Some Songs That Got Stuck In My Head This Year

As you all wait in anticipation for my favorite songs of the year list, here's a few songs that got stuck in my head this year. I didn't want to completely clutter up my top 5 with retro picks, so I thought I'd throw them into their own blog post.

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Eric Clapton - "It's In The Way That You Use It"



The older I get the more I find myself retreating into older music, especially music from when I was young. It's strange to realize that you are no longer young. I mean, I don't feel old, I often think of myself as some sort of recent college grad, but recently I started realizing how a lot of music that I listen to that I consider "recent" is now closing in on ten or even twenty years old. Yikes! This is what Boomers must feel like when they hear a Beatles song playing over an iPhone ad - hey I remember when this was fresh! I think I'm starting to understand.

Like the following song on this list, I really only fell in love with this song for the extended riff that closes out the song. I've never really listened to Eric Clapton much but holy shit, this guy can rock a guitar! The bit that starts right around the 2:58 minute mark rocks my socks. I also kinda love the little horn section that punctuates the guitar. Then starting at 3:37 Clapton just makes the guitar sing. I had this riff stuck in my head for months. I would wake up in the middle of the night and it would be there, playing over and over in my head, like some carnival ride I enjoyed but couldn't get off of.

The video is that outdated form of motion picture marketing that intersperses cuts from the film with those of the band/artist. Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" might be the pinnacle (or nadir) of this form (and like other Bryan Adams omissions from the Internet, the original video for that song seems to not exist online). Here we see Clapton standing under a blue light alone with nothing but his guitar while various clips play from Martin Scorsese's "The Color of Money" (with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise!). It's really not much of a video - and the song itself, outside of the guitar, is not much either.

Mötley Crüe - "Home Sweet Home"



Now here's a video I actually remember liking at the time it debuted. Yes, like many when I was a wee lad and my music tastes were just starting to develop, my friends and I listened to whatever was popular at the time, which in my case was late 80s hair metal, or what would later be called by the cartoon idiots Beavis and Butthead: butt-rock.

As an aside, upon research for this post, I've discovered that the definition of butt-rock has changed over the years. For me it means the kind of rock that was prevalent in the late 80s right before grunge hit. Think Mötley Crüe, Winger, or Def Leppard. Now when I look online it seems the meaning has changed to the kind of rock that came after grunge/alternative. Think Puddle of Mudd, Limp Bizkit, or any other nu-metal band. Strange.

Anyway, this is once again a song that got stuck in my head, not because of the song itself, but because of the guitar bit that features about two-thirds of the way through. Beginning at 2:03 Mick Mars builds this incredible riff that, like Mr. Clapton's contribution above, I just cannot get out of my damn head. This thing rides down the center fissure of my brain hemispheres like Luke flies the Death Star trench run. I simply want it to go on for longer - I would take a five minute version of this riff alone.

I chose the "'91 Remix" version because this is the video version I remember the most. The '91 version actually peaked at 37 in January of 1992 (the Crüe's last top 40 hit). It's amazing to think how just how far into the 90s hair metal lasted. I think there's a misconception that the moment grunge came into being, hair metal vanished. But they really did coexist for a while. The same week "Home Sweet Home" hit its peak "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was no. 9. But they were both destined to be bested by everyone's favorite "Ladies-and-gentlemen-Mr.-Elton-John!" hit "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" coming in at no. 4 that week by a former member of Wham!.

Madonna - "Bad Girl"



While I absolutely love 80s Madonna I also very much like the not quite as popular 90s Madonna. Now that she's been around so long we might refer to anything post "Vogue" as middle-period Madonna. She went and got all sexual and experimental. Yes, the Erotica album has a lot of filler (I mean, a lot) but there's some amazing tracks on the thing as well.

Enter track six - "Bad Girl". I guess I've always liked this song a bit, but I ran into this song earlier this year and yowza, this thing turned into a major earworm for me. There's an almost hypnotic way she delivers the lines, where some phrases are said quickly, but other more drawn out, that just grabs me. The repeat of the pre-chorus after the bridge at 3:37 (right after Christopher Walken is done dancing) is a wonderful bit of raw Madonna emotion. I can't get enough.

I enjoy the unresolved melancholy of this song. She's not mad at her ex-lover - she's mad at herself. It's a song you'd sing to yourself after a breakup on a cloudy, rainy day.

When I ran into this video earlier this year I had kinda forgotten about it. "Oh yeah, it's the one with Christopher Walken doing a detectivey Wings of Desire thing." But upon re-watching it this year I could tell without confirmation that once again it's a David Fincher directed Madonna video (see "Express Yourself", "Vogue", "Oh Father"). The reason I knew this is because as I watched the video it indelibly reminded me of the video for Aerosmith's "Janie's Got a Gun" (also directed by Fincher). A moody cinematic whodunit with a detective-like figure trying to figure out a death featuring an attractive woman? BINGO. I guess you could say Fincher was, uh, developing a style.

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Well that's it for now. Stay tuned for my upcoming favorite songs of the year!