Music Thread
#1
Hey folks...was thinking about expanding my current playlist of music and thought it would be fun if we could all list a few of our favorite songs here. I thought it might be neat to get an idea of what folks listen to, and why they like it. So, feel free to post a few songs and the reason you are drawn so strongly to it. Could be an emotional attachment, or because of a memory of the time you first heard it.

I'll go first!

Seasons in the Sun-Terry Jacks
Love this song because it reminds me of when I used to sit with my mom while she did laundry, and we used to spin 45s to listen to. What a wonderful memory.

Werewolves of London-Warren Zevon
Fun song.....love it. Mostly because its about friggin werewolves! In London! hehe, we played this at our wedding reception and the dance floor was crazy!

Field of Dreams-Sting
Beautiful song, played it over and over on a road trip to San Francisco. Also, was played for our first dance at our wedding reception. Woot!

I have tons more....but I want to see yours!
Shantow the Bear
The Ironsong Tribe


"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." King
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#2
St. Stephen's Cross -- Vienna Teng
I love the sound of Vienna Teng's music -- solo female vocalist with simple piano or other simple accompaniment. St. Stephen's Cross is a love song about a couple who lose each other in the surging crowd during the fall of the Berlin Wall. I particularly like the rising vocal and instrumental dissonance in the middle, which is resolved in a beautiful chord. To me, those bars are rich in symbolism: a musical interpretation of the separation and reunion of the two lovers... and the two countries.

There Goes My Life -- Kenny Chesney
This is a country song about a young man who becomes a father, and the changes in outlook that a child brought to his life. It starts with the expectant father, watching all his youthful dreams melt away when he hears that his girlfriend is pregnant: "There goes my life, there goes my future." It evolves into the turbulence of raising a child, and how his life becomes about his love for his little girl. Finally she's leaving for college, and he stands by her car and waves goodbye, and the refrain returns: "There goes my life, there goes my future." It captures the wrenching psychological changes that come with having a family, how it shatters the life that came before and rebuilds it into something new and different.

Diablo Rojo -- Rodrigo Y Gabriela
This is a marvelous song by a Mexican acoustic guitar duo. That's it -- just two people on two guitars, making all that music, even though it sounds like an entire percussion section. It has a fantastic driving beat and enormous, building energy. It's almost impossible to stay seated while listening to this song. These two musicians amaze me. I listen to this when I need a shot of mental espresso.

Sun Rise -- Budi Siebert (Album: Pyramid Call)
Budi Siebert's Pyramid Call album is a collection of haunting, unaccompanied solos on beautiful woodwinds. In my mind, this is what Zlinka sounds like when she plays her wooden flute. The pieces are emotion transfered into musical form, without melodies, very evocative and haunting.
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#3
Zzyzx Rd. - Stone Sour
This song reminds me of the first time i went to Lake Erie with my friends. It was a warm night and we went for a walk on the beach to watch the sun set. That was one of the best nights of my life and this song just fits in so perfectly with the way i was feeling. It has to be one of my top favorite songs of all time.

I'm on a Boat - Lonely Island
because it's an epic song

So What I Lied and My World - Sick Puppies
No real reason for these two, i just like the lyrics.

There's a whole lot more, but these just the first ones that came to mind.
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#4
Great idea, Krell!

Zlinka, your description of Sun Rise made me think of one of my old favorites, Coelocanth, from Shriekback's Oil and Gold album. An utterly unexpected shakuhachi flute solo on an album otherwise characterized by 1980s British funk/alternative sounds, this song always makes me think of how one would feel knowing you are the last of your kind, swimming forever alone in a dark sea.

And if you like Rodrigo y Gabriela, check out Antonio Albaicin, Ronald Roybal, Pepe Badajoz, and Roman El Granaino (all flamenco guitarists). Flamenco is tremendous.

When I need a pick-me-up, I often turn to Drum Trip-Ecstasy by Rusted Root. High-energy killer percussion. Actually, the entire album When I Woke is fantastic. So is Cruel Sun.

After an old friend beat me over the head with enough recommendations, I finally started listening to The Decemberists. While I have many favorites, The Crane Wife 3 from The Crane Wife was the song that made me first love their music. Clever or unusual writing is always a huge draw for me, whether in stories, poetry, acting, or song, and that's one of the big attractions of The Decemberists. Check out July, July! and The Legionnaire's Lament to see what I mean.

