5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #75

5 Songs to Get You Through the Week is a feature I run on Young Ears, Fresh Perspective on Sundays/early hours of Monday morning where I pick out 5 tunes that I think are notable and tell you a bit about them. The point is to give you some rocking music to help you deal with your weekday blues. You can either listen to one each day, listen to them all at once, or any other combination that you feel. As long as you can get through the week without the man getting you down, that's all I care about. Without further ado, here are the 5 tracks I've picked out for this week:

1. How You Remind Me, by Nickelback

Who didn't hear this at least half a dozen times or more on the radio every day when it came out in the early 2000's? This was the song that got Nickelback the stardom and status they would achieve before becoming scorned by the masses for God knows what reason. Overplayed though it may be, it still has one of the most pulse pounding epic choruses of the post-grunge period. Taking the concept of introspective meaningful lyrics backed with darker music that builds up to a big chorus as done in the 80's it was one hell of a fusion that worked for countless bands during that point in music history.

2. Side of a Bullet, by Nickelback

This is definitely one of the most metal songs that Nickelback ever put out. It's got some deep grooving riffs that just tear right into you. The best part of the song however is that the solo was an old sample recorded by the late Dimebag Darrell, the guitarist from the legendary metal band Pantera. The lyrics themselves are about the tragic death of Darrell, who was gunned down on stage during a show for his band Damage Plan. It's kind of suiting that the solo is from the man himself.

3. This Afternoon, by Nickelback

I always thought this was one of Nickelback's most chill fun songs. It's not anything balls to the wall, but it still has a lot of heart and soul to it in that it talks about despite the fact you might not always have a whole lot of money you can still have some of the best times in life as long as you have good friends and a good attitude. It's all about doing what you can to scrape by and being happy with virtually nothing.

4. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, by Nickelback

I honestly NEVER would have expected Nickelback to cover Elton John, but it honestly works pretty well. Dimebag Darrell and Kid Rock even lend their talents to this one to make it even more fun. I guess it's hard to go wrong when you're doing a masterpiece of a song with that much musical talent on it. They take this cooking tune and turn up the heat to make it even more of a driving guitar based song and it really does manage to kick a lot of ass.

5. Rockstar, by Nickelback

Come on. You knew I had to put this one in when I'm doing an all Nickelback theme post for this week. This one got overplayed way more than How You Remind Me. Hell, it still gets played a lot on the radio even to this day. It's for good reason, though. The song is a humorous examination and mockery of the rock and roll lifestyle that has become so infamous over the decades. Plus, when you've got Billy Gibbons in there doing backing vocals and guitar it's kind of hard for the song not to be something rad.