MY TOP 10: Videos/Songs You Wouldn’t Think I Would Like — OUTRODUCTION

Outroduction

Well, I didn’t quite make my Christmas deadline.   Merry Christmas everybody!  I still have a few more posts I’d like to get out for December 2008.  I guess I’ll try to get them done on Christmas Day (later today).

There you have it.  December 2008′s MY TOP 10 is complete.  I guess to some it would seem kind of random.  I described the challenges I would face in the INTRODUCTION.  I think there was some rhyme and reason to my order, though.   And, I hope it shines a little light on my musical taste beyond what someone might think it is.

Hope you enjoyed it.  I packed a lot more videos into this one.  Next month I think I’m going to try to go back to shorter write-ups and single videos per posting.  I guess I felt like this was my big year-end hurrah for MY TOP 10.  So, I was trying to maximize your entertainment value.

Check back in January 2009 for another installment of MY TOP 10.  For January, I’ll be going back to just  featuring a solo artist’s videos.  Not telling you who it is yet.  You’ll have to tune back in to find out who it will be for yourselves.

Again, Merry Christmas and thanks for checking out MY TOP 10 Video Countdown.

Sincerely,

freddie beat
popolio editor

 

MY TOP 10: Videos/Songs You Wouldn’t Think I Would Like — 1. Young Love “Find A New Way”

1. Young Love “Find A New Way”

I was introduced to Number 1 through J. Lo’s MTV reality show about dancers trying to make it, DanceLife.  I love to dance.  Not a trained dancer, but not a bad freestyle/club dancer, if I do say so myself.  And I love J. Lo.  So, I checked out the show and loved it.  Wish MTV had picked it up for a second season.

Anyway, Young Love’s “Find a New Way” was the opening song.  And the routine the dancers on the show do to it just bananas.  I also think it was genius to use this song for a J.Lo vehicle.  You would think it’d be a J.Lo song or pop/R&B song, but they used this instead. 

It embodies what the show was about and what a passion for dancing entails.  I liked it so much I checked out Young Love.  I didn’t know if it was just a guy or a band or what.  I still don’t really know.  Dan Keyes seems to be the main guy.  I picked up the debut album, Too Young to Fight It.  Loved it!  He really felt like a rich man’s Justin Timberlake; really hipper than JT, to me.  Not as poppy and R&B, more electro.  I just dug the sounds and songs.

His record company won’t allow the videos to be embedded on YouTube, so I could  only link them here.  The first video is the DanceLife intro so you can see my inspiration.  The links that follow are 2 versions of Number 1 – the original version and a black-and-white version directed by fashion photographer Terry Richardson and featuring model Kemp Muhl.  I really do love to dance!  Just felt like confessing that to the universe.

ORIGINAL VERSION

TERRY RICHARDSON DIRECTED VERSION FEATURING MODEL KEMP MUHL

 

MY TOP 10: Videos/Songs You Wouldn’t Think I Would Like — 2. Juliette & The Licks “Got Love To Kill”

2. Juliette & The Licks “Got Love To Kill”

I love Juliette & The Licks.  I never was a big Juliette Lewis fan as just an actor.  I liked her enough and I thought she gave above-par performances.  Okay, she was a little different, weird, interesting, and really killed her performances,  actually.  Definitely, fun to watch.

But, I’m a sucker for performers who like to be Renaissance Women.  I love actresses who try to delve into the music scene.  So, once I knew she was an actress trying to do the music thing that made her more appealing to me.  I don’t know what it is about multi-media queens; they just do it for me.

I picked up the EP,…Like A Bolt of Lightning, liked it.  Then, I picked up the debut, You’re Speaking My Language, and loved it.  Second album, Four on the Floor, is okay, but I really love the first.  

What’s fun about Juliette is that most actresses-turned-singers try to do the pop thing.  And I grativate to the pop girls, normally.  But, Juliette is really trying to do the rock-and-roll/punk/band thing and she’s doing it well.   They’ve been cutting their teeth touring in Europe for years now.  I saw them live here in Austin in 2007 and they’re pretty damn good.

She’s not the typical actress and doesn’t pick the typical roles, so why would she do music typically?  She wouldn’t!  There’s actually a lot of soulfulness to the music on the first album and I love the raspiness to her voice.  I wouldn’t have liked the first album, otherwise.

Number 2 is my favorite song from the debut release and as a BONUS I’m throwing in another catchy ditty, “Hot Kiss,” the debut video/single from Four on the Floor.  

 

MY TOP 10: Videos/Songs You Wouldn’t Think I Would Like — 3. Sophie B. Hawkins “As I Lay Me Down”

3. Sophie B. Hawkins “As I Lay Me Down”

I don’t know if people would be surprised that I like Sophie B. Hawkins.  She started as a mainstream pop siren and then kind of went her own way and did her own thing.  I have her debut, Tongues and Tails, on tape.  I bought her first fully and creatively independent release, Wilderness, many years later, on CD.  I like both and still listen to both at times, so I’d say I’m a fan.  And I would check out her other releases new and old, eventually, too.