Shake Me Like a Monkey, Dave Matthews Band, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King. This whole album is awesome, but I just like the beat here.

Ok, I'll stop before I get too carried away, but I'll throw in one last recommendation: Chicago Brother and Sister Blues Band, Volume 2. I saw them play on the street in Venice Beach, CA and was blown away by the raw vocals. Classic street band story, with a tragic ending.
Nganga Nyeusi
He is fast and is the danger.
What's a dazzling urbanite like you doing in a rustic setting like this?
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#5
Oooh, I like this.

Evanescence - Pretty much anything by this band is fantastic to me. I'll list some of my favorites:

Bring me to Life: I used this for my Wrathgate video, but it was also their first single and the first time I heard them.

Haunted: If ever I wanted a song to match the way I feel about Death Knights, this would be it. I have a strong connection to WoW simply because of all the friends I have made there. Listening to any song that reminds me of the lore, reminds me of the bonds and relationships I have in game.

Imaginary: I have always been a very imaginative person. This could easily be my theme song, because I have always built a world to escape the harshness of reality.

Shakira - Fool: This song is for all the times you've ever been in love with somebody and just felt as if you could never let them go. It matches up with how attached I get to people. It's about a girl who is so in love with someone who doesn't love her back, that she wants them to do something that will make her hate them because she isn't strong enough to let go herself.

Delirium - Fallen: I saw an awesome Final Fantasy X video made to this song and I have been listening to it ever since. It's another love song, what can I say?

Enya - Wild Child: What a day to take to a wild child. My friends and I would turn this on anytime we felt we needed to zone out and just be creative. I love a lot of Enya's music and this ranks right up there.

Annie Lenox - Into the West: Better known as the ending theme to Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, I listen to this whenever I feel a "journey has come to an end". I actually listened to it a lot a few weeks ago when Dispaya left because it so easily reminds me of the time when we will all say our good-byes. When I first heard it, I was crying like a baby. :p

I'm sure there are many, many more songs I could post here. But these are a few of my special favorites. Smile
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#6
Great idea, Krell!

I like a variety of different music, but I am into rock music the most.

Take Five - Dave Brubeck Quartet
From the classic jazz album Time Out. My Dad turned me on to this when I was twelve. So, whenever I hear it, I think of him. It's one of my favorite jazz tracks. The sax melody is infectious and the piano hypnotic. The drum solo is outstanding! Joe Morello proves why he is a jazz drumming legend on this track.

Dream Theater - Scenes from a Memory
I can't pick one song on this album. The whole thing is a masterpiece of Progressive Metal. I can't sit down and only listen to one track, I have to listen to the whole thing. The musicianship is unbelievable and the concept is very interesting. Just buy it!

Over the Mountain - Ozzy Osbourne
I heard this song on the radio when I was eleven. I was totally blown away by the guitar solo Randy Rhodes played in that song. I remember telling my Mom I wanted to play guitar like that. She wasn't too happy about it , but she didn't stop me from playing.

Phantom of the Opera - Iron Maiden
When I was fifteen I wanted to learn how to play this song on guitar so the band I was in could play it. This was a fairly complex song that really challenged me. I spent a week with my little tape recorder replaying part after part until I could play along with the song. I was very proud of myself because no one else I knew could figure out how to play it, let alone actually play it correctly. It still makes me smile when I think about it. I was the hot player at my High School.
Stalkinghoof, 85th level Tauren Hunter
Krinar Cloudcleaver, 85th level Tauren Warrior
Zerthis Waterwalker, 85th level Orc Shaman
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#7
Cool idea! My music mostly divides up into 3 parts of my life. Classic rock, I listened to with my dad growing up. Alternative was the music I grew up with in highschool. Goth/Electronica is the stuff I got turned onto at the clubs I went to and from what some of my closer friends listen to. I'll give you a few songs/bands from the categories.

Classic Rock
Tom Petty- Zombie Zoo(see Krell's Werewolves of London explanation)
Neil Young- Heart of Gold(Arguably the best songwriter and finally a grammy winner!)

