SONG #19: The Cranberries - Dreams

Inducted on May 8, 2014

Dolores O' Riordan is definitely in my top 3 female vocalists. While I don't tend to enjoy female-led rock bands (I'm not sexist, I swear!), O'Riordans voice is simultaneously ethereal and edgy. I bought the Cranberries second album, No Need to Argue, without hearing the first album which contains this gem of a song. Instead, I heard this song from the movie "You Got Mail". If I remember right, the song was a perfect fit for what was going on in the movie. I discovered this song around the time I started dating my first girlfriend, so it had some extra meaning at the time.

Besides O'Riordan's voice, and the lyrical beauty to the song, I like the beat of the song, as well as that little guitar hook that leads into the verses. Oh, Back to her voice.. I almost get goosebumps she does that "wailing". I think I read somewhere that she was trying to imitate bagpipes. It was an element I hadn't heard in rock music before.

SONG #18: Ace of Base - Beautiful Life

                                                             Ace of Base - Beautiful Life

I've used "angsty" to describe my high school years. That would also be an appropriate word to describe most of the other Hall of Fame songs inducted up to this point. While most of the songs carry a large dose of hope, many of them contain regret, pain, loneliness, or brokenness. "Beautiful Life", however, is one of the most optimistic songs I've heard. While it does tip a hat to loneliness in the bridge, it's just really a song that celebrates life, and I definitely needed to hear songs like this when I was younger. I put this song on replay a countless number of times and would end up daydreaming..

The chorus is out of this world, especially at the end when they layer all the voices together. I'm also a fan of the thumping dance beat that drives the song forward.

Great song by a great group.

 

SONG #17: Newsboys - Entertaining Angels

January 28, 2014

Another song by a popular band in the Christian Music Industry.
Once again, this entry represents a lot of other songs by the Newsboys that probably
won't make it. "Going Public" was a fantastic album that really launched the band into a whole different level of popularity. "Take Me To Your Leader" was a fun album that I listened to a lot in my earlier high school years. But then "Entertaining Angels" was released in April 1998, as I was about to graduate, and it took my love for the Newsboys to new heights.

This was another one of those songs that was in heavy rotation in my Discman as I started life at Concordia, The refrain is incredibly catchy to this song, although I'm not church if I spent hours trying to think about what the lyrics meant. Again, it totally fits the angsty, "life is hard, I'm a screw-up, but God is with me" script that was so very real to me those years.

SONG #16: Collective Soul - The World I Know

December 19, 2013

I know that if someone were to ever read my blog all the way through, they would start to see contradictions in my statements - "This is my favorite song", "This could be my favorite song", "My favorite band", etc. Well, it's all sorted out in my head, but I might not always be able to articulate it properly. There's also the fact that as time passes our opinions on things change. But not with this band.

Since I was 17-18, I have considered Collective Soul to be my favorite band. I could list off the order of their albums and could probably name 80-85% of the songs they've written in their career, I've also seem then in concert three times, which for me is a LOT. I can't tell you why I like them so much other than they aren't like any other band I know. They get lumped into the Grunge Rock era of the 90's, and are actually scoffed at by many critics. Musically, I can see how they'd be compared to many bands of their era, but the difference lies in the overall songwriting. Ed Roland has a writing "voice" that noone will be able to imitate. The way he puts together words and phrases is quite unique. I'm not saying that it's everyone's cup of tea, and I'm not saying he's a poet. However, let's look at one verse from their popular song December:

"Why follow me to higher ground?
Lost as you swear I am.
Don't throw away your basic needs,
Ambiance and vanity.

Ambiance and Vanity? I think as an older teenager I appreciated that the lyrics made me think and even look words up in the dictionary. Yes, sometimes I think he throws a big word in their just because he wanted to sound smart, but overall he makes songwriting look effortless.

Now to the song. "The World I Know" is from the band's second album. I loved their first hit single "Shine", but it didn't quite have the impact this song had in my life. This song came about in my angsty mid-teenage years. The song, combined with the video (I watched a lot of VH1), put off a "sad but hopeful" vibe which I could relate to in those lean "on the edge" high school years. Add in the orchestral parts - which fit the song like a glove - and it was song I just clicked with.

SONG #15: David Gray - Please Forgive Me

Inducted on Dec. 19, 2013

Okay. This is my last song of the evening. I'm trying to catch up, since tonight I just inducted the 41st song tonight. David Gray burst onto the scene in the late 90s with the single "Babylon". I definitely liked the song, but it wasn't my favorite song from his "White Ladder" album. No, it was "Please Forgive Me".

