Music Shuffle Monday 07.19.10

It's baaaaaack! Sorry for the lack of this feature the past... month! I took a week or 2 off of it and then the whole problem with our computer and power supply caused me to put most of the weekly features on hold. But behold - Music Shuffle Monday is back!

This week I thought I'd change things up a bit from the norm, as I'm not sure where I put my iPod, so we'll be using me and hubby's joint iTunes collection (on shuffle) instead!

Here goes!

1. "The Only" by Static-X

I think I've shared before (and if not, now you know) that Static-X is probably one of my top favorite bands EVER! Some say they're rock, some say they're metal, some call them industrial, others call them something else... they label themselves as "evil disco" which I find amusing as clearly they're not disco, lol... Static-X is currently tied with Powerman5000 for band I've seen the most times (3 times each) and I've been fortunate to catch Static-X at the House of Blues Chicago each time (which is my FAVORITE venue ever!). They really do put on a great show - the lights are almost hypnotic, Wayne Static really knows how to get the crowd going and I just have such a fun time EVERY time I see them live! This song off their 3rd album, Shadowzone, which I bought used at a used CD store with my ex - even though we shared it, I paid for it so therefore it's technically mine and it was my first actual Static-X CD (I had burned copies of the previous 2 albums). To be honest, I wasn't sure if I liked Shadowzone, as it was as heavy and driven as the first 2 albums were, but it grew on me - it was a bit different, but in a good way. I have to admit though, The Only is probably the only song on the album like it - it's very clear that this was solely a radio track to market the new album, as the rest of the album sounds very different (in a good way) from this single. Eventually Static-X went back to the heavier, driven sound, this being their most "mellow" album, but it's still a good album in their discography (which I love every album of it!).

Also, if anyone wants to make (or knows of anyone who can make) a Wayne Static plushie for me, I will <3 you soooo much - it's gotta have the giant straight up whiteboy 'fro and his superlong braided gotee and come with a little plush guitar too. Thanks!

2. "Sweetness" by Jimmy Eat World

I'm not really one for most "emo" bands, and to be honest, I think Jimmy Eat World was really one of the first to start the whole "emo" trend in music, but this song and their other big hit "The Middle" were pretty big near the end of high school and so naturally I bought the CD... and only listened to those 2 songs as I wasn't too fond of the rest of the album. To be honest, these guys aren't really that emo... compared to the emo bands of today! I think anyone my age may have a little bit of a fondness for JEW, as it does remind me a little bit of the end of high school.

3. "Stop Me" by Mark Ronson

Near the last half of college I got into techo/dance a little bit, thanks to Dance Factory 92.5 based out of Chicago and our college town picked up a bunch of stations from both my hometown and Chicago. Managing the theater in the evenings til close, we had a boombox in the office and 92.5 was one of the channels we could actually get to come somewhat clear and in the evening it went from a "we play anything" channel to Dance Factory, so I got hooked at work and proceeded to switch over to it sometimes at night while driving home. This was one of the songs that got regular airplay at the time. A fun fact about it - Mark Ronson is the (I think older) brother of Lindsay Lohan's former gal-pal DJ Samantha Ronson. I haven't actually heard any of Sam's stuff, but I'd like to think she learned from her brother, in which I kinda like this song of his.

4. "Healing to Suffer Again" by Hatebreed

Not gonna lie, I think this one of hubby's tracks, as I never really got into Hatebreed... unless a friend gave it to me in college and I never actually got around to listening to it! Either way... I haven't heard much Hatebreed and I'm unfamiliar with this song, which is off their album Perseverance. They sound like a heavier, early Atreyu with the scratchy screaming vocals (but less pukey sounding like Atreyu's were on their early albums!). He sounds pretty angry too... and the song's over. Not even 3 minutes, okay then! Next!

5. "The Scientist" by Coldplay

I never really heard or got into Coldplay until I heard this song and saw the video my freshman year of college. My roommate at the time knew the song and said it always made her sad. To be honest, from an art perspective, the video for it fascinated me, as it was shot completely in reverse - it was one of those videos at the time that you just couldn't help but watch, as everything is like in rewind! So neat! I recall reading somewhere that singer Chris Martin had to learn the song backwards too so in the video, while he's lip-syncing, it matches up - that's loco!