Tag Archives: good

#766: Guttermouth – Looking Good Is All That Matters

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After ‘I’m Destroying the World’ by Guttermouth became a song that I was always looking forward to hearing while playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 back in the day, the band’s album Covered with Ants was a constant request for birthdays and Christmases. I never did get the CD. It took until 2012 when Spotify had just properly got going, that I was able to listen to the album in full. And it wasn’t bad. Not the greatest album of all time, but if you’re into skate punk and like some sarcasm in your music then it’s worth a shot.

‘Looking Good Is All That Matters’ is the fifth track on Covered with Ants, and is a basic criticism of those who have no self-respect for themselves and only motivated by physical appearances. The first verse sets the scene, with the description of a date where the man clearly can’t stand the person he’s with but she looks good so he may as well stay. The second describes a girl who throws up to maintain her slim figure. The whole message is summed up in the sarcastic chorus: “Looking good is all that matters/God bless our society.”

This track got my immediate attention when listening through the album the first time. I always enjoy a bit of humour in the music I listen to, and ‘Looking Good’ runs on that. Nothing like jokingly pointing out people’s insecurities to fast-paced punk chords.

My iPod #462: Dananananaykroyd – Good Time

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“Good Time”, the seventh track on Dananananaykroyd’s final album There Is a Way, gets the album back to the original frenetic, loud, energetic, pumped-up style set in the preceding six after a calming interlude of environmental noises after the end of “Time Capsule“.

There is a lot to take in in the three minutes and sixteen seconds this song lasts for. It speeds up, slows down for the choruses, changes time signature at one point, there is stuttering, yelping, screaming, singing in unison, it lifts you up and smacks you around. If you don’t have a physical copy of the album (cos the lyrics are in there), there is a large chance you will have no idea what is being said to you most of the time. But that’s not a bad thing. As long as you have fun, which you will no doubt, then it’s fine. Just have a good time……. listening to it.

It was its unpredictability I think that made it one of the last songs from the album that I appreciated, but after a few more listens I got it. I’m glad.

My iPod #461: The Maccabees – Good Old Bill

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Sorry there was a no show yesterday. Was out watching Shakespeare at the RSC Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Much Ado about Nothing, if you wanted the specifics. Was really good. But you get two posts today. So it’s all good.

If it turns out that the new album by The Maccabees – which is supposedly finished and should be out sometime this year – isn’t that great, I think I will always recognise Colour It In as being my most preferred album of theirs. Before they went on to discover more atmospheric productions for Wall of Arms before establishing that sound in 2012’s Given to the Wild, the band’s first album captured the five members in their most…. naked form I guess you could say.

And “Good Old Bill” starts it all off. Though it is left off of the international versions of Colour It In, which I don’t really understand. The track is about a member of the band’s grandfather – who we can assume his name was Bill – sadly passed away after giving a traction engine to a museum. On the day he died, the museum rang up their grandmother saying that engine wasn’t working and asked if Bill could come up to have a look at it. The engine wouldn’t start without him.

Still, the song brightly begins the album despite the sad context. Set to a sprightly 6/8 time signature for the majority, “Good Old Bill” gives an introduction to all the members from the mood-settling guitar work of the White brothers to the trademark whimpering vocals of Orlando Weeks. After a minute and a half and a few mysterious seconds of silence, three sudden smacks of the snare and open hi-hat signifies the song’s ending in which fast 4/4 tempo is introduced, the performance becomes more strident and brighter with joyous choral ‘oooh’ vocals bringing it to a satisfying close.

So yeah. That’s “Good Old Bill”. Been good since I heard the album exclusive on NME all those years ago.

My iPod #460: Kanye West ft. Mos Def & AL BE BACK – Good Night

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On my physical copy of Graduation, I was lucky enough to have “Good Night” as the final track on the album. This lullaby ends it on a sweet and innocent note after the stadium rock type vibes given by “Big Brother” and features the mighty Mos Def singing on the choruses and – a rapper who I thought was Jay-Z upon first listen – AL BE BACK on the last verse.

To the listener Kanye describes a moment in his life when he was a little kid and was out on a field trip with his grandparents, though shortly realises after that there is no point in dwelling over it so much as what’s done is done however much we’d want to go back in time and do it all over again. All in all, the track sends out a positive message to wake up everyday with a new frame of mind, take advantage of any opportunity that may come your way, and make the most of your life before it’s too late.

My iPod #459: The Beatles – Good Morning Good Morning

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“Good Morning Good Morning” tends to be the song from Sgt. Pepper that not even Beatles fans really appreciate a lot. Upon listening to the album for the first time in 2009 or so, I found the track to be one of the most likeable ones on there. I don’t want to say that it was simplicity that attracted me to it because the song has quite a complex structure to it, though it’s really the only track on there (apart from the title track’s reprise) which focuses on the four members and their guitars (sort of), bass and drums.

Inspired by a Kellogg’s Corn Flakes advert he saw on the television, John Lennon went on to write the song which can only be described as one of the observational kind in which he describes what he sees going on around him while he’s at work, in the town for a while after finishing the shift, at home for tea and when he’s at a show where he’s able to glance at the girls around him. So the subject matter is not as ‘deep’ on this song as for the majority of the others on Sgt. Pepper, but there musically there are plenty of things about it that hold it up as one of the best ones on there.

It changes its time signature many times. That’s something that still confuses me, and if I were to get all technical about it you would not be able to understand it either. Ringo and Paul own the rhythm section on here. The former playing on a drum kit utilising two bass drums which can be heard in full force during the final minute or so, and whilst playing a sliding bass line which maintains the song’s momentum, Paul showcases his guitar skills by shredding out a soaring guitar solo in the middle. Also, as the song begins to fade out and all the animal noises pan from ear to ear John, Paul, and George jokingly begin to sing in German. What more could you want.

So yeah, “Good Morning Good Morning” deserves more praise than from what I’ve witnessed. Just as important and infectiously catchy.