On Music

A couple nights ago, when I was driving to meet Dayna for the movie¹, I was listening to one of the radio stations I listen to² in the car. The DJ made mention of a Song Fusion coming up between Gnarles Barkley's "Crazy" and The Raconteurs' "Steady As She Goes", so I turned up the volume and waited. It sounded like it was going to be interesting.

It. Was. AMAZING. The guitar and drums of "Steady As She Goes" fit in very nicely with the rhythm of "Crazy", and they only did one set of vocals at a time, starting with the first verse and chorus of "Crazy", and then doing the middle verse and chorus of "Steady As She Goes", and then both choruses³ at the same time. The DJ referred to it as "Crazy As She Goes", and I loved it and wish I was recording it. If anyone can find this particular combination online (hopefully recorded from that particular segment⁴), I will love you forever.

It made me wonder, though, what happened to all the upbeat songs of the mid-late 90s and early 00s? I do enjoy a wide variety of music, but my favorites will always be the ones with the nice rhythm and the happy tone (sometimes regardless of how melancholy and angsty the lyrics are⁵). What do we have in the rock genre today? "Show me what it's like to be the last one standing". Songs that are not only depressing, but the powerchords and dramatic pauses just hammer that fact into you. It makes the song powerful, yes, but powerfully angsty and moody. When I'm driving, yes, I like a lot of cool guitar solos, but also a general upbeat feeling of the entire song. I want to drive and be in a good mood, not feel like I want to punch somebody.

That's what I liked about Matchbox 20 a few years ago. They brought back the good vibrations. They're giving me excitations.

Bring back the Better Than Ezras, the Gin Blossoms, the Spin Doctors, and the Third Eye Blinds. Bring back the old school Green Days, and the Barenaked Ladies⁶. Find me Blink 182.

Make me want to dance in my car to new music again. Everything I dance to these is anywhere from a decade to four decades old.

1. See the last couple posts for details.


2. SHOCKING, I KNOW.


3. Chorii?


4. Q101, Wednesday evening between 6 and 7 Central Standard Time.


5. Generally referred to as "The Bipolar 90s" by me. Jillian makes fun of me for using this description. Even though she uses it too.


6. Granted, they just released a new CD, and there's a single released and on the radio, but it's more in line with their slow and relaxing songs, rather than the upbeat "make you want to dance"⁷ songs.


7. Like "Falling for the First Time". I love that song, don't you?

World of Warcraft update.

It's been a while since I've made an update on my progress.

Let's see. Krajin's at level 39, with 74 gold. I'm going to ask someone if they can take me through one more Razorfen Downs "solo" looting run this weekend; if I don't hit 40 by tonight I will on Saturday, and one more RFD run will get me enough loot to disenchant and/or sell to put me past the 90 gold I need to buy my riding training and my mount.

If all goes well, this time on Sunday, I'll be sitting on top of my green raptor in the middle of Orgrimmar.

My wolf, Kaie, is at the point where she's getting more skills/upgrades than she has training points to use them, so I did a respec last week to be able to give her the current maximum Stamina/Armor upgrades, and have her Fire and Shadow resistence at 60 and the others at 30.

This week I hit Honored with Thunder Bluff, meaning that Undercity is now currently the only Horde city that charges me full price for anything.

I've been sacrificing my other characters to be able to hit 40 and get my mount before the mount system changes (the next mini-patch will invert the training/mount prices). The entire time Krajin's been in his 30s, I've been realizing that Gen was right to warn me about that range. The 30s has been the slowest range to advance ever. I'm hoping that when I break 40, it'll pick up.

I've currently been in all the instances up to my level at least once, though Gnomeregan probably doesn't count since I was taken through the back entrance to get to the Big Bad as soon as possible. (Aedanne's promised me a full Gnomeregan run next time she has time.) I've got a quest for Uldaman and a couple more quests for Razorfen Downs, and I'll be looking for the other quests I can get for it (and Scarlet Monastary) soon.

I'm just that much closer to being able to be worth something to the guild. I'm looking forward to it.

Tornado Warning.

(Alternate Title: Free Trip to Oz!)

There is currently a tornado in Geneva, heading straight for Schaumburg. I've got twenty minutes before I leave work.

I'd be worried if I didn't think it was so cool.

( Pretty radar image. )

Voice Post: HEY LOOK AT ME I TALK IN THE CAR WHILE I R ON CELFONE

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