Alternative
White Stripes- Seven Nation Army(pretty well known,) Little Acorns
Modest Mouse- Heart Cooks Brain(It's true!)
Interpol- Obstacle

Goth Electronica
VNV NAtion- All songs are good but Further(Ever wonder what happens when all of the humans are gone? VNV does.) is my favorite. Def see them live if you can, caught them twice my top 2 shows.
Imperative Reaction- Closed In (bit more angsty and synthy than VNV)
DJ Tiesto- Forever Today(Don't play this in a car, you will be going way to fast)
-Donalzon

“He lives not long who battles with the immortals, nor do his children prattle about his knees when he has come back from battle and the dead fray.”

Homer, The Iliad
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#8
Odd I could have sworn I posted a reply. Anyway...

I am fairly diverse, collection ranges from Skinny Puppy, Wumpscut and VNV Nation to Leonard Cohen and Arlo Guthrie (You can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant). My choices vary greatly with my mood. At the moment the three main bands I listen to and choice songs from each would be:

Oingo Boingo - Private Life
Great song and very appropriate in a world dominated by text messaging, IMs, facebook and twitter. That and I am pretty sure Danny Elfman is why Cartman hates and fears ginger kids.

Depeche Mode - Policy of Truth
Ah a song that tackles both the concept of honesty is the best policy and that happiness is ignorance all while asking why you make the same bad decisions again and again.

Violent Femmes - Kiss Off
If you can't sing along with at least half of this song, you should go find a copy to listen to right now.
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#9
Any excuse to babble about my tastes in music (and other things), I will take it.

King of the New York Streets and Drive All Night by Dion DiMucci - Songs of my childhood, along with the rest of the "Yo Frankie!" CD. My dad would play these songs on his beat up old radio while working around the house on weekends; these songs make me thing of running around the backyard on Saturdays with Dad hammering or sawing something in half in the background.

Vivere by Andrea Bocelli - If Dion DiMucci is the music of my childhood Saturdays, the "Romanza" CD is the music of my childhood Sundays. Mom would play him every Sunday while baking cookies and/or brownies, so when I heard this start to play, I knew tasty-deliciousness would be forthcoming.

The Dropkick Murphys - I can't identify any one song by this band that I love the most, since I love all their stuff. Irish punk, woo! I listen to them for general rocking out purposes while playing games or studying or trying to write a specific kind of scene for one of my stories. They also did a beautiful cover of "The Green Fields of France" that's more melancholy than I usually prefer in my music, but I find it oddly soothing despite the content.

The Crimson Pirates - They're a group of performers who tour the Ren Faire circuit and a good friend of mine got me into them back in high school. They do a lot of folk songs (with their own twists), plus a few of their own composition. "Putrid and Disgusting" is freaking hysterical. And they did a modern version of "The Wild Rover" that you can find on YouTube - "Land Rover." Again, freaking hysterical. I play the Crimson Pirates when I'm in a silly mood or, as with the Murphys, I'm writing a specific kind of scene for a story.

When You're Evil by Voltaire - Another song I play when I'm feeling silly. I just really, really like this song (and a lot of Voltaire's other songs) and (once again!) it's something I play when writing, in this case when I'm writing about one of my ambiguously evil characters. (And no, one of them isn't Lailya.)

And then there's the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Have you listened to their newest CD, "Night Castle"? You should. They do "O Fortuna" (on the CD, called "Carmina Burana") and it is EPIC. TSO is required listening when in need of aural awesomeness and inspiration for some truly epic scenes when writing.

There are others, but those are my top picks. And now I'm going to go listen to the TSO again, because I am in the mood.
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#10
Straylight Run- Existentialism on Prom Night. It was basically the theme song to my entire senior year. Everyone in my class had it as their profile songs, it played about 4 times during our prom, and despite it being insanely popular I did like it. I'm very partial to the piano bit in the middle.

Adele- Her whole first cd is on my top 10 albums, but if I had to pick a song it'd be "Make You Feel my Love" or her most popular single "Chasing Pavements". In those two songs she perfectly described how I've felt romantically speaking.

Owl City- "Saltwater Room" and "Vanilla Twilight". New Obsession here for me. Good memories driving for hours with the cd on repeat.

Iron and Wine- Sunset Soon Forgotten. Another one of my favorite driving songs.
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