#one of the most beautiful anthems i've heard

[lanceinwonderland]

It looks like the US is gonna abandon Ukraine. Yet again. How could anyone trust their "security guarantee" really ever again? I'm not exactly surprised yet still so disappointed.

Boy oh boy that's not even to mention the West (esp the US) has been supporting another occupying force - Israel - while claiming to stand for rules-based order for ages.

If you want to completely lose hope in humanity just follow international politics. Guaranteed that you'll get there in a few days at most.

[sepetajmikolikomehoces]

I seriously do not know how to make this coherent. I think if we just dive in not expecting it, it won't feel so disjointed.

This was one of the most magical weekends of my life, by far the best one this year so far and I think it will hold up pretty damn well in the long run. I am so, so happy that I didn't end up selling my Saturday ticket, despite it being an upper level seated ticket. I was afraid I'd feel very removed and that the view would be obscured, but it was all but.

Like that is pretty dang good.

Didn't queue for overly long either day, and met some really, really lovely people. If you feel like you at any point talked to me, hi, hello, I am so happy to have met you!!

Openers were really good, I enjoyed both Pilvet pilvet and JC Stewart, and I hope to hear more from both in the future.

Saturday's setlist was a bit of a shock, ngl. No ASTP? No NGVOT? No Barve?? On the other hand: my soul ascended during the Gola opening and I was very emotional during Vem da greš. It's been an anthem for me since last fall, and getting to experience it live, even from my seat, was just... yeah. A Lot. We'd gotten folded paper butterflies to hold up if they played Metulji and it was one of the most beautiful renditions I have heard of it, with Jan on the piano, Bojan singing and a sea of paper butterflies floating. I could be wrong, but Bojan seemed a bit taken by the whole thing in a positive way.

I had maybe had a feeling that Everybody's waiting would be a song that would come into its own right live and it definitely did. This weekend really made me fall even more in love with it, and though Bojan was clearly nervous about it, it was nice to see a bit of humour around the performance, with Jan having to help play the intro notes.

The two new songs they premiered on Saturday were such bangers, I have not been able to get them out of my head. Between Šta bih ja and Bluza, I am leaning more towards Bluza. There is something about it that gives me the same kind of emotional response as Vem da greš, but they are both going to be on heavy rotation, the sound is just... chef's kiss for both.

I know there had been a lot of hype and expectations re: Käärijä and the possibility of him doing a song with them. As much as it would have been fun, I'm actually happy he didn't, and simply got to enjoy the show as a spectator. Getting Häärijä as Hojan was more than enough, I think I pulled something laughing so hard.

We got the band out for a second encore (after Carpe Diem and Novi val), and they did Šta bih ja again, and it made my heart so fucking happy to see them so excited and bouncy.

For Sunday, I had early entrance, and let me tell you... when Bojan announced they were soundchecking ASTP... my soul left me, I was fucking LEVITATING. Getting NGVOT with Kris after that (following a very random rendition of Ring of Fire by Bojan) was just perfection. I also completely froze when Jure came over and talked to the girls in front of me. Like I fully just glitched, couldn't make myself speak, couldn't make myself take a picture, just stood there like the personification of bluescreening. That sunshiney fucker has too much power.

They switched up the setlist for Sunday and as sad as I was at losing out on Vem da greš up close, I felt more than happy about instead getting Barve oceana and Padam, as well as another new song. Setlist said it was called Schlager, Bojan said it might be named Behind Those Eyes OR Galaxy of Me, so it's going to be fun to see what they settle on finally. Either way, the song was a whole damn vibe, and I hope people going to the rest of the tour will get to enjoy both these and other new songs.

Padam had me up in my feels HARD. Again with Jan accompanying on the piano, it was just a really raw and intimate rendition that hit me right in my soul. I've had "Zdaj padam in padam, a me bo kdo ujel?" on my letterboard at home for the last two months, and hearing this line... ooft, my heart.

Having seen recordings of Novi val live is NOTHING compared to experiencing it live. It is one of the best songs out there and the chorus hits me every. single. time. There is something so sweet and gentle about the setup of it, Kris on guitar, Bojan singing and the rest of them just enjoying the moment, taking everything in.

I think the thing that I'll ultimately cherish the most is the easy atmosphere, the connection the band had with the audience, and the fact that I got to be there and that I got to do all of this with friends. This weekend has been a beacon for me since they announced it and since I got the tickets. Going to a JO gig has been on my bucketlist. I got to cross that off and have so much fun while doing it, and you can bet your fucking ass I will try to get tickets to Ruisrock this summer.

[insufferable-prettyboy]

I want to talk about @mothercain 's body of work for a moment, specifically in relation to the profound affect it has had on me during the last few years. I don't really know if this is for anyone but myself, tumblr has always been a place I can just sort of throw things out into the void when I have nowhere else to say it, besides what is a tumblr blog but a place for yourself.

TW if you do read it i'm going to talk about uncomfortable and personal things so i guess don't if you don't want that. I suppose this is a review, maybe it's just a way for me to just talk about how important these pieces of art are.

I grew up in rural england, in a controlling home with an abusive christian mother and a very mentally ill atheist father, at Christmas we would go to rural wisconsin to see family. My only escapism was tumblr, porn and substances.

In 2018 my father died of an untreatable illness at the age of 47 and two days after the funeral I went into hospital for mtf gender reconstruction surgery. I was a little late to the party with the the discography and like many I didn't really know about it until Inbred. I have gone back and listened to the earlier works and they have been beautiful and touching, but the thing that makes Inbred, Preacher's Daughter and now Perverts so special to me is how they have shadowed my life as I have dragged myself through and back out of my downward spiral.

Inbred came to me at the worst part of my drug addiction. I had been using substances as a coping mechanism and was at the time still living as a woman. There was something that touched parts of me about the lyrics, the music, but most of all the way it seemed to take influences from everything I hold dear musically. Classic rock, The darker more introspective atmospheric black metal, the hymns i would sing in choir as a child in church. It reminded me of how i felt the first time I heard natural born losers. It made me feel ok to be fucked up and ok to be a mess, it made me feel like i wasn't a monster for wanting nothing more than to get fucked and be fucked up and then when I started to realise that I was in a bad place, it helped me through getting off drugs and moving out of the warehouse i lived in back into a real house. It's anthemic, there are songs that make you want to sing at the top of your lungs in the shower, or dance in the kitchen while you're cooking eggs.

I first listened to Preachers Daughter while riding home from work on my Harley, a bike which was the only thing I had gotten from my father's death, a consolation for mother refusing to let me have dad's bike in favour of it sitting and rotting in her garage. I'd gotten into a habit of listening to music while riding because the commute was boring and it stopped me riding like an idiot to make it more interesting. I had always been a very feminine boy prior to my transition and one of my major reasons for it was that I had always leant to that side of things. Post my surgery I had lost so much of myself that i had begun to dress as masculine as I possibly could in order to counteract the way my body was changing in a way that I hated, I couldn't look even look in the mirror.

