iTunes’ Top 25 Downloaded Songs Ever are playing on an endless loop in Hell

So the big “tech” news this morning was that iTunes has hit the ’10 billion downloaded songs’ mark. For the past couple weeks, Apple had a count-down (count-up?) to 10 billion and whoever was lucky enough to actually download THE 10-billionth song would win a $10,000 gift card to Apple (although a $10 billion gift card would have made more sense; sack up, Apple!!!!). Anyhow, a guy from Georgia downloaded a Johnny Cash song this morning and hit the jackpot. Woohoo for that guy! And woohoo Johnny Cash! I didn’t want to hear how the 10 billionth song ever downloaded from iTunes was from Vanilla Ice or some crap (that’s what the kids are into these days, right? Those damn kids and their damn hammer pants and damn snap bracelets and damn pogs!!!!)

Seeing as how “this guy won the $10,000 gift card and you didn’t” isn’t quite enough to fill in an entire story, Apple also added in a few more interesting factoids, including the 25 songs that have been downloaded the most times in iTunes history. And let me tell you…be sure you don’t have any loaded pistols around when you read this list.

Turns out that “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas is the most downloaded song on iTunes EVAR. This song title, for anyone who’s ever heard it, is shortened from its original title “I Gotta Feeling This Song is the Most Offensive and Terrible Piece of Crap ever Recorded inna Studio”. Haha. Just kidding, Black Eyed Peas. It’s not the “most offensive” or “most terrible” song. I heard that song this morning. The excellently-named Gabe Delahaye over at Videogum.com posted the new earbleed-inducing Ke$ha “video” “Blah Blah Blah” which makes “I Gotta Feeling” look like a thoughtful thesis on melody and societal norms by a group of NYU post-graduate students. Careful – the following video is NSFYS (not safe for your sanity).

OMG, you guys!!! I mean, barf! Ugh. Good thing I had a Pepsi Max here to help me choke down the vomit. Too bad that won’t help the shattered screen on my laptop that I just punched.

Can somebody explain to me how anybody on the face of the Earth could ever not hate this? Also, I am ashamed to live in Denver now, thanks to Denver-based band 3OH!3 having completely flushed what little street cred they had down the crapper by appearing in this video. Good work, 3EW!3. Now The Fray is officially Denver’s biggest band again (another awful and overrated band who appears on the forthcoming list with one of their lite-rock “let’s see if we can sound just like Creed” whinefests, so it’s not as if The Fray “wins” or anything).

By the way, I’m still waiting for some enterprising computer expert to create a modded keystroke that looks like a middle finger that I can replace that idiotic dollar sign with that Ke$ha uses in her “name”. She’s obviously implying that she’s “money” (is that what the kids are calling it these days?) but from the look of the video, maybe Ke¢ha just needs money for shampoo so she can take a hot shower. Somebody scrape the grease off of this skank, please.

Anyway, here are the 25 most downloaded songs ever from iTunes:

1.  Black Eyed Peas, “I Gotta Feeling”
2.  Lady Gaga, “Poker Face”
3.  Black Eyed Peas, “Boom Boom Pow”
4.  Jason Mraz, “I’m Yours”
5.  Coldplay, “Viva La Vida”
6.  Lady Gaga, “Just Dance”
7.  Flo Rida, “Low”
8.  Taylor Swift, “Love Story”
9.  Leona Lewis, “Bleeding Love”
10.  Ke$ha, “Tick Tock”
11.  Rihanna, “Disturbia”
12.  P!nk, “So What”
13.  Katy Perry “I Kissed a Girl”
14.  Beyonce, “Single Ladies”
15.  Katy Perry, “Hot N Cold”
16.  Kanye West, “Stronger”
17.  T.I. feat. Rihanna, “Live Your Life”
18.  Plain White T’s, “Hey There Delilah”
19.  Flo Rida, “Right Round”
20.  Miley Cyrus, “Party in the U.S.A.”
21.  Journey, “Don’t Stop Believin'”
22.  Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
23.  Kings of Leon, “Use Somebody”
24.  Owl City, “Fireflies”
25.  The Fray, “How to Save a Life”

Hoo boy. Where to begin? Let’s start with the few dim points of light in the midst of the sea of crushing blackness. I’ll admit it – I don’t hate Lady Gaga. She’s the only artist with three spots in the top 25 and I don’t hate her, as much as I maybe should. But she’s kooky and zany and she’s got the weird-ass hats and her hair is a phone and let’s not forget bubble suit. And when she’s not goofing around, she can sing pretty frickin’ well. So I don’t hate her. Also, Journey? How did this happen? When “Don’t Stop Believin'” is one of the only songs on a “top-whatever” list that I could possibly endure for any length of time, that pretty much sums it up. And then there’s a Coldplay track in there, even though Viva La Vida is an incredibly-mediocre selection and probably not even in my top 50 Coldplay songs. But at least it’s ok. ¾ yay.

