Songs For Monsters

I'm more of a fan of the bloodstained and macabre than religion, although I do love a good stained-glass window, and I appreciate the effort people put into worshipping their various deities. So anyway, as I'm not really a Jesus kind of girl, I'm having today as a second Halloween, and giving you some songs about the monsters out there.

Sleeping With Sirens - Dead Walker Texas Ranger
I really like how it starts of as some kind of gentle song, and then kicks in and it's all gruesome and frantic, and it sounds like running from zombies, even though there's still the kind of poppy 'ba ba ba' bits. It's the one song I could think of to actually put in this post at first, just because I really like it.

Falling In Reverse - I'm Not A Vampire
I am a little dubious about Falling In Reverse for a band, not least because they're so very scene that even I - and admittedly I probably shit purple glitter - find them a struggle at times. However, this song's so catchy I have never fully been able to get it out of my head.

Leathermouth - This Song Is About Being Attacked By Monsters
It just sounds like bashing in the brains of some terrifying creature and then hiding in a house waiting for its friends to get you, even before you read the lyrics - "They're coming in through the windows, and breaking through all the boards I nailed up, they look like they've been through hell and back, and they've got one thing on their minds". I can get very deep about this song.

Of Mice And Men - I'm A Monster
It may be called 'I'm A Monster', but to me it sounds more like how when everyone else is the monster, and they just make you think you're worse than them, and how furious with yourself you can feel because of it.

Misfits - Astro Zombies
My Chem did an awesome cover of this, but I'm sticking the original in here because it's awesome too.

The Cramps - Human Fly
I love this song. It sounds so creepy and erm . . . fly-like. Plus there's the lyrics, which always make me laugh. "I am a human fly and I don't know why, I've got ninety six tears in ninety six eyes".

Look, A Band - Owls In The Attic

Part of me is intrigued to find out how on earth that band name was thought up, and part of me is a bit worried and wants to ring the RSPCA. However, before we get to that, I'll see if they're actually any good (because having good songs makes me very likely to excuse minor animal abuse).
Apparently mainly influenced by the great Ron Burgundy, they're off to a great start here. Owls In The Attic a 5-piece metalcore band from Nashville, Tennessee (isn't Hannah Montana from there?) consisting of Benny Mueller (vocals), Evan Jensen (drums/vocals), Mike D'Ancona (guitar), Phil Campbell (guitar), and Christopher Baldani (bass), and their collective interests range from romance to Jesus . . . . that's a pretty diverse mix of interests.

They've done a cover of Payphone by Maroon 5, which I'm going to leave till last because I don't want to have Adam Levine's face leering in my mind while I'm trying to form an opinion of the band.
Wow, the start of The Buffalo Song is awesome though, and they definitely know how to scream. There's got to be a lot of sore throats after this song though . . . it's so aggressive, I want to give them a throat lozenge. Let it not be said that they don't put effort in. I think No Dinner For Mike's probably my favourite though, it sounds like anime and being attacked by evil space aliens, in a good way.
This is good music to play when you want to tune everything out, I think. It's very good, very put together, and the kind of music I love listening to. I like the contrast between the screaming and the clean vocals - it sounds great when it's done properly, and Owls In The Attic are doing it properly, especially on Big Fire.
It's a bit like Of Mice & Men, a little bit like Sleeping With Sirens (less so, but I'm feeling it anyway), but still very definitely different. You could pick Owls In The Attic songs out of a line-up of metalcore bands, they're pretty distinguishable. I also love the song titles, like "Only On Tuesdays"; fascinating and a bit worrying, just like the band name.

Now, as a finishing touch, to have a look at their cover of Payphone. Oh wow, yep, yes, definitely yes. Well done, guys, you have done what at first seemed impossible, and you've redeemed a song  that I hated beyond belief. If they'd been playing this every five minutes that I was in Florida last summer, I don't think I would have been anywhere near as irritable. I commend you on your achievement here. I think this has actually replaced No Dinner For Mike as my favourite. This is more amazing than I could have hoped for.

So you should definitely have a look at them - they've managed to make Payphone not just listenable, but pretty awesome, so imagine what their original material's like (their debut EP Contender is already available for purchase). Wow, well done. Just wow.

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My Favourite Still Active Band, You Guys

My favourite band that's still making music, everybody. Graceful angels.

Songs for PARTY TIMES

Look, I am trying to post but I feel too distracted by that thing that happened on my blog that I'm trying not to keep going on about to be able to listen to a band and give an accurate portrayal of what I think, and I think that it would be unfair to the many wonderful bands that I have yet to listen to if I didn't give them my full attention. So what I'm going to do is another short playlist. Yesterday's was for when you're feeling shit, today's is for when you're feeling good and you need to dance about and glue camel-shaped ornaments to the ceiling, and your mum keeps asking you if you're high (I'm not on this occasion, no). Because sometimes you can come fully out of the darkness, if just for a short while, and you should make the most of that time, because only remembering the darker days isn't living. Don't expect a lot of coherence from here onwards.

My Chemical Romance - Planetary (GO!)
YES, I AM PUTTING MORE MCR ON HERE. And I don't even care, this is an awesome party song, and me and my friends tried to get it played at prom last summer but the stupid DJ said he didn't have it (he was on Spotify, that's just lies, man). But if he had, everyone would have danced along anyway because this is happiness and strobe lights and kicking through stuff and raining glitter. Plus, it was the song that got me into this wonderful, wonderful band.

Reckless - You Me At Six
It's so defiant and bouncy, and just you really need to get up and hop about to this one, it's amazing, I don't even remember how to articulate myself anymore, there is no language only party now.

Lostprophets - A Town Called Hypocrisy
It's got a brilliant chorus for singing along to, and it's fast and dancey, and an awesome riff in it. And it's also a good song for when you're pissed off, which is good cause I'm always a bit pissed off.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll
I don't really listen to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs all that much, but I have always really liked this one. Admittedly, one of the things that brought it to my attention was . . . erm . . . the Glee episode where they did a mash-up of this song and Thriller or something . . . but yeah . . . I like the song in its own right as well. It's so spacey.

All Time Low - I Feel Like Dancin'
I think this is actually the first All Time Low I heard while knowing it was them (I heard Lost In Stereo and stuff, but I never knew who it was at the time). It's actually an awesome song, although I will confess that I did originally like it because Alex Gaskarth looks pretty hot in the video. But the physical appearance of bands shouldn't have anything to do with how much you like the music really, so I listened to it without looking at his face and I still like it. Were I the party-going sort of person, this would very accurately describe the kind of party I'd be at.

The Cribs - Men's Needs
The. Fucking. Guitar. In. This. Just. OMG. It is amazing. It's all shouty and rock'n'rolly, and you can make up your own words to it as long as you say 'men's needs' at some point in the chorus, which is even better because made-up song lyrics are funnnnn.

Go! Dance! Run naked through the streets! Rave safe! Don't take drugs if you don't want to, regardless of what others are pressuring you into, and if you are going to do drugs, only do them with people you feel secure with! Eat more sweets! Turn the lights off and spin round!