When i heard western nights, and the words "He's never looked more beautiful, On his Harley in the parking lot" rattled around the inside of my helmet I pulled over to the side of the road and cried for the remainder of the album because I exactly in that moment realised that I had made a mistake with my transition, that I had listened to everyone else instead of myself and that I had tried so desperatley to push down who i was that it was easier to be a woman than it was to accept being a fem gay man. I have listened to that album regularly through my detransition period and it has been a friend to me as i've worked out how to love myself and push through this awful period of regression to find out who I really am and what my life looks like now. The landscape of the album reminds me of rural america, it reminds me of rural england, it is the essence of long open roads and sleazy dive bars and roadside diners in your own company. It's perfect to drive to, to lie in bed smoking to, to work on your motorcycle to, the tonality and instrumentation is a masterwork in minimalism and I cannot stress enough how hauntingly beautiful I find it.

I listened to Perverts for the first time today, I have been putting it off because I knew it would make me feel something. I knew it would awaken a feeling in me. It has been sat in the corner of my conciousness since it's release like the monster in the back of frame in a horror film. I don't know if I was ready to hear it but it was exactly what I needed to hear. Perverts has come into my life in a time post breaking up with my fiance of multiple years, where I am craving intimacy without love. A time where I have been trying to lift myself up and have been taken advantage of in my vunerable state and pushed back down again. Perverts it's a natural flow forwards in the body of work, it moves back and forth between being horribly uncomfortable to listen to, and being one of the most warm and comforting things I feel as though i've ever heard. There is a familiarity that has run through all of the releases as Ethel Cain, there is a warm sepia toned polaroid photo of a living room with a stained rug that sits in the background of all of these works in my head that feels very comfortable to lie on. The space that was there in the previous releases has on occasion been filled with harshness and repetition of pain, and sometimes allowed to breathe and bring comfort. I know that I will listen to perverts a lot this year, I know that it is a piece of art that will need to be heard multiple times to truly let it sit with you. On my first listen I couldn't even make it the whole way through without pausing it and taking a break, to me that is the hallmark of good art, It should make you feel deeply and loudly and aggressivley.

I don't know why i wrote this. I think more than anything, I felt a compulsion to. I needed to talk about how important and insane I feel having had these records hit me at such massive milestones in my life and be exactly what I needed.

If you haven't listen to these records, take some time, make some space and do it, I feel as though you will find something of yourself in there that maybe needs to be perceived. I guess this was more of a thank you note than anything else.

[1asbrightasthestars3]

Let me tell you something I think everyone without exception needs to know.

Quick backstory, me and my friends decided to do presentation night, which means each of us will make 3 presentations about topics that we will choose.

I chose, the love of my life, Louis Tomlinson.

And I decided to have a bit of fun with that.

So I made a quiz called "Louis Tomlinson or Shakespeare."

The quiz is about quotes from William Shakespeare, the brilliant playwright and poet from the 16th century & from Louis Tomlinson, the man and the legend.

Going into this presentation I was aware of Louis' writing skills, and I know and have known for years what a lyrical genius he is, BUT.

I wanted to make it as confusing as possible for my friends and for that to work, I had to take the greatest (not the song) Louis Tomlinson lyrics.

And I think I just fell a little more in love with his lyrics. e.j

"pour, mercy, mercy on me, set fire to history, I'm breaking my own rules, I'm crying like a fool. Tall stories on the page, Short glories on the fade, I've been close enough to touch, but I never cared for love." STARTING OFF REAL STRONG,

and then we have the pre-chorus: (which I do hope to get tattooed later in life.)

"it's a church of burnt romances, and I'm too far gone to pray, it's a solo song and it's only for the brave"

And this not only being a literal piece of literature it's also very clearly, to me at least, and sorry for assuming, a queer anthem. Referencing the religious perspective on it, specifically the Catholic/christian opinion on it.

And then of course we have got the chorus.

"if the truth tell, darling, you fell, Like there ain't enough dying stars in your sky. It's a tall tale, and it's only hello, hello, no goodbye."

Which is actually perfect in my eyes. After that we have the second verse.

"pour mercy, mercy on me, I'll fall upon my knees and they'll say 'i told you so, Come on when you know, you know.' "

Which, help me god, once again sounds very clearly like a queer anthem, this time referencing the family/social circle of the person.

Then we have the rest of the second verse which is not only the most heartbreaking line I have ever heard, it is also the quote I meant to use because it reminded me of a popular Shakespeare quote.

"All the lonely shadows dances, from the cradle to the grave. It's a solo song, and it's only for the brave."

Do you understand what I'm talking about now? This man is THE poet of the century (you can also add Taylor swift to the list, the woman is a genius.) And I don't think you can even begin to understand he said all of these things UNDER TWO MINUTES??

anyways I just wanted to share my love to Louis Tomlinson and I hope you can listen to him in the future if you haven't, and continue to listen to him now if you have. Because I only spoke about 'Only the brave' but his songs are the most poetic, beautiful thing I have heard. (Yes there are songs about him having flings and taking drugs but don't everyone?;)

So there's a list of my favorite Louis Tomlinson songs that I think you should listen to: Copy of a copy of a copy, the greatest, change (this one!!), angels fly, two of us (about his late mother, bless him), walls, bigger than me, too young and basically the entirety of two his albums 'Walls' and 'Faith in the future.'

Thank you for listening to my rant! ~L

[meadow-dusk]

favorite song at the moment?

hi. you know what, it's been the same answer for three+ years and I hope it always is.

more under cut/ got personal

I've written posts of paragraphs about this song so many times, and nothing I can come up with holds a candle to what Neil conveys in three simple verses (not to discredit the power of the harmonica interludes...). But for old times' sake, I'm going to update it because I just had to write a letter to my future self as an assignment, and this song once again pulled me out of a headlong spiral.

The first time I heard this song, I could tell it was something very special. Despite the crazy crossroads my own life was at, I challenged myself to try to summarize its message, just to document it in time. My takeaway went something like, "if I can believe that the natural world is worth protecting, then, as a part of the natural world, why aren't I worth it?"

Since then, the deeper truth has revealed itself to me over and over, not only supporting my initial interpretation but grounding it more deeply in faith and trust. I needed to hear that message at that time. And every time I listen to it now, every time I scramble to play it with shaking hands, I drop everything I'm doing for ten minutes and just let it sink into the tissues of my being because what the hell else am I supposed to do? It's gotten me this far. The method can't be argued with. It is literally my self-preservation anthem.

