The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Arts & Entertainment => Topic started by: Nabubrush on September 12, 2010, 11:48:40 pm
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In the spirit of my way-old favorites topic (http://touamb.com/index.php/topic,75.0.html), I had an idea:
What are some songs that make chills go up and down your spine, so to speak? For me, a quick set of five(+), from my formative years:
- Aretha Franklin (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=ARETHA|FRANKLIN&sql=11:jifpxqe5ldke~T1): I Say a Little Prayer. When the song goes into the chorus and she's calling back to the line (together/forever), it's a little wrenching for me - especially toward the end, when she's really belting it out. I think maybe it's the weird juxtaposition of it being this Burt Bachrach song that I heard as a kid - kind of making it sort of an easy-listening favorite, with the fact that she's just got such a soulful expressive voice (and the fact that most of her songs are so sad to me). It helps that the song makes me think of my wife. Little Prayer YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pct_VxchJZ8), so you can listen. The video part here is stupid, but it's what's easily available.
- Jimi Hendrix (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=JIMI|HENDRIX&sql=11:hnfexqr5ldte~T1): Bold as Love (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:0jfixz9gldde), but mainly Little Wing (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:0pfpxct5ld6e). Obviously Jimi made his bones on the guitar, and the work here is moving, but he also could write some evocative lyrics. I don't really know much about the music stuff, but I think there's minor stuff going on in there and of course that's going to have an effect. Bold YT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGqPzrNypzw), Wing YT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad2EPO_y0ps), Wing live YT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p10Y1cmN1ms).
- Led Zeppelin (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wifexqe5ldde~T1): The Immigrant Song (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:hpfexq8hld6e). Not as big a deal to me anymore, but I'm guessing I was probably five years old the first time I heard it, and Robert Plant's yowling of the open bits was frankly terrifying. Immigrant YT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCvMKcNJCAY).
- Black Sabbath (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gifoxqw5ldse~T1): Black Sabbath (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:0bfexqydldte). Same sort of thing as Immigrant Song. Just an unrelenting horror-movie soundtrack song, and the album cover is still disturbing to me. Absurdly simple song, but very effective. When Ozzy shrieks "Oh Noooooo" he really sells it - and as a kid, I did believe he was pretty much damned to hell, so I was buying it. Black Sabbath YT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akt3awj_Ah8) (this one is actually sorta fun, you can clearly see Tony's prosthetics - studio, but not the album track).
- The Rolling Stones (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:aifoxqr5ldje~T1): Gimme Shelter (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:abfoxx9sldhe). Pretty much 100% based on Merry Clayton's repeated "Rape . . . Murder" - especially when her voice cracks the third time. Just thinking about it right now is making me shiver. There may be people out there who are unaffected by this, but I don't understand how. This song feels like the epitaph for my birth decade to me. (Honorable Mention to Sister Morphine (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:gxftxbeald0e[/url), which is just not a very fun song.) Shelter YT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcCTKtyzaXc), with shivers occurring around 3:20, Shelter live YT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CG1rbUdHKg), supposedly with audio from Altamont, Morphine YT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtz8qZz6s8s).
Eh, anyway, I'd been thinking about making a post something like this for a long while - off and on since that first favorites post. So here goes - any responses? Paul?
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Uh yeah, I can think of a few...
I have a similar feeling about Whole Lot of Love. It doesn't affect me this way anymore, but the first time I heard the complete version at the age of 10-11 with the freakout middle section of cymbals, sirens, theremin, ah ah ah ahhhhhhhhhh, that really fucked me up. You see, I had heard the song before quite a few times, but not the entire thing. The original single was a shortened version that cut out the middle section. so not only was it crazy it was totally unexpected. I thought the rapture was about to take place.
Riders on the storm. That song was a bit hit on the radio when I was 7 years old. I clearly remember hearing this song while sitting in the back seat of the car in the grocery store parking lot at night while my mother was inside shopping. That was scary.
Revolution No. 9 is pretty creepy. I guess I've been hearing that "song" since it first came out when I was 4 years old.
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Aretha Franklin (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=ARETHA|FRANKLIN&sql=11:jifpxqe5ldke~T1): I Say a Little Prayer.
That made me think of this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwErwvcIEbQ&feature=related) (jump to :45). I heard this again a few years ago and it brought those chills right back from 1973.
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(Honorable Mention to Sister Morphine (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:gxftxbeald0e[/url), which is just not a very fun song.) Shelter YT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcCTKtyzaXc), with shivers occurring around 3:20, Shelter live YT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CG1rbUdHKg), supposedly with audio from Altamont, Morphine YT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtz8qZz6s8s).[/li][/list]
I put this song on a mixdisc for the truck a couple weeks ago. I'd never really listened to it, you know? Whoa.