Songs For Dark Times

I wasn't really feeling like posting today. I just kind of wanted to tune everything out, turn the thoughts in my head into white noise and then just sleep for a few days, y'know? But the thing is that I committed myself to doing this properly, to show that I can keep doing it. It's also really not a good idea to just lie there thinking about how bad you feel, it's just a vicious cycle of self-hatred. So I thought; "why not do something productive with this? There's loads of people out there who feel like this, and we can maybe do a little bit to help them pass the time."
I will do this in the form of music. Music for when you feel like there's nothing there, or when you feel like everything's there and it's stampeding in through your eyes and ears and stabbing your brain and it's too much. Music to make you feel better, or at least to give you some respite from feeling at all, without resorting to unhealthy methods. Or at least, that's what I hope it'll do. It's going to start off pretty dark, anyway.
I'll give you fair warning; this is going to contain My Chemical Romance songs.

Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon
I don't know why I want to start with this one really. I suppose it just kind of sets the mood. Very gloomy, but also sparkly, which is good.

My Chemical Romance - I Never Told You What I Do For A Living
It's a song that I really under-appreciated for a while, because it's the very last song on the Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge album. But I really love it. It's just all this blood and anger, it's like a murderous rampage - and it's got awesome lyrics; "Another knife in my hands, a stain that never comes off the sheets, clean me off, I'm so dirty babe, it ain't the money and it sure as hell ain't just for the fame, it's for the bodies I claim and lose". Gerard's vocals are so distressed and raw on this, I just jf;lfja;ldjfa;ljfasdl

The Blackout - Hard Slammin'
I have this habit of skipping most of the songs on an album, so it took me ages before I found this one - I think it crept up on me while I was listening to my iPod one day. I am very glad that this happened, because this is an amazing song and really makes me wish I knew how to scream (pretty much all of Sean Smith's vocals make me wish I knew how to scream really, he's amazing at it). Plus I love the breakdown bit in the middle, with erm . . . with the screaming. Yeah.

Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill
Time for a little respite from the furious songs from before; a bit of time to get your breath back and just releeeaasseeee the tensssioonnnn. It's working on me, at least. This is a brilliant song, as all Gorillaz songs are (I have yet to meet a person who doesn't like Gorillaz). It's sort of a bit sad, but also really chilled and a little bit romantic, lyrics-wise. And also, you think that maybe the manatee is a metaphor for something in the lyrics, but then the video's like ". . . no, there's a big hill and it's got a fuckin' huge manatee on it".

Pierce The Veil - Hold On Till May (feat. Lindsey Stamey)
I have a lot of love for this song. It's pulled me back from some bad places on quite a lot of occasions, not only because it sounds so beautiful, but it actually means something. Vic's said in the past that it's about a friend of his who was neglected by her parents, so to see if they cared she used to do crazy stuff like climbing really high up trees to see how long it took them to notice she was gone, and it stayed with her for life. You may not have been neglected by your parents, but you can feel abandoned by a lot of different people. I like it because of the sort of dialogue part; "If I were you, I'd put that away - see you're just wasted and thinking about the past again, darling you'll be ok." "If you were me, you'd do the same. 'Cause I can't take any more, I'll draw the shades and close the door, everything's not alright, and I would rather . . .". It's not just doing the 'it gets better routine', it's speaking from the other side as well, the hurt and confused side.

My Chemical Romance - Famous Last Words
Skip this one if you're still a bit sore. I am, too, but I think what we need to remember here is that, like they said, the message of the band lives on. They saved your lives before, and they can do it again. Just listen to the message in the songs. That's why I love this one. It's not cheerful, by any means, it's written from inside a very dark place. But it's still defiant. It's that feeling of down-but-not-out, that as hurt and dark and shitty as you may feel, it's not over and you will go out kicking and screaming if you have to.

Suicide Silence - You Only Live Once
THIS IS THE TRUE FUCKING MEANING OF YOLO.
Get back into fighting mode, thrash about to this, it's amazing and it makes me swear very loudly. Despite what you might think because of your preconcieved notions about bands with names like 'Suicide Silence', this is actually a pretty motivational song - "Live life hard, you only get one shot, so shoot!" - with the most amazing start I have ever heard in my life. Plus, there is the message of the singer, the late legend Mitch Lucker himself; "Keep listening to music, 'cause it gets you through everything, I promise". So there you go. You only live once, so just go fucking nuts.

Sleeping With Sirens - Do It Now, Remember It Later
It's a nice happy/angry song (I like angry songs) about doing . . . whatever you want, screw the consequences and screw the opinions of others, because you should do what makes you happy, regardless of what other people think is cool (unless you're hurting someone without their prior consent or taking advantage of someone). Get up and dance and sing, bitches.

My Chemical Romance - Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back
I Don't Even Care It's My Blog And If I Want To Post Loads Of MCR I Can (Stop Typing With Your Arse Because I Don't Care About Your Shitty Opinions). That's Fall Out Boy's next song, and I co-wrote it. Anyway, I love this one because it's all rock'n'roll and shouty and get-out-of-my-way-I've-got-a-laser-gun-and-I'm-wearing-rainbow-pants. See what an improvement it's made? An hour ago I was seeing in black and white, except mostly black.

So that's my attempt to try and make you feel better if you're feeling low. It's worked on me, definitely. It might not make you feel on top of the world, but I hope it at least gives you a short rest from the inside of your head.

Fall Out Boy - The Phoenix

let's get over this dark spell then, with Fall Out Boy's next single off their forthcoming album, Save Rock And Roll. It's pop punk - more pop than punk this time - and I gather it's getting some mixed reviews, but I love it. They sound happy with what they've done, and to be honest I just want all the bands I like to be happy at the moment.

What The Fuck MCR part 2: The Way Brothers Tweet Back

(can I stress first of all, that this is my personal opinion, and not that of the fanbase as a whole - god knows nobody knows what's going on with the fanbase as a whole, least of all us)

This whole MCR split has been an absolute fiasco to say the least. The band's tendency to be quite vague, plus a few tweets by various other celebrities that could have been a little bit clearer worded (looking at you, Mat Devine), has led to this whole mess of rumours going round.
The main one was that MCR had been dropped from their label, and forbidden to use their original name, and so were going to start again under a different band name. Sure, that would make sense, what with the band's tendency to assume new personas and that time they told everyone at concerts that The Black Parade would be performing instead of My Chemical Romance, and the alter-egos in Danger Days. However, look at it from a practical point of view - the name 'My Chemical Romance' is the property of the band members, they came up with it and used that name before they were signed, Warner Bros. doesn't own it. Plus, why would they use a new name? A name with no reputation and therefore much less power over the press would be financially stupid.
Anyway, people were going absolutely mental, fans and celebrities alike. The Echelon (Thirty Seconds To Mars fanbase) is being very kind and the model of a good fanbase, and offering the MCRmy their very-much-needed comfort and support. Kerrang! magazine were doing hourly updates on what appeared to be happening and what information they could find - really, they took it worse than a lot of us did.
This eventually provoked a tweet from Mikey, the ex-bassist, "For the record, my relationship has absolutely nothing to do with what happened. They are completely separate" (if you're unaware, over the Christmas period he ditched his wife Alicia for this 19-year-old groupie - I could go into more detail, but I'm trying to stay away from rumour-mongering here). Now, people weren't really thinking that was the cause previously - we knew there were definitely tensions in the band because of it - but tweeting that is just a really daft idea, and a bit obnoxious really. However, let us at least credit him with being the first one from the band to actually speak about the break-up at all, apart from Gerard's cryptic "Beyond any sadness, what I feel is pride", and Frank's one from the night before; "Things that should be simple and easy rarely ever are." I retweeted that. I thought he was just saying it as a general thing . . . I didn't realise he was the harbinger of doom.
Then, we got Gerard's letter, in the form of an extended tweet that he posted at around midnight UK time. To give you the basic idea of what he says in it;
Gerard woke up the other day and decided that MCR was over, and this was confirmed to him via a poignant experience with a stupid bird. He then goes on to talk about the meaning of the band, and its fatalism, and being cryptic (we don't need you to tell us you have a tendency to be enigmatic, G, we can tell - it's probably the only obvious fact we have now). Then he goes on to actually indicate a time when he thought it had ended for him, after a gig in May 2012, when he realised that stage-Gerard was an act he was putting on. Then there's a bit about him going to get an amp off an old hippy, and how he's got it next to the old guitar he wrote Skylines and Turnstiles on. Then he finishes, and says the thank you that fans were looking for.

