Top 5 Songs Your New Year’s Eve Party Desperately Needs

JOSHUA’S TOP 5:

1. Parliament – “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off)”

It’s pretty impossible to have a party without George Clinton. I mean, seriously, can you remember the last time you went to a party and a Parliament/Funkadelic/George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic didn’t make an appearance on the playlist? You can? I’ll bet that party sucked. No? You’re lying to me now. It was so good you got blackout drunk and you met your future husband/wife? Just stop. You’re embarrassing yourself. Everyone knows no party is complete without some interplanetary funk.

2. Queen – “Don’t Stop Me Now”

It’s a party rock anthem before anyone called them party rock anthems. Everyone knows this song whether they know they know it. It comes on all slow and lures you in, and when it hits, it not only brings recognition but that sense of it’s. Motherfucking. On. It also benefits from having one of the best zombie-killing scenes in the history of zombie movies. I mean, who doesn’t like zombie-killing choreographed beat-to-beat, blow-for-blow to Queen?

3. MC Chris – “Fett’s Vette”

A song introduced to the world by Sealab 2021. It’s a rap song about Boba Fett. Quite honestly, there’s not much else to be said, save that it’s ba-nay-nay good. I mean, really. Fat-ass beats and Star Wars? How can it get any better?

4. The Lonely Island – “I’m On A Boat”

If you’ve watched SNL in the last 5 years or so, you probably know of the Lonely Island. No? Please. You know who Andy Samberg is, right? No? Come on, he’s totally huge. I Just Had Sex? Throw It To Ground? No? Really? Ok, then you have seen Dick in a Box, correct? Finally. If you liked Dick in a Box, you’ll love I’m On A Boat. Plus, it has T-Pain and a mermaid. Which he fucked, apparently. And for the record, everyone I know has heard and seen I Just Had Sex and Throw It To Ground. You gotta get with it. You haven’t seen I Just Had Sex and you go to parties where they don’t play George Clinton? Something’s wrong with you my friend.

5. Nappy Roots – “Aw Naw”

A classic song in the “Fuck, I remember that song!” genre. The beat is big drums and what seems like a Rhodes playing the hook. I love this song, and you do too. And you’ll love it even more when it comes on at party when you’re many, many drinks in and you’ve crossed that line of no return into ghostfaced wasted. And that’s exactly the kind of party I hope you’re at this New Year’s Eve. But no. You’re gonna be at party where there’s no George Clinton, where nobody has heard of Andy Samberg, and I’ll bet you’ll be able to drive home after the ball drops. If you are this person, I doubt you’re reading this blagablag. But if you aren’t, Nappy Roots is perfect for your party. Trust me.

Honorable Mentions:

• Jamiroquai- “Virtual Insanity”: Claire and I both have a thing for this song and we’ll put it on just about any party mix.
• Rare Earth – “I Just Want to Celebrate”: A little on the nose, I know. But it’s pretty sweet to play drinking games to this song.
• DJ Danger Mouse and Jay Z – “99 Problems”: This is 99 problems mixed to The Beatles “Helter Skelter.” I feel like Jay Z should, but will never, recognize that this version is way, way better than his.

CLAIRE’S TOP 5:

1. Friends– “I’m His Girl”

Brooklyn hipster funk, but funky nonetheless, with a rare happy relationship message. Friends extols the virtues of independence and supportiveness, all to the tune of a very sexy, pseudo-dance-worthy beat. Check out their cover of “My Boo,” but be warned:  “If your game is on, give me a call boo” will be running through your head for weeks. Consider it a New Years present from me.

2. Xaphoon Jones (Mash up of B.I.G., Beyonce, & Passion Pit)- “Swimming in the Sky”

Xaphoon Jones has turned the mashup genre, which I strictly associated with crappy late night radio musical calisthenics, into an art form. For your party mix, I see this as a “Some people are here and this will get crazy in about 40 minutes” song and a “I’m drinking a glass of wine pre-party, taking one last long look at my clean house before these loveable idiots come over and trash it” song.