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When I was little, "All Night Long" by Lionel Richie would creep me out whenever it came on the radio.
The Wikipedia article for "All Night Long" contains this vital piece of information: "According to an episode of Reading Rainbow in which Richie guest-starred, the song's theme is about a party that lasts all night long."
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Forgive some of the videos, they're not all official or... fortunate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I57Voojyao (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I57Voojyao) - Gabriel/Fripp "Here Comes The Flood"... kinda about the end of the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSCNp1WDM4Q (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSCNp1WDM4Q) - Ben Folds Five "Lullabye"... kinda full of whhhhhhist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZBFGlmUt_U (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZBFGlmUt_U) - Elliott Smith "A Distorted Reality's Now A Necessity to Be Free"... kinda about the end of the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-URifHF7_fs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-URifHF7_fs) - Smasihng Pumpkins, "For Martha"... kinda about mourning, kinda epic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds9JN1XaBRA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds9JN1XaBRA) - Roger Waters "Amused to Death"... kinda about the end of the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxDT7gHLy1E (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxDT7gHLy1E) - Hayden "Skates"... kinda about the depths of mourning. Story song.
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I could have probably added every Elliot Smith song I have ever heard. I'm not sure if it's all because of his songwriting. I gotta figure my brain includes his story every time I hear him sing. I thought about Ben Folds - and with him it's sort of even more jarring because he's almost Weezerlike in his poppishness. I could have done a few Stevie Wonder songs, too. Smashing Pumpkins . . . I get distracted by Corgan's voice, a little.
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Seriously? No love for "No More Tears (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O676EoWhIo)?" (The video is lame, sorry.)
Also, the full version of "Nights in White Satin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lazdg-eqmQ)." There was a local radio station that used to regularly play the extended version, but only after 9 PM. During the day they played the normal, truncated version. If you know the song but have never heard (or don't remember) the extended version, skip to 5:45.
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chicago (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDRrqcZbdPU)-sufjan stevens (breathtaking)
creep (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFkzRNyygfk)-radiohead
diamonds and pearls (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puvkVKngU-A)-prince
my hero (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVKDQgT_b-Y)-foo fighters
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Nights in White Satin
During the spoken word part, I like to imagine the intro to Star Trek instead.
Same rhythm but the Star Trek words.
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The stark white bleakness of a post clear-cut northern wisconsin. In the winter,
the cold will murder your family as you lay in your bed dreaming of permanence.
In the summer, the land itself radiates loneliness causing a yearning for the winter
deep inside your soul.
As translated by an angry young man from the center of politics in our nation of
lost idealism and dreams. A young man who later grows up to become the one
thing most cherished in our culture, a father. a Father of a Son. A Father of a Son
who is slowly dying before his eyes, and all he is left with is blind hope and the
pressing importance of now.
hey, angel?
fly over. and bless me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap3L_NCZk4s
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Smashing Pumpkins . . . I get distracted by Corgan's voice, a little.
Remember, I'm the dude who is still able to forgive Axl Rose's voice. These things seem to not bother me. bwahaha.
Ben Folds' descent into poppiness isn't on a scale with Weezer, I think, because he hasn't descended into "whatever's popular right now" pop.
Mostly schmaltzy classic rock ballad pop. But yeah, every album and the good-bad ratio drops a little bit, for sure.
The collapse of Weezer will confound us all, forever.
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I almost tossed in a couple Foo Fighters, too. I've got to say, and apologies to all the Cobain fans, but Dave is sort of gaining on him. I'm continually surprised by how moving his work is. Did anyone else see him play at the White House during McCartney's Gershwin prize deal? That was pretty awesome. All these people coming up, doing more and more dirgelike covers, and then Dave gets up there and just rips through "Band on the Run (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_uyuuJVlw4)" - if you don't enjoy Stevie grooving on Dave Grohl bellowing that song at the frickin' White House, well . . . you should check your pulse.
Seriously, if you haven't seen that yet, take five minutes and click the link - I think you will be pleased.
I could have done some Radiohead, too . . . Karma Police, maybe?
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dear $first love,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDl7Wrsd0qI
end in distortion
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hello,
dreams.
goodbye,
dreams.
hello,
life.
goodbye,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w76_IzLRKkg&feature=related
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i have no pome,
this song just shoots sparks from my scalp to my soles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_XbYz9J4W0
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I could have done some Radiohead, too . . . Karma Police, maybe?
