Music Commentary

As a music fanatic, it means a great deal when a song speaks to me.  Good songs are like air and food to me, I need a steady supply of them to fuel my life.  So I spend a great deal of time looking for and thinking about my favorite songs, and I enjoy telling the world about them.

Please excuse the inconsistent formats, these were culled from various blogs I ran over the years.  They are in chronological order, which unfortunately is a meaningless sequence, so you may want to use the tags to look for artists you may be familiar with or want to learn more about.

• Ozzy Osbourne “No More Tears” Power Comes In Layers
• 4 Layers to Musicmaking
• What Makes Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android” So Perfectly Uncomfortable
• What Makes This Song Impactful: Imaging Dragons “Believer”
• Unlocking the Mystery: Why Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” Knocks You Out
• Unlocking the Mystery: Why Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” Is Their Quintessential Song
• Unlocking the Mystery: Why We Listen to 10+ Minutes of Led Zeppelin’s “Achilles Last Stand”
• Unlocking the Mystery: How the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” Impresses without Impressive Melodies
• Unlocking the Mystery: How the Beatles’ “Come Together” Gets Under Your Skin
• Unlocking the Mystery: How Toad the Wet Sprocket’s “All I Want” Uplifts
• How Rock n Roll Empowers Me
• Why Singing Along Is Good for Your Soul
• Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit”: What Went into Writing an Anthem of a Generation
• The Most Important Instrument in a Rock Band
• The Beatles “Nowhere Man”: Let the Song Speak
• Seeing the Art in Dada’s Quirkiness
• The Beatles “Nowhere Man”: Arranging a Lean, Mean Impact Machine
• The Beatles “Nowhere Man”: How to Write a Song about Insecurity
• Rock n Roll Is a Sane Reaction to an Insane World
• 22 Albums That Changed My Life (Part 3)
• 22 Albums That Changed My Life (Part 2)
• 22 Albums That Changed My Life (Part 1)
• Do You Like the Music or the Musician?
• 3 Personal Development Lessons We Can Learn from Slash
• “Just Keep Swimming”
• What Makes a Recording Timeless
• U2’s Slow Decline (and What They Still Have to Offer)
• Bonding and Music
• How Pet Shop Boys Pointed Me toward Progressive Rock
• How Cloud Cult’s “There’s So Much Energy in Us” Reduces Me to Tears
• Music as the Mood Regulator
• Carpark North “Burn It” and the Freedom to Project
• Instrumental vs. Vocal Music
• Do You Relate to Music?
• Holiday Got You Down? Here’s a Fix…
• When I Grow Up I Want to Be Like Mateus Asato
• The Dreams of My Songs
• Bon Jovi, Metallica and Pursuing What We Need
• Metallica’s “Frantic” and Metal’s Power to Channel Our Inner Pain
• SHEL’s “Is the Doctor in Today” and the Power of Music
•  The Jelly Jam: “Stay Together” from Shall We Descend
• King’s X “Gretchen Goes to Nebraska” Review
• Toad the Wet Sprocket “Dulcinea” Review
• Toad the Wet Sprocket “Fear” Review
• Cloud Cult “The Seeker” Review
• Cloud Cult “No Hell” and What We Bottle Up Inside
• In Flames “Disconnected” and Why Feeling Pain Is Better Than Not Feeling at All
• Death Cab for Cutie “The New Year” and the Power to Create Meanings
• Cloud Cult “You’re the Only Thing in Your Way” and Unblocking Your Flow
• David Bowie and His Dare to Be Strange
• King’s X “If” and Being Too Attached to Your Ideal
• Build a Habit of Winning
• Pondering Surviving vs. Thriving: Patty Griffin “Chief”
• Toad the Wet Sprocket’s “Architect of the Ruin” and Our Role in That Demise
• Considering the Value of Your Dream in R.E.M. “Losing My Religion”
• Affirming Your Importance Listening to Radiohead “Airbag”
• Consider the Ticking of Time Listening to Dave Matthews Band “Ants Marching”
• Heart “There’s the Girl” and Choosing to Do Something You Know Is Wrong
• Learning a Sobering Lesson Vicariously Listening to Sting “I Hung My Head”
• Envisioning the Use of Time While Listening to The Winery Dogs’ “Time Machine”
• Pondering the Cost of Pretending from Foo Fighers “The Pretender”
• Consider the Risks: Van Halen “Jump”
• Black Lodge “Breviculum” and Surrendering to Darkness (Temporarily)
• Reclaiming the Power to Change: Counting Crows “Murder of One”
• Song Reflections: Audioslave “Be Yourself”
• Song Reflections: Guster “Either Way”
• Song Reflections: Blackfield “Where Is My Love?”
• Song Reflections: Tori Amos “Spark”
• Song Reflections: Soundgarden “Fell on Black Days”
• Song Reflections: Nickel Creek “This Side”
• Song Reflections: The 77’s “This Is the Way Love Is”
• Song Reflections: Emmylou Harris “Deeper Well”
• Song Reflections: Red Hot Chili Peppers “Californication”
• Song Reflections: Dada “Time Is Your Friend”
• Song Reflections: Porcupine Tree “Shallow”
• Song Reflections: Peter Bradley Adams “Family Name”
• Song Reflections: Harrod & Funck “Hand Draws Flowers”
• Song Reflections: Genesis “No Son of Mine”