3. Phoenix– “Too Young”

A few weeks ago, I watched “Lost in Translation” on a plane. It was a last ditch attempt to get my boyfriend to like a movie that had been embarrassingly meaningful to a seventeen year old me (Not only did I steal ScarJo’s muted preppy wardrobe and shaggy haircut, but stole her standard greeting, a low-voiced weirdly drawn out “Helllloooo”) We had just been to Tokyo, had even slurped overpriced cocktails at the bar where most of the film takes place, so I was sure he would like the movie much more this time around. He did. But in a turn of events that won’t surprise anyone who has revisited movies they slavishly adored as teens, I didn’t like it nearly as much, except for one scene. Everyone is dancing in a little apartment in Tokyo, drinking champagne and laughing at nothing, with this song playing. No matter how disappointing the rest of the movie was, that scene made me think “I want to be at that party.” Which means this song should be at your party. And, fingers crossed, Scarlet Johanson and Bill Murray should be there too (It could happen.)

4. Talking Heads– Life During Wartime

I think in the world of dance-worthy Talking Heads songs, “Life During Wartime” doesn’t get a fair shake. We get it, “Burning Down the House.” You’re awesome. But you’ve been overplayed at every bar with half-decent music, and every bar mitzvah hosted by aging hippie parents, and enough is enough. I say in 2012, we bid adieu to “Burning Down the House” and kick off a more varied Talking Heads diet, starting with this song. For a primer on the Talking Heads diet, go watch “Stop Making Sense” and pick up a giant grey suit. Jump roping back up singers help too.

5. James Brown– “Get Up Offa That Thing”

You know those people who show up at your party and don’t dance? Even when shit gets started, even when the champagne is flowing and and things are officially fun, not forced party merriment fun, but plain old fun? Even when the music is awesome, the room is crowded and appropriately sweaty? Don’t worry about those too-mellow-party-poopers hovering in the corners. Turn this song on and TRY not to dance.

Honorable Mentions:

• Etta James– “Tell Mama”: That voice! That beat! Those eyebrows! We all need a little more Etta in our lives. Start the year off right (and depending on how your night goes, start it off right later in the night with “I Just Want to Make Love To You.” You can wake up the next morning with a hangover and “Sunday Kind of Love.” I’m rooting for you.)
• Janelle Monae– “Tightrope”: Her silky voice, the drums, the beat: This is party song perfection, complete with tuxedos, bouffants, and Big Boi.
• Outkast– “Bombs Over Baghdad”: This is a quality rowdy, lets-take-this-party-to-the-next-level, “OMG I REMEMBER THIS SONG” track.

Top 5 Hometown Songs (claire & joshua)

Hometown songs: What reminds you of home? And what do you listen to when you get there?

Claire’s List

Birdhouse in Your Soul, by They Might be Giants

The first apartment was home to a family of spirited termites, who made quick work of our kitchen and forced the super to rip out the kitchen tiles and replace them with something incongruously spiffy. I picked raspberries with my mom in the summer from the bushes behind the building, and after daycare I watched Gilligans Island and My Two Dads repeats while I built block castles in front of the TV. My parents were young and tired and seemed impossibly glamorous, with their revolving door of friends, piles of records, and the occasional champagne bottle iced in my old sand bucket.  I lived in that apartment until I was six years old. This song (this album really, but we’re not on that list yet, are we?) was part of the soundtrack of those early Baltimore, little kid years. 

You Ain’t Going Nowhere, by the Byrds

Long before the Wire, America’s cultural touchstone for Baltimore, there was Homicide. In one episode, a character mentioned how you never get out of Baltimore, really. No matter where you end up, you come back. My father thought this was hilarious. (Note: He will deny this entire story. Look forward to his rebuttal “Claire’s false memories about conversations she wasn’t in and TV shows she wasn’t allowed to watch as a child.”) When I asked him why, he said “Because it’s true.”  The chorus of this song has always reminded me of that. You laugh at being here. Or you laugh at the well intentioned folks across the country whose eyes go wide when they learn where you’re from. (And how could I ever explain hot crabs caked in Old Bay, Ronnie slinging drinks that you wouldn’t dare call cocktails as regulars heckle the O’s, the Orthodox families meandering down the middle of the road on Friday nights, the cold so bitter and the heat so thick and honey suckle scented? Sure it’s like the Wire, buddy. TV is 100% real. Didn’t you know that?)

Baltimore, by the 5 Chinese Brothers

I was six years old (or some other short, shy sort of age) and the 5 Chinese Brothers were playing at a record shop. My parents and a gaggle of my father’s high school friends sat up front, but when the music started, I ran away to an aisle in the back of the shop and started to dance. I was wearing a twirly, swirly number, and I spun and snapped, my skirt swishing as they sang about fathers, and Baltimore, and girls who swayed to old girl group songs. I was a painfully quiet kid. The world outside my tight circle of stuffed animals and dolls was mostly terrifying. But that night I danced and danced and fell in love with “Singer Songwriter Beggarman Thief” and would over and over again, through every stage of life, a little more each time. This song I loved first. Still do. 

