226 replies to this topic

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

You Got It - Roy Orbison, from Mystery Girl

 

 

Ah, Roy Orbison, a classy and classic artist with some awesome catchy and timeless tunes. Say what you will about this one being covered to death or whatever, but the oriignbal is still the best and a good song overall. A lot of his stuff is, even for a rock guy like me.

Edited by DarkJuno, 18 June 2013 - 10:08 PM.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Woman - Wolfmother, from Wolfmother

 

Awesome song, couldn't get it out of my head first time I heard it, and you have to love the solo in the middle that despite being the same few notes repeating gets more and more pwoerful, especially as the organ and other instruments join in. Also a happy, unintentional and fitting ending song for my Saints Row 2 playthrough, as it by pure sheer luck ended up being the first song on my personal playslist in that game, and it was what started playing over the credits as it faded to black just as my female Saints leader took over Ultor. ALready liked it a lot, but that happy accident made it more awesome to me.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

 

Get Free - The Vines

 

 

Not really a fan of the Vines, but I like this song fine. It's catchy and it makes me think of at least part of a roadtrip - not the easy going part, but the part where you just stopped to grab a bite or go to the bathroom, and you slide back into your car, throw on some shades, turn the key, and get back on the road with a purpose.

 

I'm weird like that, if you haven't figured that out.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Super Mario Galaxy 2 Trailer Theme - Masato Yokata, from Super Mario Galaxy 2

 

As good as the Gusty Garden Galaxy theme was from the first game, the second game's trailer amps it up. The Galaxy games, besides being amazing, solid Mario games, totally blew me away with the bombastic, fully symphonic soundtrack. The word gets used way too much on the internet, but it was far too epic for any Mario game, I thought, but it worked, and it was great and memorable. While I was kinda down on the idea of a second Galaxy game, this trailer with this music specifically playing over the gameplay made me a believer. It was awesome, and especially the part from around 1:18 to the end almost makes me tear up from how it all builds up into this big, awesome finale. Love this stuff, love this game, and it's why the most pointless Mario game made (it didn't need to prove anything as the series was proven with the first one, there was just recently another full Mario game barely before this one came out, and it seemed like just a perfected version of the first one) became one of the best, in my opinion.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

 

FUSE - Hudson Mohawke, from Butter

 

 

I'm not normally into atmospheric electronic music,m but when I heard this in Sleeping Dogs I was instantly addicted. Picture this: Just driving around late at night, not so late that there's no one on the roads, but it's not super crowded with traffic either. The rain is coming down in sheets, but it's just a shower rather then a horrible thunderstorm. You weave and drive around the streets, the lights, neon and halogen, reflecting off the vehicles and other surfaces brightly, compounded by the rain. You're going fast in spite of the weather, but you're in total control with no chance of an accident, and all in all it's a weird, serence sort of peace you're experiencing for what should by all means by a terrible night given the weather. That's what this song makes me think and feel like, and I like it.

 

....no, I don't do drugs. Why?

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Battery - Metallica, from Master of Puppets

 

 

Third page, third Metallica song - this may be a thing for me if this keeps going. Anyway, great song, great example of Thrash Metal, and just pretty perfect for the band - not an incredibly long song, but not a modern one either (though I like most of thsoe too). Good stuff to rock out to.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Stacked Actors - Foo Fighters, from There is Nothing Left to Lose

 

 

Not to intentionally do double dips all in a row, but I'd been wanting to put this song up for awhile - I figure three pages alter is a good time to start having a couple repeat artists, though I have plenty I haven't put up yet. All the same, while I bought singles and stuff from everything else, There is Nothing Left to Lose was the alst Foo Fighters album I flat out bought before I sorta lost track of them. I still loved'em andloved the songs on the radio, but it wasn't 'till Wasting Light that I just bought that album blind. Since then I have rectified it by buying In Your Honor and Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace as well as the Skin & Bones acoustic concert, so I'm caught up. Heck, I even bought the Live At Wembley and Back & Forth documentaries to try and make up for it. Anyway, this is a great song, and I always liked it, and I get a small, minor thrill in that it's not one of their big well known songs. In this day and age of people just going to iTunes, that's far and few between anymore, fidning that gem of a song that all the fans ahve ehard on the album, sure, but isn't one of the ones you're "supposed" to like. Ah well....

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Super Metroid Medley - Kenji Yamamoto, perf. by Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, from Orchestral Game Concert #4

 

 

Just made it in time!

