The secret to time travel has officially been discovered, and it’s not the Flux Capacitor. It’s music. As soon as I hear this song, I’m instantly back riding shotgun in Castellani’s VW Beetle on the way to play in my first senior football game.
It’s funny how some songs can become so inextricably linked to a single time and place.
From a time when the Rolling Stones were going disco, here’s Black Sabbath bringing a bit of a punk rock beat to their sound.
Never Say Die’s the lead single off of their last album featuring the original lineup. Despite being one of their least critically successful albums, it’s the only Black Sabbath record I own, and I think it’s pretty great.
Arguably the most popular single from Big Willie Style. For a bit of a Daft Punk connection, the Sister Sledge song that Will Smith samples here features Nile Rodgers on guitar, writing, and production duties.
This album was probably more noteworthy for what it represented, than any impact it might have on my musical tastes. Big Willie Style was my first CD, and as such, it was a pretty big deal.
It was the spring of ’98, and in preparation for a class trip, I’d just picked up my first portable CD player (a refurbished BiWay special). The next obvious task was taking that big step in my adolescent life, and purchasing my first album. But before getting the bonus street-cred that came along with owning a music collection (as far as I was concerned, one CD still constituted a collection), I needed to decide what album to buy.
Big Willie Style was basically the Thriller/Frampton Comes Alive of it’s time. It had that same massive cross-over success, and everybody seemed to have at least one copy. Keeping that in mind, it seemed like a pretty safe bet for my first step into music ownership. Fortunately for me, the masses proved to be right on this one, and I ended up really enjoying it.
Being the only CD in my posession, Big Willie Style got plenty of playtime, and thankfully offered plenty of variety. On top of the excellent mix of dance, pop, and hip-hop music, it was part comedy album. Mixed in between the music tracks, was an ongoing narrative featuring Jamie Foxx as Keith B-Real, a fast talking media personality, out to hound Will Smith into listening to his demo-tape. The whole thing was pretty cheesy in retrospect, but it all fit the lighthearted atmosphere of the album.
To this day, pretty much any track from this album is guaranteed to make me smile with nostalgia, and instantly feel like imitating that signature “Gettin’ Jiggy” dance. “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It”, “Miami”, and “Just the Two of Us” are the big hits, but I always recommend a listen to “Chasing Forever”. It’s a sweet, laid back song about the optimistic search for a meaningful, long term relationship, even after life’s thrown a few curve balls.
A perfect example of Smashing Pumpkins doing what they do best. Few other bands manage to combine sweet melodies, and heavy riffs as well as they do here on this track from Siamese Dream.
One of my favourite tracks from the Kooks’ sophomore album Konk. It’s also one of the few songs from that album that’s co-written by the majority of the band members.
I’m bending the #songoftheday rules a bit on this one. This medley from Sloan’s 20th anniversary album, The Double Cross, is a great example of Sloan putting the album format to good use. A band of four equally talented songwriters working together to make some great music.
I bought Punk-O-Rama 10 for the rare Offspring outtake, but this upbeat pop-punk number really caught my attention. I mean how many punk songs feature piano, sleigh bells, and wood blocks?
It’s pretty rare that a band reforms with its original members, 17 years after breaking up, and consistently puts out music that’s just as good, if not better, than all of their pre-breakup material. This song off their 2012 album “I Bet on Sky”, is a perfect example of Dinosaur Jr. pulling off this feat. Every time I listen to it, I’m convinced that it’s the perfect accompaniment to a lazy river inner tube ride.
This track from Arcade Fire’s latest album Reflektor, seems to channel a bit of Bowie and Iggy Pop to give something a bit more danceable than their usual songs.
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