P.O.D. (short for Payable on Death) are a Christian metal band who had been active for seven years before their third album became a nationwide hit, thanks in no small part to the “nu-metal” craze of the late 1990s.
Their first nationwide radio and video success was with the track “Southtown”. Lead singer Sunny Sandoval grew up in the southern portion of San Diego, where several of his neighbors chose a live of crime whereas he chose a different path to find a way out. It features lines like “I made it out a live” and “it doesn’t gotta be like this”. The song is very catch and indicative of the general sound of the band.
Their second single from the album was titled “Rock the Party (Off the Hook)”. The theme of this song is giving praise to the Christian God because the band believes that they have been given a gift of making music for people and they are blessed to be able to do that with their lives. Sonically, it’s one of the more boring tracks from the band, but it did become a hit single on radio and music video stations.
P.O.D would parlay their success from The Fundamental Elements of Southtown to bigger success with their followup album, Satellite. That album was released in 2001 and featured the song “Youth of the Nation”, which took the mentality of school shootings head on. P.O.D. are still active, releasing their most recent album, Circles, in 2018.
I recently received my shipment of your new record, The Center Can’t Hold, as well as the maroon colored copy of your 7″ single “Hurry on Home”. I ordered the single because the b-side was TBA. I suppose I wrongly assumed that the b-side would be a non-album track.
However, when I opened my shipment, and looked at the records, I saw that the b-side was “The Dog the Body”…an album track from the LP I had also just received. Maybe it was my fault for assuming that a single would have a “bonus” track not otherwise available, but basically, I just paid you $10 so that I could have the cover of the single…
Now, maybe y’all at in a bad place since Janet Weiss left, unable to make decisions, but I would count this decision as a bad one. I mean, the only people would would pay for it at a store are the ones who don’t want to pay for the whole album.
In anticipation for trying to come up with a list of my 50 favorite songs from 2010-2019, I thought I’d revamp my list from the previous decade. I ended up adding 5-6 songs to the list that weren’t there in the first place. Some of this is due to changing tastes in music, some of it is songs I only really got into after the end of 2009. The highest charting song from my original list that didn’t make this cut? “Forgot about Dre” by Dr. Dre (f. Eminem).
25. Mad World (tears for fears cover)- Gary Jules
favorite line: “The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had”
I’m well aware that this was a cover of a Tears for Fears song, but this song really got to me in the early 2000s in the movie Donnie Darko. I love what Gary Jules did with the song, taking it from cheesy 80s synth to such a dramatic slow burner of a song.
24. Guarantees- Atmosphere
favorite line: “My cup isn’t close to filled up/we tryin’ to save up so we can have enough”
From one of my favorite rap albums of all time, Atmosphere did what most rappers wouldn’t even attempt, made a whole album about being broke. The best part about it is, he named it “When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold”. Still hoping to get this on vinyl one of these days.
23. Stan (f. Elton John) (live at The Grammys)- Eminem
favorite line: “I meant to write you sooner/but I’ve just been busy/you said your girlfriend’s pregnant now/how far along is she”
Vilified in the early part of the decade for singing anti-gay, anti-feminist lyrics, Eminem silenced many of those detractors by bringing out one of his biggest supporters for a duet at the Grammys…gay icon Elton John. Also, I love Em trying to censor himself and failing because he’s so caught up in the song.
22. American Idiot- Green day
favorite line: “Information age of hysteria/calling out to Idiot America”
Even 15 years later, this song still rings true. I’ve heard rumors they’re going to tour the country next year (2020) trailing Trump everywhere he goes…oh how I’d love to see that…
21. Bleed Like Me- Garbage
favorite line: “You should see my scars”
Everybody has their vices, their secrets, their methods of decreasing stress. Sometimes it’s doing karaoke at a bar, sometimes it’s dressing in drag, sometimes it’s self-harm. What Garbage did with this song is put voice to the fact that it’s “better off than taking a bullet from a gun”.
20. Existentialism on Prom Night- Straylight Run
favorite line: “Sing like you think no one’s listening”
What really got me with this song is the video. I love that all the passengers stuck on a bus are basically having a conversation using the lyrics…and the fact that one of those conversations is in ASL. It’s one of my favorite songs to sing at the top of my lungs.
19. “We’ve Been Had”- The Walkmen
favorite line: “We’ve been had/I know it’s over/somehow it got easy to laugh out loud”
Back in the days of BMG music club, I was given this album free in a bundle of NYC performers along the same vein of The Strokes. This was the first song they wrote as a band, and the video above is the final song they ever performed as a band.
