Category: My Sunday Song

My Sunday Song – “Excuse Me Mr.” by No Doubt

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For My Sunday Song #407, we get to Harrison’s next pick with “Excuse Me Mr.” by No Doubt. The song was the fourth single of their massively successful album ‘Tragic Kingdom’. The album that broke the band in to the big time. The single was released on August 21, 1996 and reached #17 on the U.S. Alternative Charts and #11 in New Zealand. The album itself, with the help of this song on the other singles, went to #1 on the charts and has sold over 16,000,000 copies worldwide with close to 10,000,000 of those in the U.S. alone. A rather successful album and song which was written by Gwen Stefani and Tom Dumont.

The song appears to be about a man that the girl is interested in, however, he doesn’t seem to give here the time of day. The old story of two people that have known each other for years where one likes the other, but those feelings are not reciprocated. Unrequited love. She keeps waiting, but he isn’t ever going to come around. 

The song starts off as pure Ska and Gwen spits out those lyrics fast and frenetic with her signature high pitched little squeal that she has. So much confidence in her delivery. The song is upbeat and at a crazy speed with a barrage of drum hits from the wild Adrian Young, a slamming bass by the master Tony Kanal. Midway through the song, the music changes to more like a Dixieland big band sound with an almost circus quality which I think is to represent the lunacy of the girl waiting around for this guy to like her. A brilliant little twist to the song. The sounds of this song is what No Doubt was at heart rather than the pop sound that would come later.

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My Sunday Song – “Dance Along The Edge” By Concrete Blonde

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For My Sunday Song #406, we tackled Concrete Blonde’s “Dance Along the Edge”. Harrison’s pick takes us back to 1986 and the band’s debut album called ‘Concrete Blonde’. The song was the third single from the album and released in 1987. It was written by singer and bassist Johnette Napolitano. The album went to #96 on the Billboard Charts and brought the band in to the spotlight. I remember when they came out, but honestly, there were not what I was in to back in 1986 as I was in to much harder and heavier bands and not the alternative stuff of the time.

The song is a pretty powerful statement about relationships how we dance along the edge of issues within the relationship and never communicating with each about them in fear of hurting the other person or the relationship crumbling. The fear builds up and makes it all that much worse. You’ve seen relationships fall apart before and don’t want it to happen to you. You are happy and in love with the person, but the lack of communicating is ruining everything.

Johnette has crafted a really cool track. She lays down a great bass line that is the driving force for the song. There is a darkness and moodiness to the song as the bass drips with sadness. The guitar work is minimal from James Mankey, but the riff is really cool and accentuates the song perfectly. The drum beat from Harry Rushakoff adds more texture and flavor to the song. But the shining point is Johnette’s vocals. They are sensual yet a tinge of grit that blends so well together. She sings with so much feeling and so little effort that she makes it sound easy. She puts the right amount of sadness in to the words you feel the couples emotions and understand what they are going through. A really nice track.

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My Sunday Song – “Lord of Light” by Iron Maiden

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For My Sunday Song #405, we have Harrison’s next pick of “Lord of Light” by Iron Maiden. The song is off their 2006 album, ‘A Matter of Life and Death’. The song was not a single, but after listening to it, it easily could’ve been despite it’s over 7 minutes in length. The song was written by Adrian Smith, Steve Harris and Bruce Dickinson. The album itself, went to #9 in the U.S. Billboard Chart and #4 in the UK and #1 in Germany and several other countries. 

The song has a very dark, disturbing view point…at least disturbing to me. Bruce Dickinson had this to say about it…

Just imagine there was a whole range of places between Heaven and Hell and that you got to pick, and that Lucifer is, in fact, the ‘lord of light’ downstairs, which is kind of what his name means. And all this stuff about the vengeful, eternal God wagging his finger and punishing you is all just a load of PR nonsense.” – Bruce Dickinson

It is an interesting viewpoint to take and one that would make you think really hard about it especially on a Sunday. The lyrics lead me to believe that is truly what the song is about as there is talk of Lucifer by name and hell and demons. If you could pick where you go, why would you ever pick hell, but I guess there are a lot of evil people out there.

The song itself, starts of slow with an acoustic guitar and it is all dark and a little eerie. Bruce, softly speaks the lyrics and it makes it quite haunting. Then the guitars come screaming followed by Bruce at full voice. He does have one of the best metal voices out there. Nicko McBrain’s drums are pounding with an electric intensity. It goes soft again, almost gentle as Bruce softens his tone again. It builds and then the explodes out with a guitar solo that will leave you holding on for fear life. It is a wild ride of riffs and shredding with a barrage of gun fire drumming. Then it is full on solo with fiery fingers flying over the frets. You are out of breath when it finally ends. A killer song even if it is something I don’t want to think about.

