SONG #29: Collective Soul - Run

Inducted on January 14, 2015

Coincidentally, there is a stretch of seven straight songs in my Hall of Fame that only have one word titles. I didn't do that on purpose.

This is the second song from Collective Soul to make the Hall of Fame. After the widely celebrated "Blue" album, the band released a critically panned 3rd album called Disciplined Break Down. While I certainly have some favorites off of that disc, it wasn't as memorable as the one that preceeded it. Apparently there was a lot of record label drama that came during the recording. I don't remember how long it took for them to record their next album, but man oh man was it worth the wait for collective soul fans. "Dosage", their fourth album, is what took my fan-dom to new heights. First, you had the haunting cover art. Why exactly is there a picture of a beautiful woman's face partly covered with honey and bees? Wild. But it was the music that sealed the deal for me. From the first track to the last, that album held my attention the entire way through. Really, there are several songs off of this album that I could nominate for the Hall of Fame. "Tremble for my beloved", "10 years later", "dandy life", and "Heavy" are all favorites. But this is not a collective soul Hall of Fame, and so I have to go with the song that I truly listened to and connected with the most.

"Run" is another of collective soul's slower acoustic songs, with a somewhat similar vibe as "the world I know". I definitely like some of the faster paced songs, but they may never make it into the Hall of Fame, because slower songs seem to have more depth and meaning for me personally.

I've already done quite a long build up to the song, so I'm not really going to go to much more into detail, other than to say that it was another one of those Angsty songs that I listened to during my first two years of college. The lyrics contain some typical unique phrases that singer/songwriter Ed Roland likes to throw into his songs.. "Processed enmity" being one example. Anyway, it's a beautiful song that I'll probably appreciate my whole life.

Elements I love: 

- The opening blend of guitar chords and piano.

- The electric guitar solo near the end of the song. 

- The question/response in the chorus: "Have I got a long way to run?" / "I Run"

SONG #31: Jars of Clay - Liquid

Inducted on January 14, 2015

One thing that's lacking so far in the Hall of Fame are a number of songs from when I almost singularly focused on listening to Christian Music. I'm sure they will be added more as we move along, but I'd say between 1994-98 I was obsessed with Christian music and assembled quite a collection of music. Most of it has slowly faded away over time, but there are some songs that have been a huge part of my life.

I remember hearing a lot of "buzz" about this young new band called Jars of Clay. They were the next big thing, and when their first major label album was released, they didn't disappoint. While their first single off of the album, and probably most popular song, was "Flood" was considered their best, "Liquid" is by far my favorite song from that first album. It's the first track off the album, and it shows. It has a long introduction that starts with a humming noise, rolls into a beautiful guitar/violin pairing, and ends up merging with a strong "yeah" on top of a programmed drum beat. One of my favorite openings of any song on this list so far.

From there, we hear a beautiful lyric about Jesus on the cross and ends with the conclusion that "He didn't die for nothing". Double negative aside, this is a powerful song that brings back feelings of being a fifteen-ish year old kid who was exploring his life and his faith. It was so much fun having a soundtrack that was fresh and was even being talked about outside of Christian circles. I liked my dad's music but - sorry dad - there was only so much of Steve Green, Sandi Patty, and Ray Boltz that a teenager could take (look them up on Spotify some time). Dc Talk, The Newsboys, and Jars of Clay helped me find my own musical identity in terms of Christian music.

But back to this song... It was fresh, it had an interesting blend of sounds, and the lyrics were simple and spot on. The rest of the album was hit or miss.. But this song... It spoke volumes,

Other elements I like/d: 

The chanting at the beginning of the song.. Fantastic.

"This is the one thing.. The one thing that I know"

This song also triggers a random memory of going to a friends church and hanging out in their youth room listening to this album while waiting to go to a Rebecca st. James concert. It was a typical 90's church kid thing to do.

Long Walks on a beach...or... What I'm looking for in a future "Hall of Fame" song...

Okay. Before I move on, let me share with you a little bit about my philosophy of music. As a Follower of Jesus, I have held many different positions about my relationship with music. My parents did a GREAT job of encouraging me - when I was a pre-teen - to find Christian music I could listen to that would uplift me and build me up. That began my long journey into appreciating Christian music. Somewhere along the way, however, I got caught up into legalism... In other words, I'd feel guilty for listening to songs that "Weren't Christian" (that's a topic for another day). However, when I arrived at Concordia College - and really it was a bit before that - I started exploring all types of music again. I eventually embraced the idea that all songs give you a glimpse at the human condition, and many can be of at least SOME value.. There are exceptions of course, but that's definitely where I've "loosened up" over the years.