The rest of the list couldn’t be any worse if Lucifer warmed up his fire-and-brimstone Les Paul and added in a recording of him strumming a few bars of “It’s a Small World” with a baby kitten skull as a pick. You’ve got another Black Eyed Peas – “Boom Boom Pow”, which gives BEP two out of the top three spots (you’re encouraged to develop musical taste ANNNNNY time now, Planet Earth)….

that terrible Jason Mraz with his disingenuous Jack Johnson impersonation…

the INCREDIBLY overrated Taylor Swift (who outed herself to the entire world as a dreadful singer when she bombed her duet with Stevie Nicks at the Grammies)…

Katy Perry (the original Lady Gaga, who was briefly a big star because she implied that she was a huge hot mess of a lesbian, but is now pretty much known as “that frigid bitch who guest judged American Idol that one time and hated everybody”)…

Flo Rida (because we all know that what the world desperately NEEDED last year was a hip-hop cover of “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)”)…

the Plain White T’s (“Hey There Delilah” probably resulted in a few thousand snap-decision suicidal car crashes into telephone poles)…

Miley Cyrus (maybe the first “musical” “artist” in history whose whole life has been entirely engineered by a soulless corporation (Disney)). “Party in the USA” doesn’t make me even consider partying, unless by “partying” you mean “putting a shotgun blast through my car radio”…

and finally there’s Owl City, a group whose lead singer sounds so effeminate that my 2 1/2 year-old daughter could probably kick his ass and whose big hit “Fireflies” makes Dave Matthews Band sound like GWAR.

All that’s left to say is “where the razor blades at?” Seriously, I think if you play these 25 songs in a row in one sitting, the “horrible-as-shit” vibrations filter through the ether and awaken the armies of Beelzebub. I guess that if there’s one thing that this list should teach us, it’s that mainstream music is just going to get worse, if that’s even possible. If these are the songs that bring in the big bucks to record companies, then these are the kind of songs that are going to continue to be recorded. Why sink a wheelbarrow full of money into a hard-working, up-and-coming alternative band or acoustic artist or small-town rock band when you can just dress the Black Eyed Peas in yarmulke-wearing robot suits, have them fart in a can and set it to a slammin’ drum beat, and hope to God that Fergie doesn’t wet herself on stage (which she has done)?

And if you think it’s bad now, just wait another 7 or 8 years, when tween girls argue over which is the greatest singer ever: Miley Cyrus or Ke¿ha, Britney Spears is dismissed as “too old”, Nickleback is considered “hard rock”, and Metallica are “those old guys who play too loud”. Enjoy the few bright spots of today’s hemorrhaging music industry while they last. You don’t EVEN wanna know who’s going to be the nominees for “Album of the Year” in 2015. I don’t want to give it away, but I’ve been there in my time machine and let’s just say that one of them rhymes with “Doo Doo Golls”…

My 20 favorite “weird little indie songs”, Part 2

Here’s Part 2 of the list that I started a few days ago. Part 1 got a bit of a mixed review. This one probably won’t be any different. Like I and other people said, it’s a bit of an ‘individual tastes’ thing. Just trying to mention songs that I personally love and that may be obscure to other readers… 🙂

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11. A Matter of Time – The Leisure Society

The second single from The Leisure Society’s debut album The Sleeper, A Matter of Time is a very smooth and tight selection. The vocals are reminiscent of 1950s rock songs, almost to the point of sounding more ‘adult contemporary’ than ‘indie’. It uses acoustic guitars, strings, and a mellow melody to craft a nice little song about looking for that ‘certain girl’, a common theme among indie songs. The album is very new, having been released this year, and has already garnered modest critical acclaim in England.

12. Float On – Modest Mouse

This is one of the better-known songs on the list. It was also one of my more difficult choices, seeing as how I own roughly 40 Modest Mouse songs. Float On was the obvious choice, though, because it was the song that introduced me to the band and its music. It was the lead single off of Modest Mouse’s album Good News for People Who Love Bad News, which was released in 2004 and made platinum status. It makes great use of Isaac Brock’s offbeat lyrics and voice, jangly guitars, and loud percussion. Float On is actually slightly unusual for an indie song in that its message is unabashedly happy and positive, telling the listener that bad things will happen in life, but they’ll all blow over and things will be ok. The Seattle-based band had been making music since 1993, but it wasn’t until this song that they began to garner national attention.

13. Cut Your Hair – Pavement

I couldn’t possibly make an indie list and not include Pavement, who genuinely were an indie band (they were signed on an independent label for their entire career). Cut Your Hair was the breakthrough single from their second album, Crooked Rain Crooked Rain, released in 1994. It received modest airplay on alternative radio stations and was their closest brush with stardom. Cut Your Hair has a very light, poppy sound and is probably best known for its background chorus and casual, almost spoken, lyrics. Pavement was compared to other great alternative bands like Weezer at their peak, but none of their three subsequent albums were as successful as Crooked Rain Crooked Rain. Disastrous performances at Coachella and Lollapalooza, fueled by drug and alcohol abuse and singer Stephen Malkmus’ propensity to attack other bands, disparage his bandmates, and complain about the touring lifestyle, finally led to Pavement’s breakup in 1999. Even still, Pavement has a large underground cult following and calls for reunions have been constant. There are rumors that they will reunite this year, the 10th anniversary of their dissolution.

14. Where Is My Mind? – The Pixies

The Pixies is another band that is hard to pin down into a category. Those familiar with their songs might argue against putting them in an ‘indie music’ list, but I’m comfortable with it seeing as how, against all reason, the Pixies have always been under the mainstream radar. One thing is certain, though. Some of the biggest bands of all time have named the Pixies as an influence. Where is My Mind? is from their debut album Surfer Rosa, released in 1988. Many people will recognize it as the ‘ending credits’ song in the movie Fight Club. It features loud, abrasive guitars, Frank Black’s sneering vocals, and a haunting background chorus. You may not be familiar with their work, but U2, Nirvana, Weezer, Blur, and David Bowie all named the Pixies as one of their favorite bands ever. In fact, when Thom Yorke of Radiohead heard that the Pixies were opening for Radiohead at a Coachella Festival performance in 2004, he refused to allow it. Instead, he rearranged the set so that Radiohead would open for the Pixies. So that should tell you something.

15.  Have You Forgotten? – Red House Painters

I’ll seriously chew my foot off if anybody I know has heard of Red House Painters besides myself, but in alternative circles, they are almost entirely credited with beginning the ‘slowcore’ movement in alternative rock. The band formed in 1989 and officially split up in 2001. But for all intents and purposes, their decline had begun many years before then, so much so that lead singer Mark Kozelek only credited himself on 1996’s Songs from a Blue Guitar, the album that featured Have You Forgotten?. The album is aptly titled, as it is mainly driven with wispy acoustic guitar and Kozelek’s fragile vocals. Good song for a rainy, gloomy day.

16. Phantom Limb – The Shins

Unlike many other bands on this list, the Shins are very well-known and incredibly popular in indie circles. Phantom Limb is the first single from 2007’s Wincing the Night Away, which sold 118,000 copies in its first week and debuted at #2 on Billboard’s Hot 200, the highest-ever sales and album placement in Sub Pop Records’ history (which includes Nirvana’s Bleach). It was also ranked #75 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s Top 100 Songs of 2007. The song features many experimental elements, with hints of psychedilia, looped tracks, and lead singer James Mercer’s famously (or infamously) gibberish, stream-of-consciousness lyrics. It’s one of the prettiest songs on this list and I’m including it over their probably-more-popular New Slang because of its odd gorgeousness.

17. Lazy Eye – Silversun Pickups

Another great indie album released in 2007 was Silversun Pickups’ Carnavas. The first single off of the band’s debut album was Lazy Eye, which reached the top 10 in Billboard’s Top Modern Rock Tracks. The song was so popular that it single-handedly catapulted the band to playing shows with OK Go and Snow Patrol in the spring of 2007, culminating with an appearance at Coachella. Brian Aubert’s very delicate vocals contrast nicely with loud guitar, alternately abrasive and smooth. The song has gained more admirers with its inclusion on Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2.

18. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart – Wilco

For indie music lovers, Wilco’s 2002 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot isn’t a great album, it’s a legendary album – one of the greatest indie music albums ever released. YHF received rave reviews, with reviewers from Pitchfork Media, Rolling Stone, and Q Magazine calling it a ‘masterpiece’. In fact, Q Magazine called Yankee Hotel Foxtrot the 100th greatest album ever in a 2006 list. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart is the opening track and the first single, featuring a wide range of percussion, cymbal loops, xylophones, and a myriad of other instruments to craft an intensely catchy and beautiful song. Wilco is still putting out great music, including a great self-titled album this year, but for many longtime Wilco followers, YHF is Wilco at the peak of their indie powers. Of the 20 songs that I’m recommending on this list, this is one of 3 or 4 that I would strongly recommend to indie music fans.

19. Maps – The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are a band that I probably wouldn’t follow, or even know about, if it weren’t for my wife. Leora played this song in the car one day when we were first going out and I was instantly hooked. Maps was the third single from their 2003 debut album, Fever to Tell. The album had been selling well, but when Maps was released, sales skyrocketed, eventually settling at over 750,000 copies sold. It is a relatively simple song, with single-note strumming and heavy bass drums at the opening, evolving into more complex chord work, chimes, and a very etheral sound in the chorus, all fronted by Karen O’s soft and sweet vocals. In 2009, Maps was voted as the best alternative love song of all time by U.K.’s NME Magazine. It was also #17 on Entertainment Weekly’s 50 Most Heartbreaking Songs of all time.

20. You Can Have it All – Yo La Tengo

It seems fitting that, even though I am listing these purely by alphabetical order, the first and last songs both remind me of Leora. Aqualung’s Brighter than Sunshine has always been one of ‘our songs’ and so is You Can Have it All. Yo La Tengo is the longest-surviving band on the list, having been together since 1984, so their reputation as one of the forefathers of indie rock is well-deserved. You Can Have It All is from the 2000 album And Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, one of Yo La Tengo’s more well-known of their 15 albums. A casual ear to the song reveals a straight-forward indie selection – soft guitars, soft vocals, tight drum melodies. The truth is a tad more interesting – the background ‘buh buh buh’ chorus is sung by two different vocalists, each one alternating every beat. It is incredibly difficult to pull off and adds a little pizzazz to what otherwise would still be a nifty and catchy indie pop song.

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Thus concludes my ‘weird little indie songs’ list. I hope that even those who don’t consider independent ‘alternative-lite’ songs their cup of tea would give a listen to at least a couple of these choices. Indie music is always good for a lazy day, or nice relaxing music when the pressures of the day get too stressful, or when you’re feeling blue. Some people will find these songs to be boring, but some will find them beautiful. I like that newfangled rock and/or roll as much as the next guy, but on days that I don’t have the energy to rock out, songs like these will always be a good ‘alternative’. Thanks for reading! 🙂

My 20 favorite “weird little indie songs”, Part 1

I like to think that I have pretty eclectic tastes in music. I’ve also evolved in my musical tastes throughout my life. When I was a kid, I listened to, and liked, the music that my parents listened to – The Beatles, The Doors, Huey Lewis & the News, even older country. I’ve always loved music but, curiously, I never really branched out on my own to find new music until I was a teenager. Interestingly, that was due to my future wife, Leora Fouts, who turned me on to alternative music when I was 17. The very first piece of music that I ever bought for myself was a tape of Nirvana: Unplugged in New York. The more I listened to it, the more I liked it. It’s still easily one of my top 5 favorite albums. So in my late teens and early twenties, I was a closet angsty guy. I loved alternative and ranted against the bubblegum pop fakery of the 80s to anyone who would listen.

But the older I have become, the more I have come to acquire broader tastes in music. I now appreciate lots of 80s music, because I get it. A lot of those artists didn’t make music to make a statement or rail against ‘the man’. They just made music that was fun to dance to or sing along to. I get that and I don’t hate it anymore. I’m not about to say that A Flock of Seagulls or Ratt were as talented as Nirvana or Soundgarden. No way. But some of those 80s bands put out some catchy stuff and I’m ok with that.

