Happy Wednesday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Pop Culture Wednesday, the place where facets of western pop culture are examined. I realized the other day, in part because I’m taking a music class, that I really have not talked about anything musical in this article. Which is kind of deplorable since music is a massive part of every culture. Today I aim to fix that by listing some of my favorite bands, and going over why you should like them too.

The Beatles

I know that The Beatles are kind of the the safest possible answer you can give to the question “Who’s your favorite band???”, but that’s because they really are that good. They single handedly changed the music industry, created the first truly global musical experience, and created works and techniques that are still technique stunning today, with technology from the 1960’s. However, I think the biggest contribution towards my love for The Beatles stems from the fact that they have music for every emotion. If you’re stranded on a desert island and can only listen to one band for the rest of your life, you better bring The Beatles. The musical library is one of the vastest and deepest in the entire world of music. If you’ve never heard a Beatles’ song and you want to feel like you’ve never felt before; turn down the lights, pour a half a glass of wine, and put on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

NOFX

NOFX is one of those punk rock bands that came about in the 90’s, and stuck around. I for one am extremely glad that they did. I think the best way to describe this band is to compare them to Green Day (another band I enjoy, btw), but on more speed and talking more about social issues. I find myself listening to these guys more and more as I grow older and issues that plague our society become more prevalent in my everyday life. Another part of my appreciation for NOFX stems from the fact that they seamlessly switch from high bro to low brow at any given time. They could be singing a song about complex social issues one minute, and then calling out specific people and figures the next. I find the latter portion of the particularly enticing, as I regrettably cannot say “Fuck Ann Coulter” to a large audience in my everyday life (although maybe once this blog gets bigger new possibilities will present themselves). Check out the album Home Street Home if you want to go on a fun adventure and ponder some interesting social issues.

Gorillaz

I like Gorillaz. I really, really, really, like this band for a score of reasons. They are the love child between the incredible musician Damon Albarn and the steller cartoonist Jamie Hewlett. The two of them came up with the idea for Gorillaz while on an MTV binge, which caused them to realize what a cesspool the music industry had become. They decided to make a fictitious band so that it would be impossible for any of the members to be a fabricated personality designed to get more people to buy their albums. Albarn and Hewlett made the realist band ever, by making them not real. Oh also, before I move on to how I love them for their music, the name Gorillaz is a pun. You know what you call a group of Gorillas in the wild? A band. 😀

Nearly each and every one of Gorillaz’s songs is complex and layered. Many of their songs feature another artist or artists which gives each song its own distinct vibe. Now two Gorillaz songs are remotely similar, however the sheer quality of each of them makes it abundantly clear that  it is one of Gorillaz works. While the band does not have an extensive collection of music, a new album should be coming in 2017 and Hewiett’s artwork has me excited for it.

If you are interested in Gorillaz, I would recommend starting by watching their music video for Feel Good Inc. In my humble opinion, that is one of the best songs and one of the greatest music videos ever made.

There you have it. Those are three of my favorite bands. Seriously, go check them out on Spotify or wherever people are listening to music nowadays. If you like the post or any of these bands, leave a comment and a like down below. Also be sure to check out the 4B Facebook Page, and follow me, @LucasDeRuyter on Twitter. As always, you can subscribe to this blog via email in the upper right side tab. Have a great day everybody and be sure to come back for Friday’s post.

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