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 |    My primary Writing.com blog. |
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Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics). Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:  "The Soundtrackers Group"  "Invalid Item" "Blogging Circle of Friends " "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" "JAFBG" "Take up Your Cross" Thanks for stopping by!  |
DAY 24 "99 Problems / Points of Authority" by Jay-Z & Linkin Park This is probably one of my all-time favorite EPs of all time. I remember when it was first announced, everyone thought the idea of combining two different styles was crazy... but they ended up really complementing one another and created something new and amazing. Every song on the EP is incredible; I think they actually enhance each other's contributions. Ultimately, the idea of a "mash up" or combining two disparate elements is something that's always appealed to me, including in my writing and other creative efforts. I don't consider myself one of the raw, exceptionally talented people who can come up with "out-there" concepts out of nowhere... but I am someone who likes to find ways to make different kinds of puzzle pieces fit together. For me this song (and the whole album, really) are a kind of proof of concept that the kinds of things that I'm creatively drawn to can work. There's value and innovation in finding new ways of exploring old standards, so every time I listen to a song from this album, I'm reminded that the thing I creatively like to do most can be done, and it can be done well. ------------------------- Written for "The Soundtrack of Your Life" |
DAY 23 "Beautiful Trauma" by P!nk While I don't pretend my life is nearly as traumatic as those of others, I think this song resonates with pretty much everybody. When P!nk released this song (and the album of the same name), she was quoted as saying, "Life is f---ing traumatic. But it's also incredibly beautiful too. There's a lot of beauty still and beautiful souls." And that's pretty much my worldview in a nutshell. Now that I'm closing in on middle age and leaving the earlier years behind, it's become so abundantly clear to me how incredibly rough and tough life can be, but how incredible and amazing it can be... sometimes even at the same time. ------------------------- Written for "The Soundtrack of Your Life" |
DAY 22 "Waving Through A Window" from Dear Evan Hansen This song is fresh in my mind because I finally saw the Dear Evan Hansen production on Broadway while my wife and I were in New York last weekend, but this really is one of the songs that I feel like defines so much of how I relate to the world. I'm not quite as shy or anxiety-ridden as Evan Hansen is in the show, but I definitely know that awkward feeling of watching other people live their lives through the screen of a smartphone or a computer monitor. I know how it feels to never quite feel like you fit in with everyone else, even when you're trying desperately to be seen. Over the years I've gotten a little better with my social anxiety and ability to relate to other people, but it was particularly bad in junior high and high school when I just felt so alone and like I couldn't relate to anyone at all for days or even weeks at a time. On a side note, if you ever get a chance to see Dear Evan Hansen, you really should check it out. I'm not a huge theater person and I absolutely loved every minute of it. The songs are amazing and the show is surprisingly emotional. There was a big guy sitting next to me that just completely broke down during the penultimate song. It's that good. ------------------------- Written for "The Soundtrack of Your Life" |
DAY 21 "Love Ninja" from The Goldbergs soundtrack The Goldbergs is pretty much my favorite sitcom on television right now, and I really love the fact that they try to incorporate Hayley Orrantia's musical interests into her character of Erika. In this episode, they want something from their dad (an expensive CD player, I think), and he says he'll buy them one if they write the greatest song of all time. I included the clip above because even though it's an abbreviated version of the song, there's a great interaction with their grandfather which is one of the reasons why I love the show so much. It's such a completely ridiculous song, but I find it oddly catchy. If you're interested in hearing the whole version (with an added second verse), you can check that out here ------------------------- Written for "The Soundtrack of Your Life" |
DAY 20 "Hearts Beat Loud" from the Hearts Beat Loud soundtrack This was not a good movie, but I still dig the song. The movie itself was incredibly slow and overly long, so I almost wonder if they wrote the song first and then tried to build a movie around it. It was kind of sweet and heartfelt, but like so many indie movies just felt like it could have used with some editing to make it about twenty minutes shorter. Anyway, Kiersey Clemons actually has a pretty decent voice and there's a catchy beat to this that has me listening to it a lot more than I'd probably care to admit to. It's a fun and lighthearted song that always cheers me up when I listen to it. ------------------------- Written for "The Soundtrack of Your Life" |
