Summer Playlists

With Summer just around the corner it is time to start creating or even just thinking about what to put on that summer play list. Some bands who frequent this list for me are The All American Rejects, Bon Jovi, Matchbox 20, and 30 Seconds to Mars. Now there are some new additions to that list, songs that are relatively new and give a sense of Summer with the music or with both music and lyrics, the songs are Junk of the Heart by The Kooks and We Are Young by fun.
Junk of the Heart:

We Are Young:

Along with these newer songs I tend to mix them with music from all over, but mainly mix them with '90's indie and alt rock like Feed the Tree by Belly, or Zombie by The Cranberries. There are songs from when I started to really get into a Sirius-XM station, such as the song Sail by AWOLNATION, and bands or artists featured on movie soundtracks such as Teddy Geiger who was feature on the soundtrack to and stared in The Rocker, one of the many songs being Bitter.
Feed The Tree:

Zombie:

Sail:

Bitter:

Matchbox 20

There are those bands that should be able to stand the test of time, Matchbox 20, had they stayed together, is one of them. I think it is very hard to dislike the band, I mean they give such passion to each song, the type of passion that is sorely missed in today's mainstream music. There are many fans of Matchbox and we all want them back so they can "save" mainstream music and save our ears from the nonsense on pop stations today. I mean I cant name one mainstream pop artist of today that has two major hits not to mention thousands, possibly millions, of fans wishing for their return. This sense of passion that is seen in songs like If You're Gone, Push, Back 2 Good, 3 AM, and Bright Lights.
If You're Gone:

Push:

Back 2 Good:

What people love is the fact that not only do they write songs like this, they also write peppy songs, can throw the peppy songs like Disease, Real World, and Black and White People in with the passionate songs and make an album that can get you through anything.
Disease:

Real World:

Black and White People:

As a side note, the song Black and White People is about people's personalities, the fact that most people's personalities can be taken at face value, that is if I remember correctly from their VH1 Storytellers special. Now back to videos that I didn't think I had room for before...
3 AM:

Bright Lights:

Styx

I think that Styx is a really under appreciated band in music history, they aren't really what I see as true alt rock, but by someone's standards or another they might. I mean without Styx the phrase "Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto" would have absolutely no entertainment value in any movie made since the song Mr. Roboto's release in 1983.

Along with subtle jokes poking fun at 80's songs, we would have never gotten such gems as Lady or Babe, two songs that could be seen as the band's love ballads in a decade where the power ballad reigned supreme. We also owe some of the greater guilty pleasure songs, you know, the songs you don't want to know but will sing along to when they come on the radio and no one else is around, that I know of out of the 1980's. There are two, maybe even more that I don't know that well, but two that come directly to mind, the songs being Renegade and Come Sail Away, both songs, if over played, get rather annoying to hear, but every once in a while, if by yourself, in the car, with the windows up, you might blast the song and sing along with the lead singer.
Lady:

Babe:

Renegade:

Come Sail Away:

Any way... Styx is on tour now through September 9th and if you are so inclined, click the tour tab at their web site, the link is set up through the highlighted names. For those readers in the Pittsburgh, Pa area around August 11th Styx will be having a post game concert after the Pirates game.

The Goo Goo Dolls

Ok so now it's time to dork out and start talking about one of my favorite bands, The Goo Goo Dolls. They came to fame in 1995 with their song Name which has some great lyrics that you can really dig into, the type that you can have one, or several different, meanings behind the song.