See, I'd go "Airbag" off that album as again it kind of has that apocalyptic thing I'm into.
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No Surprises.
The first two VU albums.
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When I first heard OK Computer I got goose bumps, not because it was creepy, but because it was so god damn good.
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I couldn't get my internet to work for a bit there, but I wanted to say:
Ark - you included some very nice things that I did not know about and thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you.
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I spent a long time thinking about this, and realized that the only times I remember getting chills from music were when listening to "Post-Punk."
Joy Division, Pere Ubu. I can't remember specific songs at the moment.
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I was listening to last.fm's jazz tag station today and this little ditty (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7AZIvDD5Lw) by the Ink Spots came on. Immediately, my blood ran cold and I felt an overwhelming urge to reload my plasma rifle.
If you've played Fallout 3, you know exactly what I mean.
If you haven't, here's what I mean: Bethesda software licensed a bunch of old-timey jazz music for a game set in a post-apocalyptic urban wasteland, and if you choose to turn on your personal radio you can listen to it as you wander around shooting horribly mutated creatures and people who want to kill you. So now, whenever I hear one of these otherwise innocuous tunes, I get all twitchy and nervous. It is a great game, but it really fucks with your head.
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So yeah, this one still gets me right there.
You Can't Bring Me Down (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrctcJqfpXU)
Can't change what's inside my heart.
nicely done. all i have is a best of Cassette Tape, but even as such i continue to not understand why Suicidal Tendencies isn't more popular. motherfuckers brought PBR and trucker hats into being "cool" but these nitwit twit shit for brains with their size "fuck*ng large" black ##### and stupid hair cuts still think marillyn manson is role model for teen power. (edit- no nouns in the previous sentence refers to Suicidal Tendencies)
also,
walk with me, asherdan, around the lake.
tonight.
by my side?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSI-Wk00rVw
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I was listening to last.fm's jazz tag station today and this little ditty (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7AZIvDD5Lw) by the Ink Spots came on. Immediately, my blood ran cold and I felt an overwhelming urge to reload my plasma rifle.
If you've played Fallout 3, you know exactly what I mean.
If you haven't, here's what I mean: Bethesda software licensed a bunch of old-timey jazz music for a game set in a post-apocalyptic urban wasteland, and if you choose to turn on your personal radio you can listen to it as you wander around shooting horribly mutated creatures and people who want to kill you. So now, whenever I hear one of these otherwise innocuous tunes, I get all twitchy and nervous. It is a great game, but it really fucks with your head.
Also, there was that surreal commercial which used it... was it for Chanel #5? Something like that. Dude has a very unusual, ethereal quality about his voice.
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I was listening to last.fm's jazz tag station today and this little ditty (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7AZIvDD5Lw) by the Ink Spots came on. Immediately, my blood ran cold and I felt an overwhelming urge to reload my plasma rifle.
This song is on my latest mix disc. Did I send you a copy?
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Also, there was that surreal commercial which used it... was it for Chanel #5? Something like that. Dude has a very unusual, ethereal quality about his voice.
Dunno about the commercial, having not watched much commercial television for the last dozen years or so...but yeah,the haunting quality of the vocals is spot-on. Fallout used "Maybe (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBox8BPHfiU)" by the same artists in the intro film of Fallout 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkBNKa2KXZE) and it's available on the radio in Fallout 3 as well.
Here's "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" used in the teaser for Fallout 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxSdbSNckTQ). As you will be able to tell from the pan-out, it's set in the ruins of Washington, DC. Heartbreaking.
This song is on my latest mix disc. Did I send you a copy?
Probably? I have an issue where I don't have easy access to an optical drive, and I haven't ripped any of the mixdiscs I've gotten through you guys onto my iPod yet. They are all in a stack on my desk waiting for me to handle them. It's a serious character flaw of mine, I apologize.
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Dunno about the commercial, having not watched much commercial television for the last dozen years or so...but yeah,the haunting quality of the vocals is spot-on.
Here it is. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx3Na_7inPI) Probably 25 years old. Yeesh.
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Ummmm, yeah. That ran the year I was born, dude.
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youre so last summer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjcNgPGgaK8)-taking back sunday
you would think that id be annoyed by music created by some slender, whiny, caucasian dudes, but when adam lazzara sings, "and the truth/is you could slit my throat/and with my one last gasping breath id apologize for bleeding on your shirt", it speaks to me on a certain level. a certain passive-aggressive/self-depricating level that i dont like.
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Ummmm, yeah. That ran the year I was born, dude.