DAY 19 "Mighty Quinn" by Gotthard There are few things in life that I enjoy more than an unexpected cover of a great song. So when I found out that Manfred Mann's classic "Mighty Quinn" hadn't just been covered, but had been covered by a Swiss hard rock band named Gotthard, well, you just know it hard to go into a Soundtrackers entry somewhere. I don't even feel all that "guilty" about this Guilty Pleasure because it's straight up awesome. Sadly, Gotthard is apparently a reference to the Saint-Gotthard Massif mountain range in the Swiss Alps, which is decidedly less hardcore than what I initially assumed their name was in reference to.  ------------------------- Written for "The Soundtrack of Your Life" |
DAY 18 "The Valley Road" by Bruce Hornsby I think my soft rock, adult contemporary are showing a little with this entry. This was the stuff my parents listen to, so artists like Bruce Hornsby and James Taylor and Chicago and Huey Lewis were always playing in their car, on the radio while they worked in the garage, etc. It was actually kind of hard for me to choose which Bruce Hornsby song to pick, mostly because I have a lot of favorites and they all sound kind of the same. "Every Little Kiss" is up there, along with "The Way It Is" and (to a lesser extent) "Mandolin Rain." What's really interesting is that Bruce Hornsby has been around for a long time but I don't think I ever knew much about him as a musician until I looked him up for this entry. I remember that Tupac sampled "The Way It Is" back in the 90s, but I had no idea how popular Hornsby's music was as a sampling source. Six rap artists including Tupac have sampled "The Way It Is." He played more than 100 shows with the Grateful Dead, and has collaborated on multiple songs with the likes of Ricky Skaggs and Chaka Khan. He's had a pretty remarkable 30+ year career in music. ------------------------- Written for "The Soundtrack of Your Life" |
DAY 17 "Out of the Woods" by Taylor Swift I'll admit it. I really like Taylor Swift's music. I think she's actually a very talented songwriter and almost all of her songs have a quality that make them really catchy. Almost every single she releases has me initially thinking, "Ugh, I don't know about this one" and before I know it I've got the song on repeat on my Current Playlist. For some reason I missed this song with she released her 1989 album and I've been listening to it a lot lately. That album is kind of amazing in terms of how many legitimate monster hits it has spawned. Anyway, yeah, I like Taylor Swift. Overly produced music videos and all. ------------------------- Written for "The Soundtrack of Your Life" |
DAY 16 "Shadows of the Night" by Pat Benatar I'm all for gender equity, so I might as well follow up an 80s rock ballad by Stan Bush with an 80s rock ballad from the incomparable Pat Benatar. She's better known for "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" and "Love Is a Battlefield" and "We Belong," but this one is up there for me right alongside "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" as one of her best. It wasn't from a particularly memorable album (it's from 1982's Get Nervous, her fourth album), and it got a little lost between the much more successful Crimes of Passion from 1980 ("Hit Me with Your Best Shot") and 1983's Live From Earth ("Love Is a Battlefield"). By the way, can we just for a minute recognize the incredible feat she accomplished with putting out seven albums in seven consecutive years between 1979 and 1985?  That's an incredible amount of musical output, even by today's standards. This song has also been featured in The Goldbergs as well as the soundtracks for a variety of other movies, television, and video games. And like the Stan Bush track, this one is frequently on my workout playlist on account of the fact that it's just so energetic it helps me stay motivated while I'm working out.------------------------- Written for "The Soundtrack of Your Life" |
DAY 15 "Never Surrender" by Stan Bush It's been almost two years to the day since I last included a Stan Bush song in a Soundtrackers' Guilty Pleasures week. Back then it was his monster hit "The Touch" from the Transformers: The Movie soundtrack. I believe Beth's response as the time was, and I quote, "Oh lordy... 80's metal and cartoons...  ." Well, Beth isn't here anymore, so I'm trotting out another Stan Bush classic for my inaugural Guilty Pleasures entry, this one from 1989's immortal Kickboxer, starring the Muscles from Brussels himself, Jean Claude Van Damme!  This song has had a bit of a resurgence lately, thanks to being featured in several episodes of the popular sitcom The Goldbergs, so clearly there's at least one other Stan Bush fan out there in show creator Adam F. Goldberg. It really is the perfect cheesy "keep fighting for your dreams" song, complete with synthesizers, electric guitar solos, and power-ballad vocals. Whether you're competing in an underground international kickboxing tournament or just trying to finish the short story you're working on, I defy you not to be inspired by "Never Surrender."  At least one Stan Bush song is usually in rotation at any given time on my workout playlist... and at present, it's this one (and "The Touch"). There's just something about rockin' 80s music that helps get the heart rate into the red zone. ------------------------- Written for "The Soundtrack of Your Life" |
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