Following the rundowns of my Top Five Cover Songs and Top Ten Guitar Solos, I've decided to rank my favorite music videos this week. As was the case with my other countdowns, these picks are my favorites. The videos on this list are the ones I enjoy the most. Had this list been based purely off of legacy and the public's general opinion, it would obviously be populated my more influential artists/videos such as Michael Jackson's "Thriller" (or any of his other videos, for that matter.) Instead I've presented the videos I feel complement the song most aptly and are just plain interesting to watch. I'm sure I've forgotten even some of my favorites, and definitely left out some of yours, so if you feel anything missed out that you would've liked to have seen here, let me know in the comments. So without further delay, here are my top ten music videos of all time.
10. Coldplay - "The Scientist"
Before Coldplay took a turn for the worse, ditching their sincere acoustic elements for a more manufactured pop sound, the released 2002's A Rush of Blood to the Head. The album's second single, "The Scientist," is a beautifully chilling piano ballad. While the song may be the band's best, the accompanying music video certainly is. Shot using special camera techniques, the entire clip plays backwards, and follows lead singer Chris Martin as he (literally) backtracks to the video's twist. The whole played-in-reverse idea may seem gimmicky, especially during the shots of a basketball game being played backwards. But the technique is integral to the video's strength, which is driven by the shock reveal near the video's end.
9. Hole - "Doll Parts"
Filmed shortly after the suicide of and Nirvana front-man and singer Courtney Love's husband Kurt Cobain, Hole's "Doll Parts" video is packed with emotion and not-so-subtle symbolism. Shot mostly in black and white, the video features appearances from "Kurt," who is portrayed by a look-alike actor. Considering she wrote the song to describe her love for her late husband, Courtney's performance in the clip is outstanding. Essentially, she's singing a love song to her dead husband whom was taken from her in the cruelest way imaginable. You can hear and see Love's bitterness and pain clearly in "Doll Parts," making it one of the most powerful music videos ever.
8. 30 Seconds to Mars - "From Yesterday"
30 Seconds to Mars are well-known for their elaborate and epic music videos, and "From Yesterday" is a perfect example of why. The band's singer, Jared Leto, gained recognition and respect as an actor in films like Requiem for a Dream before showcasing his versatility and forming the band. It makes sense a musician with acting roots would put as much effort into his music videos as Leto does. Directed by Leto, "From Yesterday" is a grandiose work in which the band members are transported to ancient China and are forced by the young Emperor to fight to the death. It may sound cheesy, and in some ways it is, but Leto is a master of creating stunning visuals. The bizarre yet intriguing storyline gets more and more interesting as the video continues on, and the song itself is no pushover either.
7. Foo Fighters - "Walk"
Paying homage to the cult classic film Falling Down, "Walk" is one of the goofiest and hysterical videos around. Band leader, rock legend, and famously hilarious musician Dave Grohl finds himself in unique and funny situations as he abandons his guitar in a traffic jam and goes on a bizarre walk through Los Angeles. Over the course of his trip, he commandeers a golf cart and stops a mugging, among others. I don't want to give away too much, for that would ruin the fun of it, so instead you can see for yourself above.
6. Radiohead - "Just"
The video that left thousands frustrated, Radiohead's "Just" portrays a man who simply lies down in the middle of a sidewalk for no apparent reason. A crowd gathers, all desperate to find out why the man is lying on the ground. Once the man finally tells them, the subtitles mischievously stop, leaving fans asking "what did he say?!?!" There's probably some symbolism here for how the public is too curious nowadays, or something of the like, but all I really want to know is what on earth he said. It's been almost twenty years and still no answer has come, so it seems likely we'll never know for sure. A quick browse through the comments provides some funny suggestions, though they don't make much sense until the twist is revealed.