 

So yeah, Metroid is a pretty awesome game series, and like many, it has an pretty great soundtrack full of iconic themes and atmospheric tracks throughout its history. Super Metroid of course has a few of these, and this aprticular version from a mid-90's concert in Japan, subsequently released on album, is still probably one of the best arrangements of the stuff ever. Easily some of the best music anyway, this is a pretty sweet and awesome arrangement with multiple movements and really does feel like the soundtrack to the movie version of Metroid that'll never happend. In order, it's:

 

-Theme of Samus Aran/Galactic Warrior

-Crateria

-Green Brinstar

-Red Brinstar

-Ending Theme

 

GIve it a listen, it's a little long but worth it.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Green Grass and High Tides - Outlaws, from Outlaws

 

 

Lots of people know this song from being the final, fitting song for the guitar route in the first Rock Band back in the day - seems a lot longer than 6 years ago, doesn't it? Anyway, I had heard this song occasionally played on the old classic rock station here, 101 KLOL before it switched formats into modern Hispanic music, a sad and confusing day here because it was unannounced and I was puzzled when I got in my car to go home from classes that day and heard some terrible reggaeton crap rather then the expected classic rock. Anyway, it's obviously way too long to have been a proper single or get playtime, typically, but somehow it still did in my neck of the woods. I know there's a lot of negative connotations with Southern Rock as a sub genre, with some bands justifying it and others definitely not, but all in all, this is a pretty great and awesome song and does fit into the "Epic Rocking" category over in TVTropes. Great song to have on a roadtrip, at least I think so.

Edited by DarkJuno, 26 June 2013 - 03:35 PM.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Thunderstruck - AC/DC, from The Razor's Edge

 

Couldn't think of anything meaningful today, so have some AC/DC....so that worked out. A staple of sports stadiums everywhere, there's a good reason for it.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Young Grow Old - Creed

 

 

Yeah yeah yeah, it's Creed, I know, shut up. As I said in the AlterBridge song post, Mark Tremonti is an incredibly underrated guitar player, even back during these Creed days. Always liked this song, and wondered why it was only ever on the European version of the album. Whatever.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones, from Let It Bleed

 

It's the Stones, what else do I need to say? While I'm going to ignore all the comments I see on Youtube about how "This song and band are only remembered because they used this in CoD bro!!!" as I said before, I'm typically okay with anyway people discover old songs because they're orth finding out about in anyway. And hey, if that leads to a person seeking out the band's stuff or even something as simple as curiously tuning into the Classic Rock station when they accidentally turn on their radio instead of their iPod, all the better.

 

Great song, a little too montage worthy, but whatever.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Highway Star - Deep Purple, from Machine Head

 

When I went on my roadtrip last year, this was definitely one of the songs I stuck on there, and not just because of the obvious name. That trip alone without anyone else in the car to talk to gets really, really lonely and old, so having roadtrip music was pretty much essential in staying alert and, most importantly, excited about the trip. This definitely helped keep my spirits up and awake, and made those thousand miles all that much more ebarable, especially the inevitably more disappointing trip back home, Deep Purple of course is also just one of those bands anyone who likes rock should know about, and they desrve it, to the point where everyone knows at least that one riff from one of their other songs I'll get to sometime later. So a worthy addition. I need to find a way to post my entire iPod Road Trip playlist on here as well just to see if anyone else approves or my taste is just insane.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Hold On Loosely - .38 Special, from Wild Eyed Southern Boys

 

More classic rock, to one of my kinda sorta favorite songs that I never remember about unless I think about it. I can't explain why, but it is a pretty good example of southern rock, and it's pretty catchy. What more needs to be said?

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Oh, Canada - Five Iron Frenzy, from Our Newest Album Ever

 

All right, so I missed Canada Day by one day, so sue me. I'm still going to use this excuse to finally include a Five Iron Frenzy song here, because while they've gotten a decent amount of recognition amongst punk/ska fans, they still need and deserve more. I was so bummed out when they broke up in 2003, so I was so pleased and happy when they came back with their single sometime last year. Hoping they get that new album out soon, and hopefully they swing by down here on tour. Always loved how their songs can be either completely silly and goofy - like this one - or totally straight and meaningful.

