NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

The War on Drugs released A Deeper Understanding on August 25, 2017. It was the band’s first major-label record as they had signed to Atlantic Records after releasing their previous music on the indie label Secretly Canadian . The album received critical acclaim from many publications, giving it a score on Meta Critic of 81%. The band doesn’t push for mainstream or crossover appeal, keeping their songs long, ranging from 3:59 on “ Knocked Down ” to the longest track “ Thinking of a Place ” at 11:10. Most of the songs are 5:30-7:20. Unlike the jam and progressive rock bands that listeners think of as commercially unviable, The War on Drugs’ sound is unpretentious by sticking to minimalism rather than ornate chords. Instead, the band builds an atmosphere often between two chords. IF I HOLD ON, SHOTS MAY RING. What’s a greater irony than a stoner rock band named The War on Drugs after Nixon’s extremely uncool, failed, documentedly racist program? The band’s latest album, I Don’t Live

When I'm sick, I like to delve back into childhood favorites. Although I didn't listen to Wish You Were Here very much when I was in middle or high school-- Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall were my go to Pink Floyd albums--the song " Wish You Were Here " was a staple for warming up on guitar. In Pink Floyd's extensive discography, 1975's  Wish You Were Here  rests in the band's golden age. The band's previous album 1973's Dark Side of the Moon was an unprecedented success, taking an obscure psychedelic rock band to a household name. In some ways, Wish You Were Here deals with the aftermath of that fame in tracks like " Welcome to the Machine " and " Have a Cigar ."    DID THEY GET YOU TRADE YOUR HEROES FOR GHOSTS?  But it's story of the little guy, the " Crazy Diamond ," that the music industry failed, that is at the center of Pink Floyd's second concept album. Wish You Were Here marked Pink Floyd's t

Formed in 1992 as the house band for a series of UK youth outreach events called  The Cutting Edge ,  delirious?  became a full-time band after singer  Martin Smith  was hospitalized for several weeks after a car accident in 1995. Smith read Bill Flanagan's book  U2: At the End of the World ,  inspiring him to make the band a full-time career. The band released their second full-length studio album,  King of Fools ,  and their first under the moniker Delirious. The song " Deeper " hit the  UK pop charts , unexpectedly, peaking at number 20. The band would sign to  Sparrow Records  for their U.S. distribution, spanning several CCM and Christian Rock hits and helping to create the next generation of worship music. Delirious's music is usually worship, but they are a jam band at their core, particularly evidenced by their two follow-up records to  King of Fools,  Mezzamorphis   and  Glo .  The band writes anthems that sound like  U2 , but include electronic experimentati

  I'm pretty musically stubborn. Whenever somebody says that they found the next big band, I'm pretty shy to come around to that act. In the case of The 1975 , I'm ten years late from when their self-titled debut and the hit song " Chocolate " hit the lower reaches of the Hot 100 and the middle reaches of the Alternative charts --in America. In the band's home of the UK and in Europe, they fared even better as the concept of a band still sells records. I DON'T WANT YOUR BODY. I first heard the song " Chocolate " on Punk Goes Pop Vol. 6 performed by Knuckle Puck. I didn't know that the song was a hit by The 1975; I liked it but never looked it up out of laziness. Then in my podcast listening and research for my blog, I started hearing how much Aaron Gillespie loved The 1975. This recommendation didn't actually turn me on to them. I assumed that the band was another art rock band like The War on Drugs , which I got into somewhat relucta

In the summer of '99, I was 12 years old. I spent the first half of the summer with my dad, a truck driver, as he crossed the U.S. delivering camper chassis and steel. A lot of kids would get bored looking at the Interstate for hours, but I always loved the journey. I loved maps and geography, and I was getting a firsthand experience of seeing what America looked like. Of course there were some boring parts. But what was best about the miles of cornfields was that the radio stations lasted quite a while-- a lot longer than they lasted in the foothills of North Carolina. With my dad, I got to experience new (old) music that my mom didn't approve of at the time. On the road I first listened to  Led Zeppelin ,  Pink Floyd 's  Dark Side of the Moon ,  Steve Miller Band ,  George Thorogood & the Destroyers ,  America , and so many others I could fill a whole blog post listing. We also listened to new music-- Red Hot Chili Peppers ,  Goo Goo Dolls , and  Sugar Ray .  IMPAIRED

