ZZ Top - I Gotsta Get Paid

Band:  ZZ Top
Genre:  Texas Blues

Who loves covers that totally change the song to something new?  You freaking know I do.

ZZ Top took the song 25 Lighters and changed it into something wonderful and new that I actually didn't know was a cover until I found it in a list of "Worst cover songs of all time".  You know what they were saying about it though?  They were saying that a "bunch of old white guys all think it's a song about selling weed" because the writer seemed to know nothing much about ZZ Top's frontman, Billy Gibbons.

Billy G was once arrested for trying to shoot his girlfriend with a gun in his boot, ok?  But while he tried to pull it out he accidentally shot himself in the foot.  Well he get's himself to the hospital and as they're taking off the boot and a couple bags of heroin fall out.

These guys know what this song is about, no fear self hating article writer.

Phinehas - Tetelestai

Band:  Phinehas
Genre:  Metalcore

My brother introduced me to these guys a while ago.  He was raving about how their singer had hosted some sort of contest on Twitter that he had managed to win and I was just like "yeah, that's cool."

Well I managed to only half listen to him talk about how great these guys are for a few months (which always seems to be a mistake with what he shows me) but when I finally heard this song I kinda fell in love.

I mean really, the solo in this is something that just physically moves me every time I hear it.  Like, it's freaking tight.

I don't know what else to say about it honestly, it's just a really good song.

Rhett & Link - What Women Want

Artists:  Rhett & Link ft Chester See and Kassem G
Genre:  Pop

This'll be the last YouTube post I'll make for a little bit.  There's so many different YT Musicians I could post that I'm gonna save for later, but I feel like this kinda has run it's course for now.

Rhett & Link are kinda like the "granddaddies of the internet".  They've started a lot of jokes and they've had 10 years so far to basically place themselves in the position of the gate keepers of YouTube.  They've done a freaking huge pile of things over the years from crappy local commercials, music videos, sketches, a daily show, and many many more.  Suffice it to say that they are well established in the YouTube community and probably one of the biggest names I've trotted out so far.

They don't do too many songs like this anymore but they have always put out really quality material and I can really respect that.  It's basically always good and that's hard to come by.

This is a really fun song that I'm sure nobody could object too, and it features the rather talented Chester See.  Not a huge fan personally, but he's got some really solid material as well.

MysteryGuitarMan - Extreme Video Puzzle

Artist:  MysterGuyitarMan
Genre:  ??

So I feel like it doesn't quite add up using this dude on a music blog since he's more of a video editor, but I will always and forever associate him with YouTube music so here he is.

He's got a lot of really freaking cool videos that involve music though, but it's all stop motion stuff and he does it well.  I dunno, you'll have to check it out for yourself to get a good idea.

Isosine - Thrifty

the artist's DeviantArt account

Artist:  Isosine mixing Lil Dicky & Macklemore
Genre:  Mashup, Rap

I can't very well mention Mashups without bringing in my favorite mashup artist out there, Isosine.

I'm 100% convinced that everything this artist touches turns to gold, and none of the songs he's released have made me think otherwise yet.  I love his songs that go in a comedy angle like this one I'm posting, and then there's his ones that are just really solid pieces like this one.

Unfortunately he's really hard to find now since people keep throwing copyright stuff at him.  He lost his Soundcloud because of it actually, which really sucks since he was one of my favorite guys to follow.  His YouTube is really inactive now because of that too, but if you look at his main website that I listed above you can enjoy the songs he's made since his YouTube departure.  His Bandcamp has access to most of his songs as well, so that's good, right?

Darude Astley - Sandroll

Artist:  Darude Astley
Genre:  Electronica

I mean really though, the most common thing on the YouTube music scene are crappy mashups.  There's so many people that upload their music to YouTube since it has a few less restrictions than Soundcloud does.

Every now and then though the internet combines two of it's biggest jokes in a way that works.  This is one of the examples of a legitimately good combination of stuff.  You've got the Rickroll from 4Chan, you've got Sandstorm and it's overused to death as a musical background thing, and it all rolls together nicely.  Ha.  Roll.

