Music Shuffle Monday 01.10.11

It's the return of Music Shuffle Monday!

I know, I know - I've been slacking a bit on this one lately, but it's a new year so let's give it another go!

1) "Over the Edge" by Zebrahead

This is off their "big" release MFZB which came out in my early college years. I first heard it working late at night at my college's newspaper as one of the guys would bring in this CD as well as the latest Lucky Boys Confusion CD and we'd often listen to them back to back as they were similar sounding bands. It wasn't a bad CD - a lot of the songs were catchy and it grew on me and I went out and got myself a copy. Feel free to check them out - their songs range from college pop-rock to a little heavier.

2) "Perfect" by The Smashing Pumpkins

There's something about the older Pumpkins' music (pre-break-up/failed "reunion") that I can't help but like. A lot of it's really pretty and melodic - Billy Corgan's vocals work great with the music and you can usually find a song of theirs you like or can relate to. Like many, I came in towards the middle, after the release of Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness and bought the rest of their albums until the break-up. To be honest, I'm kinda sad that Billy's attempted to put the band "back together" and tour/record under the Smashing Pumpkin's name but with a different line-up - it's just not the same! Gimme the band with Billy, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlain and D'arcy (or even Melissa Auf der Maur if you must).

3) "My Life Would Suck Without U" performed by the Glee cast

I thought this was a really fun rendition of the Kelly Clarkson song and was also a great tune to end the 1st season of Glee on a positive note with. For me, the Glee songs are hit and miss - some I really like, others... ugh. But in this case, the was a good one, or at least I thought so!

4) "House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals

Ah, a classic! Growing up as a kid in grade school I was only allowed to listen to Contemporary Christian music, Adult "Lite Rock" and The Oldies Station as my parents didn't think most of what was on the Top 40 stations was appropriate for kids my age (and who could blame them - my mom freaked a little bit the first time she heard my 6 year old self and best friend singing Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy" lol...). Usually we ended up listening to The Oldies station as I liked the music on that channel more (the songs were catchy!) and it took my parents back to when they were growing up. For some reason, given the subject matter of this song, I've always liked this one, even though I used to get it confused with the "Li'l Red Riding Hood" song by Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs as instrumentally they sound similar!

5) "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" by Michael Jackson

Not my favorite MJ song, but it's definitely a must-have for anyone's Michael Jackson collection as it was his first big single as a solo artist. Growing up, we 1st went to Disney World when I was 4 and at Epcot they were playing this 3D movie - Captain EO - starring Michael Jackson. We went and OMG I fell in love with him and was convinced I was going to marry him when I got older, the fact that we shared the same birthdate even convinced me more that it was meant to be and I would gaze at my Captain EO poster we hung my playroom, imagining what it would be like! lol... ah to be young again! I guess you could say MJ was first real celebrity crush - my parents had Thriller on vinyl and made a cassette tape so I could listen to it on my little brown Fischer Price tape recorder... I listened to it so much they ended up taking the tape from me as they didn't think it was healthy for a 4 year old to be listening to it as much as I was (ah, the start of my minor obsessive personality problem, lol... I have this bad tendency to get hooked something and become near obsessed with it for awhile!)