Never in my life has a song been so important to me. It transcends the role music can play in one's life. Less of a decoration in the fabric of time and more of a mantra: "Don't judge yourself too harsh my love." I sometimes scoff when he says that line. I sometimes push back against the lesson and have to listen again, to let it sink in. If one listen doesn't smother the demons, a second ought to knock them out cold (or just help me get to sleep). Whether I'm down on myself or the state of the world, "Natural Beauty" covers all the bases and wraps it up cleanly in the most relatable way, the closing song on my favorite album by my favorite artist. I protect its right to being my favorite song because of this history, and because it feels made for me, simple proof that sometimes we are given what we need.

[rainbowsky]

Happy International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia

This has been a very distressing year of increased crackdowns on queer people and queer identities globally. Threats and protests at drag shows, queer events being shut down for safety reasons, another devastating mass shooting at a gay night club, transgender people being attacked, maligned and denied human rights and basic health care all over the place... it's incredibly depressing.

I already have a post here and another one here and yet another one here that are more political in nature. I hope you'll check those out and do what you can to spread the word and/or help out. But for this year's post, in the interests of lightening things up a bit from this relentless grief, I've decided to celebrate some of my favorite queer music artists who you might not have heard of before.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of my favorite queer artists. Just a few that I think don't get the recognition they deserve, and that I was able to come up with off the top of my head within the time I had available to make this post. There are so many great queer artists, and I will probably share more of them in the coming months and years.

Anohni

Truly one of the most beautiful voices on the planet. I've been a devoted fan of hers for many years, and she just keeps blowing me completely away and breaking my heart and holding it all together. I love her so damn much. She's a blessing to this world.

RVG

RVG (for Romy Vager Group, after the lead singer Romy Vager) from Australia are my current favorite new band. Romy has a spectacular voice and she knows how to use it. I can't wait for the new album to come out. Squid is my favorite new song so far, but Midnight Sun is a close second. I've shared it here because it has a video - more entertaining than staring at an album cover.

Ethel Cain

I've already talked about her a lot here on my blog. She's amazing, and her album Preacher's Daughter is one of my favorite releases from last year.

Oliver Sim

I've talked about him before on my blog. Some of you might recognize his voice from the XX, one of my favorite bands. He recently came out with a solo album that I also absolutely love. I know I've shared this video before, but it's such a favorite that I had no choice but to share it again.

Perfume Genius

Love him so much. He always manages to have a simultaneously nostalgic, moody, anthemic and totally 'of the moment' sound.

The Irrepressibles

Ugh. So good. Everything Jamie does is amazing - the aesthetic, the sound, the demeanour. Truly a massive, massive inspiration. His voice totally kills me. This particular song is so gutting and beautiful. If you look up the lyrics, you'll cry.

Chris Pureka

They are such a brilliant songwriter. Emotional, powerful songs, and such a unique, expressive voice. Their sound is deceptively simple but everything is memorable and sticks with me.

I'm aware of how painfully white this list is, but I saved a few for another list I'm working on. You'll see that one in a week or two.

[frozen-fountain]

WIP Soundtrack Tag

Thank you for the tag, @vcaudley; in return I offer anyone who feels like sharing their tunes the chance to jump in.

It took me a minute to put this together, and in the meantime, @hrh-spinach requested I do the ten songs one again so I'm looking at this as combining the two. But these are the songs I've been playing the most while working on this thing, a longer story about Tifa and Cloud post-OG canon. But I've also thrown in a few that are anthems for this series as a whole.

Ain't it Funny by Danny Brown This is the vibe. Making up for the teenage years you lost to trauma and imprisonment with reckless sex and drug use is all fun and games until it isn't; the whole album exemplifies this, in addition to just being one of my favourites, but this track. This track! The way the trumpet line keeps on shifting and becomes increasingly urgent and siren-like as the song goes on - it's perfect.

Phenom by Thao and the Get Down Stay Down I chose this to exemplify the anger that comes with any sort of self-awakening or actualisation, aimed at the world and on some level at yourself for not allowing it before. And I apply that to the whole village the story takes place in, compromised mostly of the denizens of an oppressed undercity who barely escaped the near-apocalypse event that made their former home its epicentre. (As an aside, I'd never looked up the video for this before, and I love it!)

Ghosts in My Heart by Mariee Sioux Zooming back in on our protagonists now. Two people who've come a long way from where they were, but whose journey to that increase in self-awareness has given them a whole new set of baggage to work through. And doing that work is even harder when you're surrounded by a slew of people hailing you as heroes, leaders, saviours, and new best friends.

Sleep is a Curse by Maudlin of the Well This one featured in my last fic soundtrack tag post as a default Cloud song, but here it is again. The conflicted and guilty thoughts he's wrestling with while trying his best to implement the healthier ways of being he's learned and to show up for the community they're trying to build.

Hyper-Ballad by Björk Related to the above; when you're finally able to breathe freely in a place that's safe and secure, are you going to do that difficult work of self-examination about the role you were led to place on yourself... or are you going to find a whole new one to sink yourself into? Tifa is no longer working herself to the bone trying to keep the party together - instead, her need to always be providing a service means she's doing it for a whole village instead!

Flower's Grave by Tom Waits I feel like the title alone is completely self-explanatory if you're of even passing familiarity with these characters.

Hello Stranger by Julia Holter This is one of my absolute favourite cover songs I've ever heard. She took the melancholic tinge of the original tune turned into this haunting, surreal, Badalamenti-esque dirge and I absolutely love it. For my purposes, I'm using it to represent Tifa and Cloud's first reunion in Midgar. It's beautiful, dreamlike, soothing - but still an illusion.

Hello Earth by Kate Bush This is the song that to me comes closest to capturing the panoramic feeling of choosing to live; it's even more powerful in context and I really recommend checking out the whole Ninth Wave suite if you've never heard it before. And if here the whole planet chose to live, this makes me think of Cloud reflecting on his moment of briefly glimpsing what humanity dissolving collectively into the lifestream would've felt like - the connection he's been seeking and failing to find all his life. I can't believe there wouldn't be at least a trace of residual regret there.

När Gudarna Kalla by Forndom, Anomaly of Silence by Yikii, Wüste by Einstürzende Neubauten, Song of the Sisters by Hans Zimmer Grouping all of these together, and in contrast to the above entry; these are the songs I draw on for trying to map and convey the experience of being linked to the Jenova memory-hivemind, when it's in both congruence and conflict with itself. The simultaneous fear, revulsion, resentment, and allure of it, and what it means for Cloud to again push away a chance at connection and complete understanding for the better of the rest of the world. Finding ways to convey this in words is the height of "Why do I do these things to myself?" so far - but that's what the second draft is for.

