Too Many Faces – Cherri Bomb

Year: 2012

Genre: Rock

Thoughts: This song was the first and last single by Cherri Bomb, before three of the band members kicked lead singer/lead guitarist, Julia Pierce, out of the band and proceeded to replace her then changed the band’s name to Hey Violet. ‘Too Many Faces,’ is a song about thinking you know someone really well, then finding out that you only know one side of them while there’s many others (*cough* which is probably how Julia felt when her own best friends kicked her out of the band she started *cough*). I love this song because of the awesome guitar riffs and heavy vocals, but most of all, because this song was written and composed by a band of 13-15 year old girls who worked their butts off to get where they were and gain the respect they had. I would usually listen to this song while dancing around literally anywhere, but I wouldn’t recommend listening to this song while you have to do work because it would definitely trigger an urge to drop everything and air guitar to the song.

Rating: 7/7

Bang Bang – Green Day

Year: 2016

Genre: Punk Rock

Thoughts: They’re back! They’re finally back! After what felt like centuries without any new music from this legendary band, they’ve finally come back with a new album and proof that punk rock isn’t dead. ‘Bang Bang,’ hints at religious acts of terrorism, but mostly talks about attacks related to the perpetrator seeking and having a need for attention, so things like school shootings. Lead singer, Billie Joe Armstrong, sang this song in the perspective of the perpetrator/attacker which makes it even more interesting, as he sings about how he (the perpetrator) genuinely believes that everything he is doing is right and his parents would be proud of him and that all the attention he is getting for the attack is well-deserved. Green Day will never fail to impress or surprise me and we have to admire the lyrics in this song for showing the band member’s opinion on an important situation without holding back, just like in ‘American Idiot.’

Rating: 7/7 (100% biased)

Moving To New York – The Wombats

(And a live version because it’s really good)

Year: 2007

Genre: Indie Rock

Thoughts: Two Words: Bass lines. Everything about this song is amazing honestly, but the bass lines are probably the most prominent, especially during the verses where Matthew Murphy focused more on his vocals and dropped the guitar for a while (not literally). This is such a fun and dancey song that just immediately lifts your spirits, while possibly forcing you to have full body spasms…or maybe that’s just me. I listen to this song all the time, though once again I would not recommend listening to this song while doing work because if you’re anything like me, you will most likely end up putting anything you were doing aside and just flopping along to the beat.

Rating: 7/7

Welcome To The Black Parade (Steve Aoki Remix) – My Chemical Romance, Steve Aoki

Year: 2016

Genre: EDM

Thoughts: Steve Aoki made this remix of ‘Welcome To The Black Parade,’ in celebration of the 10 year anniversary of ‘The Black Parade,’ an album by My Chemical Romance. I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t like this remix at all. Maybe it’s because I’m not really a fan of EDM or maybe it’s the high expectations I had after Gerard Way said that this remix ‘really captured the essence of the original song’. Sorry Gerard, but I really don’t think it captured anything from the original song. The signature G note (which is part of the main piano riff) in the beginning of the song that any fan would recognize alone, was drowned out by Gerard’s vocals along with electronic sounds that also replaced all the guitar parts. Seriously, there wasn’t even a little bit of guitar in the remix. Most of the lyrics were taken away and replaced with happy and dancey beats which turned this song into something that would be played at a club. If this remix really captured the essence of the original, then it would have provoked some kind of deep emotion from the listener. This song really only provoked mild annoyance from me, along with a feeling of betrayal thanks to Gerard who was definitely being way too generous with his feedback for the remix. So maybe my judgement is clouded by me being a hardcore My Chemical Romance fan who still hasn’t recovered from their breakup, but I know for a fact that many other fans feel the same way I do. Anyways, music is in the ear of the beholder, so maybe you guys will enjoy this remix a lot more than I did, especially if you haven’t heard the original (in which case you have not lived).

Rating: 2/7