5. Hole - "Miss World"
Yes, I'm breaking my usual "one song per artist" rule, but for good reason. Courtney Love is both the queen of '90's music videos and the prom in Hole's "Miss World" clip. Donned with an excessive amount of makeup, Love is crowned homecoming queen at a dance. The statement being made here is that the world values outer beauty more than inner beauty, as signified by the contrast between Love's glamorous dance persona and the grittier band performance. Backed by the adage "cleanliness is next to godliness," Love shows the deeper side to Hole's grunge sound in "Miss World"'s lyrics and video.
4. Marilyn Manson - "The Beautiful People"
Sporting a similar message to Hole's "Miss World" video described just above, shock-rocker Marilyn Manson lashes out at the public's perception of beauty in a more abrasive and disturbing way for his "Beautiful People" video. In the clip's alternate world, people and objects our society would consider ugly and/or scary are seen as beautiful. Awesomely creepy and dark, "The Beautiful People" scathingly tells the audience that good looks are all based on preconceived notions shaped by society and not our nature.
3. Nirvana - "Heart-Shaped Box"
Now that his wife's band Hole has been on the list twice, it's only fair Kurt Cobain and Nirvana crack my top ten. The controversial "Heart-Shaped Box" is, like many others on this list, filled to the brim with symbolism. The bleak visuals complement the song's sound and meaning well, making it one of the most iconic videos of the 1990's.
2. Johnny Cash - "Hurt"
I went into plenty of detail about Cash's video in my Top 5 Cover Songs post in August, which you can view by clicking the hyperlinked blue text at the top of this post, so I'll break it down in a simpler way here. The song is a cover, with the original Nine Inch Nails version portraying suicide in a very dark way. Cash, however, completely changes the mood of the song, making it about someone who doesn't want to say goodbye rather than one who has no other option. The video was released just months before Cash's death, serving as his final goodbye to his fans. Clearly in poor health, the decrepit country singer sits in a dusty old mansion, surrounded by memorabilia from his legendary musical career. It's an amazingly powerful video, even bringing Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor to the brink of tears when he first saw it, making it easy to understand why many consider this one of the greatest music videos of all time.
1. Arcade Fire - "The Suburbs"
The #1 video on my list is Arcade Fire's clip for their title track to their 2010 masterpiece The Suburbs. The video depicts the disintegration of a friendship between a group of teenagers as what was an innocent summer develops into a full-scale military invasion. Directed by Spike Jonze, the video is actually a cut-down version of the thirty-minute short film produced in collaboration with the band, called Scenes from the Suburbs. Dark, twisted, realistic, relatable, and beautiful, "The Suburbs" lands at the top spot on this countdown.
As always, thanks for reading. It was tough to narrow the list down to 10, so below I'll list some honorable mentions. Be on the lookout for my FIFA 14 review soon!
Honorable Mentions:
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Sacrilege," "Maps"
Local Natives - "You & I"
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Dani California"
OK GO - "This Too Shall Pass," "Here It Goes Again"
Showing posts with label foo fighters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label foo fighters. Show all posts
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Top 10 Guitar Solos
When I decided to make this week's countdown on my ten favorite guitar solos, I had no idea about the heftiness of the task ahead of me. The preliminary list included nearly 60 songs, and the process of whittling those down to just ten was arduous at best. Before we jump into the list, I want to make a few clarifications. Firstly, these are my top ten favorite guitar solos, meaning this list will probably look different from other lists you've seen. Sure, songs like "Crazy Train" and "Purple Haze" have legendary solos that other artists aspire to match, but those have been analyzed and broken down repeatedly. I didn't want this post to just be a rehash of every other guitar solo countdown you've seen before, so nothing made the list solely based on status. While I took this into account, the list was more or less created based on which guitar solos I enjoy most. This means that I considered everything from how the solo sounds aesthetically, how difficult it was to write and compose, and how it fits into the song, among other points. Also, I limited the list to one song per artist. So without further ado, I present my top ten favorite guitar solos.
