Category: Passion

The undeniable most influential band of all time is back on the charts this month with a new hit single. The band’s first release since 1995. This is without mentioning that the band officially broke up in 1970. Music would not be where it is today if it wasn’t for the Beatles. John, Paul, George, and Ringo are four of the most iconic men in all of popular culture. They have made some of the greatest musical albums ever, with classics like: “Rubber Soul”, “Revolver”, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, and “Abbey Road”. The Beatles final two albums, “Abbey Road” and “Let it Be”, were both recorded in 1969 and released in 1969 and 1970 respectfully. After the release of “Let it Be”, the band officially called it quits with each member embarking on solo careers. All was going great for each of the guys until John Lennon was tragically killed in 1980. Lennon’s sudden passing at age 40 was one of the most tragic moments in music and the whole world was in shock. I’ve never been a big Beatles fan but I have always respected what they have done for music, and when I found out that they have a new single out, I had to check it out.

In 1995, Paul, George, and Ringo discovered old demo tapes of John singing and playing piano. The track was called “Free as a Bird” and after the they put some work into it, the song became the first Beatles release since “Let it Be” in 1970, twenty-five years later. Fast forward to 2023, and Paul McCartney and Ringo Star are both still releasing solo work. George Harrison tragically passed in 2001. Along with “Free as a Bird”, the demo titled “Now and Then” was also discovered. However, it was recored on only one track with Lennon’s vocals attached to the piano track.  This past year, with the use of AI, they were able successfully separate the vocals from the piano and record the supporting bass, drums, and backing vocal tracks. The Beatles were actually working on “Now and Then” during the 1990s when they were working on “Free as a Bird”. So, this new song not only features the late John Lennon, but it also features the late George Harrison which is pretty cool. Again, I’m not a massive Beatles fan, especially the songs sung by John. But with that being said, I thought that “Now and Then” was a pretty cool tune. I think that it has a mysterious tone with beautiful instrumentals and melodies, as per every Beatles song. But the main reason why this song is good is because it is just so cool listening to a new Beatles song in 2023. There will never be another Beatles. There will never be another John and Paul writing duo. There will never be a music group as influential as the Beatles, so it is pretty cool seeing them release new music 50 plus years after their breakup.

Blink-182 is a pop-punk band from California. Blink has been on the scene since 1992, and they still make new music and are still going on tours today. Blink-182 consists of just three guys: guitarist Tom DeLonge, bassist Mark Hoppus, and drummer Travis Barker. One interesting fact about Blink is that since they are a trio, both Mark and Tom sing for the band, with the pair splitting the amount of songs that they sing per album (sometimes even trading off mid song). How does a band like this stay relevant and active after all this time? 

Blink-182 has definitely gone through some hard times over the years, with drama in the band and some lineup changes. For example, world-famous drummer Travis Barker only joined the band in 1999, one the album “Enema of the State”. Before that, Blink released two albums with original drummer Scott Raynor. Another very important lineup change that the band went through was when Tom DeLonge left the group in 2003. After this sudden breakup, the members all spun off side projects and released solo work. In 2016, Blink-182 reformed, this time however with Matt Skiba as the guitarist/other vocalist. Blink released two albums, one in 2016 the other in 2019, with Skiba before Tom DeLonge rejoined the band in 2022. Since Tom has rejoined the band, they have just released an album last month called “One More Time”. Along with the new album, Blink is also going on a tour for the album’s release.

My personal favorite Blink albums are easily “Enema of the State” and “Take off Your Pants and Jacket”. Songs like “Mutt”, “Going Away To College”, “First Date”, and “The Rock Show” all carry these albums although theres really no bad song on these albums. After listening to the newly released album “One More Time”, I’ve gotta say that it is definitely not their best work. Why do they sound so different? While it is cool to hear the classic lineup of the band again, this album just doesn’t capture the magic of their older stuff. The new sound sounds way more over-produced and artificial as opposed to their older albums. Also, Tom’s voice is definitely not the same as it was back in the day. With that being said, one thing that I loved in the album was Barker’s drumming. Travis Barker has not fallen off at all and he still is crushing it on the drums. Barker has been featuring on many pop and pop-punk songs for a while so he hasn’t missed a beat.

When I think about the songs of my childhood and the music that I remember hearing when I was young, one of the first songs that comes to mind is “Upside Down” by Jack Johnson. The song was featured in the Curious George movie, which I loved as a little kid. The calm and happy tone of the song gives it an amazing feel and vibe. My love for the song “Upside Down” made me want to dive deeper into the discography  of Jack Johnson, and to see if the rest of his music is as good as “Upside Down”.