Well anyway you'll probably like this, it's rather good.

Your Favorite Martian - Road Rage

Band:  Your Favorite Martian (YFM)
Genre:  Alternative Hip Hop
Language:  Strong

You know though, speaking of RWJ yesterday I remembered he had a bit of a musical side project as well.  I mean to be fair his wasn't as big a deal as most of the other YT musicians I'm gonna try to get into YFM was still an interesting group.  Ray has this really freaking immature crap sense of humor that fluctuates with the trends of the internet and as such looking back on a lot of his stuff I can't believe I liked it.  Hey, I can at least say at some point in my life I was hip to pop culture enough to try and emulate these dudes.  It also probably helped that I was 17 or 18 at the time and less mature than I am now.

This is actually a decent song though compared to his usual string of jokes.  The music portion of this group isn't bad at all, it's just a little immature sometimes.

DeStorm Power - Epic wRap

Artist:  DeStorm Power feat Mike Diva & Harley Morenstein
Genre:  Rap, Hip Hop
Language:  Strong

Who doesn't love Epic Meal Time?  I mean really, watching a bunch of guys destroy themselves with bacon is amusing as all crap.

Now I'll be honest, while I watched Epic Meal Time a lot I never really got into DeStorm.  A lot of my friends liked him and when I used to watch RWJ he would show up from time to time as either a guest host or in a music video.

Well I found him in Mike Diva's playlist of stuff he's worked on so I figured I'd give it a listen.  As far as DeStorm's stuff goes it's actually not his best, but since I'm going for my whole YouTube throwback getting all these guys in on it just made sense.

Kill The Noise - Kill The Noise Part 1

Artist:  Kill The Noise
Genre:  Dubstep

It may surprise you, but back in the day I was really into YouTube stuff.  One of the guys I used to follow is called Jacksfilms.  You might be familiar with his "Your Grammar Sucks" videos?  Anyway he had a short run of videos called "Dubstep Solves Everything" that I always found really amusing.  The last one had this dude named Mike Diva in it and I rather liked his stuff, it was all retro 80s future type aesthetics and just kinda looked cool.

About 2 years ago I kinda just dropped all the YouTube stuff I used to care about a lot.  I ran out of time, I outgrew the jokes, I dunno.  But yeah, I decided to finally look past my music channels for a little bit to look in on my old standbys.  For a few days here we're gonna embark on a nostalgia trip / cringefest of looking through all of my old YouTubers that have music videos.

Enjoy the wonderful work of Mike Diva who directed this video.  Prepare to see him featured again soon.

Nine Lashes - Our Darkest Days

Band:  Nine Lashes feat. Ryan Clark
Genre:  Hard Rock

So I'm house sitting for a dude with two cats.  I have literally nothing to do here since my internet connection is some of the worst stuff I've dealt with in years so I've been playing my bass more.  I got really lazy last time I needed my bass amp so it's been in my trunk and I finally pulled it out to start using it to practice with.  Like, I had it in there for a solid 8 months.  Oops.  But hey, it got me working on music again and that's what counts.

My brother's band plays a Nine Lashes song, not this one, but I figured it I learned how to play it then we could jam sometime.

Long story short though he's the one that introduced me to this band so any time I listen to this group it brings it to mind.

Really catchy song though, I'd advise listening to it.

Shai Boogie - God's My Right Hand

Artist:  Shai Boogie feat Miracles
Genre:  Rap

Yo, got to run sound for this dude being backed by DJ Salt on Saturday evening.  It was a freaking great time and I honestly can't wait to do the whole thing again.

The even was called "Hip Hop and Praise" and that Black Gospel band I run sound for was there.  Actually they're the reason I was there running sound at all.  I was planning on attending this, but that was about it.  Dude was a solid rapper though, I'd recommend seeing him if you get the chance.

Die Antwoord - Baby's On Fire

Band:  Die Antwoord
Genre:  Rave Rap
Language:  Strong

Yeah, maybe this isn't the best song to post on a Sunday but I love it so you can hear it.  Die Antwoord is a rather strange group, but I really dig it.  I don't know what it is about them, but the weird art angle they're coming from is just something that I'm really into.

