It’s time to head back to the Monsterverse in this week’s episode as Steve digs into Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, then switches gears totally for the new based on a true story comedy with the brilliant pairing of Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley. One of Steve’s top films from last year’s Vancouver International Film Festival finally gets a limited release, the Alex Jones documentary is here to make you hate him more (it’s possible) and much more!
We’re back in video form this week in a return to normalcy. We then turn to the paranormal with the new sequel Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, I have some good thoughts about the new Road House remake which might make up for my double dip of very French films. Re-issues on Blu-ray lead to my first watches of Harrison Ford’s one and only Oscar nomination and Jeff Bridges as a great fictional president. All this and lots more on this new episode!
Number five is in this week and I took it easy a little on the metal and only blasted your ears with some Machine Head and one of my favorite Canadian bands of all time. My all-time top singer makes her first appearance on the list, some really focused rock n’ roll tracks and even a couple of definite top 40 pop hits to close it all out. Be warned, this is the first of guaranteed to be many Chevelle songs forced on you.
Track #1: Led Zeppelin – D’yer Mak’er – Houses Of The Holy (1972)
It was only a matter of time before one of the greatest bands of all time made an appearance on a playlist I put together but choosing their most reggae-sounding song is a definite choice. Heck, I didn’t even try to focus on their love of Tolkein at all! I love singing along to this song so much and Jimmy Page’s guitar riff is so groovable. I have to also mention that I’m a total nerd for John Bonham’s drum sound, not just on this song but on this whole album. Some really trendsetting stuff obviously.
“When I read the letter you sent me, it made me mad, mad, mad
When I read the news that it broke, it made me sad, sad, sad
But I still love you so and I can’t let you go
I love you, ooh, uh—baby, I love you, ah”
Track #2: Protest The Hero – Sequoia Throne – Fortress (2008)
I’m super excited about this pick as it is one of my favorite bands of all time featuring one of my top ten singers of all time, Rody Walker, and, the best thing about it, they are Canadian, from Whitby, Ontario. The first single off of the Fortress record, this song is a ferocious attack on organized religion as the destruction of humanity but from an alien point of view. Yeah, this song is as wild thematically as the shredding you are hearing in your ears but the idiosyncratic style of this magnificent five-piece.
“Stuffing corpses
Full of shit and faith
They bloviate about a future beyond the moon
To bring about another planet’s doom
To discover peaceful life
And beat our war drum to its tune
Unless my prayers are answered
Our end is coming soon”
Track #3: Queens Of The Stone Age – The Sky Is Falling – Songs For The Deaf (2002)
Queens is one of my favorite bands of all time and I was really weighing on which of their songs would be the first one I would put on a playlist but there’s something about the collection of tracks on this album that is undeniable. This song in particular has the best of everything, Josh Homme’s echoey vocals in that opening and his beautiful falsetto in the chorus, Dave Grohl’s hart hitting drums and a killer bassline from Nick Oliveri to pair with the grinding guitar from the Ginger Elvis himself. Oh, baby, this is an all-timer.
“I wanted something
Nothing blank I don’t know
It’s hard deflecting
Stones are easy to throw
Oh, in a moment, I notice
Hours, days left behind
Of wasted, useless
Selfless, none of a kind”
Track #4: The XX – Islands – xx (2009)
This Wandsworth, London, at the time of this release, quartet was put on my radar by my roommate at the time Matty as I heard the chill vocals and beats of their debut record coming down the hallway from his room. To me, they feel like the yang to the yin from the energetic Matt & Kim and I love to listen to them back to back. The beginning guitar riff to this song from Romy Madley Croft and her and Oliver Sim’s quiet vocals bring you in and don’t get me started on how incredible that last minute of the song is. Just put it on repeat.
“I don’t have to leave anymore
What I have is right here
Spend my nights and days before
Searching the world for what’s right here
Underneath and unexplored
Islands and cities I have looked
Here I saw
Something I couldn’t overlook”
Track #5: Lana Del Rey – Carmen – Born To Die (2011)
The goddess of vocals makes her first appearance on the playlists but make no mistake, Lana is usually a daily listen at some point as she is my favorite singer and songwriter in the world at the moment. Born To Die is a no-skip masterpiece but the flightiness of Carmen always enchants me to no end, which is a weird thing to say about a song that tells the story of a seventeen-year-old girl with substance abuse problems, I know. Lana just makes it come through this song filter because she is undeniably the best songwriter on planet Earth today.