10. Grizzly Bear - "Fine For Now"
Solo starts at 4:25
Grizzly Bear is a band not particularly known for its instrumental brilliance, but rather its vocal harmonies and sweeping flourishes of sound. But on this track from 2009's Veckatimest, the group decides to finish with a bang. Guitarist/vocalist Daniel Rossen steps into the spotlight with a flurry of quickly-strummed high notes, accentuated by Christopher Bear's sweeping crash cymbals. In fact, the drums here play as big a part as the guitars by flying around the track and generating a sense of chaos.
9. System of a Down - "Lonely Day"
Solo starts at 1:35
I am by no means a metal head, but SOAD's unique blend of aggressive lyrics, heavy drums, and hypnotizing harmonies has always drawn me in. "Hypnotize" is my favorite SOAD song, thanks to the reasons above, but it's "Lonely Day"'s guitar solo that impresses me most out of their discography. What makes it stand out to me is not only its amazing technical ability (it's a monster of a solo), but that it achieves something very rare in rock music, especially metal: a sad-toned guitar solo that still sounds great. Most solos are either gloriously triumphant-sounding or just to show off, but on "Lonely Day" guitarist Daron Malakian plays in such a way that the solo perfectly complements the song's dreary, hopeless feeling, while still managing to blow you away.
8. Foo Fighters - "Best of You"
Solo starts at 2:00
For a long time, "Best of You" was my favorite song. While it remains in my remarkably nonvolatile top 5, it has dropped behind by the likes of The Joy Formidable, Brand New, and Radiohead (twice).So while sentimental value & personal taste may (probably) be clouding my judgement on this one just a bit, I still feel that "Best of You" deserves a spot on this list. Sure, there's nothing too complicated here, just various power chords being played repeatedly in long strings, really quickly. But, yet again, it's the role of the solo in the song that helps it gain a spot on my top 10. "Best of You," and most Foo Fighters songs in general, relies on raw energy and power to gets its message across and give the listener a pleasurable listening experience. This fast-paced, upbeat solo plays into that idea well, despite not being the most technically or intellectually challenging solo around. And, besides, when it's all said and done, this solo flat-out rocks. And isn't that what Foo Fighters are for?
7. Pavement - "Gold Soundz"
Solo starts at 1:17
I wrote in detail about this song, and particularly its guitar solo, at length in my look back at Pavement's classic Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. And, since pageviews are my friend, I won't go into too much detail here, other than to say the brilliance here is that this guitar solo actually features three different guitar parts overlaying each other, weaving in and out of the mix. One riff will step to the foreground before eagerly making way for another to take center stage. Click the blue text here or above when I referenced the previous article to visit it & read more about "Gold Soundz" and the album as a whole, one of my prouder pieces of writing thus far.
6. Led Zeppelin - "Stairway to Heaven"
Solo starts at 5:50
Yeah, remember when I said that no solo would make the list because of how famous it is? That rule still stands. Though it's truly iconic and is often recognized as one of the greatest of all time, that's not why Jimmy Page's solo on the equally legendary "Stairway to Heaven" made it in my top 10. It made my top 10 because it's a truly amazing piece, and definitely one of my favorites to listen too. "Stairway" is known for its slow build-up, and Page's guitar outburst is the climax of the song. It's only fitting that one of the best songs ever by one of the best bands ever contains one of the best guitar solos (you guessed it) ever. (Lesser songs and less famous solos ranked higher, but remember, these are my favorites, not the world's favorites. Take it with a grain of salt.)
5. The Strokes - "The Modern Age"
Solo starts at 1:45
The second track on this New York band's debut smash Is This It utilizes eastern influences in its guitar part. The solo starts off unassumingly enough before launching into a full-fledged guitar onslaught. One of the common (yet few) criticisms of The Strokes is that their instrumentals and song structures are too simple. But, after the technically brilliant guitar work on "The Modern Age," that argument gets thrown out the window. The solo catches you off guard, and that's what makes it so much more enjoyable.