The music itself is really catchy too, all bouncy and stuff.  I'd love to see one of their shows to see everybody freak out to it.  I'll probably never see them since they're kinda weird, but it would be an experience to be sure.

Rob Scallon - Theater Girl

Artist:  Rob Scallon
Genre:  Instrumental

I've got no clue what to classify Rob s honestly.  Unless I have vocals I honestly really have a hard time guessing by myself.  Usually I'll go to Wiki for more difficult bands but since Rob is a YouTube musician he seems not to have an entry.

Here's Rob though, the obnoxiously good guitarist.

One of the things that Rob does is take instruments like the 8 stringed guitar and use them for their non intended purposes.  Let's be real here, the only reason people would buy an 8 stringed guitar up till recently is because it's pretty much just for Metal music.

Well Rob has managed to get whatever this classifies as and Funk stuff going down with an 8 string, slightly changing the stereotype of what 8 strings can be used for.

This is a really cool chill song, so feel free to check it out, yeah?

Tech N9ne - If I Could

Artist:  Tech N9ne feat Chino Moreno & Stephen Carpenter of Deftones
Genre:  Rap
Language:  Some

This album continues to be one of my favorite albums I've ever heard.  Not only was it the first Tech N9ne album I bought, as far as I can tell it might even be his best.  Wooo, dumb luck for the win!

This song is fantastic because it has the singer and guitarist from Deftones making it all cool, ya know?  This song is my second favorite song on the entire album actually.  I already posted the first one though, so you'll have to track it down separately.

Crap, fell asleep while writing this.  Ah well.

Anyway though, there's a certain element to this song that I just can't get past.  It's a song I can listen to every day and still no get tired of it which is why I'm sharing it with you today.

Desiigner - Panda

Artist:  Desiigner
Genre:  Rap
Language:  Strong

You know how I heard about this dude?  Freaking everybody is comparing him to Future, that's how.

I can hear it, but I kinda feel like it's the same issue that other genre's have.  There's a lot of bands that sound just like each other, ya know?  It guess it doesn't happen as often in the Rap industry since it's all about the vocalist, but the fact that two guys sound alike isn't that odd either.

I like the song though, it's smooth and I get why it's a big hit right now.  It's got the same vibe that is making Future a big deal minus the whole "I'm so depressed I want to overdose on Lean and die" thing.

Dan+Shay - Obsessed

Artist:  Dan + Shay

Genre:  Country

Well well well, how you doing Mr Shay Mooney?  Please stay off of my Spotify.

Got a fun story about this dude actually.  Met him quite a while ago (maybe 6 years ago?) and I thought he was pretty cool.  He came in to lead worship at our youth group and we were all impressed because his band had just won the national Fine Arts competition within the Assemblies of God churches.  Hot stuff since our band sucked and we had just bombed out the second stage hardcore.

Well that's the first encounter I ever had with him.  We became friends on Facebook and I enjoy following him through his music journey.  Since I had kinda wanted to become a rockstar and leader of a cult when I graduated it was kinda cool for me, ya know?

Well some of my friends were less than thrilled with him though.  Like, they were really pissed.  I think it was mostly because he was tight with Rihanna or something for a while.  They didn't think he should associate with people who were as blatantly non christian since he was associated with a lot of church stuff.

Speaking of church stuff, he has a song of him helping lead worship with Allison Park.  It's a solid song, we played it in church for a while after the album was released.  Still though, literally a month before this song was put out there was another song that was put out.  With T-Pain actually.

That made my friends even angrier actually which was kinda funny since I actually was a bit of a fan of T-Pain at the time.

Then he got in his country band and got on Ellen and the rest is history.

I can't stand his music cause it's the crappy pop Country that is even worse than regular Country.  Good for him for making his music career work though, that's really difficult.

Metallica - The Memory Remains

Band:  Metallica
Genre:  Metal

Metallica used to be OG Thrash Metal.  They aren't as Thrash anymore, but that doesn't mean they aren't still really solid music.  I used to have major issues with them for no real reason, but I'm finally over that, ya know?  It's all good music even if it isn't exactly what I want to hear from them.