Dance Tonight, by Lucy Pearl

No one remembers Lucy Pearl. But you should. An early 90s hip hop one-album-super group, composed of members of Tony! Toni! Tone!, A Tribe Called Quest, and En Vogue, Lucy Pearl should’ve gotten bigger than their minor hit on the “Save the Last Dance” soundtrack. I loved homecoming dances. At our school, they were nonsense parties, based around sports teams no one paid any attention to (I went to an arts school without a football team. Our pep rallies involved blowing bubbles in a field…and that’s about it). The chaperoning was minimal, the dancing was deeply inappropriate, and the whole thing was one big fun, Top 40 fueled, sweaty mess. The fun really started in the hours before, when I would slip into my dress and flat iron my hair (a rarity, back then) and let my mom do her meticulous makeup handiwork. Lucy Pearl, so upbeat but mellow, a little funky and pop-py in the best way, was the perfect soundtrack for those pre-homecoming rituals.

Uncle John’s Band, by the Grateful Dead

Fellow children of Deadheads, if you didn’t endlessly listen to this song, and like it from the get go (unlike the Dicks Picks and dawdling cassette boot legs, which were alternately brilliant and incoherent), then your parents probably only went to 10 shows or some other lunacy. Stop calling yourself the children of Deadheads. To the rest of you, I’ll see you at the meetings.

Joshua’s List

Light Up My Room, by the Barenaked Ladies

When I was 17 or so, I broke up with a girl who cheated on me. I was devastated. Yet somehow, I was able to meet a new girlfriend within weeks of ending that relationship. I was taken with her and decided I wanted to put my new guitar playing “skills” to work wooing this lady. I decided to learn how to play this song, which is uniquely beautiful. It’s not a love song, per se, but it does paint a breathtaking picture of familiar love, of two people who live with each other and love each other dearly. If you’ve not listened to it, and you like love songs, try it.

Dear Maggie, by the Kelly Bell Band

Maybe this is in bad taste, but this song relates to the same girl from the previous song. A few months into dating (which is, of course, an eternity in high school), I took a road trip with a church choir to play bass for them. On this trip, I was intensely homesick and this was compounded by this girl who was totally up on my shnutz. I’ve never cheated on someone but this was the most tempted I’ve ever been. I stood my ground and refused her advances. The whole time I couldn’t shake this song. Its lyrics seemed to float in reference in my mind between my girlfriend and this temptress. At the same time, the first line in the chorus, “Dear Maggie, can you help me please?” seemed like a reverent supplication to a higher power, asking what I should do. The song is tough to listen to now but it’s still one of my favorites.

Li’l Darlin’, by Count Basie
I was 13 years old when I first played this song. I can remember my middle school jazz band conductor screaming at us to get the staccato notes in the main melody right every time I turn it on. The single notes are particularly tough for a band to get super tight. Every band member has to not only hit them at the precise moment, but they have to be the exact length down to the millisecond and have to fade from loud to soft to loud all with in the span of less than a second. These are the kind of things that it’s tough for adult bands to do and we teenagers were being asked of perfection. And it worked. We won many a band competition based on the strength of this ballad. This song is the reason I say that I’m a sucker for ballads.

When It Rains, by Brad Mehldau
I love to make mix tapes. And Rob Gordon was right, there is a formula one must follow when making one. However, there isn’t a consensus on what one should end the tapes with. Some believe you need to make it end on extremely high note with an up-tempo song that leaves the listener wanting more. I’m of the belief it’s better to build up to that song with a few songs before it, then end with a denouement that leaves a feeling of total satisfaction, usually a ballad or a slower song. This is the song I set as a gold standard for that. It starts and ends slow and has an absolutely stunning solo by Mehldau in the middle section then fades back to slow. But what makes this song hit home so hard is that I have always wanted to make music like this. Before I broke my wrists, I was a pretty decent jazz bassist. I spent nearly 10 years of my life playing jazz and this is the perfect example of music I wanted to be a part of and now I’ll never be.

