Ava Inferi - Majesty (2011) HD

I blogged this video and song out of the deepest respect for the band, their song, and this wonderful video. As an objective statement, "Majesty" is one of the best songs of 2011. This is among the greatest Gothic Metal/Doom Metal songs I've heard. Carmen Simões has such a beautiful voice and this song is both haunting and gorgeous at the same time. It's exactly what I like in the Gothic Metal.

This song will be near the top of the 2011 Best Rock Songs List -- Majesty has a slight rock 'n' roll feel to it or is that goth 'n' roll -- and the list will be similar number of songs to my 2010 list. Unfortunately, songs like this one rarely get on radio stations where I live. Lacuna Coil wasn't getting much radio airplay until their recent single release, and now I hear them on occasion when I turn on the radio. To my knowledge, I haven't heard Ava Inferi songs on the radio, but sometimes they don't tell listeners the names of the bands and songs.

I am a writer/independent journalist who reviews songs and videos here and chose to look at what is on YouTube because that's where millions of music lovers from all over the world to find out about music and watch videos. I can't right all the wrongs in the world, but the record companies, FM radio stations, and stores that are supposed to stock CDs are not promoting bands in a fair and honest way.

I'm waiting to hear this song on the radio and hope their CD "Onyx" will be available in stores. I encourage readers to support this band and many other bands, buy their CDs, purchase downloads, and go to concerts.

Wow!! 22 Songs of 2010 get in the 100 Best in Rock

It's my list and I spent a lot of time comparing songs.

Bodyslam and Cherri Bomb are in the top 10 and five songs from 2010 are among the 26 top songs on my list which originally covered 40 years and has been updated to include songs from 2010.  Songwriting, melodies, singing, and many other factors were considered.  I may add my insights as to why I chose some songs ahead of others, but it's rather difficult to explain in detail.  Songwriting was very important and it didn't matter to me whether a band member or someone else wrote the song, so covers or remakes of songs were eligible to get on my list and be considered for the list.

Obviously, most listeners can tell that some songs had world-class drumming and others had great lead and backing vocals, or both.  Drummers and vocalists make a big difference for bands and their songs.  For other songs, guitar playing, bass playing, or lyrics were among the reasons for success.  And of course there were songs that had everything.  In my opinion, all of these songs were great and most had more than one reason for their greatness.

This is my rock songs list, including crossover songs, but it's possible that a few songs from this list would be on other lists, such as alternative, metal, progressive rock, jazz, pop/rock, or pop lists.  There's also a very good chance that these artists/bands could have other songs on those lists, and there also would be many other artists/bands with songs on those lists. Words of caution:  Don't expect all of these songs to be on the list at the end of the decade or even in 2012, if I decide to update the list again.