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My Sunday Song – “Run Like the Devil” by Tony Martin

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For My Sunday Song #404, Harrison has chosen “Run Like the Devil” by singer Tony Martin. The song is off Tony’s 2022 solo album, ‘Thorns’, which was his first solo album since 2005’s ‘Scream’. The song was written by Tony Martin and Scott McLellan who plays guitar on the song (and the album). The former Black Sabbath singer really brings the metal on this song and the album. 

The song’s lyrics are dark and foreboding, while the music is heavy, and fast and little brighter. I am not sure the actual meaning behind it, but for me the song speaks of the evil that is always lurking and poking at you. You have to rise up, fly away and get away from it as fast as you can. Stay ahead of all the evil out there and do great things. If you make the wrong choices, it will hold you back and you will die, withering on the vine.

Musically, the song is really close to speed metal and it will crush your soul with the heaviness of it. Tony’s vocals soar at times as he races through the lyrics to keep up with that tempo. And he can still hit those crazy high notes. The drums are fast and frenzied and fabulous. Their bombastic strength is the driving force behind the song. Scott’s guitar work is lightning quick and he definitely shines on here as well, I mean just listen to that solo. The song is a super-heavy blistering track that shows how Tony is so good at what he does.

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My Sunday Song – “1633” by Blaze Bayley

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For My Sunday Song #403, Harrison has chosen a song from one of his favorite singers, Blaze Bayley. The song is “1633” off his 2010 album, ‘Promise And Terror’. The song wasn’t a single, but is a main force to the album. Blaze wrote the song and is the lead singer. If you don’t know Blaze, he was on Wolfsbane and for short time, he was lead singer to Iron Maiden. If it wasn’t for Harrison, I don’t think I would’ve ever given Blaze much thought, but I have found a few things I like including this song.

The song appears to be about Galileo who believed in Copernicus’ theory that the earth was not the center of the universe and it in fact revolved around the Sun. In 1633, The Catholic Church condemned and put Galileo on trial for this viewpoint. According to the song, Galileo’s sight and abilities were given to him by God so how is it offensive to God. I love a song that educates as well as entertains.

The song starts off with a beast of a bass line and that bass line is the driving force of the whole song. The guitars are heavy and nasty and deliver a driving rhythm. Blaze’s vocals are solid and I like the way he handles that chorus. The song can be a little repetitive, but it doesn’t get bothersome. In fact, it makes it a little catchy and after a few listens, you are all in. The end brings the bass back hard and heavy and the guitars and drums become explosive. Blaze does just that and blazes through the lyrics, almost rapping to a point. Then more guitar work to take us out. A real beast of a song.

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My Sunday Song – “To Hell And Back” by Sabaton

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For My Sunday Song #402, Harrison’s next pick is from the power metal band Sabaton. The song is “To Hell And Back” off their 2014 album ‘Heroes’. The song was the first single off the album and has become one of the band’s most popular songs. It was written by lead singer Joakim Broden and bassist Par Sundstrom. The band thought he was nuts to do this song, so Joakim took and used it as inspiration to make this song great. Joakim has stated he is most proud of this song.

“To Hell and Back is about Audie Murphy who was the most decorated soldier in the U.S. from World War II. The song is about his battle with PTSD after the war and inspired by his own poem called “The Crosses Grow on Anzio” from Audie’s book ‘To Hell And Back’. Some of the lyrics even quote the poem. It is a great story about his struggles after witnessing all his friends and fellow soldiers that were killed during battle.

The song is done as a cross between heavy metal meets spaghetti western a la Ennio Morricone style per Joakim. The song has a folksy feel to it and has a lot of keyboards that sort of sound like flutes. It breathes a fresh life in to the song. Joakim’s vocals are great, no screaming, but at times very chant like. There is a great guitar solo included albeit a little too short. The song is catchy and there is a familiarity to it that will get you singing along after just one listen. I have never listened to Sabaton and was surprised by how much I enjoyed this song.

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My Sunday Song – “A Night To Remember” By Slade

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For My Sunday Song #401, we are starting another 10 picks and this time the choices are coming from our Aussie friend, Harrison Kopp. Harrison has been a friend of the site for years and he co-hosts Grab a Stack of Rock along with Michael Ladano who picked the last 10 songs. We kick off this set with the song “A Night to Remember” by the band Slade. The song is from their 1981 album ‘Till Deaf Do Us Part’ and it was not a single which is a shame as it totally kicks ass…wait, I’m spoiling everything. Oh well, you can read on if you’d like.

Like most rock & roll songs, this is pure sexual innuendo. It is about sex and a night that they will both remember as they explore each other’s bodies and go at hard all night. Lines like “Oh, I know, if you’re ready for me, my hot rod’s ready to burn” and “I’ve bin savin’ my skin machine for you” are both pretty self-explanatory. If you can’t read between those lines, well, I’m afraid you’ll probably never have sex. Sorry, but it’s true.

