5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #141

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. Happy Ever After (Zero Hour), by The Foo Fighters

This has to be one of my absolute favorite tracks from the new Foo Fighters record. You can tell Dave Grohl was vibing some Blackbird pretty hard when he wrote this, but at the same time it still manages to be its own thing. It's kind of a nice contrast to the rest of the record which is mostly plugged in loud balls to the wall rock n' roll. It brings balance to the album in a way that doesn't make it sound really wussy and weak.

2. Black Dog, by Led Zeppelin

When people hear the name Led Zeppelin, this is one of the first tunes that comes into their heads. Everything about it represents what the band was about. The way it begins with that iconic sung intro to the way the signature riff beats your balls against the wall while the wild thundering rhythm section splits your skull open lets you know that this is a group of real musicians making real music; the best music. You don't hear a whole lot of raw rock n' roll ruckus like this any more.

3. Your Touch, by The Black Keys

This is one of the few old school Black Keys tunes that the band will still pull out live every once in a while whenever they feel like actually acknowledging stuff they made before Brothers. It's definitely a good one. It's a nice balance of their raw, straight-up DIY basement blues rock style with the more compact and crisp modern rock they would become known for a few years later. I've even included it on a YouTube mixtape that I've made for my girlfriend, so that should tell you how good it is.

4. Thunder High on the Mountain, by Joe Satriani

The stuff I've heard from Satch's upcoming record so far definitely has me excited and this second single from it is no exception. In this song Joe manages to do all of his wild technical stuff while still somehow fitting within the groove that Glenn Hughes (bassist/vocalist for Deep Purple) and Chad Smith (drummer for Red Hot Chili Peppers and Chickenfoot) are laying down. Then again, Joe Satriani has been the master of the impossible when it comes to music since the mid-80's so I really shouldn't be surprised.

5. Accidents Can Happen (Heroin Diaries 10th Anniversary Version), by Sixx: AM

Wow. It's hard to believe that this year The Heroin Diaries turns 10 years old. I remember when the book and its soundtrack first came out in 2007. It was all the rage with my fellow rock n' rollers and myself. The band is now putting out a 10th anniversary edition of the book and album with new versions of the songs that are rather cool reinterpretations. This definitely has a different vibe than the original, but the message still remains the same.