10 Songs From Bands I Couldn't Otherwise Care Less About

[Charger]

Interesting that there was a band already in early 70s using the term Heavy Metal...never heard of that before!


My Number 7 is a trip to the late 90s.

TINA COUSINS - Killin' time

This is kind of your standard Brit Pop but Tina's voice is great (and she's not painful to look at either!) and the song rythm is brilliant.
I think I heard this on Radio and then went on buying the album...only to sadly discover there was nothing else worth listening there. But this song made an everlasting impression on me and thus it has stayed on my playlists all these years.

[Zzzptm]

^ "The Heavy Metal Kids from Uranus were an invention of William S. Burroughs, and it seems like the early 70s had a rule where a band name had to be some kind of Burroughs reference... Soft Machine and Steely Dan in that category, for example.

My next list item is "Unsung" by Helmet.

Awesome opening groove, great chunky riffs, industrial-style closing section. Great single and it made me want to buy the album.

Buying the album made me want to rethink my music-purchasing methodology.

[Charger]

Helmet also made a great cover of Symptom Of The Universe at some point...that one made me want to listen to more of their stuff...it didn't take either.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I'll catch up on your choices later, I'm slightly rushed at the moment!

My choice today was a last minute change, because one of the songs I had left I wasn't very happy about (it's an ok song but not THAT awesome!). And then I realised I'd forgotten about this one!!

Glenn Campbell - Wichita Lineman

This has a great melody, intelligent lyrics, and I actually bought a double CD greatest hits of his just for this song... actually there are a couple of others on there I don't mind too much but I really don't otherwise care about him!

[Zzzptm]

For me, Glen Campbell is someone that I didn't know I liked as much as I did, given his strong presence on tracks from his session work. He's got an early rock and roll record that is a real hoot to listen to.

[Vyn]

Glen Campbell was a fantastic musician. I don't care for most of his output as a solo artist, but it is impossible to deny or ignore his amazing craftsmanship.

Hahahahaha, Helmet. Yeah, I fell into the same trap with them. Picked up Meantime on cassette from Y&T Records in Rockville Maryland. Dropped it in the car stereo and headed down to (The still called at the time) Washington National Airport to pick up my future wife (up for a visit whilst we were still dating). I was deflated from the music. Didn't have any other tapes with me, so had to listen to the radio. I was bummed.

Up next: Greg Kihn and his tune Jeopardy. Despite its content, I have always considered it to be a "fun" song with a good bass line. Maybe the video has something to do with that perception. In any event, I didn't like his previous hit(?), and at the moment cannot think of anything else he put out that got airplay, although I'm pretty sure he had some. That's how much I don't care about the rest of his catalog lol.

[Zzzptm]

Oh yeah he had that other song, I think... Can't remember or be moved enough to look it up.

[Charger]

Ironically my #8 shares the same title as #7


DOOM UNIT - Killing Time

This was a massive hit here in Finland as the band won the Radio Rock Starba contest with this song back in 2009...and as much as I can remember this was clearly THE best song of the bunch that were nominated. Great hard rocky metal tune with great vocal melodies.
Eventhough the band got a lot of air time (not only on Radio Rock) they never really made it big. And honestly I can understand why. The rest of their stuff is rather mediocre and they had very little originality.
But this song is a great one and something I listen to every now and then!

Fun Fact. Back in 2009 the tv show Harper's Island (a something of a slasher show with a bunch of people caught in an island being killed off) started and the tv adds here used Killing Time as the background music!

[Zzzptm]

Getting really picky with my next pick...

Most of everything else REO Speedwagon does makes me change the channel or just grit my teeth and wait out for the next track, but that's a strike against the radio show I'm tuned in to. But this song, and ONLY the live version of it from 1977, I will turn up and rock out to. The studio version is plodding, by-the-numbers rock and roll. But this live version lights up the sky.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

My number 8

Big Country - Chester's Farm

When they first emerged in the early 80s I had time for Big Country, I have their first album and this song is off their 6th album The Buffalo Skinners. They have done one or two songs which are great... but of the 12 songs on this album it's only this song and "We're Not in Kansas" that I care about (and from their first album it's only "In A Big Country" I can listen too). They have so much filler and generic stuff I just don't care.

I marginally prefer this song to the other one off this album but on another day I could have listed that one. This is a rocking anti-vivisection song!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Both "Killing Time" songs were very listenable, I probably prefer Doom Unit.

Not a fan of REO Speedwagon either, that was okay for sure but I probably won't rush to hear it again. The same could be said for Jeopardy, not bad but I won't pursue it further.

[Vyn]

This is a rocking anti-vivisection song!

That is only the second song I have ever heard from them. The other, of course, "In a Big Ass Fucking Country and Shit." Although I recall hearing that the band was wildly popular.

Doom Unit! Never heard of them, but that tune isn't half bad.

REO Speedwagon. OMG, I had some friends back in the day that were legit fanatics. Knew a girl that would always tell everyone who would listen what she would let Gary Richrath do to her if given the opportunity. Passed up at least five tickets to go see them at one point or another. Did happen to catch them at a Summer Jam one year, but they were one of several groups so I had to take the good with the bad.

My next offering, a guy who, in the late 70's/early 80's, seemed to have more popularity than I could understand. Was never a big Montrose fan, either, but thought he was better in that outfit. He can sing, not sure why I never got into his groove. But I did like this song:

[Zzzptm]

I remember hearing guys at school going all like HAGAR RULES! THE RED ROCKER! HELL YEAH! BEST ROCKER EVER, DOOD!

I found most of his stuff to be not... quite... fast... enough... This track is one where Sammy and the band actually put in a good tempo, but just about all his other stuff, I re-record at a faster speed so it can rock out properly. And then I forget I did that because there's so much out there that's so much better than Hagar's output. Wasn't a fan of Van Hagar, either.

[Vyn]

Yeah, Van Hagar was an abomination of epic proportions. Made them a lot of cash from what I understand, though!

They would have an entry in this list from me, if they had one song I enjoyed haha.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

My 9th choice is:

Johnny Cash - Hurt

Like Elvis and the Beatles, I knew much of Johnny Cash' work but didn't really like it for the most part... Ring of Fire seemed a little over rated, and if I never heard A Boy Named Sue again I'd be happy!

But this, this is such an emotional rollercoaster, it just so perfectly conveys an older persons deteriorating health. Trent Reznot who wrote the song for Nine Inch Nails has said that Cash' version is THE version.

It was also used in the trailer for Logan a few years back and was just perfect for that also.