Whole lotta something

In honor of the RAWK SAWNG OF THE DAY - Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” – I offer a whole lotta tiny thoughts about today’s songs. 

Queens of the Stone Age – “Do It Again”

Whole lotta ego.

And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – “Monsoon”

Whole lotta drugs.

Elvis Costello – “Lip Service”

Whole lotta sass.

The Flaming Lips – “Buggin’”

Whole lotta kick drum (and bubbles).

Wilco – “In a Future Age”

Whole lotta dreaming.

John Lennon – “Working Class Hero”

Whole lotta repitition.

Mute Math – “Picture”

Whole lotta lost love.

Albert Hammond Jr. – “Hard to Live in the City”

Whole lotta nothing. Must delete this album immediately. Sucks to an embarrassing degree after first listen.

The Beatles – “Good Day Sunshine”

Whole lotta keys.

The Minus 5 – “Great News Around You”

Whole lotta harmony.

The Darkness – “Blind Man”

Whole lotta spandex.

George Harrison – “I’d Have You Anytime”

Whole lotta romance.

Metallica – “Ride The Lightning”

Whole lotta power chords.

RAWK SAWNG OF THE DAY: Led Zeppelin – “Whole Lotta Love”

Whole lotta Plant-o-gasms.

Creeper Lagoon – “Keep From Moving”

Whole lotta hope.

Bob Dylan – “Pledging My Time”

Whola lotta harmonica.

Clearlake – “It’s All Too Much”

Whole lotta purgatory.

David Bowie – “Rebel, Rebel”

Whole lotta lipstick.

Injected – “Only Hurts Awhile”

Whole lotta rhymes.

Incubus – “Diamonds And Coal”

Whole lotta snap.

Stars – “Ageless Beauty”

Whole lotta X chromosome.

Skybombers – “6 a.m.”

Whole lotta snarling.

Breakdown: 22 songs, three places

If anyone knows how to prevent my cell phone from interfering with my car stereo, I’ll give you some gum. I’ve about had it with the incessant buzz-hum-crack interruptions.

Don’t die

Thursday May 1

Son Volt – “Medication”

Lucero – “Anjalee”

RAWK SAWNG OF THE DAY: The Beatles – “Helter Skelter”

Rolled into the OPUBCO parking lot with this song blaring and the sunroof down. One of the grizzly maintenance workers flashed some rock horns at me. I normally wouldn’t consider a Beatles song for Rawk Sawng of the Day, but there’s no way to ignore it thanks to grizzled maintenance man. Clearly the highlight of the day.

Sloan – “Back Stabbin”

Jet – “Eleanor”

Foo Fighters – “See You”

Smashing Pumpkins – “Window Paine”

Centro-matic – “Upton to Riverhead to Mastic”

The Dresden Dolls – “My Alcoholic Friends”

If not for the armpit hair, I might find Amanda Palmer as fresh and sexy as her voice. Oh well. Voice will do just fine.

And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – “Naked Sun”

Stone Temple Pilots – “Tumble in the Rough”

Pretty interesting Weiland interview here.

BEST BAND YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD: Chris Whitley - “Rocket House”

He’s dead, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give the man a chance. Another great ATO Records signing, and one of the few who never took off like they should’ve. Sounds like what David Gray would probably sound like if he was from Texas and had balls. 

Jimmy Eat World – “If You Don’t, Don’t”

Ryan Adams – “Bartering Lines”

Jeff Buckley – “Demon John”

Ours – “Fallen Souls”

Big Star – “September Gurls”

Ben Folds Five – “Mess”

The Minus 5 – “You Don’t Mean It”

The Flaming Lips – “Yeah Yeah Yeah Song”

There’s not a band on the planet other than the Lips that could pull off a song as ridiculous as this one. ‘Tis a compliment. Rumor has it a circus tent stage setup will replace the UFO this summer. How appropriate.

Clearlake – “Neon”

Black Helicopter – “Head of Steam”

Kula Shaker – “K”

Breakdown: 23 songs, four locations

The iPod battery died today. I slipped into a pathetic bout of depression when I heard the same Nickelback song on three different rock stations during the 10-minute drive home. This should be outlawed.

A sewer song

Ryan Adams – “Is This It?”

The Beatles – “Honey Pie”

To quote a regular customer at the record store where I once worked: “Listening to album tracks by The Beatles is like discovering your woman has another hole to stick it in.”

I’ll never forget that line no matter what degree of Alzheimer’s I suffer from or what type of anvil dents my skull.

Elvis Costello – “Tear Off Your Own Head”

The Clash – “Brand New Cadillac”

Blue October – “Into the Ocean”

Led Zeppelin – “No Quarter”

Jimmy Eat World – “Kill”

Injected – “Misunderstood”

And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – “Homage”

The Feds – “Face Down”

Stone Temple Pilots – “Daisy”

They’re back. Screw Slash. Long live DeLeo.

And You WIll Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – “Days of Being Wild”

Starlight Mints – “Pulling Out My Hair”

Flickerstick – “Catholic Scars and Chocolate Bars”

Ryan Adams – “The Drugs Are Not Working”

The Flaming Lips – “Free Radicals”

Radiohead – “Sulk”

This was once my favorite song. I tried to remember why this afternoon and failed. The Bends remains one of the ten best albums ever made, even if I’ve divorced “Sulk.”

Uncle Tupelo – “Grindstone”

Wilco – “Hummingbird (live)”

Didn’t care much for A Ghost is Born the first time I heard it. Or the second. Or third. I pretty much gave up on the album for about six months until I heard some bootlegs of the songs live. This was one of them, and it completely changed everything. Now I worship Ghost just as much as the rest of the Wilco catalog.

Led Zeppelin – “The Songs Remains the Same”

Clearly the best opening songs in the history of rock and roll. If you want to argue about it, I’ll sick the hounds on you.

Shuggie Otis – “Happy House”

Rewake – “Homeless Genius”

Stevie Wonder – “You’ve Got It Bad Girl”

Wilco – “I’m Always in Love”

The Fags – “Rockstar”

Paul McCartney – “Only Mama Knows”

Never cared much for Wings, but this song is what I wish they would’ve sounded like.

Golden Smog – “5-22-02″

Breakdown:

27 songs

8 during commute to work (had a morning assignment)

16 at work

3 during commute home

I spent most of the morning with a city sewer worker for a profile story. Once we got all the sewer chatter out of the way, we wound up talking tunes. It was refreshing to hear such a simple man talk so passionately about the music he’s loved his whole life. There wasn’t a bit of pretense or cynicism coming from this guy. He loves music unconditionally. Wish I knew more like him.