Song of the Week (05/22-05/28)

     I want to start this post off by apologize for my lack of posting.  I have recently completed my first year of college and with all the finals and moving back into my house, I haven't had much time to think about my blog.  With that being said, I also want to say that I intend to do 2-3 posts a week for as many weeks possible.  But without further adieu, here is my song of the week.  This song of the week comes from a band that I have been listening to for more than a year now but am just now finally getting into, Motion City Soundtrack.  MCS is one of those bands that I am discovering that I can listen to in any mood and are gradually climbing up the list of my favorite bands.  The hardest thing about this weeks song of the week is that I'm not really sure what song to choose because I have been listening to all of their songs.  To be honest even while writing these first two paragraphs my song has changed at least 3 times.  But here it is, my song of the week selection "Hysteria," off their most recent album, My Dinosaur Life. 
     What makes "Hysteria" such a great song is how all of the instruments and vocals are accessible to the ear, giving each instruments time to shine.  The guitar parts are very rhythmic and high energy, helping to guide the song along.  The bass line helps these guitar parts in sections, but also give the song a bouncy element to it at times.  Justin Pierre's vocals are great as always, singing about a crush which everyone can relate too.  But the best parts of this song for me are the drums and keyboards.  The drums for this song are amazing, and really help show off Tony Thaxston's ability as a drummer. The keyboard parts on this song are the catchiest part of the song and almost like a mini-solo at parts.
     When I first saw something about Motion City Soundtrack, it was them getting a five star rating for My Dinosaur Life in Alternative Press Magazine.  I began to listen to songs off that album and thought that they were okay but never really understood the five star rating until now.  I don't think there is a weak song on the album and love how each song is arranged.  Its funny how Motion City Soundtrack went from decent band to top 10 band in my eyes just in a few weeks time.  And it was songs like "Hysteria" that helped them achieve that status with me.  Posted below is a lyrics video for the song, let me know what you think. 

Motion City Soundtrack-"Hysteria"

Kurt Cobain Obituary Assignment

     Hey guys I just wanted to post this assignment I did for my writing for mass media class that I did.  It was an obituary and we were allowed to choose anybody from any time period to write about.  I chose Kurt Cobain who I have always been fascinated with.  I decided to post it for two reasons, one being I got a good grade on it and the other being I wanted some opinions on it.  I'll warn you that it is rather long (around 800 words) but I would really appreciate it if you guys would give me some input.  So here it is, my Kurt Cobain memorial obituary.  (Note: Cobain's body was found on April 8 and that was the due date of the assignment)

It was seventeen years ago today when the world learned that one of the most iconic rock figures in the history of the genre, Kurt Cobain, had taken his own life at the age of 27 in the apartment above the garage in his Seattle, Washington home.

Cobain, the singer, songwriter, and guitarist of the popular grunge rock band, ‘Nirvana’, had been missing for six days when he was found by an electrician going to his house to install a security system around 9 am.  Police investigated and determined that Cobain had died roughly three days earlier, due to a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head, although high traces of heroine and valium were later found in his bloodstream, as reported by the coroner’s report.

Although many were shocked by the news, those close to Cobain would see his suicide as no surprise, knowing of Cobain’s battle with drug addiction and depression, as well as his medical issues with his stomach and back. 

Born on February 20, 1967 in Aberdeen, Washington to Wendy and Donald Cobain, Kurt showed his desire for art and music at an early age.  And although there was encouragement by his parents to draw, paint and play various instruments, this was also where the roots of his depression began.  “I had a really good childhood up until I was nine, then a classic case of divorce really affected me,” Cobain once said in an interview. 

But this parent’s divorce didn’t derail his goals of becoming a rock musician.  Cobain went on to create one of the most influential grunge rock bands of all-time, Nirvana. Cobain and his band would go on to win a Grammy for their MTV Unplugged acoustic performance, as well as win an American Music Award, a handful of MTV Video Music awards and sell more than 50 million records worldwide, with their album “Nevermind” being certified 10 times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). 

Cobain eventually started a family, marrying Courtney Love on February 24, 1992 and had a child, Frances Bean Cobain, who was born on August 18, 1992.  And although Cobain often described these times as the happiest in his life in many interviews, these moments would also not go on without strife, with Frances being taken away from the couple for several weeks after birth, when they were accused of being drug addicts during Love’s pregnancy.

Many of these events portrayed Cobain as a bad and negative person, associated with the stereotypical rock star lifestyle until his untimely death, but he ultimately became the voice of Generation X’s youth, becoming the catalyst for teen angst.

And although Cobain’s image may be shrouded by depression, misunderstanding and suicide, many friends and family will remember him as a happy and funny guy.  “Kurt really wasn’t the tortured artist, like, the sulking tortured person.  He was a really funny person,” says long-time friend and Nirvana bass player, Krist Novoselic in an interview. 

The impact that Cobain had on people became apparent during his public vigil on April 10, 1994 at a park at the Seattle Center when approximately seven thousand people showed up and mourned the death of Cobain. 

People who spoke at the vigil included Love, read passages from Cobain’s suicide note, along with the remaining members of Nirvana and various family members. 

“I remember the day after that I woke up and I was heartbroken that he was gone. I just felt like, 'Okay, so I get to wake up today and have another day and he doesn't,'" said Nirvana drummer and current Foo Fighters guitarist and vocalist, Dave Grohl, in response to Cobain’s death. 

“He had the desperation, not the courage, to be himself. Once you do that, you can't go wrong, because you can't make any mistakes when people love you for being yourself. But for Kurt, it didn't matter that other people loved him; he simply didn't love himself enough,” said Dave Reed, who was Cobain’s foster father for a short period of time. 

