5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #145

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. Psycho Killer, by The Talking Heads

This has always been one of my favorite songs by The Talking Heads. The subject matter is rather gruesome and frightful, but at the same time I can't help but get into the groove of it and like it anyway. Personally I think that is the mark of a true artist. When you can take such a horrific subject matter and get people cheerfully moving, grooving, and singing along to a song about it then you truly have a respectable level of talent.

2. Creep, by Radiohead

I've posted the Postmodern Jukebox version of this tune before, but I feel it's time to give the original its due credit. It is a truly remarkable song that I think many of us (myself DEFINITELY included) can relate to to some degree or another. The way it goes from soft to harsh and then back again is lovely. It gets the emotions it means to portray across flawlessly. I know I still shed a tear or two when I listen to this in the right mood.

3. Black Hole Sun, by Soundgarden

Losing Chris Cornell this year was definitely a heavy loss for not just alternative rock, but music in general. The man had an incredible level of talent and soul. This might be one of his most overplayed songs, but it has earned the right to be. Even if we have all heard it a million times, it still has the same profound impact with each listen. On a side note, I remember the first time I saw the video. I was legitimately freaking out thinking I was tripping balls even though I was completely sober.

4. (Don't Fear) The Reaper, by Blue Oyster Cult

MORE COWBELL! This is the song that made the cowbell the well recognized and beloved instrument in modern pop culture that it is. Personally though I've always loved it more for the dark atmospheric vocals and lyrics. When I was a kid I would always feel completely drawn in and enveloped when the song would come on the radio. The whole rest of the world would fade away and I would just be focused on analyzing the lyrics and finding my own meanings in them.

5. The Boll Weevil, by Leadbelly

Leadbelly is one of those blues men from the delta blues movement that sadly seems to have been forgotten by a lot of people these days. The song he is playing here is an old folk song that has taken many forms since its inception in the 1800's, but his arrangement of it is the one that many other artists who have covered it over the years have referred to when performing it - myself included. It's surprisingly good for getting the audience energized when played right.

Writer's Moment:

This is going to be my last week of regular posts for 2017. Next week there will be another 5 Songs post, but then all of that week there will be a post every day until Friday highlighting what I feel are the 10 best albums of this year. After that I will be taking Saturday, December 23rd until Wednesday, January 3rd off in order to spend time with my friends and family during the holidays. Enjoy the last week of regular posting of 2017!