Favorite Songs of 2020

At first I set out to put together a list of my favorite 20 songs of the year (just like I did previously with my favorite albums of the year), but after a day or so of thinking and writing them down, I quickly realized that the list was greater than 20 and in the end, I had a list of 50 songs. 

Well, I shrunk it down to 40 and then decided - what the hell am I doing? All of these songs are great. And I loved each one of them and each one deserves to be on the list. Each and every one of them.

So, here's my 40 favorite songs of the dumpster fire year that was 2020 - once again, in no specific order:

1. Within the Ruins - Black Heart

2. Architects - Animals

3. Foo Fighters - Shame Shame

4. Code Orange - Swallowing the Rabbit Whole

5. Unleash the Archers - Abyss

6. Machine Gun Kelly - Bloody Valentine

7. Poppy - Anything Like Me

8. Spirit Adrift - Screaming From Beyond

9. Green Day - Oh Yeah!

10. The Pretty Reckless - Death by Rock and Roll

11. Deftones - Urantia

12. Adelitas Way - Habit

13. Pop Evil - Work

14. Joyous Wolf - Odyssey

15. Tallah - L.E.D.

16. Black Stone Cherry - Again

17. Lady Gaga - 911

18. Armored Saint - End of the Attention Span

19. Spirit Box - Holy Roller

20. Run the Jewels - Holy Calamafuck

21. Ayron Jones - Take Me Away

22. AC/DC - Shot in the Dark

23. Hawk - CLVRMFKR

24. Avatar - Silence in the Age of Apes

25. Trivium - Amongst the Shadows and the Stones

26. Midnight - Fucking Speed and Darkness

27. August Burns Red - Defender

28. Metal Church - Dead on the Vine

29. Lamb of God - Memento Mori

30. Mr. Bungle - Bungle Grind

31. Royal Blood - Trouble's Coming

32. Hatebreed - When the Blade Drops

33. Stone Temple Pilots - Fare Thee Well

34. Bring Me The Horizon - Parasite Eve

35. Rob Zombie - The Triumph of King Freak (A Crypt of Preservation and Superstition)

36. Pearl Jam - Dance of the Clairvoyants

37. The Violent - Fly on the Wall

38. Smith & Myers - Not Mad Enough

39. Asking Alexandria - They Don't Want What We Want (And They Don't Care)

40. Them Evils - Where Ya Gonna Crash Tonight?

Favorite Music Albums of 2020

Here are my 20 favorite music albums of 2020. 

Why 20? Well, I couldn't choose just 5 or 10 or even 15. The list skews heavily to hard rock and metal as that's what I typically listen to, but there are a few surprise choices here.

So, here's the list - in no specific order: 

1. Deftones - Ohms 

2. Metallica - S&M2 

3. Tame Impala - The Slow Rush

4. Code Orange - Underneath

5. Lady Gaga - Chromatica

6. Bring Me The Horizon - Post Human: Survival Horror 

7. Avatar - Hunter Gatherer

8. Trivium - What the Dead Men Say 

9. Mr. Bungle - The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny

10. AC/DC - PWR/UP

11. Taylor Swift - Folklore

12. Static X - Project Regeneration, Volume 1

13. Black Stone Cherry - The Human Condition

14. Dance Gavin Dance - Afterburner

15. Stone Temple Pilots - Perdida

16. Adelitas Way - Shine On

17. Run The Jewels - RTJ4

18. August Burns Red - Guardians

19. Lamb of God - Lamb of God

20. Unleash the Archers - Abyss

Review and Reaction: Dunkin' Donuts Ghost Pepper Donut

Ok, folks. I gave the Dunkin' Donuts Ghost Pepper donut a taste. 

Was it good? Was it terrible? Watch the video for my reactions and thoughts. 

There ya go! Cheers!

Welcome to the Shitshow

Ok. I'm liberal. If you know, you know. You can easily guess for whom I'll be casting my vote. There's no doubt about that.

I was watching the first Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden last night and as things went down, my jaw fell to the floor.