• Song Reflections: Fair to Midland “Musical Chairs”
• Song Reflections: Copeland “Chin Up”
• Song Reflections: Cloud Cult “There Is So Much Energy in Us”
• Song Reflections: Townes Van Zandt & Lyle Lovett “Lungs”
• Song Reflections: Midnight Oil “Bring on the Change”
• Song Reflections: Tool “Vicarious”
• Song Reflections: The Jelly Jam “Stay Together”
• Song Reflections: Toad the Wet Sprocket “Amnesia”
• Song Reflections: System of a Down “Deer Dance”
• Song Reflections: Pet Shop Boys “You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk”
• Song Reflections: Carpark North/Michael W. Smith “Save Me from Myself”
• Song Reflections: Socionic “Epiphany”
• Song Reflections: Christa Wells “Renovate”
• Song Reflections: Jerry Cantrell “Psychotic Break”
• Song Reflections: Dishwalla “Counting Blue Cars”
• Song Reflections: In Flames “In Plain View”
• Song Reflections: Vertical Horizon “Everything You Want”
• Song Reflections: Queen “The Show Must Go On”
• Song Reflections: Princess Mononoke Theme Song (English Version)
• Song Reflections: Alice in Chains “Hollow”
• Song Reflections: King’s X “A Box”
• Vertical Horizon: Everything You Want
• Alice in Chains and Heavy Lyrics
• Dada “Time Is Your Friend” from El Subliminoso
• The National: “Mr. November” from Alligator
• Dishwalla “Counting Blue Cars” from Pet Your Friends
• In Flames “Leeches” from Come Clarity
• Porcupine Tree “Shallow” from Deadwing
• Fair to Midland: “Musical Chairs” from Arrows and Anchors
• Brynn Andre: Self-Titled
• In Flames: “Liberation” from Sounds of Playground Fading
• Fair to Midland: Arrows and Anchors
• Cloud Cult: “Running with the Wolves” from Light Chasers
• In Flames: Sounds of a Playground Fading
• Cloud Cult: Light Chasers
• The National: “Apartment Story” from Boxer
• Alice in Chains: “Check My Brain” from Black Gives Way to Blue
• King’s X: “Prisoner” from King’s X
• The 77s: “The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes & The Pride Of Life” from Seventy Sevens
• The Nightwatchman: “The Road I Must Travel” from One Man Revolution
• William Belote: “E=mc2” from Portraits of Albert E.
• Fair to Midland Rocks St. Paul
• Fair to Midland: Fables From a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times is True
• Catches of the Week: Nels Cline, Cloud Cult, Steve Reich, Apocalyptica
• Brynn Andre’s Pink Dress EP
• King’s X “False Alarm” from Manic Moonlight
• Oceansize: Everyone into Position
• Tool “Jambi” from 10,000 Days
• In Flames “The Mirror’s Truth” from A Sense of Purpose
• Toad the Wet Sprocket “Something’s Always Wrong” from Dulcinea
• Dream Theater “These Walls” from Octavarium
• King’s X “Cigarettes” from Dogman
• Toad the Wet Sprocket “Stories I Tell” from Fear
• In Flames: “The Quiet Place” from Soundtrack to Your Escape
• Soundgarden “Burden in My Hand” from Down on the Upside
• System of a Down “Deer Dance” from Toxicity
• Toad the Wet Sprocket “Torn” from Pale
• Midnight Oil “In the Valley” from Earth and Sun and Moon
• King’s X “Shoes” from Dogman
• U2 “Bad” from The Unforgettable Fire
• In Flames “Come Clarity” from Come Clarity
• Toad the Wet Sprocket “Pray Your Gods” from Fear
• Dada “Ask the Dust” from American Highway Flower
• Laura Gibson: “Funeral Song” from Beasts of Seasons
• In Flames “Cloud Connected” from Reroute to Remain
• Dream Theater “As I Am” from Train of Thought
• Metallica “Frantic” from St. Anger
• King’s X “Vegetable” from Manic Moonlight
• Patty Griffin: “Chief” from 1000 Kisses
• In Flames “Disconnected” from A Sense of Purpose
• Midnight Oil “Bring on the Change” from Breathe
• Tool “The Grudge” from Lateralus
• U2 “Even Better Than The Real Thing” from Achtung Baby
• Ozzy Osbourne “I Just Want You” from Ozzmosis
• The Cranberries “Free to Decide” from To the Faithful Departed
• Nickel Creek “When in Rome” from Why Should the Fire Die?
• Metallica “The Day That Never Comes” from Death Magnetic
• In Flames “Take This Life” from Come, Clarity
• Alice in Chains “Grind” from Alice in Chains
• U2 “A Sort of Home Coming” from The Unforgettable Fire
• King’s X “Dogman” from Dogman
• In Flames “Crawl Through Knives” from Come Clarity
• In Flames “Reroute to Remain” from Reroute to Remain
• Alice in Chains “Your Decision” from Black Gives Way to Blue
• Dream Theater “Glass Prison” from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
• King’s X “Higher Than God” from Tape Head
• In Flames “Touch of Red” from Soundtrack to Your Escape
• King’s X “If” from Ogre Tones
• Alice in Chains “A Looking in View” from Black Gives Way to Blue
• Renee Stahl “You Didn’t Know” from Hopeful, Romantic
• Review: Toad the Wet Sprocket – Coil
• Review: U2 – October
• Timelessness from Timeliness

Get the Stuff That Changed My Life.

Get free eBook + epic rock single (mp3).
They contain my most important messages about our well-being.

Bonus: you'll receive all my blog posts in your inbox! And your email is safe with me.