I'm pretty sure Chanel went back to that particular well throughout the 80's at least.
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Don't remember it. Somehow I doubt they were running many "Chanel No. 5" ads during Muppet Babies and Sesame Street.
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The one I meant to put on my list and I forgot is Rocket from the Tombs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_From_The_Tombs): Ain't it Fun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ain%27t_It_Fun). The band split into Dead Boys and Pere Ubu, and both bands covered RFTT stuff. Crunchy version from '75 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PExEDuGKDo4), posted to YouTube by a guy calling himself "BryterLayter26", which is kinda fun by itself.
That song makes me feel bad, but I really like listening to it. Well, not like. I guess I should just say I really listen to it. I can't imagine what it would have been like to see it live back in 1974-1975. Probably sort of like watching Psycho in the original release in the theater in 1960.
Less said about the GnR cover the better.
"Ain't it fun when you feel that you just gotta buy a gun . . ."
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That old-time jazz song by the Ink Spots doesn't give me the chills, but I'm kind of obsessed with that shit. I was hooked after I watched the BBC series The Singing Detective, which featured a couple songs by the Ink Spots along with a whole bunch of other old-timey jazz. And also a version of "I've Got You Under My Skin" by Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Orchestra that I can't find ANYWHERE. Seriously, a can to anyone who can find me a copy of that. It's one of my favorite recordings, ever. ALSO: KUOW in Seattle has a decent program on Saturday nights called The Swing Years and Beyond. You could get the urge to kill every Saturday night, JL. (Edit: you can listen here (http://www.kuow.org/swing_years.php).)
The Mercy Seat by Nick Cave gives me the chills. I can't find the album version on youtube or anything, and the video mix doesn't really do it justice. Apparently this link (http://tiny.cc/jesy4) is good for one stream of the entire song. But yeah, that song. And a few others of his.
I saw Spiritualized perform "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space" at the end of July, and man, when they performed the title track (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK4iR2Q-Ieg), yeah. I've always been sucker for the album, and this song in particular. The original version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB7E1D_3Na4).
Whoever suggested "Suspicious Minds" is correct.
Can You Get to That (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rrOdcnFbAY).
And also the version of "Like a Rolling Stone" from the Royal Albert Hall bootleg. Every. fuck*ng. Time. Couldn't find a clip, but it's officially released as Bootleg Series, vol. 4, and I'm pretty sure that there is a clip of it in that Dylan documentary Martin Scorsese did.
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Oh yeah. Those songs are mostly warm and happy chills (well, except for the Nick Cave song), but here are a few that give me the creepy chills.
Two from Brainiac:
Fresh New Eyes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPHkztXtnG4&)
fuck*ng with the Altimeter (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9J-gmQZyD0&)
And two from Karin Dreijer Andersson:
From Off to On (The Knife) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i82MXuIHEOY)
Coconut (Fever Ray) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFN72I8jM4s)
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Oh man, so right about that Rolling Stone version.
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possible best thread ever.
definitely best thread i've seen in a long assed time.
first time i heard this i spontaneously sat down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o22eIJDtKho
but then i relistened to the cd last night,
and, well, god damn:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6cMQ6kBm0k
most of Hum gives me chills:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTl8HcvYRqg&feature=related
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first time i heard this i spontaneously sat down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o22eIJDtKho
I have a neighbor who is a British ex-pat. Well I guess she's an ex-pat, don't know if she ever became an American citizen. Whatever, she's in her 80s and grew up in London during the Blitz. After the was she married a soldier who brought her to the USA. She's been her ever since.
She loves to talk about her experiences during wartime, and I am eager to listen, she can be fascinating. One time I asked her about Vera Lynn because I knew of her from the Pink Floyd song. She told me she was the most popular singer in England during the war and she used to love to hear her sing because she always gave so much hope to the people. She helped give them strength to carry on during the troubled times.
So I went out and bought a Vera Lynn collection. She's quite good actually. We'll Meet Again (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHcunREYzNY) was her biggest hit.
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Nabu-- rocket from the tombs are so good. "Final Solution" makes me feel so bad about myself for liking it.
Also: Just realized that Los Angeles, which features some of my favorite vocal harmonies ever (I think the combination of John Doe and Exene Cervenka is like... such a good harmonic thing?) has the N word in it. In a way that I want to say "Bad!" but can't, because, mostly I guess because I never heard it until I read the lyrics.
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White guilt!
I have that problem with "Oliver's Army", the John Lennon song, the Patti Smith song, and that one 10cc song. It's not edgy, people, leave it to the gangsta rap where it is appropriate.