bac0n's Five Star Songs

[bac0n]

Since Thirdmango was forced to shut his list down abruptly, I thought I would pick up the slack with yet another list of songs that are worth, well, worth at least my while. I don't know about you, but I sure get a kick out of 'em.

I listen to music all day at work and usually playing during the weekends. Mostly my laptop playing iTunes on it. When a song plays in iTunes that I really like, I'll five-star it. Over the course of the last several weeks the list has grown to around 100 some odd songs, and I thought I would share it with you.

Now, this list isn't ranked. I have neither the time and desire to decide which of these songs I like better than the others. All I can say is that I think these songs are awesome and right now that's good enough for me. Nonetheless, to add some semblance of order and progression, I thought I would just list them alphabetically. Or at least iTunes' version of alphabetical. But then again, who am I to question Steve Jobs, anyway.

I'll try to post 3 or so on work days until I've made it all the way through. Lets dig in!

[bac0n]

A Little Respect by Erasure

When it comes to pounding out top shelf 80s pop-songs, few bands can touch Erasure, and this is my favorite of theirs. It perfectly showcases Andy Bell's distinctive voice and dynamite vocal range, and Vince Clarke's near peerless ability to craft an intelligent pop tune. I remember being a kid at Grampas, catching the video for this song on a late night music video show and saying to myself, what, that's actually a man with a voice like that? Oh well. Now I know better, I guess, but regardless, this is one of those rare songs that I've been listening to for eons, and I never skip it when it shows up on shuffle.

Watch the video

[bac0n]

Are You The One? by The Presets

What do you get when you take a little bit of David Bowie, maybe throw in some Nitzer Ebb, and mix in enough ham to feed a football team Easter dinner? Hell if I know, but I sure as hell like this song, what with its singular chord progression, the diva-wanna be vox and the the tongue planted firmly cheek disco beat. But what really seals the deal is the flamenco clapping. Ole!

Warning: silly video! Silly, I say!

[bac0n]

Asturias performed by Pepé Romero

You might be surprised to find out that I'm a classical guitar junkie, with my favorite piece being Asturias, reputed to have been written in Cuba by a man in anticipation of returning to his beloved homeland of Asturias to die. I saw this piece performed by Romero at a guitar summit back in 1994. He walked quietly on stage, sat down and then proceeded to drop my jaw on the floor with this song. I couldn't believe all that sound was coming from just one man playing one guitar! You guys can have your alleged guitar heroes. I'd put Pepe's skills up against anybody's, any time, any where.

Asturias Live

[Sven]

Looking forward to this!

I just checked my own five star songs: 1,983

[Sven]

Because of you, I've been watching a lot of Presets videos on Youtube this morning. Very interesting dudes. As a fan of PSB, I can see why you like them. They're not bad at all. The frontman is very frightening.

[Russ]

You might be surprised to find out that I'm a classical guitar junkie

That was quality. If you're not familiar with him, I'd recommend you check out some stuff by Brasilian guitarist Paulo Bellinati. I've got his CD, The Guitar Works of Garoto, which I've listened to more times than I care to remember.

[bac0n]

That was quality. If you're not familiar with him, I'd recommend you check out some stuff by Brasilian guitarist Paulo Bellinati. I've got his CD, The Guitar Works of Garoto, which I've listened to more times than I care to remember.

Thanks for the recommendation! I'm always on the look out for some kickass classical guitar, especially of the Brasillian pursuastion.

[Spinal]

A Little Respect by Erasure

I like this song a lot. Although I think I like it better when I'm not watching the video.

[bac0n]

I like this song a lot. Although I think I like it better when I'm not watching the video.

Actually, I find it amusing how the Bell & Clarke reenact the lyrics to the song on the bottom half of the screen like it's the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I particularly like the part in the song that goes "and live in peace in our hearts" and below the guys are standing in a house with a big "Peace In Our Hearts" sign over the door. HI-LARITY!

[bac0n]

Bang The Drum All Day by Todd Rundgren

At Iowa State University, they have this thing called VEISHA two weeks before finals, which is supposed to be a celebration of all the colleges that comprise the venerable ISU, but in practice is basically a huge nightmare of binge drinking on a mass scale.

During VEISHA, everyone is throwing parties - all the houses, the frats & sororities, all the dormitory floors, everyone. My dorm floor threw a party, the main attraction of which was a lip-synching contest, and most of us who were essentially a bunch of hopeless losers with nothing else to do with our time (study? FAA!) so we really went apeshit on this contest.

My team & I took the prize in 1990, and in 1991 we were dethroned by a bunch of other losers who dressed as a lounge act and did a rather amusing rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody. So, in 1993, determined to reclaim our rightful place on top, we decided to lip-synch to Bang The Drum All Day dressed in only our underwear. I even went so far as to have pig-tailed up my long-ass hair and ran a coathanger through it, and glued on a fake handlebar mustache. In short, we looked pretty ridiculous, but we didn't care. By the time it was our turn to perform, I'm pretty sure we were so drunk we could hardly even see.

Oh. And we came in third.

Todd (not us) performing the song.

[bac0n]

Beautiful Friend by Cranes

I never thought much of Cranes until I heard their album Loved. And then I loved Cranes. And then I sorta stopped paying attention to Cranes. But anyway, this song is my favorite on their album and about as close as I come to actually liking Goth music. That's probably due to the fact that this song isn't really goth at all. It's more like gothic-shoegaze-western, what with Allison Shaw's childlike vocals lamenting over a friendship lost and recalling kinder times, as a lonely guitar cries in the distance, dripping tears out of its whammy-bar.

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