A fan of the funk/disco band  Chic , producer  Bob Ezrin  convinced  Pink Floyd  to include a disco beat backing what would become their only number 1 hit in their career. Ezrin also convinced the band to release the song as a radio single, something the band had been against on previous albums as they wanted their songs to be understood in the context of their greater work. The band had been a psychedelic pop act in the '60s and had done radio, but they felt their artistic concepts were too big for the casual listeners. Classic Rock radio remembers a Floyd that never was, playing tracks from  Dark Side of the Moon   until  The Wall ,  but perhaps without the commercial success of " Another Brick in the Wall ," radio would have forgotten the band.   TEACHERS LEAVE THEM KIDS ALONE.  Recorded with school children singing "We don't need no education" and despised by British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, "Another Brick" is the ultimate protest song

New Order  formed in 1980 after the three remaining members of the post-punk band  Joy Division  lost their lead singer  Ian Curtis  to suicide. Success wasn't instant for New Order with the start of the new band. New Order's sound was distinct from Joy Division's with the inclusion of keyboardist  Gillian Gilbert  and a growing penchant for synthesizers and electronic dance music. The band's breakthrough success came prior to the release of their second record,  Power, Lies & Corruption   with the release of their long-play (12") single " Blue Monday ," which took dance clubs around the world by storm, and even helped to fund the band's own dance club in Manchester called The Haçienda, a dance club named after the word for a Spanish plantation.   I SEE A SHIP IN THE HARBOUR.  New Order spent time in the clubs in New York listening to the latest disco prior to recording their sophomore album  Power, Lies & Corruption.  According to lead singer

In the summer of '99, I was 12 years old. I spent the first half of the summer with my dad, a truck driver, as he crossed the U.S. delivering camper chassis and steel. A lot of kids would get bored looking at the Interstate for hours, but I always loved the journey. I loved maps and geography, and I was getting a firsthand experience of seeing what America looked like. Of course there were some boring parts. But what was best about the miles of cornfields was that the radio stations lasted quite a while-- a lot longer than they lasted in the foothills of North Carolina. With my dad, I got to experience new (old) music that my mom didn't approve of at the time. On the road I first listened to  Led Zeppelin ,  Pink Floyd 's  Dark Side of the Moon ,  Steve Miller Band , George Thorogood & the Destroyers , America , and so many others I could fill a whole blog post listing. We also listened to new music-- Red Hot Chili Peppers , Goo Goo Dolls , and Sugar Ray .  IMPAIRED BY

New Order formed in 1980 after the three remaining members of the post-punk band Joy Division lost their lead singer Ian Curtis to suicide. Success wasn't instant for New Order with the start of the new band. New Order's sound was distinct from Joy Division's with the inclusion of keyboardist Gillian Gilbert and a growing penchant for synthesizers and electronic dance music. The band's breakthrough success came prior to the release of their second record, Power, Lies & Corruption with the release of their long-play (12") single " Blue Monday ," which took dance clubs around the world by storm, and even helped to fund the band's own dance club in Manchester called The Haçienda, a dance club named after the word for a Spanish plantation.   I SEE A SHIP IN THE HARBOUR. New Order spent time in the clubs in New York listening to the latest disco prior to recording their Power, Lies & Corruption. According to lead singer Bernard Sumner , the mu

At this point, you probably know a little about the story of how a song from 1985 became a number 1 hit in 2022 thanks to being featured in a key scene in the Netflix series Stranger Things . When one of the biggest shows on Netflix returned in May after nearly a three-year hiatus, a key scene featured the opening track to Kate Bush 's fifth record Hounds of Love , " Running Up That Hill" (A Deal with God) . The song never topped the charts during its original promotion, peaking at number 3 in the UK in 1985, and was even banned in some European countries for mentioning God in the song. Today, you'll hear countless covers of the song and hear it in TikTok and Instagram videos constantly. UNAWARE I'M TEARING YOU ASUNDER. Kate Bush is a name I should have been more aware of given how influential the singer-songwriter is on modern electronic dance music and modern pop. I think I first came across her name as influence when reading the music section of Attitude se

When Red 's producer Rob Graves posted on Twitter a picture of a note on Red's guitars tuned to "A#, A, and G," some fans thought that the band's third album would be even heavier. In February of 2011, Red released Until We Have Faces , taking its name from the 1956 C.S. Lewis novel . The band delivered a more cohesive, harder rock sound than previous efforts with songs like  " Faceless ," the album's opener " Feed the Machine ," and " Lie to Me " (Denial). Today's song is a song about disappointment in someone's honesty. I recommend this song, not because I had someone hurt my feels because of a lie, but rather I'm hearing so many lies these days, it's hard to distinguish the truth. WILL YOUR HOPE DIE ALONE?    Okay, that's a little dramatic. Let me explain. I'm in the process of shopping for a new apartment, and it's very difficult to find an honest salesman. The whole thing has me more disheartened