Year of the Mix: January

Here is the first in my series of monthly mixes. The listening order is for maximum enjoyment and not ranked.

1. "Don't Bring Me Down" - Electric Light Orchestra, Discovery (1979)

They just don't make 'em like this anymore. You'll be very hard pressed to find such a rocking AND peppy song on the Top 40...or even on the rock chart. Due to being featured in Paul, Super 8, several movies trailers and Budweiser commercials, "Don't Bring Me Down" had a resurgence in 2011. You've heard it, trust me. Songs like this one make me certain the best music ever produced came out of the late 70's/early 80's. There, I said it again.

2. "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You" - Heart, Brigade (1990)

A woman's husband can't knock her up so she picks up a drifter, beds him, and picks him up again after she's birthed his child. You know...just your average "all I wanna do is make love to you" song. It's corny and could only be a hit in the early 90's. A guilty pleasure, for sure, but a pleasure just the same.

3. "Sexy Bitch" - David Guetta (feat. Akon), One Love (2009)

Even though the best music ever produced came out of the late 70's/early 80's, one of the best stand alone years is definitely 2009. By then, I started to become quite fond of popular music and yet "Sexy Bitch" didn't make an impression on me until now. A very likely story with me, I know. Fucking infectious.

4. "Remind Me" - Brad Paisley (feat. Carrie Underwood), This is Country Music (2011)

It seems the only true blue love songs produced these days come from country music. This duet is about a couple who has lost the spark but decide to regain it after seeing other couples perform PDA. Soaring chorus...yes please.

5. "My Heart Is Broken" - Evanescence, Evanescence (2011)

If you like "Bring Me to Life" and "Going Under" you will like this goth-esque rock ballad about lost love. It's pretty much everything you'd expect from Evanescence and that's not a bad thing. Perfect for sing-screaming in your car after a mad break up with your rocker boyfriend.

6. "The Concept" - Teenage Fanclub, Bandwagonesque (1991)

I first heard this song in the opening of Young Adult. On a mixtape made by her former sweetie, Charlize Theron's character plays it OVER AND OVER on her trip back to her hometown to win him back. I became addicted and search the internet ferociously to find the title and artist. If sung in a slightly different way, this song could easily pass for mid-60's garageband.

7. "Hello, Hello" - Elton John and Lady Gaga, Gnomeo & Juliet: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2011)

Readers already know that this is my pick for Best Original Song...unfortunately it wasn't nominated. ☹ None the less, this weird little love song is extremely catchy and feels like it could have been a hit for Elton John in the 70's.

8. "Jar of Hearts" - Christina Perri, lovestrong. (2011)

Well...I'm sort of at a loss to discuss this piano ballad. It's about a womanizer who wants to rekindle a relationship but the singer will have none of it. It's pretty and that's enough.

9. "Go All the Way" - The Raspberries, Raspberries (1972)

This song used to play on my oldies station all the time, but then I forgot about it until randomly rediscovering it on Youtube. I love the pretty chorus where the singer's girlfriend begs to, ahem, go all the way. Sweet sounding songs with sexual meanings are the greatest. It's reminiscent of The Beatles' "Please, Please Me" in a very good way.

10. "I Like It" - Enrique Iglesias (feat. Pitbull), Euphoria (2010)

Also didn't get this one until last month even though it was pretty big. A pro-cheating anthem for da clubs! Great to dance in your underwear to...not that I ever would do that.

11. "I Do Not Hook Up" - Kelly Clarkson, All I Ever Wanted (2009)

Slow on the musical uptake, that's me. Yep, this one too. Another great song from 2009. Maybe I'm off the mark with this, but it seems very rare these days to have a song where a girl is fighting off sexual advances. Great vocals from Kelly Clarkson as always.

12. "21 Guns" - Green Day, 21st Century Breakdown (2009)

Okay...this one doesn't make sense at all. Although I'm a fan of "Wake Me Up When September Ends" (mostly because it reminds me of being on top of Steptoe Butte my senior year) I don't pretend any sort of Green Day fan. I saw the video for "21 Guns" on Pop-Up Video and the melody just wouldn't leave my head. Also, and I hardly ever say this about men, Billie Joe Armstrong has a beautiful voice.

13. "Price Tag" - Jessie J (feat. B.o.B.), Who You Are (2011)

Infectious. Catchy. Anti-materialism. I really have nothing else to say about this one other than I'm behind the message.

14. "Special Death" - Mirah, Advisory Committee (2001)

This one's for the angsty pre-teen inside me who cuts in her closet and writes sad poems that could easily double for suicide notes. I heard this one on the first episode of American Horror Story.

15. "Dim All the Lights" - Donna Summer, Bad Girls (1979)

One of my favorite disco songs. And just filthy. Check out this lyric:

You can use me all up/Take me bottom to top/Don't leave even one drop/Do it tonight/You know the moments are right/Turn my brown body white

...Yep. It means exactly what you think.