And with the seventeenth anniversary of the finding of Cobain’s body and death happening this week, people are finding entirely new ways to pay tribute to his legacy.  Many people are going to social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter and posting about Cobain and his death.  Many magazines and rock news websites are running memorial articles on him.  Even his hometown of Aberdeen, Washington has gone as far as to create a guitar shaped memorial in his honor. 

Kurt Cobain became a rock icon, voice of a generation, loving family man and a tragic case of when fame goes wrong.  But then again Cobain did once say “It’s better to burn out than fade away,” which he surely did.    

Concert Review-The Game Changers Tour

Who: A Day to Remember, Bring Me the Horizon, Pierce the Veil, We Came As Romans
When: March 13, 2011
Where: The Palladium in Worcester, MA
     First off I would like to say that I am sorry that this is coming so late, I kept putting it off due to school work.  But anyways here is the long delayed concert review of the Game Changers Tour!!
Venue: This was my first time going to the Palladium and I must say it was much smaller, but I liked it.  It made the experience much more intimate experience.  But the funny thing about the Palladium is even though the guest capacity seems smaller, the stage seems bigger, giving the bands more room to move around.  The venue also had a nice breeze running through it which helped cool me down in between sets. 
We Came As Romans: Before this night, I hadn't really listened to WCAR all that much, but I was really impressed with their performance.  Great vocals between Clean singer, Kyle Pavone, and screamer, David Stephens.  I was also really impressed with what the band did with their lack of space, still jumping around and ultilizing their space well.  The best performance for me goes to bassist, Andrew Glass.  He was very energetic and did some sort of cool bass flip that is shown in the video below. (This video isn't from the concert I went too. Fast forwars to about 2:15 to see the bass flip)
     We Came As Romans-Broken Statues (Live)
Pierce the Veil:This is my second time seeing Pierce the Veil live, with the first being at Warped Tour, but I definitely liked this performance better.  Not only was the overall performance better, but I liked how they opened to an altered version of Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow" to enter.  They played many of my favorite songs and had a lot of energy throughout the whole show.  They also did a short cover of "Like a G6" and brought a girl on stage and sang part of their song "Yeah Boy and Doll Face" to her.  The final highlight was the lead singer of A Day to Remember, Jeremy McKinnon, coming out and singing "Caraphernilia" with them.  (both videos are from the same tour but a different date)
     Pierce the Veil- Intro and Besitos (Live)
     Pierce the Veil-Like A G6 (Live)
Bring Me the Horizon: This is also my second time seeing BMTH.  I liked them much more than the first time seeing them, because this time they had a lot more energy for the show.  The only thing I didn't really like is that they didn't really do anything flashy or special.  Although their performance was great, they didn't have anything extra that the concert I saw them at before. Even the set list was similar.  (video is from the same tour, different date)
     Bring Me The Horizon- Chelsea Smile (Live)
A Day to Remember: Lastly, the headliners.  Again, this is my second time seeing this band.  But this time ADTR really spiced up the show.  On top of their normal energy packed set, they added a lot of "flashy" elements, including guys in spandex suits shooting t-shirts to the crowd, confetti machines, dropping balloons on the crowd and CO2 guns shooting up from the stage.  They also added a lot of attention with a curtain in front of the stage to start the show, but the crowd went absolutely nuts when it dropped.  And to top it all off, at one point Jeremy got in a giant bubble suit and walked on top of the crowd for "Homesick."  ADTR's performance was over the top and definitely my favorite performance of any band I have seen perform to date. (video from the same tour, different date)
     A Day to Remember- Intro/Sticks and Bricks (Live)
     A Day to Remember-Homesick (Live)
Overall: This was probably the best concert that I have ever been too.  All the bands performed great and the only dull moments came during the set-ups in between.  The only thing I can think about that I didn't like was how cold it was to wait outside in line for it, and the fact that Bring Me The Horizon was the only band to not do anything special with their set.

Song of the Week (04/24-04/30)

     Last week was a week full of music for me, attending two concerts on top of my normal music listening.  On Thursday I attended my school concert which featured Third Eye Blind and Lupe Fiasco and on Friday I attended The Endgame Tour, featuring Rise Against, Bad Religion and Four Year Strong, at the Boston House of Blues.  And although both of these concerts were amazing, only one can inspire my song of the week.  My song of the week selection comes from the Endgame tour, which far surpassed my expectations, becoming one of my favorite concerts I have been to so far (I will post the concert reviews for both concerts as well as my long-overdue review for the Game Changers tour hopefully all this week).  As far as the actual song of the week is concerned, I will be choosing headliner, Rise Against's, current single "Help Is On The Way."
     Lyrically, "Help Is On The Way" is similar to many Rise Against songs, displaying a strong social-political message but where this song differs is the content of this message.  The songs lyrics depict a family in New Orleans during the Hurricane Katrina tragedy.  Lead singer, Tim McIlrath's, speaks of how the family is hoping to be saved from the tragedy, but it seemingly never comes.  The song is lead by a great guitar riff by guitarist, Zach Blair, and is held together by the great rhythmic works of bassist, Joe Principe, and drummer, Brandon Barnes.  One of my favorite moments in this song is in the "breakdown" section, where McIlrath screams "Right Here! Right Here!" because it helps add a lot of raw emotion to the song. 
     Rise Against is definitely one of the best punk bands of their generation, contributing not only great music but also strong messages that I feel music needs more of.  They were extremely great live and made it a point to point our their beliefs of supporting troops and animal rights, which I thought was awesome.  This world definitely needs more bands like Rise Against, and I will always support them musically.  Posted below is the video for Rise Against's "Help Is On The Way."  Let me know what you think of the song and the band in general. 

Rise Against-"Help Is On The Way"