Johnny Cash-God's Gonna Cut You Down

Another music video that I have came across recently that I also really liked due to its similarity to A Day to Remember's All I Want is Johnny Cash's God's Gonna Cut You Down. Apart from it being a great Cash song in the first place (I am a big fan of most of his new stuff, namely the American albums), the celebrity list included in the song is pretty amazing, from Kanye to Kid Rock, Travis Barker to Sheryl Crow, Johnny Depp to Owen Wilson, over 38 musicians, actors, and other performers play and sing along with the song within the music video. Released in 2006, the song has since received moderate airplay and won a Grammy in 2008 for Best Short Form Music Video. It has also been heard in a 2011 Jeep Cherokee Commercial, the entrance music for many UFC fighters and MLB players including Cardinal Lance Berkman, and the trailers for the game Splinter Cell: Conviction, recent release True Grit, and ESPN's 30 for 30 short film Pony Excess.

"Go tell that long tongue liar,
Go and tell that midnight rider,
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter,
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down."
-Jarid Holliday

Steven Tyler on Idol

Now normally I am not an American Idol nor classic rock music genre fan, though I do watch idol on occasion. However, Steven Tyler's performance of Dream On on the series finale last night was pretty incredible. To be able to relate that kind of passion that the man still has in music on a tv show in a position where he didn't have much to gain.

Definitely my favorite song by Aerosmith, and a very solid performance as well. Props to Steven, and keep on dreaming on...
-Jarid Hollliday

Greyson Chance

Thirteen year-old Greyson Chance has emerged as another one of the top YouTube stars of this past year, as well as creeping into the the national spotlight with his Bieber-esque voice and prodigy piano skills. Having started playing the piano at age 8, he never received any formal vocal training. His skills emerged with the video of him playing Lady Gaga's Paparazzi for a 6th grade talent show. The video made it rounds by being talked about by Ellen Degeneres, Ashton Kutcher, and Ryan Seacrest, and eventually garnering over 39 million news. Since then, two of his own songs have gotten over 12 million combined views, while he is now on tour with similar rising pop star Cody Simpson. His first single and video is shown below, broadcasting his ridiculous vocal and piano talents at such a young age, as well as three of his other productions. I really like Waiting Outside the Lines, especially since it shows some emotion and depth for a 13 year-old.

Paparazzi

Broken Hearts

Stars

Waiting Outside the Lines

I will be very interested to see what this phenom does in the future. Let us hope he focuses more on his talents than the popularity he receives from them. 

-Jarid Holliday

A7x-So Far Away

An emotional tribute to the passing of "The Rev" Tholomew Plague in late 2009, So Far Away is an incredibly deep track with its music video containing snippets of recorded material of the band throughout their career with The Rev. I personally attended one of Avenged's concerts months after his passing where emotions were still running high towards the infamous drummer's passing. Avenged has yet to name a replacement, as The Rev had such an instrumental part in all of their work, especially their newest album Nightmare (He had recorded and sang for the song Fiction three days prior to his death).

Another true example how life can end in the prime of one's career.
-Jarid Holliday

Psychosocial Baby

A really provocative video mash-up, Bieber and Slipknot's sound comes together well in this interesting piece. I initially found it slightly creepy and annoying, but I have really come to like the chorus's blend of Corey Taylor's vocals and Bieber's instrumentals. Most non-adolescents snicker at any mention or playing of Bieber, but I personally give the kid some respect. A.) The kid can sell music, despite his immature stances on love and relationships. B.) His collaborations with other artists have been improving, Sean Kingston, Ludacris, Kanye West, and Chris Brown showing that he can get beyond pop-centered Miley. Thus, if this collaboration with Slipknot or another metal artist actually occured, I would be very interested and impressed. Until then, we have to stick to the computer-generated mash-up, but I still enjoy Bieber's time in the rock genre:

-Jarid Holliday

YouTube Sensation Keenen Cahill

Recently famous viral lip-syncer Keenen Cahill has gotten a lot of publicity with his comical song reproductions, enough to land him a spots on MTV and Chelsea Lately. He has also collaborated with 50 Cent, David Guetta, and San Francisco Giants Brian Wilson and Cody Ross. 15 year-old Cahill has Maroteaux-Lamy Syndrome which is the cause for his dwarf-like appearence, however, his appearance has not stopped his huge popularity and millions of views for his comical remakes. I really enjoyed the Wilson part, because he is outrageous on his own, as well as the Guetta mash-up that included one of my favorite songs, Memories. Below are three of his latest collaborations:

David Guetta

Brian Wilson and Cody Ross

50 Cent

It's pretty amazing that a random 15 year-old can become that acclaimed on YouTube that music A-listers like Guetta and 50 cent just show up on his channel.