18. Cancer – My Chemical Romance
favorite line: “‘Cause the hardest part of this/Is leaving you”
I’ve posted this song more than any other on my blog. When I first heard it, somebody I knew was dying of cancer. Later, when my dad was diagnosed, it became my anthem. Sure, it’s a little over dramatic, but it does a pretty good job of getting into the mind of somebody on their death bed. Fuck cancer, y’all.
17. Keep Me In Your Heart- Warren Zevon
favorite line: “If I leave you/it doesn’t mean I love you any less”
Speaking of dying of cancer, Warren Zevon recorded the song this album came from after he was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. Yes, it’s a song about dying from a person who knew they were dying.
16. When the President Talks to God- Bright Eyes
favorite line: “No they’re lazy George/I saw we don’t”
The above video is the first performance of the song, yes there’s a flub in there, but it still seems to be the most powerful to me. Taken from a stop on the Rock Against Bush tour.
15. Not Ready to Make Nice- Dixie Chicks
favorite line: “And how in the world can the words that I said/send somebody so over the edge/that they’d write me a letter saying I better ‘shut up and sing’ or my life will be over”
Continuing in the vein of protest songs, I’ve argued through the years that this song, excepting for the fact that it sounds like a country song and is performed by country musicians, is very punk rock. Imagine this song being sung by somebody like Rise Against? It still works, even if it isn’t a tale of their life after daring to say what they thought in another country.
14. You Know You’re Right- Nirvana
favorite line: “I always knew it would come to this/things have never been so swell/and I have never failed to fail”
This is the last complete song Nirvana recorded before Cobain committed suicide. Kept in a vault for 8 years, it finally saw the light of day after lawsuits ended, allowing both the release of a 3cd box set of rare/unreleased material and a single disc “best of” collection, which is where this song saw the light of day. I remember the night the song leaked to radio…it was basically the only song anybody was requesting, so all 5 songs on the countdown of a radio station were this track. The same radio station also sent it out in an email, ensuring that it would never be silenced again.
13. Drunken Lullabies- Flogging Molly
favorite line: “Has the shepherd led his lams astray/to the bigot and the gun”
The story I like telling of this song is when I sent it to a very punk friend, telling him how much I loved it and my need to hear more Flogging Molly. His response…”I played you their first album a few months ago”…
12. Another First Kiss- They Might Be Giants
favorite line: “Other people were too sentimental/and always worrying about their hair”
A reworking of a previous song released on a live album, this track came out on 2001’s Mink Car album. I didn’t hear it until summer 2009. The story: I used to love introducing my brother to new music. One of those success stories was They Might Be Giants. Fast forward to 2009, and as the first dance with his new bride…my brother chose this song. I was going through a divorce at the time, and was finding it very hard to be happy at a joyous occasion, but I credit that moment with turning myself around and finding love again by the end of 2009.
11. Soon Forget- Pearl Jam
favorite line: “He’s lying dead clutching Benjamins/never put his money down”
Written about Bill Gates, but applicable to any multi-billionaire, this song is about America’s love affair with people because they’re rich. Now, I happen to like Bill Gates because he’s worked very hard to ensure that his children will not be trust fund babies, he has worked to give them a “normal” life, even if his parent’s are super-rich entrepreneurs.
10. Do You Realize??- The Flaming Lips
favorite line: “And instead of saying all of your goodbyes/let them know you realize that life goes fast/it’s hard to make the good things last”
This is another album I will own on vinyl one of these days. It’s also probably the last Flaming Lips album I can listen to all the way through. God this is such a beautiful song about how short life is, how little we matter to anybody but those we love. Absolutely beautiful.
9. Parade- Pretty Girls Make Graves
favorite line: “MUTINY!”
I’ve said on this blog before, this is the best song ever written about the working class, and that includes every song ever written by Bruce Springsteen.
8. Dirty Girl (live with strings)- Eels
favorite line: “Once in a while your life gets so good/worth all the trouble of the past”
I discovered this version of the song in early 2010, when my partner and I were just beginning to get serious. We didn’t yet know if what we had would last, and this song became sort of an anthem for me. The original version never really struck a nerve, as it’s upbeat and faster. But with strings…
7. Girl Anachronism- The Dresden Dolls
favorite line: “Trying to convince you that it was accidentally on purpose”
I love me some AFP, and my love affair started with this track. The Dresden Dolls were a cabaret punk band, their main instruments were piano and drums. Amanda Palmer has gone on to untether herself from the recording industry all together and Brian Viglione has gone on to be the current drummer for Violent Femmes.