I'm giving you that lead in because I know some of you may have  questions about certain songs I put in here.. and that is certainly your right to question. Please just know that I am very contemplative about what I listen to and expose my heart/mind to. In the end, however, I am drawn to music that moves me, challenges me, and causes me to be introspective. I am drawn to music with a good beat, a great hook, and a message about love, loss, life, faith, grace, mercy, brokeness, disbelief, romance, and all the other things that come with being human. I like repetitive dance songs like this one as well as and long drawn out storytelling songs like this one.

Obviously the more that a song has been "part of my life", the better chance it has of making it into my hall of fame. Some songs make it in just because I love the way they sound (Stronger - Kelly Clarkson), some songs make it in because they have impacted my life (If I Stand - Rich Mullins), and some songs bring me back to a specific moment or period in time that I am nostalgic for (Liquid - Jars of Clay).

I'm sure I'll write more about this sometime.. but that's all for now.

SONG #34: Switchfoot - You Already Take Me There

Inducted January 14, 2015

We've now exited the "One Word Titles" portion of my list - for now - after six songs in a row. I don't know why it took me so long to put in a song by one of my top 5 bands, but here it is. I feel a little uncomfortable because I keep feeling like there's another Switchfoot song that I should "induct" first. What about "Chem 6A", "Company Car", "Only Hope", "Meant to Live", "Love is a Movement", "Dare You to Move", etc.? Some of those songs bring back more clearer memories than this one. But I have a few ideas why this one comes out on top.

First, the album came out in September of 2000, which was the year after my first girlfriend and I had broken up for the second time, and I was coming off of my summer experience at Focus on the Family (I'm sure I'll talk about that sometime more later). I was a junior in college and totally familiar with my college setting. I now was a "veteran" at Concordia.. very confident and yet still very insecure. The insecurity showed through my never ending quest for companionship and it reflected an incredibly poor view of myself. This would also be the year of "The Super Bowl Incident", which I will share with you soon. In other words.. I was badly in need of something I could relate to.. as well as something that would point me to the Grace that only Jesus could give me. The setting was ripe for me to fall in love with this song.

Here are the words to the whole song.. I've bolded the words/phrases that resonated most:

"When all I have is on the floor
Divided, divided
When I'm a world away from peaceBehind Your eyes is where I know
I'll find it, I'll find it
Cause who You are defines my dreamsYou already take me there
Heaven in the here and now

When I'm a broken-hearted man
Complacent and tired
When I've been knocked out of the raceI've been a fool for long enough
To fight it, to fight it
It's in Your arms I find my place
You meet me where I am
Forgive me where I am
Where I lose myself in grace
(Where I'm lost and found)
I want to lose myself in graceLet Your love reign down all over me
Cover me"

Elements I like:
I love how that crunching opening riff melds into the regular beat of the song.. duh duh dunna nah. duh duh dunna nah.

Just like Song #33 (The Killers' "Human"), I absolutely love the music and lyrics of the verses almost more than that of the chorus. This is rare, and it shows how quickly the song comes out of the gate. In fact, at 2 Minutes 43 seconds, I love the WHAM, BAM, THANK YOU MA'AM pace of the song - it makes its point and then gets out quickly.

The bridge: "You meet me where I am.. Forgive me where I am". I get goosie-bumps just thinking of that line. It's a line I bring up to God at many points in my life. :)

SONG #33: The Killers - Human

Inducted on January 14, 2015

I'm not sure if I could have predicted this entry based on my first exposure to The Killers. "Somebody Told Me" was a quirky song that in my mind almost felt like a "novelty" song in the mode of "Monster Mash" and "Disco Duck" (remember that one?). But it was a catchy enough song for me to buy on Napster (after Napster went legit). It was on an .mp3 album I had put together with some other alternative bands at the time like Modest Mouse and Hot Hot Heat. This was before Spotify, and I didn't really make the effort to listen to the rest of The Killers' songs off their debut Hot Fuss album. However, from "Somebody Told Me", the seeds were there for me to like The Killers' music... I just hadn't realized it yet.