Johnson’s first release in 2001 titled “Brushfire Fairytales” is an amazing album and a great singer-songwriter debut album. This album captures the magic and spirit of what Johnson’s music flair is right from the beginning of his career. On this particular album, my favorite two tracks are “Flake” and “Bubbly Toes”. Both songs have big, bright, and bubbly overall sound and feel. The album is on the shorter side with only eight songs on the album, one of which being only two minutes and one being five and a half.

My personal favorite album of his is the 2005 release “In Between Dreams”.  This albums contains a lot of Johnson’s biggest hit with songs like “Better Together”, “Sitting, Waiting, Wishing”, and “Constellations”. These three songs are all extremely catchy and are very easy to get stuck in your head. When listening to these songs you get overcome with a feeling of joy and happiness, as the vibe and feel of these songs are amazing. Although this album contains many of his big hits, the album was actually met with mixed reviews when it was released in 2005. This fact is really fascinating seeing as this album is many people’s favorite of his.

Another aspect of Jack Johnson’s music that I love is his guitar playing. His playing is nothing to over the top, nothing to crazy, but it is just enough to create an amazing sound. Learning Johnson’s songs on guitar is one of my favorite things to do because they are simple enough to learn pretty quickly, but when you have them down they are so much fun to play and never get boring. One notable aspect of Johnson’s guitar playing is his use of finger picking. Johnson’s approach to finger picking is very different from most other finger-style guitarists, and his method is much more fun to play in my opinion. As someone who wants to get better at finger picking, I personally love playing Jack Johnson songs because of his unique flair.

With music being so diverse, there are many different opinions out there. These differences in opinion leads to many arguments about things like what artist is good and what artist is bad. Out of all these arguments, the one that I find the most intriguing is the debate on whether the band Nickelback is good or bad.

Nickelback dates back to it’s formation in 1995 and they have sold over 50 million records over the years. They are known for their big hits “How You Remind Me”, “Photograph”, “Rockstar”, and “Far Away”. Many people claim that they hate Nickelback and that they are a cheesy and corny band. Many people also claim that you either hate Nickelback or you love them, no in-between. The thing that always fascinated me about these claims is that even though people say that they hate Nickelback, whenever they hear one of their songs being played they know all the words and will sing-along. This doesn’t seem to add up! Just think about it, every time you hear the song “Photograph”, your first instinct is to sing the first line “Look at this photograph, every time I do it makes me laugh”. And then after you hear the song, it will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day. And people will still be inclined to say “It’s not that catchy” even though they will be humming the chorus all day.

I’m someone who hasn’t really listened to Nickelback that much, aside from their notable hit songs. I took the time to dive a little deeper into this situation and I listened to more of their music. One thing that I noticed that took me by surprise is that they have been releasing music throughout the entire 2010s and they even released an album in 2022. Out of all the albums that I tried to listen to, the album “All the Right Reasons” from 2005 definitely had the most songs that I liked. I think that lead singer Chad Kroeger is a really underrated frontman and that he has a good voice and a really solid vocal range. After listening to their music, I can safely say that the idea that you either love or hate Nickelback is not true at all. I don’t hate them but I also don’t love them, I think they are pretty good. I would recommend people to listen to more of their music if they are curious as to what their other music sounds like. One thing about Nickelback that I think is pretty cool is that they have a very diverse sound. On most of their albums, there are tracks that sound like pop-rock power ballads, and then there are songs that are borderline heavy metal songs. I think this diversifies them and makes them stand out which is pretty cool.

Growing up, my parents introduced me into all different kinds of musical artists and genres. One of my favorite genres that they introduced me into was funk rock. I remember being a little kid sitting in the backseat of my dad’s car as he would play the song “Under the Bridge” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This song always spoke to me and never fails to get stuck in my head. The song not only helped me fall in love with music, but it helped me fall in love with the band as well.

One thing that I love about RHCP is their longevity. Although many people see them as a 90s-2000s band, RHCP actually debuted in 1984 with their self titled album. They have released 13 studio albums over their 39 year existence, with two of those albums being released only a few months apart in 2022. With them releasing two 17 track albums in 2022, they also went on a massive world-wide tour, where I was lucky enough to see them live. Seeing them live was an amazing experience. The onstage dynamic between the four members was amazing and in between songs they all would just jam out for a few minutes. Flea, the bassist, and guitarist John Frusciante have a special dynamic and the two were locked in the entire show, with both of them soloing throughout the concert. Some say that Flea completes John and that John completes Flea. As a musician, Flea and Frusciante have been huge inspirations for me. When I was learning how to play the bass, I remember when I got to an intermediate level, I learned almost all of Flea’s bass lines. Learning his bass lines not only helped perfect my technique, but also helped me understand the theory behind playing bass as a whole. Frusciante is someone who I have always admired, as his playing is extremely complex and sophisticated. One thing I love about his playing is that whenever he plays a solo, he always finds ways to make it unique and fresh. For a guy who plays a solo in most of their songs, each solo sounds different from any other solo he plays.

