My playlist

You've probably seen the playlist.com playlists that have been taking over MySpace for the last few months. Instead of just one profile song, you can have up to 200 songs at once. Here it is:

Now, you probably noticed it's not playing anything. You have to do that on your own. I didn't want my blog playing music automatically. No worries if you don't recognize half the stuff up there. I'll explain each song (though more may be added at any time):

"Wishmaster" by Nightwish - Awesome symphonic/opera metal band, perhaps their best song.


"Still Alive" by GLaDOS - This plays when you beat the PC/Xbox game Portal. It's great, and it's sung by the computer you fight.


"Key of the Twilight" by Yuki Kajiura - Japan's answer to Enya. New Age music which is simultaneously optmistic and pessimistic, kind of a yin-yang thing I guess, but her music is really good. And here you can hear it for free.


"Far Away" by Nickelback. First song by a popular artist or band. This is "our song" (Jen and I).


"Through the Fire and Flames" by Dragonforce. Ah, the "last level" of Guitar Hero 3. This song is brutal, but it's also very beautiful.


"The Pursuit" by Evans Blue. The most underrated band of the deacade. This song closes their second album, and while it's all good, the ending is one of the most perfect endings to a song I've ever heard.


"Runaway Train" by Soul Asylum. Since this came out in 1995 or 1996 it's been my favorite grunge or perhaps just plain 90s rock song. Can't say I identify with it per se, but I enjoy the hell out of it.


"Salva Nos" by Yuki Kajiura. Ms. Kajiura has remade this song four times for a total of five versions. I wanted the fifth version but could only get the first version. Oh well, it still rocks.


"All Summer Long" by Kid Rock. The hottest song of the summer! Kid Rock samples Warren Zevon's "Werewolves in London" and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" in this rock ballad about summers past.


"Crazy B-----" by Buckcherry. I love this song. It's a little more profane than I'd normally prefer... I mean... "You're crazy b---- but you f--- so good I'm on top of it"... you just gotta hear it. It's not censored on the song, I just chose to self-censor here.


"See Who I Am" by Within Temptation. Another good symphonic/metal band's best song (in my humble opinion). They're no Nightwish, but they kick the crap out of Evanescence any day of the week.


"Wild Child" by Enya. Only because they didn't have "Flora's Secret". I make no apologies for being a fan of Enya... she just makes some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. I've always thought she should sing for a metal band, like on the side.
But that's pretty much what Nightwish is, so I CAN have my cake and eat it too!

"Wander" by Kamelot. This symphonic metal band sounds like they're European, but they hail from Florida, USA.


"L.A. Woman" by The Doors - one of my favorite songs from the stoner poet Jim Morrison and his legendary band. Did you know the mid-song chant "Mr.
Mojo Risin'" is an anagram for "Jim Morrison"?

"Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Sure, I could have picked a better song, but this is the one we have on Rock Band, so it catches cool points.


"Jack and Diane" by John Mellencamp. Most people prefer Springsteen to Mellencamp but I was raised on the Cougar. Yeah, I know he doesn't like to be called that, but whatever.


"Small Town" by John Mellencamp. It was so hard picking just one, so I picked two.


"I Dare You" by Shinedown. Back to modern music. I fell in love with this song when I heard it at the end of WrestleMania 22 and I've loved it ever since.


"Stand" by Rascal Flatts is the best song on the country crossover band's album, and it's a shame it's been mostly passed over by radio, because it's absolutely beautiful.


"D'yer Mak'er" by Led Zeppelin. Did you know the apostrophes indicate pronounciation and it's supposed to be said the same as "Jamaica"? That's why it has that reggae song. Apparently it's part of a joke where the punch line is "Did you make her" but said to sound like "Jamaica" so it has a double meaning. I always just called it "Dyer Maker"...

"One Winged Angel" by... ah hell I don't have his name handy. The composer of the Final Fantasy games. This song is awesome, and it's the metal remix made for the straight-to-video Final Fantasy movie Advent Children. While the movie sucks, this song is great, and the movie does look good in HD.

//edit: Some songs have been added since I wrote this. Here's what's up with them.

"Addicted" by Saving Abel. We saw these guys at X-Fest 9.5 last month (October 2008). Good catchy song.

"I Tried" by Akon and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. The Bone Thugs made one of the best rap songs of the 1990s, regardless of what you think of rap. "Tha Crossroads" spoke to everybody about the frailty of life. They return with modern hip-hop/R&B legend Akon for another great song. Maybe not as timeless as "Tha Crossroads" but still a great song.

"Mad World" by Gary Jules. This slowed-down cover of the 1980s Tears for Fears song was used in the film "Donnie Darko". It's creepy but it fits.

"Faith of the Heart" by Russell Watson. This Rod Stewart cover is used as the theme for the newest Star Trek show, Enterprise (later Star Trek Enterprise). Well, the first verse and chorus are. It's the first Trek theme with lyrics, as the first two featured the famous "Final Frontier" speech and the next two just had instrumental music. Hell, sometimes I can't tell it's not Rod Stewart. In Season 3 (when they changed the name of the show) they added a techno beat to the song - this is the original. You can thank me later for not exposing you to that newer version.