30 Day Song Challenge!

I found a list of songs for a 30 day song challenge that totally fits in with the theme of this blog. This is my attempt at keeping up with this meme.

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 01 - Your Favorite Song


The Zombies - This Will Be Our Year

This is my attempt at the 30 day song challenge. This challenge is kind of hard because I really want to add in my all-time favorite song but it's also by my all-time favorite band, but that's later this month. SO, you're going to get my current favorite song right now.

Totally one of the best songs ever. The Zombies remind me of my dad; he'd always sing "Time Of The Season" to me for some reason. This band also reminds me of the earlier part of the 2000s, when I was really into 60s counterculture. It's fitting that it comes full circle and that this song is singing my life right now.

My L.A Teen Years Part Three: French Kicks

So French Kicks are not from Los Angeles - they're from Brooklyn - but they were HUGE in my teen years. I suppose I got into them with the help of the New York City bands that came out in the wake of the Strokes and my dear friend, Katy. In fact, I think Katy might've got me into French Kicks? Who knows but they were Our Band and remain so.

French Kicks were, looking back, a quintessential NYC HIpster Band: disheveled, underfed, unshaven, educated (three of the members are alumni of Oberlin College) so it was destined for the four original members to start a band. However, unlike most bands and more like The Eagles, their frontman was their drummer, which meant that they didn't have a permanent drummer for a few years.

The band started off meagre; they had a self-titled EP in 1998 and a song on a compilation ("Alabaster City" on My Pal God Holiday Record 2. 2001 brought the Young Lawyer EP which was the start of what they're known for now: slightly avant-garde, often delicate, and occasionally noisy pop. However, my absolute favorite and definitely the start of my fondness for French Kicks came with 2002's One Time Bells.

To me, One Time Bells was just perfect. It started off bass heavy and a clanky keyboard? guitar? song called "Wrong Side" that remains in my top 5 French Kicks songs. The album had weird time signatures, absurd guitar tones and effects, and a tinny sounding keyboard. I guess that doesn't sound too appealing to most but, to me, it was just what I needed.

The band put out three more albums (The Trial of the Century in 2004, Two Thousand in 2006 and Swimming in 2008) and while I enjoyed them, they didn't hold the same impact like their debut. In fact, like I've stated here before, I suppose French Kicks had the same 2000s Band Sickness, where their debut album is so fucking good you can't think straight but the albums they manage to put out bore you to death. Whenever I listen to French Kicks, it's always One Time Bells.

And I guess, like this blog title suggests, their first album holds so much nostalgia for me. It reminds me of Katy and how she'd fly out to L.A. from Phoenix to see a show with me; it reminds me of Katy and I making fun of Kings of Leon at a French Kicks show and KOL giving us dirty looks the rest of the night; it reminds me of the last year and a half of high school when I had completely messy hair and wore blazers and pearls and badges all over my clothing; and I guess it reminds me of the first boy to chip away at my heart. In fact, I got him into French Kicks and most of what he listened to when we caught up a few years later and we had our first kiss to "1985." I have no ill feelings towards him but only fond memories of running around L.A. with Katy and slyly holdings hands for the first time with someone.

Whenever I put French Kicks on a mix, I always seem to introduce the recipient to "Close To Modern." Arguably their best song, it's also the most commercial and embodies what French Kicks are about.



I recently put this song on a mix for my boyfriend and he thoroughly enjoyed the song but I don't think he'll delve further into their catalogue, and I'm okay with that. And as I finish this post up, I'm listening to "Crying Just For Show" and I'm getting that dreamy feeling. I guess I'll lie back now and remember what an emotional rollercoaster this album is for me.

My L.A Teen Years Part Two: Rooney

As mentioned in the previous post. Rooney was another big part of my L.A. Teen Years. Most people got into Rooney because of their big brother band (figuratively and literally), Phantom Planet. In fact, majority of the fans were Phantom Planet fans as well and you'd definitely see the same faces at both band shows.

Rooney were a pretty decent band. Definitely in the same vein as PP: super poppy and melodic with "good looking" boys and shaggy hair. Their music was saccharine California pop; so sweet I had numerous toothaches just listening to them. It seems like a lot of bands in this time area, regardless if they were American or British, the demo versions of the bands' songs were always better than the album version. Rooney were not exceptions to this rule: before their album, Rooney came out in 2003, Rooney had tons of demo cds they'd sell at their shows. Old versions of songs like "Blueside", "I'm Shakin'", and "Losing All Control" ruled; the newer ones on the their debut album were lackluster and changed titles ("That Girl's Got Love" was "Kristen"). The band also seemed to overlook their oldies and fan favorites such as "The Floor", "No Wait But Listen I'm Talking to You", and "Meltdown."

Regardless, Rooney's first album was a pretty good albeit forgettable debut album. They built up a steady fanbase, thanks to their appearance on The OC. They were even noticed by The Strokes (a band obviously close to the author's heart); funny story about that: back in 2002, I saw Phantom Planet at a shitty venue called The Glasshouse where Albert Hammond Jr. was in attendance. I have a suspicion that he was introduced to Rooney via Phantom Planet because soon enough, pictures of Hammond sporting the old orange Rooney logo badge on his jackets started popping up. So, with (at the time) big indie bands backing them up, Rooney were bound to have more fans.

They eventually put out two more albums, Calling the World in 2007 and Wild One ep in 2009, but their popularity went down tremendously. Bassist Matt Winter left the band to pursue medicine, which will most likely be the nail in the Rooney coffin. Like most pop culture, they were here for 15 minutes and then vanished into obscurity. It kind of makes me sad since they were a big part of my teens. I remember having loads of orange Rooney badges and passing them out at my high school and wearing their old logo shirts. I'm embarrassed to say that I even met majority of the members and have pictorial evidence. I was also madly in love with Taylor Locke.

As I write this, I'm listening to old Rooney songs. Sure they were cheesy but you can't listen to serious shit all the time. My teen years were proof of that.

I leave you with one of my favorite Rooney songs and something that everyone looked forward to live: