So, every season I put together a playlist of songs to burn to a CD to listen to in the car on the way to hockey on Saturday.
The basic premise behind this is that these songs get me fired up for the game. Hence there is a strong preference for fast, loud, hard rock songs. Particularly given that the drive is short so I might only get 1 or 2 songs in.
Which is not to say that there isn't the odd exception, for example the DJ Shadow/Zack de la Rocha collaboration "March of Death":
Of course the other limitation is physical media (car = CD player), so I'm restricted to 80 minutes. And I'm trying not to repeat tracks I've used previously. I mean, I fucking love Superchrist (which sounds fast because it's in 6/8 time), but I've played that on the way to more games than I've scored goals. Which is actually not hard. But anyway. The other restriction is one track per artist.
Anyway, here is how things are shaping up for this season (which starts tomorrow).
Rob Zombie - What Lurks on Channel X?
Fast, simple, and heavy. Tribal drums and some thrash-influenced guitar. Check.
Monster Magnet - Tractor
The opening riff to this track just screams "bring it!". Opportunities for air-drumming abound, as does a great (if nonsensical) singalong chorus... "got a hole in my head, and a knife in my arm... and I'm driving the tractor on the drug farm".
Foo Fighters - White Limo
Sadly, I have to wait for the new album to come out on Apr 11, or deal with a low-quality rip of the youtube vid. Such a great, full-on song though, reminisicent of Wattershed or The Colour and the Shape.
Sevendust - Face to Face
There's no doubt a Sevendust song MUST be on here... it's just a question of which Sevendust song. The contenders include Hero, Strong Arm Broken, Terminator, Alpha, Headtrip and a bunch of others. But at this stage I'm going with Face to Face after seeing a particularly face-melting performance of it at Soundwave.
Street Sweeper Social Club - Mama Said Knock You Out
As covers go, one of my favourites. SSSC turn this LL Cool J track from club banger to head-banger.
Soundgarden - Jesus Christ Pose (Live from I-5 version)
Something about this live version just takes everything about this song and ramps it to 11... the shrieking guitars, the pounding drums (it was in fact Matt Cameron that instigated this song), the up-tempo mayhem.
Powerman 5000 - Danger is Go!
The standout track from the 'lost' PM5K album Anyone for Doomsday. Fast, aggressive, thrashy, and continuing a great tradition of PM5K psych-up songs that has previously included Standing 8 and Heroes and Villains.
The Sword - Freya
Such a huge opening riff. Such a head-banging bridge. Tough decision between this and the face-melting instrumental Unearthing the Orb though.
Clutch - Big News I
Clutch - Big News II
The exception to my rule of not picking long and/or multi-part songs for this sort of thing. Any Clutch fan knows that the opening bass-line to I translates into English as 'awesomeness is about to go happen'. The gradual build throughout this song into the explosion of II is just fantastic, particularly on the live versions - in this case from the particularly ferocious Live in Flint, Michigan version.
Megadeth - Sudden Death
The most recent Megadeth track. Also happens to be an astonishing display of technical proficiency. That means it is a face-melting shred-fest.
Shihad - Day Will Come
From their particularly metal Love is the New Hate phase, although Lead or Follow, Bitter and Toxic Shock were also contenders. The power-riffing on this little number won it on the day.
Alice in Chains - Check My Brain
A great mid-tempo rocker with a stunning intro. Combines the trademark eerieness with genuine punch.
Nine Inch Nails - Burn
A tough contest here as there's no shortage of good options from the NINers. However, this particularly menacing b-side and live favourite gets the nod. Was tempted to go really left-field with Tetsuo the Bullet Man but that was just a little too cacophonic.
Airbourne - No Way But the Hard Way
Because frankly, sometimes in a game, there isn't any other way. An undisguised Acca-Dacca riff-along just like every Airbourne song, but this one carries particularly good memories after I cranked it on the way to a certain game last season. Everything was against us that day - it was a top-4 game, we were missing a few key players (actually we struggled to get to 11), some of us that were there were carrying injuries, and it was cold and rainy. Still managed to get the W though - and yeah we did it the hard way.
Supergroove - Don't Look Down
Starts funky - as you would of course expect - and builds to a positively crunching, intense rock finale. One of Supergroove's best-written songs.
Throttlerod - In the Flood
Full-steam-ahead rock and roll from Throttlerod from their more Southern-influenced area - and a great key-change solo section to boot.
Faith No More - Surprise! You're Dead!
Some old-school, maniacal FNM rounds out this set... when it comes to intensity not many things match seeing Mike Patton let rip on a live performance of this track.
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