Retro Summer Blogfest

Sure, it's not summer here, but I can still participate in this Blogfest. Mostly because I say so!

Amy from The Ramblings of Amy is hosting the Retro Summer Blogfest today, and sucker for music blogfests that I am, I just had to sign up!! The idea is to find an old mixed audio CD that you haven't listened to in a while, and post the following:

1. Artist name and song title
2. What the song means to you and why you like it.

I was thinking of a particular mix CD but I haven't been able to locate it, so I opted to use a list of songs I had on a mix tape (one of MANY) from back in the day (as in, the high school day). So without further ado...

SIDE ONE

1. SMASHING PUMPKINS - "Zero"; it's a classic tune from SP, though not one of my all-time favourites.
   
2. VERUCA SALT - "Seether"; always reminds me of the power chicks have to ROCK IT on guitar
   
3. SMASHING PUMPKINS - "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"; this is the first song I listened to after we got our new and (at the time) fancy stereo...and I remember going, "WOAH, this song has some serious BASS in it!"
   
4. VERUCA SALT - "Cock of Nothing"; noticing a pattern here? SP...VS...SP...VS. Yeah. Anyway, this is a fabulous rockin' b-side from this band
   
5. SOUNDGARDEN - "The Day I Tried To Live"; a song from the great album Superunknown, and at my time it was one of my favourites
   
6. SILVERCHAIR - "Suicidal Dream"; kings of emo before emo was emo...or something? Got to love the 'Chair for taking me back to my youth
   
7. SMASHING PUMPKINS - "To Forgive"; this is another that really isn't a favourite anymore. Maybe I listened it to death back then?? Still, a great song.
   
8. SOUNDGARDEN - "Karaoke"; amazing b-side from these awesome dudes
   
9. SILVERCHAIR - "The Closing"; I always loved the way this album ended...with this song.
   
10. VERUCA SALT - "All Mine"; yet another brilliant b-side from the queens of alt rock
    
11. JEBEDIAH - "Denver"; b-side from this Perth band, and a fast-paced energizing rockin' tune
    
12. VERUCA SALT - "The Morning Sad"; another case of me looking back and going...huh? Why'd I choose this one? Not that I don't like it, it's just there are heaps of other songs on this album I would now choose instead.
    

SIDE TWO

1. EVERCLEAR - "Santa Monica"; classic tune, always puts me in mind of L.A.
2. POWDERFINGER - "Living Type"; still my favourite song from these dudes...except maybe the utterly brilliant "Capoicity"
3. SMASHING PUMPKINS - "Today"; a timeless classic, yet one I would not put on a mix tape today. Unless it was a tape for my boyfriend titled "You SERIOUSLY haven't heard this song before?!"
4. VERUCA SALT - "With David Bowie"; once again, no longer a fave, and this album has much more rockin' tunes. I still like the sentiment behind it though - being a teenaged girl in school crushing on a rock star. Been there, DONE THAT. (still doing it actually. hehehe)
5. TRIPPING DAISY - "Cause Tomb Shop"; b-side (yep, I love me some awesome b-sides) from a little-known band I always associate with people who are off their faces (due to their interesting video clips, especially the one for "I Got A Girl"...)
6. SILVERCHAIR - "Pop Song For Us Rejects"; picture this... two high school friends, awoken unhappily from their only-just-begun slumber by the alarm clock, which was in fact a clock radio blasting Triple J and this song. First time I heard it, while Freakshow was Triple J's feature album of the week. 1997, my friends. 1997.
7. FOO FIGHTERS - "Floaty"; I skipped this song once, when my cousin and his sexy friends were over, and one of the sexiest guys got up and turned it back on and said, "You can't skip that song! It's a brilliant song!" I think I was about 15
8. FOO FIGHTERS - "Everlong"; still one of my favourite songs by the Foos, and a stunning tune when stripped back
9. EVERCLEAR - "Summerland"; another thing I now wonder why I chose, when there were others that could easily have filled its spot.
10. HOLE - "Miss World"; a Hole classic, but where the heck was "Violet"?!?! is what I'm now asking myself.
11. SMASHING PUMPKINS - "Frail and Bedazzled"; b-side, a tune from Pisces Iscariot, and a rockin' invigorating sound!
12. EVERCLEAR - "You Make Me Feel Like A Whore"; classic tune and one that still gets me up and feeling like dancing. Still, not sure it'd fit on a mix tape of mine nowadays.
13. FAITH NO MORE - "Your Last Cup of Sorrow" (sic); yeah, that's how I wrote it. Aww, high school me was so cute! I saw FNM recently in concert, very awesome experience. And this is a great song, but nowhere near their best.
14. GREEN DAY - "Emenius Sleepus"; this was a b-side on one of the singles of theirs I bought. It took me many years before I even bought a full album by Green Day. But I do appreciate them for who and what they are. hehe

Okay...I'm done, and it's way past bedtime so I'm signing off!