Sure, there were misrepresentations and half-truths told. There were direct lies. Both sides did this. Republican and Democrat. That's the way it goes. During and after the debate, as is my SOP, I made some dumb jokes on social media, but today, as objectively as possible (after all, I am biased, but face it, we all are), I want to calmly state a few points that have stuck with me over night and in to this morning.

These points are not going to change anyone's mind - even though they really should - but here they are:

1. Donald Trump used a racial slur during the debate. Yes, using the name Pocahontas to demean someone is a racial slur. The end.

2. When asked directly to denounce white supremacy, Trump specifically brought up the Proud Boys (an alt-right white supremacist group who supports him) and said "Stand back and stand by." He did not denounce them.

3. Trump disagrees vehemently with his science advisors regarding a COVID19 vaccine and when it will be available.

4. Donald Trump demonized and made fun of Joe Biden's child for his substance use disorder.

5. Donald Trump refused to outright state he would support and accept the results of the Presidential election on November 3rd - and along with his call to the public for "poll watchers" and his lies about mail in balloting/voting, this should cause you alarm.

6. Donald Trump refused to stay quiet when he was supposed to do so and allow Biden time to speak. His behavior and decorum was boorish, bullying, and absent of decency and dignity. He constantly interrupted Biden and became argumentative with both Biden and Chris Wallace (the moderator). All of this behavior was unbecoming of a President of the United States of America.

7. Chris Wallace was not a good choice for moderator, but outside of cutting the microphones, I'm not sure what else he could have done to help stop any of what happened. Donald Trump steamrolled over Wallace's moderating. 

There are many more things that could be expounded upon, but these few have stuck with me. Again, this probably won't change any minds, but I thought I'd write them down.

It's 2020. It's a Presidential election year. It's a viral pandemic.

34 days until Election day.

Welcome to the Shitshow. 

Fake Band Names

I was just a guest on the Heroes of Noise Podcast with Dan and Steve (so you should really go listen to Episode 108 and then stay around and listen to all 107 episodes that came before it. Steve brought up the oddball named bands I go to see. And he mentioned The Laptop Junkies in particular. Now, I don't know if The Laptop Junkies actually exist, but, in my humble opinion, that's a hella good name for an indie pop band. 

Which, reminds me...

Every time I see a ridiculous or interesting grouping of words in the news or on social media, I’ll immediately try to figure out if it could be a band name and what genre that band would be. Here are some of my favorites from the last few years.

Green Dildos with Faces, 90s cover band
Libel, southern rock
Vomit Fraud, nu metal
Flaming Valencia Oranges, 80s hair metal

Toupee Fiasco and the Bountiful Tangerines, lounge and swing covers
Microscopic Clouds of Fentanyl, screamo
Llamathrust, 80s pop covers
The Fourth Ventricle, electro swing
Rat Scrotum Beetles, ska punk
Vagina Mohawks, glam punk metal
Proxima Midnight, progressive rock
Cull Obsidian, death metal
Corvus Glaive, power/symphonic metal
Ebony Maw, 12 piece southern rock
Devil’s Doorbell, industrial metal
Vaginal Antichrist, all-woman black metal
False Sense of Security, Celtic punk metal
Bloody Biscuits, British doom metal
Vexingly Sphinxlike Figure, power metal
Groin Crusher, sludge metal
Symbyax, K-Pop
Transient Anus, grindcore
Homicidal Mercedes Sunroofs, groove metal
Hypersexual Zombie Cicadas, British psychedelic rock
Fucktastic Dildo Wizards, funk rock
Gastric Lavage, metalcore
Forever Chemical, My Chemical Romance covers
Dishonesty & Bad Reporting, ska core
Sausage Roll Baby Jesus, alt rock
Deranged Masturbation, punk
Millennial Pink, boy band covers
The Caravan, symphonic black metal
Anatomical Squeeze Box, emo polka
CIA Coughs Up, anarcho-punk
Baked Potato Torture, garage rock
Green Bell Peppers of Death, parody covers
Flaming Dancer, flamenco guitar