The 11 Best Songs By Jeff The Brotherhood

Back in the days of Dazed and Confused when teenagers hid in their parents' wood-paneled basements with green shag carpets, smoking pot and staring at lava lamps...they imagined bands making music that stretched their minds whether they were actually listening to music or still just staring at the lava lamps because side one of their record ended and no one was sober enough to get up and move the needle.  JTB is a band that was born 30 years too late.   For Record Store Day they put out an album that split a 20-minute jam over two sides.  They didn't have to do that.  They could have put the whole song on one side.  They didn't choose not to do it because it didn't make sense...they didn't it because it was the perception that they didn't give a shit.  You may think that JTB doesn't give a shit.  Sometimes music shouldn't give a shit.  When you give a shit...you get hair gel.  When you don't give a shit you get naked babies in swimming pools.  But moves like this aren't careless...they're calculated.  Image is everything.  If you want to look like you don't give a shit...you have to work hard at not giving a shit.  That's why they split up their song.  Because every person who bought the vinyl sat back and thought to themselves how bold it was for them to do it.  Despite it seeming like they're playing the game (and they kind of are) this is how great leaps and bounds are made.  By making conscious efforts to portray their image in the way people want to perceive them...you keep your audience's attention...you keep them sitting up and wanting more. 


Here are the 11 Best Songs By Jeff The Brotherhood:

1. Shredder (We Are The Champions)
2. Cool Out (We Are The Champions)
3. Bone Jam (Heavy Days)
4. Heavy Days (Heavy Days)
5. Stay Up Late (We Are The Champions)
6. I'm a Freak (Upstairs at United)
7. U Got The Look (Heavy Days)
8. Mellow Out (We Are The Champions)
9. Wastoid Girl (We Are The Champions)
10. Extra Good (Castle Storm)
11. In Space No One Can Hear You Sceam Parts 1 & 2 (Upstairs at United)

Buy Jeff The Brotherhood's new album, Hypnotic Nights...now!!

Free Music Fourth of July Weekend: The 11 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2012 so far

Rap and Hip-Hop still struggle to be taken seriously.  It sounds like a crazy statement like I'm completely out of touch with the pulse of the culture.  But it's true.  Rock has grown up and is finally being universally accepted as a relevant art form.  Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney and Bono are as respected and appreciated as much as stodgy elder statesmen and unlearned politicians.  Hip-Hop still has a way to go.  Jay-Z may own all the money in world...and may even have the ear of the President... but by most people he's still not revered as anything more than a rap mogul.  Rap may dominate the dance charts, the sales charts, and line the MP3 playlists of every teenager in America...but there's a giant part of country...who still thinks it's nothing more than a passing fad. They're wrong...but they're the ones who are still in charge.  It will change.  Eazy-E may have hung out with President Bush Sr. (but that was the exception...not the rule)  Rap will take over...and it will be them who are thumbing their noses at electronica music. Just you wait.  Until then...

Here are the 11 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2012...so far:

1. Schoolboy Q - Habits and Contradictions
2. Joey Bada$$ - 1999
3. El-P - Cancer 4 Cure
4. Killer Mike - R.A.P.
5. Chiddy Bang - Breakfast
6. Big K.R.I.T. - Live From The Underground/4Eva N A Day
7. Meek Mill - Dreamchasers 2
8. Plug 1 & Plug 2 - First Serve
9. Wiz Khalifa - Taylor Allderdice
10. Oh No - Ohnomite
11. Nicki Minaj - Roman Reloaded

It's 4th of July weekend...so enjoy the free mixtapes...all legally free.

Have a free mixtape that should be noticed??  Add it and let us all know.

The 11 Best Songs By The Crocodiles

This week I got an email from Linkin Park about an amazing new release that they had.  I was thinking maybe they were pushing out another music release to go with their new album...maybe a live EP/DVD/Remix/Mash-up/Cover/Duet.  Nope...not even close.  Linkin Park is releasing their very own Dell-themed computer.  True story.  Just a couple of weeks ago, I praised Linkin Park for not being sell-outs...then I get this email.  I don't even know what to think...