I also used to avoid listening to ‘old’ rock – stuff in the 60s and 70s, because when I was 19 or 20, I got the idea that Nirvana and the rest of the grunge generation of rockers had broken boundaries and were more ‘advanced’ than Aerosmith or Zeppelin. But my friend Sean talked me into getting the Led out several years ago and now I appreciate their talent and their sound. Yeah, there’s always going to be some stuff out there that I’ll never like. I still can’t stand country or rap in general. There are a few rap songs that are funny and catchy that I own but VERY few country songs that I can tolerate. But I think that when most people get older, they just tend to want to listen to mellow stuff that doesn’t give them high blood pressure just by listening to it. That’s why my dad listened to The Doors and Pink Floyd when I was a kid and now owns James Taylor’s entire catalog. hehe…. I don’t say that to be mean – I think it’s just a fact of life. You get older, you want to relax instead of blasting your eardrums into confetti, and you find artists that fit your mellower way of life.

So for the last several years, I’ve gravitated to the big amalgam of music that’s is bundled together under the term ‘indie’. It’s to the point where if somebody tells me to check out this new ‘indie’ band that they heard, I’ll almost definitely give it a listen. Put simply, ‘indie’ bands are something of a ‘lite alternative’ sound – softer guitars, emphasis on melody instead of noise, more along the lines of ‘pretty’ music, rather than loud, crunchy riffs. Honestly, I think indie songs can be appreciated by anyone who gives it a chance. I doubt that metalheads want to listen to 120 dB walls of sound ALL the time. And a lot of indie music is pretty close to country, just without the annoying voice twangs, steel guitars, and songs about beer/trucks/bars/life on the farm/drag races. Even sad emo kids would probably find something here that would appeal to them, and they wouldn’t have to bother with the black dusters, eyeliners, and faux-hawks (note to emo kids: if EVERYONE tries to ‘be different’ in the exact same way, they’re no longer different).

So with that set-up, here are the first 10 of my 20 favorite ‘weird little indie songs’. I’m breaking the list up into 2 parts, so that it doesn’t get overly-long and difficult to read in one sitting. If you’re not well-versed in the indie category, I urge you to check out at least one or two of these. Who knows? You might find something new that you like, always an exciting thing for music lovers. At the very least, you’ll expand your musical horizon a tad. I have also included only ONE song by every artist. Although there are a few artists who have created many songs that I love, I don’t want to push any artist over another, as difficult as that may be. These are in no particular order, besides alphabetical. Enjoy. 🙂

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1. Brighter Than Sunshine – Aqualung

This song was the only selection by Aqualung (a.k.a. Matt Hales) to reach the Billboard Adult Top 40 (its highest position was #32). You can find it on Aqualung’s 2003 album Still Life. It’s a great song for somebody in love, as that is its theme. Hales uses liberal amounts of orchestral accompaniment, as well as his natural talent at the piano, to craft a lovely uplifting number about the joys of finding that special someone.

2. Landed – Ben Folds

Landed was part of Ben Folds’ 2005 album Songs for Silverman. Unlike Brighter than Sunshine’s lush soundscape, Landed is very bare – only Folds’ piano and a minimum of accompaniment. This fits in well with the oft-used theme in indie songs of a shattered relationship. It’s pretty and sad, without beating you over the head with an ‘are you sad YET?’ hammer. Folds’ falsetto voice is pretty smooth and doesn’t detract at all from the sparseness of the song.

3. I Need You Back – Ben Kweller

I’m fairly confident that I’m the only one out of my friends, if not the only person that I know, that is familiar with Ben Kweller. And that’s a real shame. I Need You Back is the opening track on his 2004 album On My Way. Kweller was only 22 when he recorded this album and his jangly, rough vocals only make him more interesting to listen to. This song is particularly interesting in that it is written as a plea for somebody to ‘come back’ and restore a relationship that was broken, but it isn’t written or scored as a sad song. It’s a fairly-rocking and fairly straightforward ‘guitar, bass, and drums’ rock song. It also has some clever rising action – the beginning is low-key and understated and by the time the song ends, it has turned out to be a nice little rock-out. Definitely worth listening to.

4. Sheep Go to Heaven – CAKE

This was a difficult one for me to decide upon, as there are several songs by CAKE that I really enjoy. I settled on Sheep Go to Heaven because I feel that, lyrically and musically, it is the most fun to listen to. It can be found on CAKE’s third album, Prolonging the Magic, released in 1998. As in nearly every other CAKE song, John McCrea uses odd, obscure lyrics and unusual instrument choices (in this case, shouted chorus-like background vocals and trumpets) to put together a really snappy, fun, and chuckle-inducing rock song. It’s one of those songs that you end up humming an hour later without noticing it. Once you learn the lyrics, it’s really difficult to not sing along.