Mary Magdalene by FKA Twigs This whole album has been a go-to for getting into Tifa's headspace here. Going back again to her compulsion to always be busy, to be doing something for someone else, whether it's kicking ass or making drinks or building bars or chairing meetings or simply being hot - anything to avoid being alone with her thoughts. Here specifically, she's trying on different roles and archetypes the same way Twigs does in the song. Taking what works for her and what doesn't from each, all well and good, but who is she when no-one's looking?

Poison by HTRK I haven't gotten to the drugged up, bad-idea sex portion of the story yet, but when I do!

Tuck by Katie Gately Truth be told I have no idea what she's talking about here, but I love the imagery and the whole vibe is darkly horny and intense in the exact way I'm looking for.

Country Rain by Slowdive The deepest sense of isolation is found in feeling alone while in company, and I don't have much more to say about this one than that.

Blind by TV on the Radio And this is the opposite. The long, trudging path towards living authentically and vulnerably, and the more genuine connection that can wait for you at the end of it. The mortifying ordeal of being known and the joy of being seen, I suppose.

Earth Day by Devin Townsend Devin's discography is a really inspirational listen if you're going through any kind of recovery process. Over the course of it - and I've only taken in a small sampling so far - you can track a man who found a way to get his shit together, and he did it with a sardonic humour that I find really refreshing when some recovery talk comes off really platitudinous. And that I think really befits the characters in question. What I love here, aside from the focus on falling in love with the every day and mundane, is the mocking edge I hear in the first "Like a child you're born again" - I don't believe a singer so emotive would put that in there without purpose. But by the chorus comes back, I think he's singing it with his whole heart, and that's what I'm always moving towards.

Monstrously Low Tide by Maudlin of the Well This is where my head's largely at these days, and it's also where I'm trying to get these two. I'm looking at everything I've written here and thinking I've bitten off far more than I can chew - not least because I'm omitting or being vague about so much - and wondering how I can possibly bring it all together into something cohesive and true to canon. But that ringing outro. That's why. I've got to try my hardest.

And let's have a few that I apply to the series overall:

Prelude and Final Fantasy by Nobuo Uematsu Got to have some music from the actual game in here. When it comes to my longer and more involved fics I've found these two pieces fantastic for getting my openings and endings down - if I can try to capture the sense of intrigue and rebirth and crossing into a new world that I get from the prelude, and the series main theme's sense of a grand culmination, I feel like I'm on the right track.

A Part of Us by Fever Ray A walnut tree takes a long time to bear fruit. Something like ten years after it's planted, if I remember correctly. It's a song about finding your joy moment to moment where it arrives, even when you know you're building something you may not live to see in full bloom - and not disregarding the danger that's still waiting at the end.

Lotus by Susumu Hirasawa This man's music has been my closest companion in assembling and writing this project, my partner who enables me excepted. It's so cinematic and evocative. This track especially is like the the very distilled essence of "victory" in audial form. It's my anthem for my thirties, because I don't think you could make a sound as jubilant and transcendent as this if you haven't known some pretty major defeats first.

Grandfatherly Wind by Susumu Hirasawa Neo-Junon theme!

Opus (The Fool's Rose Garden) by Susumu Hirasawa Theme for the village! It feels exciting and soothing all at once to me.

Heirloom by Björk and Severed Crossed Fingers by St. Vincent I remember a post going around a while ago about "your" love song, the song that sounds like love to you. These are mine, and I chose them specifically because they're as applicable to platonic love, familial love, and the love of a culture and a community as they are the romantic kind, and I try my best to give equal importance to all of those in my writing.

Storm by Godspeed You! Black Emperor I want to structure my series like this piece. When I hear the opening notes, I think of a sleeper waking up, slowly, opening their eyes and blinking as if they can't believe the world is still here, or in such an unrecognisable state. And it builds into towers falling, statues toppling, all the signifiers of the old world crumbling to dust. We can mourn the parts we'll miss, and the opportunities that could have been, but one by one we'll learn the new way is better for us all.

And after that... well. It was a really beautiful twelve minutes.

Flower From Hell from Higurashi A friend sent me this OP from an anime I haven't seen (yet) ages ago in relation to FFVII, and she's right. This is breaking the cycle, transcending the role, and taking as many other people with you as you possibly can. It's also me and the woman who's been helping me write this, along with so many other things, if you'll allow me a sappy moment.

It's In Our Hands by Björk If I want you to take any one thing from this...

[celiastjamesoscar]

It's from the God Of War sound track ITS SO GOOODDDD!! ITS ABOUT HOW HARSH THE CYCLES OF LIFE ARE, PARTICULARLY DURING WINTER, AND HOW, EVENTUALLY, EVERYTHING DIES A HORRIBLE DEATH DUE TO MOTHER NATURE'S CRUETLY BUT THAT THERE'S BEAUTY IN IT TOO BECAUSE THE WORLD IS JUST LIKE THAT!!

Ngl, probably Hozier. Mostly because of Like Real People Do. It's my favourite song of his (Sorry TMTC). I've still yet to listen to most of his albums, though. I'm definitely popping those on during class tomorrow. I know he released Unreal Unearth this year, and I've been meaning to give that a listen cuz he made another banger gay anthem this year, too! I have a bad habit of listening to like a few songs of an artist, forgetting they have an entire decade's worth of discography and neglecting all 5 of their other albums, and their other like 15-20 singles.

I've gotten better at it this year though. I listened through all of The Death Of Peace Of Mind by Bad Omens, and all of Take Me Back To Eden by Sleep Token. I also did it with Save Rock & Roll, American Beauty/American Psycho and some of MANIA by Fall Out Boy. I've still to finish MANIA.

Aww, I love ye too <3 you're my favourite non-discord tumblr ^-^ (and my favourite Scream community member. Don't tell Melrodrigo, Tonyspank, or Rollingsins. Shhh!)

I haven’t played God of War in a FAT minute (like 5 years) BUT THE DESCRIPTION OF THAT SONG?!? I WANT TO CRAWL AROUND INSIDE HOZIER’S MIND!!!

Hozier is such a good album and it definitely has some of my favorite songs on it. AND OMFG I ALSO HAVE THAT SAME BAD HABIT!!! LIKE WHAT DO YOU MEAN AN ARTIST HAS SEVERAL DIFFERENT ALBUMS THAT IVE NEVER HEARD OF?!?

I wish I could listen to albums all the way through, it’s going to be my downfall one day 😭

I’m 19 years old and I have no fucking idea how to work discord 😭 And omg I love Rollingsins so much 😩

[monsata]

5 of 1001

Today's album: Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman (1988)

Right here, this is the heart of why i started this project.