The band grew to superstardom with their song Iris which is really well known but just not by name, the song is off their Dizzy Up the Girl album and spent about 18 weeks at the top of the billboard charts. The song is another one you can dig into and find your own personal meanings to. I, along with many others, love the song and the band, which was evident in their Something for the Rest of Us Tour this past summer, a tour promoting their newest album. While Something for the Rest of Us is the name of their newest album it is also the name of another great track by this phenomenal band. I think they truly are a band to suit, what some might call, the common folk, or "the rest of us."
Iris:

Something for the Rest of Us:

I went to their concert in Bethel, Ny over the summer of 2011 with my brother, and after a comment about how normal or plain everyone looked at the concert, I either jokingly thought or said "Well that's because their 'Something for the Rest of Us.'" I laughed, at least to myself, I don't really remember how exactly it went down. Along with two of the three songs listed above people probably know the dolls for songs like Black Balloon, Slide, Broadway, a remake of the Supertramp's song Give a Little Bit, and Better Days. All of these songs just remind me of my childhood, considering the radio consisted of boy bands, girl bands, and what might be considered "Adult Contemporary" bands, which at the time were bands like The Goo Goo Dolls and Matchbox Twenty.
Black Balloon:

Slide:

Broadway:

Give a Little Bit:

Better Days:

Never Shout Never

So I was on iTunes and looking for the Jimmy Eat World song Coffee and Cigarettes and stumbled over this band Never Shout Never, sometimes: NeverShoutNever. The band is actually one person, Christopher Drew Ingle, but he has a touring band who plays with him, and he has a song entitled Coffee and Cigarettes as well which is the first song I heard of his.

Like most musical experiences in my life made me wonder what his sound was like. Never Shout Never's sound seems to be consistent throughout the songs of his I listen to, a string instrument is a staple in his music like in his song Harmony and in This S**t Getz Old.
Harmony:

This S**t Getz Old:

Anyway it seems that Never Shout never is touring this summer, and is bringing his talents to Allentown, Pa. If in the area, the band will be preforming at the Crocodile Rock Cafe, and then is heading out to The Bamboozle Festival in Asbury Park, NJ.

Young the Giant

Young the Giant seems to be getting some good air play, at least on the alt stations I listen to, first stumbling on them when their song My Body came blaring through my speakers while driving with the windows down.

This song intrigued me making me want more from them almost to the point where I where I lusted after hearing more tracks from this somewhat unknown band. You know the feeling when you here a song and can see a bright future for the band. This summer Young the Giant is internationally touring, with a few dates set in Italy, but most of the dates set in the states, they are even coming to Bethlehem, Pa for music fest. Knowing how concerts generally work, they will probably scatter the two songs I know, My Body and Cough Syrup, throughout the performance, and I am hoping to see them live so I can get to know a lot more of their music, with many other fans.

Despite the seeming hype behind the band from some Alt Rock stations I actually think that Young the Giant has the right vibe to stay in the music industry for a while, I hope to here more from them and not have them fall off the face of the earth, so to speak, as does with many Alt Rock bands and musicians.

Blues Traveler

Most of us know the band Blues Traveler for their 1995 hit song Run-Around:

or maybe a hit that followed it on the same album by the name of Hook:

but I asked myself what could I, as a huge music fan, what could I be missing just by listening to their hits. Well I found out, and as it turns out, I was missing something substantial. I really think that they are, and were, an underrated and forgotten band. If you remember watching the movie Blues Brothers 2000, Jon Popper, the lead singer and harmonica player of Blues Traveler was the one who asked Elwood Blues to listen to his band and then the movie cut to him singing and Elwood never showed. But I digress, there are so many songs I felt I had missed which were really good and had catchy riffs with catchy lyrics. Songs such as Canadian Rose and 100 Years both have great riffs and great lyrics.
Canadian Rose:

100 Years:

I didn't put together either of these videos. On a different note Blues Traveler, along with The Barenaked Ladies, are touring this summer, tour entitled Last Summer on Earth, their tour is actually bringing them to Sands in Bethlehem, Pa on August 17, and tickets are on sale now, just follow the first, and only, link on this article and click on the tour tab. The Barenaked Ladies are famous, of course, for One Week and little do some know they were the band who sang If I Had $1,000,000 which was used for a little while to promote the lottery, the lottery only changing the million dollars part for the actual amount the jackpot was up to that particular week.

One Week:

If I Had $1,000,000: