My dog, Bear, lays next to me every time I sit down to write posts for the site. He is my faithful companion and it would feel weird writing anything if he wasn’t there. Well, the other day Bear told me he wanted to contribute to the site. At least that is what I thought he said because some times he stutters when he barks and I get things messed up.
Bears has compiled a list of his favorite songs. I hope you enjoy them.
“Hair of the Dog” by Nazareth (1975): My mom was a bitch!!
“Black Dog” by Led Zeppelin (1971): Okay, I am brown dog (red merle actually), but still a bad ass song.
“Diamond Dogs” by David Bowie (1974): Diamonds are a dog’s best friend too, especially around the collar.
Lifehouse has been around since 1999 when they were known as Blyss, but it was their debut album under the name Lifehouse in 2000 that made them stars. The album was ‘No Name Face’ and the song was “Hanging By a Moment” that brought them to my attention. They have quietly been releasing albums ever since and now have 7 studio albums.
I think part of my enjoyment of the band is due to Jude Cole. One of my all time favorite albums is by him called “A View From 3rd Street”. Jude has been producing and writing songs with them for most of their career (around 2005) and that has shown through in the maturity of the songs and albums.
They finally released a greatest hits compilation back on July 14th, 2017 and it was pretty good as it had 18 tracks. However, it was missing several songs that are better than some of the ones on the compilation. So I figured why don’t I do a deep dive and give you the non-singles I think are the best. I hope you enjoy. They are in no particular order except my #1 favorite song is the last one on the list!
I’m honored to have been nominated by fellow blogger Jeff Archuleta at Eclectic Music Lover to participate in the ‘My Very First Post’ challenge. I don’t normally do these little things and just stick with my normal schedule, but I figured it is Jeff and one of the first bloggers that followed me, so I owed him that much.
I created my music blog on April 17th of 2016 on the encouragement of my lovely wife. She felt I needed an outlet to talk about my passion for everything music. I love all types of music, but so far my focus has been in the Rock, Pop & Christian genres. I will crossover into other areas if something moves me. I do album reviews, playlists, artist spotlights, song spotlights and talk a lot about my vinyl collection that I started as a result of this blog. A lot of it focuses on my family as well and what they might be listening to and concerts we might see.
Now when I started my blog, I had 10 posts that day and they didn’t pop up in the order I wrote them. The first one I wrote was a Matt Nathanson Artist Profile, but what posted first was my Road Rage Playlist which is what I will repost here as it shows as my first on the site. I hope you enjoy.
Here are the rules for this challenge:
No cheating. (It must be your first post. Not your second post, not one you love…first post only.
Link back to the person who tagged you (thank them if you feel like it or, if not, curse them with a plague of crickets).
Cut and paste your first post into a new post or reblog it. (Either way is fine but NO editing.)
Put the hashtag #MyFirstPostRevisited in your title.
Tag five (5) other bloggers to take up this challenge.
Notify your tags (don’t just hope they notice a pingback somewhere in their spam).
Feel free to cut and paste the badge to use in your post.
Include “the rules” in your post.
Please feel free to participate. Of course, there is no obligation (and I dont’ think they will do it anyway)! I nominate the following bloggers to participate:
Everyone gets Road Rage at some time in their driving life. It is unavoidable. Sitting in Atlanta traffic or even Charlotte traffic now can raise your blood pressure. And how many times have you just wanted to ram your car right into the asshole that just cut you off or rode your bumper. I have too many times to count. When I get that feeling, I have a playlist that I have to put on that will let me just vent my frustration and anger. Maybe you can try it out.
Five Finger Death Punch – “Under And Over It”
Texas Hippie Coalition – “Turn It Up”
Rev Theory – “Justice”
Rob Zombie – “Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown”
Hollywood Undead – “Been to Hell”
Red – “Release the Panic”
Filter – “We Hate It When You Get What You Want”
Adrenaline Mob – “Psychosane”
Disturbed – “Ten Thousand Fists”
Five Finger Death Punch – “Mama Said Knock You Our (featuring Tech N9ne)”
Yes, I have to start and end it with Five Finger Death Punch. Why wouldn’t you??? When this is finished playing, I feel so much better and you will too. What are your Road Rage songs? I am always looking for more.
It is time for the Top 20 Songs of 2016. My previous post, if you missed it, was the Top 20 Rock Songs of 2016. Go check it out by clicking on the link. These 20 songs are all other genres other than rock. Some were popular and chart toppers and others were not. They are my favorites, that touched me in some way.
20. “24K Magic” by Bruno Mars off the album ’24K Magic’: Ok, I love this song. There is something about Bruno that I enjoy. It is what you come to expect from Bruno and that isn’t a bad thing. Very catchy and makes you want to dance.
Everybody wants something for Christmas. There are a bunch of albums I would like to get on vinyl so if anyone is feeling generous, the new Motley Crue ‘The End’ Box Set would be nice. My kids keep telling me what they want for Christmas despite the fact I keep telling them it is too late to put in new orders as Santa already has decided what they are getting. Plus, Mommy and Daddy are done shopping.
Musicians are no different. They want a lot of things for Christmas. What do they want you ask? I will tell you what they told me when I asked them. Here is what they said…
Huey Lewis & The News – “I Want A New Drug” – I think someone has a problem!!