An excellent album that I've never heard. I know the one song that everybody knows by Tracy Chapman.

Yeah, the one that's playing in your head right now as you are reading this.

And it would have been such a shame to have never given this album its due, because it speaks to a lot of things that are very near and dear to my heart.

That Things are Not Good. That Things Could Be Better. That Love is not nearly as easy (or as complicated) as it seems in the movies.

Simply put: this album really blew me away, and here, only 5 days in, I'm so glad i decided to try this insane 3 year long musical odyssey.

Talkin' Bout a Revolution- I really, seriously wish Tracy's revolution had come to pass. What a beautiful sentiment: the uplifting of the downtrodden, everybody getting their fair share. But nowadays, it mostly sounds to me like something that would be used as an ironic backdrop for footage of anti-fascist and anti-police riots from the last decade.

Fast Car- The only Tracy Chapman song that i could name off the top of my head. What more can be said that thang been said dozens of times already? It's such a pretty, sad song about how Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans.

Across the Lines- same basic sentiment as Talkin' Bout a Revolution, but not ironic this time. Prescient, in that this album came out a few years before the Rodney King beating would prove her 100% correct.

Behind the Wall- Cops have always been fucking useless parasites.

Baby Can I Hold You- so far the most dated song in instrumentation, this feels VERY late 80s. That said, WAIT, HOLD UP, IS THAT A SITAR!? Nice.

Mountains O'Things- feels very much like "in your eyes"-era Peter Gabriel with all the layered and intricate percussion with synthy "world music"-style woodwinds. "All of those rich guys better watch out once i'm finally one of them!"

Also, in a moment of serendipity, i listened to a podcast about Citizen Kane earlier today (shoutout to The Worst of All Possible Worlds) and i can't help but draw a few parallels to "depressed and unfulfilled poor rich people".

She's Got Her Ticket- wasn't expecting a reggae song today, but it works really well with her voice. That said, there's definitely a recurring theme of "she's gonna get the fuck out of here" throughout the album.

Why?- The other recurring theme on this album: EVERYTHING IS ABSOLUTELY FUCKING TERRIBLE, WHY ISN'T ANYBODY DOING ANYTHING ABOUT *ANYTHING*? WHAT THE FUCK ARE THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE EVEN DOING!? Damn, i wish Tracy's revolution had been more than a whisper.

For My Lover- honestly, feels like an anthem for the battered, and that feeling of "if i leave them, I'll have nobody."

If Not Now...- "now loves the only thing that's free, we must take it where it's found, pretty soon it may be costly" damn, what a line.

For You- a beautiful song about being truly lost in love for someone.

Favorite Track: oh it's still gotta be Fast Car. I can see why it was the single, and i can see why it exploded. Incredibly relatable, soulful, coming from a place of hurt, but damn it were gonna make the best of this hurt because it's all we've got.

Least Favorite Track: She's Got Her Ticket. While it's still a good song, it's really the odd one out of the album. The reggae styling kinda sticks out like a sore thumb here, and there isn't much in this song that doesn't get covered in a better way in other songs on the album.

[dipplinduo]

!!when you get this, list 5 songs you like to listen to, publish. then, send this ask to the last 10 people in your notifs (positivity is cool!!)

It isssss ~ 💖 1. Why Try by Ariana Grande

Ugghh this one is my jam rn. It is very nostalgic and captures a part of my stubborn, naive, and innocent essence that's so idealistic and I love and adore so much. I am very inspired by it currently, and I love it so much because of the way it screams that everything will be okay. 2. Ylang Ylang by FKJ

This song rewired my brain chemistry late last week when I was in a car with someone. I live in a very diverse and vibrant city brimming with a lot of culture and art, and hearing this as we drove around in the aftermath of a snowfall was just. So. Incredible. The song itself is so breathtaking, melancholic, and, paradoxically, liberating and free.

3. The Tortured Poets Department by Taylor Swift

This song is very niche and has a larger symbolic meaning in the context of its album motif. I've only recently started to appreciate it and its depth more; it's utter humility and raw acceptance of something that's probably doomed to not get better. It's been the inspiration behind some of Juliana's thinking in the latest chapter of Sweet & Sour Dipplins xD

4. Bird by Billie Marten Aaahhh I love, love, love this artist and the album this song is on SO deeply. It speaks to my soul, and I genuinely had a hard time picking which song to sales pitch if any. But I picked the first song I heard by her. It genuinely blew me away when I first heard it years ago, and to this day it is one of the most beautiful songs I think I've ever heard. Definitely a "end of life credits" song, and seriously recommend the whole album and her work in general. This artist is so bright and was so incredibly wise for her age at the time she released it. 5. Little Girl Gone by CHINCHILLA Threw in a bit of a fiery song to spice it up. It was my most replayed song of 2023 apparently, and yeah, it's a good hype song. xD Love listening to it to get pumped up and god it's such a good feminist "I'm gonna show you" anthem.

[sigelfire]

This song became my personal anthem from the moment I ever listened to it

And it has one of the most beautiful and prompt guitar solos I've ever heard ❤️‍🔥

Lyrics under the cut

"If we burn our wings

Flying too close to the sun

If the moment of glory

Is over before it's begun

If the dream is won

Though everything is lost

We will pay the price

But we will not count the cost

We will pay the price

But we will not count the cost

When the dust has cleared

And victory denied

A summit too lofty

River a little too wide

If we keep our pride

Though paradise is lost

We will pay the price

But we will not count the cost

We will pay the price

But we will not count the cost (oh)

And if the music stops

There's only the sound of the rain

All the hope and glory

All the sacrifice in vain

And if love remains

Though everything is lost

We will pay the price

But we will not count the cost

We will pay the price

But we will not count the cost

And if love remains"

[liugeaux]

Greatest Songs Ever - Part 25 (250 Songs Deep)

It's the big 2-5! There's no big celebration this time around, but you WILL find, at the bottom of this post, the long-awaited (lol) Spotify playlist of the ongoing Greatest Songs Ever. Big ups to my wife for letting me put it on her account.

That's enough pre-amble let's get down to business.

1983 "If This Is It" - Huey Lewis & The News

Unless I am misunderstanding history, there was a short time when Huey Lewis was one of the coolest people on the planet. In 2024, I cannot fathom it, but I guess the standards for "cool" are always changing. "If This Is It" is kind of an underdog in Lewis' catalog. It's not his biggest hit and isn't associated with a movie, but pound for pound I'd say it's the best I've heard from him. Its walking bassline and doo-wop vibe, have an undeniably lounge sound. Even the tongue-in-cheek approach to a break-up keeps the mood light-hearted and cute. My favorite parts are how Lewis plays with the delivery of "You better let me know/go". Jumping from on the beat to a half beat then back. The song keeps you on your feet.

