Apparently I have a block against music of the early 90s. As you might recall, I'd gotten up to the late 80s, then for some reason, did a review of some songs on my iPod, all from the 50s and 60s. Then I skipped a week. Today I'm posting some fairly modern songs I like, instead of going back to 1990-91. Ah well. Consider this a tour of modern music that old fogeys might like.
This is Mika, a young British lad born in Lebanon. This song was a pretty big hit in 2007. I thought he was going to be a bigger star than he is. Might be the promotion or lack of it. Who can tell what the kids are going to like these days! Not me, that's for sure.
The funny thing about me writing about "contemporary" music is that I put in something like this....from FIVE years ago!!! This is an oldie to a 14 year old. The Arctic Monkeys, just about my favorite current band, from Sheffield, England.
As if 2005 isn't ridiculous enough for "modern music", here's a 2003 song from Outkast that was as big as a song can be, getting to #1. You know it, you love it, here it is again.
Los Angeles hip-hoppers, The Black Eyed Peas, also got to #1 just this past year with this party song. It's got a clever melodic thing going on in the phrasing of the title. FYI, I might have gone to parties like this when I was younger but I wouldn't now, if only because I'd be uncomfortable hearing people asking "who's that old guy?"
Caution: Earworm straight ahead! These guys are ridiculously old too, with the lead singer being 41. The guitarist is 45, for God's sake! But this song is a hit now and it's horribly catchy. You've likely heard it already. If you have or haven't, give it a listen maybe two times through and you'll have a hard time getting it out of your head. From San Francisco!
Well, isn't this interesting! I do lookups for some of these people I don't know much about, like Belle and Sebastian here. I knew they were from Glasgow but I didn't know they were produced by Trevor Horn. You remember Trevor. Of The Buggles (Video Killed the Radio Star) and the producer of Frankie Goes to Hollywood! Belle and Sebastian are especially good for oldsters because the sound is so polite.
Another pleasant tune for old people, Owl City is really just one guy, Adam Young from Minnesota. The video shows a room conveniently stocked with all sorts of retro knickknacks, perfect for appealing to grandma and grandpa. It's either current or just dropped off the charts, so it counts as new.
Here's a nice young woman from Barbados. Sorry about the ads, by the way. It's the new, coming thing. This particular tune was a big hit recently...in 2005!! It seems like it was only yesterday. In the 5 years since, she's been transformed into a scary looking 22 year old.
Muse, from England. A cool little fact is that the singer, Matthew Bellamy, is the son of the rhythm guitarist of The Tornadoes, who did "Telstar". Muse (and the Arctic Monkeys) play the heaviest music that this particular oldster can enjoy. The fact that I consider either of those groups "heavy" at all must amuse youngsters. I was looking for a different song of theirs but my old man's brain couldn't remember any of the lyrics and thus couldn't locate the song.