While Flea and Frusciante are great in their own respect, the other two members of the band, Anthony Kiedis and Chad Smith, are also great. Vocalist Anthony Kiedis (who also writes most of the lyrics) is in my opinion, one of the best frontmen of the past 30 years. Kiedis is known for his ability to sing melodically as well as rapping, sometimes doing both in one song. Drummer Chad Smith is another big influential musician to me. He lays down a great beat in all of their songs and he is also great at improvising drums fills. I would recommend the Red Hot Chili Peppers to anyone who loves a good song to just sit back and vibe to. I would recommend their albums “Blood Sugar Sex Magik”, “Californication”, “By the Way”, and “Stadium Arcadium”.

Usually I use this passion blog to focus on musical artists that I’m not well versed with, and I usually will listen to their albums and songs and then write about it. For this weeks passion blog however, I will be taking a different approach. This week, I will be talking about one of my favorite bands, the Foo Fighters, and their newly released album entitled “But Here We Are”.

I was first introduced to the Foo Fighters during freshman year of high school. At the time, I had heard about them before but I never tried listening to them. After my friend convinced me to give them a listen, I was instantly hooked. Songs like “Everlong”, “These Days”, “Times Like These”, and “My Hero” stood out to me right away. When I first listened to them, I instantly noticed how complex the melodic structure of the songs were. The Foo Fighters play with three guitarists, which is pretty unusual in modern music. However, this creates amazing guitar harmonies and overall better sounding songs. One thing is love about the Foo Fighters is the frontman Dave Grohl. Grohl is in my opinion, one of the greatest musicians of all time. He is not only the guitarist, singer, and songwriter for the Foo Fighters, but he was also the drummer for Nirvana, one of the biggest bands of all time. His drumming for Nirvana was special, and was a key factor to their huge success in the early 90s. But after the tragic passing of Kurt Cobain in 1994, he then goes on to create the Foo Fighters, where he has been for the past 25-plus years. One thing that is really special about Dave Grohl is his voice. Some may say that he has the voice of an angel. I personally think that he is one of the best frontmen of all time, with his amazing singing and overall performance.

In March of 2022, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins tragically passed away. Hawkins was a key factor to the band’s success and was one of the best drummers in the world. Throughout his tenure in the band, there was never an interview with Dave Grohl that didn’t feature Hawkins by his side. Their friendship was special and it was prevalent whenever the band was on stage. After Hawkins death, the band’s future was very uncertain. However, in memory of Taylor Hawkins, the band released an album in 2023 called “But Here We Are”, which was dedicated to his memory. After giving it a full listen, I think that it is one of the band’s best albums, going up there with albums like “The Color and the Shape”, “There is Nothing Left to Lose”, and “Wasting Light”.  One track that stood out to me was “Rest”, which is a perfect tribute to Hawkins. Tracks “Rescued” and “Under You” stood out to me as well and are really well-made songs. I definitely recommend the Foo Fighters to anyone who is looking for new music to listen to.

I am someone that loves all kinds of music and that has certainly been prevalent this past week. Two artists that I have been listening to recently are John Mayer and Chris Stapleton – both of which are completely different genres of music. Mayer is a rock and RnB singer-songwriter and Stapleton is one of the biggest names in country music right now. Both artists are known for their dreamy guitar playing and amazing vocals.

For some time now, I’ve been a pretty big fan of John Mayer. Mayer has been around for quite some time, with his first album releasing in 1999. His name grew with his early hit songs “Neon” and “Your Body is a Wonderland”. My personal favorite songs by John Mayer are definitely “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” and “Gravity”. Both of these songs are very complex and crafted beautifully. Mayer’s vocal performance in the songs are definite standouts as well. The thing that I love the most about these songs is the guitar playing – more importantly – the solos. For example, whenever Mayer performs “Gravity” live, he always ends the song with an amazing guitar solo that sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard before. The solo is really out of this world and makes you feel like gravity is working against you- as the title and lyrics imply.

One of my more recent interests has been country singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton. As a music lover, I have always admired country music and all of its many artists. I feel like country music has a certain vibe and feel that moves you in ways that other genres of music simply don’t. A prime example of this comes with Chris Stapleton’s music. Songs like “Starting Over”, “Tennessee Whiskey”, and “Joy of my Life” never cease to amaze me. The easy standout in Stapleton’s music is his voice. I think that Chris Stapleton has one of the best voices in music right now and I feel like this feels more true with each new song of his I listen to. Another big standout for me is his style of playing guitar. Stapleton uses a lot of unique chords and riffs that create an amazing feel.