Mushroom (live, off of eleven/fifteen), by Laughing Colors

 
I know I said I like to end with a ballad, but I had to save this song for the last. It’s the song. There is no other song that reminds me of home more than this version of this song. And the version is so specific, too. When I was in high school I was in love with this band. I would see them play at the Recher all the time in the best triple bill of all time: Laughing Colors, Kelly Bell Band, then the Almighty Senators. Those of you not from Baltimore may not understand this, but those are the Holy Trinity of Baltimore local bands. And this was the pinnacle of that achievement for me. I only had this live version of the song because I was poor and could only afford to buy this album for a long time. And what it album it was. The best part is that this song isn’t even that good in the scheme of good songs. I just am wildly attached to it. And I really don’t care if you don’t like it or judge me for liking it.

Honorable Mentions:

The Bridge – Rising Sun: A band from Baltimore I got into before they were (slightly) famous. This is their best song. Claire knows what I’m talking about.

Old Crow Medicine Show – Wagon Wheel : This was excluded from the main list because it wasn’t a hometown song, but a song that reminds me of all the people from St. Mary’s. I suppose if I ever moved from Maryland it would be hometown-ish. Everyone I knew at St. Mary’s knew this song, and half of those people could play it.

Pink Martini – Sympathique: Claire and I both took French language classes for many, many years. This song, also introduced to me by the girl half this post was written about, reminds me of a simpler time, struggling through the ridiculous conjugations the French language has. Also, the song is totally French. The lyrics to the chorus, in English, are: “I don’t want to work, I don’t want to eat, I just want to forget, and then I smoke.” Classic.

I was made for a Kate Hudson movie.

Last week, I mentioned the delightful Ms. Liz Phair’s disappointing descent into rom-com-soundtrack madness with the song “Why Can’t I.” I just heard “Love, Save the Empty” by Erin McCarley and thought “Kate Hudson? Where are you Kate Hudson?” and “Maybe I should watch Greys Anatomy again?” (same genre, really).

Now for an example of an “I was made for an angsty early 90s anti-rom-com starring Winona Ryder” song, see Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You.”

Top 5 Bad Songs by Good Artists (claire & joshua)

Claire’s List:

Good artist: Liz Phair

Bad song: Why Can’t I?

In 2004, Liz Phair decided to replace her beloved bad girl indie image with a toothy, crooning, Top 40 makeover. In the grand scheme of this “I was created for the opening credits of a Kate Hudson movie” genre of pop, Why Can’t I is not a horrible song. But from the woman who wrote Exile from Guyville, from the voice that sang Polyester Bride and Shitloads of Money on repeat in my bedroom during a two year long middle-school whitechocolatespaceegg bender? It’s a disappointment on par with the weird “I Love the 90s” appearances she made where she listed each year’s top Fuck and Run guys. Ick. 

 

Good artist: Loudon Wainwright III

Bad song: I Wish I Was A Lesbian

Loudon Wainwright is funny. He has the goofy grin and the jerky movements, he has the blinking twitchy schstick, he was Katherine Heigl’s kooky gynecologist (Knocked Up), mentored every comedian you’ve liked over the past eight years (Undeclared), hell, the man was on MASH (…MASH). I like his funny songs. The one where they all do acid? Priceless. He Says She Says? A personal, parallelogram filled favorite. I Wish I Was A Lesbian? An overplayed, over twangy, not even particularly funny bit of AM DJ trash. 

Good artist: Richard Thompson

Bad Song: Cold Kisses

I like creepy, haunting Richard Thompson. But this is just creepy. Richard Thompson, I want you to misunderstand and talk about Bathsheba and plead for what’s already yours! Not play a gross guy game of underwear rifling and dick-comparing.  

 

Good artist: Elvis Costello

Bad song: Cover of “What the World Needs Now” with Burt Bacharach

Lounge Lizard madness, from one of the world’s greatest singer/songwriters. I’m sure this made a lovely first dance song for all the weddings no one wanted to go to that year (“Did they just do a rap version of Corinthians? Why are the bridesmaids wearing sailor hats? DAMNIT, IS THAT ELVIS COSTELLO AND BURT F**KING BACHARACH?!”)

Good artist: Bob Dylan

Bad song: Man Gave Names to All the Animals

After albums like Blonde on Blonde, and Blood on the Tracks, Dylan mixed it up by becoming a born again Christian and releasing the early folk version of Veggie Tales. This is really all I have to say:

“He saw an animal up on a hill

Chewing up so much grass until she was filled

He saw milk coming out but he didn’t know how

“Ah, think I’ll call it a cow”.”