“The boys, the girls, they all like Carmen
She gives them butterflies, bats her cartoon eyes
She laughs like God, her mind’s like a diamond
Audiotune lies, she’s still shinin’
Like lightning, oh-oh
Like lightning”
Track #6: Faith No More – Epic – The Real Thing (1989)
Faith No More is a special band to me because it was the first band that I felt I discovered on my own, a love forged from all of the music appreciation tools that I had developed thanks to my parents and those close to me. Mike Patton immediately became my number one frontman of all time in his introduction as the lead singer for the band, replacing Chuck Mosely from their debut record Introduce Yourself. This song put me on the journey for that cassette tape and will always be a meaningful track in music history in my mind.
“Can you feel it, see it, hear it today?
If you can’t, then it doesn’t matter anyway
You will never understand it, ’cause it happens too fast
And it feels so good, it’s like walking on glass
It’s so cool, it’s so hip, it’s alright
It’s so groovy, it’s outta sight
You can touch it, smell it, taste it, so sweet
But it makes no difference ’cause it knocks you off your feet”
Track #7: Machine Head – From This Day – The Burning Red (1999)
Rob and Machine Head are one of my all-time favorite bands if not simply for the fact that they are one of the heaviest and most entertaining live acts I have ever seen. This album’s tour and performance of this song in particular at the Croatian Cultural Centre makes it probably the song of theirs that resonates the most with. When it comes to a random playlist, I always crank the sound big time. That intro build-up, that riff, that energy, how could you not love this song?
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you gotta
Stand tall and cut away the ties
Drop walls and hold that head up high
The world is fast and youth ain’t gonna wait
So grab a hold before it gets too late
Bare your soul and strip away the cold
For withered life that’s past so gray ya know
‘Cause all the pain that’s filled these eyes you see
Was only made to bleed just recently”
Track #8: Staind – For You – Break The Cycle (2001)
This is one of those songs that bring me back to an era of my life entirely and is part of a fantastic pack of songs that kick off this album. I definitely can’t say that the writer of the music and lyrics and I see eye to eye in everyday life and politics but this song is that angsty type of anthem I used to play so often and it was really great to get immersed in it again. I obviously revisited the record after this track popped up.
“I sit here, locked inside my head
Remembering everything you said
The silence gets us nowhere
Gets us nowhere way too fast”
Track #9: Mad Season – River Of Deceit – Above (1995)
With Alice In Chains being one of my all-time favorite bands, I’m a little surprised in myself that a song from Layne’s side project made its way to the list first but there is something incredible about this song that stops me in my tracks every time. With words given to music already written before he joined the band, Staley lightly touched on his addiction with lyrics inspired by Kahlil Gabran’s The Prophet. The song is so beautiful, reflective and, sadly, prophetic about his demise.
“My pain is self-chosen
At least I believe it to be
I could either drown
Or pull off my skin and swim to shore
Now I can grow a beautiful shell for all to see”
Track #10: Rainbow – The Temple Of The King – Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow (1975)
This is the song of a journeying warrior, or so it feels. Like the minstrels of sword and shield, Deep Purple great Ritchie Blackmore brings you into this world with a killer guitar riff and then the “rising to a soar” vocals of Ronnie James Dio come in and a legend was born. This song is so damn good that so many bands have covered it but the best version still belongs to these incredible musicians. I feel like Jack Black loves this song to death.
“There in the middle of the circle he stands
Searching, seeking
With just one touch of his trembling hand
The answer will be found
Daylight waits while the old man sings
Heaven help me
And then like the rush of a thousand wings
It shines upon the one
And the day had just begun”
Track #11: Nothing But Thieves – Honey Whiskey – Nothing But Thieves (2015)
The only reason I started listening to this Southend-on-Sea, Essex band was through a Spotify suggestion and I was immediately hooked. With a sound that I put in the same big category shoes of a band like Muse, they have fantastic grooves and so amazing vocals from lead singer and guitar player Conor Mason. They are on display in this song big time, a track off of their debut record, and I just love how he sings that chorus.
“This air is getting so thin
Go down, go down, go down
The honey whiskey’s kickin’
Go down, go down”
Track # 12: Chevelle – Well Enough Alone – Vena Sera (2007)
Chevelle is a band I listen to at least once every day and it seemed impossible to pick the first of their tracks that would end up on my playlist then this song burst onto my randomizer and I knew this would be it. With a fiery scream from lead singer Pete Loeffler, this song arrives heavy but has such an anthemic sing-along quality to it that I love it. The first single off of their fourth record, this song was actually a holdout from their previous record This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In) and the bridge is absolute fire.
