NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  Listening to  Paper Route  makes me wonder, what if  Coldplay , after recording  X & Y   had continued making electronic music and honed in on their lyrics.  Paper Route has a solid pop-rock band, on par with any of their contemporaries (i.e.  OneRepublic , Coldplay), but their somewhat eccentric fidelity to their craft, recording their albums themselves in old Tennessee mansions to let the natural acoustics reverberate on the record, had cemented them as an indie rock band. " Balconies " was kind of Paper Route's first and last hit. The band's music had been featured in movies and television shows, but "Balconies" got them a late-night performance slot on  Seth Meyers . As one of the most obvious hits from their third album,  Real Emotion ,  the song was released to radio but didn't do too well on the charts. After touring to support the album, the band went on "an indefinite hiatus." However, as the band has had long gaps between albums

  In 2018, I met a young man who claimed to like “Indie music. You know, like Coldplay and Imagine Dragons ?” I hope I didn’t roll my eyes in the middle of the conversation because it was extremely hard to bite my tongue when he had just named two of the biggest bands in the world. The kid in his early twenties talking to me in my early thirties at the time did, however, remember a time when calling Coldplay indie was more accurate. My first exposure to Coldplay came in 2001 when they released their third single “ Trouble ” in America. Specifically, I remember watching the music video with my dad on MTV or MTV2. While “ Yellow ” may be the more remembered single from Coldplay’s early days, I only have recollection of hearing the song a while after hearing “Trouble.” THEY SPUN A WEB FOR ME. Coldplay formed in 1997 when the members attended University College London . After releasing two EPs and signing to Parlophone Records , the band released their debut album Parachutes in 2000 an

In 1946 George Orwell wrote in an essay titled " Politics and the English Language ": "In our age, there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics.' All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred, and schizophrenia.” In my lifetime,  there seemed to be a time when we could be ambivalent toward the democratic process. We could sit in our homes on election day in good faith that the majority want the right thing or even stew in our own cynicism that the two candidates were different faces to the same policy. But look at how choice has been effaced.  A BEAUTIFUL WAITRESS WHO JUST COULDN'T MAKE IT.  The third record by Irish pop-rock band  Kodaline  titled  Politics of Living  isn't an overt political statement, but more of a casual jab at 2018 zeitgeist. Cynical reviewers panned the record as Kodaline's attempt to enter the U.S. market. The album's production and song structures do suffer a bit from

  When I was a teenager, a guest speaker came to my church to teach the congregants about Satanism in Rock music. The Rolling Stones , The Beatles , Ozzy Osbourne , AC/DC --the greatest hits of the master of darkness and the half-truths of his servants. “What about Christian Rock ?” asked a smug congregant, who already knew the answer. “It’s all the same,” the shiny-headed guest speaker retorted. He didn’t give a specific example to back up his claim but then went into an asinine theory about syncopation causing hypnosis, which if true, we couldn’t shop in a grocery store without being overpowered by demonic forces. I have to admit that I spent way too much time laughing over conspiracy-riddled websites attacking CCM and Christian Rock artists, finding loose connections to the Satanic world.  I HAVE RUN THROUGH THE FIELDS ONLY TO BE WITH YOU.  By the 1980s, Rock music was about 30 years old and had earned a reputation as “The devil’s music.” Growing out of blues and jazz, especially in

  OneRepublic had finished recording their second album, Waking Up , but had two more days with the studio. But the band’s bassist/cellist Brent Kutzle told lead singer Ryan Tedder that he wanted to stay in the studio to flesh out an idea he had. That night, Kutzle wrote the band’s biggest hit from the album, “ Good Life .” Waking Up’ s singles paled in the shadow of OneRepublic’s first hit “ Apologize ,” which reached number 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 . “Good Life,” the album’s third U.S. single, reached number 8 on the Hot 100. The album’s first two singles, “ All the Right Moves ” and “ Secrets ” failed to reach the top 10.  Besides radio play, “Good Life” was played in many television shows and commercials. This upbeat song has optimistic, sincere lyrics, making it refreshing among often negative or trite optimism in pop music. SOMETIMES THERE’S BULLSHIT THAT DON’T WORK NOW. I remember a time in the early ‘00s when so many bands and artists on the radio were Christian or Christia

Nineteen years ago, Hoobastank killed rock music when they released their only ballad, " The Reason ." The song rose to number 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 and is the only song remembered by the band, despite the group having several Alternative radio hits. The band formed in 1994 and played local gigs with Incubus and Linkin Park before those bands were popular. Like Incubus and Linkin Park, Hoobastank were known for an eclectic hard rock sound--something listeners of their 2004 hit probably wouldn't get if all they knew was their biggest song. And no, it wasn't the band that ruined rock music, but it was certainly an indicator of the changing of times when music A&R pressured rock bands to follow the Hoobastank model. IT'S SOMETHING I MUST LIVE WITH EVERY DAY. Howard Benson produced Hoobastank's sophomore record, The Reason . We've talked about Benson as a rock producer of bands like P.O.D. , Mae , and The Starting Line . While Hoobastank's

There's not a lot better than looking up to the sky on a clear summer night. So I've created a playlist for such an occasion. Like all of my playlists, I'm going for the feeling of space rather than accuracy. In other words, these songs make me think about the unknown surrounding our planet, but they may not mean the same to you. Songs are meditations on aspects of life, not scientific treaties. So if you get a moment, get outside on a clear night. 

In 1986, The United States was in the middle of a decades-long Cold War with the Soviet Union. While the war never heated up, there were some close battles that made the average American squeamish about the possibility of nuclear war, and some went so far as to build their own bomb shelters to help them survive nuclear fall out. But having been born in 1987, I don’t have much memory of Soviet-era rumors of war, and even post-9/11, American views on the U.S. military’s involvement with pretty much anything has been controversial. A film like Top Gun in 1986 was filled with truth, justice, the American way. TIME IS RUNNING OUT SO SPEND IT LIKE IT’S GOLD. Last summer, in the midst of a heatwave of ‘80s nostalgia, Top Gun: Maverick hit the theaters. The film was a smash hit and featured Tom Cruise reprising his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. The film was the second-highest grossing film of 2022 and the highest grossing film of Cruise’s career. The film also featured several actors fr