Joshua’s List

Good artist: Eric Clapton

Bad song: I Shot the Sheriff

Why do white people have such an obsession with covering reggae music? It never seems to work. And this time it fails miserably. The song isn’t that great to begin with and this is like the bubblegum-made-with-Splenda version….Yeah.

Good artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Bad song: Deep Kick

The whole album this is on, One Hot Minute, is awful. And this song is heinous. It’s like John Prine meets Donovan meets Flea waking up from a bad booze, speed, and heroin hangover. This band was based on speed rock funk. Anything under 80 bpm just seems weird and this is truly bizarre. I just want to ask everyone involved what they were thinking, all the way down to the mixing board tech. Awful. 

Good artist: Led Zeppelin

Bad song: Carouselambra

As good as the two previous albums (House of the Holy and Physical Graffiti) are, that’s how bad this song and the album it’s on is (and the grammar of this sentence). If that made no sense, that’s fine, because that’s exactly how I feel about this song. Why is there like 20 minutes of synth playing? Why does it alternate between fast and slow parts? What the hell were they smoking that made them write and record this song? Baffling.

Good artist: Michael Jackson

Bad song: You Are Not Alone

The song is bad. It’s Michael Jackson meets Michael Bolton. And the video just makes it even worse. A newly white and disfigured Michael sings to a very pale and odd looking Lisa Marie Presley. And they’re both naked! What. The. F**K. 

Good artists: Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney

Bad song: Ebony and Ivory

I saved the worst for last. Stevie and Paul both have some of the greatest music ever recorded, but this gets close to the worst song ever recorded. It’s not “Friday” or “Party All The Time” bad, but it’s right under it. It’s patronizing to both the artists and the fans. And simply putrid to listen to. I don’t know even know how to talk about this song without the bile rising in the back of the throat. That sounds like hyperbole, but I just spit up a little listening to the refrain. I mean, does anyone like this song? Anyone out there in blagosphere even remotely like this song? I’m willing to bet serious money that no one has ever liked this song, including Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney.

Honorable Mentions:

• BB King and Heavy D – Keep It Coming: Another entry in the Worst Duets contest.
• Cake – Dime: It’s no secret that I love Cake. I routinely blast them when I’m driving. But this song is bad. The worst part is the refrain, where John McCrea lands the word “shine” for nearly 3 measures.
• Rage Against the Machine – Anything off the album Renegades: It’s no small wonder that they broke up after this album. The only passable song is the cover of “Maggie’s Farm,” but that’s only because it’s such a good song to begin with. The worst part is that the song selection is fantastic, it’s just the execution that is terrible.

Top 5 Covers: The Leftover List (claire and joshua)

this week, we talked covers. five wasn’t enough; hell, neither was eight. so for all you fellow musical gluttons out there, here are our leftover lists, for your Friday listening pleasure. enjoy.

Joshua’s List

Song: Personal Jesus

Covered by: Johnny Cash

Originally by: Depeche Mode

Song: Sunshine (Go Away Today)

Covered by: The Isley Brothers

Originally by: Jonathan Edwards

Song: Smooth Criminal

Covered by: Alien Ant Farm

Originally by: Michael Jackson

Claire’s List

Song: That’s it, I quit, I’m movin’ on

Covered by: Adele

Originally by: Sam Cooke

Song: Men’s Needs

Covered by: Kate Nash

Originally by: The Cribs

Song: New Paint

Covered by: Elvis Costello

Originally by: Loudon Wainwright III

Top 5 Covers (by Claire and Joshua)

Claire’s Top 5 Covers

Song: Go Straight to Hell

Cover by: Lily Allen

Originally by: The Clash

Lily Allen’s lullaby-sweet vocals and borderline-cheery background music, paired with these classic Clash lyrics, makes an already haunting song doubly so and gives “Go Straight to Hell” some dichotomous whimsy.

Song: I Go To Sleep

Cover by: Sia

Originally by: The Kinks

Sia will haunt your f**king dreams. I know it’s a different song, but can we talk about the end of Six Feet Under? Come on. This is also a song made for covers: Look up versions by The Pretenders, Peggy Lee, and a very young Cher.

