When I write, I often do not listen to music. I need silence to let the words pour from my brain. But during edits I'll have the music blasting. And I don't think I can actually drive unless there's music playing. Honestly. It just feels wierd to sit in a silent car. Got myself an iPod a year ago, to encourage walking. Love toting my tunes around with me when I walk. (Yes, I do walk. But would have never started without the trusty iPod.)
Here are some of my favorites:
The soundtrack from Cirque de Soleil's DRALION. This one covers a range of styles, including Eastern, Chinese, Aborigine, and the vocals are haunting and surprising. My favorite track is Hinko, which is very erotic/bellydancing/sensual. I used it to put some moody stuff in a story about a priest who struggles with his carnal desires. (No, haven't sold that one yet, but won't give up on it.) The first track, Stella Errans is another amazing tune. All the songs on this CD are unique, and each one stirs a different emotion in me. It's great for background noise when you're doing housework. (Yes, I do housework. Er, every few months.) :-)
My daughter recommended a great single to me. IF I WERE YOU by Hoobastank. Now, the band name gives me a tickle, but this song is for everyone who ever wanted to shout back at that person who is always putting you down, criticizing you, or telling you how things should be done, or trying to run your life. It's perfect for a girl-who's-learning-to-be-independent and wants to tell her boyfriend to take a hike. (Hey, it worked for my daughter!) But it's also empowering.
For another empowering song you must listen to I RUN FOR LIFE, the song written by Melissa Etheridge following her bout with breast cancer. This one will make you cry, and then cheer.
Okay, speaking of pleasure...I always get immense pleasure listening to anything sung by Chris Cornell, currently of Audioslave. The man has just got this voice. It's probably nothing spectacular in the realm of musical afficianados, but it's deep, direct and always stirs me deep in my belly. LIKE A STONE is just one such song. Listen to it. His voice will TOUCH you.
Hey, for pure fun, PUMP IT by the Black Eyed Peas will get your hips shaking, and your legs pumping if you're out walking. It starts with a great riff sampled from Pulp Fiction.
Don't we all love Cheap Trick's I WANT YOU TO WANT ME? If you can't listen to that song without singing along, well then...
Okay, I adored Moulin Rouge. And the soundtrack? Perfect. Everytime I hear Ewan McGregor sing COME WHAT MAY with Nicole Kidman I can see Ewan's gorgeous white-toothed smile and, though he's not a professional singer, it's the heart that goes into the song. Makes me want to dance across the rooftops of Paris and find my own Ewan clinging to the Eiffel Tower wearing tails and tophat. Nummy.
Thanks to a recent eBay commerical that played The Monkees classic DAYDREAM BELIEVER, I now have that on my iPod as well. Now THAT is a guilty pleasure. Davy Jones, anyone? Yes!
One final recommendation, and this one is flamenco, because that is my purest guilty pleasure. Sabicas is an excellent guitarist who combines flamenco pureo with flamenco neuvo. This guy will bring you to the streets of Andalucia without even leaving your home. You'll want to don your ruffled flamenco skirt and swirl your arms seductively as you stomp out a zapateado and shout ole!
What's your favorite guilty pleasure song? And how does it make you feel?
Michele
6 comments:
Pretty much anything Bruce Springsteen, but particularly Born to Run. He makes me feel wild and ... I don't know ... earthy.
Michele, what an ecclectic listener you are! I like Hoobastank and Audioslave, so I'm thinking I might like some of the other stuff you've mentioned.
It's funny how my kids get me into music I wouldn't otherwise listen to. Rap? I thought never in a million years. Now, my daughter's got me not only listening but actually enjoying some of it.
my guilty pleasure will probably always be the pixies. i know i'm too old for them, but i love their music. i went to the launch of their reunion tour in downtown minneapolis. the building was WAY over capacity. i couldn't move, and i ended up getting trapped in the middle of what my kids' friends now call the frat sandwich. "Remember at the Pixies show when your mom got trapped in the middle of that frat sandwich?"
Michele, I love your Guilty Pleasures blogs. I started thinkin maybe you were Catholic like me, what with so much guilt over anything that feels good. Then I read about your lusty priest and I'm thinking that answer may have been yes?
Ok, this is so lame, especially if you really know me as the Liberal live-and-let live person I am, but I've been listening to a lot of Christian music. The stuff that sounds exactly like secular rock/pop/alt, etc. It's because I always have my kids in the car with me and I hate having to splain stuff. I still have to splain stuff, it's just not stuff I don't want them to know yet. And I've actually been inspired by a song or two.
What has happened to me? I used to be so cool. Well, not really.
Helen, my kids have introduced me to a few rap artists as well. Though my son tends toward Korn and System of a Down. Love those bands, too!
Yep, I like it hard, swishy, funky, slow, but never country. :-)
And nope, not Catholic. But for some reason all my written charaters tend to be Catholic? What DOES that say about moi?
Forgot to mention my favorite guilty pleasure concert is coming this July. Def Leppard. I've never missed them when they've come to MN, and I don't intend to ever miss them!
Michele
One of my guilty pleasures is the now "vintage" song Bust-A-Move. Makes me want to move every time I hear it! I've started walking to it-- among other things.
I sing along with the golden oldies. Mostly 60's and early 70's Rock, but I can go back much further. I try not to do it too much when anyone else is around--anyone over the age of, say, 5. I am cursed with a memory for lyrics. It's a curse because I can only sing one note. That's why it's a *guilty* pleasure--I try not to fill the air with too many unpleasant sounds--but when I'm alone or with little kids, it's a pleasure to release all those stored lyrics.
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