9/30/11

The Softer Side of Rock

"Somewhere Only We Know" By Keane is a perfect example of a wondrously elegant rock song, something you don't see that often. The lyrics are catchy yet complex, the piano gives it a lighthearted feeling while the slight vibrato in his voice makes you think this song is not so happy.
"Secrets" by Onerepublic has also been stuck in my head recently. I put it under the giant roof of rock, only because it's not punk enough to be alternative. The violin in this really makes the difference. It's the instruments that you don't expect to be there to make it all the more interesting.
I don't know if this is too weird a tangent, but I'm sure someone will understand: sometimes you gotta let down your hair and listen to soft rock.

Playlist

If I had to choose songs to make a really awesome playlist or movie soundtrack this is what it would be:
Green Day-American Idiot
Foster the People-Pumped Up Kicks
Papa Roach-Kick In the Teeth
Murray Gold-I Am The Doctor (feat. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales)
Rise Against-Savior
Muse-Uprising
Nirvana-Smells Like Teen Spirit
Bon Jovi-You Give Love A Bad Name
Green Day-21st Century Breakdown
All-American Rejects-Swing, Swing

What songs do you like the most? Which ones of mine are your favorite? I always love finding new songs I like and people to share them with.

9/27/11

Live Rock

If you've been a fan of a rock band, you must have seen a concert. And today, I've been thinking about all the great bands who produce almost the exact same music live as they do in the studio. And on the subject of that, I will bring back my strange Asian influenced musical tastes. The band Asian Kung Fu Generation is a Japanese rock group and the song I've chosen (called "NGS") has one of the greatest guitar licks I've ever heard.
See? And that's not the only band. Again, Green Day rises to the occasion. This song is "21 Guns" and they sure do the studio version justice.
Just think about the bands you like and see if they really can play in a concert! Comment with your favorite live songs!

9/23/11

Pandora

Recently I've had a hankering for my Pandora stations. For a while, I was just listening to my Collapse (Post America) station -which by the way is an amazing song: 

-and soon after I started a Holiday by Green Day station and a Wake Me Up When September Ends (also Green Day) station. It was interesting to pick at the songs played on the different stations.
The Collapse station mainly plays really hard rock songs with punk influenced vocals, while the Wake Me Up When September Ends station plays more softer, sad songs with some piano parts.
Now, choosing a song to focus on is extremely difficult, but this week I think it has to be "Wake me up when September Ends" by Green Day. This is a pretty long video, but it's worth every second.

This song just gets in your head and makes you feel. All the lyrics are so interesting, and I hope you watch it all the way through.

9/20/11

Intro

So this blog is all about the music that fuels my life. The kind of music with strong emotion and beats. Yeah, that's right. I'm talking about rock and roll.
Rock and roll was created in the mid-19th century, and has since evolved into many different components. Back in the 60's and 70's, there was progressive and classical rock. In the 80's was the start of the punk, new wave, and alternative scene. But I'm not here to tell you what you already know. This blog's here for modern rock.
Modern rock is, as the name implies, the music that's being created today. You hear a lot of it on DC's 101.1 FM radio station. It's got hard beats, pulsating guitar riffs and killer vocals.