2019 "Cruel Summer" - Taylor Swift

The second Swift song to make this list had an odd journey to hit-dom. It was an immediate stand-out on her 2019 Lover album, and an assumed single, yet oddly it didn't get an immediate wide radio release. Then the pandemic hit and Swift entered another era and "Cruel Summer" didn't get the attention it deserved. When the Eras Tour rolled around in 2023, the song had a new breath of life and a proper radio release. Taylor Swift is at her best when her poetry melts seamlessly into a melody. I could have hours of discussions on how this has affected her grander body of work, but for our purposes today, "Cruel Summer" is the perfect mixture of her perfectly crafted poetry set to a punchy infectious tune.

1971 "Sunshine" - Jonathan Edwards

It's easy to interpret "Sunshine" as a classic conservative anthem. With lines like "He can't even run his own life, I'll be damned if he'll run mine" and "When he tells me I better get in line, I can't hear what he's saying." the message of the song can be interpreted as heavy handed. However, removed from the post-60s anti-flower-children idea and seen with a wider angle lens, "Sunshine" is about taking control of your life and doing what's necessary to get through the tough times. It can even be heard as a man coping with depression. The beauty of the song is its simplicity and the craft of the lyrics. Once that has its hooks in you, you can find whatever meaning you want in the lyrics.

1990 "Hold On" - Wilson Phillips

1990's premiere nepo-baby group Wilson Phillips never really lived up to the hype of this first single, but like "Take On Me" or "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Hold On" is an aggressive snap-shot of a very specific and precious moment in time. 2 years earlier it would have been too boring, 2 years later, not edgy enough or too positive. "Hold On" is also a favorite Hollywood needle drop. It works as both a sincere "I love this song" kind of drop and an ironic "this is funny because it's corny" kind of scene. Rarely does a song with such a positive angle become such a huge hit.

1973 "Drift Away" - Dobie Gray

In it's 54 year history "Drift Away" has become somewhat of an American Standard. Dozens have covered it and the odds you'll hear it at your local bar by a thrown-together blues-rock band are pretty high. Arguably though, the most famous version of "Drift Away" is Dobie Gray's 1973 recording. Is it Rock N Roll, is it Country, is it R&B? It's kind of all three and while every corner of American music tells a piece of the story, "Drift Away" lives in the space between and represents all American music. It's only compounded the fact that Grey was African-American.

2002 "Foolish" - Ashanti

It pains me to include a song whose first line is a whisper of "Murder Inc." from what sounds like Ja Rule ... but whatever. I forgot this song existed for a very long time, but once I heard that piano hook again, I knew it was a contender for this list. After my usual research, I wasn't surprised to find it was a sample from an old Debarge song, which had previously been used by Biggie. Luckily "Foolish" has more than one trick up its sleeve. The chorus is the scientific definition of an earworm and Ashanti's airy voice is perfect for the subtle pop arraignment.

1969 "Kick Out the Jams" - MC5

"KICK OUT THE JAMS, MOTHA-FUCKA!" Punk music before punk was punk, MC5's "Kick Out the Jams" seems unassuming at first listen, but the song and the band both would influence generations of punk, rock and metal. Recorded live, this track has a rawkus energy to it and the bridge's guitar solo literally sounds like a band destroying their equipment. Rob Tyner's vocals straining to hit notes and keep tempo only adds to the proto-punk attitude so many would fall in love with.

1966 "You Can't Hurry Love" - The Supremes

Another Motown classic hits the list! I really don't have much to say specifically about "You Can't Hurry Love." I love the bass-heavy instrumentation working opposite the super-high vocals of Diana Ross and crew. The other instruments feel like faint suggestions in the background. These sounds coming from Hitsville became a template for artists to reference for decades. This track is such a bold prototype, its tendrils can still be heard in modern music.

2017 "Hoodie" - Hey Violet

"Hoodie" has been on deck for 3-5 lists and finally lands here. Hey Violet hovered in the Next Big Thing category for about 5 years in the late teens. Basically, until they weren't able to release 2-3 solid pop-punk albums in that time. Just last month they released their "last" album and out of their career they managed to record a dozen or so solid tracks and one absolute classic in "Hoodie". When it was released as a single it had a feature from rappers Ayo & Teo. Like many post-release features, it was attention-grabby and superfluous. A young woman clinging to the busted-up Hoodie of a past lover is a universal enough concept that this song should have been massive, but I guess its inclusion here will have to do.

1992 "End of the Road" - Boyz II Men

Everything about "End of the Road" is wonderful. The soulful silky vocals of Boyz II Men, the super-serious lyrical content, the big climactic chorus, and even the cheesy spoken-word bass vocal breakdowns all paint a vivid picture of late 80s-90s dude-fronted R&B. The energy of this song is exactly the energy of Andy Samburg and Justin Timberlake's characters in "Dick In a Box." I didn't mean to include 2 motown produced tracks this time, but I do not regret it. It's catchy and sad and hopeful and sultry. I am sure though, that every kid in the 90s conceived during "End of the Road" now comes from a broken home, lol.

We did guys, we finished Part 25! As promised, here is the Spotify playlist with all 250 songs chosen so far as the Greatest Songs Ever. Til next time! (you'll likely need to click all the way into Spotify to see the entire list.)

Cheers

[lovemesomesurveys]

Did you know that all the fish are dying out? I haven't heard that.

Would you ever wear a white tuxedo? No.

Do you judge a book by its cover? In a literal sense, yes. Some just catch my eye or make me curious so I have to pick up and check it out.

Do you like chips and dips? Yes, anything that comes with a dip I'd be all over. <<<

Last time you went on a rollercoaster: I don't do rollercoasters.

Ever been to a pottery class? No.

Does your milkshake bring all the boys to the yard? Ha, no.

Who was the last person to stay over at your house? One of my aunts.

Do you like red lipstick? Yeah.

Can you recall your country’s national anthem? Yes.

Do you believe in ghosts? i believe in demons and spirits. Not like Casper ghosts.

Which sweets/candy would you put into your dream pic'n'mix? Reese's and the cookie crunch M&Ms.

If you had a boat, where would you sail in your boat? I have no idea.

Can you rap? Ha, I'm definitely not a rapper, but I like rap and can "rap" along.

Are you a light sleeper? Sometimes.

When you were young, did you ever pretend to “marry” somebody? No.

What is your favourite Disney film? Toy Story, Alice in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh, A Goofy Movie.

Do you prefer brown or white bread? I'll eat either one.

Have you ever spent an entire day in bed? That's how I spend most of my time.

Don’t you just find it annoying when people get too much plastic surgery? I wouldn't say it's "annoying", but I wonder why they do it.

