The flip side of the Billboard hits I’ve featured over the past two weeks are the critical faves that never come close to charting.
This week I’ll post about five songs I’ve seen mentioned (and praised) in various publications. At the end of the year, my best-of list will be a mix of the hits, the critical darlings and songs by my favorite artists. The question is what percentage will each make up.
As a nice companion piece to yesterday’s live album, today we have a random cut from an album of covers.
I feel the same way about covers albums that I do about live albums. They’re generally not worth my time. I do enjoy covers performed in concert or tucked into an album of originals, but releasing a full-length covers album strikes me as lazy.
I’m not a fan of live albums as a rule, viewing them as the contractual obligations they usually are. But I do allow for a few exceptions.
Among those are Billy Joel’s Songs in the Attic, Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense and Simon & Garfunkel’s Concert in Central Park.
Today’s Random Weekend SOTD comes from another live album I enjoy quite a bit — Barenaked Ladies’ Rock Spectacle.
I’ve noticed a resurgence of the ska/reggae pop sound that was prevalent in the 90s.
Paramore’s hit ‘Ain’t It Fun’ could have been ripped from a No Doubt or Save Ferris album. Nico & Vinz’s ‘Am I Wrong?’ has a similar, though more laid-back, vibe.
Today’s SOTD, Billboard’s #15 for the week I sampled, is another example.
Here’s a perfect example of YouTube’s effect on the Billboard charts.
How does a live version of Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ wind up at #14 on the Hot 100 in 2014? Thanks to a viral video, of course.
High school junior Brett Nichols performed a dance routine to ‘Billie Jean’ in front of a packed gymnasium and footage of the performance spread across the web like wildfire.
