Music Shuffle Monday 01.17.11

1) "Just A Girl" by No Doubt

Ah, back to the year of 1995... I remember this song - No Doubt's first BIG hit - came out when I was in 5th grade and the "We Play Anything" station had it in regular rotation. I remember getting the Tragic Kingdom CD and rockin' out in my bedroom, using a hairbrush as a microphone! Ah, those were the days! Gotta admit, I long for the Tragic Kingdom days of No Doubt - I never really "dug" their more reggae or new wave sound they had going on some of the later albums. Hopefully with them getting back together they'll get back to their ska/punk/rock roots and give us another awesome album like Tragic Kingdom!

2) "P5hng Me A*wy" by Linkin Park

This is off their remix album Reanimation. As an original LP fan who loved their major debut Hybrid Theory (I bought it the week it came out), I was originally disappointed with Reanimation but some of the tracks - this one included - grew on me. Unlike the Collision Course album they did later with Jay-Z, this one fuses tracks from Hybrid Theory and other older LP rarities with a more electronic element to it, not to mention various other artists contributed to the different song remixes too.

3) "Salty Dog" by Flogging Molly

I was introduced to Flogging Molly, an Irish punk band, back in college by my roommate. I don't know too many of their songs, but they're a good ol' Irish band that really gets ya in the spirit of St. Patricks day blending the quick pace of punk music with traditional Irish instruments! It's pretty awesome!

4) "Whenever, Wherever" by Shakira

I remember when Shakira broke onto the US scene when I was in early high school. I'll admit, she looked pretty hot in her music video for this one and the song was pretty catchy!

5) "Every New Day" by Five Iron Frenzy

In summer 1999 I went to the weekend long Christian music festival Cornerstone in Bushnell, IL. It included a lot of the more popular Christian rock and contemporary bands as well as a lot of smaller unknown ones (including Tasty Snax - the former band of Linkin Park's bassist Phoenix - yes, I met him at their merch booth!). One of the highlights for me at the festival was getting to see Five Iron Frenzy during a midnight show at one of the tents. I was pretty big into ska at the time but wasn't too familiar with Five Iron Frenzy despite hearing they were pretty good. I got lucky too as they we were recording parts of their live album there that night too and got my name listed in the fan section of the credits. Seeing them perform - including this song - was such a great experience and anytime I hear this one (live or studio version) as well as other songs they performed that night it takes me back to skanking around with other ska music lovers late that night as the entire crowd got into the performance.