Here's the thing, are these guys sell-outs?  Is having your own computer stepping over the "gimme more money" line?  I mean...the Beatles had clothes, games, lunch boxes, toys, kitchenware, hairbrushes, even video games.  Kiss takes it to a whole other level...they sell Kiss-themed coffins.  If a coffin isn't selling out...then a computer is far down on the list.

I guess I can't blame any band for just being business-savvy.  At the same time, it nice to hear bands as they still struggle their way to the top.

Here are the 11 Best Songs by The Crocodiles:

1. I Wanna Kill (Summer of Hate)
2. Mirrors (Sleep Forever)
3. Soft Skull (In My Room) (Summer of Hate)
4. Hearts of Love (Sleep Forever)
5. California Girls/Groove is in the Heart (Sleep Forever)
6. Neon Jesus (Neon Jesus)
7. Sleep Forever (Sleep Forever)
8. Refuse Angels (Summer of Hate)
9. All My Hate and Hexes Are For You (Sleep Forever)
10. Jet Boy, Jet Girl (Hearts of Love single)
11. Flash of Light (Summer of Hate)

Buy The Crocodiles new album, Endless Flowers now!!

The 11 Best Albums of 2012...so far

As you probably know from my rantings this year, finding great music has been in short supply.  I feel like I want to like more music than I actually do.  I follow the new releases pretty religiously...to the point that Tuesday is as sacred in my house as Sunday is in most of middle America.  I'm always looking for the next Bon Iver, the XX, or Arcade Fire.  But with the mediocre batch of releases this year...I'll settle for the next Motion City Soundtrack at this point.  (Okay, maybe not that)

This batch of releases is actually fairly solid...just nothing mind blowing...not yet.  Great music does have to grow on you.  And maybe some of the highly-touted releases (The Men, Torche, Kelly Hogan, Sharon Van Eten, Liars, Father John Misty, Ceremony, Daughn Gibson, Pallbearer, Dexys, Screaming Females, or The Walkmen) will grow on me.  Until then...this is what we have to work with.

Here are the 11 Best Albums of 2012...so far:

1. The Big Pink - Future This
2. Jack White - Blunderbuss
3. Schoolboy Q - Habits & Contradictions
4. Silversun Pickups - Neck of the Woods
5. Lana Del Rey - Born To Die
6. The Cribs - In The Belly of the Brazen Bull
7. The Shins - Port of Morrow
8. Japandroids - Celebration Rock (only $2.99...limited time!!)
9. Joey Bada$$ - 1999  (this one is free!!)
10. Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls
11. Jay Farrar - New Multitudes

What are your favorites this year?  

The 11 Best Songs By The Offspring

I have a theory that musical trends always come in twos.  Grunge had Pearl Jam and Nirvana.  Heavy metal had Guns N Roses and Metallica.  Glam metal had Def Leppard and Bon Jovi.  Nu Metal had Limp Bizkit and Korn.  Boy Bands had Backstreet Boys and *Nsynce.  Girl pop had Britney and Christina.  The duo trend goes on and on...Tupac and Biggie, The Beatles and the Stones, Michael Jackson and Prince, Boston and Journey, The Beastie Boys and Run DMC, Skrillex and Deadmau5, U2 and R.E.M., Depeche Mode and the Cure, Katy Pery and Lady Gaga, the White Stripes and the Black Keys.  Sure there are a lot of other grand bands that fill out the rest of a musical trend...but it always comes down to two who lead the pack...and it always split the fans.