-Jarid Holliday

Week 12 Album Review: Jack Johnson-Into the Sea

I have been meaning to post about this for a while, but have stayed rather busy recently as of late. Jack Johnson's chill and relaxing music demeanor is often hard to come by in the music industry today, especially of that high quality. I honestly can put his entire discography on shuffle and listen to it for hours. Despite a lot of the songs having a similar sound, each song poses a new adventure that plays out within its 3-4 minute reel. Below is Jack's newest release, 2010's To the Sea:

Track Listing:
1. "You and Your Heart"
2. "To the Sea"
3. "No Good with Faces"
4. "At or With Me"
5. "When I Look Up"
6. "From the Clouds"
7. "My Little Girl"
8. "Turn Your Love"
9. "The Upsetter"
10. "Red Wine, Mistakes, Mythology"
11. "Pictures of People Taking Pictures"
12. "Anything but the Truth"
13. "Only the Ocean"

So far, after about a month of solid playing, I have came to enjoy "At or With Me" a lot, with "Red Wine, Mistakes, Mythology" and "Pictures of People Taking Pictures" being good hits as well. I have somewhat concluded that this album is a little more poppier/bluesier than previous, even though previous albums had hints of both of those genres themselves. Singles released from the album include: "You and Your Heart", "At or With Me", and "From the Clouds". To the Sea peaked at #1 on the Billboard Top 200, and has been certified Gold thus far after selling 243,000 copies in its first week.

I also had to post the "At or With Me" music video with this post, as it is one of my new favorites that features The Lonely Island frontman/SNL comedian Andy Samberg:

-Jarid Holliday

Week 12 Playlist

Another new music blog of me relating the new tunes that I am listening to and that I find worthwhile at this point in time. This week's list contains some alternative/acoustic sound in Jack Johnson's late 2010 release To the Sea, some melodic rock in Rise Against's brand new release Endgame, post-hardcore A Day to Remember's recent release that I previously posted about, as well as singles by Katy Perry, Eminem, and White Lies. Below are the track listings and respective album/single information:

1. White Lies: Bigger than Us

Release Date: 2010

Genre: Rock

Peak Chart: #42 (UK)

2. Katy Perry featuring Kanye West-E.T.

Release Date: 2011

Genre: Pop

Peak Chart: #1

3. Eminem-Space Bound

Release Date: 2011

Genre: Hip-Hop

Peak Chart: None

4-16. Jack Johnson-To the Sea

Release Date: 2010

Genre: Alternative

Peak Chart: #1
Track Listing:
1. "You and Your Heart"
2. "To the Sea"
3. "No Good with Faces"
4. "At or With Me"
5. "When I Look Up"
6. "From the Clouds"
7. "My Little Girl"
8. "Turn Your Love"
9. "The Upsetter"
10. "Red Wine, Mistakes, Mythology"
11. "Pictures of People Taking Pictures"
12. "Anything but the Truth"
13. "Only the Ocean"

17-28. Rise Against-Endgame

 

Release Date: 2011

Genre: Modern Rock

Peak Chart: #2
Track Listing:
1. "Architects"
2. "Help is on the Way"
3. "Make it Stop"
4. "Disparity by Design"
5. "Satellite"
6. "Midnight Hands"
7. "Survivor Guilt"
8. "Broken Mirrors"
9. "Wait for Me"
10. "A Gentlemen's Coup"
11. "This is Letting Go"
12. "Endgame"

29-38. A Day to Remember-What Separates Me from You

Release Date: 2010

Genre: Post-Hardcore

Peak Chart: #11
Track Listing:
1. "Sticks & Bricks"
2. "All I Want"
3. "It's Complicated"
4. "This Is the House That Doubt Built"
5. "2nd Sucks"
6. "Better Off This Way"
7. "This Is the House That Doubt Built"
8. "You'll Be Tails, I'll Be Sonic"
9. "Out of Time"
10. "If I Leave"

Some really good music that I truly have problems turning off and keeping out of my head, as much of it comes from 4 of my favorite artists (Rise, ADTR, Jack, and Marshall). The Katy Perry song is a bit out of my genre, but often those are the songs that you get stuck with the most. I probably will not have another post in this series for a while, however, as it takes me some time to get tired of the current playlists that I am listening to.
-Jarid Holliday

Animal Voice-Overs

One of my new favorite YouTube videos, this compilation of animal conversations and songs is really done accurately and is very funny as well. Slightly questionably catagorized as music, it is definitely worth posting about nonetheless.

