The Chris Laun Top 5

First I'd like to start this by saying talking about something related to these top 5 lists. Mike Ward issued a challenge to some of his friends a few months ago to create their favorite 60 minutes of music. The best definition that someone came up with was "songs you wouldn't skip when they came up on your Ipod." So far I think only Ward, Myers, and Colmus have participated in this project and they've each exchanged their CD's. I've been laboring over mine off and on for a few months now but this blog spurred me to finish it up this weekend. I also found a website that can help take this to the next level. Drop.io is free and you can create your own private playlist without having to signup for anything. So if you're interested in hearing mine the link is drop.io/laun60min. Only catch is you need the password and the only way to get it is by sending me your own 60 minute playlist. If you decide to do your own, make sure you rename the songs so that we don't see the song titles cause part of the experience is not knowing what's coming next. Here's a sneak preview of mine:

(Note: Not sure if these are exactly my top 5 but it's close and I thought these would be more interesting to read about than me explaining why I like a Beach Boys song)

Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen



Last week I thought it might be neat to do a spinoff series on these lists and discuss our favorite moments in music that didn't make the cut for our top 5 or even the top 60 minutes. Looking back on Eric's first list, the end of "Only In Dreams" is one of these cases where the ending might be my favorite Weezer moment but it's not my favorite Weezer song. "Born to Run" has the luxury of meeting both requirements. This whole song gets me amped up but especially so on that last verse, after the bridge is finished building up and falling down and Bruce counts it back in and the strings come up playing along with the main riff. "The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive..." I could listen to that part over and over and I've done it before. I'm a fan of epic and triumphant songs and "Born to Run" is that in spades. There are some classic songs that you know so well that they've lost their power to excite you when you hear to them but, for me, this is not one. My favorite rock song ever.

Ana Ng - They Might Be Giants



TMBG can be a pretty polarizing band. Their fans tend to be among the nerdier types and some could say they're too goofy/quirky/weird. Some might even say that they hate the way the two John's sing. I love it all. I came pretty late to the popular music game. In middle school I listened to a lot of Weird Al and Dr. Demento and through them I stumbled across TMBG so that makes them the band that I've been actively and consistently listening to the longest. Myers and Ward had their memories of listening to their mom's music that took them back to their childhood. TMBG remind me of staying over my friend Matt's house and listening to them all night or debating with my brother which of us got to buy "Apollo 18" so we didn't have duplicate copies. So definitely there's some "comfort food"iness to them but there is one thing that I think is too often overlooked: John Linnell just might be the most infectious songwriter ever. And he does it without ever sounding like anyone other than John Linnell which is perhaps even more impressive. I think most people would name "Birdhouse In Your Soul" as their clear #1 song but "Ana Ng" is my favorite. Here's some things that I love about it: 1) How the verses start on a minor chord and then two lines in switches to major which instantly changes the feeling, 2) The two-chord accordion bit that comes in halfway through the second verse which you expect to keep repeating but disappears as ominously as it came, 3) How the lyrics seem nonsensical on the surface but it's about the person on the exact opposite side of the world from you who you'll never meet 4) "And it sticks like a broken record/Everything sticks like a broken record/Everything sticks until it goes away." I still think that's as clever as I did in middle school.

Let Down - Radiohead



It was difficult for me to single out a Radiohead song but eventually I realized that this one has always been my favorite. I can remember the moment in college when I was listening to this in my car and I noticed for the first time that the vocal track that starts the last verse doesn't continue singing the lyrics on the second half of the verse. Another track comes in to do that. But the first vocal keeps going in the background and winds up with this beautiful falsetto counter-melody repeating "You'll know where you are" and it carries on even into the chorus. This is another one of those favorite musical moments. When I heard it I rewound the CD over and over and I felt like I had unlocked some sort of secret. This is one of those songs that I could listen to repeatedly and never hear it the same way twice. So many twinkling guitars and keyboards that aren't even playing in the same time signatures but somehow it all works together to create this big sonic blanket that surrounds what is otherwise an acoustic pop song.

Wuthering Heights - Kate Bush



I don't think this one will be for everyone. What happened was one day I surfing the internet and found someone's list of some of the best music videos ever so I was watching the ones I had never seen and I came across this. When it first came on I was like "WTF???" It's just Kate Bush doing some ridiculous dancing with lots of smoke and video/lighting effects. But as the video progressed I became mesmerized and then I had to watch it again. And then I had to watch it every day. And then I got the mp3 and listened to it at work and in the car. And then I found 3 different versions of the song so I could listen to them in a row and pretend I wasn't quite as obsessed. It's hard to predict what will cause me to go nuts over a song and before now I've never thought deeply about why this one strikes such a chord with me. I love how the great the chorus melody is and yet how the chords don't change exactly when you expect they will. It made me want to learn the song so I could figure out what was going on. Another thing this is I have a soft spot for female singers that sing with quirky vocalizations (Regina Spektor's "Us" is another example of a song that was met with a similarly strong obsession). I think this probably stems from my siblings and I listening to the soundtrack to Les Miserables all the time when we were younger. Eponine was one of the most tragic characters as she suffered from loving a man who didn't think of her that way and then later she dies. I related to that (first part anyways) and always had a soft spot for her. She had a high squeaky voice that might have irritated some but I thought was adorable. The same can be said about Kate Bush.

Tired of Sex - Weezer



One thing I realized in creating my top 60 minutes CD is that I'm a big fan of first tracks on CDs. 6 of the 15 songs are album openers and there were more that were on my short list that didn't make the final cut. Not sure if it's purely coincidence or if there's something about the opening of my favorite CDs that I gravitate towards. Part of this is because a lot of artists put one of their stronger songs first to pull you in. I think I read that Weezer sequenced Pinkerton in more or less chronological order of when the songs were written and "Tired of Sex" was written after the success of the blue album led Rivers Cuomo to have a lot of anonymous sex. I can't say that I relate to the lyrics personally but what has always appealed to me about this song is the production and arrangement. The drums sound HUGE. There's a lot of unpleasant feedback and reedy keyboards. The whole thing is rowdy as shit. The song starts out brimming with tension and you can tell it just wants to kick into high gear at any moment. Then the first chorus ends and it does. Then the second chorus hits takes it up to rowdy mach III. Then somewhere between the noisy solo and when the vocals come back for the third chorus it's reached mach V. And then it climaxes and everything drops out. When the band comes back in, the drums are playing half-time. The band is still rocking but they're bringing it back down to earth. It's like the arrangement itself is a metaphor for sex. Those first two Weezer albums are two of my all time favorites but of all those songs "Tired of Sex" sounds like it was the most fun to play.

There's more songs that I would love to write about so maybe I'll but some descriptions in the comments of my 60 minute mix. I know Myers has his online now too. So if you get yours together you'll have at least two at your at your fingertips immediately.