In 1994, it was Green Day and The Offspring, when these two bands broke out into the mainstream with their albums Dookie and Smash.  It was a pop punk revolution that quickly silenced the grunge.  Loyalties split...you either liked Green Day or The Offspring.  You couldn't like both or people would think you had no taste in music.  Green Day was seen as the Berkeley stoner punks who had one shtick in their arsenal...and that was to sound as much like the Clash and the Ramones as possible (note: another duo).  The Offspring were a bunch of white Orange County slackers who sang songs about the perks of being ghetto trash (ironically, the lead singer was a PHD candidate in molecular biology at USC).  Picking between these two bands said a lot about who you were personally.  Were you an earthy pothead or a surf dude looking for a fight?

Neither band was really given too much respect.  Though they exploded on the mainstream...both bands were viewed as being moderately talented and lacked range to sustain a real career.  Both bands have now been making music for twenty years consistently.  And to be even more impressive...both bands are as equally trendy and popular among fans as they were when they came out.  To survive twenty years in the music industry and still be trendy is an incredibly hard feat.  Most of the bands in the rock n roll hall of fame couldn't even do that.  As cheesy and ridiculous as some of the Offspring's songs are...maybe it's time we start giving them a little respect.

Here are the 11 Best songs By The Offspring:

1. The Kids Aren't Alright (Americana)
2. Self-Esteem (Smash)
3. Gone Away (Ixnay on the Hombre)
4. Forever And A Day (Ignition)
5. All I Want (Ixnay on the Hombre)
6. Bad Habit (Smash)
7. Vultures (Conspiracy of One)
8. Totalimmortal (Me, Myself, and Irene)
9. A Lot Like Me (Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace)
10. Smash It Up (Batman Forever)
11. Session (Ignition)

Buy the Offspring's new album, Days Go By...now!!!

The 11 Best Linkin Park Songs

On December 5th, 1994 I spent the evening standing out front of the Tower Records in Westwood, CA, waiting for the midnight release of Pearl Jam's Vitalogy.  The line stretched down the block, packed with kids who could have just as easily showed up the next morning to buy the exact same album.  It wasn't like we were waiting to buy concert tickets that might sell out...this album was going to be available everywhere.  Even Walmart had it.  But standing in line in the freezing temperatures (for LA that means like 50) was a rite of passage.  You earned the privilege to be one of the first to hear the album.  I stood in line with my friend Mike, shivering with anticipation...and we did nothing but talk shit about my friend Barry who didn't come with us because his girlfriend wouldn't let him.  He asked us to buy him a copy.  We told him to fuck off.  We earned it...he could go to Walmart.


The anticipation made the album more exciting.  It made it more worthwhile to go home at one in the morning and listen to the album on repeat, dissecting what the hell the band was thinking with "Hey Foxymophandlemama."  And we loved ever minute.  That excitement/anticipation is all but gone from buying music today.  Now, you can jump on your computer at 9:00 PM pacific time on any Monday...and get all the new releases with one click.  There's no build-up...you don't have to earn anything...and honestly, I feel like it waters down the material.  When you had to work to get your music, it made you appreciate it more. Now...when it's handed to you...you take it for granted.


So, what does this have to do with Linkin Park?  I'm sure most of you are cringing that I would even dare include them in a post mentioning Pearl Jam.  But this is an argument in defense of this very schizophrenic band, who might be the only ones who still get it.  Though they made a name for themselves as a metal/rap band, they've fought to break out of that mold.  And they've lost a lot of fans along the way.  Even I was a hater of their third album where they embraced their inner Backstreet boy.  But the fourth album, which pissed most fans off, won me back.  Their fourth album (A Thousand Suns) was a prog album, and it was freaking great.  For a band who had made a career crushing alternative radio with catchy singles...it took a lot of balls to release an album that had almost no potential singles, that left even the Mars Volta scratching their heads in disbelief.  This was the kind album Porcupine Tree should be putting out...not Linkin Park.  How in the world could this band snub commercial radio... the very thing that had made them who they are?  It's strangely similar to another band in the 90s who gave the middle finger to MTV and stopped making videos at the height of their popularity? hmmm...


