Luscious Lewis takes the mic

It’s pretty evident that I’m addicted to karaoke. That probably explains why I need to go sing even when I’m on vacation.

Thankfully, I found a willing conspirator in Lewis Berkover when I went to Chicago for some R&R. We went to a bar in Chicago with an absolutely awesome karaoke disc jockey. She was friendly, efficient and very knowledgeable. We managed to sing five songs each in less than three hours – which is unheard of in some bars.

In honor of that special night, here’s video of Lewis singing “We Didn’t Start the Fire:”

Rock Band DLC Countdown!!

We’re coming  to the end of 2009. And rather than making a karaoke-themed list, I thought it would be proper to countdown my favorite Rock Band DLC songs of the year.

As many know, I am a huge fan of Harmonix’s series. I’ve purchased over 300 downloaded songs since 2007, as well as several track packs and standalone games. I mainly play vocals, but I’ve also dabbled in bass and guitar. So although my judgment here is primarily vocal-driven, I’ll also take the other instruments into consideration as well.

Here we go!

10. Waking the Demon – Bullet for My Valentine

I wasn’t initially interested in this song when it came out in April. But after prodding from some online folks, I discovered that the song was surprisingly fun – even though the vocals are pretty easy. Still, it’s a very challenging song on the other instruments, which makes the selection popular for online play. I still found myself picking this song occasionally set lists, a testament to a song’s staying power.

9. Sweetness – Jimmy Eat World

Sweetness is a ... uh ... sweet tune.

I’ve been a fan of Jimmy Eat World for awhile, but was a bit disappointed that “The Middle” was picked for Rock Band 2. It’s by no means a bad song, but it’s not even close to being the group’s best. Therefore, I was excited when I heard “Sweetness” was coming to the Rock Band platform as DLC. While  not overly challenging on guitar or bass, this tune is heck of a lot of fun to sing. It was nice getting this song after a dry spell of good DLC during the first couple months of the year.

8. Smooth Criminal – Alien Ant Farm

After the “Last Resort” fiasco, it was good to see this late-1990s hit come to Rock Band. It’s a tune that’s fun on all three instruments, but it’s especially awesome on vocals. While certainly not impossible, “Smooth Criminal” is not the easiest song to FC because of the sheer number of vocal phrases to nail down. But thankfully, “Smooth Criminal” is not long enough to become tedious. And it’s still catchy enough to include a few times on a set list.

7. Undone: The Sweater Song – Weezer

Weezer is well-represented in the Rock Band universe. But for the longest time, I was longing for the group’s first international hit to arrive as DLC. HMX granted my wish in the middle of the year when they released “Undone: The Sweater Song” with “Pork and Beans” and “My Name is Jonas.” It was one of the rare times I purchase an entire pack, but the first one is the standout. It’s awesomely fun to play on vocals and not too shabby on other instruments either. “My Name is Jonas” is also a good song, although I enjoy singing “Undone” a bit more.

6. Tick Tick Boom – The HIves

LEGO Rock Band’s set list was a hit or miss affair. Some songs – like “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Crocodile Rock” – were excellent. Others – such as “Girls & Boys” – were duds. But if I had to pick one song to include on this list, I would narrowly choose “Tick Tick Boom” over “The Final Countdown.” I enjoy Europe’s seminal hit, but I found The Hives’ latest jam to have greater staying power. It has a solid vocals portion with lots of variation and seems enjoyable on other instruments as well. Definitely a solid jam from an average game.

5. Aces High (Live) – Iron Maiden

A recent Rock Band forum poll asked which band released the best DLC of the year. I narrowly picked Iron Maiden over Queen,

Maiden may be the most techinically impressive metal band of all time.

mainly because the pack got me more interested in the band. Although there were a number of solid picks from the pack, I’m going to include “Aces High” on the list. Not only is the song super fun on all the instruments, but it’s an example of a very solid live track. The vocals are not only fun, but they’re quite challenging. In fact, I found myself struggling to FC most of the Iron Maiden tracks on vocals. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise, since Bruce Dickinson is a beast. Overall, it was a major coup for HMX to land these guys and everyone there should be proud of one the best DLC track packs in history.

4. Somebody to Love – Queen

Even though I loved the Maiden Pack, I am going to place “Somebody to Love” ahead of “Aces High.” I’m a huge fan of the British supergroup and was generally satisfied with HMX’s selections. Yeah, I would have enjoyed “Don’t Stop Me Now” or “Bohemian Rhapsody.” But “Somebody to Love” is one of the best vocals songs ever. It’s also by far one of the most challenging tunes in the game. I’ve played the song at least 15 times and have had no success FC’ing this song. Yet, I go back – because it’s Queen! Definitely my favorite from the pack, eclipsing even the immortal “Under Pressure.”

