Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Happy 2 Year's SOTD

You know what I realized a few weeks ago? I’ve been writing Song of the Day for 2 years, yeah on February 8, 2010 I wrote my very first Song of the Day on the Smashing Pumpkins forums and it’s been one hell of a ride since then.

Now there wasn’t too much thought process behind doing it other then the attempts to make a thread on there that I could consistently keep updated unlike the other board members at that time and I did to very little feedback in fact most of the members I’m sure mocked me but you know I decided to say fuck it and kept pressing through and eventually after some time I started to thoroughly feel that my abilities as a writer were greatly improving and with the suggestion of a good friend I decided to expand and launch this blog that I’ve been maintaining for just over a year now. It was one hell of a trip keeping posted on the forums, this blog, and my personal Facebook account but I did until of course when I reached the year long anniversary where I made the sad announcement to quit the thread on the Forums and devote myself full time to this website.

Now let’s cut this sad talk because this is a cause of celebration people I’ve been doing this shit for 2 years and I don’t plan on stopping any day soon so let’s get to discussing the things I’ve noticed after doing this for so long.

Fun facts for all fun facts in deed ever since I’ve been doing this I felt it’d be a good idea to keep a list of all the songs I’ve written about and a little log of the number of times I’ve mentioned any particular artist and since I love countdowns I think I’m going to tell you guy’s the top 5 most represented acts and my impressions upon realizing the numbers.

5. Placebo 7 Song’s of the Day



If you know me personally you know I’ve been quite the fan of this little British Trio for quite some time and the fact that they’ve clocked in so many Songs of the day shouldn’t be any surprise.

There’s not much to really say while I do have a tendency to listen to them in certain mindsets and such they’ve honestly made some of the most criminally overlooked tunes with the posted video being an example of such. With a variety of sounds from the dirties of rift rockers to these kind of out there electronic tinged danceable cuts they’ve made songs for every possible interest I’ve had over these two years and time and time again I’ve found myself coming back and reminding myself just why I hold them in high esteem by wanting to bring up a song that truly does speak to me and with many more on the way I’m pretty sure these guys will rope me back in soon enough.

4. Foo Fighters 8 Entries



That cut right there should be more then enough a reason to bring up just why I’ve written about these guys so much so quickly. Wasting Light is one hell of an album and upon listening to this song and then the album I found myself having a new found respect and admiration for a band that I always felt made good songs but hadn’t yet clicked with me.

It is surprising yes to realize that I wrote about 8 different songs but hey I don’t see no problem in that especially when you get to the next two acts like…

3. Neon Trees 9 Entries



This last year has had a lot to do with these numbers I will admit but looking at this I pretty much wrote the equivalent of their whole first album god damn people.

Ok all joking aside I really can’t lie this little power pop group really has made some quality numbers like the one I posted above, and really the fact that the album in question was just filled to the brim with equally worthwhile cuts I really couldn’t help but write about these guys in a pinch. Big chorus’ simple rifts, and a variety of styles really gives these guys a chameleon like quality that managed to give them a tune to describe every possible thing I was going through and time and time again I just had to tell you guys how bad ass one of their songs has been and again their nowhere near ready to quit this so let’s hope the rest of the world gives these guys a shot.

2. Cee-Lo, “Mo Fakun Lady Killa Green,” 17 Entries



I’m aware that it shouldn’t be a surprise that he’s number 2 but HOLY DAMN people 17 cuts from this smoother then smooth boss hoss of a performer and its’ all because of the epic work that is The Lady Killer.

Yes I love that album and pretty much all of the tunes that followed. I was taken at Fuck You and I stayed because he really was someone that just delivered time and time again and the fact that he felt to let the internet be home to some lesser known cuts lead me to not only have to listen to him but write about him pretty much every month for a year straight and if he continues this way he MIGHT just dethrone the champions of champions which if you couldn’t of guessed it by this point well then you just might not know me that well.

1. The Smashing Pumpkins 24 Entries



Ok now in a show of hands who honestly did not expect this to be the case really let me count.

Ok if not only being started on their fan site wasn’t enough these guy’s are my favorite band of all time period the end no questions asked and it’s been that way for as long as I’ve loved this crazy little thing called music people and in the two years I’ve written these songs of the day they’ve been working on that massive behemoth of a project that is Teargarden By Kaleidoscope and of course with each new cut I felt some contractual obligation to discuss and of course with the massive flooding of bands that have interested me over these two years the only constant is that I’ll always have a moment where I fall back on one of their cuts and be reminded just why I love them.

There’s very few outlets where we all feel our voice’s to be spoken and for me this band has made everything I possibly could and will forever want through the rifts and lyrics of one William Patrick Corgan and if my undying gratitude of fandom isn’t enough of a reason to have written about them so much then I’ll never know what is and because of that the most covered artist amongst my collection of tunes has been The Smashing Pumpkins.

It’s crazy really to think of just how many possible things I’ve covered over the past two years and the shifts in interest and genres covered are quite astounding and while I couldn’t really bring myself to figuring out the statistics of genres covered and such there’s one last things that I feel needs to be brought up like….



The first song I ever wrote about for Song of the Day was a cover of the song, “Lovers in A Dangerous Time,” by the Barenaked Ladies, and the reason I bring that up is because looking at my top list you’ll notice there’s a lot of respected alternative acts that in some way are me exercising my credibility muscle but of course the first thing I feel to write about is a band that I’ll occasionally feel a bit embarrassed to say I like because of the fact that their decidedly pop in many ways.

But at the time I started this I was finishing High school and there wasn’t a whole lot going on in my life, I had reached the end of my teenage years and it was time to start being an adult but for whatever reason the only thing I wanted to do was my Choir Class at the time. Yes I know that’s a bit odd to say but it was my last real thing to do and at the time of course like many a person there was a girl I was interested in, but of course in details I’m not willing to talk about opportunities where lost and all I was left with was the desire to sing a song that actually required some talent and that’s where this song came in.

There’s really something magical about this song and it’s messages of love being possible in even the harshest of conditions and of course the fact that this is the most prime example of just how vocally talented this group was just lead me to have this song on endless repeat….that and I think I was just getting hooked on the phenomenon that is Glee but we’ll ignore that whole part for the more credible but cheestatic sounding story now where was I?

Oh yeah this song’s always been a personal favorite of mine and because the band in question kind of shaped my interest to listen to a little bit of everything I felt that starting out with something a bit out there but accessible would lead me to feel comfortable to cover a wide range of tunes and I’m glad to say that has proven correct so why don’t we wrap this bad boy up by raising a toast to Sam’s Song of the Day here’s to more songs to come.