Champagne Symphony

When releasing pop songs, major labels have been surprisingly good.  Sure, they often go with the obvious choices: the songs produced by famous producers and the songs featuring other big name acts.  However, after some bumbling around, they usually do end up releasing all the good songs as singles.  Every once in a while, though, they mess up big time.  Top 10 singles that could make millions of dollars and sometimes change the course of an artist's career are left to languish as album cuts because people are too stupid to comprehend their greatness.  Here's a list of songs that would conquer the world, if only someone would bother releasing them, and their likely peak chart position in the U.S.  There's links to YouTube videos of the songs imbedded below (obviously, there are some quality issues), and here's a Spotify Playlist with all available songs. Katy Perry - Hummingbird Heartbeat : #1 Jennifer Lopez - Hypnotico : #1 (Note: The YouTube video i...

Rap is undoubtedly the hardest genre of popular music to get into.  I've met plenty of people who love music but absolutely hate rap, and I can't say I blame them.  To the uninitiated, who have only heard mainstream rap on the radio, it all seems like nothing more than people throwing around rudimentary rhymes on the tired topics of sex, drugs, and money over a soulless, repetitive electronic beat. To counter this, rap fans consistently suggest a litany of socially conscious, lyrically dense rappers.  (Nas, De La Soul, Immortal Technique, Black Star, and Brother Ali are a few of the most common.)  However, this is a completely incorrect way to approach the issue.  Sure, all these rappers are incredibly technically accomplished, and they talk about interesting topics over soulful beats, but their music is incredibly inaccessible.  Their lyrics are so dense it takes numerous listens to parse them out, and the music is consistently completely devoid of a...

This is basically just a list of my 20 most played songs of all time, with a bit on why I love each.  All the links are to the music videos if they exist.  Otherwise, it's just to a random YouTube video of the song.  Also, here's a Spotify playlist with all songs except Can't Stop & Viðrar vel til loftárása.  Also, I thought I'd note that Viðrar vel til loftárása and Protection have particularly awesome music videos. The Postal Service - Such Great Heights : I love the beat, I love the verses, I love the chorus.  Hell, I just love everything about this song. Michael Buble - Everything : It doesn't sound like anything special on first listen, but Everything gets my vote for the best song of all time.  Every bit of it is just perfect melodically.  That "I'm gonna sing with a lisp because it's cute" thing is just embarrassing though. Coldplay - Viva la Vida : The verses are great and the chorus is even better.  Everything about this song is ...

I was just reading about the Michael Jackson tribute concert that happened like a week ago, and I realized that there has never been a good greatest hits album released for the guy.  The three major ones all have huge flaws; they're either incorrect or just too long.  So, I decided to put together a proper, one disc retrospective for the King of Pop.  Here's the track list, and a link to a spotify playlist .  The songs are ordered by the date they were released as singles. Don't Stop Till You Get Enough Rock With You Off the Wall Billie Jean Beat It Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' Human Nature P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) Thriller Bad The Way You Make Me Feel Man in the Mirror Dirty Diana Smooth Criminal Black or White (Single Edit) Remember the Time Will You Be There (Single Edit) I had to leave out two tracks I originally wanted to include to make the 80 minute time limit: She's Out of My Life and I Just Can't Stop Loving You.  Both are beau...

Since I did one on the 2000's, I figured I'd continue and do one on the 90's.  I don't know nearly as much about 90's music so this list could definitely change in the coming months/years.  Radiohead - The Bends : This is album that got me into indie music.  It's also my favorite album by my favorite band of all time.  Thom Yorke's songs have never been as good, and Johnny Greenwood's guitar work has never been as melodic.  A whole generation of British bands tried to copy this sound (Keane, Travis, Coldplay, Muse), but none have even come close to matching The Bends' tragic beauty.  Nearly every track gives me chills.  Best tracks: Fake Plastic Trees, High & Dry, Street Spirit, Planet Telex Oasis - Be Here Now: My favorite album by the best band of the 90's.  More filler than their first two albums, but also plenty of great songs.  The B-sides are some of the best in the history of music.  Admittedly, the original was really...