Reading over the letter again has changed my perspective on it, because I only read it once before this, when he first posted it. That time, I felt betrayed and quite hurt, I felt like I'd lost a lot of respect for Gerard as a person because of how he's handled this whole thing. I felt like it was a half-arsed effort at making up for that paragraph we got, and he was trying to lose us all in his deep metaphors and Meaningful Experiences.
But this time, with a clearer head, I feel better about it. Knowing what I and much of the fanbase know about Gerard's history, I suppose it's not surprising that he's reacted so awkwardly to this event. I have a habit of resorting to melodramatic narrative to explain things that are difficult, because it makes it easier to say. It must have been so much easier, and I don't mean easier as in 'less effort', I mean easier on his mind, to write those little goodbyes in between all that other bullshit. It's like creating a distraction so you can slip away before anybody notices what you're doing. Saying goodbye to MCR has got to be hard on him, too.

However, some things haven't changed from my first reading of it. Firstly, what happened to the rest of the band? Why is there no mention of him consulting the other members of the band, where is their input into this decision?
Secondly, there's this bit:

"All that was left was the voice inside, and I could hear it clearly. It didn't have to yell - it whispered, and said to me briefly, plainly, and kindly - what it had to say.

What it said is between me and the voice.

I ignored it, and the following months were full of suffering for me - I hollowed out, stopped listening to music, never picked up a pencil, started slipping into old habits. All of the vibrancy I used to see became de-saturated. Lost. I used to see art or magic in everything, especially the mundane - the ability was buried under wreckage.

Slowly, once I had done enough damage to myself, I began to climb out of the hole. Clean."

It's this section that worries me, because again - knowing Gerard's history as I and others do, this has more significance than vague rambling. This sounds like an attack of depression to me, and I think this is one of the few times where I will say that I know what the fuck I'm talking about. The loss of creativity, the emptiness, the ability to see beauty 'lost under wreckage'. It's the 'slipping into old habits' part that worries me a lot, too. Now, I'm sure that, now his family and friends are aware of his problems and are there to help him, he can stay away from some of his more dangerous habits, but can you blame me for being a bit concerned for a guy who is a former alcoholic and hard drug user? (here is a clip of some of his . . . moments that were caught on LOTMS) It's easy enough to stay away from things like that when you're happy, but conversely, when you're feeling like dirt, it's easy enough to start doing them again because they're the quickest way to blot things out, and quick fixes feel the best.
Anyway, I digress. My point there is that that sounds more like Gerard right at the beginning of the band, the confusion and loss of purpose. We could be right back at square one here, in which case I'd say he needs the band. The band saved his life, not just a load of other people's. Sure, maybe he was feeling lost about the music, maybe they all were, but that's fine - no matter what the fucking label might say about what you have to do, it's the fans who're buying your music and your merch, and MCR fans will wait forever. We'd wait a decade for an album they really felt good about, over getting an album after a year that they hadn't given their all.

I think I feel better about the break-up now, though. A little bit, at least. I'm still not sure what I want to do about the posters on my walls, but I feel less of an impulsive urge to rip them down, because I know I'll regret it. I am deeply saddened, and always will be, that my favourite band has split up and I'll never get to see them perform, because that was on my bucket list, but I'm not as furious with them now as I was earlier. It's because of them that I got into all of the other music that I'm into now - that I've found music and bands that I really, really love, as opposed to just like. They've broken my heart, but they've managed to equip me with the tools I need to get over this.
Tacky as it may be, I feel like the best end to this post would be the end of Gerard's letter:

"In closing, I want to thank every single fan. I have learned from you, maybe more than you think you've learned from me. My only regret is that I am awful with names and bad at goodbyes. But I never forget a face, or a feeling - and that is what I have left from all of you.

I feel love.

I feel love for you, for our crew, our team, and for every single human being I have shared the band and stage with - 

Ray. Mikey. Frank. Matt. Bob. James. Todd. Cortez. Tucker. Pete. Michael. Jarrod.

Since I am bad with goodbyes, I refuse to let this be one. But I will leave you with one last thing -

My Chemical Romance is done. But it can never die.

It is alive in me, in the guys, and it is alive inside all of you.

I always knew that, and I think you did too.

Because it is not a band - 

it is an idea.

Love,

Gerard."

Parkway Drive - Sleepwalker

For some reason, things like Spotify and iTunes keep telling me that Parkway Drive are punk, but this is metal if I ever heard it - but then this is me talking. This whole blog is meant to be from the perspective of someone with no real technical knowledge of music. Anyway, I just love the guitar in this, and it's a really creepy video.

The Wombats - Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)

because I think we all need some happy dancey music right now.

What The Fuck, My Chemical Romance?

"Being in this band for the past 12 years has been a true blessing. We've gotten to go places we never knew we would. We've been able to see and experience things we never imagined possible. We've shared the stage with people we admire, people we look up to, and best of all, our friends. And now, like all great things, it has come time for it to end. Thanks for all your support, and for being part of the adventure.
My Chemical Romance"

My favourite band split up today.
From the ages of four until fifteen, my favourite band was Gorillaz. They're an awesome band, but I never truly experienced true devotion to a band until My Chemical Romance.
I remember a few brief phases of liking them, and listening to The Black Parade album. But when I really discovered them was Easter 2011, when I was moving house. I was staying with my grandparents for a while, and I was lying on the sofa watching MTV, when Planetary (GO!) came on. I was vaguely aware of it because I have friends who'd liked the band for longer, but as I lay there watching the video, I remember realising that it was actually a pretty awesome song. Awesome enough that I spent the next two weeks on Spotify and Youtube all day, listening to every MCR song I could find. Normally, you listen to a band and there'll be one or two songs that don't really grab you. With MCR, every single song seemed like the most beautiful, amazing thing I'd ever heard. I got Danger Days and listened to it all day, every day for about two months straight. Then I got Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge - if you'll remember from my post the other day, my favourite album in the world - and it just kept getting better and better.
I was hooked almost straight away. I didn't have much to do in the summer of that year, so I spent that whole time drawing fan art, watching interviews and listening to their music. That Christmas, I got Life On The Murder Scene, and I watched the whole lot of it (it lasts several hours) in one go.
They got me through some really, really dark times too. There's a lot of other fans who know what I mean by that. I remember sitting there feeling completely empty one day, and I listened to Famous Last Words, and it actually gave me some real energy. I decided I had to keep living because I needed to see all my favourite bands play live.

I'm never going to get to see them perform. I'm never going to be there to see them playing my favourite songs. I can't send them my fan art, I can't send them a letter. They're never going to read it.