“And like before, makes no sense
Never coming, always leaving
Right before, hooked on substance
Digging deeper, can’t reveal”
Track #13: Lizzo – About Damn Time – Special (2022)
Joining Lana on this playlist as the only top 40 pop-ish hit on here, I love Lizzo’s work a lot. She is charismatic, an incredible workhorse and burgeoning with so much talent and I also just found out that she is a lifelong fan of Incubus as well. The first single off of her second album, the song is an obvious address that it has been too long since her last new solo music as Cuz I Love You was released in 2019 and her only other track between was the Cardi B collaboration, Rumors.
“It’s bad bitch o’clock, yeah, it’s thick-thirty
I’ve been through a lot, but I’m still flirty (Okay)
Is everybody back up in the buildin’?
It’s been a minute, tell me how you’re healin’
‘Cause I’m about to get into my feelings
How you feelin’? How you feel right now?”
Track #14: The Weeknd featuring Ariana Grande – Save Your Tears – After Hours (2020)
Like Taylor Swift’s Folklore and Chevelle’s Niratias, The Weeknd’s After Hours record was a collection of songs that not only got me through the pandemic but were part of the defining songs of that year, as weird as it was. Honestly, though, this song didn’t take off for me until this second version with Ariana Grande on it. My wife is a big fan of hers and I like a couple of her songs but she is the piece that makes this song come together, so much so that its my preferred version.
“Met you once under a Pisces moon
I kept my distance ’cause I know that you
Don’t like when I’m with nobody else
I couldn’t help it, I put you through hell”
Technical difficulties descend on the show this week but Chloe is a pro and we salvage a one-sided video recording! This week I give my thoughts on the new Blumhouse horror Imaginary, we both have our thoughts on Australia’s official submission for the Academy Awards this year plus some big new television series hits Netflix. All this and more on this special episode!
This week I take in Jack Black as the dragon warrior for the fourth time, Millie Bobby Brown playing action hero and John Cena steals the show again in a very R-rated comedy from one of the guys that brought us Dumb And Dumber. Lots of great television, including Kate Winslet and HBO’s new collaboration as well as a few great Blu-ray arrivals.
Get ready for a weird but largely heavy ride of fourteen songs as metal definitely won out above all but I still manage to squeeze in the greatest of all time with The Beatles, a childhood melodic treat in the Wilson sisters and a deep crush that I had from the nineties. Yes, this might be one of the odder mosh pits of track groupings but I was obviously in need of some energy here.
Track #1: Miike Snow – Genghis Khan – iii (2016)
Trying to start off this playlist with something mellow and maybe a little bit boppy and this song from this Stolkholm, Sweden indie pop band. Known largely for their bigger hit Animal, I found myself digging into their discography after getting into the Klaxxons, Bloc Party and We Are Scientist and this group really had so many great track to add to my liked songs. Plus, any song that has a singable piece with no real lyrics is a winner to me.
“I know there’s no form
And no labels to put on
To this thing we keep
And dip into when we need
And I don’t have the right
To ask where you go at night
But the waves hit my head
To think someone’s in your bed”
Track #2: Anthrax – I’m Alive – Worship Music (2011)
Anthrax is an interesting band to me as I’ve seen them so many times in concert, always killing it live, but they aren’t one of my regularly listened-to bands day to day. That said, anytime they come on I’m never skipping it and when this song popped up, I knew I wanted to add it to the list. Hammered into my brain by playing NHL ‘12 for hours on end, this song is a great crunchy metal song with a solo from Scott Ian that just flies on the wings of a metal god. Yeah, it’s a damn cool song.
“I’m alive to be the demon
I’m alive to be the one
Yeah-eah-eah-eah
Hell, it lives in everyone”
Track #3: Arcade Fire – Ready To Start – The Suburbs (2010)
The Suburbs was the real beginning of my love for Arcade Fire but this was the kick-off to their superstardom I think, much to the chagrin of the fans who had already been listening to Funeral and Neon Bible religiously. Thanks to this album and, firstly this song, I was able to go back and fall in love with those records too. There is a triumphant shaking off of the shackles to this song that I really like and the kind of themes that reoccur in Arcade Fire’s work.
