4 posts tagged “alternative”

Ok, I can't believe I'm posting a Linkin Park song. I have made fun of these guys and their music for years. But I heard this song on the radio today and was completely blown away.

When I first heard it, I actually thought it was a new Megadeth song, thinking, "Wow, Megadeth is back and sounding really good." Even when he started singing, I thought he sounded like Megadeth, but then as the song progressed, I realized that I was listening to Linkin freakin' Park and was loving it. This song absolutely rocks!!! No DJ, not rapping, just straight up heavy rock and roll. I love this shit!!!

I want to post this because I think this is a really cool song. I had heard a couple Blue October songs before but never this one. My g/f made a mix CD the other day and had this song on it and I just fell in love with it instantly. Apparently, it's a song that the lead singer, Justin, has written and performed solo by himself. Word is, is that it will appear on their next album.

Here are the very dark, yet beautiful and poetic lyrics:

A blackout in the room again
a busted lip and broken skin.
I wake up in the bathroom
and dare not bother asking
why the mirror's craked and all I see
are shards of glass inside of me.

There's voices there to dare me,
my father's here to scare me.
My mother sits beyond the door she's
curled up crying on the floor,
look at what her son's done.

When the weight of all the world's gone wrong.
It's gone wrong again.
Gone fucking wrong.
It's gone wrong again.

Well liars they leave a guilty trail.
And let me tell you something people,
I've been lying for fucking years.
That must be why I'm standing in this space.
Disregarding that I've created these monsters
they're on fucking both of my sides,
So I wipe the blood from both of their eyes.
From all four of their eyes.

And while I wait for wounds to heal
I see you by the window sil,
your heart's torn out
a plastic spoon
when honesty lit up that room
so I stole the pillowcase to clean
this mess I've made of someones dream.
Now you've seen what I've done,

when the weight of all the world's gone wrong.
It's gone wrong again
gone fucking wrong
it's gone all wrong again.

This room is old and wise
I fall onto the bed and wonder,
"How did I get here?"
The little boy who would argue with a tree
just fucking thump his head
and he'll turn back to normal.

Now why is that what I see?
Don't bother trusting
don't bother waiting
don't bother changing things that won't give into changing
just let me go away.
I'm packed
whenever
I'm down
whenever.
Let's go.
Yes, let's go

This is the beginning of a continuing series I plan on writing, and the idea came to me last night as I was driving home from work at the hospital contemplating what it is that makes for beautiful, haunting music, music that I just love to listen to over and over,my favorite music, music that I can not seem to live without. In other words, what do I love about  music? I came to the conclusion that there are two fundamental things about a song that just does it for me. And those two things are that the song is melodic and/or that it contains dynamics, such as the slow/fast dynamic, soft/loud dynamic. Today I will begin to discuss melody. What is melody? What better way to show you than to insert here a perfect example of a beautiful melodic song, Sonic Youth's I Love You Golden Blue off of the Sonic Nurse album that I discussed in a previous post.

Is that not a beautiful, haunting song and video? It is a song just chock full of emotion, it can bring tears and it can make one feel happy all at the same time. In a word, melancholy. For me, it brings a sense that all is right in the world, that I am exactly where I need to be, that everything is going to be ok. And what is it about the song that does that? It's melodic. But what is melody? Well I guess it's hard to put it down into words, but wikipedia does a fine job.
n music, a melody, also tune, voice, or line, is a series of linear events or a succession, not a simultaneity as in a chord (see harmony). However, this succession must contain change of some kind and be perceived as a single entity (possibly Gestalt) to be called a melody. Most specifically this includes patterns of changing pitches and durations, while most generally it includes any interacting patterns of changing events or quality. "Melody is said to result where there are interacting patterns of changing events occurring in time."^[1]

What does that mean? To me, in Rock music, it means playing individual notes in succession, as opposed to playing chords. When done right, it can evoke all sorts of emotions. The video above is a perfect example of this.

This song is also a perfect example of the use of noise as music. While Sonic Youth were definitely not the first to use noise, a lot of 70's music contained outer space type sounds, they definitely perfected it to an art form.

In future posts, I will posts other songs that I think are perfect examples of melodic music.

ps. I just took another listen and this song just brings tears to my eyes. I also love the old flash back home videos in the video. Very moving and makes me think of my own childhood too many years ago.

Enjoy!!!