Tag Archives: my ipod

My iPod #366: Blink-182 – Feeling This

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“Feeling This” was the first single released from Blink-182’s self-titled album from 2003. The track was the first thing to show the pop-punk group’s new serious direction the three members decided to pursue, instead of being seen as those toilet-humour rascals who ran around naked in their music videos.

The track is about being in love and the endless feelings and possibilities that arise when in the situation. Tom and Mark have a call and response thing going on in the verses and their vocals come together through the majority of the track with the two having a duet as the song reaches its ending, making it one of the more collaborative songs on the album.

It’s a great way to start things off – placed anywhere else on the tracklist it wouldn’t have the same effect and would probably be considered as filler – and it provides that sweet energy that a listener wants when hearing an album for the first time.

My iPod #365: Muse – Feeling Good

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Muse’s take on the Anthony Newley and Lesley Briscusse original was released on the band’s second album “Origin of Symmetry” thirteen years ago. As well as being the second to last track on that, it was released as a single alongside another album track “Hyper Music”. As a result, both videos made for the tracks are set in the same location albeit there are a few differences in the colour palette here and there. The three members perform in front of their fans who have had their faces digitally altered in order to look like freaks, petals fall slowly from the sky, and Matt Bellamy fiddles around with a megaphone during a verse.

“Feeling Good” is recognised for being an actually very good cover of an old track. Probably one of the best covers of the 21st century. Why? Not really sure. I guess that it’s because it was the first modern rock cover that had been done for the track, and Matt, Chris and Dom pulled it off very well. It is a cover that is so, so simple but still rocks. And you can’t blame someone who, listening to it for the first time, would think it was their own original song because they adapt it to their own style so easily.

I rate it.

My iPod #364: Dinosaur Jr. – Feel the Pain

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“Feel the Pain” is a track I swear I’d heard in an advert somewhere, way before I actually saw its music video on the television one day. As I witnessed J Mascis and Mike Johnson play golf using what appears to be the whole of Lower Manhattan as their golf course, the guitar phrases between each verse sounded very familiar. Wherever I had heard it before – which I’m starting to think I didn’t as time goes on – at least I knew who the music was performed by.

The track is the opener to Dinosaur Jr.’s 1994 album “Without a Sound”, one where Mascis handled most of the instrumentation after the drummer and bassist left. He does a good job though. After a few seconds of what sounds like something being plugged in (or sucked out?) of something else, the actual track starts slowly with the main riff panning from one ear to the other. Mascis lazily slurs out the song’s main refrain during the quiet parts, and volume rises during the breaks where the guitars go wild. In the last few lines, a guitar solo begins under J Mascis waiting for the correct time to leap in and really get to work. The last line finishes, and straight after he bursts one out that I can only nod my head to in appreciation. And whip out some air guitar.

My iPod #363: Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc.

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Yeeaaaahh. I remember seeing the video for “Feel Good Inc.” when it was an exclusive, brand new, never before seen thing getting its debut on music television. Nine years later, people know it as being Gorillaz’s signature track (either that or “Clint Eastwood“) but even then, at the age of ten, I knew Gorillaz was onto something.

2D, Noodle, Murdoc & Russell were looking better and more badass than before. One thing that was clearly noticeable was the improvement in animation. Four years gives you a lot of time to get shit done. But the track was so funky and dark with that phat, iconic bassline and manic laughter provided by Maseo of De La Soul. I liked it, my sister liked it. Every time the video ended on TV, we waited for the coming of the next hour so we could see it again. We searched on the ‘Windows Media Guide’ on the Windows Media Player to try and find an mp3 of the thing we thought it was the shit. This was the best ‘new’ song that I had heard for a very long time. The song would be played everywhere – it featured on an iPod advert, the group performed it on stage at 2005 EMA Awards… this was really the song of the year.

The track comes in around the middle of “Demon Days” fading in from the children’s laughter from the previous track. 2D wants us to feel good and also sings about a magical windmill in the chorus, Murdoc plays that bass, Russell provides the solid drum beat and De La Soul (well, Dave from the hip hop trio) come in for the killer rap bridge, sounding very grimy and intimidating. The video reinforces this. Witness 2D’s suffering when the rapping starts. It’s brutal.

And it still sounds as good today as it did then. Almost a decade, Dios Mío.

If you haven’t heard the song before….. where have you been? Under a rock? In a cave? I joke. You’ve heard it. You know you have.

My iPod #362: Sum 41 – Fat Lip

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I wasn’t listening to Sum 41 in 2001. At six years of age, I wasn’t really into music as much as I was into children’s television. But this track always reminds me of the early 00s for some reason. Everything from the sound of it, and its music video. So many pop punk people started showing up in the charts too, it was weird.

“Fat Lip” is just one of those songs isn’t it? No one who listens to Sum 41 has probably heard the track at some point in their lives without even knowing it. If you were to randomly shout out “The doctor said my mum should have had an abortion”, someone will complete the ‘-ortion’ echo because they will know what you’re going on about.

The song’s anti-conformity/fuck rules message is something that’s used all the time, and is a topic that on first listen you might react with approval to but you’ll eventually get over in time. But the rap/rock thing it has going on is pretty catchy, I can’t deny that. Some of the lyrics are downright hilarious.