 

Sometimes in the same song, even.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

I Fought the Law - The Clash, from Give'Em Enough Rope

 

Very much a cover, but this is still probably the version most people know. I've mentioned road trips already in this thread, but this song in particular is one that when played, always resulted in a really cheesy, corny, but fun sing along amongst myself and the others in the vehicle at the time. Yeah it's tacky and cliched to do so, but we did it anyway, and it was all in good fun. It's that catchy so what can I say.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Living in America - James Brown, from Rocky IV Soundtrack/Gravity

 

Yeah, it's obvious and cliched, but who cares. Perfect song for how I feel today, so woohoo - Happy Fourth of July fellow Americans. Everyone else, happy fourth day of the uneventful month of July!

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

The Impression That I Get - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, from Let's Face It

 

 

So, nice cheery song? Sure. Always liked the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and thought it was a shame they didn't get as big as they deserved, though they were certainly successful. While a lot of ska ended up getting on my nerves, I always liked them. Catchy song that will be in your head forever, but not in a bad way.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

There Is No Plan - Steve Jablonsky, from Transformers: Dark of the Moon: The Score

 

Whatever there is to be said about the live action Transformers film series, I always thought the score was a strong part. Detractors who basically bend over backwards trying to make any and every little thing in the movie that someone actually likes somehow a bad thing or "wrong" (because it somehow insults them to say that some small partof the movies isn't complete and utter trash) will say it's just cheap and intentionally plays up your sympathies and toys with your emotions....but, um, that's what all music does. Music in all of its forms is supposed to reach out and grab you in one way, shape or form. Just ebcause this movie you hate actually manages to do something technically correct doesn't mean you have to find a way to make it a bad thing or call it out on one of the very core basics of music in general.

 

ANYWAY, yes, Steve Jablonsky did a masterful job of scoring all three movies, and while it's not amazing or outstanding like John Williams or Howard Shore, it does exactly what it should do,a nd does it well - it's there when the scene calls for it to be there, but stays quiet and unintrusive when it's not supposed to overpower the scenes and dialogue, and gives clear, concise themes and leitmotifs to characters and ideas. This one I picked out because it took the Autobot theme, specifically the Arrival to Earth version from the first movie, which has up to this point been used exclusively for big, triumphant "Hero" scenes  and turns it into a somber, downtrodden and melancholy tune as the Autobots get kicked off Earth. This and the piece immediately following it in the movie really hammers home the depression and total hopelessness of the situation at hand which to be fair is wasted in the hands of this movie, but in and of itself it's well done.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Roots in Stereo - P.O.D. from Testify

 

 

As I said before, P.O.D. has always been one of my favorite bands. After Satellite, the guitar player, Marcos, left, and the band got into kind of a bind, because they didn't no what to do and had a deal to do the theme song to The Matrix Reloaded. By one form or another they managed to stumble onto Jason Truby and got that song complete, and liked him so much they made him an official member of the band and used him for the next album. It was a little odd at first since it seemed so different from their past albums, but it defintiely grew on me. Testify, on the other hand, had me hooked right from the get go. This is the first song on that disc and it got me right away, and I still think this is their strognest and most consistant album from beginning to end. While Marcos did eventually come back, I still kinda prefered Jason's style over his, and I kinda miss him now. All the same, awesome song, with Matisyahu as a guest vocalist. Good stuff.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Defiers of Fate - Masahashi Hamauzu, from Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack

 

I feel like I've said something similar way too often, but for whatever of FFXIII's many faults it has, the soundtrack is not one of them. Being completely different from the excellent fare from Uematsu or even Hitoshi Sakimoto's one game stint with XII (though he's notably done all the other Ivalice Alliance games) it's a big, grand score in scope with a lot of diviersity. The quality's high and it does a good job of establishing character themes and other leitmotifs that repeat at just the right time in terms of story and narrative. Personally speaking, I'm a big fan of the main battle theme, not just because it's a violin based theme which of course I appreciate. But overall it is a good score, and I do like the main non-vocal version of the main theme. Anyway, this song is notable for being able to, at least in the video in Theatrythym, make the game a whole lot more badass looking than it really is. Ah well.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

What I've Done (Linkin Park) - The Vitamin String Quartet, from String Quartet's Tribute to Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight

 

As I've said already, I am excessively biased towards anything with strings, so when I discovered the VSQ years ago I was instantly curious, especially when they covered a lot of the bands I liked at the time. While I may have been a bit overdone on them by this point, I still like'em and support them when they bring out a disc I like. Standard bits about Linkin Park here, but I like how they arranged the song to work for the quartet, and it works pretty well.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

 

Break - Three Days Grace, from Life Start Now

 

