The Motif Behind the Madness

As I had spoken about in a previous post, I was part of a thirty person CD exchange that transcended the globe. The lucky/unlucky blogger who got my CD was Captain Cobald, who reviewed my disc here.

Now, that he has done his review, I am going to explain my motifs behind each song I included.

1. Both Sides of the Gun by Ben Harper - I'm a big fan of Ben Harper. His musical style ranges from Reggae to R&B to Rock to Folk... The hard part was picking a song. Being that I knew most of my songs were going to be rock songs, I decided to go with one of his more R&B tracks.
2. Prayer by Disturbed - This is probably the most mainstream track I put on the disc. Band is huge in the US. I listened to this song repeatedly when my mom was in the hospital in intensive care a few years back (she's doing quite well now). The lyrics to the chorus still give me goosebumps to this day. "Living just isn't hard enough, Burn me alive, inside. Living my life's not hard enough, Take everything away."
3. Admit by Sister Machine Gun - This band never made it big since they were labeled Nine Inch Nails rip offs, even though they had been recording a similar style of music in the late 80's before NIN became houshold names. This song was literally playing when I was in the process of getting dumped... which of course with it being a relationship over song... stuck with me.
4. The Idiot Kings by Soul Coughing - Another band that never made it too big, but established a strong cult following. I wanted to put something by them on the disc, and since my disc could use more upbeat songs... this got the vote.
5. The River of Deceit by Mad Season - Supergroup. I was a child of the grunge era. Early to mid nineties I was addicted to bands like Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, the Screaming Trees... Low and behond Layne Staley the lead singer from AIC, Mike McCready lead guitar from Pearl Jam, and Barrett Martin from the Screaming Trees get together after they all got out of rehab for one reason or another, and put together a CD. This gave me a way to include that era of my music listening in one song. Laynes vocals are amazing, along with his lyrics on this one.
6. What Kind of Woman Is This by Buddy Guy - Rock and roll hall of famer. Man who inspired Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and many others to pick up a guitar. I've become an addict of his music. Just amazing blues guitar work. One of my favorite Buddy Guy tracks.
7. Cure for Pain by Morphine - This is one of those instances of hearing a song for the first time at the right time. I heard this song while I was going through all sorts of undiagnosed medical problems. I was just in a lot of pain and no one could figure out why. This song sort of became my theme song at the time.
8. Destroy the World Around Me by Mushroomhead - This band has become one of my favorite bands. They can be really loud and shouty, melodic at times, and their music is much more complex than someone would give a band full of guys who wear masks credit for. (to anyone who yells slipknot rip offs, they've been recording and wearing mask since 1992). One of my favorite things about this band is that they don't use profanity. They think it cheapens your ability as a writer. After a long debate, I decided to include this song because it showcased every side of the band. The loud shouts. The more melodic vocals. The use of piano and samples of strings.
9. Doesn't Remind Me by Audioslave - Several reasons for this song. First it allowed me to include Chris Cornell's vocals (he was also vocalist for Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, and has done solo work.) Second, it allowed me to include Rage Against the Machine (as all the members minus Zach are in the band.) Third, this is one of my favorite songs ever written. Amazing vocals, good lyrics, plus one of Tom Morello's best guitar solos.
10. Running the Gauntlet by Les Claypools Frog Brigade - I needed to include some live music. Some jam band type stuff. Me being a huge fan of Les Claypool (Primus, Sausage, Oysterhead, Colonol Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains, Frog Brigade) picked this one out. Why? Les's bass solo in it is disgustingly good. Not as in musically, but as in how the HELL does the man play a bass guitar that fast.
11. Happy To Be Here by Todd Snider - Another one of my favorite artists. He falls into that odd singer/songwriter/folk/country/rock catagory. He writes songs that will bring you to tears, he'll write songs that will make you laugh, he'll write songs that will make you want to go out drinking... I've heard his live show is amazing. He'll talk about a song, why it was written, and have the audience on the floor from laughing between songs.
12. 10,000 Days by Tool - Tools lead singer, Maynard James Keehan is a god. (He later got another band together, A Perfect Circle, and alternates albums between them and Tool.) This band is dark. Their early albums were full of 5 minute long angry songs. They've since developed into something much more complex. The songwriting is phenominal. Lyrically. Musically. It doesn't get much better. I couldn't give anyone a CD without at least one track with Maynard on vocals. This is off his most recent disc so... that's why its here.

And that my friends is the method behind my madness.