What's the Score? Blogfest

ARGH!!! BuNoWriMo has begun, only I haven't! But I've got to get this Blogfest (click on the picture above for details) done before I can get stuck in. But I...think I changed my mind about what to write. At pretty much the last moment. D'oh. LOL. Maybe I'll go nuts and try to write both! ANYWAY, Blogfest time!! Here are the rules for the What's the Score? Blogfest, in the words of host RosieC:

"On June 1st, post any number of songs, artists, composers, posers, who/whatever that you might want to include in the soundtrack to your WIP. YOU'RE IN CHARGE! You make the soundtrack the way you want it. Don't have a WIP? Is your WIP's soundtrack personal and not something you want to share? No problem! Take your favorite book, or the book your reading right now, or a book you remember well, and make a soundtrack for it." - RosieC

So for this blogfest I'm going to mention a few different groups of songs. Firstly, some songs that were mentioned in early drafts of SUNDOWN, before I decided to replace all real bands with fictional bands and their fictional songs (to avoid any copyright issues that may arise in future, basically):

• "Haunted" - Stabbing Westward
• "She Sells Sanctuary" - the Cult
• "Friendly Fire" - Jawbreaker
• "Touched" - VAST
• "Get Inside" - Stone Sour
• "Creep" - Radiohead
• "Let Down" - Radiohead

Then there were bands that were mentioned, but no specific songs (and yet in hindsight I've attached songs to these suggestions as I imagine them in my head :P):

• "Born Slippy" - Underworld
• "Everlasting" - Moby
• "Darkangel (Gabriel)" - VNV Nation
• "Love You To Death" - Type O Negative

And finally, there are some songs that really suit the storyline and inspire me on a regular basis, across many different genres.

"Flames" - VAST "Falling Again" - Lacuna Coil "Wish You Were Here" - Incubus "Spit It Out" - VETO "Waiting" - the Smashing Pumpkins "Droning" - Love in Reverse "6 Underground" - Sneaker Pimps "If You Really Want So Little From Me" - Love Outside Andromeda "Down In Your Valley (Dead Letter Disco Remix)" - Dead Letter Chorus "Your Voice" - Effigy "Casino" - the Honeyriders

"Sunkissed" - the Smashing Pumpkins "Sleeping Where I Want" - Veruca Salt "According to Plan" - I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness "A Current Obsession" - Lacuna Coil "Desire" - Life of Agony "The Darkest Night of All" - Lisa Germano "Sleepwalking Past Hope" - HIM "Spring On" - Purplene "Rainy Season" - Seam "Waves" - Holly Miranda "In the Arms of Sleep" - the Smashing Pumpkins

And really, I COULD probably go on for days... but I think I'll cut this short here. Hehehe.

A-Z blogging challenge "L" - Love songs

Today for the A-Z, letter L, I am going to talk about Love songs, which each and every one of us can have a very different take on. I have a playlist called "Love songs" at Last.fm, and at present it features the following songs:

1 Type O Negative – Pyretta Blaze 2 Billy Corgan – Mina Loy (M.O.H.) 3 Foo Fighters – February Stars 4 The Smashing Pumpkins – Stand Inside Your Love 5 Unwritten Law – How You Feel 6 Radiohead – True Love Waits (live) 7 Local H – Eddie Vedder 8 HIM – Sleepwalking Past Hope 9 Magic Dirt – Grab Your Hair 10 AC/DC – Whole Lotta Rosie (live) 11 Soundgarden – Loud Love 12 Stone Temple Pilots – Sex Type Thing 13 Red Hot Chili Peppers – Sir Psycho Sexy

14 Type O Negative – Love You to Death 15 Zwan – The Empty Sea (Live) 16 The Smashing Pumpkins – By Starlight 17 darkpop – Fool 18 Liz Phair – Gunshy 19 Heather Nova – Make You Mine 20 Zwan – Heartsong 21 Liz Phair – I Know It's Not Easy 22 Bon Jovi – In These Arms 23 Mylo – In My Arms 24 Queensrÿche – Silent Lucidity 25 Vertical Horizon – Give You Back 26 VAST – Flames

For all I know, some of these songs are not even about love, but they make me feel or think of love. Some of them are obviously about the nasty side of love. Others are about seduction, and/or just plain sex. There are still more that are about misery caused by love and loss. So, as you can see, love songs don't have to be just mushy and romantic. They can be about any aspect of love.

One year for Valentine's Day, a year when I was the only one doing anything for me, I made a big production out of the day, including making myself a romantic CD which featured some of the songs above. A lot of people may question the merit of including Type O Negative on a Valentine's Day CD. And what about Liz Phair's miserable tune about waiting for something that's just never going to happen? Well, sure, they're not precisely chirpy tunes, but they're still about love, damn it!

But now I leave it to you to tell me...

What are your favourite love (or "love") songs?

Top 10 Music - Blogfest

Today is the "Top 10 Countdown" blogfest, hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Thank you Alex for hosting this 'fest. It was a lot of fun - if challenging!

This is not easy for me, so I am going to have to go with my top 10 favourite songs of the moment. I've decided to go with a different artist for each of the 10 songs, even though some artists are bound to have way more of my favourite songs to their name than others. I like variety, what can I say?

I am also calculating these in part according to my Last.fm charts, the "overall" kind.

Artist & Song Name	Why It Inspires Me
Lacuna Coil - Stars	This is one of the first songs I heard by LC (even if it is a cover!), and I just found it beautiful and haunting and wonderful. It inspires me in so many ways. Mostly it gives me amazing story ideas, not that I've actually written any of those ideas. It just makes me feel...inspired!
Madonna - White Heat	It's probably my favourite Madonna song. As a little girl it definitely inspired me, and I played it over and over again. I love the melody. It's interesting to me that a mere melody can conjure such inspiration. Never mind the lyrics, which for this song are pretty cool too.
Unwritten Law - How You Feel	Gorgeous beautiful song. One of my favourite lurve songs, or I see it as one anyway. It just makes me happy. It's not one of those "sad" love songs. It's uplifting and makes me want to get up and dance.
Catherine Wheel - Black Metallic	I found this song (and therefore this band) by accident one time. I am SO glad for that very happy accident. Catherine Wheel have an amazingly beautiful and inspirational sound. This song is epic, and again I find it inspiring.
Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'	Oh, man. This was one of the songs played at my 30th birthday (I devised the 6+ hour playlist myself) and it was an awesome moment when it started over the sound system. This song takes me back to childhood, and NEVER fails to make me want to dance.
Superette - Waves	Pretty, sad song. It definitely inspires in a bleak, grim kind of way. It tells a sad story. But I do so love the song.
Veruca Salt - Sundown	This song is definitely inspiring in a haunting, creepy way. It's not so much creepy as...it gives me chills. I can completely see the line "See the sun...going down" as a bit of a metaphor for all sorts of dramatic, shocking stuff in my writing. And to think this song is a demoey b-side from one of the band's singles!
VNV Nation - Darkangel (Gabriel)	Inspiring, haunting, darkly beautiful. Bleak, yet it strikes awe into my little heart. This is a song I listen to over and over. Then again, the same could be said about all the songs in this list.
The Smashing Pumpkins - Waiting	This song has always, for some odd reason, inspired images of snow-clad winter gardens and a wandering, lonely stranger. I don't know that stranger's story, but I know it's compelling. The kind of story that would make your jaw drop. And the garden itself is stunningly beautiful. Like this magnificent song.
Strapping Young Lad - Detox	Ha. I do love me some metal, but it's not my absolute staple when it comes to music. But this song, and this band, are amongst my favourites. They definitely inspire me with my writing. I picture post-apocalyptic sci-fi scenes when I listen to this band. I don't know why. I also picture some zombie-pocalypse scenarios, for no apparent reason. It's just the sound, and how it makes me feel.

It's ridiculous to have to reduce the immense number of songs I absolutely adore to a mere 10, but the above songs are definitely amongst my all-time favourites. I feel like the list represents pretty well the range of my musical taste, though there are of course plenty of my favourite artists not represented. I love my alternative/alt. rock, my metal, my 80s pop/dance and my more modern electronic music. Mostly it's the rock for me; gotta love a loud guitar. But yeah, you can see that I'm into a range of stuff.

So anyway, this was fun. Difficult, torturous, etc., but fun. :)

Edit: Oops. I forgot to say why they inspire me. :D Tacking that on now.