The opening is bombastic and explosive. The energy is electrifying and you can feel the sexual tension about to explode. Noddy’s vocals are superb and if you want to know who sounds like him, easily Kevin Dubrow from Quiet Riot (hmm…those two have a history together I believe). The guitars are a fast, the drums are deadly and the bass is laying down a groove. You hope the sex doesn’t go as fast as the tempo or she is going to be sorely disappointed. I love the keyboards at the end as they don’t show prominently anywhere else in the song but here and it adds a new texture to it like maybe they are done with their night and this is them relaxing, smoking a cigarette afterwards.

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My Sunday Song – “The Age of Darkness” by The Darkness

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For My Sunday Song #400, we end Mike’s Choices with The Darkness’ “The Age of Darkness”. The song is from the 2021 album ‘Motorheart’ and the song is a Japanese Edition Only track as all of Mike’s picks have been. And a great run of tracks they were. This one is different. I will leave it at that and explain more as we go.

The song is not the typical Darkness song. The themes of the lyrics is a cross between Assassin’s Creed, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and King Arthur and any other song about Knights, dragons, castles and the like. The lyrics are full of humor and it is all done in good fun and for a good laugh, but at the same time, it is really great in it’s own sweet way.

The vocals are not Justin as you’d expect…nope. This is Dan Hawkins, his brother and rhythm guitarist. His vocals aren’t falsetto like his brother, he has a much deeper, grittier tone. He almost speaks the lyrics…okay, he does speak the vocals. And yet, he does them perfectly. The music is dark, ominous and pure metal with a Tenacious D vibe as well as Sabbath so it is to be taken seriously and not at the same time. If you like Medieval Times, then this song will be right up your alley.

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My Sunday Song – “I Am The Best You Can Get” by Hollywood Monsters

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For My Sunday Song #399, we are to a song and band I was completely unfamiliar with. The song is “I Am The Best You Can Get” by the band Hollywood Monsters. The song is the Japanese Bonus Track fro their album ‘Thriving on Chaos’ and was released in 2019. When I saw the lineup of this band, I knew all the players. It was Steph Honde on vocals, Glen Drover from Megadeth on lead guitar and Alexis Von Kraven also of Megadeth on drums. With this line-up you know then this is going to be one heavy ass song. And you’d be right.

I’m not a 100% sure the meaning behind these lyrics, but for me it seems that the person is going insane and the insanity has taken control of this person. The song is from the insanity’s point of view and he keeps telling the person that the insanity is the best you can get it. When it doesn’t it need him anymore, it will let him die I guess. It is a dark song no matter what it really means. This is how I’m looking at it and makes it most interesting for me.

Mike has this to say about the track…“Always a surprise when the Japanese bonus track is one of the highlights.  The heavy, thumping “I Am the Best You Can Get” slays!  “Heavy” is an understatement!  Vocalist Steph Honde goes from scream on the verses, to growl on the chorus.  The droning chorus is the best part!  This one features (Canadian) Glen Drover on lead guitar and Alexis Von Kraven on the relentless drums.  The Japanese CD even comes with a printed interview with Steph Honde – though I cannot read Japanese!” For me another best part is those drums. When Alexis hits those skins, it reverberates throughout your body. You can feel every beat. Mix that drum beat wit Glen’s guitar licks and this is a beast of a song. And kudo’s to Steph for giving every ounce of his voice to this one. His relentless screams convey the darkness of this tune. Great stuff.

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My Sunday Song – “Straight Down the Line” by Shaw Blades

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For My Sunday Song #398, we are to the next Japanese Bonus selection in Mike’s Choices. This time around we have the song “Straight Down the Line” by the band Shaw Blades. This short lived band of two great friends consisted of Night Ranger’s Jack Blades and Styx’s own Tommy Shaw. The boys were also part of the supergroup Damn Yankees. This song was written by both and was the Japanese Bonus track on the stellar debut album simply titled Shaw Blades. Later, Tommy did include it on his album 7 Deadly Zens but with Kevin Cronan on backing vocals instead of Jack (and that is the one I have the video for…sorry).

The song seems to be about a woman Tommy loves but she doesn’t love him back. She is out trying to find herself and that one thing to complete her and they are all dead end roads like a trip to Mexico, voodoo, a new age guru, being a Hollywood Star. When she looks in the mirror, I don’t know if anyone is looking back. She seems empty. He still loves her and hopes she’s thinking of him and will come back to him. He believes she’s the one for him. I hope she finds herself. She reminds me of Jenny and Forrest Gump.

What does Mike have to say about the song…”Straight Down the Line” is the gem.  It’s the fastest song of the whole bunch, upbeat but light, and a blast in the car.  Tommy’s intricate little lightning fast guitar hook is a tasty delight.  Tracks like this are why collectors really seek out Japanese imports.  They are their own rewards.” And he isn’t wrong on his view of the song. There is a light, upbeat feeling despite the sadness in the lyrics of this lost go trying to find herself. The guitar work is great and it is such a catchy, airy song. I will have to go crank it in the car and see if he’s right about it being a blast. I have a feeling he is!

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