“Now I’m ready to start
I would rather be wrong
Than live in the shadows of your song
My mind is open wide
And now I’m ready to start
And now I’m ready to start
My mind is open wide
And now I’m ready to start
Not sure you’ll open the door
To step out into the dark
Now I’m ready”
Track #4: Mastodon – Steambreather – Emperor Of Sand (2017)
I’ve been a big Mastodon guy ever since I saw the video for March Of The Fire Ants on MuchMusic’s Loud. I had a cherished hoodie from their Crack The Skye merch and every record brought new greatness. Another concept-guided journey, this album might be one of my favorites as it is pretty much a record with no skippable tracks on it. With the grinding fade into a dark guitar-driven opening, this song gets into your bones before melting the world away with a killer solo. The music video for this kicks ass as well and is totally metal to the core.
“I wonder who I am
Reflections offer nothing
I wonder where I stand
I’m afraid of myself”
Track #5: The Beatles – You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away – Help! (1965)
The Beatles are an unreachable and unattainable level of regard to me and my family, so much so that it’s hard to pick which of their songs that I wanted to share first but there’s something about this John and Paul written song that gets me. I loved Eddie Vedder’s cover of it simply because the composition of it is so good that it is really transitional to artists and their versions are just as great. I also really love that essentially this is a Bob Dylan song, written by the greatest band of all time.
“Here I stand head in hand
Turn my face to the wall
If she’s gone, I can’t go on
Feeling two-foot small
Everywhere people stare
Each and every day
I can see them laugh at me
And I hear them say
Hey, you’ve got to hide your love away
Hey, you’ve got to hide your love away”
Track #6: Default – Live A Lie – The Fallout (2001)
Another Canadian band arrives on the playlist but this time the band is from my home province, British Columbia. I’ve loved this Vancouver four-piece since their weeks during the Fox Seeds competition put on by the city rock station 99.3 The Fox, a band that is entwined in the memories of a certain time in my life. This is also my favorite song off of this record and you can tell how well Dallas Smith would eventually fit into the country genre within his first lyrics.
“I can’t seem to find out what I feel
Burned out dreams of others which I can’t steal
Take or leave this way I seem to you, it eats right through you
Ripped up parts of things I should do
I’ll run around and tell you screaming”
Track #7: Serj Tankian – Empty Walls – Elect The Dead (2007)
System Of A Down is an all-time favorite of mine so it was a given that I would love the side projects of both Serj Tankian and Daron Malkian but Serj is the one that has felt most like a direct extension of that same message. Serj’s lyrics are always powerful and it’s songs like this debut single of his debut solo record that stand the test of time. His messages are always pointed and he never pulls any punches and this song sets up that continued truth as well as a fantastic record.
“Don’t you see their bodies burning
Desolate and full of yearning
Dying of anticipation
Choking from intoxication?
Don’t you see their bodies burning
Desolate and full of yearning
Dying of anticipation
Choking from intoxication?”
Track #8: No Doubt – Happy Now? – Tragic Kingdom (1995)
Tragic Kingdom was a huge part of the soundtrack of the mid-nineties for me and I swear it didn’t just stem from my massive crush on Gwen Stefani. The reality is that together as, at the time, a five-piece, each of them is so individually talented and tight as musicians and this track showcases that. Side note, Gwen’s vocals are so fantastic on this album, especially this song, so one of a kind.
“The contemplator all those years
Now you must adhere to your new career
Of liberation, you’ve been cast
All by yourself, you’re free at last”
Track #9: Heart – Crazy On You – Dreamboat Annie (1975)
This classic track brings me back to a young Steve, probably five six years old, listening to the tapes in his mom’s car. These incredible songbirds with crashing guitar sounds hooked me at a young age and sent me on my path of loving rock and roll. This song is a perfect mid-seventies rock staple, starting with the incredible into. Brilliant and a piece of Vancouver’s influence on music history as well.
“Wild man’s world is crying in pain
What you gonna do when everybody’s insane?
So afraid of one who’s so afraid of you
What you gonna do?”
Track #10: Chimaira – Pure Hatred – The Impossibility Of Reason (2003)
This is probably the biggest adrenaline boost I have put on any of the playlists and it probably seems jarring but just know that I think this song does exactly what it is intended to do, jack you the hell up! Andols Herrick is on the list of my favorite metal drummers of all time and this song has a brilliant lead in him a good building riff and then we fly into the song with a searing scream from Mark Hunter. This track brings me back to seeing them live at the Commodore (I think), a great early 2000s concert memory.
