(image from canyouseethesunset.com)
So I did that ‘songs you need to live’ thing the other day,
and I was thinking that it was a bit too general. The songs you need differ on
what you listen to. Therefore, I thought I’d try again, but with a slightly narrower
selection.
This time, I’m doing The Songs You Need To Defend Pop Punk (the phrase 'defend pop punk' is apparently the slogan of the band Man Overboard who I need to listen to because bands).
What’s Pop Punk? Self-explanatory – it’s the rebelliousness of punk music mixed
with the daftness and shiny lights of pop. It’s a bit angsty, but not as much
as other genres. It’s what – forgive me for using a very sweeping
generalisation – your classical emo kid listens to when they’re happy (which,
given the people that I know that would come under this mysterious ‘emo’
umbrella, actually happens quite a lot,so there). Guitars and drums and thrashing about,
but in a happy, sunshine-y way (be prepared to hear those words a lot). It’s
how you subversively get people into other kinds of rock music. Hopefully, when
you listen to the songs you’ll understand better.
Yes, it’s Blink 182 again. They are, however, the kings of
pop punk. You say ‘pop punk’ three times in the bathroom mirror and turn the
light off, when you turn it back on Mark Hoppus will be crouched in your sink.
This song’s a good one, because it is a bit angsty and it’s about the typical
horny teenager, but it’s all happy and bouncy at the same time. I had a phase
last summer where I listened to this one about five times a day for a week
straight. Then my mum said she didn’t like Blink 182, so I bought their best
hits album as revenge.
More people know this one than I think people would think.
That sentence got away from me a bit . . . But it’s an awesome song, and I
think the sort of signature song for ATL, or at least the one most people would
recognise them by. It’s definitely the first song I remember hearing by them.
Come on, this is a brilliant song, and one of my favourites
by them. You can’t say you know pop punk if you don’t know every word of this
(or at least every phoneme, I don’t blame you if you can’t understand Patrick
Stump). Big, loud, the kind of song everyone will dance to because everyone
knows it.
This is just a song you need to know to live in general. If
someone says “Give it to me baby” and you’re not in a porno and you don’t reply
with “UH HUH, UH HUH” then you should be ashamed of yourself. Go and sit in the
corner and think about what you’ve done. I’m ashamed of you. You are not fly,
no matter what race you are.
Ok, maybe this one is slightly less well-known than the
others (my favourite’s actually I’m Made Of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of?),
but you can’t deny ADTR’s presence. They’re a formidable force, and I think the
fact that they managed to get so many other bands to show up in this video
proves that.
Off their 2007 album Riot!, this is probably their most
well-known single alongside Ignorance, but I like this one better and it’s my
blog so I’ll do what I like. I am somewhat opposed to the video for its
slightly sexist edge – oh, the girl’s make up has been wiped off, look how much
she was wearing ‘cause she’s the baddy in this and only bad girls wear makeup,
godddddd – but other than that it’s a good one, and a catchy song (I don’t like
saying the word ‘catchy’, I feel like a bad 80s DJ).
I kind of wanted to put Basket Case here, but this is
supposed to be about the songs that you absolutely need to know and, although
you really should know quite a lot of Green Day’s songs because they’re
massive, everybody knows American Idiot. Everybody. I was at a party and this
song came on and everybody sang it. My nana was in the room while the video for
this was on TV and she said she likes a man with ‘some moves’. I’m not sure she
likes men with lots of green paint all over them though.
I remember hearing this one years and years ago, before I
actually knew what music was, or how one ‘creamed over tough guys’ (can I just
say, why do they bleep out ‘goddamn’, but not that?). Not my absolute favourite
song, but one I think it’s somewhat important to know.
Good Charlotte is one of my little sister’s favourite bands
for some reason. Were all their songs this one, they’d be one of my favourites
too. It’s more punk than pop, but I absolutely love this song, and the crazy
hair.
I keep saying this, but everyone knows this one. My friend
Ryan knows this one and he normally listens to Adele and stuff. But come on, it’s
like the scenekid national anthem – stupidly long song title that has some deep,
clever meaning that I haven’t figured out yet, similarly long-winded lyrics
that still manage to be awesome.
There you go. Now, go forth and defend pop punk! Learn
guitar and make boob jokes! Wear tight jeans and hair gel and take your top off
on stage! Change your name to Tom Hoppus-Gaskarth! It’s 2:30am and that’s why I’m
shouting!
No comments:
Post a Comment