Music Shuffle Monday (3.29.10)

1. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" - Green Day
Green Day is one of those bands that I kinda grew up. Their big album, "Dookie" came out in 4th grade and I remember one of my friend's brothers had the album. We would try to sing "Basket Case" but only the friend who's sibling had the CD knew lyrics and told us she'd get in trouble for repeating them, lol... I bought their CD "Nimrod" in Jr. High with my cousin while visiting relatives out in Pennsylvania but tried to hide it from my parents - I didn't think my parents would approve of me owning a Green Day CD back then!

In my 3rd year of college the album this song is on - "American Idiot" - was huge. All the kids I knew had it in some shape or form (I downloaded the songs I liked on my computer and put em on my iPod). I also used the lyrics for one of my Vis Com projects, you can see on my art page. Granted, I don't think this is one of their best albums, but I did enjoy most of the singles off it.

2. "I Don't Care" - Apocalyptica feat. Adam Gontier from Three Days Grace
This is the 2nd single off Apocalyptica's 2007 album "Worlds Collide." For those not familiar with the band, they are a Finish symphonic metal band.

Yes, you read the right: Symphonic. Metal.

And it sounds AWESOME.

Apocalyptica has a great blend of rock/metal instruments with orchestral strings. While they offer many original songs, they also do covers of other well known rock/metal bands and often feature guest musicians on vocals for some of their tracks. I recommend going out and picking up one of their CDs - their instrumental stuff is amazing, I LOVE IT. This was probably one of the best albums of 2007.

3. "The Pot" - Tool
Tool is one of those bands that seems to have been around forever. Their songs tend to be longer but they put so many different dynamics and sounds into them that you don't even noticed that 5+ minutes have gone by. This is the 2nd single from their Grammy winning 6th album 10,000 Days.

The first time I ever heard of Tool was when I saw their video for the song "Sober" - talk about a freaky video! It's dark and creepy with weird little claymation figures. By the time I got to high school Tool released their album Lateralus and I literally could not get away from their song "Schizm" that summer - EVERYTIME I got in my car or turned on the radio that song was on. I'm not even kidding!

I didn't mind Tool - it wasn't until singer Maynard James Keenan and co. did A Perfect Circle as a side project and released the 2nd album that I actually became more of a fan of their work (Thirteenth Step is one of my favorite albums ever), especially the current stuff as it seems a bit more reminiscent of APC than Tool. Now don't get me wrong, the older stuff is good too, but I like the newer stuff better.

4. "Honest Mistake" - The Bravery
I remember seeing this video once in college, late night on VH1, but it wasn't until I found it on my husband's ipod while we were dating that I had to have it too. It's a bit of a different sound and The Bravery never really got big, but they had a pretty neat video, creating a domino effect with dominos and different objects.

5. "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" - The Smashing Pumpkins
This was the closing track to the Batman and Robin soundtrack. While the movie is extremely cheesy and corny and on many lists for the worst movies ever, the soundtrack was actually pretty good. This song also goes along with the soundtrack's opening track, also by the Pumpkins, titled "The End is the Beginning is the End" - while the first track is heavy and fast-paced, this one is slow and unwinding. They compliment each other nicely.