Recently I have been learning a lot of Mayer and Stapleton’s songs on guitar. Learning these songs has been great because these songs are just fun to play. The uniqueness of them strays them away from other songs that all sound the same and are dull and boring. I will definitely continue to listen to both of these artists and encourage others to do the same.

One artist that I’ve been listening to a lot recently is Sublime; Sublime is a ska/reggae band from California who were apart of the surf rock and punk scene in the 1990s. They are most known for the hit song “Santeria” and their self titled album that came out in 1996. I’ve always been a big fan of Sublime and I’ve especially been a big fan of the ska and reggae genre of music. This style of music just has a certain vibe that is extremely special and unique. This past week, I took it upon myself to listen to the entire self titled album from 1996. From start to finish, I loved this album. Every track had an awesome vibe and overall sound. My favorite songs on the album are probably “What I Got”, “Doin’ Time”, and “Santeria”. The song “Santeria” is a classic song that I’ve been a fan of for a while now, however the other two tracks really struck me. “What I Got” is an awesome sing-along song that is insanely catchy. “Doin’ Time” is probably one of the most unique songs I have ever heard. I say this because this song is one of the last tracks of the album and after listening to the whole album, once you get to “Doin’ Time”, you are not expecting a song to sound like the way it does. The overall feel and vibe of “Doin’ Time” is completely different from every other song on the album and I love it.  Another song from the album that I loved is “Pawn Shop”. In this track, singer and guitarist Bradley Nowell puts his guitar skills on display.

The main reason why I wanted to listen to this album is that I wanted to learn how to play guitar in the same style as Sublime. Guitarist and singer Bradley Nowell, has a very distinct style of playing guitar. Learning Nowell’s style has been on my bucket list for quite some time, and after listening to the album my desire to learn it has definitely increased. The way he quickly and sharply strums the chords creates the reggae vibe and it also adds flair to the song. Since listening to the album, I have learned how to play “Santeria”, “What I Got”, and “The Wrong Way”. After learning these tunes I definitely now have a pretty good grasp on how to play guitar in the reggae style. I would definitely recommend this album or any of Sublime’s other work.

By far one of my biggest passions is music. I’ve been playing music since the fourth grade when I learned how to play the drums. For many years, the drums was the sole instrument that I played. It wasn’t until sophomore year in high school when first learned how to play the bass guitar. My friends and I formed a little garage band and when there was no one to play the bass I stepped in. One big thing that helped me pick up on how to play was already having an understanding of music and how it works. A lot of people always say “Oh I could never play and instrument, it seems way to hard”. In some ways, this may be true but nowadays, there are so many ways to learn how to play any instrument you desire. There are many online courses and books that you could find but, the best method of learning, is youtube tutorials. When I first got my bass, youtube tutorials on how to play different songs was my lifeline. My strategy on learning songs was that I first looked up the tab of the song, and if I was struggling, I would watch a video demonstrating how to play it.  So many people start learning an instrument and then instantly quit because they feel like they just can’t do it. I encourage anyone reading this who wants to take up an instrument to be patient, and trust the process because, soon enough you’ll start to figure it out and it will all become easy. Once I got a good feel for the bass, I started to learn how to play guitar. The guitar is definitely very intimidating at first because there are six different strings and a lot of different notes on the fretboard. The best piece of advice that I got from my one friend who plays the guitar is that the key to learning the guitar is chords. Learning guitar chords is the best thing that a beginner can do when first learning how to play. Knowing how to play chords will not only help you with moving your fingers on the fretboard but, it also helps you understand chord progressions and changing between note. I hope that this post inspires people to learn and instrument and to trust the process. Learning music is hard, I won’t deny that. However, there are so many ways to learn how to play an instrument nowadays compared to twenty years ago. 

For my passion blog, one idea I have is to write about music and the different songs and instruments that I play. As a guitarist, bassist, drummer, and kind of a pianist, I love all kinds of music and love playing all kinds of music. I could blog about the songs that I would be learning at the time and the challenges that I’m going to face. I could also blog about the songs that I would be listening to a lot at the time. One of my goals is to form a band while I’m here and if that does happen, I could blog about that too.  Another idea that I have is to write about my college experience. I could write about all of the fun things that I do and all of the people that I meet. I think it would be cool to look back on my blogs at the end of the year and sort of reflect on what happened throughout the year. It would be interesting to see how different I was at the beginning of the year compared to what I’m going to be like at the end of the year.