5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #156

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. I Can't Play the Blues, by Bumblefoot

Personally I've always been amused by this song. For those of you who don't know who Bumblefoot is, he is an INCREDIBLY skilled technical guitar player who did a nearly decade stint in Guns N' Roses, but has a solo career as well. This particular song is him singing about how he can't play the blues, but then right at the tail end of the song, he plays one of the most awesome bluesy solos of all time - thus proving that he can in fact play the blues.

2. Way Down We Go, by Kaleo

I'm not generally that big into the whole alternative radio station stuff, but I can definitely get behind the vibe of this song in particular. It just has this soulful groove to it that somehow gets to me. I mistook this for a Black Keys song the first time or two I heard it, but then I quickly sorted that out. Regardless, I love the way the rhythm just slams while the more melodic parts have this softer and introspective vibe about them.

3. Little Black Submarines, by The Black Keys

Speaking of The Black Keys, here is one of their most popular hits to date. I do like this song quite a bit, but I have a VERY serious gripe with it. It shares a lot of similarities with Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven". It's in the same key, follows the same chord progression, starts off acoustically and transitions into full plugged in band, etc. That said, it's still a good jam to throw on when you want something a bit more soul driven to listen to.

4. Midnight Rider, by Saxon

Saxon while being a heavy, driving metal band could also have some ever so slightly more melodic moments as well. This tune has a catchy chorus melody and this chord progression that somehow just keeps you mentally flowing and moving. It's definitely noticeably different from tunes like "Princess of the Night" or "Denim and Leather", but it definitely has earned a space on the shelf with the rest of the iconic material in the Saxon catalog.

5. Beast Nation, by The Temperance Movement

It feels like a lot of the newer material from The Temperance Movement has gotten kind of soft and eh. Not really the hard driving, bluesy rock n' roll band that I fell in love with. All that said, this song still has some nice guitar work in the verses. Makes me feel a little homesick for their self-titled debut album, but this is still a great tune if you can approach it without the preconceived notions about what the band should be.