5 Alt Rock Songs You Need to Hear Right Now (October, 2015)

In the mood for a feel good love song? Feel like throwing a rager because you just dumped your significant other? Want to drown your sorrows alone in your bedroom while drinking a bottle or two of wine? Ready to hit the bars on a Friday night and need a tune to pump you up? Want to dedicated a karaoke song to your homies for always being there when you are too incoherent to make logical decisions?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you need to hear these songs right now.

5. “Uh Huh”, RØMANSLooking at the lyrics to this song you would think Adele has come out of the cave she has been living in for the past 4 years. But, fear not, this is no sappy break up song. If you gave Sam Smith a healthy dose of acid, I would imagine that this would be the type song that he would create. In fact, I challenge you to not think of Sam Smith high on acid when giving this a listen.

The song begins with a deeply saddened RØMAN, a 29 year old British singer, songwriter who recorded this track in his parents basement. When the calypso beat kicks in around the :55 mark, you quickly realize that this is no Adele/Sam Smith protégé and is in fact a unique, up and coming bloke from the other side of the pond presumably desperate to get out of his parents basement before reaching his thirties.

 

4. “Another Night on Mars”, The Maine 

If you listen to this and can not, or have never been able to relate to it, then you need to contact me immediately, and I will remedy that unfortunate situation. The Maine is an American rock band that formed in Tempe, Arizona back in 2007, and release American Candy, their fifth studio album on March 31, 2015.

Whether you are in high school, college, your thirties, sixties, or anywhere in between, “Another Night in Mars” should resonate with some group of friends you have had during your life. Hopefully, they have not been forced to hold your hair back or drag you into/out of the shower one too many times, and came to the conclusion that being your friend may not be worth all the hard work and baby-sitting.

“Another Night on Mars” is a fun track that begs for a group of friends to form a circle, drape their arms across each other’s shoulders, and sway back and forth while completely butchering the words.”

 

3. “Listen to the Man”, George Ezrahttp://

George Ezra, the 22 year-old (!), yes that voice is coming out of a guy that was born in 1993, has found massive success in the States for his smash hit “Budapest” and more recently, “Blame It On Me”, which itself is a must hear song if you are not familiar with the track.

“Listen to the Man” was “technically” released nearly a year ago, but that was in Britain, and not the States, and we all know that if it hasn’t been released in the States, it basically doesn’t even count as a song.

Ezra shows his playful side in the video that is reminiscent of Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al”, which coincidentally enough was released 4 years before Ezra was even born.

“Listen to the Man” comes across as a little “ditty”, but in true “ditty” form, is so pleasant and fun that if you don’t find Ezra to be a charming, young lad with the potential for a major music career ahead of him, you are a cold human being.

 

2. “Nothing Compares to You”, Chris Cornell

It has been way longer than 7 hours and fifteen days since you first heard this song back in January of 1990. In fact, it has been 25 years and 9 months since Sinead O’Connor found massive success and blessed us with one of the most depressing songs ever written. And if anybody on this planet can make you more depressed than Sinead O’Connor, it has got to be Chris Cornell.

After a quarter of a century, “Nothing Compares to You” is still as relevant as it has ever been, and Sinead O’Connor has gone down as one of the greatest one-hit wonders the past thirty years. (If ONE person mentions “The Emperor’s New Clothes” to me, you will be immediately and permanently deleted from my life.)

Chris Cornell has done many amazing things in his career, and this cover has got to be one of the most best covers of any song in recent memory. Nobody can portray the pure emotion that one must feel to love somebody so much, and be so depressed when they leave you that even eating dinner in a fancy restaurant doesn’t make you feel better, the way Cornell does.

Also, how do I get the name of O’Connor and Cornell’s doctor’s. Just ONCE I would love for my Dr. to tell me that “I better have fun no matter what I do.” I would follow that Dr.’s orders so hard that they would want me for clinical studies.

Regardless, you may think you know this song, but until you listen to Cornell’s version, you are woefully mistaken. With the exception of the missing background vocals, which I enthusiastically replaced with my own vocals, I am making the bold claim that Cornell does this song as good, or even better than O’Connor.

 

#1 “Boom”, Simple Plan

If you’re between the ages of 25-40 you probably remember Simple Plan, the fun-loving Canadian pop-punk-rock band that took the world by storm with their 2002 debut album, No Helmets, No Pads, Just Balls. 

Well, the best thing to come out of

Canada since, uh……. ever, is back, and just as fun and catchy as ever. Now in their mid-thirties, the guys from Simple Plan may be feeling a bit more sore the morning after a video shoot, but you certainly wouldn’t be able to tell from their enthusiasm.

“Boom” is one of the most energetic songs of 2015 and should have you singing along by the end of the first time you hear it. If you don’t start fist pumping, dancing, or singing “bo bo bo bo bo bo bo” to “Boom” than you are bo bo bo bo bo bo bo boring.