G finally played me SexyBack one too many times. I now not only like it, it is stuck in my head. Like so many before me, I can resist Justin no longer. *sigh*

If you "men" out there can't handle it, perhaps watching this video will sway your opinion…

From the Victoria Secret Fashion Show 2006:

Update 2006-6-26:

A friend of mine's sister & friends made this parody. It is awesome!

I present "Sweaty Back":

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Fergie
• Jay-Z
• Rihanna

I also suggest the music genre:

• Dance-Pop

Click here for more info on Justin Timberlake – FutureSex/LoveSounds – "SexyBack".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds

Some of my back muscles are so tight I feel like a cripple, despite some quality time in a hot tub and doing yoga. It just isn't enough. I need something entirely different than the way I feel today in the hopes I can get there from here.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Cut Copy
• Darude
• Saint Etienne

I also suggest the music genre:

• House

Click here for more info on Spiller – "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

Spiller - Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)

Just released 3 days ago, this video is just too profound not to post. It is SOOO profound that YouTube has censored it! (…which is great because people are sure to watch it!) It is violent for sure, but no more gratuitous than most of our R rated action movies these days.

My interpretation of M.I.A.'s message is that we should care. We should care when there is an ethnic struggle and people of one race (or religion) are being systematically eliminated. We as in the USA, and the "first world" in general. We don't. Or we do, but barely when it is in a "third world" country. We do not take side or action, largely because there is no money involved. Those people aren't important enough. I've seen similar images to the ones in this video in news footage in the middle east and Sri Lanka, M.I.A.'s home country. Only when it is our own people, or our friends in the first world, do we take action.

When the military power portrayed is wearing the United States flag on their sleeves, and the people being rounded up are red headed kids, the message hits home a little more. We humans as a species need to become color blind. A spark of racism can ignite a fire leading to genocide. It's just not right though. M.I.A. has done us a service I think, to remind those who agree and hopefully teach others to see things from the other side of the glass.

We are all individuals. We should be judged by our actions. Not our skin, beliefs, blood, or shoe size. We should all be born free.

PS: If you want to just listen to the song without the other sounds of the video, here you go:

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Gorillaz
• Jay-Z
• Metric

I also suggest the music genre:

• Alternative Hip Hop

Click here for more info on M.I.A. – "Born Free".

The song is not for sale yet, but her new album will be released in June. Read more here…

M.I.A. - Born Free

Listening to the chorus of this song once was enough to get it stuck in my head so I've been singing it all morning! (G's fault!)

Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow…

…as explained in the article I totally stole (because the website it was hosted on vanished) that line is really poetry, and so true.

For those who require the 1998 Fatboy Slim remix, here you go!

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Beck
• Cake
• Spacehog

I also suggest the music genre:

• Alternative Rock

Click here for more info on Cornershop – When I Was Born For The 7th Time – "Brimful of Asha".

The MP3 (of the original version) may be purchased here…

Cornershop - When I Was Born For The 7th Time

You know I really like it.

I can't help but look for new music all the time. The stuff I know is good, but experienced. Done. I have ridden that ride. I want to hear something new. Perhaps familiar, but different in some way.

I find it shocking when I talk to most people about music and they are still listening to the same 10 albums they've had for the past 10 years. They cannot even remember the last time they got a new one. These people do not actually like music. Or they are the kind of people who eat the exact same thing for breakfast every day. Boring! And disappointing too. Break out of your rut! Today, I have a different flavor for you to try.

Make sure to watch the video too. It is awesome. You Space Invaders out there will love it!

Whatever you do
Whatever you say
Nothing could push the feeling away
It's here in my heart and it's here in my head
I feel like I'm part of a book I've read

And every page and every paper
Seems to be part of human nature
Sending me back down on memory lane
My favorite record is playing again

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Cut Copy
• The Knife
• Stereolab

I also suggest the music genre:

• Synthpop

Click here for more info on Röyksopp – Junior – "Happy Up Here".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

Röyksopp - Junior

Somewhere in that space between Madonna and Marilyn Manson lives Lady Gaga. I don't know as though she has the longevity of either, but who knows… she has only just begun it would appear. Her name is all over the place these days and is thus hard to ignore without some investigation by a musical slut such as myself. I wasn't terribly impressed with the first song I heard months ago, "LoveGame", but I am giving her another try. I am far more impressed this time around. I'm not even sure if the song is as good without the extreme visuals of the video. There is something very "The Dope Show" meets "Vogue" about the video for this song, and as it was with those videos, I cannot seem to take my eyes away. Approve or disapprove, original or not, good or bad there is something entertaining and bizarre, appealing and repulsive about Lady Gaga. Advert your eyes if you must, but don't feel bad if you push replay button. I did.

UPDATE 12/1/2009:

A friend and frequent visitor to TSotD.com had this to say, and I had to share…

"YES! I am so repulsively in love. LOVE that song. But, hey, did you happen to catch Poker Face yet?"

"It's great! But then take a look at the acoustic version done by Chris Daughtry. Equally or more stellar!"

Also "she's more bizarre the deeper you look. With one eye."

Lady Gaga, The Illuminati Puppet
http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=1676

…it is a must read for all of you… er us… who have gone gaga!

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Madonna
• Marilyn Manson
• P!nk

I also suggest the music genre:

• Pop

Click here for more info on Lady Gaga – "Bad Romance".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

Lady Gaga - Bad Romance

I heard this on the radio the other day and I must say the radio has truly been delivering lately. I am totally loving the fact that the 1980s are "IN" right now. Erasure is a must from my '80s collection. Teens today are totally eating it up. There are more and more 80s influences showing up in new music and the old music is getting a lot more air time. I have even seem more and more mohawks!