Flash Forward to February 6, 2016, and I will tell you that I consider Brandon Flowers (The Killers' lead singer) among the top 10 songwriters of all time. I can't tell you exactly how the switch came about, but I'd say it was with their "Day & Age" album in 2008, and this song in particular. I know now that some fans didn't particularly like the dance beat and the sound change on this album, but I think it really shows Flower's willingness to try new things and explore all musical aspects of his band. It's that dance riff/beat that drew me in at the very first bars of this song. That led to a very melodic verse/chorus pairing that I still can't get enough of despite listening to it 100+ times. I almost find the verses catchier than the chorus, but that's saying a lot because I'm a huge fan of the chorus:

"Are we human, or are we dancer
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human, or are we dancer"? 

Apparently a website or two nominated this for the most puzzling lyrics in a song, but I think Flowers

made it perfectly clear when he said he was inspired by something that Hunter Thompson said about this being a generation of dancers. Still though, a lot of lyrics sites still confuse this chorus to this day.

I find it to be a haunting lyric about searching that is cousins to a song like U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For".

Elements I Like: 

The bass "riff", the synth parts, the particular dance beat, and this particular verse...

"Pay my respects to grace and virtue, send my condolences to good
Give my regards to soul and romance, they always did the best they could
And so long to devotion you taught me everything I know
Wave good bye, wish me well, you gotta let me go"

There aren't any particular memories that "Human" stirs up other than the fact that this was a song I listened to quite a bit with a friend who who shared the same love for the Killers that I did. Good times.

SONG #32: Information Society - Think

January 14, 2015

Wow. Sometimes we go looking for music.. And Sometimes we run into it on the radio or Internet.. And sometimes a song comes into your life in strange ways. This song falls into the latter category. If you look up the Wikipedia page of this song, you'll see that the cassette single of the song was given as a cereal box prize. I can't remember if it was in the bottom of the box or if we had to send a card in (with money for postage, of course). Regardless, I received this single and fell in love instantly. I have a natural love for electronic music, and come to think of it, this may have been one of the first songs that helped cultivate that love a bit. 

I love melodic choruses that repeat a lot, and this song has one for sure - complete with cheesy rhyming (the classic "shared" and "cared" pairing). I love it. There's a lot going on musically, with orchestral "hits" and vocal samples, and it was a song that let my mind wander a bit. As a kid with not much of a social life (at least that was my perception), I spent a lot of time listening and daydreaming. One weird thing I'd often do as a self-absorbed pre-teen/teen is make up an opening credits scene to a television show based on my life. This was a song that lent itself well to my tv show daydreams. 

Elements I like:

Like I said, this is a "busy" song, there's a lot going on here. I love the man With the ominous tone of voice saying "think about it, think about it". I love the "orchestral hits" that really put a bullet on the different phrases of the song. I think it has one of the catchier refrains on my list, which is saying a lot. Finally I like the little scat phrasing at the very end of the song. Fantastic stuff. 

I'm glad we the that cereal, whatever it was, because it  basically introduced me to a style of music that I love so much.

SONG #30: Goo Goo Dolls - Name

Inducted January 14, 2015

There may be some real bias that enters into the induction process of this "Hall of Fame". I think that the slow ballad-y songs take up more real estate inside my head for many different reasons. First of all, these songs are the ones I would tend to play when I was at the darkest points of my life. Also, I'm just pretty dramatic and these songs play into that personality trait the most. With that said, bring on some more sad, wistful music.

If you grew up in the 90's, you've heard this song. It's one of the Goo Goo Dolls first hits, and I think it's a song that still holds up really well. It opens with a beautiful acoustic guitar riff and then builds with an incredibly simple drum beat. And then Johnny Rzeznik opens with these haunting words:

"And even though the moment passed me by 
I still can't turn away 
Cuz all the dreams you never thought you'd lose Got tossed along the way"    

Again, for somebody in college (when I first really gravitated to the song) who has some High School regrets and is trying to figure His life out, this really played into my anxiety a bit. But those are the kinds of songs that we often turn to for some strange form of comfort.

The instrumental "breakdown" near the end of the song is also a fantastic part of the song.


My favorite line of the song: "A tired song keeps playing on a tired radio" - I like the imagery there.