“I have told you things need to change
You never listened or came to my aid
The vicious cycle has not changed
My time’s spent rearranged”
Track #11: Soilwork – Mercury Shadow – Natural Born Chaos (2002)
Natural Born Chaos is an album that brings me back to the days of burnt CDs and hastily scrawled labels.Best believe that this was an album I listened to until it skipped as I was hooked by the Helsingborg, Sweden band’s raspy to melodic to operatic vocal drive and fiery guitars. This, along with In Flames, got me into the Scandanavian sound in metal and this song is relevant recently as they released the Swedish language version of it in December.
“When there comes a time
With a feast on what used to be mine
Sent from the front to the back
All in numbers and hellish black
When there comes a time
With a feast on what used to be mine
Sent from the front to the back
All in numbers and hellish black”
Track #12: I Prevail – Visceral – True Power (2022)
Damn, this playlist is heavy! And it features the Beatles, whaaa? Yes, after two blistering metal tracks lets shift to the subgenre of post hardcore, which I brought on the last list with Bring Me The Horizon. This Southfield, Michigan really got onto my radar with their record Trauma but this track, that wasn’t chosen among the six singles that were released. Sitting as the penultimate song on the album, it might be my favorite.
“Are you afraid of the dark?
It’s coming straight for your heart
Do you know if you exist or it’s all in your mind?
If you wanna find out, look death in the eye
So take it back (Take it back) to the start
Are you afraid (Are you afraid) of who you are?
Do you know if you exist or you’re barely alive?
If you wanna find out, look death in the eyes
And say, “I am visceral””
Track #13: The Heavy – How You Like Me Now – The House That Dirt Built (2009)
If it wasn’t for me getting really into the Cinemax series Strike Back when the first season hit in 2010 I wouldn’t know of this Bath, Somerset rock band. They have a sound that is immediately contagious with big moments and a bad ass style that struts it’s stuff with this track in particular. This is a definite shift in pace here but it’s still just as bad ass.
“Now there was a time
When you loved me so
I couldn’t do wrong
Now you need to know
See, I been a bad, bad, bad, bad man
And I’m in deep
Yeah
I found a brand new love for this man
And can’t wait ’til you see
I can’t wait”
Track #14: Silverchair – Madman – Frogstomp (1995)
Closing this playlist out with something heavy as that seems to be the theme in the back end here but this is also a first as it is the only instrumental track I’ve brought up so far. A killer three piece from Newcastle, Australia, Daniel Johns and his crew were a huge obsession of mine when their debut album came out in 1995 and I listened to that disc until it was hot. I remember thrashing around to this song so much, a precursor to my moshpit years. This was my beginning grounds here.
“Madman”
This week on the show, I take Chloe to Arakkis for my thoughts on the long-anticipated Dune Part Two, Adam Sandler excels in another rare dramatic role, Taika Waititi’s new movie was a bigger hit with me than others and FX has a damn good new series adaptation. All this and Chloe’s review of Five Nights At Freddy’s, so dig in!
This week on the show, Steve and Chloe look at Diablo Cody and Zelda Williams’ new graveyard romance, a new Canadian-made comedy that surprised big time, a comedy-drama featuring another great Steve Zahn performance and so much more. Plus, Chloe gives her thoughts on a superpowered direct-to-video Bruce Willis flick.
For most of tis third playlist, I as really cooking something up that was pretty accessable for a broader audience. Capital Cities is safe, Van Halen is a classic ripper, Letters has a great comedown after that, its all going well until I unleashed a major contributor to the end of the Limp B-I-Z-K-I-T. That song being a great nu-metal groove aside, I brought it home with a great hip-hop track with an atmospheric beat to end.
Track #1: Capital Cities – Safe And Sound – In A Tidal Wave Of Mystery (2013)
Peppy and immediately catchy, this leading track off of this Los Angeles pop duo’s debut album started becoming an earworm in 2011, two years before its release, and by the time the record was available it was everywhere. Those trumpets, that beat and the repetition almost make your body sway to it unconsciously. One of the two, Ryan Merchant, stated that they see the songs as an “anti-doomsday anthem” and I kind of love that.