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Annie Lennox
• The Lightning Seeds
• New Order

I also suggest the music genre:

• Electropop

Click here for more info on Erasure – The Innocents – "A Little Respect".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

Erasure - The Innocents

In addition to Cyndi Lauper, I also had the "Electric Boogie" (AKA "Electric Slide") in my head this morning. Yet I have not been to any weddings or anything lately. But I know the moves. Oh yes I do. And no I will not demonstrate them unless the song is playing loud and clear. Do you know them?

The video above is from the 1990 release of the song on her album "Carousel", though the song was first created in 1976. The "Electric Slide" dance was created in 1974, setting the stage for all the other line dances that most people either run to or run away from. See "The Macarena". (And yes, I know that one too. Oh tasty alcoholic beverages, what have you done to me!? Oh who am I kidding… I was sober!)

Here is the "how to" for the "Electric Slide" by the creator of the dance, Ric Silver:

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Britney Spears
• Cyndi Lauper
• Madonna

I also suggest the music genre:

• Dance-Pop

Click here for more info on Marcia Griffiths – Carousel – "Electric Boogie".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

Marcia Griffiths - Carousel

This is the song stuck in my head this morning.

If any artist has a legitimate reason to be political, it is her, Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam. Although she was born in London, she grew up amidst the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil militancy. Her stage name, M.I.A., is in part a reference to her being "Missing In Action". I have to believe it is a misnomer at this point though because I believe her popularity has fostered more international sympathy for the Sri Lankan Tamil minority than anything else in the past decade.

I totally agree with her on the so called "War on Terror". "You can't separate the world into two parts like that, good and evil. Terrorism is a method, but America has successfully tied all these pockets of independence struggles, revolutions, and extremists into one big notion of terrorism." The world is not so black and white. Are the Sri Lankan Tamil civilians and militants unjustified for wanting equality or independence when the policies and culture of the majority Sinhalese clearly deny them the same rights and opportunities? One of the origins of the Sri Lankan Civil War is "The government of D.S. Senanayake passed legislation stripping the estate Tamils of their citizenship in 1949, leaving them stateless." No rights?! Sounds like fighting words to me!

Click here for more info on M.I.A. – Arular – "Bucky Done Gun".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

M.I.A. - Arular

This album was a party favorite for my friends and I. I think it was the "Shibuya-kei" genre that appealed to us, but we didn't know what to call it. We knew they were fun, pop, and foreign. As I read the Shibuya-kei wikipedia page, I have to laugh because we also played a lot of Serge Gainsbourg, who is listed as a major influence to the genre. Listening to this song I believe it.

Props to the Japanese for really embracing foreign music. They have repeatedly had excellent bands like "Pizzicato Five", or "The 5.6.7.8's". I need to explore more because I feel like I must be missing out on some.

Click here for more info on Pizzicato Five – Made In USA – "Baby Love Child".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

Pizzicato Five - Made In USA

Time for some "girl music"… er… Madonna remixing Abba. I suppose most people would consider it "girl music", but really it is just super pop-y dance music (aka Europop) with a trance like twist. Ok so most of you are probably saying, "yeah, that's still 'girl music'". It is odd that I feel like I have to legitimize a musician as successful as Madonna but here me out…

Madonna is like candy to me musically. Not very deep or anything. But she frequently has a catchy melody, and a catchy beat (excellent for running to, by the way.) She still has just a touch of the 1980s in her music too, even though she has evolved musically, and I am a huge 1980s music lover. These things keep me listening to her even though it is 'not cool' among either my Indie or 'manly music' listening friends.

You cannot deny that Madonna as a musician is hugely influential and clearly deserved her place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Like it or not, she paved the way for Brittney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Pink, Christina Aguilera, Fergie, Justin Timberlake, Jennifer Lopez, most of the American Idol singers and so many other popular musicians. She has also managed to evolve her music past the 1980s and is still going platinum with just about every album at the age of 50, unlike some of her contemporaries, e.g. Michael Jackson, who lost their way musically (and yes, yes… he lost his way in other ways too).

I think this song "Hung Up" is an excellent example of just how good she is. She has sampled "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" by Abba, a 1979 song that came out only 3 years before her first release in 1982, and made this song her own. I think she even improved upon it. The whole dance floor bit in the video with the boom box it is like she is reminiscing at the same time, perhaps even poking a little fun at the late 70s and early 80s with her pink leotard and purple sequin belt, which I also indicates some brilliance on her part.

To the guys… er… manly men still reading out there…

Perhaps Europop isn't your thing? That's fine. I appear to be a freak (musically) and see value in just about every genre out there. Not all music is for everyone, and it is very unlikely you'd like every song of the day I post.

I'm sorry if your masculinity is threatened in some way by this post. May I suggest some of my other posts like Led Zeppelin or God Lives Underwater to restore you to your proper testosterone levels?

And yes, I saw that episode of "The Family Guy" where they are talking about guys who listen to Madonna. One word for all of you people… "Whatever!" *flips wrist, turns, struts away*

PS: I love "The Family Guy", the FCC episode at the beginning of Season 4, SO funny! And the song! Ha!

PPS: Although Madonna also has songs listed under Rock and Roll, Trip Hop, Trance and Country, I'm leaving this post off of those genre tags so not to cause confusion.

Click here for more info on Madonna – Confessions on a Dance Floor – "Hung Up".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

Madonna - Confessions on a Dance Floor