Reasonably Sober

This was my song of late 2011. It’s May of 2012 and that still might be the case. I’ve probably listened to it well over 100 times. But the thing is this song is old, and I only heard it for the first time last year. I’m dumb.

I first heard Jack’s Mannequin when they released “Everything in Transit” in 2005. My friends and I loved the singles like Bruised, Holiday From Real and Dark Blue. Back then there was zero reason for me not to pick up the rest of that album, and then to pick up their subsequent releases. I should have a fucking library of Jack’s Mannequin songs by now. I’m sure I’d love them.

But no. I’ve got four and that changes today: iTunes is getting hit up.

Anyway, this song. Like all dopes, I get worked up over mixtapes and this one is the best song about ‘em. Initially I played it because it reminded me of a girl, but now it stands fine on its own. It’s amazing and one of those I don’t think you can dislike. When it pops up in the iPhone or on iTunes it doesn’t get skipped. Even the music video is spectacular.

WATCH THIS. Your life will be better. You will love this song.

I think it’s interesting to trace how you got into certain bands. The Ataris were never on the radio when was a teenager. It’s by sheer luck that I ever heard them in the first place.

Let’s follow this one out.

I’d watched a movie in September of ’99 called Stir of Echoes. On it was a cover of the Rolling Stones’ Paint it Black.

I hit up a message board when I found out who they were. I asked for more bands like them. Someone gave me a list of songs, one of them being Strung Out’s Solitaire.

Another kid chimes in, says that Solitaire sounds a lot like a song by The Ataris called San Dimas High School Football Rules and if I liked Solitaire I should check ‘em out.

In the span of an hour I was listening to three bands (all of which would go on to becoming all time favorites) that I wouldn’t have ever heard had I not seen a movie and posted a random question on a small internet message board.

This was the beginning of the end for me and FM radio. There just seemed to be so much better stuff that never got any airplay.

There wasn’t a band I listened to more during my senior year of high school and freshman year of college than The Ataris. There was The Ataris, and then there was everything else. This sappy, emo, pop-punk was on every playlist I made, every cd I listened to. When I was a dopey kid in love I listened to songs like I Won’t Spend Another Night Alone and Your Boyfriend Sucks. When I was miserable I listened to The Last Song I’ll Ever Write About A Girl and Make It Last.

Years later was when I was a little more jaded, a little less OMG FEELINGS, the Ataris released the last of their good albums. It was more adult, less sappy and emo, more about being a grown up. It didn’t resonate with me the way the their earlier albums did when I was a teen.

But, it still had one of the best covers I’d ever heard. They had been performing Don Henley’s classic The Boys of Summer for a couple years, and now they’d finally stuck a proper version on an album. Here my interest was finally winding down after years of listening to the Ataris, and now the general public was finally being introduced ‘em.

It’s a very good cover, one that I still listen to often.

I’m not sure there’s another song on this list that was more clearly helped by a music video. A little over a year ago I’d never heard of Pixie Lott. If it hadn’t been for seeing this photo on this list, I still wouldn’t know who she is. But I was curious so I youtube’d her and came upon Broken Arrow.

Every once in a while a crappy pop song just gets lodged in my head and it won’t leave. I fight it, take my public shaming from my friends and, more often than not, just accept that I love it. It helps that I don’t listen to the radio. Everything in moderation, people.

Broken Arrow sort of fits that category. It’s kind of catchy. It’s got dopey lyrics. We’re not talking about the most talented of singers, though I do like her kind of scratchy voice you hear out of the female brits in the last decade.

But lets be honest. The only reason I played it so often initially is because of that music video. She’s gorgeous. Eventually the song just sorta stuck I legitimately sorta loved it.

That said, this is about a one-hit-wonder with me as there is. I’ve tried to give the rest of her music a shot and I can’t find another song I like. Not one.

While back in the early 2000s I was in the middle of my little post-punk phase with Strung Out, NUFAN, Gob and Good Riddance I found time for a little alt-metal too. Breaking Benjamin’s first album was a non stop listen for me during the summer before my junior year. I remember traveling to summer league baseball games and playing songs like Water, Next to Nothing and Shallow Bay on repeat.

But it was the second album where they went legendary for me. I could’t stop playing it in the summer of 2004. Sooner or Later wasn’t one of my initial favorites. Those would have been So Cold, Break my Fall and Away. But eight years later it’s the one that still shows up in a lot of playlists. Just really great rock tune.

Checked my iTunes playcount for this one since it seems like this has been on every playlist I’ve made in the last five years. The total? 15.

Huh.

A7X was one of those bands I got into during my late college years. They were hardcore, did a lot of screaming and played seven minute songs. To this day they may be my favorite band to see live. But when they came out with their major label debut, “City of Evil”, it was a pretty big shift from what made them popular. Less screaming, less speed, more metal, higher production, more radio friendly, more acoustic guitars. Some didn’t like it. I loved it.

This is one of those songs I don’t really think you can hate, provided you like rock music. There’s a lot of Guns and Roses influence here, and it’s even more apparent when you watch the music video. Check out the 3:00 minute mark: Synyster Gates may as well be Slash.

I’m glad these guys are still around. When The Rev passed away I didn’t expect to get another album from one of my favorite bands of all time. But they’re still making good music and are as popular now as ever. Good for them.

Not ashamed to admit that I probably listened to Boyz II Men more than any other band or artist or group in my early teen years. I got into “Cooleyhighharmony” before I hit my teenage years, “II” came out when I was 13 years old and I don’t think I stopped listening to them until I was 16.

I was actually pretty late on the bandwagon. When I was 12 my grandmother got myself and two of my cousins tickets to a Boyz II Men concert in the Cities. They were excited as shit; I didn’t even know who Boyz II Men were. I had vaguely heard of the two opening acts, Baby Face and Tevin Campbell. But yea, that was pretty much the start of a musical obsession.

It’s possible that more of their stuff belong on this list. I’ve played End of the Road, Water Runs Dry, I Sit Away and I’ll Make Love to You hundreds (maybe thousands) of times.

But this one gets the nod.