Realistically I could go through these 15 songs again and write about the subtle points I like about each one. But to be honest, the initial drum loop hook and the "DING" was just as powerful in getting me "into" the song as the alternating piano chords were (you know how much I love piano). Add the lyrics into the mix and this song reflected my angsty lovestruck college years at Concordia. This song was CONSTANTLY in my rotation.

David Gray is another singer that I constantly go back to when he releases new stuff. He may be off the Billboard charts, but he's still good at what he does. Anybody else still listen to Gray?

SONG #14: Audio Adrenaline - Ocean Floor

Inducted on September 26, 2013

Audio Adrenaline was already in heavy rotation in my boombox. "Big House" was revolutionary for Christian Music on many levels. It was a great song for teenagers to rock to.. and it was just plain fun. Their next three albums were good in their own right, but the song "Ocean Floor" from the Lift album was by far the best contribution the band has made to music. You can now tell that I am often drawn to songs that reflect on our sinfulness and lead us to the cross where Jesus paid it all.
It's another song in my Hall of Fame where you can literally hear the singer pleading. The emotion is so real and incredibly deep. The song took on a new meeting when Pastor Craig connected it with the movie "The Mission". It's a sermon illustration I'll never forget.
Another great song. If it wasn't great, it wouldn't be in my Hall of Fame. :)

SONG #13: Ben Folds - Still Fighting It

June 25, 2013

Inducted on June 25, 2013

This could very well be my favorite song if I listened to it more. But I can't. It's too hard. Especially now that i'm a dad. It hits me on all sides... the pain of growing up... the pain of watching my parents grow older... the joy/pain of knowing what my sons will have to experience - both the good and the bad - as they grow older.. My theology allows me to understand the joy of knowing where my loved ones and I are going when we die, but the song taps into those raw feelings of living in a broken world. I don't always need a song to reflect my faith perfectly in order for me to get something out of it.

The hardest line in the song...? "And You're so much like me, I'm sorry". I know that will be an apology I will make to my boys one day.

Like I said, I can't listen to this song very much. But I love it.

SONG #12: The Fray - How to Save a Life

Inducted on January 6, 2013

Another song that prominently features the piano. It's hard to go wrong when you do that, in my book. Most people my age remember this song being tightly attached to a powerful Grey's Anatomy
episode. I never got into that show, but I definitely liked the music they found for their soundtrack.
Anyway, the lyrics are powerful.. about trying to help someone but you don't really know how. It's a force of a song from beginning to end, and you can hear his desperation at the end. The Fray is much more than a one hit wonder. I get excited every time they release new music. BUT.... I'm guessing that none of their new songs will ever touch this one.. it's just that good.

SONG #11: Rich Mullins - If I Stand

Inducted on January 6, 2013

Okay. We're getting serious now. This song is potentially my most favorite song ever, and it's definitely in my top 5. The funny thing is that, except for the beautiful piano part, there aren't many things about this that I would normally like. It's virtually stripped down for most of the song, with very little instrumentation and it sounds like Mullins is singing in empty classroom somewhere. But the lyrics.. oh the lyrics.. In a day and age when Christian music was often about proudly and boldly standing for Jesus, in the song Mullins questioned whether he could even stand at all. It's his honesty that drew me in, as I struggled constantly to be the person I knew Christ wanted me to be. The line "And if I weep, let me weep as a man who is longing for his home" put into words a feeling I frequently wrestled with as a teenager. I found myself just wanting to be in heaven. I didn't (necessarily) want to end my life, but I just wanted to be with God.. That feeling actually grows stronger as I grow older.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE the music too. I really do. I love the piano, and in this case it's minimalist approach is actually beneficial. Rich Mullins sadly died in a car crash, but his legacy continues, and I hope maybe my kids find the truth and beauty of this song as well.

SONG #10: Third Day - I've Always Loved You

January 6, 2013

If anybody reads these posts from outside my circle of friends, you'll find very quickly that I wear my faith in Jesus on my sleeve, and that comes out in some of the songs that you'll find in my Hall of Fame. The Youtube link I posted is a user video, and not an official video of the song. The first year or so of listening to this song often brought me to tears, since I was at a point in my life that I needed to be daily reminded of God's love and grace. Not many songs will do that to me. The musicianship is impeccable, the lyrics are powerful, and it's just plain catchy. This will most likely not be the only Third Day song in my Hall of Fame before I go see Jesus, as I've been listening to them since the first  album with the peach on it. Mac Powell is one of the best songwriters out there.