3. Jeremy – Pearl Jam

As @rockbandaide noted in his list, you could have included any song from Pearl Jam’s Ten album on any “best of” list. To date, this is the only full album I’ve ever downloaded. Why? Because there are a ton of great songs, including “Once,” “Evenflow,” “Black,” “Porch” and “Why Go.” But Jeremy is the standout track. Yes, it’s popular. But at the same time, it’s also a lot of fun to play on all of the instruments – especially vocals. Even though emulating Eddie Vedder isn’t easy, I found “Jeremy” to be both challenging and fun. Not a great karaoke song [because of the downer subject matter], but an excellent, excellent Rock Band track.

2. Reinventing Your Exit – Underoath

When I first heard that HMX was releasing songs from the Warped Tour, I  rolled my eyes. None of the bands on the list seemed that interesting. Then, I watched a Youtube video of “Reinventing Your Exit,” a song that I hadn’t heard before. I was floored by how great of a song it was.  I was even more delighted when I downloaded the track. It’s great fun on both guitar and drums. But it is seriously one of the catchiest songs I’ve heard in years. As a fan of screamo bands like Thursday and Brand New, I was happy to get a song that alternated between melody and yelling. It may not be your cup of tea, but I enjoyed it. I would have placed it as my number one pick, if not for this song:

I would have picked "Bat Country" as track of the year even if The Rev hadn't passed away. It's one of the best Rock Band songs ever.

1. Bat Country – Avenged Sevenfold

Like “Waking the Demon,” “Bat Country” was a song that I didn’t plan on downloading. But after again being coaxed into downloading the track from an online player, I was blown away by the Huntington Beach group’s biggest hit. It’s extraordinarily fun and challenging on bass, drums and guitar. It’s also a blast to sing – probably because the song features a great deal of variation and melody. I wasn’t a big fan of “Almost Easy.” But after hearing this song through Rock Band, I’m a believer in this band. It’s very sad that the group’s incredible drummer – The Rev – died near the year’s end. In his honor, I sang this song at one of my last karaoke excursions of the year.

Honorable mentions: “Don’t Stop Believin’” By Journey, “Wolf Like Me” by TV on the Radio, “Run to the Hills” by Iron Maiden, “Under Pressure” by Queen, “Chinese Democracy” by Guns N’ Roses, “I Didn’t Say I Was Powerful, I Said I Was A Wizard” by Chiodos, “Sex on Fire” by Kings of Leon, “Feel Good Inc.” by Gorillaz, “Less Talk, More Rokk” by Freezepop, “Would?” by Alice in Chains and “Gay Bar” by Electric Six

OTHER HONORS

Best Rock Band: The Beatles on disc song: “Dig a Pony”

Best Rock Band: The Beatles DLC track: The Abbey Road Medley (I say without hyperbole that this was probably the best downloaded song ever released for a music game.)

Best LEGO Rock Band track: “Tick Tick Boom” by the Hives

Best Guitar Hero 5 track: “Sowing Season (Yeah)” by Brand New

Overall, this was an incredible year for Rock Band. Hopefully 2010 will be even better, especially since a song I helped write – “War Against the Radio” – should be coming to the game via Rock Band Network. I may be a bit biased when I release my favorite DLC tracks of 2010 list.

Happy new year!

Song of the Day: Adam’s Song

Artist: Blink-182

Released: 1998

Background: Why so serious?

That line, of course, was uttered by Heath Ledger in the seminal film The Dark Knight. But it is perhaps a pertinent question to ask of Blink-182, the power-pop-punk band that built a reputation around hilarity. After all, anybody who came of age in the go go 90s likely associates “running down the street naked” with “What’s My Age Again?” and “making fun of the Backstreet Boys” with “All The Small Things.”

But that formula swerved off into a ditch with “Adam’s Song.” The song is effectively about suicide, which is only a happy topic in certain version of Filter songs. I remember rather vividly in high school that a kid killed himself and then left this song playing on a loop. So without question, this song falls into the “downer” category.

Still, I consider “Adam’s Song” to be one of Blink-182’s best compositions. It has an infectious guitar riff, a catchy melody and a good tempo. I also think it does a serviceable job of incorporating serious subject matter into a pop song. That hasn’t always been done effectively.

But as we all know, good songs don’t always translate into the karaoke universe. Does “Adam’s Song” defy that trend? Read on…

What makes the song good: “Adam’s Song” is in “Big Boss” Scott Ross’ regular rotation. I think he does an effective job. I tried out the song during a slower karaoke night and good a relatively positive reaction. It’s evident that the song hits a nerve with young people, as many likely listened to the song when they were younger.