4. Dinosaur Jr. - "Watch the Corners"
Solos start at 2:27, 3:25
One of the hardest decisions I had to make when composing this list was choosing between this and "Feel the Pain," in order to follow the one-song-per-artist rule. Thus, I wanted give a quick nod to "Feel the Pain"'s joyful burst of guitar majesty before diving into "Watch the Corners." This track from Dino Jr.'s most recent release, 2012's I Bet on Sky, contains not one but two lengthy, eardrum-exploding, wailing guitar solos. J Mascis has been impressing fans with his skills ever since the group's 1985 debut. Now on their tenth studio album, Dinosaur Jr. brings the good yet again, and this is most noticable in the dual solos in "Watch the Corners." The song is a wash of muddy, low-toned power chords over Mascis' famous droning vocal style. Not only are the technical and aesthetic aspects here astounding, but the production is as well. The way the higher notes are distorted to almost a shriek is tremendously rewarding. The first solo makes way for a short acoustic reprieve, and though technically not a "solo," Mascis free-forms during the final chorus as well before finishing the song with a blazing part. Dinosaur Jr. hasn't lost its sound over its nearly three-decade-spanning career, and that's very apparent on "Watch the Corners."
3. The Joy Formidable - "Maw Maw Song"
Solo starts at 3:49
The Joy Formidable are a band that thrive most when the step back and let the instrumentals take over and ride out the end of the track. Though songs like "Whirring" and "Austere" do it even better, those boisterous, alt-rock freakouts are just as much about the drum parts as the guitar lines, which largely consist of power chords, not really qualifying them as "solos" persay. That is not the case, however, on "Maw Maw Song." The focus here is clearly on frontwoman Ritzy Bryan's magnificient talents as almost half the track is devoted to this epic solo. While the beginning is still great listening and impressive, the real attention-grabbing stuff that makes you recognize Bryan's ability starts about a minute in the solo (around the 4:45 mark in the above video.) This Welsh group's album The Big Roar (not not containing this track, from this year's Wolf's Law) perfectly summarizes their sound, and "Maw Maw" shows you why.
2. Brand New - "Limousine"
Solo starts at 5:42
The solo in this song, like so many others in this list, represents the culmination of all the emotions built up earlier in the track. However, where earlier efforts have been grand, joyful excursions, "Limousine" is a tragic one. A true story about a young girl who was killed by a drunk driver, the 2006 track takes the perspective of several people involved in the wreck, including the drunk driver and the victim's mother. It contains several parts and emotions, varying from sorrow to guilt to fury. The build up to the solo contains a repeated refrain of " I love you so much," with the number preceding the lyric continuing to go up until 7, victim Kate Flynn's age when she was killed. With each repetition, singer Jesse Lacey sounds more desperate and devastated. The final time is the most chaotic of all, with horns blaring as Lacey screams "I can't take it" before the guitar solo is unleashed. It truly is an extremely powerful song, and though the solo doesn't come until the end of the track, I wholeheartedly recommend you watch the entire video to feel the song's full effect.
Rest in peace, Katie Flynn.
1. Radiohead - "Paranoid Android"
Solos start at 3:04, 5:38
What more is there to say? Well, if you haven't read my full-length track-by-track review of OK Computer, I'll tell you pretty much all you need to know. "Paranoid Android" is yet another track with shifting movements, of which the guitar solos are the most energetic and frantic. Jonny Greenwood is a genius on the guitar, and shows it all off on this song. Cool sound effects added post-production are scattered throughout the 1997 record, and the guitar solos here employ them well. Indie rock's "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Paranoid Android" relies on its schizophrenia and Greenwood's performance contributes outstandingly. A true work of art, the solos in "Paranoid Android" are my favorite of all time.
Well, that about does it. A lot of work went into crafting this list and I appreciate anyone who's read this far. Hopefully you enjoyed my list, and maybe learned a thing or two. Feel free to post your own top 10's in the comments below, and thanks for reading.
