It’s not often that a movie uses one of my favorite songs in one of its most emotional scenes, so when it happens you can be damn sure it’s going to end up on this list.
Such was the case in the delightfully funny and bittersweet Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, a feature length movie inspired by a series of YouTube shorts by writer/star Jenny Slate and writer/director Dean Fleischer Camp. This is another movie that will come up again soon so I won’t spend too much time on it here.
Continuing the chronological presentation of my 25 favorite songs…
‘Life on Mars?‘ – David Bowie (1971)
This is the first of six songs from the 70s to make my list (tying that decade with the 80s for most represented). I guess that makes sense, given that those two decades made up my first 18 years, and isn’t that when music makes its biggest impact?
That’s one theory, but a deeper dive reveals that half of those 12 songs — including both of today’s featured tracks — didn’t find me until much later. So maybe they were just good musical decades.
We go from songs about drugs and alcohol to a much nicer topic on Day Nine of the 30 Day Music Challenge. Today’s task is to name ‘A Song That Makes You Happy.’
If you had told me six months ago I’d be choosing an Eagles song for this category, I would have called you crazy. Back then the band would more likely show up under ‘A Song You Think is Overrated’ or ‘A Song By a Popular Band You Dislike’ (those aren’t real categories, as far as I know, but they could be).
After spending more than a month in 1980, I’m jumping back in time a bit and diving into one of the 70s’ most successful bands.
My default stance for years has been that I hate the Eagles. It’s a stance I’ve adopted in part as a tribute to Jeff ‘The Dude’ Lebowski, who was memorably thrown out of a cab for declaring “I hate the fucking Eagles, man.”
It’s also due to my strong dislike for the song ‘Hotel California’ and its weird Jamaican guitar orgy vibe.
Meet Me In Montauk 