Interestingly, “Adam’s Song” is not that easy to sing. The octave is a bit higher than most Blink-182 songs. And there is an internal demand of sorts to really crank the song up during the tune’s chorus and bridge. I came away thinking it was a reasonably fun song to sing.

Still, the song’s depressing subject matter is a downside. It’s hard to get  worked up singing about suicide and depression, even if the song itself is somewhat upbeat. But it should be noted that the song got a better reaction than Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy,” which arguably a better song.

Best element of the song: It’s memorable – and relatively popular – song that will likely be sung by younger people in a karaoke audience. It’s also somewhat challenging to sing effectively.

Worst element of the song: On a scale of 0 to 10, this song gets about a 2 on the ‘happy’ scale.

Conclusion: “Adam’s Song” probably isn’t going to compete with “Shiny Happy People” or “Walking on Sunshine.” But it’s not necessarily a bad karaoke song. It’s just probably not the best.

It’s worth noting that Blink’s more upbeat songs – such as “Rock Show” and “All The Small Things” – are pretty decent karaoke songs.

Wreck Me, Baby

Speaking of Dan Friesen, here’s a video of the comedic supergenius singing “The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald.” I guess the only positive thing I can say is that it’s not nearly as long as “Bat Out of Hell” or the Abbey Road Medley.

Click below:

My assumption is that Dan was trying to do this song as an ironic statement. Sort of like how he sings “Wild Wild West” in front of emo hipsters.

OMG

I filmed this while Dan Friesen and Nicky Gifts were singing some song that I didn’t immediately recognize. It is truly a stunning achievement:

This guy needs to run for mayor. Or something.

Song of the Day: You Oughta Know

Artist: Alanis Morissette

Released: 1995

Background: Man, Full House sure was a great show. Who could forget how Bob Saget, Dave Coulier and the Olsen Twins provided America with hilarity that the entire family could enjoy?

Flash forward to the present, and the stars of Full House are anything but family friendly. Saget created a cottage industry out of saying vulgar things in random places. The Olsen Twins have become drugged-out messes. And Dave Coulier? Well, nobody really knows what he’s doing. But Alanis Morissette pretty much accused him of being an asshole.

OK, I guess Coulier hasn’t been outed as the subject for “You Oughta Know,” probably the most memorable ‘woman scorned’ song of the 1990s. But it’s impossible not to imagine Coulier as the mean old guy who totally screwed over Alanis. And because of the song’s immense popularity, “You Oughta Know” has become a rallying cry in the karaoke world against Dave Coulier – or at least assholes who break our hearts.

What makes the song great popular: Truth be told, I don’t have a strong opinion on this song. I mean, it’s not good or bad by any stretch of the imagination. But to me, the song’s message of rebellion and angst has struck a cord with those of us who came of age during the hard-scrabble 1990s.

Usually, the song will be sung by a woman as a way to showcase empowerment against a loser of a guy. But I’ve also seen the tune sung by guys as a rather ironic statement of sorts. I don’t know if my friend Robert Rasmussen has been scorned recently. But I think his performance shows the song’s entertainment value.

On the plus side, the song does have a great deal of vocal variety. The verses alternate between soft and loud phrases pretty effectively. And the chorus allows a singer to yell and scream to their heart’s content. There are also a few memorable lines involving movie theaters and dinner that everybody seems to know.

Best element of the song: It’s popular and it seems fun to sing. Also, people with good vocal ranges can probably do excellent renditions of this song.

Worst element of the song: It’s a common song. And it’s always best to avoid monotony by trying something new.

Conclusion: I can understand this song’s appeal. It’s a song that’s catchy, memorable and fairly fun to sing. But I can also understand how devoted karaokers could get burnt out after awhile.

Truth be told, I’ve never sung this song and I probably never will. I have nothing against Dave Coulier. Now Jon Stamos? That guy needs to be ripped apart!

Jefferson Starship Airplane

I remember reading either Blender or Maxim or Stuff many years ago and reading how Jefferson Starship’s “We Built This City” was one of the worst songs ever. I’m not saying it’s a good song, but there are definitely tunes that are far, far, far worse.

In any case, I would actually argue that “We Built This City” is a decent karaoke song, mainly because it’s highly recognizable and catchy. Want proof? Here’s Parker Eshelman’s rendition of the song:

Clint Eastwood

This one’s a bit old, but here’s entertainer extraordinaire Kyle Ayers singing Clint Eastwood:

And now a song from the weaker Dylan…

I’m not a fan of The Wallflowers or their biggest hit “One Headlight.” But like most things in life, Scott “Big Boss” Ross actually was able to turn a lame song into karaoke gold.

Watch and learn:

We Can Dance

This video needs like explanation or introduction: