Don't You Feel Good When Local Bands Get All The Way To iTunes? I Do.

The Fastest Kid Alive originated in the Chicagoland area a few years back, and have been playing shows ever since. Their first and only demo album on iTunes, "Listen Up!", released last May with a rating of four and a half stars, and their newest single, a cover of Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" was released last November.

The most popular song on the demo, "Dance With a Match" suprisingly decent. Although the music in the back are a little unoriginal, it's a good start for the potentially famous band. Their other songs have an All Time Low kind of sound to them, and the singer's voice isn't all that bad at all.

Their cover of the ever-famous 1984 classic is also pretty good. It adds an upbeat vibe to it, and BY FAR beats Miley Cyrus' remake of the song. Then again, almost anything could beat something Miley Cyrus sings...Anyway, the remake is pretty popular on iTunes and with the fans (just January 30th they themed their show, Crazy For the 80's Night, after this single) and is played at most of their shows.

With their almost 50,000 friends on Myspace and their 27 upcoming shows in eleven different states, i wouldn't doubt they'll eventually rock their way into more stardom and hopefully more releases on iTunes!

Mark Hoppus Going Solo?

Instead of my ideas on new songs, there is new reported news on Mark Hoppus, former bass guitarist in one of my favorite bands, Blink-182. I found this pretty important, so i decided

In November of last year, Hoppus gave all of the Blink-182 fans enormous hope of a reunion. He stated in his blog that there was a chance the band would come together for a tour coming this year. Personally, hearing this news set an almost permanent smile to my face.

Although the exciting reunion news overwhelmed the fans of this award-winning band, they were recently disappointed when Hoppus stated on an MTV interview that he will be working on a solo album.

Although Hoppus said that the future was open, his album has ten songs that are still in the process of being completed. If Hoppus finishes his album and follows through with his plans, you can count on hearing about it here.

Although there is still a chance that Blink will reunite (cross your fingers!!!), I understand that whole "personal wealth" idea. Hoppus' bass will be welcomed back into the alternative music world and we hope his album the best.


For more information on Hoppus and his potentential CD, click here.

My Live Would Suck Without You? More Like Your New CD Would Suck Less Without This Song.

Kelly Clarkson, being the first American Idol and one of the most successful of the winners on the show, has a pretty impressive voice and has made a decent name for herself in the music industry. We haven't heard much from her in a while (her last single out that i remember was Never Again...an OK song, but to me it sounded like she was trying too hard), and her most recent album, My December, didn't exactly win over the crowds.

Now the Idol is back with a new single that, in my opinion, lacks any musical or lyrical individuality. Every line was easily predictable, and the lyrics were about as deep as the water in a kiddie pool. I probably could have written lyrics similar to or better than this in fifth grade about some boy that i had a crush on that left me for another girl (don't you just love 10 year old drama?).

I knew that the lyrics wouldn't be too up to par when i heard the opening of the song.
"Guess this means you’re sorry
You’re standing at my door
Guess this means you take back
What you said before"

I mean, really? C'mon, Kelly, you're putting all the other Idols to shame! Even Taylor Hicks, who I still haven't heard anything about since his win a few years back, could do better than this.

Sure, the beat is catchy, but that shouldn't be what music is about. Whatever happened to REAL music? What people looked up to and related to? If only the popular songs these days were less about getting "crunk" and being a "player" and more about things that actually matter, and experiences people learn from. How much more would we impact the music of the future? With songs like this, we'll never know...

Anyhow, her new album, Masquerade, is expected in stores on March 17th. I'm hoping that the rest of her new "music" will impress me more than this song has and her lyrics will dig a little deeper than these. I guess we'll find out as the CD is released!


For lyrics and information on the song and the artist's new album, click here

20 Dollar Nose Bleed (Featuring Brendan Urie)

This track, 20 Dollar Nose Bleed, released December 14 2008 along with the rest of Fall Out Boy's album, "Folie a Deux" (meaning a madness shared by two), particularly sparked my interest. Not only does it feature Brendan Urie, the lead singer an also similarly popular band, Panic! At the Disco (another one of the many of bands I follow), but they lyrics and the meanings behind them interested me more than any other song on the album.

Their humorous, yet active and incredibly verbal opinions about the government come through in this album, and particularly in this song. The second verse in the song, "It feels like 14 carats but no clarity/When I look at the man who would be king (The man who would be king)/goes to the desert the same war his dad rehearsed/came back with flags on coffins and said/we won, oh, we won," directly addresses President George W. Bush what they see as his lack of leadership with the war, how he followed his father's footsteps with the war and didn't do much to change anything and his misuse of the power we elected into his hands.

For one thing, I think expressing their ideas about the war and what is going on in the world is admirable. In my opinion, putting your ideas out in the open for people to tear apart and criticize is one of the most courageous things a writer or an artist can do with his or her work. On the other hand, i somewhat disagree with what they said. I admire Fall Out Boy as a band, and I respect their ideas. But c'mon...he didn't sit in his oval office playing Halo 3 or the new Call of Duty both terms of his presidency. I think this President Bush gets less credit than he deserves. He did contribute to our war, but he was put into presidency in one of the worst time in all of America's history, so kudos to the president for that.

Aside from my views on George Bush, I think the song & its lyrics are a creative parallel to the current state of the US. With that said, I, along with the band, support Barack Obama and what he is going to hopefully do to turn our country back around to what it was created to b*e.

Ignoring the meanings of the song, the coming together of Brendan Urie and Patrick Stump is either a hit or miss depending on your taste of music. In my opinion the song is incredibly catchy, and i think Fall Out Boy and Brendan Urie together created music that will help America become aware of what happened, what is happening, and what is to come with the old mistakes and the new opportunities to come for our country. This song was overall a hit for me and I'm anticipating Fall Out Boy's music that's to come after the new changes after or during Obama's term.


*Fall Out Boy is playing at the Presidential Inauguration on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 this year along with Kid Rock and Kanye West. For more information, visit http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1602981/20090117/west_kanye.jhtml


For more opinions and the song lyrics: http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858752014/