Isn't this what bands are supposed to do?  Aren't they supposed to evolve...morph...re-invent themselves?  Aren't they supposed to question the establishment?  Are they supposed to challenge what is expected of them?  Aren't they supposed to piss off fans in the hunt for something completely different?  And doesn't that make it more exciting?  Doesn't the anticipation of what crazy thing they'll do next make you a bit more interested?  I know I'll never convince everyone that Linkin Park deserves a second chance...but maybe I can convince you that they are not the sell-outs that you may have thought they are.


Here are the 11 Best Songs By Linkin Park:

1. Numb/Encore (Collision Course)
2. In The End (Hybrid Theory)
3. Pushing Me Away (Hybrid Theory)
4. Faint (Meteroa)
5. Bleed It Out (Minutes To Midnight)
6. Crawling (Hybrid Theory) - w/ Chris Cornell
7. Robot Boy (A Thousand Suns)
8. Hands Held High  (Minutes To Midnight)
9. When They Come For Me (A Thousand Suns)
10. Runaway (Hybrid Theory)
11. The Catalyst (A Thousand Suns)

Buy Linkin Park's new album, Living Things...now!!! (only $4.99)

The 11 Best Non-Pumpkins Billy Corgan Songs

The new Smashing Pumpkins album has been met with some trepidation.  Billy Corgan is now the sole remaining original member of the group.  Many critics have questioned whether one original member is enough to constitute the privilege of continuing to use the name.  Billy's response is a resounding..."fuck you."  Though that may seem like Billy is the one being the gigantic dick...are the critics really being fair?  When it comes to the amount of original members of a band...the critics seem as consistent as teenage girl's emotional stability. Guns N Roses (Axl Rose) are habitually abused...while no one questions that Mick Fleetwood (the freaking drummer) is the only original member of Fleetwood Mac.   Robert Smith gets a pass for being the only original member of the Cure as does Dave Murray and Iron Maiden.

I honestly don't think it should matter as long as the integrity of the band remains in tact.  Good music is good music...and the name of the artist is pretty irrelevant.  It's not like we're talking about Napalm Death or the Misfits who have no original members.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Billy Corgan (non-Pumpkins songs):

1. Declarations of Faith (Zwan - Mary Star of the Sea)
2. Lyric (Zwan - Mary Star of the Sea)
3. Honestly (Zwan - Mary Star of the Sea)
4. DIA (Billy Corgan - The FutureEmbrace)
5. Come With Me (Zwan - Mary Star of the Sea)
6. Mina Loy (Billy Corgan - The FutureEmbrace)
7. Settle Down (Zwan - Mary Star of the Sea)
8. Walking Shade (Billy Corgan = The FutureEmbrace)
9. Love Is a Battlefield (Djali Zwan - Spun Soundtrack)
10. The CameraEye (Billy Corgan - The FutureEmbrace)
11. El Sol (Zwan - Mary Star of the Sea)

Buy Smashing Pumpkins new album...Oceania..now!

The 11 Best Songs By Fiona Apple

For many of you who don't know...I've two sites.  It's the same blog post but just posted on two different sites.  The other one is (www.goodbadunknown.com).  I haven't jumped over to it because of the exhaustive amount of spam comments I get.  How many you ask?  About a million in the past six months.  Yes, one million.  So I only use it as a back up now because of these douche bag russian idiots trying to sell viagra to music bloggers.   Seriously dudes...know your audience.  No wonder you lost the cold war.

Recently I got a personal email from one of the spammers asking that their link be removed from my site because it no longer corresponded with their advertising agenda.  Really?  You put up your link on my site without my permission...basically hijacking my page for your marketing agenda...and now you want my help taking it down because you're afraid of associating your shitty project with my fanbase?  I don't know who is crazier...you or Fiona.