I just don't know what to do. There were rumours when the tracks for Conventional Weapons were announced, because they'd previously said they'd stop making music when they released The World Is Ugly. When I look at CW now, all I see is a goodbye letter.
But what about what they actually wrote? Twelve years of devotion, twelve years of them saving the lives of so many people and us supporting them through everything, and we get a paragraph? A paragraph that doesn't say anything and just says "yeah ok, bye guys". I just . . . what the fuck?
It feels so cold, so callous, especially when they have to know how much this is going to affect people.

And if you're thinking they're "just a band", then you can fuck off right now. I know there's a lot of people who think that it's complete rubbish when someone says a band saved their life, but it's not. When you're sitting there and feeling so alienated from everyone around you, like some kind of freak, and you feel like there's an almost physical weight pressing down on your shoulders like some monster whispering in your ear and telling you you're worthless, you can feel like there's nothing left. But then a band comes along, made of people who've had those troubles, who still have them, but have pulled through and made themselves a success, and they're singing songs that perfectly explain everything that you yourself can't articulate, and they tell you that it's ok to be messed up, and it's ok to feel like you can't carry on, because you still can, you can and will always get back up again.

So, I just . . . this blog and I will be in mourning. I don't even know what else to say.

Are my posts actually good?

I feel like they're at the sort of standard you'd expect off a nine-year-old, and nobody really gives me feedback so I can't tell.

Look, A Band - Nobody Takes Vegas

Nobody Takes Vegas sounds like the name of some kind of alien warfare film, like Battle L.A. or something.  What they actually are, according to facebook, is "a band that plays songs". They are Nick LaGreca (vocals), Harrison Feuer (guitars), Jack Morrow (guitars), Rob Krug (bass), and Jimmy Kubik (drums and superhero names division), and they're from Long Island. They also play loud rock music. They seem to be pretty chilled out on the information side of things, as opposed to some other bands with more prose than lyrics written out, but that's no problem. More time for music.

I like this stuff a lot. It sounds like The Blackout, and also Funeral For A Friend, but a bit different. It's a bit heavy, a bit sad, a bit angry. I especially like the drums on the start of Riding In Cars With Bears.
Half Dead In Hempstead is the kind of thing I can imagine myself blasting through my (broken) headphones on one of my long walks, while pretending to be in a music video (and plus I like the hand-dance in the youtube video).
Midnight In Nagoya is probably my favourite though, and I wanted to put the actual video in this post, but for some reason the damn site will only access the live videos, which aren't as high quality as the link. It's angry, it's got a little bit of screaming, it sounds like the kind of thing I'd be sat singing along to in the middle of the night while pretending I can play guitar. It's got such pretty lyrics, too; "Can you hear me when all the sounds start to play? While our minds run wild, just open your eyes, with whispers and broken words". I think I must've listened to this song about five times on the trot by now.

But yes, these guys are awesome, really really awesome actually, possibly one of my favourites so far of the bands I've looked at - I would say it's definitely worth your while to give them a listen.

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I Tend To Say The Same Thing A Lot . . .

And I don't mean the words 'awesome' or 'brilliant'. I mean, when I'm looking at new bands, my posts always end up saying "wow they're great, you should listen to these guys", and I'm not just saying that because I'm terrified of saying mean things about bands because I personally take all criticism, no matter how constructive, very personally and I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings on stuff they've worked so hard on. I say this stuff all the time because they're actually amazing bands, which just goes to show how much talent there is out there that doesn't get recognised because we're all too busy focusing on the magic through who've already gotten popular.

Look, A Band - Silver Story

"Silver Story is an up and coming 4 piece rock band from St. Helens!" That's their Twitter bio, and I thought it might be the best way to introduce them here, too - although it says on Facebook that they're from Manchester, which is even better, because Manchester's the best place of all the places. They've been 'masters of debauchery' since 2007, and their political views are listed as "Anarchy!" which is even better.

So far, they sound awesome (given up on not using that word). I especially like the start of Jaded on their Art and Vandals EP. It's very shouty and angry, reminds me of The Cribs a bit. That's followed by My Empire, which has a nice, quite start and then kicks in and gets even nicer (I swear I was taught a wider vocabulary than this, but this music is too good and it's distracting me). It's a bit melancholy, a bit of a kissing-in-the-rain-montage kind of song, but who doesn't like that kind of song?

THE NEXT SONG STARTS WITH BASS. I LIKE BASS. It's also called Of Dreams And Nightmares, and is appropriately, kind of dark, although more action than evil wolves poison-gassing your school (that's one of mine), but still great. To get dark enough for what I was thinking, my speakers would have to be bleeding. There's a bit of darkness there, but in a sort of bad-ass kind of way. I think my favourite song would be Dancefloor, off their Wake Up album.

It's all quite catchy and pop-punk, which is good. I have a lot of time for pop punk type stuff. There's darkness, but it's sort of that hopeful yes-we're-gonna-get-through-this kind of music, and you can't have too much of that, because music gets you through everything. They make the kind of songs you want to sing along to while going on a road trip with the wind blowing through your hair, and then do air drums and then crash because you're supposed to keep your hands on the wheel, you idiot. Watch out, Silver Story are out to kill you in seemingly random accidents.

Oddly enough, they also have some shows coming up, apparently: one on the 30th of March at Dry Bar in Manchester along with various other bands, which I may see if I can attend, and one at Nambucca in London on June the 6th.

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Fall Out Boy - Tiffany Blews

Fall Out Boy have a lot more songs than you'd think they have, and because their released singles are so mindcrushingly awesome, I generally get too distracted by them to properly appreciate the unreleased ones. This one, off their most recent album (excluding Believers Never Die), Folie A Deux, crept up on me today and I realised just how amazing it is. Especially that bass bit near the beginning (it is bass, right? I get really worried I've made a complete misunderstanding of things) - nice work, Pete.

Look, A Band - Messenger Down

I have been somewhat aware of these guys for a while. I found them on t'internet a while back, and I gave them a listen. I don't remember what I heard, but I must've liked it, because they've made it onto my list of new bands that I'm looking at.
They're an act from North Carolina, consisting of Garrett Foster (vocals), Connor Vogt (guitar), Nick Atwell (bass), and Bryan Scercy (drums), who apparently vary between a range of sounds from hardcore to indie. They're currently working on an eight-track record, The Gentlemen's Guide To Keeping Away From People Like You, which is due out sometime soon over bandcamp and iTunes, with a possible physical release as well.

They're definitely good. Quite melodic, and there's a lot of feeling in their songs. Timing is perhaps something they need to work on though in one or two tracks, because they get a bit out of sync from time to time. A Lie For A Lie (Make Up Your Mind Before I Have To Do This For You) is awesome, and the video is below:

A Lie For A Lie (Make Up Your Mind Before I Have To Do This For You)

A Toast To Someday is quite Fall Out Boy-ish to me, and probably my second favourite of their four available singles and their cover of Panic! At The Disco's The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage - it's a brilliant cover, and I don't usually like covers. Plus it's an awesome song to begin with. My favourite one of their singles happens to be a Christmas song, Come For Christmas, Stay Forever, which automatically means +1 to them, and an extra +10 because it strongly appeals to my Angsty Songs At Christmas thing, and another +5 because it's more in sync than some of the other songs. It's only a little problem, and easily correctable, but one that starts to grate quite quickly.