So. Three Days Grace. Not exactly a huge favorite of min, btu I dig this song and find it catchy. That's all, not much today.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Them and Us - Bad Religion, from The Gray Race

 

If you played Crazy Taxi in either the arcades or on the Dreamcast, you know this song, whether you think you do or not. Bad Religion was an interesting band to me growing up, since despite their name and their logo they're not anti-religion in general, and actually fele uncomfortable being called flat out atheists. Won't get too deep into that since, you know, not Contro and I think I've said before I keep myself light, tight, and bright on the internet, but as someone who grew up raised as a Christian (and still practicing to a certain extent) it was an oddly different, non-hostile take on what were supposed to be "the bad guys." Whatever, they're talented musicians and I like their stuff, and actually feel a little guilty liking their music not ebcause of the name and connotations, but ebcause, frankly, I had nothing to rebel or be angry about growing up. Even with the crap life threw at me in recent times I still don't feel particularly angry or have the whole "FIGHT THE POWAH!" (Rao rao not included) in me at all. Eh, who knows, do you need an excuse to like a band?

Edited by DarkJuno, 11 July 2013 - 07:15 PM.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Train - 3 Doors Down, from 3 Doors Down

 

I always liked 3 Doors Down, right down to the goofy commerical they did where the bouncer confuses some fans with wordplay. Some of their stuff can get a little too whiny and drawn out, but they can rock too when they need to. They aren't necessarily spectacular, but they're solid enough and I can take that.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Rapture Riders - Blondie vs. The Doors, mash-up by GHP, from Greatest Hits - Sight + Sound

 

Some people think this is overdone and a ruination of both classic tracks, others think it's the best thing ever. I think it's all right. It's catchy and the two songs mix together pretty well, so well that both (the remnants of) The Doors and Blondioe approved of it and liked it so much it was properly remixed with the masters of both songs and put on the latter's Greatest Hits album. THe loss of the guitar solo is saddening, but eh, whatever, it's cool.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Go Go Power Rangers (Ron Wasserman) - Masaaki Endoh, from Enson

 

So, what happens when you take an early 90's kids show song, give it to a guy who does a lot of hot blooded shounen anime theme songs, and tell him to just go for it? You get this. I don't know if it's good or bad, but I kinda like it in an endearing sort of way. He and the rest of JAM Project are known for this sort of thing - try looking for their very....energetic version of the Lucky Star theme, for one. Still, it's a funny little gem - a Japanese cover of an American theme song of a show that's based on a Japanese show.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

[media][/medida]

 

The Dream Oath ~ Maria and Draku - Nobuo Uematsu, from Orchestral Game Concert IV

 

Bah, so I finally missed a day after 86 in a row due to being sick, which sucks. But oh well, at least it was a good reasona nd not a silly one, so I'm making up for it with a super long song instead. Most gamers here know about the Opera Sequence in Final Fantasy VI, but not a lot know that they performed the whole thing once ebfore and recorded it to an album for posterity. While there are better versions of the Aria Mezzo de Carattere itself in Italian, and there are English versions of the opera from the Distant Worlds concerts, this is the entire thing, from the Aria to the Waltz, and it even includes the Ultros battle from the game, and it's all awesome. So if you've never heard it, enjoy.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Nerevar Rising - Jeremy Soule, from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Special Edition Soundtrack

 

aka The Elder Scrolls Main Theme since III. Everyone and their mama keeps talking about how sweet and aweseom Dragonborn from Skyrim is, and yes it is pretty nice, but everyone also seems to keep forgetting how the theme started off - hell, a lot of people assume it's just a rearrangement of the Oblivion theme, rather the thruth of how both are arrangements of this song. As sweet as the Nordic chanting is, I'll always have a soft spot for the original version of the theme used for the Nerevarine. Granted, it was my first Elder Scrolls game so of course that play into it, but I like just how soft and quiet the song starts off, being nice but also kind of melancholy, before cranking it up but keep restrained into the big sweeping version of the theme that would be used well for the next couple of games. The Nords (And Imperials really) have this game to thank for Soule's original composition, not to mention his talent in taking the same tune and giving off vastly different emotions and attitudes with them.

[DarkJuno]

Spoiler

 

Mind Your Manners - Pearl Jam, from Lightning Bolt

 

So, new Pearl Jam. While I didn't hate that last album, I'm digging this song so far. At a time when there are way too many soft, groovy songs on the alternative rocks tation, I'm happy to hear a "real" rock song again - not that I have anything against stuff like Sweater Weather, but yeah, I have my obvious bias.