How high’s your pain threshold? Low, hence the need for my pain meds.

What would you wear to a red carpet event? I see myself declining the invitation, lol. <<<

Whose birthday is next, out of all the people you know? My cousin's is today.

What kind of coat are you going to wear in the winter? I wear my puffy coat most of the time.

Did you ever go through a Goth phase? I had my emo phase, but let's be real it's not just a phase even if I dress and look differently.

Do you find architecture interesting? Not really.

When on the computer do you ever think about how it all works? It's probably crossed my mind.

How many songs are there in your iTunes library? I haven't used iTunes in over a decade.

Describe the worst date you’ve ever been on: I've hardly been on any dates, but the few I had weren't bad.

When did you last go to the park? Uhhhhh.

Which two animals would you breed together to make a hybrid? Nah.

Do you ever forget how to walk? I can't walk, soooo.

Do you own a Jesus bracelet? I own a cross bracelet.

How far out can you stick your tongue? Not far at all.

Do you like David Bowie? I like some songs. Nothing against him, I just wasn't like a stan or anything.

Would you eat a live cockroach if it made you a millionaire? fskdfjkjffjdkfkdj no.

Does it annoy you when you feel like people aren’t really listening? I hate when I'm trying to talk to someone and they're all deep into something on their phone and they're clearly not really listening.

Are you the type who usually plays it safe? Yeah.

Do you want what you can’t have? Don't we all.

Ever been copied by somebody, clothing or style-wise? Ha, no,

Is there a point to clear nail varnish? A nice shine, I guess? *shrug*

What is the latest time you’ve ever woken up? Like almost 5pm.

Ever gotten into trouble over something you didn’t really do? I don't think so.

Are you currently ill? In a way cause of health stuff I generally crappy.

Don’t you just hate being corrected? If it's done in either a condescending or a really harsh reprimanding tone, then yeah. <<<

Are there any really beautiful buildings close to where you live? Sure.

Who do you think about most? My mind feels like such a jumbled mess.

Do you have embarrasing parents? No.

How often do you use the word “poltent”? Never?

How’s your grandmother? My paternal grandma is doing okay. My maternal grandmother passed away 15 years ago.

What in your opinion is the most annoying noise in the world? Kids. "<<< Hahaha. I'd say also excessive beeping.

Are you any good at writing? Probably not now.

Can you speak any Spanish? A little bit.

What’s your favourite type of cloud? I don't have one.

What’s something that really matters to you? My family.

Did that pass some time? A little.

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

another first impressions post, and we're back to prog with gentle giant's debut

i like gentle giant. i don't love them, and i don't really expect that to change, but i always enjoy hearing them. this isn't their best effort, but it's nice enough. it shares the same flaws with all their work, and a few extra borne from inexperience

what struck me most about this album was just how 1970s britain it sounded. i don't even mean, like, dated (although the typical prog hammond is a bit omnipresent), stuff like nothing at all straight up had me thinking of a girl in bell bottoms or something sitting gloomily in an empty park, it's really weird but in a cool way. the apex of this, and the best song, is the ridiculously kitsch, unbearable twee isn't it quiet and cold, which i can only assume got lost on its way to something else by the kinks. jazzy vaudeville shuffle, glockenspiel solo, gorgeous melody, it's an absolute delight, and really puts you in mind of a twitchy, nervous wreck staggering home through dimly lit streets, coat pulled tightly around them. this album feels grounded in a way that pretty much no prog does, even stuff like selling england which is actually about contemporary britain

it's funny, i've heard a lot of albums that start and end well but sag in the middle, this is one of the few albums where the middle is good but the bookends are sort of uninspiring. giant is a terrible way to introduce yourself as a band; other than the quiet and lovely organ/mellotron midsection this is just aimless jamming for the sake of it, but worst of all are the lyrics. oh, man, the lyrics, they are so obnoxiously self-aggrandising i can barely stomach listening to them. and it's not even warranted! if you're gonna describe your band as "the birth of a realisation, the rise of a high expectation," you better be putting up fuckin thick as a brick-level music to match, and this ain't it, chief

other than the dumb as fuck cover of the national anthem nothing else bothers me that much. why not is unfortunate in that the only bit i don't like is the bit that constitutes most of the song, but the quiet midsection (kerry minnear has just the loveliest voice) and the blues soloing to end (gary green is such a normal blues guitarist that he inevitably sounds awesome with all the weirdness going on around him) are great, and nothing at all is utterly beautiful until it starts trying to rock, where it just loses me. i have low tolerance for drum solos, especially in the studio, especially flanged (?), and this doesn't add tension, or atmosphere, it's just... there. if i'm feeling charitable, i might say that the chaos of the solo over the nice classical quotation represents the girl's memories of happier times trying to fight over her depression, before they end up just as frazzled and chaotic as everything else, but if that's what they're going for it doesn't work

beyond that, everyone loves the last two tracks. alucard is most notable for very early use of the synth and the legitimately spooky verses, and funny ways is a lovely song but doesn't hold a candle to later live versions. what i do need to say is (giant aside) the lyrics on this album are great. they can be mysterious without pretension, atmospheric without being eye-rolling, and usually at least painting compelling pictures, which is most certainly not always the case in prog rock

the general issues with this album are those typical to gg (lack of emotion, schulman's rather flat and uninteresting delivery) or new bands (difficulties with structure, knowing when to stop). basically, as a lot of people have said and i'm not clever enough to reword, there's the blueprint for all their later stuff but they haven't quite worked out the finer details. still, decent album

[theeverlastingshade]

Favorite EP of 2023: infinity signature- Full Body 2

The EPs that I really enjoyed this year sort of snuck up on me. There wasn't really one that I felt like I was riding for all year long, and for most of the year I thought that I might end up writing about something that I wasn't necessarily that sold on. But, within the last month I was blessed by a new EP from a band that I had only just gotten into recently by virtue of their presence in the current Philly shoegaze scene. The band in question is Full Body 2, who have to date only released a few EPs, but have garnered a fair amount of internet hype through their idiosyncratic strain of electronic shoegaze that sort of smacks of something like My Bloody Valentine rendered through a glitching SNES emulator.

The first two FB2 EPs (titled Demo 01 and Demo 02, respectively) and their EPCOT split EP with another standout scene peer, They Are Gutting a Body of Water, are promising releases that suggest a world of sound just waiting to be unveiled, but it's on the band's latest EP, infinity signature, that they really come into their own and deliver on the promise of those early EPs. On is, the lines between genre traditions overlap and blur, resulting in a promising overhaul of a beloved niche concern custom-tailored for the terminally online, and a record that continues to reveal new details after repeated listens. It's celestial, mind-melting shoegaze of the highest order, and very much indicative of the exciting paths that the genre hopefully continues to take.

