NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Back in 2010, we learned that yes, a pickle can get more likes than  Nickelback , a band that had become the most hated  "butt rock"  band in the mid-'00s. In fact, the conclusions of the social media study found that a pickle had more likes than Oprah Winfrey or other beloved figures. It turns out that internet users' hate outweighs Internet love, or the terrible outweighs the good. In 2014, the most hated rock band would become  U2  after their release of  Songs of Innocence   was forced into every  iTunes user's library. People tried everything to scrub the songs from their shuffle. Today, people have mostly forgotten about Nickelback, and Apple Music no longer comes standard with that U2 album, so people have other musical axes to grind. Justin Bieber has grown up and is no longer blaring in our cultural continuousness. So who is the most hated band these days? After the 2019 Super Bowl,   Maroon 5 , for taking to the stage when the NFL was in the middle of ra

  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

Three years ago, I taught a lesson on Irish music to my students. I played examples of Celtic instrumental music. I showed videos of  River Dance . I played sad songs like " The Parting Glass " and " Danny Boy ." Then I played some famous Irish artists like  Enya ,   U2 , and  T he Cranberries . Then I played   Kodaline 's " High Hopes ." When I asked my students which they liked the best, they said Kodaline. But that was  kind of a stupid question for a music lover. There are times when I want to listen to Celtic bagpipes and jigs. There are times I want to go out and have fun in an Irish pub and hear Celtic punk rock. There are times I want to listen to U2, and it's certainly not the same day I want to listen to Enya, but those days happen too. But like my students, I think Kodaline's first album fits more into my everyday listening habits. BROKEN BOTTLES IN THE HOTEL LOBBY.  While  In A Perfect World   is a great everyday listen, you have to

I've broken several traditions I've established with my blog. Many of my songs don't feel like they fit in with a particular season. This year, I didn't post U2 's " New Year's Day " on January 1.  But one tradition that lives on this year is celebrating Cities Day. On February 20, 2007, Anberlin released what many fans claim as their masterpiece, their third album Cities. Today, brush your forelocks aside, and let's explore the album track-by-track!  1. ( Début ). For about a minute and a half, Anberlin introduces us to a dark world in an instrumental composed of city sound effects and noisy guitars. The song reminds me of  Jerry Martin 's  Sim City 4   soundtrack. (Début) leads into " Godspeed ." 2. " Godspeed " is a pretty jarring song to follow any track, but following yesterday's sleepy song is especially going to give my listeners a slap in the face. "Godspeed" is a cautionary tale about the rock star li

  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

Formed in 1994 first as Shrug and then as Polarbear but finally changing their name to  Snow Patrol  due to other bands by their former names, the Northern Irish band became very popular in the early '00s. Their first single " Run " was a hit in the UK. But in America, the band would become famous because of their song " Chasing Cars " when it was included in the  season 2 finale of  Grey's Anatomy .  " Chasing Cars" is the song most people know by Snow Patrol, and most wouldn't be able to associate the name with their hit song. The band continues to produce music, most recently releasing 2018's  Wildness .    TRAIN THIS CHAOS, TURN IT INTO LIGHT . If you've had time to get into Taylor's Version of  Red ,  you may have noticed a feature by Snow Patrol's  Gary Lightbody . Once the Indie Rock band became recognized, the band members started working on pop music, and Lightbody writing for  Taylor Swift  and  Ed Sheeran . The Snow P

The ‘90s in rock music started quietly. Hair metal was still around, but vibey New Wave tracks had gained traction in the late ‘80s. It was an eclectic time without a clear direction for a musical style. Of course that all changed in the fall of 1991 when  Nirvana  burst onto the scene and Alternative and mainstream rock listeners determined that grunge would be the collective musical trend. Just as disco didn't die in 1979, the New Romantics sound of the late ‘80s carried over into the early ‘90s. In fact, in the early ‘90s,  New Order ,  The Smiths ’  Morrisey , and  Depeche Mode  enjoyed their peak success. For Depeche Mode, that success came from a dark pop song, which crossed the Alternative Rock band over to the pop charts with the single from their seventh album  Violator , “ Enjoy the Silence .” ALL I EVER WANTED, ALL I EVER NEEDED IS HERE IN MY ARMS.  Produced by the now legendary Mark Ellis, better known as  Flood ,  Violator  was years of dark electronica in the making.