5. Crooked Teeth – Death Cab for Cutie

Another difficult choice, as DCfC is one of my favorite indie bands. I nearly went with another of my favorites, Title & Registration, but I decided on Crooked Teeth. This song, written by Ben Gibbard, starts out from the point of view of someone nostalgic for their childhood. It then quickly morphs into that person lamenting the fact that they are always torn between what their ‘head’ wants to do and what their ‘heart’ wants to do, i.e. the difficult choices that often need to be made in one’s love life. Great stuff – catchy guitar melodies and Gibbard’s nice singing range make for an excellent indie song.

6. The Everthere – Elbow

It’s too bad that more people don’t know Ben Kweller, but the fact that more people don’t know Elbow is downright criminal. Such bands as U2, R.E.M., Coldplay, Radiohead, and Blur are all on record as being fans of Elbow’s music, but the English band has only garnered minor commercial success in the United States. The Everthere is from Elbow’s third album, Leaders of the Free World, released in 2005. The album reached #12 on the U.K. charts, but didn’t chart in the U.S. at all. It’s a very nice, very ethereal melody with piano and strings accompaniment – a good selection when you just want to mellow out.

7. A Fond Farewell – Elliott Smith

Here we come to the most difficult decision on the list. Elliott Smith, although now sadly deceased, is probably my favorite indie artist of all time. He is also, without much argument, one of the greatest. A Fond Farewell was released on Smith’s first posthumous album, From a Basement on a Hill, in 2004. Smith was fond of intermixing nonsense lyrics with deeply-personal references to himself and this song is no exception. It’s ironic that one of the biggest hits on the first album of his released material after his suicide is called “A Fond Farewell”. Whether the title was ironic or planned, “Farewell” is a great song, with a fantastic hook, terrific guitar work and Smith’s eerily quiet yet melodic vocals. If you listen to this, you may be surprised to know that this is actually a bit faster and more upbeat than most of his other work. If you like soulful, quiet, sad music, Smith is the man for you. He was a genius on the acoustic, though, and when I listen to his songs, I’m more struck by his ability to craft a pretty song than by his melancholia.

(Seriously, though, I can give you a dozen more songs by Elliott that I like JUST as much as this one. If you like this one AT ALL, I will gladly give you more suggestions. This guy was brilliant.)

8. Summer’s Gone – Feeder

Another band that is big in England, yet virtually unknown anywhere else, Feeder wrote Summer’s Gone as part of Comfort in Sound, an album that they released in 2003. The band recorded the album after drummer Jon Lee committed suicide in 2002. The album was critically acclaimed in England, securing 32nd place in a 2008 Kerrang! list of the 100 greatest British albums of all time. But the odds are that you’ve never heard of them. Summer’s Gone is laced with melancholy, as one would expect a song to be that was written by a band whose drummer and friend had recently died. It is one of the louder songs on this list, but that’s not exactly saying much. Grant Nicholas’ lyrics crack with sadness at times, but he rocks it out in the chorus to prevent this song from being a straight-up sad-fest.

9. Do You Realize? – The Flaming Lips

It’s pretty hard to put a label on The Flaming Lips, so I don’t have much trouble including it in an indie list. This song is one of my favorites from their 2002 album, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Even though the Lips are known for their goofy, non-sensical, and musically-diverse albums, Do You Realize? is, on the surface, a sappy love song, but a focus on the lyrics reveals a stunningly-melancholic, albeit beautiful selection, which muses on love and mortality. It’s also ridiculously catchy and quirky, using bells, background echoes, choruses, and strings to form a majestic and ethereal sound. One of their best songs to date. It’s also the only song on this list that I’ve heard live and lemme tell ya – it was awesome.

10. Everybody’s Changing – Keane

Keane is unique on this list in the sense that they use absolutely no guitars in the recording of their music. Instead, they use a piano/synthesizer/percussion combination to create their soundscapes. Everybody’s Changing is one of their singles off their debut album Hopes & Fears, released in 2004. Tim Rice-Oxley’s wide-ranging vocals blend very nicely with his heavy piano-themed melodies. If you want evidence of Keane’s street-cred in their native England, look no further than Q Magazine’s 2008 poll of its readers’ 100 favorite British albums ever. Four bands had two albums in the top 20. Keane was one of them. You may have heard of the other three – The Beatles, Oasis, and Radiohead.

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Thus concludes Part 1 of my 20 favorite ‘weird little indie songs’ list. Hope you enjoyed! 🙂 … Part 2 will be published soon. Let me know what you think so far…