10. Grizzly Bear - "Fine For Now"
Solo starts at 4:25
Grizzly Bear is a band not particularly known for its instrumental brilliance, but rather its vocal harmonies and sweeping flourishes of sound. But on this track from 2009's Veckatimest, the group decides to finish with a bang. Guitarist/vocalist Daniel Rossen steps into the spotlight with a flurry of quickly-strummed high notes, accentuated by Christopher Bear's sweeping crash cymbals. In fact, the drums here play as big a part as the guitars by flying around the track and generating a sense of chaos.
9. System of a Down - "Lonely Day"
Solo starts at 1:35
I am by no means a metal head, but SOAD's unique blend of aggressive lyrics, heavy drums, and hypnotizing harmonies has always drawn me in. "Hypnotize" is my favorite SOAD song, thanks to the reasons above, but it's "Lonely Day"'s guitar solo that impresses me most out of their discography. What makes it stand out to me is not only its amazing technical ability (it's a monster of a solo), but that it achieves something very rare in rock music, especially metal: a sad-toned guitar solo that still sounds great. Most solos are either gloriously triumphant-sounding or just to show off, but on "Lonely Day" guitarist Daron Malakian plays in such a way that the solo perfectly complements the song's dreary, hopeless feeling, while still managing to blow you away.
8. Foo Fighters - "Best of You"
Solo starts at 2:00
For a long time, "Best of You" was my favorite song. While it remains in my remarkably nonvolatile top 5, it has dropped behind by the likes of The Joy Formidable, Brand New, and Radiohead (twice).So while sentimental value & personal taste may (probably) be clouding my judgement on this one just a bit, I still feel that "Best of You" deserves a spot on this list. Sure, there's nothing too complicated here, just various power chords being played repeatedly in long strings, really quickly. But, yet again, it's the role of the solo in the song that helps it gain a spot on my top 10. "Best of You," and most Foo Fighters songs in general, relies on raw energy and power to gets its message across and give the listener a pleasurable listening experience. This fast-paced, upbeat solo plays into that idea well, despite not being the most technically or intellectually challenging solo around. And, besides, when it's all said and done, this solo flat-out rocks. And isn't that what Foo Fighters are for?
7. Pavement - "Gold Soundz"
Solo starts at 1:17
I wrote in detail about this song, and particularly its guitar solo, at length in my look back at Pavement's classic Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. And, since pageviews are my friend, I won't go into too much detail here, other than to say the brilliance here is that this guitar solo actually features three different guitar parts overlaying each other, weaving in and out of the mix. One riff will step to the foreground before eagerly making way for another to take center stage. Click the blue text here or above when I referenced the previous article to visit it & read more about "Gold Soundz" and the album as a whole, one of my prouder pieces of writing thus far.
6. Led Zeppelin - "Stairway to Heaven"
Solo starts at 5:50
Yeah, remember when I said that no solo would make the list because of how famous it is? That rule still stands. Though it's truly iconic and is often recognized as one of the greatest of all time, that's not why Jimmy Page's solo on the equally legendary "Stairway to Heaven" made it in my top 10. It made my top 10 because it's a truly amazing piece, and definitely one of my favorites to listen too. "Stairway" is known for its slow build-up, and Page's guitar outburst is the climax of the song. It's only fitting that one of the best songs ever by one of the best bands ever contains one of the best guitar solos (you guessed it) ever. (Lesser songs and less famous solos ranked higher, but remember, these are my favorites, not the world's favorites. Take it with a grain of salt.)
5. The Strokes - "The Modern Age"
Solo starts at 1:45
The second track on this New York band's debut smash Is This It utilizes eastern influences in its guitar part. The solo starts off unassumingly enough before launching into a full-fledged guitar onslaught. One of the common (yet few) criticisms of The Strokes is that their instrumentals and song structures are too simple. But, after the technically brilliant guitar work on "The Modern Age," that argument gets thrown out the window. The solo catches you off guard, and that's what makes it so much more enjoyable.