Clutch video though, it's got that nifty spinning room illusion going on that everybody loves and the song itself is good to go with it.  Like yo, plain old Rock music is a lot of fun that I feel like I trash it a lot.  It's not bad at all, I just don't listen to it that much.

No Metallica fanboys, I don't classify them as Rock, it was just an example.

Zao - The Icarus Complex

Band:  Zao
Genre:  Post Hardocore

Ooooo yeaaaah, laaast song.

I heard this song on a compilation album called "This Is Solid State" that was harking the entry to Solid State records step into the spotlight.

I really loved the weird sound going down here.  There's some intense high screaming, the really weird vocal effects  as they enter what I assume is the chorus.  Awe yeah man, all good.

I haven't really heard any of the rest of their stuff though cause back when I first started listening to them I didn't have anything convenient like Spotify, just the good old YouTube.  I mean, that's a great way to find all the music videos and similar music, but not always as good if you don't know what you're looking for, ya dig?

Hope you enjoyed the whole throwback theme.  We'll take a couple days off of themes but it'll return with somebody else's music suggestions.

Capital Lights - Outrage

Band:  Capital Lights
Genre:  Pop Punk

Hey, it's a happy music!  Fear not, there's only one more song left from the throwback times filled with Hardcore music.  This is a fun song though, ya know?  It's all peppy and upbeat and mostly and to all of yuo guys most importantly, there's no screaming.

None at all.

I really had a great time with this run.  I might take a few days off before I actually get into the older throws, but for now this was a blast that I'm sure we can all agree was a totally good time.

Impending Doom - Nailed. Dead. Risen

Band:  Impending Doom
Genre:  Deathcore

So I rather like this song.  In fact, I have the title and logo tattooed on my arm.  #Devotion

I was straight up terrified of these guys the first time I heard them.  Like, holy crap.  The sound was way too intense for me and I kinda set them off to the side.

I remember my friend had called them Death Metal so for the longest time I was under the impression that Deathcore and Death Metal were the same things.  They aren't, for those of you who don't know.  Here's a bit of a funny example of the difference.

It's a solid song though, once you're into the style you'll realize it.  Honestly this album is a lot more like a Grind album in a lot of ways, but we're still gonna call it Deathcore cause that's what the main pull is.

Sleeping Giant - Behold The Pale Horse

Band:  Sleeping Giant
Genre:  Hardcore

I love this song so much.  When I first heard the song I was kinda new to metal (kinda like all the music on this list), but I was really attracted to it since it was all about end times type stuff.  I always really liked apocalypse type things so it was a rather huge attraction.

It's a fast and unrelenting pace that just drives in your face for a while then it drops down hard, builds back up, and ends on some breakdown action.  It's good, I like it.

The Showdown - Heavy Lies The Crown

Band:  The Showdown
Genre:  Southern Metal

Oh look, the band that I'm still really ticked that they broke up.

I'm even more annoyed since they were surprisingly active on Facebook a little while ago and I thought that they might be coming back, ya know?  I really loved their music

But hey, I still own their CDs so I can still listen to them all I want.  It's not ideal since I'm never going to get to see them live now, but it's still an option.  I'm trying to stick to the albums that my friend originally gave me way back when, and I already posted my all time favorites off of this album so you'll have to settle for second place today.

Only another threeish more days of the Matt throwback stuff.  After that we're gonna hit up the stuff that my parents gave me when I first started listening to music

Brian "Head" Welch - Washed By Blood

Artist:  Brian "Head" Welch
Genre:  Nu-Metal

Korn's ex-exguitarist Head had a band back in the day.  Not Love and Death, but just a solo act type deal.  It was really good music cause he had a really great band backing him.  Lots of people too, about 11 including all the vocalists that were brought in.

The whole album was great, but I feel like if we're gonna throw a song in the mix here it may as well be the one that's 9 minutes long, right?  He has a song that's all about crystal meth addiction that has a pretty intense video to go with it, but I feel like that's better saved for when I'm going for an intense video theme since finding those can be difficult.

Good song here though, really strong vocal work in the chorus that I personally am a fan of.