“I could show you love
In a tidal wave of mystery
You’ll still be standing next to me
You could be my luck
Even if we’re six feet underground
I know that we’ll be safe and sound”
Track #2: Van Halen – Unchained – Fair Warning (1981)
My love for Van Halen is definitely handed down from my mom, as cassettes for OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, 1984 and Fair Warning were always ready for listening. So, when I started listening to Jay Mohr’s podcast Mohr Stories, I picked up on this great track as his theme song and it rejuvenated my love for it. I also love it when David Lee Roth talks to the audience and this song’s got a great piece of that.
“Thought you’d never miss me till I got a fat city address
Non-stop talker, what a rocker
Blue-eyed murder in a size five dress”
Track #3: Letters To Cleo – Here And Now – Aurora Gory Alice (1994)
This song comes on and my inner Ben Wyatt from Parks And Recreation comes out and I’m grooving to the great drive of this Boston band’s only commercially successful song complete with that fantastic Kay Hanley lyric delivery. Speaking of Kay, her wink to Ben at the side of the stage and his reaction is exactly like me when I saw Veruca Salt in concert as a teenager. Beat for beat, no difference.
“And it might be
The comfort of a knowledge of a rise above the sky
But could never parallel the challenge of an acquisition in the
Here and now, here and now”
Track #4: Taylor Swift – invisible string – folklore (2020)
Folklore is a record that I have to credit with both making me a fan of the 2023 crowned billionaire and giving me one of the records that got me through one of the most isolating parts of my life, the pandemic. Taylor’s storytelling is all on display in this beautifully written song, another perfect collaboration between her and The National’s Aaron Desner and it may have at one time been linked to Joe Alwyn but I’m pretty sure it’s all about the Big Yeti, Travis Kelce now.
“A string that pulled me
Out of all the wrong arms, right into that dive bar
Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire
Chains around my demons
Wool to brave the seasons
One single thread of gold
Tied me to you”
Track #5: Black Pumas – Fire – Black Pumas (2019)
The first time this track popped into my headphones while on a random shuffle, it made me pause everything I was doing. Black Pumas are a band that feels like they pull from so many different influences but the classification of “psychedelic soul” seems like a great start. This song started my fandom for them and I can’t get enough of Eric Burton’s voice, it’s just incredible. It spurred me to buy the record immediately on their website. Maybe it will make you do the same.
“If there’s a fire, call the fireman
If you’re in pain, baby, call a doctor
Don’t be afraid to say, “I need you”
I will understand, help me understand you, oh
Understand”
Track #6: The Parlor Mob – Everything You’ve Be Breathing For – And You Were A Crow (2008)
Even though this Asbury Park, New Jersey band has been around since the mid-2000s, it wasn’t until Spotify said “Hey, you’ll like these guys” that I got into them. That said, these guys fit into that Raconteurs, Black Keys and Blue Stones vein of rock and that twangy riff to start the track pulls you in right away. I also had to let my wife know that no, they aren’t Greta Van Fleet and predated them by eight years.
“Little one, how can it be
You hurt yourself but do not see
And everything you’re breathing for
Will let you down and leave you sore”
Track #7: Dr. JOE – Keep On Coming – Glad You Called (2020)
Another discovery I made in 2020, this Austin, Texas artist, by way of Salina, Kansas really gripped me within the first five seconds with a big sound and a groovy piano. Band leader Joe Sparacino and the group haven’t released a full record yet but this five-song EP is the beginnings of something fantastic in my opinion and hopefully, a full record is coming down at some point. Following up the track by Parlor Mob, this is definitely carrying a certain sound in this playlist.
“I keep on coming
Keep on running keep on climbing
Til I’m flying way up high
And still I keep on coming
You better run
If you’re that celebrated son
Showcasing trophies you ain’t won
You know I keep on coming”
Track #8: Royal Tusk – Shadow Of Love – Mountain (2014)
This was the first track from this Edmonton, Alberta rock band that I had heard, thanks to the Vancouver radio station The Peak 102.7 back when they were able to showcase more Canadian artists. I was hooked immediately with that heavy little hook and got familiar with their debut EP Mountain very quickly after. I love a trio with a loud sound and Royal Tusk has a great command of that.