4. Dinosaur Jr. - "Watch the Corners"
Solos start at 2:27, 3:25
One of the hardest decisions I had to make when composing this list was choosing between this and "Feel the Pain," in order to follow the one-song-per-artist rule. Thus, I wanted give a quick nod to "Feel the Pain"'s joyful burst of guitar majesty before diving into "Watch the Corners." This track from Dino Jr.'s most recent release, 2012's I Bet on Sky, contains not one but two lengthy, eardrum-exploding, wailing guitar solos. J Mascis has been impressing fans with his skills ever since the group's 1985 debut. Now on their tenth studio album, Dinosaur Jr. brings the good yet again, and this is most noticable in the dual solos in "Watch the Corners." The song is a wash of muddy, low-toned power chords over Mascis' famous droning vocal style. Not only are the technical and aesthetic aspects here astounding, but the production is as well. The way the higher notes are distorted to almost a shriek is tremendously rewarding. The first solo makes way for a short acoustic reprieve, and though technically not a "solo," Mascis free-forms during the final chorus as well before finishing the song with a blazing part. Dinosaur Jr. hasn't lost its sound over its nearly three-decade-spanning career, and that's very apparent on "Watch the Corners."
3. The Joy Formidable - "Maw Maw Song"
Solo starts at 3:49
The Joy Formidable are a band that thrive most when the step back and let the instrumentals take over and ride out the end of the track. Though songs like "Whirring" and "Austere" do it even better, those boisterous, alt-rock freakouts are just as much about the drum parts as the guitar lines, which largely consist of power chords, not really qualifying them as "solos" persay. That is not the case, however, on "Maw Maw Song." The focus here is clearly on frontwoman Ritzy Bryan's magnificient talents as almost half the track is devoted to this epic solo. While the beginning is still great listening and impressive, the real attention-grabbing stuff that makes you recognize Bryan's ability starts about a minute in the solo (around the 4:45 mark in the above video.) This Welsh group's album The Big Roar (not not containing this track, from this year's Wolf's Law) perfectly summarizes their sound, and "Maw Maw" shows you why.
2. Brand New - "Limousine"
Solo starts at 5:42
The solo in this song, like so many others in this list, represents the culmination of all the emotions built up earlier in the track. However, where earlier efforts have been grand, joyful excursions, "Limousine" is a tragic one. A true story about a young girl who was killed by a drunk driver, the 2006 track takes the perspective of several people involved in the wreck, including the drunk driver and the victim's mother. It contains several parts and emotions, varying from sorrow to guilt to fury. The build up to the solo contains a repeated refrain of " I love you so much," with the number preceding the lyric continuing to go up until 7, victim Kate Flynn's age when she was killed. With each repetition, singer Jesse Lacey sounds more desperate and devastated. The final time is the most chaotic of all, with horns blaring as Lacey screams "I can't take it" before the guitar solo is unleashed. It truly is an extremely powerful song, and though the solo doesn't come until the end of the track, I wholeheartedly recommend you watch the entire video to feel the song's full effect.
Rest in peace, Katie Flynn.
1. Radiohead - "Paranoid Android"
Solos start at 3:04, 5:38
What more is there to say? Well, if you haven't read my full-length track-by-track review of OK Computer, I'll tell you pretty much all you need to know. "Paranoid Android" is yet another track with shifting movements, of which the guitar solos are the most energetic and frantic. Jonny Greenwood is a genius on the guitar, and shows it all off on this song. Cool sound effects added post-production are scattered throughout the 1997 record, and the guitar solos here employ them well. Indie rock's "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Paranoid Android" relies on its schizophrenia and Greenwood's performance contributes outstandingly. A true work of art, the solos in "Paranoid Android" are my favorite of all time.
Well, that about does it. A lot of work went into crafting this list and I appreciate anyone who's read this far. Hopefully you enjoyed my list, and maybe learned a thing or two. Feel free to post your own top 10's in the comments below, and thanks for reading.
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