I was very tired this morning and I just wanted to sleep, but my alarm decided I shouldn’t and with this song blasting in your ear at 10:30 in the morning you can’t really argue. This christian metalcore band released this song off of their second album in 2007 and despite the heavy screaming overtones the lyrics are mostly (or as far as I can tell) about baptism in some sense.
Last semester at Binghamton I took a course on Postmodernism to fulfill a theory credit for my English Major. Woohoo exciting stuff right. Well, it actually was a pretty interesting course. Let me share with you faithful readers a short definition of this massively broad and extensive topic. After the modernist movement which attempted to explain why things like World War I happen, World War II came and crashed the modernist party. This, of course, led to a violent confusion and assumingly left modernist’s as confused as economists today. So, the ambiguous postmodernist movement was born and artists began forming their work around their respective views on the term. A good way to look at postmodernist art is art that does not attempt to explain anything. Art that is intentionally loose and diverse. Art that succumbs to the theory that there really “Ain’t ro reason things are this way.”
Now let us get to the postmodernist classic, “Ain’t No Reason,” by Brett Dennen which does not attempt to explain anything. This is what makes the song so great. Dennen’s Dylan-like voice and Dylan-quality lyric puts this song in the awesome category and it has received honors and popularity because of these qualities. The song is rather simple, like most Dylan songs, and culminates in a chorus where Dennen admits that he does not know why things are this way. He, though, looks for love to be savior. Does love explain all of this craziness? Dennen seems to think so and I tend to agree but what I believe Dennen is trying to say with this song is that no one can explain any of the world. It is a diverse, crazy spinning globe with crazy people with intense emotions. Therefore, one has to look past what they cannot explain and find the ultimate happiness love to set you free.
Probably one of the most memorable grunge/metal bands of our time Alice In Chains made music history with their 1992 album “Dirt”. This album was made famous by songs such as “Would?” and “Them Bones” but none so memorable as their 4th single released off of it which was “Rooster”. Seems kind of stupid that a band would name an epic song off of a very small almost mechanical bird. But to better understand it one has to look at the lyrics.
Aint found a way to kill me yet, Eyes burn with stinging sweat, Seems every path leads me to nowhere, Wife and kids household pet, Army green was no safe bet
The bullets scream to me from somewhere
Here they come to snuff the rooster
Yeah here come the rooster, yeah
You know he aint gonna die
No, no, no, ya know he aint gonna die
Walkin tall machine gun man
They spit on me in my home land
Gloria sent me pictures of my boy
Got my pills gainst mosquito death
My buddys breathin his dyin breath
Oh God please wont you help me make it through
Here they come to snuff the rooster
Yeah here come the rooster, yeah
You know he aint gonna die
No, no, no ya know he aint gonna die
The song was actually written by guitarist Jerry Cantrell for his father who had served in Vietnam. The term Rooster was his father’s nickname which originated from the natives of Vietnam looking at the Eagles on the soldiers uniforms and since they did not know what an Eagle was they were calling them Chickens. This whole song is about his fathers experience throughout the war.
To honor a June that has been filled with more rainy days in New York than letters in this sentence (okay not really but it has rained close to every day) I thought I would provide you with some slurred words from the misheard and misunderstood vocalist John Fogerty and his Creedence Clearwater Revival:
“I hear hurricanes ablowing. 
I know the end is coming soon.
I fear rivers over flowing.
I hear the voice of rage and ruin.”
– “Bad Moon Rising,” by Creedence Clearwater Revival
These lyrics cannot be more true especially since today it felt like heaven and hell were fighting the epic apocalyptic battle outside of my uncle’s lighting store’s storefront in Yonkers, NY (where I was working). Shout out to Lights On. Rivers were not only over flowing but they were forming out of the gutters and traveling fast down the street. It was not a hurricane but there were some tornado warnings. Tremendous stuff. Interesting fact about this well-known Creedence hit. The chorus lyric “Don’t go around tonight, it’s bound to take your life, there’s a bad moon on the rise,” sounds quite similar to “there’s a bathroom on the right,” because of Fogerty’s accented vocal. This, of course, has prompted listeners to take notice of the impending storm or conviniently placed restroom down the hallway.
The bathroom on the right which apparently is also home to a cat
This 2006 hit single from this Seattle based Indie Rock/Folk band Band of Horses (previously known as Horses) is a very dark and sullen song. The album “Everything All the Time” has a very dark tone to it but the singer has a pretty nice and uplifting voice making for a great melodic balance. The Funeral really grabbed my interest because it sounded like nothing else I had heard out of the Indie scene, unlike most of the songs that mostly use acoustic and have a dry feel to them. This song is very well recorded and has an epic sound to it with great musical backings to make for a great experience in all.
The Music Court 