Song: Magnet

Cover by: Yo La Tengo

Originally by: NRBQ

I listened to this song at least a thousand times when I was eighteen years old. It was one of those classic “Oh, you wrote this for me” moments you have with music in early college, where heightened emotions and self obsession are at their peak. My father and an old boss of mine would call it blasphemy, but I like this version way more than the original, which has a grating level of upbeat NRBQness.

Song: I’m On Fire

Cover by: Bats for Lashes

Originally by: Bruce Springsteen

Also, haunting, because this is apparently Claire’s haunted covers collection. Boo.

Song: Needles and Pins

Cover by: The Ramones

Originally by: Jack Nitzsche and Sonny Bono

This was originally recorded by Jackie DeShannon, which is a great version. It’s another song made for covers: Look up the Cher version (I know, Cher again, who knew super young Cher was so awesome?) and the Tom Petty/ Stevie Nicks cover, which is lovely.

Honorable Mentions:

• “Raspberry Beret,” cover by Warren Zevon and The Hindu Love Gods
• “Naive,” cover by Lily Allen
• “Hard to Handle,” cover by Toots and the Maytals

Josh’s Top 5 Covers

Song: I Will Survive

Covered by: Cake

Originally by: Gloria Gaynor

This song encapsulates everything Cake is about: emotionally subdued vocals, fat-ass bass riff, and funky guitar. They take the original version, a glitzy, disco’d-out dance number by Gloria Gaynor, and strip it down the bare necessities: punchy drums and a thumping bass line. They then add John McCrea’s staple singing and quite possibly the best one-note guitar solo ever recorded. Plus he swears! And there’s a vibraslap! And a mid-song count-off! It doesn’t get much better than this.

Song: Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight

Covered by: The Isley Brothers

Originally by: James Taylor

The original version is done by James Taylor. This version can convince anyone to drop their pants and get it on. Being able to do that with a song written by James Taylor? Priceless.

Song: Take Me to the River

Covered by: Talking Heads

Originally by: Al Green and Mabon “Teenie” Hodges

This version nails the song in a way Al Green never conceived. It’s harrowing in a way only David Byrne’s vocals can convey and the backup singers only further that goal. The sparse instrumentals are the kicker in this version: the majority of the song is one drum riff and one repeated bass line. I don’t know how Byrne decided to do the song this way, but it’s another version where the desperation of the lyrics is shown off better in the cover than the original.

Song: I Know I’m Losing You

Covered by: Rod Stewart

Originally by: The Temptations

I’m gonna go out on a limb here. I think this is a better version than the original…which is done by the Temptations. I know that sounds blasphemous, but this version wins on every level. The guitar work is funky, the drumming is amazing, and Stewart’s raspy vocals appeal the song’s message in a way the smooth sounds of the Temptations never could. It’s all together more desperate and wanton than the Temptations ever had the capacity to be.

Song: Hallelujah

Covered by: Jeff Buckley

Originally by: Leonard Cohen

The original was haunting and vaguely spiritual. This version is all sex, dripping with lonely reverb-laden guitar notes, plucked individually and rarely strummed, and filled to the brim with regret and shame. It’s like sleeping with your ex-girlfriend and then seeing her the next day in another man’s arms, laughing coyly and casually playing with his hair. It’s the kind of broken-hearted that makes you want to drink scotch all night listening to Charlie Rich and smoking profusely in the dark. This song is not for the faint of heart.

Honorable Mentions:

• “The Guitar Man,” cover by Cake: A great version of a great song, with the ever present Cake “YA!”.
• “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” cover by Toots & the Maytals: So much better with a Jamaican accent. Isn’t everything?
• “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These,” cover by Marilyn Manson: Put this song on in the dark at three in the morning. It’s actually scary.
• “Hurt,” cover by Johnny Cash: A cover so good that the original writer, Trent Reznor, said that the song was Cash’s from then on.

charm city jukebox: intro

In a far away/ not so far away city called Baltimore, my childhood friend Josh and I spent a decade and some change developing discarded Top-5-insert-musical-reference-here lists, trading jokes, divulging musical guilty pleasures, then justifying those guilty pleasures…then renouncing them once anyone else was in ear shot (patrons of a certain questionable-jukebox-posessing-best-melt-the-enamal-off-your-teeth-strong-cocktails-slinging Baltimore dive, you know who you are). We’ve decided these conversations need a home, so like all good obsessive, possibly-a-little-pretentious people, we’re starting a blog blog series, right here, on this blog. Expect silly lists and bad jokes. Let’s start the show.