She did kind of become an artist that comes out of left field and seems to exist in an aura that’s a little on the unexpected side.  “As I Lay Me Down” from her sophomore release, Whaler, is classic Sophie B. Hawkins.  It’s  just beautiful and I love the African flourishes.

She’s still in the pop arena, but she definitely brings other influences and does her own quirky thing.  I like her.  This is why she’s Number 3 with “As I Lay Me Down.”

2 versions of this video were released.  Since I did have technical difficulties and this countdown sort of got derailed, I’m sharing 4 videos for your patience and pleasure.  “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover,” which kicked off her career with a boom, is the BONUS.  Apparently, there’s 2 versions of this video, too.   

You get the 2 versions of “As I Lay Me Down” and the 2 versions of  “Damn…”   The black-and-white one is the second “official” version.  And the last is the original version that was banned by MTV.  I don’t really see why.  Enjoy!

 

MY TOP 10: Videos/Songs You Wouldn’t Think I Would Like — 4. blink-182 “I Miss You”

I’m back biotches!  Seriously, though, I’ll be trying to play catch-up here in the next hours before Christmas Day.  That was my goal.  So, let the countdown continue…

4. blink-182 “I Miss You”

I loved this song since I first heard it.  To me, it’s one of those songs that just transcends all genres and formats and is just an instant classic.  I felt the same way when I heard Macy Gray’s “I Try.”  In the case of the latter, I knew it was a song for the pop annalls.  I know people like to make fun because of her voice and I have a friend who does an amusing impression, but it’s a good song and Macy is doin’ her thing.

In the case of the former, I bought the whole CD, their self-titled 2003 release, because of Number 4.  Well, it was partly because I loved the song, but it was also because every now and again I try to expand my musical horizons by purchasing a CD I wouldn’t otherwise have purchased.  I try to expand my pop bubble or  maybe even pop my pop bubble.

Sometimes a new CD takes and I have a new artist to add to my pantheon of divas.  Other times, not so much.  In the case of blink-182, I can’t say I was playing the CD out or that any of the other songs spoke to me.  Doesn’t take away from how much “I Miss You” spoke to me and how much I like it.

As a BONUS, I’ll mix things up a bit, and throw in Macy Gray’s video for “I Try.”  Enjoy both!

 

MY TOP 10: Videos/Songs You Wouldn’t Think I Would Like — 5. No Doubt “Don’t Speak”

5. No Doubt “Don’t Speak”

A neighbor-friend of mine liked No Doubt back in high school.  Unlike Basement Jaxx, I did know who No Doubt was.  I really didn’t pay attention to their breakthrough album, Tragic Kingdom, until the third single, Number 5, was released.

I didn’t become so much a fan that I’ve ever bought any No Doubt music, but this song I just love.  I did pick up Gwen’s solo debut, Love.Angel.Music.Baby., all those years later, though.  The Rock Steady stuff sounded cool; I would pick that up.

Back to “Don’t Speak” — This was just the jam.  I always say this is an R&B song.  That’s why it spoke to me so much.  If you strip it down and really listen to it, at its basic atomic level, this is good ole’ R&B music.  I’m surprised an R&B artist has not covered it since.  I think this is one of the best pop songs of the last 25 years.  Today’s BONUS Video is “Hella Good” from Rock Steady.

 

MY TOP 10: Videos/Songs You Wouldn’t Think I Would Like — *BONUS* Natalie Imbruglia “Wrong Impression”

*BONUS* Natalie Imbruglia “Wrong Impression”

My college roommate had Natalie Imbruglia’s debut, Left of the Middle, and I would play that sucker out on his CD player (apparently, I play out everything because I say that on every post).  I played others of his CDs, too, I’m sure to his chagrin.  Anyway, I didn’t buy my own copy of Left of the Middle until way after graduation.

It always left an impression.  Not the “Wrong Impression,” which is the BONUS video from her sophomore album, White Lilies Island.  I became a fan since those college days and went on to buy the second album.  I had no one’s to bum off of; just my very own copy.  Haven’t bought any others since, but I have been itchin’ to check out her later stuff.

Continuing the 2-videos-a-day tradition of this latest MY TOP 10, you actually get 2 BONUS videos.  I’m including her debut video, “Torn,” which caused such a sensation at the time.  It’s actually a cover of a song by the band, Ednaswap, that was covered a couple times before Natalie’s interpretation hit big.

We’re halfway through the countdown, so just sit back and enjoy the midpoint BONUSES.