FB2 consists of Dylan Vaisley (guitar, synth, vocals), Cassidy Rose Hammond (bass and vocals) and Jack Chaffer (drums, synth, guitar, vocals), and the band grew out of what was originally a more straightforward indie rock band called Full Body. The greatest appeal of the music on the is EP is the band's ability to synthesize shoegaze, glitch, drum and bass, ambient, and 16-bit music into a sound that, while reminiscent of many things, doesn't really sound like anyone but them. The songs on is are not just FB2's most dynamic to date, but, along with the songs on Parannoul's sublime 3rd LP, After the Magic, they're also some of the most compelling examples of electronic shoegaze that I've ever heard.

The principal difference is that, whereas Parannoul rendered their immersive soundscapes entirely through MIDI instruments, FB2 opt for the traditional analogue approach but slather everything in a particular suite of effects that lend the music an otherworldly sheen. Opening cut "enix wake" chirps to life with a few 16-bit samples before the effects unit ignites, and an anthemic synth lead soars over the foreground setting the stage for what's to follow. The guitar effects on each song congeal into a dense web of sonics that, while stereotypically burying the vocals, nonetheless results in striking pop music with strong hooks, verses, and bridges that let the overwhelming totality of sound do the heavy lifting. But the overwhelming sound isn't intense in the way that so much of this music is, and like Parannoul or their peers in Hotline TNT, FB2 excel at using their effects bank in service of beauty more often than brutality. 

Although it's only an EP, there's still quite a bit of variation throughout the course of is. "wonder limit" follows on the heels of "enix wake" with urgent synths and guitars firing into the red to achieve a gorgeous melodic undercurrent, and taken together they provide the record's most immediate third, but from there things get progressively more peculiar. On "nokia login", the bands love for drum and bass emerges with a steady breakbeat simmering in the background beneath bright 16-bit synths that eventually erupt midway through with a furious drum solo that may feel forced but to my ears is a tasteful and well-earned choice. The rest of the song is pure come down that bleeds into the noise-laden haze of highlight "blue trio".

While "blue trio" is certainly the closest that FB2 get to the punishing extreme of shoegaze at its loudest and most unforgiving, the temperament is more hazy than harsh as the band couch their distortion-glazed guitar lines in an infectious melodic progression. The penultimate and longest song, "self:heal", is an elongated ambient breather with an unusual level of momentum courtesy of some industrial percussive loops that build to a brief, but satisfying peak. And closer "moonworld" is just pure bliss, a nearly 4 minute march of infectious guitars and synths that smear together with the sort of precision that makes shoegaze sound, at its best, like a swelling utopian fever dream. On is, the sound of FB2 crystalized into something familiar but striking, setting a high bar for left-field shoegaze moving forward.

Essentials: “blue trio”, “moonworld”, "nokia login"

[therobotmonster]

Nobody remembers Cry Wolf.

Cry Wolf was 14 on the dance charts and 50 on the Billboard top 100. Not quite a hit but certainly not obscure, and lets not forget

You are not a one hit wonder if you do a Bond Theme.

Yes. Even a Timothy Dalton one.

So lets hit with more stuff I love.

"I see a hundred million lonely mutants, and they're glowing in their dark despair. "

Klaus Nomi's After the Fall is the Tumblr anthem, I will not take notes on this.

There's no music video for this one, and you should hear the immaculate studio version before live performances, as the crowd noise and limited mic fidelity of live recordings don't do it justice.

"We'll build our radioactive castles out in the ray-di-o-act-ive air, and I'm telling you hold on, hold on, tomorrow will be there."

First: Amazing music video.

Second:

This is the most beautiful song about the thermonuclear annihilation of mankind I've ever heard. And I've heard a surprising amount.

Also, you kids need some culture:

Watch your DEVO, its good for you. And I mean that. Watch. Any DEVO song with a music video is intended to be "understood" in the context of it.

Also, the clean-cut man on the viewscreen wrote the theme to Rugrats.

Okay, in 1984, Duran Duran released a song that was a pitch-reel for a science fiction epic based on a surrealist William S. Burroughs novel that would have been for Duran Duran what Highlander was for Queen.

It did not get made, and time travel is not advancing quickly enough to correct this.

The above is the full, uncensored version. There is brief serpent-person nip, implying the existence of Snilk.

And to close it out, an encode of an AMV for "Mama Said Knock You Out" I got on a 4th generation fan AMV collection on VHS that I traded for a at a con. In the 90s.

Can I share some things I love with you?

They're music videos, if that helps.

Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive is one of those things that should be quintessentially tumblr but the tumblr community remains unaware of its beauty.

This is the story of Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive, they are a person who feels good to be alive, This is the story of Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive Believes the underdog will eventually survive

"Hey, hey he fumbles for what to say He loves the world except for all the people"

What's more Tumblr than that, I ask ye?

"C'mon guys, is all this really necessary? Can't we just leave the deli tray out and split out of here?"

More songs should be about kaiju monsters attacking humanity. Imagine seeing this at a sleepover on Headbangers' Ball, then trying to explain what you saw to others enough to track it down. Congrats, you know what its like to be me at 14.

This song was Parodied on Kids next Door, I shit you not.

In keeping with cartoony metal, a literal heavy metal cartoon song. The less known but amazing "Takin' a Ride" by Don Felder from every 80s kids' first exploration into the forbidden, Heavy Metal.

The theme to Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad

What? I can't put a 90s Power Rangers tailcoat rider themesong matched to a modern anime reboots' footage on a list of my favorite music videos? You're not my mom!

I'm sorry, but "The hero always makes the cut" overrides any rules of decorum or aesthetics.

"If she asked me to I'd murder, I'd gladly give my soul."

A song that plays with the conventions of love songs to express the nature of fandom out of control.

"Now I lie in bed an think of her, sometimes I even weep, now I dream of her behind the wall of sleep."

Sometimes, art is treating a metaphor literally.

One of my favorite TMBG songs, and that's saying something, cuz 22.33364% of my favorite songs are from TMBG.

The Jenny Saga

Tell me these two songs aren't connected:

They even have similar hooks! The Killers made a sequel to a Falco song and no one noticed! GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME! WHAT'S IN THAT NEEDLE I-

Some songs are always about somebody and somewhen, but never the same someone or somewhere.

I love two things, hard rock and songs from objectively bad movies. So ACDC doing the theme song to Maximum Overdrive? Chef's fucking kiss! Listen to it twice!

It's good for ya!

Also blah blah still socially relevant blah blah its ACDC and it rocks.

Tumblr's a fucking narc and won't let me post more than ten videos per post, so lets roll this to the reblog!