I immediately fell in love with the track.. as I say in the title it is a pseudo cross between Mickey Avalon and MetroStation.  Imagine a Shake it mix up with slightly toned down Mickey lyrics… It’s glorious. 

Anticipating a one hit wonder, I reluctantly streamed a few more tracks via youtube.  15 minutes of pure joy played through my laptop speakers and I immediately purchased the album on itunes.  I’ve listened to the entire album through probably 3 times already.  The CD flows pretty well and although the songs do sound similar, there is enough variation to keep it interesting.  If I didn’t know that these were two college physics majors from Boulder Colorado (the 303 area code –  hence the name), I could easily believe one of them is a Lil’ Jon clone… which is hilarious in itself. 

Don\’t Trust Me

Honestly, 3oh!3 probably aren’t going to win an award or even get a lot of radio play, but as underground hip hop and upbeat party music, they are a fantastic duo that will surely provide some friday night preparty entertainment.

I’ve said before that music is one of my passions.  This weather has made me go back through my ipod and find the bands I use to love.  Recently, I’ve reconnected with one of my favorite bands – Flickerstick.

This band was formed a long time ago (1997) in Dallas, Tx.  They reached medium popularity through a Vh1 show called Band on the run.  They went on to semi national recognition, but never really took off.  Whenever I listen to their music, I’m pretty surprised that the bands singles didn’t get more national recognition.  Their songs including, Got a feeling, Coke, and Beautiful, are all catchy songs with great chorus’, breaks and lyrics.

Right now, I’ve mainly been listening to their live album ‘Causing a Cotastrphe’.  I really prefer listening to live albums whenever possible.  I feel like the artists put more emotion and feeling into these performances than studio recordings.  This album is particularly impressive.  Right now, my favorite track is ‘Execution by X-Mas Lights.’  I’ve Pasted the lyrics below, but I highly recommend this band to anyone looking for an acoustic / rock style band.

“Conjure up what you may find
Cause it’s soon; I can see you behind me
Counting all your 12-step tries
And if the consequence could speak out loud
I could only pick up vibrations
So get in line
And fortify
See, it’s just time to go out
And scream from the top of the moon
One more time

Pulling out the sting of control
Washing your hands from the methadone
Like a time bomb on reset
You see, the execution by x-mas lights
Seems to have its own irony

So get in line
And fortify
Take all of your tiny wishes
And dump them all overboard
With me tonight

So drop that cherry bomb
And leave the hem out of lies
There’s a new rush that is waiting to meet you tonight
But I may choose to leave at once
When there’s no one begging me to come around
Begging me to come around ” – Flickerstick

5.  Counting Crows – Rain King

The Counting Crows are one of those bands that has a ton of older popular songs.  And while Rain King is a somewhat popular song,  it is no where near as famous as Mr. Jones in any Jukebox Rotation.  It’s always fun to walk away from a jukebox after making my selections and when someone asks, “What did you put in?” I just say Counting Crows.  They then ask, “Mr. Jones?”.  Nope. 

4.  Oasis – Cast No Shadow

Wonderwall is hands down the most popular song by Oasis.  It’s also frequently played on our Jukebox.  Not much to say about this one except it was fun to play a pretty good song that didn’t get nearly enough recognition. Another fantastic song by Oasis that doesn’t get enough attention is Live Forever.

3.  Journey – Any Way You Want It

I’m just going to throw this out there.  I hate Journey.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ll jam out from time to time to Don’t Stop Believing.  But when you’re at a bar, it’s fun to put this little diddy in and see people jam out to this silly song.

2.  Weezer – My Name Is Jonas

Ah Weezer…  So many good songs.  It’s hard to pick the wrong song with Weezer because almost all of their older songs could be interchangeable on the Jukebox.  I chose this one because it’s the song I hear the least, but like the most.  I also get to sit there and play Guitar Hero in my mind.

1.  Lynyrd Skynyrd – Simple Man

I know… How can Simple Man be the wrong song?  Well compared to Sweet Home Alabama, or Free Bird, it is the wrong song.  But it’s such a good song, you can rarely go wrong. Shinedown also has a fantastic cover of the song.  You can see it on Youtube .

This has been a tumultuous week for me personally.  I’m making a lot of changes in my life regarding the way I am handling certain relationships with women.  As a byproduct of this ‘change’  I have been listening to a lot of music that represents how I’ve been feeling. 

“What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?” – Rob ( John Cusack ) –  High Fidelity

1.  Jack’s Mannequin – Bruised

I’ve been on a huge Jack’s Mannequin kick lately, So I could easily replace this song with Mixed Tape. But for now, we’ll leave it be.  Ironically, even though I’m feeling down, this song always brings me up.

Lyrics

Best part :

“I lace my Chucks, I walk the aisle,
I take my pills
The babies cry…
All I hear is what’s playing through the in-flight radio
Now every word of every song
I ever heard that made me want to stay
Is what’s playing through the in-flight radio.

And I, I am finally waking up

Hours pass and she still counts the minutes
That I am not there
I swear I didn’t mean for it to feel like this
Like every inch of me is bruised (bruised)” – Jack’s Mannequin

2. Flickerstick – Got a Feeling

This is one of those songs that I’ve been listening to for years.  The band is from Dallas, Tx. and they reach medium popularity nationally.  They have a few other great songs including Coke, and Beautiful.  But this song has always been my favorite. 

Lyrics

Best part:

“I got a feeling, it’s a feeling
That you’ll never understand
It’s like a rush to my heart
That I hope never ends
But it all depends
It’s a power such a power
A sensation that is changing how I feel about you
It’s all brand new
The fight is far from over
There’s nothing left to prove ” – Flickerstick – Got a Feeling

3. Matchbox 20 – Long Day

This is probably the most popular song on my list, but how can you have a list of songs without including Matchbox 20?  This album came out over a decade ago, but I still find myself popping it in whenever I’m feeling blue.  Some other great songs include How far we’ve come, and Push.

Lyrics

Best part :

“Reach down your hand in your pocket
Pull out some hope for me
It’s been a long day, always ain’t that right
And no Lord your hand won’t stop it
Just keep you trembling
It’s been a long day, always ain’t that right” – Matchbox 20

4. Counting Crows – American Girls

There are a ton of great songs about relationships by the Counting Crows.  They are one of my favorite bands and it’s hard to pick which song to put on this list.  Seeing as these should be ‘less popular’ songs, I left off the likes of Mr. Jones, Omaha, Long December, and every other great Counting Crows song that could be on here. Just go Buy their Greatest  Hits album and you’ll be fine.

Lyrics

Best part:

“If I made you cry, please tell me why
I’ll try again if you let me try
American girls are feathers and cream
Coming to bed so edible

American girls, oh
American girls” – Counting Crows

5.  Coldplay – Fix you

Like Counting Crows and Matchbox, Coldplay has an insanely large pool of songs to pick from… maybe even harder than CC.  I could have easily picked The scientist, or Warning Sign, or any number of other great songs.  If you haven’t heard this song, take a break and go watch the video on youtube right now. Both the video, song, and lyrics are absolutely amazing.

Lyrics

Best part:

“And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can’t replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you” – Coldplay

What’s your point of view? What songs have influenced you in love and relationships.

I highly recommend this song and the EP.  I cant wait for the actual LP to be released!

Jack’s Mannequin Wiki