 

MY TOP 10: Videos/Songs You Wouldn’t Think I Would Like — 6. Basement Jaxx “If I Ever Recover”

6. Basement Jaxx “If I Ever Recover”

I got on Basement Jaxx a little late and only for one album.  I remember hearing the name being tossed around by people as that new hot underground “it” band when they first caught on.  I even remember hearing Janet Jackson saying she liked them on TV.  I had no idea who they were.

2003′s Kish Kash was the album that I gravitated to.  Part of the reason is that they featured Meshell Ndegeocello on 2 songs and, her, I am a fan of.  I also had heard JC Chasez, from N’Sync fame, was on another track, “Plug It In.”  I had picked up his Schizophrenic, an album I liked, where they produced a song I liked, “Shake It,” and wanted to see how he returned the favor on Kish Kash.  (I alway had secretly hoped he was the gay one before anyone came out.  He’s around my age and I do think he’s cute.  I thought we’d meet down the line in life and he’d be my man.)

So much for unhealthy fantasies, anyway, I picked up the album and I fell in love with it.  I remember a friend saying he didn’t like it and that it didn’t sound like other Basement Jaxx stuff.  I have nothing to compare to; I just know this album was genius to me.  I like that it is ensemble-y.  Not sure if they always feature different vocalists and artists because they seem to be more producer-dj-types, but it works well on this album.

I worked out (like, yeah, worked out to it) the hell out of it, but at the same it’s mellow, too.  So you can either dance to it until your soaking wet or just listen and groove to it sweat-free.  I like that it works at both levels. 

There’s no official video for “If I Ever Recover.”  This was all I could find out there on the internet  — posted and featuring photographs by some person named Stephanie Taylor.  This is definitely the stand-out track for me.  It doesn’t sound like the rest of the album in a good way.  I can listen to it over and over.  I also love the 2 Meshell tracks, so as a bonus you’re getting the track that closes the album, “Feels Like Home” (no official video, either).  The other is track 2, “Right Here’s the Spot.”  Oh, just go get the whole album!

 

MY TOP 10: Videos/Songs You Wouldn’t Think I Would Like — 7. Joan Osborne “St. Teresa”

7. Joan Osborne “St. Teresa”

I know I promised some menses and there will be some, but I just love my women folk.  I just can’t help it.  Sorry.  There are some men on this countdown, but like I said in the INTRODUCTION there are just going to be more women.

That said, the CD, Relish, with Number 7 on it was actually a Christmas gift from a co-worker when I was a work-study at UTEP way back in 1996.  I remember her mentioning that it was between this and Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill.  Something about getting the CDs mixed up between me and her niece or something like that. 

I’ll tell you, I’m glad I got this one.  I don’t have a problem with Alanis, but I like to be different.  Everyone was copping Alanis.  I wouldn’t have bought either on my own, so I’m glad I got exposed to something I otherwise would not have been.  I’m open.  Sometimes things just have to be handed to me.

This was definitely a more rock CD than I was used to listening to.  Really it has country, folk, and blues influences, too.  I like some feeling and/or soul to the voice, regardless of genre.  And I think Joan’s definitely got that.

“St. Teresa,” which opens the set, is probably my most favorite track on the CD, though I like a lot of the songs on Relish.  I did give it some wear-and-tear at the time.  I’m throwing in the one everyone knows, “One of Us,” which is another favorite of mine.  Enjoy!

“St. Teresa” –  Couldn’t find it any other way.

“One of Us”

 

MY TOP 10: Videos/Songs You Wouldn’t Think I Would Like — 8. Esthero “We R In Need Of A Musical ReVoLuTion”

8. Esthero “We R In Need Of A Musical ReVoLuTion”

A few years ago, I bought Esthero’s Wikked Lil’ Grrrls album.  Before that, I had heard the name and knew I had heard her songs somewhere, but I didn’t remember the names of the songs or the songs themselves.  Her presence became known to me prior to my picking up Wikked Lil’ Grrrls, when I purchased Left Eye’s import-only solo effort, Supernova, and she was one of the stand-out collaborators on it.

That underground, not quite urban, not quite alternative chick with sweet pipes, street cred for miles, and who was everyone’s choice for a collabo from the underground to the mainstream, made her presence known with this jazz-infused 2005 album.

Number 8 stood out as a refreshing and rebellious anti-pop pop anthem.  Check the Ashanti and Britney call-outs.  She speaks out against MTV and radio playing the same artists and music over and over.  She even took a stand on the R. Kelly controversy or so it seems to me.  The album is nice and the title track got good promotional mileage including being used for Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives promos.  

“We R In Need Of A Musical ReVoLuTion” is my favorite track on the album, but “Wikked Lil’ Grrrls” is really good, too, so I’ll continue the pattern I’ve established with this MY TOP 10 of 2 videos a day.  Enjoy!

Jimmy Kimmel Live performance of “Wikked Lil’ Grrrls.”