I haven’t had the heart to research and write the two darker top 5 lists (songs at a funeral/songs about death). But, against my better judgment, I’m gonna do one tonight and then we’ll see about the next one. It might take a while to get posted. On a side note; I just came across Jeff Buckley for the first time today after a recommendation to his version of “Hallelujah” and I’m starting to fall in love with this dude’s sound. But lets not get side-tracked.
Top 5 Songs that I want to be sung at my funeral:
1. “For Good” Wicked
2. “Will You Be There” Michael Jackson
3. “Wish You Were Here” Pink Floyd
4. “Dance With My Father” Luther Vandross
5. “Every Breath You Take” Sting & The Police
“Well is it better to know, or not to know? See I wanna go to art school, but I’m afraid” “Jesus, I hate this funeral”
As we continue with the theme (borrowed from High Fidelity) of Top 5 Lists, we come to the list of Top 5 Recording Artists. This was brought up in High Fidelity when Rob talks about his second worst breakup of all time, in chronological order, with Penny Hardwick (Her favorite recording artists: Carly Simon, Carole King, James Taylor, Cat Stevens and Elton John).
I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll reiterate it again because of its relevancy in this next list. I listen to a lot of music. After beginning to research for this article I realized that putting 5 people/bands at the top of a list that is full of artists, who in my mind are legends, is impossible with no parameters. So to start this off lets set some guidelines. The Artist(s) have to
1) have at least 3 or more albums (not counting re-released albums, compilations or “best of’s”)
2) have at least 2 albums that I can listen to from beginning to end
3) be involved in 1 of the first 2-3 conversations I have with someone I just met. If you’re not gonna bring them up when trying to find out similarities between you and a new acquaintance, they don’t belong on this list
This list will go from 5-1, but depending on the day the order changes. So as of right now, without further ado, here are my Top 5 Recording Artists of All Time
5) Daft Punk – Started out as a 3 man punk band called “Darlin”. It went nowhere (it’s hard to listen to more than 30 seconds of any of their songs), but after a bad review described them as “a bunch of daft punk”, the French duo dropped the guitarist (who went on to play in Phoenix) and began making house music. Unfortunately I got into them 3 months after they did their legendary Alive 2007 tour (they played in Coney Island…not at all bitter about that). Albums I can listen to straight through: Alive 2007, Discovery, Homework. “High life. Possibly my favorite Daft Punk song. Who DOESN’T wanna go do cocaine at a roller disco with this song playing?”
4) Jay-Z – I first heard about Jay-Z when I was a freshman in high school, still trying to shorten my musical learning curve after spending 3 years in Germany where I knew nothing about what was going on in the world around me. I heard The Black Album and liked the singles, but hadn’t ever looked into him more. Then I met Tim from french class. He always had his CD player with him and the only CD’s he had in his case were from yours truly. He was a true fanatic, border-lining obsessed. I got the full Black Album from David my junior year and from then on it was gravy. I fell in love with the album (one of my top 5 all-time) and after I downloaded all of his discography, mostly online in less than legal ways, he had my heart. Albums I can listen to straight through: The Black Album, Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint
3) Guns N’ Roses – Another band that David put me on to (thanks again). This is one band that I actually don’t bring up in those first couple conversations. My reason being; after doing it so many times and getting “oh yea I love playing Sweet Child of Mine on guitar hero” in response, I got sick of it and subconsciously decided to let them all suffer in their own ignorance. Albums I can listen to straight through: Appetite For Destruction, G N’ R Lies, Use Your Illusions 1,2 (everything up until The “Spaghetti Incident?”, which only called my iTunes home for about a week and before I deleted it).
2) Pink Floyd – It’s late at night and you’re going for a walk (or in my case, sitting back on my balcony in Provo, UT). 27’s in one pocket, an iPod in the other and the only thing on your mind is what should I listen to to help me get away from my day for 5 minutes. Most of the time for me, that choice is “The Wall”, and those 5 minutes turn into 45 after I get sucked into the story during the first song. Since then I’ve been able to stop smoking (win) and I’ve moved away from Provo (major win) but just as they were there for me before I moved to Utah, Pink Floyd has stayed with me as I’ve moved on to bigger and better things. A big reason for that is the fact that they write their albums based on concepts and I’m able to get lost in them. Albums I can listen to straight through: Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, Wish You Were Here
1) Eminem – I posted an interview with Donald Glover (Childish Gambino) a week and a half ago where he’s talking about the first time he listened to Eminem and Biggie. He liked, and this is exactly how I felt when I first heard Mr. Mathers, how this music scared him. It didn’t really hit me when “The Real Slim Shady” came out cause I was in the 4th grade and even though I knew all the words I had no idea what it was talking about. When I picked it up again in high school (and this is again borrowing words from that interview) it was so new to me. I didn’t realize that this kind of material could be put on a beat and be delivered with such ease. Albums I can listen to straight through: Infinite, The Slim Shady LP, Marshall Mathers LP (Only if I’m in the mood for “Kim”), The Eminem Show
…Now, years later, I still get scared when I listen to Eminem.
WeDontBelongg 