I do like that they're creative with their music though - there's a bit of piano in there, a bit of an instrument I'm going to say is a violin but I'm not sure (basically everything in the strings section that's not guitar or bass is a violin to me), which is a refreshing change from the normal vocals+guitar+bass+drums formula. I know it works, but sometimes it's nice to switch it about, and Messenger Down have done it properly, and they make full use of the fact that Garrett has an amazing voice.
Interestingly enough, they would like to play at the Vans Warped Tour 2013, and really, I think it would be very nice of you to vote for them, because they're actually pretty good.

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My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge

I think it's high time I told you all about my favourite album in the universe. That album is by a band known as My Chemical Romance, hailing from New Jersey, and that album is called Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge.


Supposedly following the story of "a man, a woman, and the corpses of a thousand evil men", it's this never-ending attack of noise and anger and blood that actually makes my heart race when I listen to it. You really do not understand how much I love this album. It's excellent if you need something to fuel your anger, or something to just exorcise it out of you, because it has all the violence and fury that you want to take out of the world, but because of governments and all that stupid stuff, you can't.

(left to right): Frank Iero, Bob Bryar, Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Ray Toro

It kicks off with Helena (So Long And Goodnight), which is my favourite song ever, about Gerard and Mikey's dead grandmother, who helped Gerard realise his talent for singing. Then there's all these other songs in there, like Give 'Em Hell, Kid, and Hang 'Em High, that make me feel reckless like I'm hyping myself up for war.
To The End is one of my favourite songs on the album (watch me say that about every song). It's got this amazing chorus that I keep trying to sing the lead and backing vocals to simultaneously, because it's just so wlejfhwljfhljdhfdsljhfwlkjhfwljf. It's apparently based on the story A Rose For Emily, about a woman who falls in love with a gay man and then kills him and keeps his corpse in her bed (spoiler alert?). I just . . . love it . . . so much . . . ugh . . . plus it has the line, "lost in coma and covered in cake", which is just brilliant.

Then there's You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison - the song that does exactly what it says on the tin. Even without the line "My cellmate's a killer, they make me do push-ups in drag", it is, quite obviously, a song about prison anal. Gerard actually said that on stage at one point, I believe. It is a brilliant song, and one that spawned a thousand shakily-grounded Frerard theories (there is a very wide part of the MCR fanbase that ships Frank and Gerard, and are constantly generating theories as to why they're currently in committed heterosexual relationships - some well thought out, others forgetting that they're obviously going to have to look at each other at some point, what with them being in a band together).

Then, obviously, the big hitter, the monster track that everybody knows and is used to smash through every claim MCR make that they're not emo - I appreciate they don't like the term, but really, because of this song they've become inextricably linked to the scene - it's I'm Not Okay (I Promise).

This video's awesome. Filmed like an advert for a movie about every outcast kid ever, and with the amazing Frank moment in the middle - I remember the first time I watched this video, and it was that specific moment where I decided I loved the band - it's just SO BLEEDING AMAZING YOU DONT UNDERSTAND.

After that comes The Ghost of You, which is a pretty dark song, the kind of one you use as a cover for crying very loudly into your pillow. There's a video for it too, which has particular resonance with fans because of the Tragic Mikey Death Scene at the end. It is very sad, I must say. It also showcases the one time when somebody managed to tame the beast that is Ray Toro's amazing 'fro.

The album lets up slightly for a few moments, for This Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You, and the interlude. The guitars in Jetset always remind me of A Forest by The Cure, partly because of the sort of spooky wobbly noise (surprising though it may seem, I dropped Music three years ago), or possibly because when I first downloaded the album (legally, I only download bands I like, and it's a mark of respect to them imho) I spent a lot of the time wandering about in a forest being very angry and depressed.

When that's over, after a second of silence, you get hit in the face by Thank You For The Venom, which is a song I am definitely going to have to learn on guitar, because that is such a  . . . a . . . I don't know any words appropriate to explain how much I love the riff in this song. I just yes. All the yes. It's got such a kick-ass chorus as well, just listen to it, it's so beautiful.

The last few songs, to me, have a lot more of an - and I know this is going to sound really obvious - ending kind of feeling. In terms of the man, woman, thousand corpses idea, these songs in my head are when they've reached the end of the road and they know the police are catching up to them, so all they can do is wait because there's no escape. In such a fashion you get It's Not A Fashion Statement, It's A Fucking Deathwish, which you can use for so many things (and, though I must also stress here that it is not always an indicator of impending suicide, self-harm could come under things you could use that song title for, because, seriously people, never ever hurt yourself to look cool or fit in - try not to do it at all, really).

The penultimate song is Cemetery Drive, which is, incidentally, my second favourite song in the world. I love how it's so gloomy, and it's so easy to imagine a story behind it as it plays out, and the guitars in this are so beautiful. It also has an entertaining oral sex reference not-exactly-hidden away in the lyrics.

The last song is I Never Told You What I Do For A Living. It's brilliant, I just . . . when I first got the album I never really appreciated it because I was all burnt out after I'm Not Okay, and I didn't have time for the later tracks. But over time I really got to listen to this one, and it's so wonderful. The lyrics and the music fit the title - to me it's like a confession. My internal story for the album is that a man gets hired to kill a woman, Helena, by Helena's partner at the time for some reason. Anyway, he can't do it, and they end up running away together. Over the course of the album, they keep having to kill and kill as Helena's ex sends more hitmen after them, and they fall in love and realise that they can never safely leave each other because of the crimes they've committed. This song is the end, the big finale where Helena finally finds out what her new partner does for a living, and everything finally catches up with them.

Look, I just really love this album in a way that I cannot express in mere words. You should just listen to it and everything My Chemical Romance has done because it's awesome.

Of Mice And Men - My Understandings

I just love this song. It sounds like water at the start, and then it kicks in and it's so big and angry and just yes, it's like a storm, which is really appropriate considering that it's off an album called The Flood.

I feel like I'm really bad at this

Like, I have no idea what I'm doing, because the last time I reviewed anything before this blog was probably a book when I was nine, and I was only allowed to say certain things. I'm terrible at thinking of useful constructive criticism, or even knowing enough about music to be able to comment, really.
But I'll keep doing it for now, anyway, because it's summat to do and people keep pretending I'm good at it.

Look, A Band - Liar Liar

Excuse me while I get rid of the Taking Back Sunday song that sets off in my head every time I see this band name - although really, reminding people of Taking Back Sunday isn't that bad a place to start.
This is four guys from Sheffield - Joe Daniels (guitar/vocals), Liam Bates (bass/vocals), and Jake Lawton (guitar), and Jack Dudill (drums) - who compare their music to a blend of Blink 182 and You Me At Six, which sounds promising. They've also written their entire Facebook page bio in a rather entertaining third person narrative; "the irrepressible punks emerged with a true declaration of intent . . . melody-drenched choruses so infectious it'll require an exorcist to release them from your head", for example (Edit - it was written by a PR guy, according to the band).

They've actually got some really awesome songs. I can definitely see the All Time Low and New Found Glory in them, and the start of the video for Heart Attack reminds me somewhat of the start of Underdog by You Me At Six. The only disturbing bit is the autotune sound on Joe's vocals, because it's erm . . . it sounds a bit like Finn from Adventure Time, and I'm not quite sure what the need is for it, because when the roboticness is less evident, the vocals are still great.

the video for Heart Attack

They're very good (look, I'm trying very hard to not say 'awesome' all the time), and I will definitely be listening to them again, especially It Doesn't Take A Hero, which is probably my favourite song off their EP, He Said, She Said, which you can get off iTunes now.

