The notorious song meme
2005-06-13 21:26![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
So, I was tagged by the “list your six current favorite songs” meme and, okay, I’ll see if I can play along. I’ll actually try and explain why, at least when I know myself.
- “Don’t Answer Me,” Alan Parsons Project
- I recently picked up the 2-CD Definitive Collection from this band, which used to be one of my favorites. This isn’t my favorite APP song (which is probably “La Sagrada Familia”), but it’s one of the most beautiful pop songs ever.
- “Duck and Cover,” Glen Phillips
- Proving that I sometimes listen to new music, this is a new solo album from the former lead singer of Toad the Wet Sprocket. I first heard this song a month or two ago when it seemed I was stressed from having so many people around me stressed, and it helped reground me in an outlook I’d lost sight of. (All of the people who are stressed around me need to listen to this, too.)
- “Ever Dream,” Nightwish
- There are a whole lot of Nightwish songs I could put here, and some are arguably better songs, but this is the one I’m most likely to hit “repeat” on currently. I don’t like most metal bands (really, the last hard rock band I got into was Sisters of Mercy), but this is one I make an exception for. (And yes,
alinsa, I know they’re progressive metal and it’s different. Of course, Alan Parsons Project was pretty much progressive pop, and further on down this list is progressive country.)
- “Good Girls Go To Heaven,” Pandora’s Box
- Yes, you may have heard this in the Meat Loaf version, but with the possible exception of
rancourt you probably haven’t heard the original. It’s a lot better, sounding a lot more like his work on “Streets of Fire” than his work with Meat. Like nearly all songs from Jim Steinman, it’s glorious cheese, just as the name would imply.
- “Making Love (Out Of Nothing At All),” Bonnie Tyler
- Forgive me. I hate the Air Supply version of this song, also by Steinman. Steinman also wrote Tyler’s big hit, “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” and if anyone else tries to sing “Eclipse” it’s a miserable failure. See, the lyrics are utter nonsense and the only reason the song works is that Bonnie Tyler could be reading a fucking Pizza Hut flyer and make it sound emotionally ravaged. This is like that, but even more so.
- “You Dance,” Eastmountainsouth
- The threatened progressive country. Actually, this song could get airplay on non-country stations, if the stations weren’t wussy; it’s got a hint of country twang to it, but it manages to sound simultaneously acoustic and techno. It’s a happy bouncy song, and unlike the happy bouncy Steinman song (“Good Girls”), isn’t embarrassing to admit to!
And, I know I’m supposed to tag other people with this. Grumble. But, I’d be curious to see responses from…
no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 05:59 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 06:04 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 13:31 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 15:15 (UTC)I've heard a techno version of "Eclipse" fairly recently that was okay but prosaic, and about a decade ago there was a dance bubblegum pop version by Nikki French that made me want to ream out my eardrums.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 17:41 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-15 02:55 (UTC)"Dance of the Vampires" is based on a horror-comedy by Roman Polanski. The original stage production (in Germany, as the "Tanz der Vampire" name probably suggests!) was actually directed on the stage by Polanski himself, and the stills I've seen from it are really, REALLY over-the-top gothic. The impression that I get is that it's a comedy in the manner of "The Lost Boys": funny, but the scary parts are nonetheless meant to be actually scary. There's actually two productions in Germany and while I'm not sure both are still running, they've been going for years. We're talking about unqualified success.
Originally, for the Broadway production, Jim Steinman was supposed to direct, with Michael Crawford (the Phantom from "Phantom of the Opera") starring. However, during rehearsals, the producers decided they wanted something different and fired Steinman, and brought in new directors who'd recently done the moderately successful comedy "Urinetown," about a turn-of-the-century town trying to put in a sewage system (no, really) -- which was, as you might guess, very broad farce. What eventually got to the stage in Broadway was, well, a broad farce. Steinman disowned the project and refused to attend its opening night. It didn't die quite as quickly as "Carrie" (I don't think!) but it came awfully close, and there was more than one comparison drawn between the two by critics.
I'm not sure the original one would have succeeded here, of course -- as
no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 14:25 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 15:17 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 18:27 (UTC)