“No matter what you said
No matter how you said
It never meant much anyhow
Cause I’m the one you love and I know how it was
To give a love that gets around
And we’re falling out
And the fire is fading slowly
Even in the dark, I’m scared of my shadow of love
Shadow of love
Shadow of love”
Track #9: Bring Me The Horizon – sTraNgeRs – sTraNgeRs (2022)
I got into this Sheffield, England band way into their pretty huge fandom but this screamed to the inner emo inside of me that is too stubborn to die. Yes, through this my love for post-hardcore was born and Oli Sykes is kind of the giant at the top of that genre’s mountain. This song is a great example of his ability to write with pointed messaging that is close to him and it has a pop-punk familiarity that I like a lot.
“We’re just a room full of strangers
Looking for something to save us
Alone together, we’re dying to live and we’re living to die
Dying to live, living to die
We’re just a room full of strangers”
Track #10: Interpol – Memory Serves – Interpol (2010)
Kicking off with a beautifully echoing guitar riff from Daniel Kessler, this song is a great five-minute representation of why I love this New York City band. Paul Banks’s voice and lyrics are so resonant in a track that exudes such sadness, especially his piece in just before the outro. It is such a darkly resonant song that feels like it should be listened to at night, in the dark.
“It would be so nice to take you
I only ever try to make you smile
No matter what, we’re gonna keep you occupied
But only at your place
Only at your place”
Track #11: Limp Bizkit – Eat You Alive – Results May Vary (2003)
Way to screw up the vibes of this playlist with a dirtbaggy song from Fred Durst and company as they leaned into a supposed relationship wiith Britney Spears that was flat out denied by her, I know. This song is also the single that started the mighty Bizkit’s fall from the top but it still rocks even though it has some laughably gross lyrics.
“I just want to look at you
I just want to look at you
I just want to look at you, oh, all day
There ain’t nothin’ wrong, no
There ain’t nothin’ wrong with that
Once you seep in
Under my skin
There’s nothing, there’s nothing
In this world that could wash you away
Once you seep in, yeah
Under my skin
There’s nothing, there’s nothing
In this world that could wash you away”
Track #12: The Smashing Pumpkins – Thirty Three – Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (1995)
I would argue that this is the most beautiful song that Billy Corgan has ever written or one of them at least and it brings me back to the time of first collecting CDs and getting this landmark double album for Christmas. Any song off this record transports me back to a time in my high school life and this, the final single released from Mellon Collie, might be my favorite on the record.
“Speak to me in a language I can hear
Humor me before I have to go
Deep in thought, I forgive everyone
As the cluttered streets greet me once again
I know I can’t be late
Supper’s waitin’ on the table
Tomorrow’s just an excuse away
So I pull my collar up and face the cold, on my own”
Track #13: Big Wreck – That Song – In Loving Memory Of… (1997)
Some good late nineties Canadiana for the list as any time this Ian Thornley led group’s big landmark track comes on the radio I still crank up the volume. I love Big Wreck’s sound to this day and am a big fan of Ian’s solo work so this is definitely not the first time this part of Canada’s great rock contributitions will appear on one of my playlists. The lyrics to “That Song” are so beautifully wistful as well and I appreciate it on that level.
“So I always fool my friends and we head down there
You think that we are en route
We just drove past your old house
And you weren’t there
And I’m always great when I’m hanging
With your buds and they lie
They think that I’m just fine
Its always been that way, just a pocketbook Brando”
Track #14: Kid Cudi featuring Ratatat – Alive (Nightmare) – Man On The Moon: The End Of Day (2009)
Kid Cudi is a rapper I felt connected to pretty quickly as an existential stoner myself, so his rhymes and composition really jived with my atmosphere. The Man On The Moon records have always been my favorite and because of this track here, Ratatat was put on my radar and I have loved everything about this Brooklyn-based electronic duo ever since. I also think this is a great track to go out on with this playlist. Calming after the Fred Durst too.
“I watch the sun collapse and took up in the clizzoud
I am the lone wolf, go where I wanna
Let the moon shine, be the guide to the lizzight
Even when I stray away, the light never left me
Uh, I learn to follow my instinct
Blinded by the light, rather that than the evil
Feelin’ out of place in a room full of people
Try and be the same, but you know you’re not a sequel
Your fate will be
Whatever it shall be, be, be, be, be
Won’t fight no more
I let these things just be, be, be, be”
This week marks a new beginning for What The Hell Should I Watch as Steve’s daughter Chloe Stebbing joins the podcast full-time. Madame Web is the first up this, an “experience” in theaters, followed by Russell Crowe playing drone pilot for Liam Hemsworth, a French film that will make you salivate and the new Christian Petzold, now available from Criterion.
Steve Stebbing 