6. What We Worked For- Against Me
favorite line: “There’s a height beyond skyscrapers/there’s a distance beyond the freeway/more than pictures in a magazine/more than tragedy in a rock ‘n’ roll song”
Another one of those songs that I love to sing at the top of my lungs. The same punk friend who introduced me to Flogging Molly had found a mixtape under his couch (yes a cassette), didn’t know what was one it, and we put it on one day when we were driving around our small home town. This song was one that came on, and I feel like my world opened up. I didn’t even know the name of the band or the title of the song, but I had to have it. Nearly 20 years later, I am still listening to anything Against Me puts out, even after their lead singer announced they were transgender.
5. Hurt (Nine Inch Nails cover)- Johnny Cash
favorite line: “What have I become?/My sweetest friends”
From one of the final Johnny Cash albums, recorded with Rick Rubin at his American studios. Cash made the song his own, so much so that the original artist, Trent Reznor feels like he’s doing a cover now when he performs the song.
4. Such Great Heights- The Postal Service
favorite line: “I’m thinking it’s a sign/that the freckles in our eyes are mirror images/and when we kiss they’re perfectly aligned”
As a general rule, I don’t like techno music. It’s too repetitive and the lyrics don’t really have any deeper meaning. And then there’s the Postal Service. Their lone album, released in 2003, Give Up has become one of my favorite albums of all time, and my favorite album of 2000 through 2009.
3. Dry Your Eyes (f. Chris Martin)- The Streets
favorite line: “I know it’s hard to take but her mind has been made up/there’s plenty more fish in the sea”
This version of the song was never officially released, but I think it’s better than the version released on the album, A Grand Don’t Come for Free. The album tells the story of a guy who has a party, loses some money (a thousand quid), blames it on his girlfriend, and loses her because he doesn’t believe her…only to find out that the money had fallen into his television set. It is another one of my favorite albums form the decade.
2. Modern Girl- Sleater-Kinney
favorite line: “My whole life looked like a picture of a sunny day”
There’s something so perfect about that line…their whole life isn’t like an actual sunny day, but like a picture of one. Plus, this whole song is about consumer culture, none of the things listed would actually make oneself happy, and not being able to buy anything should not make one angry. Bless you, Sleater-Kinney, for bringing this song into the world and for reforming 10 years after you recorded it.
1. The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton- The Mountain Goats
favorite line: “When you punish a person for dreaming his dream/don’t expect them to thank or forgive you”
Note: In the video above, the track doesn’t start in earnest until the 2:48 mark.
There’s something so beautiful about a complete story told in about 2 minute 30 seconds. From when The Mountain Goats was a single person recording songs into a boom box, this track has become a bona-fide sing-a-long. And then there’s the fact that this song was written before there was a band called The Killers, which leads one to ask whether they got their name from this track. I legitimately love this song more than anything The Beatles recorded, more than any other song released by Nirvana…
Ok, so I’m a little late on this one, but the last week has been pretty crazy.
The Verve Pipe released their follow up to their successful “Villains” album on July 27, 1999. It featured the songs “Hero” and “Generations”. The album also featured a biting response to the fickleness of fame, titled “The F Word”.
“Hero”, I have always assumed, was a tongue in cheek jab at the title of their previous album. It features a very catchy chorus and driving guitar, but fails to re-create the timelessness of a few of the tracks from that album. Remember that this single was released during the nu-metal fad, when the likes of Staind and Linkin Park ruled the airwaves, so a more laid back track failed to make much of an impression.
Though I’m not entirely sure this song was a single, “Generations” always struck me as the standout track from the album. I thought it was closer to the sound of their previous output than some of the other tracks. The lyrics tell a story of somebody who walks out of their house to experience the early adulthood life of hanging out drinking with nothing better to do. All members of the nuclear family are mentioned within the course of the song, which I also found to be interesting.
Lead singer Brian Vander Ark struggled with the fame brought on by having a massively ubiquitous single on radio for the better part of 1997. “The Freshmen ended the year as the 21st highest charting single on the Billboard Hot 100. “The F Word” may refer to “fame”, or “freshmen” or “fickle”. Any of those words accurately describes the pressure of any band recording new material after having a hit single. “Fame” can be fleeting and more trouble than it’s worth for a band, or a songwriter, when they were not expecting to have such an impact. “Freshmen” while it was the name of the single, also can stand-in for the feeling of being the new fresh face on the radio, feeling that success, and then being slapped back down as the song lingered and people began to expect more. “Fickle” is also fitting because, while the crowds swelled after having a radio hit, many of those new fans were either turned off by the rest of the band’s material, or stopped showing up after the song faded.
The Verve Pipe have continued releasing material. Their most recent album came out in early 2017. They released an album of children’s material in 2009 (their song “When One Became Two” is frequently on my children’s station on Pandora).
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