Alan! Alan!
-Jarid Holliday

Jason Mraz Himself

This should make everyone want to run out and pick up a guitar-like instrument.

Hence why adopting an Asian baby only seems like a fun idea for a while.
-Jarid Holliday

Musician Hair

Pretty cool graphic of the changing of artists' hair over the years:

I believe my current haircut most closely resembles Carlos Santana. Tragically, my guitar skills do not do the same.

-Jarid Holliday

Band Name Origins

One topic regarding music that has always interested me has been the origin of famous band names. Having experimented with some music groups and performances myself, I have tasted the difficulty of coming up with a name for use as promotion. Many of the origins of bands have a variety of different backgrounds, but many of them have just been coincidental, hey-that-sounds-good whims that stayed. Below is a list of artists that interest me and how their names stuck:

AC/DC
A band member saw AC/DC on a sewing machine and figured it had something to do with power. He was right, as it meant "Alternating Current/Direct Current" It also was slang for bi-sexual which the band found out later as it caused some awkward moments in their beginning years.

Atreyu
Name after a character in "The Neverending Story".

Beatles

Despite multiple originating stories behind their band name, John Lennon is generally credited with the name creation as he was thought to have combined Beetles with Beat to come up with the Beatles spelling.

Blink-182
DeLonge came up with Blink over Duct Tape, and the band added -182 to avoid legal issues with an Irish pop band of the same name.

Breaking Benjamin
Named after frontman Ben Burnley knocked over and broke a microphone at an early performance.

Chevelle
Came from the band members passion for fast cars, as well as it being the original brothers' father's favorite.

Chumbawamba
A band member had a dream in which he did not know which public bathroom to use as the signs said "Chumba" and "Wamba". 

Doors
Name originated from the quote by William Blake, "If the doors of perception were to be cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite."

Bob Dylan
Being a fan of Dylan Thomas, he changed his original name of Robert Zimmerman as it was too long.

Eagles
Name was heavily inspired by the Byrds, a band that was a heavy influence of on the Eagles themselves.

Fall Out Boy
A fan suggested it as a reference to The Simpsons character Radioactive Man's sidekick.

Foo Fighters
Named after the term used for World War II unidentified flying objects, called foo fighters.

Green Day
A term that classified individuals who smoked pot and did nothing all day.

Led Zeppelin
Keith Moon told the band members that the band project would go over like a lead balloon, hence Led Zeppelin.

Linkin Park
Named as homage to Lincoln Park in Santa Monica.

Queen
Named by Freddie Mercury for the transsexual and glamorous images it presented.



The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Chosen by band members choosing random words written on a wall.

Rolling Stones
Suggested by Brian Jones, the name was inspired by the Muddy Waters song "Rolling Stone".

Styx
Named after the river in Greek mythology that served as the entrance way into hell.

U2
Named after a type of spy plane the US used within air reconnaissance.

The Who
Band members were brainstorming for name ideas and one suggested one and another replied, "the who?"

So when naming you future band, it is sometimes helpful to just go with the stars.
-Jarid Holliday

Shinedown: Diamond Eyes

A song released last summer from one of my favorite rock bands, Shinedown, Diamond Eyes has reached the #1 spot this month on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. It was written by Brent Smith and his crew for the 2010 action release, The Expendables. Director and leading actor of the film Sylvester Stallone himself contacted Smith to write the song for the film. It was later released as a bonus track on The Sound of Madness Deluxe Edition. Below is the music video which has clips of both live performances and of The Expendables film.

"This story is just beginning..."
-Jarid Holliday

Jake Shimabukuro Masters the Ukelele

Jake Shimabukuro is a Hawaiian ukulele performer who has garnered some fame while being apart of the musical group Pure Heart. His complex finger work as a solo artist has also produced some popularity on YouTube and other channels. Below are two of his videos, the second showing a good representation of his finger talent.

Cover of Thriller by Michael Jackson

 

Let's Dance

-Jarid Holliday

If They Walk Into Service Next Sunday...

...you should get up and leave pronto. This is one of the creepiest/worst performances I have seen in my life, but it does get some laughs. I had a hard time classifying it as music.

Praise the Lord that is over.
-Jarid Holliday

Tic Tac Orchestra

This guy is a little loony, which may also account for the idea he used for this form of music, but this is a pretty incredible use of breath fresheners:

Stay Fresh.
-Jarid Holliday

Week 5 Album Review: Chevelle-Sci-Fi Crimes

The theme of these music album reviews has been to bring information to my audience about upcoming album releases and their entities. Chevelle has been my favorite musical artist for a good 5 years, having been two of their shows and owning every piece of music they have released. The alternative metal band's upcoming untitled album is tentatively scheduled for fall 2011, with it possibly being either a fully acoustic album or harder rock similar to their 2002 release, Wonder What's Next. Chevelle has had one Platinum release (Wonder) and one Gold album (This Type of Thinking) up to this point in their career.  