I have a load of bands written down to listen to for this particular feature, and a lot of them, to be honest, are kind of shabby and have maybe one song available to listen to. These guys have an EP out already, they actually sound like a band, although maybe not quite at the level their bio would suggest just yet, and they've even got a series of 'yes we are band now' type photos out in railway lines with their hoodies, which is basically an essential for any pop punk band nowadays. But you should definitely listen to them, because they know what they're doing and it doesn't sound like they're going away.

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My Terrible Fan Art: My Chemical Romance (edition 2)

As I've said, I have quite a large portfolio of MCR pictures that I've drawn over time, and a lot of them are terrible (but not so much that I won't send them to them when I get the chance, because I have no dignity).
That said, I'm actually pretty pleased with these two. The first one is my version of the dancer girl in the video for Helena (So Long And Goodnight), which is both my favourite song ever and my favourite video ever. The flowers aren't exactly lifelike, but plantlife's never really been my area of expertise.
The second one is Mother War, who is a recurring character within the plot behind The Black Parade. She shows up in the video for Welcome To The Black Parade, and she looks awesome in a really creepy way. I think my picture of her actually turned out really well, really, considering my weird fear of gas masks (stemming possibly from that episode of Doctor Who, which I have not rewatched since I first saw it).

Heaven's Basement - I Am Electric

They've got hair! They've got a new debut album called Filthy Empire! They've still got hair! They're electric! Watch them burn! They killed your god! This song will make you use a lot of exckamation marks and blow stuff up!

Guess The Band

Special imaginary internet prizes to whoever can guess which band inspired my nails:

yes, I know it's a poor quality photo, but as I'm not pretentious I don't happen to own a professional photography kit.

You Should Totally Listen To For All Those Sleeping

This is different from the 'Look, A Band' thing, because these guys are already pretty well-known.
I personally found out about them from an article in Kerrang! a few weeks back. I listened to them at the time and I thought they were great, but then, as often happens, I kind of forgot to listen to them because of other bands.
Anyway, I decided to try again with them this evening as a soundtrack to my homework, and let me tell YOU (yes you), that these guys are actually awesome, like I'd-see-them-live awesome, and I've mentioned my concert fear in the past. These guys are shit-hot, they're brilliant. They're all angry and metally, and they kind of remind of Sleeping With Sirens, which is really quite a good thing.
Really, to summarise them for you, I'll just quote the first track off their newest album, Outspoken: "Five fine young men, here to play a few of their heavy rock and roll songs for you. From Minnesota, what you've been waiting for, For All Those Sleeping".
What makes that even better is that those words are closely followed by "STEP UP OR SHUT THE FUCK UP" which is really just very good life advice.
The songs are all really awesome wonderful-sounding and energetic - there'll be a great intro, and then this massive crazy chorus that makes me want to jump about despite the fact that I'm supposed to be quiet so that I don't wake up Satan, who happens to live next door. As a taster, have a look at my favourite of theirs, Follow My Voice:

Incidentally, they're also playing at Skate And Surf 2013 (another festival I want to be at, ugghhhh festivallsssss) in America. I think that they should, y'know, maybe . . . come to England . . . and do a show in Academy somewhere for cheap . . . and give me lots of merch . . . and maybe all the other bands should do that as well . . .
But yes, you should definitely give For All Those Sleeping a listen. They're brilliant.

Alpha Romeo Teakettle Barbecue

A few years back, me and my mum decided that we needed a wider range of music to listen to in the car, so we didn't have to bring loads of albums out with us all the time. This spawned 'Tunes For The Car'. She makes one every few now and then, so that now there's about twenty; I'm not sure, because she started off numbering them, but she kept forgetting which number we were on, and then she started making up numbers (there is a TFTC Twelvety - I am hoping you get the reference), and then there's various special editions she's done for when I was on school ski trips, such as February 2012's Piste Off.
I didn't know this latest one was being created, but that's not unusual. She just walked into my room this morning, put down ARTB and walked back out. The name comes from her new car (she's got an Alpha Romeo Giulietta or however you spell it, and she loves it even though it makes her look a bit like a drug dealer), and also from the Young Ones sketch, Cash.
Anyway, it's brilliant. It doesn't appear to follow any particular theme at first, but if you listen through a few times, I think you find the threads of Christina Aguilera, Pimp My Ride and Has-my-mum-just-been-watching-90s-MTV-shows-while-I'm-at-school?

Gram Rabbit - Dirty Horse
The Rapture - How Deep Is Your Love
Queens of the Stone Age - Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
The xx - Crystalised (Rory Philips remix)
Jamiroquai - Alright
Christina Aguilera - Can't Hold Us Down
Redman - Smash Sumthin'
X-Zibit - Hey Now (Mean Muggin')
Eve - Let Me Blow Ya Mind
Robyn - Dancing On My Own
Christina Aguilera - Beautiful
Queens of the Stone Age - Go With The Flow
Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity

As you can see, it's erm . . . a pretty wide range of things, but it works in its own way. They've all got their reasons for being there, in some way or another: Christina Aguilera's there because we had a conversation about her music the other day, and Queens of the Stone Age are there because I got her one of their albums for Mother's Day. I believe the Gram Rabbit song is there because she keeps trying to find me things to learn to play on guitar.

Reaallllyyy Relaaaaxxxxinnggg Songs.

Because everybody's stressed at the moment. Exams are coming from every angle, teachers know that and are subsequently attacking everyone who's not going to make them look good this summer. Not fun. Especially not fun if, like me, you're a perfectionist and very easily stressed, which is why I've decided to post some of the songs I find really relaxing (hence the title), because sometimes stuff like Product of a Murderer is not what you need to hear to put you in a positive frame of mind, no matter how much I may like the song.

Gorillaz - Hong Kong
It's on one of their earlier, smaller albums, and I don't remember when I first heard it properly because I kept skipping it, but it's beautiful. Reminds me of grass and dirt and stuff.

Otis Redding - (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay
This guy is so chilled out. Just sitting there all day watching ships and boats. He is so chilled he has nothing else to do all day. Was he unemployed at the time? He's definitely more chilled than me, I could only look at a boat for about as long as this song lasts, but that really saying something on how relaxing this song is, because I normally can't look at boats at all.

Of Mice And Men - When You Can't Sleep At Night
I really wasn't expecting this the first time I heard it, given what the rest of OM&M's discography is like. You go all the way through The Flood and it's all fury and anger and punching walls, and then there's this beautiful calm one at the end.

Compay Segundo - Guantanamera
Latin music is actually awesome, and it's always relaxed, even when it's not. This is especially so, despite being about a woman from an area of Cuba currently controlled by the USA, even though they don't need it.

Rise Against - Swing Life Away
I like Rise Against, but sometimes the whole WE ARE VERY ANGRY ABOUT POLITICS thing gets a bit boring, even for me, and I'm always angry about politics. So this one's good, because not only is it relaxing, it's just about erm . . . swinging life away (swing your pants?)

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The Rapture - Echoes

One of the best songs I've ever heard used as a theme tune, and incidentally the theme tune to Misfits, one of my favourite television series out there.

Look, A Band: Cobalt and the Hired Guns

not sure what's happening here

As with several things, I was first introduced to Cobalt and the Hired Guns by my friend Hannah, because she throws music at people. I did give them a bit of a listen at the time, but I’m going to do it properly now for the purposes of blogging and helping the music industry, and because they're actually awesome.