Breaking Benjamin - Topless

Band:  Breaking Benjamin
Genre:  Alternative Rock, Hard Rock
Language:  Strong

I first heard this band back in my "oh my goodness, there's swears in here" phase of music.  However my friend gave me a censored version of the album so I didn't actually notice at first.  When I did I had a minor freak out though and deleted all the songs I could find with language as was my habit.

Clearly I don't have that issue anymore, but hey, not really important.  It's a really catchy song form a band that's not as bad as people always trash talk them as being.

The Chariot - Yellow Dress: Locked Knees

Band:  The Chariot
Genre:  Mathcore

When I first heard of these guys I had no freaking clue what I was listening to.  I had thought it was Thrash Metal at first because I hadn't ever heard Thrash to the best of my knowledge.  Somebody I knew referred to them as Thrash and I kinda just went with it cause I didn't know any better.

This really does sound like straight up noise at times though, it takes a lot to enjoy it.  It's some crazy time signature stuff and a lot of squealing metallic noises, but if you enjoy that type of stuff it's really good.

I'm gonna be honest, I really used to hate it.  After a while I got into it though, so it's all good.

Hawk Nelson - Live Life Loud

Band:  Hawk Nelson
Genre:  Pop Punk

While most all of the stuff my friend Matt gave me was Metal stuff there were a couple things like Capital Lights and Hawk Nelson.

I wasn't too sure how to feel about them because I really wasn't too into Pop Punk, but I really can't deny that it's really catchy stuff to listen to.  It was really out of place with the rest of the stuff he gave me though so I never really listened to them too much then.  Now it's a little too late for me to get into them though... Ah well.

Living Sacrifice - Rules Of Engagement

Band:  Living Sarifice
Genre:  Hardcore

We continue our however many days of throwback with Living Sacrifice.  As with most all of the bands that my friend Matt gave me, they are either Christian or Christian influenced.

So far all I've posted in the throwback series is the stuff he gave me, but once I get through most of the music he gave me we'll move onto the stuff that parents had given me and stuff I discovered on my own.  Man, it's really great to have even a general plan to go with this.  I'm enjoying re-finding all of the old music I haven't listened to in ages.

Mortal Treason - Best Case Scenario

Band:  Mortal Treason
Genre:  Hardcore, Deathcore

I almost fell asleep without writing this post, but I didn't.  I went to see the new X-Men movie and that held me up a little bit.  It was pretty good, but honestly it ran like all the other X movies.  The whole movie is basically the phrase "The strong should protect the weak, don't abuse your power, and be tolerant."  I like the movies still, but I can't say that they're my favorite.

This song is pretty good though.  It's not often you get a Deathcore act that does and instrumental track with a cello, now is it.

Demon Hunter - Summer Of Darkness

Band:  Demon Hunter
Genre:  Metalcore, Hardcore

I know I've posted these guys a bit in the past but I think it'd be best to post one of their older songs to symbolize when I first discovered them.  Actually when I first got into them I had been given a copy of their newest album along with a mess of songs off of different albums.  I didn't know that the newer album was a weird sound and it threw me off a lot when I heard their older material.  I didn't like it actually cause it wasn't what I was expecting.

Joke's on me though cause I finally listened to this album and it was amazing.  Even if you don't like it I hope you can appreciate the sound of it.  I don't know how you'll do that, but that's ok.

FM Static - Flop Culture

Band:  FM Static
Genre:  Punk Rock

We gonna start a throwback series for a bit.  Stuff that I started listening to early on, stuff I was given when I first got my iPod, things like that, ya know?  It should be a good time because I'm trying to throw a bunch of them into a list to draw from.

This is from the way back era of Noah.  Back when I thought Rap was garbage, Country was ok, and Rock and Metal rained supreme.  When I first heard FM Static it was when I got a giant dump of music from my friend Matt.  I didn't know what I was getting into but this is one of the bands I liked first because it wasn't as heavy as the rest of it.  Much more mellow than some of the songs I'm going to be posting but harder than what I had.  Good times.

Hope you enjoy, these guys are a lot of fun to listen to.