Tag Archives: my ipod

My iPod #268: Billy Talent – Devil in a Midnight Mass

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The opening track to Billy Talent’s second album was built upon an ‘evil guitar riff’ that guitarist Ian D’Sa started playing one day. Lead singer Benjamin Kowalewicz wondered what kind of evil would suit that riff, and found it one day when he read an article about a Catholic priest who was molested 150 children in the 90s and was then stabbed to death during his time in prison. As a result, one of Billy Talent’s darkest songs was created. A song which gets the blood racing and sends shivers down my spine each time it plays.

The thing is – I wasn’t so enthused by it when I first heard the song via its video all those years ago in 2006. Thinking about it now I am not so sure why. It was very quick, and was finished before I could absorb anything that was happening. The first time I really understood it was when I actually listened to it through my headphones – that’s when it hit me.

Starting with Ian’s lone menacing riff – the song explodes when the drums kick in along with an almighty “YEEEAAAAHH” from Ben. The verses describe the priest – the ‘devil in a midnight mass’ – whilst the pre-chorus and choruses depict the scene when the priest is killed in jail who will now sing ‘silent night for the rest of [his] life.’

That is all well and… good, but the most threatening part is the last forty-five seconds of the song when the riff repeats on and on as Ben says what could possibly be the priest’s last words before he dies, “Whisper, whisper, don’t make a sound/Your bed is made, it’s in the ground”. That comes to a halt for a split second before those two phrases are ceaselessly screamed at you by Ben, Ian and the bassist Jon before climaxing with an astonishing shriek which echoes right into the next track.

This song is scary. This song is awesome. The best Billy Talent album opener. Hands down. I look at another one tomorrow though.

This is the band’s impression of it when they heard the album mix for the first time.

My iPod #267: Nine Black Alps – Destination Nowhere

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“Destination Nowhere” is another song from Nine Black Alps’ “Love/Hate” era. It was recorded and eventually released as another B-Side for “Bitter End”, the second and final single to be released from that album.

I went into this phase during Year 10 or so, when new music was being released on streaming websites and I would listen to the songs and try and type up the lyrics simultaneously on this website “letssingit.com”. I did that when “Locked Out from the Inside”, the band’s third album came out and I’m probably the reason you see the song’s lyrics on the Internet when you search for them on Google. Go to letssingit, if it says ‘Lyrics submitted by Jammerz.’ Don’t be surprised because ‘Jammerz’ is me. It’s a silly username, I know.

Then I saw the B-Side player on the band’s official website and saw that barely any of their lyrics were anywhere online. So I got busy with those, doing “Get Even” and “Idiot Riff #9” amongst others until eventually coming to “Destination Nowhere”. The lyrics to that song were relatively easy to type because none of the phrases fall into one another, especially during the verses where one lyric is sung, followed by a pause, and then another lyric and so on. I had to repeat a few seconds of it many times in order to make sure that the words I deciphered were right and made sense. But it was no bother, because I ended up digging the song anyway.

I think the song’s about being in an ambiguous state of mind (just because of the use of opposites: ‘too scared to fight’, ‘too young and too old’ etc etc) and finding oneself at a dead end. I could be very wrong. I probably am.

My iPod #266: They Might Be Giants – Destination Moon

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Here today is the album track “Destination Moon”, the thirteenth track on They Might Be Giants’ fifth album “John Henry“.

John Linnell sings this one, and it’s from the perspective of a patient in hospital who is very, very sick but continues to believe that he/she is fine and dreams of escaping in order to go to the moon via rocket.

If you’ve read my previous post on “AKA Driver“, another song from this album, you don’t really have to read on anymore because it will contain the same information. For those of you who haven’t, don’t stop reading this – but do listen to “Driver” if you have the chance.

I heard “Moon” around the same time as “Driver” and that was when I was listening my own customised radio station on Yahoo. That was a good site. I thought I liked it back then because I added it to this huge list of songs that I had seen on MTV and others that I generally enjoyed on my MSN Space. Remember MSN Spaces? It died years ago along with MSN itself which is a shame.

The problem that came out of that was I didn’t listen to the song for years and ended up forgetting the melody of the song altogether. That changed when I downloaded “John Henry” in 2010, then it all started coming back to me.

My iPod #265: Manic Street Preachers – A Design for Life

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Noted for being the first track the band worked on after guitarist Richey Edwards’ unexpected disappearance, “A Design for Life” was the first single released from Manic Street Preachers’ fourth album “Everything Must Go”.

I watched its video a long time ago having no idea who the band was and still left in wonder of the thing. That James Dean Bradfield is an astonishing singer. The vocals on this track are delivered with pure passion and power, and both the pre-chorus and chorus themselves are nothing short of shiver-inducing with those dramatic string arrangements. I will go on to say that it’s not my favourite MSP song. But my god you can’t say that it isn’t epic. Finding out that it was the first song the band released after a time when the band members weren’t sure if they were even going to continue makes it that bit more special too.

My iPod #264: Green Day – Desensitized

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The hours have rushed by, haven’t they?

I am now back from my venture to Liverpool for the weekend, and it is time for the first of two posts.

First up is “Desensitized”, a song by Green Day which was recorded whilst the band were working on “Nimrod“. Apparently, they didn’t feel as if it was the best to come out of those sessions. It wasn’t released on the album, but as a B-side on the “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” single. However, Australians and the Japanese are fortunate to have it on their versions of the album. It later got released on the bands B-side compilation “Shenanigans” which came out in 2002.

I’d never listened to “Shenanigans” before and one day decided….. that I should. Out of the fourteen tracks on there, I only really like four of them including this one. It isn’t amazing. You can tell why they didn’t make it onto their albums they were recorded for. “Desensitized” had the potential more than most of the others.

Mike Dirnt, the band’s bassist, completely beats the crap out of a lot of things with a baseball bat for the first twenty seconds or so. I don’t really understand why, but the sounds of various items breaking upon the bat’s impact segues into the song’s main riff – one that alternates between G and C (I believe) starting and stopping to allow Billie Joe to fill the silences with the vocals. That’s just the verses though. Listen to the song, if you like it then you’re welcome.