Their most recent album, Sci-Fi Crimes, debuted on August 30th, 2009, at #6 on the Billboard Top 100, their highest debut of their 5 albums, and has sold around 100,000 copies to date.

Track Listing
1."Sleep Apnea" 
2. "Mexican Sun"
3. "Shameful Metaphors" 
4. "Jars" 
5. "Fell into Your Shoes"
6. "Letter from a Thief" 
7. "Highland's Apparition"
8. "Roswell's Spell"
9. "Interlewd"
10. "A New Momentum"
11. "This Circus"   


Sci-Fi is probably the album I have listened to the least of Chevelle's five, but it has some extremely good tunes nonetheless. This album continues Chevelle's signature heavy crushing guitars, melodic and soaring vocals, and consistent and smooth beats that the first four albums provided. The singles off of the album include: "Jars", "Letter from a Thief", and "Shameful Metaphors". The same three songs were all released as music videos as well, and can be found below.

Jars

Letter from a Thief

Shameful Metaphors



Chevelle is: (left to right) Sam Loeffler (drums), Pete Loeffler (vocals, guitars), and Dean Bernardini (bass, live backing vocals).

Though this upcoming album is a few months away, the announcement of the title and singles as well as the pre-order information will soon be upon us. You cannot be a true fan of good rock unless you purchase this album in some form.
-Jarid Holliday

White Lies-Bigger than Us

A recent music video that I came across that I really enjoyed was the song Bigger than Us by British rockers White Lies. The song is off of the album Ritual, released in 2010. The music video consists of a parody of the 1982 film, E.T., with a young boy being quarantined and a girl wrapped in a Bigger than Us candy bar. I found the boy singing the lyrics to the song throughout and the boy and the girl kissing to end the film comical, it being an overall well-done 3-minute piece.

-Jarid Holliday

Week 3 Album Review: Rise Against: Appeal to Reason

In the anticipation of melodic rock band, Rise Against's, upcoming 6th studio album, Endgame, I am reviewing their previous album, Appeal to Reason, as well as looking at Endgame's first single, Help is on the Way. Endgame is to be released a little over a month from now on March 15th. Rise Against's transition from hardcore punk to melodic rock has moved them towards the top of modern rock artists today, garnering them 2 Gold albums in the US and 3 Platinums in Canada. They have also been included on numerous compilations, soundtracks, and other media appearances. Below is their most recently released album, Appeal to Reason, released October 7, 2008.

Track Listing
1. "Collapse (Post-Amerika)"
2. "Long Forgotten Sons" 
3. "Re-Education (Through Labor)" 
4. "The Dirt Whispered"
5. "Kotov Syndrome"
6. "From Heads Unworthy"
7. "The Strength to Go On" 
8. "Audience of One"
9. "Entertainment"
10. "Hero of War"
11. "Savior"
12. "Hairline Fracture"
13. "Whereabouts Unknown"

This album easily being one of my favorite albums by any artist of all time, obviously had to contain some very excellent songs within. "Re-Education (Through Labor)", "Audience of One", and "Savior"were the three singles from the album, with "Savior" being one of my favorite songs of all time as well. The entire rest of the album of songs are all extremely good, combining deep raspy vocals with clean fast instrumentals. Appeal peaked at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling around 64,700 copies in its first week of release, and 490,000 to date, 10,000 short of Gold certification.

Savior Music Video

Upcoming Endgame Album Art:

Help is on the Way Single with Lyrics:

Stay tuned for more news on this Endgame's release and/or other Rise Against news. The single gives cause for another promising album. 

Listen informed.

-Jarid Holliday

Memories by David Guetta featuring Kid Cudi

For any of my roommates or those who discuss music with me, this song has most likely become a staple in their hated towards me for this irremovable stuck-in-head song. I really love the simplicity of the lyrics in this song, combined with the young adult attitude and demeanor. A driving beat laid down by Guetta, along with Cudi's ever-chill vocals make this song a must for any dance club or night of relaxation. The energy that the two artists present is a major cause as to why this song has become somewhat of a dance club anthem. Though this song has been out as a single for almost a year now, it still receives significant radio play. Thus, I will apologize, as the below video might get the catchy beat and lyrics stuck with you.

And a Behind the Scenes:

"Because it's getting late, but I don't mind."
-Jarid Holliday