16. "Love Drunk" - Boys Like Girls, Love Drunk (2009)

Pop punk at its most shameless. It's no secret that I love me some catchy hooks and this feels like it was cranked out of a machine for stupid saps like me.

17. "Stan" - Eminem (feat. Dido), The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)

What the fuck, right? Time and time again I decry rap/hip hop/whatever, but here I go again blogging about how much I like a random track. I like story songs. And I like songs about fame and this one takes the perspective a fan obsessed with Eminem's alter-ego Slim Shady. I'll also give some due respect to Eminem for the letter writing format. Haha and it's Devon Sawa in the video!

18. "Stars Are Blind" - Paris Hilton, Paris (2006)

No, no, wait! Hear me out...Okay, you're right. This song is just as vapid as you think. I'm a slave to the hook, the pseudo reggae beat and Paris's weak, breathy vocals. You can thank Pop-Up Video for this one, too. Only on a mix of mine would Paris Hilton follow Eminem.

19. "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection" - Nelson, After the Rain (1990)

While listening to every song to hit #1 on the Billboard charts, I admired this one after its initial listen. I recently picked it up again and was taken away with the simple message and easy going production. These are just two dudes (twin sons of Ricky Nelson) who want to sing a song...at least it seems that way. And I would kill for their hair.

Year of the Mix (aka Jordyn Steals Andrew's Idea)

It's February which means most people have long since given up on their New Year's resolutions. Oh, but not me. Mine was to start building the soundtrack to my life. While I'm sure you absolutely LOVE my "Jordyn's Current #1 Song" gadget, there is no real method to it; I change it when I think to. And a song could be #1 for four weeks or four days. And I can only assume you are JUST DYING to know why that song is #1.

You're in luck. Over the next year, I'll be posting a playlist of my most listened to tracks, favorites, rediscoveries, etc. for that month. Coming soon to a computer near you will be January's. Get excited.

This idea was totally jacked from Andrew's Testermix series. He usually puts a playlist out every season or so. Check his out. They're far more thought out than mine.

If Taylor Swift Had a Friend With Benefits...

Like most people in this world, I cannot write music. Being a life-long singer of sorts, I tried many a time to write a song just in case I grew up to be a superstar. My sixth grade efforts brought forth but one ditty entitled "Let the Good Times Roll" which, as I recall, was ripped off from The Partridge Family's "Let the Good Times In". I never performed it for anyone, although the lyrics sheet is somewhere in my personal papers.

Then a few months back, my ex-roommate and I were talking about fuck buddies of all things and how there weren't any songs about the concept...or something like that. Of course there are gads of sex songs but they either skew on the edge of romantic ("Let's Make Love") or nasty ("Rude Boy") and hardly never anywhere in between.

So a couple of days ago, I drank an AMP energy drink and became inspired halfway home from Pullman. I started writing lyrics in my head and finished in about 5 hours.

Now, before you get too excited, I DID NOT WRITE THE MUSIC. I wrote to the tune of "Favorite" by Liz Phair, my current #1 song. I don't know how legal or ethical to do such a thing but Katy Perry covered The Outfield's "Your Love" and changed most of the lyrics...so this is done in the real music world.

I am posting a video of "Favorite" just so you can get a taste of what it should sound like. And, WARNING!!! WARNING!!! This song is pretty dirty but hopefully not offensive. I imagine if Taylor Swift was ever in a strictly sexual relationship, she would probably write a song something like this.

(Original written by Scott Spock, Lauren Christy, Graham Edwards)

F♥ck Buddies
Text me at eleven twenty-two
Give me a sec and I'll be there soon
Racing downtown at eleven thirty cause I want it too

Say hello with a kiss at the door,
The next thing we know we're on the floor
No need for small talk right this minute, let’s do it like before

Not a string, not a tie
Not a rule or a lie
Everything that we need
Oh baby, can’t you see?

CHORUS 1
You never have to clean your room
And I won’t buy new underwear
It’s so uncomplicated
You don’t have to buy me flowers
And I never have to do my hair
Just look at how damn easy this is

I’ll pin your arms above your head
Hitting the wall and moving the bed
Your roommates hate us cause we’re loud enough to wake the dead

Love you looking up when you’re down on me
Whisperin’ sweet dirty words sets me free
Oh baby make me call your name until I can barely breathe

Throw me down, pull my hair
Don’t stop now, I’m almost there
Hot n' heavy, a little rough
Ready or not, here I come

CHORUS 2
I don’t wanna be your girl
And you don’t have to make me eggs
It’s so uncomplicated
You don’t wanna be my guy
And I don’t have to wax my legs
See how damn easy this is?

BRIDGE
Oh baby, it’s so damn easy
I never thought that this could be
Let’s ride this out as long as we can
Let’s go again and again

They say it’ll never work,
So baby let’s prove them wrong
No need to give this up

Right here, right now, you have what I want
Take me, shake me

They say it’s a bad idea
So let’s show ’em how it’s done
We’ve got a hold on it

Right here, right now, I have what you want
Roll me, hold me

I love how damn easy this is