That's not nice...I used to be neighbors with Fiona.  She's a cool chick...just wish she put out albums more than once every five years.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Fiona Apple:

1. The Way Things Are (When The Pawn Hits...)
2. Criminal (Tidal)
3. Fast As You Can (When The Pawn Hits...)
4. Limp (When The Pawn Hits...)
5. Used To Love Him (Extraordinary Machine Bootleg Version)
6. Shadowboxer (Tidal)
7. Get Him Back (Extraordinary Machine Official Version)
8. Paper Bag  (When The Pawn Hits...)
9. Not About Love (Extraordinary Machine Bootleg Version)
10. Get Gone (When The Pawn Hits...)  
11. Sleep To Dream (Tidal)

Buy Fiona Apple's new album...The Idler Wheel...now!!!

The 11 Best Songs By Hot Chip

Having kids changes what you can listen to.  Even a band like Mars Volta might not swear as much as others but it gets hard to prog out in the car with a 3-year-old who is trying to comprehend Cedric's obtuse verbose with about as much success as a heroin addict trying to fill out a job application.  You can't really listen to pop radio because most of those songs are way more R-Rated than N.W.A.  They may not swear...but the subject material is about getting blackout drunk and having threesomes on Friday nights is far more offensive than Ice Cube giving the police the middle finger.  Somehow indie rock/pop has risen to the top.  Kids like to dance...so something with a beat is always preferable.  Then dorky lyrics that don't make a whole lot of sense except to be corny are always a hit.  I'm not saying that all artists should skew their music to the pre-school crowd...but it sure is appreciated so I don't have to listen to Tyrone, Austin, Pablo, Uniqua, Tasha one more time.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Hot Chip:

1. And I Was A Boy From School (The Warning)
2. Ready For A Fall (Made In The Dark)
3. Touch Too Much (Made In The Dark)
4. No Fit State (The Warning)
5. Hand Me Down Your Love (One Life Stand)
6. One Pure Thought (Made In The Dark)
7. One Life Stand (One Life Stand)
8. My Piano (DJ-Kicks)
9. Over and Over (The Warning)
10. I Feel Better (One Life Stand)
11. Take It In (One Life Stand)

Buy Hot Chip's new album, In Our Heads...now!!!

The 11 Best Songs By Metric

We need more strong women in rock.  It's a sad dirty plague of pop fraudulent sexless bombs that have permeated the airwaves for far too long.  Where are the axe-grinding, glass-ceiling busting destroyers that the Runaways promised us?  Courntey Love is an embarrassment.  Amy Lee is a novelty at best.  Sleater-Kinney kicked a bunch of hard ass like they were gun-toting truck drivers pounding the shit out of over-privileged youth at a 99%er rally.  But that's the exception...not the rule. The rest of the women in music may be able to knock a crowd flat at a karaoke bar at last call on a Sunday night but as role models...well, we could do a whole lot better.  Katy Perry is as much a fabricated songstress as her music.  Rhianna's gnarly-looking tattoos didn't do her much good when she was Chris Brown sparring partner.  And Lady Gaga might want to be Laverne to Madonna's Shirley...but she needs to stop showing up dressed like Squiggy.

Emily Haines still may not be able to hang out with Lita Ford in a dark alley smoking unfiltered cigarettes...but if Metric ever opens for Coldplay...Chris Martin will be the one wearing the dress.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Metric:

1. Gimme Sympathy (Fantasies)
2. Empty (Live It Out)
3. On The Sly (Grow Up and Blow Away)
4. Dead Disco (Old World Underground)
5. Gold Gun Girls (Fantasies)
6. Eclipse I'm All Yours (Twilight Eclipse)
7. Sick Muse (Fantasies)
8. Hustle Rose (Old World Underground)
9. Live It Out (Live It Out)
10. Satellite Mind (Fantasies)
11. Black Sheep (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World)

Buy Metric's new album, Synthetica...now!!!