Music To Write Reports To

In a hotel room in southern California last week, I sat in front of my laptop and wrote reports for work while listening to this pretty varied playlist. Be warned. This playlist is all over the damn place (like me). -K

Love Train – Wolfmother
Wolfmother is a breakout band hailing from Australia. This song makes me feel crazy sexy. It’s a marriage of Sabbath riffs, Zeppelin-esque vocals (that I mistook for Jack White when I first heard this song on the radio) and funk. It’s my favorite song that I’ve downloaded this summer.

Bliss – Muse
I read in a 2005 Alternative Press magazine that Muse is the band that all your favorite bands are into. I saw Muse here in St. Louis. It was the first time I went to a concert on my own. Razorlight opened. At this show, I met two guys who were Muse superfans. One of them had traveled from Newfoundland to see them in St. Louis. I love meeting superfans and I loved this show.

Free - Donavon Frankenreiter
In 2004, this song was in heavy rotation on the radio in Melbourne, Australia. One Saturday, my British friend Moo and I took a hike up into the hills surrounding the city. We heard this song a million times on this day, but it didn't matter. This song is so full of good feeling that you can't get sick of it.

Pass It On - The Coral
These guys hail from Merseyside, England. Pass It On's plucky guitar, easy rhythm, and message of acceptance and moving on was a light during dark times for me back in the winter of 2003/2004. The claustrophobia I experienced at work and in Huntsville as a result of an awkward breakup with a coworker was cause for me to climb the walls. To escape the gossip at work I would sit in my cubicle and listen to streaming Virgin Radio. It was on this station that I first heard Pass It On. It is extremely easy on the ears the morning after if you are in the habit of finishing a bottle of red wine every night just to get to sleep. Dark days are gone, but this song remains a remedy.

I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do - ABBA
I love ABBA. When I hear this song, I have vague, but happy memories of red geraniums, German family members, and a sunny garden. Lovely.

Photograph – Def Leppard
I always think of the early days of MTV when I hear this song. It’s so full of hooks! Gotta love it.

Dancing With Myself – Billy Idol
Billy Idol music is ageless to me. This song makes me feel alive just like it did when it was in heavy rotation on MTV in the 80s. Every time I hear it, I want to dance like Molly Ringwald in The Breakfast Club. Oi, sexy!

Thunder Road – Bruce Springsteen
I love this man’s work so much. This may be my favorite song of Bruce’s besides “Racing in the Streets”. On a cold late November night, this song came on while I was driving down the NJ Turnpike heading to Woodbridge, NJ, and I sang every word. Loudly. Bruce has a way of telling stories through song that is unmatched in my opinion. Pianos, saxophones and melancholic story-telling make up all that I love about this artist.

Rocket Queen – Guns N’ Roses
I have always thought that the change in the middle of the song was amazing. When I read Chuck Klosterman’s opinion of this song in Fargo Rock City, I wondered how I could meet this man. I’m here in St. Louis, Chuck. I’m here.

If You Want My Love – Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick is one of those bands that I have fallen in and out of throughout my life. The light in this song has, for me, never gone out.

Snow (Hey Oh) – RHCP
What’s a trip to California without some RHCP? I’m currently celebrating their new release. On a related topic, RHCP’s cd BloodSugarSexMagik was the very first cd I ever owned.

Under Pressure – The Used/MCR
I’m a lifelong Queen and David Bowie fan. I was a little nervous when MCR covered this song as it is a little ambitious. I am really impressed with this cover. For a time all proceeds went to the Tsunami Relief fund when purchased on iTunes. This cover nails it.

Original of the Species - U2
I do my love of U2 no justice with this tiny blurb. I have been a supporter of U2 since the early 80s (I, unlike many hardcore fans, feel that POP was not a disappointment, but a successful and admirable departure). Someday I’ll write about what this music means to me in a proper post, but for now just know that this song is U2 doing it to me again…

Time to Burn – The Rasmus
This band hails from Finland. I wouldn’t have known about them had I not been scouring YouTube for vintage HIM videos months ago. The vocals are a bit strained at times and the poppy production is not always my cup of tea. Their album may at times even sound like a more sinister Backstreet Boys production, but I’m not ready to write them off yet. Their music has a powerful and melancholic sound that makes me think they are almost there…

Don’t You Ever Leave Me Baby – Hanoi Rocks
Before there was Nightwish, HIM, or The Rasmus there was Hanoi Rocks. I hear an influence of the New York Dolls in this song. I first heard of Hanoi Rocks back in 1984 when drummer Razzle’s death in “the” car accident with Vince Neil was reported on the news. This song is not epic or cathartic, but it represents what I like to hear when I just want to get out of my head a little bit and sing along.

MakeDamnSure - Taking Back Sunday
This is an emo band and an emo song (see Emo Memo below), but I love this song.

There Is a Light That Never Goes Out – The Smiths
I have always enjoyed the Englishness of The Smiths. I really think that one could write a paper on their lyrical irony and how this music somehow reflects English society and one’s reaction to living in it. Yeah, no.