2016 has seen it’s share of tragedies with Musicians. I know each year there are a lot of musician’s that pass away, but for some reason this year seems to have taken quite a few from us. Now that the year is almost over, I have updated the list to include musicians that have passed away in the last few months. I started this back in April/May. Hopefully that will be it for 2016. Let’s hope 2017 doesn’t bring more of the same.
In memory of all the artist we have lost so far this year, here is a playlist so we can remember the gift of music that they left us that will live on forever.
David Bowie – January 10th, 2016: David Bowie just released his album, Black Star, two days earlier on January 8th (his birthday). He had so many great songs and it was really hard to choose. I chose “Modern Love” as that was the year I really started obsessing about music. The year was 1983 and his popularity was on the rise again. It was that song that made me know who he was and made me go look at what he had done in the past. Since that time, I have been a fan.
It is Thanksgiving time here in the States and I definitely have a lot to be thankful for. In celebration of this wonderful Holiday, here are a collection of songs about giving thanks or at least things we should be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving to you all and thank you for taking the time to stop by and check out the blog. It is much appreciated.
“Thank You For Loving Me” by Bon Jovi off the album ‘Crush’. If you have that special someone, make sure to tell them Thank You for being a part of your life and for loving you for you. If you don’t have that special someone, I love you!! So you are welcome!!
“Give Thanks And Praise” by Bob Marley off the album ‘Confrontation’. Actually not a bad way to start everyday by giving thanks for waking up and giving praise to our maker.
After spending 3 straight days at Disney last week, I can say it is definitely a magical place. At the same time, it is the scariest of places. With the Magic Bands, Disney can track your every move in the park. They know where you are and what you are doing at all times.
There were two instances where we got freaked out. The first was at the It’s a Small World Ride. When we were coming into the last section that has the Goodbye signs in different languages, there was a Monitor that flashed Goodbye and named each member of my family. How did they know we were on the ride and in that spot at that exact moment? We did not use our magic bands when we entered the ride.
The second instant happened at the Be Our Guest Restaurant. We did have reservations, we had placed our lunch order online, and we did check in, however, they told us to pick any seat available in the restaurant. We went and got our drinks and silverware and found a table. Nobody came to our table to see who we were or get a name. A few minutes later, a very nice lady came up to the table with all our food. Again, how?? Obviously the magic bands are how. They are tracking you always with whatever chip is inside the magic bands.
Each week Apple Music creates a playlist for me of songs they feel I will like called “My Favorites Mix”. This week they did a really great job of picking those songs. There were 25 songs and 1 hour & 32 minutes of magic. Here are the songs:
“Parasite (feat. John 5)” by Ace Frehley – Origins Vol. 1
“You’re In Trouble” by Ratt – Out of the Cellar
“Tobacco Road” by David Lee Roth – Eat ‘Em and Smile
“My Woman in Black” by Scorpion Child – Acid Roulette
“Outta My Way” by Talisman – Cats and Dogs
“Monster You Made” by Pop Evil – War of Angels
“Under and Over It” by Five Finger Death Punch – American Capitalist
“Fiddler’s” by John 5 – Songs for Sanity
“We Could Run Away” by Needtobreathe – The Heat
“Rudebox” by Robbie Williams – Rudebox E.P.
“Stay the Night” by James Blunt – Some Kind of Trouble
“No Apologies” by Bon Jovi – Greatest Hits – The Ultimate Collection
“Professor Satchafunkilus” by Joe Satriani – Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock
“Lighter Shade of Green” by Alcatrazz – Disturbing the Peace
“Start Me Up” by the Rolling Stones – The Complete Collection 1971-2013
“Something More” by Train – Drops of Jupiter
“Invisible Touch” by Genesis – Invisible Touch
“Run to You” by Bryan Adams – Reckless
“Bring It On Home” by Dread Zeppelin – Un-Led-Ed
“One Thing Leads to Another” by The Fixx – Reach the Beach
“Suicide Blonde” by INXS – The Best of INXS
“Sure Know Something” by Kiss – Dynasty
“Save A Prayer” by Duran Duran – Greatest
“Let’s Dance” by David Bowie – Best of Bowie
“Hollywood” by Collective Soul – Afterwords
When I gave this a listen the first time, this playlist put me in a great mood. I hope the new playlist coming up on Wednesday is as good as this one. Go to Apple Music and give it a listen at this link.
With the release of a new single, “This House is Not For Sale”, and a new album coming soon, I had to go back and listen to Bon Jovi all over again. In listening, I started really enjoying the deep album cuts the best as the singles have been so over played over the years.
Despite the shortcomings of their last few albums, I am and will always be a fan. Even with all the crap going on between Jon Bon Jovi & Richie Sambora. Bon Jovi, in my opinion, is not Bon Jovi without Richie Sambora.
Anyway, here are my favorite Non-Single tracks in no particular order:
“Blood on Blood” off New Jersey: If there is one thing Bon Jovi was always great about was telling a great story in the their songs. This one is my favorite. The story of brotherhood & friendship. I have always dreamed about taking this song and turning it into a novel and exploring what would happen if the main character from the song actually did get that “call in the middle of the night”. The video is a live version of the song, but go back and listen to the album version to capture all the emotions.
There were two instances where we got freaked out. The first was at the It’s a Small World Ride. When we were coming into the last section that has the Goodbye signs in different languages, there was a Monitor that flashed Goodbye and named each member of my family. How did they know we were on the ride and in that spot at that exact moment? We did not use our magic bands when we entered the ride.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 