The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

Brian Fallon was hesitant to use the song title. He told Spinner: “You call something American anything you better have something to back that up with,” he said. “It’s like an English band calling a song English something, you have a big thing to live up to. The song is kind of about my American life, about the things that have happened. They present you this American dream and it’s not like this specific thing, you find out you just have to work. You don’t step outside and get famous, that’s not the way it goes. It’s like that anywhere else in the world.” 

The Cure - Lullaby

This is based on a recurring nightmare Robert Smith had as a child where he was eaten by a giant spider; Smith says the song is about the fear of sleep.

The 1990 Brit award winning music video was inspired by David Lynch's 1977 debut horror movie Eraserhead.

Daughtry - You Don't Belong

Daughtry was formed and is fronted by Chris Daughtry, who was a finalist on the fifth season of American Idol. Their self-titled debut album was released in November 2006. The album reached number one on the Billboard 200, went on to sell more than four million copies in the United States, and has been certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA.

This song is the opening track on their second album, and it's one of the best songs on the album, but it was never released as a single. I just love how Daughtry can shout "NO!!", I feel like shouting NO also every time he does it. :)

Something Corporate - I Woke Up In A Car

This song is about touring, and being on the road constantly. It has its charm, and feels great floating, but at some point you have to come back to reality, don't you?

Sarah Bettens - Daddy's Gun

Another great song by Sarah Bettens. This one is raising awareness on gun control. Every 3 hours a child is killed by a gun...

Sarah Bettens - Come Over Here

This song is about encouraging somebody to come out of the closet.
Sarah is the lead singer of K's Choice. She has had a large lesbian fanbase since the beginning of her career with K's Choice, but it wasn't until May 2002 that she officially came out to the public.

There were plans to license this song for episode 409 of the American series The L Word. However, the plans fell through due to problems involving the songs' co-writer and record label.

 

Péterfy Bori & Love Band - Felébredni egy szerelemből

Another hungarian song, the title is translated as "Waking Up From A Love". 
The band was formed in 2007, they are one of the first from the new wave of alternative bands in Hungary. The band was taking a rest from January 2011 to May 2012, because the lead singer was having a baby. She returned one year ago, and they are still making great songs.

Papa Roach - Last Resort

This was the first major-label release for Papa Roach; they recorded for an independent label for 5 years before signing with Dreamworks. Tobin Esperance (the bassist of the band) says the band did not expect "Last Resort" to be as big as it was: "No one ever thought it was going to be a huge, huge hit, but I guess you never expect anything, really, when you're first starting out."

This song is about suicide. It takes the perspective of someone who feels frustrated and confused to the point that ending it all seems like a valid option. In in interview Esparance said that "Last Resort" was so popular because the meaning of the track struck a note with fans: "I think the lyrics had a lot to do with it. Because originally the song was about a friend of ours that we grew up with, and he was going through a rough time in his life. And there was that suicide element to it, just like growing up and the struggles of life and questioning whether or not you want to keep going on, and I think a lot of people connected with that. For the kids who had also gone through those kinds of feelings, those kinds of emotions, the lyrics really helped connect with that song."

Dave Matthews Band - Typical Situation

This is the third single from Dave Matthews Band's first album "Under the Table and Dreaming". The single did not chart, but is still frequently played at live shows.
It was inspired by the poem "A Prayer in the Pentagon" by Robert Dederick.
The poem can be read on The Zen Blog.

Kispál és a Borz - Kicsit szomorkás...

This song is from the soundtrack of an iconic hungarian comedy movie from 1997. It is a parody of the socialist musicals in the 1960s.

Founded in 1987, in the town of Pécs, Hungary, Kispál és a Borz was probably the most successful Hungarian alternative rock group to date. This song skyrocketed their popularity since it was their first song to get major media coverage. Before this song they were only popular in underground scenes.

The actual music video is only uploaded in crappy quality to youtube, so here's the song with just a still image throughout the video, but good sound quality.

The Fray - Never Say Never

The song was certified Platinum by the RIAA in August 2010 and was ranked #100 on Billboard's Hot 100 songs of 2009 list. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 2010.
This is a direct love song between two people who are "pulling apart and coming together again and again." 


A set used in the aftermath of the plane crash scene in the 2005 Tom Cruise movie War of the Worlds was used for this song's music video.

Zac Brown Band - Chicken Fried

Zac Brown told the national radio show GAC Nights: Live From Nashville: “The song is basically just a list of all the things that I love. Pretty much, this is who we are. And granted it was four or five years ago when we finished the song and we wrote it, but that’s the roots, and basically it’s like the more we get along and the older we get, there’s very few songs that you can say ‘I believe in,’ and those are the things that I want to write about and sing about. And that was just one of those things that was captured in that song.” 

The Zac Brown Band first recorded "Chicken Fried" in 2003 and later included this version on their self-released 2005 album Home Grown. Later on, in 2006, The Lost Trailers covered the song as their first release for the BNA Records label. Although The Lost Trailers' version had entered the country charts, it was soon withdrawn from radio and replaced with "Call Me Crazy", as Brown had changed his mind about licensing the song to BNA. "Call Me Crazy" then went on to peak at 43 in mid-2006. In 2008, the Zac Brown Band re-recorded "Chicken Fried" for their fourth album, The Foundation. This re-recording was then released in mid-2008 as the band's first single, reaching Number One on the country charts in late 2008. As of October 16, 2013, the song has sold 4,000,000 million copies in the United States.

Live - Lightning Crashes

While it wasn’t officially released as a commercially purchasable single in the United States, the song received enough radio airplay to peak at the #12 position on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay music chart in 1995.

The band dedicated the song to Barbara Lewis, a 19 year-old friend of the band who was killed in 1993 by a drunk driver who was fleeing from the police after a robbery in York, Pennsylvania. Barbara had many of her organs donated including a liver to a 10 month old baby, and the song lyrics reflect how her death enabled others to continue living. 

János Kulka - Fehér babák

János Kulka is a famous Hungarian stage/TV/movie actor, and he released two solo albums by far.

He is the Hungarian voice of Hugh Laurie in the dubbed version of House M.D. He has a nice, soothing sound, and he covers songs from hungarian and french authors mostly, inculding some musical theatre songs.

The video is just a slideshow of the actor, but the song is great!

Owl City - Fireflies

"Fireflies" is a synthpop song and the debut single from Owl City's album Ocean Eyes. Relient K vocalist Matt Thiessen is featured as a guest vocalist in the song. Relient K is an awesome band, you can expect some videos from them in the future in my blog.

This song reached #1 place on several charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Adam Young (the singer of Owl City) told the story behind the song to AntiMusic: "It was 2AM and I was sitting on the floor in my parent's basement with a MicroKorg on my lap. I built this synthy legato, 'ping' sound routed through a lowpass filter and ran it through a bunch of guitar pedals. I come up with a little cascading part that wound up as the intro and verses of a song called 'Fireflies.'
I have insomnia and I've always had a tough time falling asleep for as long as I can remember. I wanted to sing about my inability to sleep in a whimsical way that portrayed the condition as lighthearted and almost more of a 'blessing' than a curse. It's ironic that when sleep and I cannot bring ourselves to meet is often when inspiration strikes hardest. I'd just been on vacation to Iowa the week before I wrote the song and was amazed at how many fireflies came out at dusk. I didn't really have to think about making a connection between insomnia and lighting bugs, it just sort of happened and the song basically wrote itself. It was a lot of fun."