Thanks to shouting until I was given information about them, according to the Internet, Cobalt and the Hired Guns are Matt Hart (bass, guitar, vocals), Tom Fort (bass, guitar, vocals), Jesse Alexander (drums, vocals), and Mike Roth (bass, guitar, vocals), formed at Oberlin College, Ohio, although they’re mainly based in Chicago now, and have been around since 2003, although their first album, Jump The Fence, was released in 2008 – they’ve done another one since then - Everybody Wins!. No messing about for these guys, this is serious business – unless you count that apparently one of them uses the song Slow Down at the end of the day in a primary school as a soundtrack to the kids packing up.

Their song MySpace (Like You Like Me) is the one I keep getting told to listen to (by Hannah). It’s good and fun, very jumpy-abouty and happy, which probably makes it all the more unusual that I like it so much. It’s the kind of music you use in the background of a Persil advert, if that makes sense – the sort of ‘happy kids roll in the mud and climb trees’ feel to it. I like You Left Your Sweater better though (that kind of rhymes), it’s got even more of the active party-time-ness in it. But then there's also Oregon, I Know, which isn't anything like what I usually listen to because I don't like guitar solos just for the sake of them, but dayummmmm.

I could go on about all their songs, but I wouldn’t want to spoil the fun. What you should know is that it is exactly that – fun. Fun, happy stuff, one of the few bands that I like listening to that I could show to my younger siblings without really being considered a bad influence. The tags on their bandcamp say “americana pop punk rock fun horn section upbeat Chicago”, which sums it all up really and also counts as a sort of tl;dr for this whole post. If you like horns, if you like pop punk, if you like people from Chicago and you like bands that really know how to make very pretty music and are going to be performing at SXSW this summer (14^th March – Haddington’s, noon; 14^th March – Bourbon Girl/Orange Amps Stage, 3pm; 16^th March – Empire Auto Club & Control Room Patio, 3pm, all in Austin, Texas), then you should definitely listen to Cobalt and the Hired Guns.

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Are Oldies Really Goodies?

This is something that people I know in real life have heard me complain about a lot, especially of late because I've been watching Kerrang! TV at night, and they seem to fall prey to this very often. My problem is this; do we continue to glorify older bands like Nirvana and The Beatles because they're actually really good, or because they're old and one of them's dead?

Now, don't get me wrong, the various fan clubs out there, I'm not saying that bands like that were terrible. What I'm saying is that I'm not sure they deserve this iconic status they've been given, as if every single thing they've written was like angel song.

Both Nirvana and The Beatles (as my example bands for this post) have quite obviously been influential on the development of music over the years, but that, to me, doesn't mean the same thing as musical brilliance. Because my nana is a massive Beatles fangirl (she has a clock that is just their faces and no numbers which really confuses me because I can barely tell the time as it is), I've grown up with them being played at every special occasion the family's had over the years, and I do love the song She Loves You. I've heard a fair amount of Nirvana stuff because, if you watch Kerrang! TV, you can't get away from Smells Like Teen Spirit and Heart-Shaped Box, and the Nevermind album is on the jukebox at work so the hipsters come in and pick their 'favourite song' off it and then run off. They're alright bands, they have produced some good songs, but is it really necessary that we hail them as gods just because they're old and there's a tragic-hero type involved with them?

Again with the 'but they've been so influential on music' point. You don't have to be brilliant to be influential, you just have to come up with something that works and other people can build on. When we were developing language, someone had to come up with that basic idea of 'subject verb object' (if you're an English speaker) for someone else to then build on that and go 'hey it sounds even better if we put some possessive pronouns in here'. Syntax maybe isn't the most fun or beautiful thing in the world - unless you're me, who gives standing ovations for German sentence structure - but it is nevertheless important for you to build the rest of the sentence on. Does that make sense?

With my 'tragic hero' point I keep making, I'm not trying to make light of Kurt Cobain's suicide or any other celebrity's death - it's more something like the opposite. I feel like the way people treat Kurt killing himself is like it's something that never happens to anyone else, or at least isn't as important when it does. No. Kurt killing himself was a terrible thing to happen. All the hundreds and thousands of people who've killed themselves whose names you'll never know are just as tragic, but you don't see that much media saying how much they matter to the world, do you? When John Lennon was killed, yes it was John Lennon, but it was also a man getting shot, which happens so much these days, and yet nobody seems to care as much. I don't see what makes them any more deserving of reverence than any of the faceless victims out there.

I don't blame people for automatically assuming that old bands are brilliant purely because they're old, because we're basically taught to do that by everyone else around us. The place you're probably most likely to hear Nirvana when you get to the age where you start actually paying attention to music is likely to be either on an album your parents own, in which case you can assume they're going to like the band, or on a music channel, and on music channels they can never ever just say 'and here's Smells Like Teen Spirit', they have to go full-on 'ICONIC BAND WOW SO LOVELY CREATED LIFE ON EARTH WORSHIP KURT COBAIN MMMMM BEST MUSIC'. Obviously, that's likely to leave you with this subconscious idea that that's exactly how you should see them.
It's a problem I have myself, I've just realised, with The Cure and The Smiths. I really like them, and when a friend of mine who went to Reading and Leeds (I WANT TO GO THIS YEAR) last summer said they'd had the chance to go and see The Cure perform and turned it down to see Crystal Castles instead, I went mental. Why? Because, as far as I was concerned at the time, The Cure were a staple part of British music and it would be sacrilege to not see them when given the chance, because they are The Cure. The same goes for The Smiths. They were good, and I like a lot of their songs, but there's also a fair few of their songs that are actually quite boring, but we say we like them anyway because they're part of our heritage. Like grandparents. Not all of them 'did something during the war', but you still generally have to respect them anyway, because they're your grandparents.

So that's my rant. I'm not saying they're not good bands - I keep repeating that over and over, but I know that if this is going to get any response it's going to be off people who will try to take any opportunity possible to interpret this as me mindlessly slamming 'TeH bEsT bAnDs In TeH wUrLd' - but I'm saying that, as music is an art, and therefore its quality changes from person to person, you can't say that they're universally brilliant. However, because it's been ingrained into the core of my being by GCSE and AS essay practice to always try to argue both sides, that also means that no band or artist is universally unimportant, and nobody has the right to say so - not even me, no matter how much I might like to pass my opinions off as fact, and especially not you.

The Used - Put Me Out

Because the guitar at the start is like UBHUFOFLKJSKDLFJSLDKFJLASDKJFWRIOMCDFLVMSKLMFKVMF.

Why I Don't Like Taylor Swift

Why quite a lot of people don't like her. This may appear to deviate somewhat from specifically music, but the thing is, which I would have thought obvious, but a lot of people try to deny when they don't want to ignore the power of a message, is that music and artists have a lot of influence over people. A lot. If hymns went in the charts, think how many more Christians there'd be.

"There's a place in hell for women who don't help other women". You're right there, in general, Taylor, but what you're missing here is that you said this about two women who made a joke about you, and the women you said it to were TINA FEY AND AMY POEHLER. DO YOU NOT KNOW WHAT TINA FEY HAS DONE FOR WOMEN? HAVE YOU NEVER USED THE INTERNET OR WATCHED A TELEVISION?

The faux-country-ness, as well. I'm more of an innocent Southern Belle than her, and I'm from the north west of England.

