Stuff that *does* make the top 40, which, despite you pretension of being edgy and cool and only listening to stuff that nobody else has probably heard of, you like anyway... Me, new stuff: I like Counting Crows...a lot. My oldest daughter likes them too, so that's cool. They have a few "pop-y" songs, like "Einstein on the Beach", and "accidentally in Love", and the "fast" version of "Mr. Jones" (and I like those too) but I tend to like the slower, acoustic versions of their music. In fact most of their songs like "Hard Candy", "Rain King", "Mr Jones" have been made in slower, more soulful versions, like this... [yt="Rain King"]AzbxDeDUdrc[/yt] I like "Round Here" a lot: [yt="Round Here"]HNicfq8vLy8&[/yt] (Some of the songs I really like, such as "When I Dream of Michelangelo", "Angels of the Silences" & the slow , acoustic version of "Hard Candy" don't seem to be on youtube...) I also like Five for Fighting. Despite the sappiness of songs like "100 Years", "Superman (It's not Easy)", and "The Riddle", I still like them. (The aforementioned songs, and the band.) One of my favorites is "Devil in the Wishing Well"... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faJf_EpisoM Matchbox 20. So sue me. I know their music can be kinda..."beige"...but I kinda like it. Not love, but I had a couple of their CD's somewhere. I like the piano acoustic version of "3 a.m." a lot. Norah Jones. I like it...nice relaxing music. I like her voice. Nice on a rainy day. Scissor Sisters. Gayest band ever. Like flaming. But one of my...ironically enough...non-flaming gay friends are into them, and turned me on to them. Also, The Master likes track 3! [yt="track 3!"]UGoTxNrhrk0[/yt] Goo Goo Dolls. Not a brilliant or super-innovate band, but I've kinda liked them since I first heard "Name" back in the early 90's. I really like "Black Balloon". [yt="Black Balloon"]DTSroAUygiQ[/yt] (Yes, "Iris" is great too, just that I've heard it 1 million times already...) Melissa Etheridge. I like a lot of her stuff. Rockin'. A bit bluesy at times. Not bad. "Come To My Window" is a great song, IMO, and I like her lesser known bluesy songs like "You Can Sleep While I Drive", and I like this song...> [yt="Angels Would Fall"]KZ0IiYJGz9Y[/yt] Santana. WAY too cool to be on a list of "pop" music, but he's done a lot of recent collaborations with *very* pop musicians, and they aren't bad... Like this... [yt="I'm Feeling You"]WzgPopa5gJE&[/yt] ("Smooth" isn't bad either...) The Killers. Lethe brought them up in caht. I looked up some of their stuff. Not bad. For new kids... (I wonder what my son thinks of them?) No really, not bad. Sarah McLachlan. Angel. What more is there to say? [yt="Angel"]7CbAjj80NIM[/yt] Barenaked Ladies. The are fun. They do that "Chimpanzees" song, and the theme to "The Big Bang Theory" on CBS... "Brain Wilson" is a good song... [yt="Brain Wilson"]FIXc43DVsWc[/yt] Blues Traveler. What's not to like? "Run Around" is one of may favorite songs, and they do a great version of "All For You" w/ Sister Hazel. (A band that I happen to also like...) Sister Hazel, The BoDeans, Sister Hazel, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Foo Fighters...were all kind "college bands" to a greater or lesser extent in the 90's (at least in so much as they played a lot when I was in school on the local radio stations catering to the college crowd) and I like them, silly or not. ^It's probably not a coincidence that most the bands/singers above came to fame in the late to mid 90's, when I was in my early 20's & in college...those were very formative years for me. More influential for me than high school (which I left at 15, in disgust) ever was...so they stuck with me I guess. They don't make up my bulk of listening, but it's nice when they come up on the local top 40 station in the car. My kids like the local pop station, and it's nice when they come on after being assaulted by crap by Britney or that fucking "I Kissed A Girl" song...
I like most of what you listed. Norah Jones does a pretty good cover of Townes Van Zandt's "Be here to love me." I love Coldplay's new album. Weezer's Red album is kinda disappointing. I like Jason Mraz's new album okay - it's a huge improvement over his last one. The guy has a great voice, he just needs to learn how to write lyrics or have someone else write for him. I like most everything of John Mayer's that isn't "Your Body is a Wonderland" or "Daughters," especially the trio stuff. And fuck all of you, I like Maroon 5.
Don't really keep track of top forty lists but I like plenty of music others may say is too commercial or soulless or even a sellout song by an otherwise worthy band. Thing is I like what I like, if a billion other people do too that's fine with me. Sure some songs are flat out silly but who doesn't enjoy a bit of silliness evey now and then?
I've seen the Scissor Sisters live, and if you think their records are gay, you should see them on stage... fan-bloody-tastic.
About a month ago, me and a friend were driving downtown listening to of all things, Black Parade. We're rockin' out wayne's world style, heading for the stoner cafe. Music's blaring, windows down, I look over and says: "Dude, this is kinda like high school. Except we're 40 and in a Volvo" It's a sad day when you're driving your mom's car and it's yours.
I don't know if they're classified as "pop", but I really like the Foo Fighters. One of the real disappointments of my old concert job is that they never played there so I could shoot their show. I also liked Blink182 quite a bit. And those guys did put on a great show (I did two or three of their concerts, including one where Green Day opened for them).
I was just listening to the new Coldplay yesterday. It's really growing on me. The Red Album is a grower too. The first time I heard it I thought it was total shit, but I gave it another spin a few weeks later and liked it a lot more. It's not a great record, but it's solid.
Coldplay's new album sucks - if you can call it a new album - it's mostly filler. Weezer's new one is great (much better than the last) and so is the Offspring's.
I've heard the Red Album several dozen times now. I like it, just not as much as their other albums. It was really ambitious and they fell short on a few things. And the best tracks on the album are the bonus tracks.
Scissor Sisters... Even I think they're pretty gay. [YT="Filthy Gorgeous"]vgI3BVWkuUc[/YT] Billy Joel, Phil Collins, The Monkees...
Oh, even though I'm not 14, male, and totally pissed off at the world, I have to admit a certain fondness for Linkin Park. They take themselves so seriously, bless 'em!
"Miss Sweeney" is one of the best songs Weezer has ever done. I can't believe it got left off the record.
I skipped it the first five or six times I listened to the album because of how Rivers sings the first verse. Once I actually listened to the whole song, I loved it.
