Turn Me On Mr. Deadman", which is still played in clubs sometimes today, and "Across the Nation", which was the main theme for WWF/WWE Raw in the early Noughties. After releasing their only album they released a live album and disbanded. There's no news about why they split at all. The band has now split in different directions, the most successful being the bass player John now playing with Disturbed, one of the most successful metal bands of the decade. It's just a shame because I really loved this band, and wish/wished that they would bring out more material. But it's not the way of the world unfortunately!
So there we go, 10 bands (or 9, thank and fuck you Death From Above 1979!) who have disbanded in different ways, for different reasons. All bands that were a part of the last decade. Will any of them reunite? Are there any other bands that you'd like to mention that you wish got back together, that disbanded in the last 10 years? Comment below if you want. Have a good night.