Now, here are the main reasons. The reason is NOT that she goes out with a lot of guys, because that is not wrong. That in itself is perfectly fine. What is wrong is that she can never just have those relationships as relationships, she uses them for publicity and to create material for her songs, in which she repeatedly enforces the victim role on herself despite the fact that she's the one slagging off all these guys the moment they turn their backs. It's fine to go through relationships, as I say, but to repeatedly try to play the 'I am completely faultless in all of this, that guy's a big meanie oh somebody protect me I am innocent flower' card, it's tiring and frankly doesn't work at all. As somebody on the internet said, maybe the ex-boyfriends should write a song called Maybe You're The Problem. I don't like Harry Styles, but the way she's been trying to take the piss out of him after they split up - and yet she can't take a joke herself - it's just pathetic, really.

She uses homophobic lyrics; "So go tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy, that's fine, I'll tell mine that you're gay" - Picture To Burn. Now, I'm guessing there's going to be a lot of people going 'oh, but that's not homophobia, she's just using it to insult him'. Yes. She is threatening to insult someone by insinuating that they are a homosexual, which would indicate that she at least believes that it is a bad thing to be, and therefore a worthy choice for an insult. That's homophobia in the everyday. She could have said boring, unintelligent, sexist, overly aggressive . . . but no. Gay. Obviously.

She uses her music videos to slut-shame. Whenever it's a hero vs. villain situation, the heroine of the 'story' is always a 'pure' girl, dressed more demurely because she hides her body, whereas the villain wears revealing clothes and is dressed closer to what you would commonly call a 'slut'. This is bad because it enforces the idea that you are allowed to judge a person's entire character on the way she is dressed - maybe the 'slut' just enjoys wearing that kind of clothing. Maybe she is doing it to attract the attention of anyone in the area who happens to like women because she wants to have sex with them. So what? How does that make her a bad person? How does hiding your body make you a better person? Because you're 'waiting till marriage', so the man who owns you can perform the action that supposedly changes a woman's entire life? My point is here, she is attacking women who use their right to say yes.

And that, ladies, gentlemen and variants thereupon, is why I don't like Taylor Swift.

A Very Potter Sequel - Stutter

Because Mama Umbridge is the most fearsome bad-ass woman of them all. If you haven't watched A Very Potter Musical, and A Very Potter Sequel, which this song is from, pleeeassseee do it now. You will not regret it.

My Chemical Romance - Mama

Not by a woman, but it's about women . . . specifically mothers (Mother War, actually), and it is Mother's Day . . .

As it's Internation Women's Day . . .

... and I did say I'd do some stuff about women this month and never reeaallly got round to it, I thought that I would post here my all time favourite songs sung by women.
For some reason (SEXISM) the music industry tends to mess with female singers and try to make them popular because of their appearance as opposed to their actual ability, and even when they don't put a major effort into that, physical appearance is still what a singer will get judged on as opposed to . . . their singing, which is their profession (this does, admittedly, apply to some men too). For example, Adele; brilliant singer, writes her own songs and everything. But what's she judged on? Her size. 'Oh God look at her, lard-arse' 'yes but that's not important, she's a singer-' 'Eww who got her pregnant she's so fat' 'But she's still really pretty actually, and anyway that's not even important-'
You get the picture.
So anyway, here are some awesome songs by awesome women.

Adele - Rolling In The Deep. Because everybody knows this song and she really belts it out, and just yeesssssss gooooddddddd

Amy Winehouse - You Know I'm No Good. Amy was such a talented singer and it's really such a shame what happened, but that's common knowledge. She's been painted on the ceiling of the cafe in Affleck's Palace, Manchester, where all the dead legends have gone (is Mitch Lucker up there yet though?)

Shirley Bassey - Goldfinger. Because firstly, Adele's already up here, and secondly, this is a better Bond theme than Skyfall anyway.

The Pretty Reckless - Make Me Wanna Die. Because I love how Taylor Momsen just decided to go off from Gossip Girl and join this band, and start dressing however she likes, no matter what the slut-shaming from the media is like.

Evanescence - Bring Me To Life. Because this song is so cheesy I love it. I remember this song from when I was about seven, actually, so it's also kind of nostalgic for me. It also spawned many an early 2000s scenekid phase.

Ms Dynamite - Dy-Na-Mi-Tee. I don't even care, I used to have the album with this on when I was younger, I loved Ms Dynamite.

Beyonce feat. Jay-Z - Crazy In Love. SPLOSHUNS AND RAIN DANCING AND THOSE WEIRD PURPLE AND ORANGE OUTFITS. DESTINY'S FAVOURITE CHILD.

No Music Is Superior To Any Other

As in it doesn't necessarily make you more moral or cool to listen to one kind of music as opposed to another.
This has been a thing that's annoyed me for some time, actually; you see these sort of clan wars developing over the internet over whose kind of music is better, what makes you the better person if you listen to it, etc. You must have seen the type of thing I'm talking about - in one corner you have the rock fans with "at least our bands write their own music and use real lyrics as opposed to 'you a stupid hoe'", and in the other you have the pop fans with their "I Am Going To Make Yet Another Trending Topic Asking For The Attention of This International Celebrity Asking Them To Follow Me Because I Am So Much More Fascinating Than Any Of The Other 3,000,000 People Doing The Same Thing At The Same Time" thing.
Now, I could very easily take to the rock corner, and in fact I do agree with a lot of what they say about songwriting and musicianship, because that, to me, is what music actually is - it's an art, a form of expression you use when just saying things doesn't quite cut it, so singing into a machine the words of some moneymaking algorithm all to please some dark music industry overlord seems a bit like a perversion of the art to me.

But then, that's the thing right there; all art is subjective. I and others like music created very personally, specifically to be very personal for the audience, music that gives you somewhere to escape to. I'm all over that kind of stuff. But just because of that doesn't mean that I don't like any other genre of music. Proper hip hop (Lil Wayne does not count, I'm talking about Wu Tang Clan and the like) is awesome, as is a bit of house music every now and then. I'm increasingly disillusioned with the music you hear on the charts nowadays because it's all so meaningless, but maybe that's the fun of it - some pop singers are aware of how light and sugary they are, and they take the piss out of it, people like Ke$ha, for example - she is so obviously a parody artist. Even the ones that are serious about it can be good, because sometimes you need a bit of relief and some time surrounded by the paper-thin sparkly pop world. It's certainly more racially diverse, with a lot more black artists (although the way they've been whiting up Nikki Minaj of late is disappointing, because she shouldn't have to be marketed as any other skin tone to be more successful) and the increasing popularity of K- and J-pop, with groups like Big Bang having a bigger audience here in the UK.

Sure, it's fine to say that you prefer the music you like for certain reasons - I've already stated mine - but don't ever pretend that liking My Chemical Romance over One Direction makes you a better person, and it doesn't work that way the other way round either. Sure, the 1D fans may have a tendency to be really annoying and never shut up about them, and some seem to think it's ok to send death threats to children just because their dad was involved in rock music, but that's the fans - not all of them, yes, but the ones who are currently standing as the global ambassadors for the rest of them, unfortunately - as individuals who are whiny, self-absorbed douches, and any fanbase can be like that (coughSherlockcoughcough). Incidentally, nothing that you like, be it a band or a television series or a god, can make you a more or less moral person than anyone else, unless what you like to do is brutally murdering people or inciting discrimination and hate crimes.

All fans of any particular genre with a brain in their heads will know that there's other kinds of music that they like occasionally, and if you look at modern music, there are songs that transcend genre and make everybody like them, or at least recognise them - Mr Brightside, for example, or Low - so just . . . get off your high horse and dance to different kinds of music, because you know you like them really.