1. Led Zeppelin, Four Sticks
2. Echo & The Bunnymen, Pride
3. Lyle Mays, Slink
4. Gentle Giant, Empty City
5.  Bodyslam featuring Siriporn, คิดฮอด (Kid Haud)
6. Stereolab, The Flower Called Nowhere
7. Nirvana, Come As You Are
8. Chevelle, Vitamin R (Leading Us Along)
9. Cherri Bomb, Spin  /Note: the version of song in their 2010 video
10. Kiss, Take Me
11. Stone Temple Pilots, Trippin’ On a Hole In a Paper Heart
12. Khan, Driving To Amsterdam
13. The Psychedelic Furs, President Gas
14. Jericho, Ethiopia
15. Nirvana, Smells Like Teens Spirit
16. Foreigner, Double Vision
17. Kiss, Makin’ Love
18. Gentle Giant, Another Show
19. Soundgarden, Fell On Black Days
20. Echo & The Bunnymen, Monkeys
21. Led Zeppelin, Stairway To Heaven
22. Black Country Communion, Medusa
23. Foo Fighters, Best Of You
24. Egg, A Visit To Newport Hospital
25. UnSun, Why
26. Jacob Craner, Dimensionality
27. Pearl Jam, Corduroy
28. Pat Metheny, Electric Counterpoint: III. Fast
Composition by Steve Reich
29. Van Der Graaf Generator, Lemmings (Including Cog)
30. Breaking Benjamin, Sooner or Later
31. Billy Idol, Scream
32. Metallica, The Day That Never Comes
33. The Icicle Works, A Factory In the Desert
34. U2, Gloria
35. Alice in Chains, Down in a Hole
36. Tear Gas, I’m Glad
37. Gentle Giant, In A Glass House
38. Nirvana, Lithium
39. Sugarloaf, Green Eyed Lady (long version)
40. Pat Metheny, Rain River
41. The Doobie Brothers, Jesus Is Just Alright
42. Alice in Chains, Angry Chair
43. Deep Purple, Highway Star
44. Aerosmith, Taste Of India
45. Alice in Chains, A Looking In View
46. Crossfade, So Far Away
47. System Of A Down, Chop Suey!
48. The Exies, Ugly
49. Nirvana, Lake of Fire
50. Urbandub, Cebuana
51. Yes, Siberian Khatru (Yessongs, Live)
52. Black Sabbath, War Pigs
53. Yes, Roundabout
54. Green Day, East Jesus Nowhere
55. Lacuna Coil, Not Enough
56. Bad Company, Gone, Gone, Gone
57. Murmansk, Moth
58. Nirvana, On A Plain
59. Strung Out, Party in the Hills
60. Univers Zero, Phobia
61. Stray, Jericho
62. XTC, Millions
63. Sunny Day Real Estate, Roses in Water
64. Shocking Blue, Venus
65. Pearl Jam, Daughter
66. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, Neon Meate Dream Of A Octafish
67. Family, Wheels
68. Dinosaur Jr., Said The People
69. Rush, Freewill
70. Kagrra, Shi Mi Me Yu Ki Sa A
71. Magma, The Last Seven Minutes (Mythes & Légendes vol.3, Live)
72. King Crimson, Frame by Frame
73. Melvins, Revolve
74. Cherri Bomb, Here To Rock
75. Gacharic Spin, Lock On!!
76. Океан Ельзи(Okean Elzy), Небо над Дніпром (Sky over the Dnieper)
77. The Indecent, Soybean (I Know)
78. Luminous Orange, Untold
79. Kiss, Strutter
80. Univers Zero, Soubresauts
81. Led Zeppelin, Kashmir
82. UnSun, Mockers
83. Three Days Grace, Break
84. Foo Fighters, All My Life
85. Sonic Youth, Disconnection Notice
86. Crossfade, Make Me A Believer
87. My Chemical Romance, Sing
88. Blink-182, Stockholm Syndrome
89. Godsmack, Shadow of a Soul
90. Warpaint, Warpaint
91. Gong, Makototen
92. Shinedown, Fly From The Inside
93. Ruslana, Kolomiyka
94. Hammerbox, Hole
95. Stone Temple Pilots, Take A Load Off
96. Luminous Orange, Sea of Lights
97. DEPRESI DEMON, Valium
98. Stray, Dirt Finger
99. Faust, Karneval
100. Tokyo Jihen, FAIR

I hope to be finished soon. It's very late-early 4 a.m. plus

Expect big things from 2010's best songs.

I'm comparing songs right now and listening to some of those songs again now.

Top 100 in Rock to Get 'Rocked' by 2010 Songs

You can expect a lot of songs from 2010 to enter my list of 100 Best Rock Songs.

The new list will show up tomorrow, Dec. 24th - Christmas Eve. However, I'll probably finish working on the list tonight and post it after midnight.

Lacuna Coil on my List of 100 Best Rock Songs with "Not Enough" and "The Maze"

Lacuna Coil got another song, "The Maze", on the 100 Best Songs List in the final day of my two years plus of comparing songs. It was their second song to be on my list. I published this list on The Overcast Inside in October.

Lacuna Coil first reached the list with "Not Enough" which was on my 25 Best Songs List, originally published on Fast Food Yummy because I didn't have a music blog at that time.

Both songs are on the album "Shallow Life" (2009). I bought the CD in the spring of 2009 and went to the Lacuna Coil concert in Boise, Idaho the summer of the same year.

Both songs received strong consideration almost from the start of my work on this project, which was unpaid work but was similar to if I‘d done it for the newspaper I was a writer for in the past, or for a music magazine. I‘ve never worked for a music magazine, and I‘m probably not interested anymore.

Now that the list is finished, and I feel I've been fair and objective with everybody-- all bands/artists-- I will write more about albums/CDs and also share my personal opinion and thoughts, perhaps even more about favorites.

The 100 Best Rock Songs List is a serious and legitimate list.

All the songs on the list are great songs which have been thought about (though not over-analyzed) in several ways, including the music, melodies, beat, tempo, interesting tempo changes, lead singing, backing vocals, lyrics, instrumental parts of songs (some songs were instrumentals for the whole song) and how much I liked the instruments the way the musicians played them throughout songs. I also look at intros, extros, bridges, etc., but I didn’t think those alone were enough to get ‘just good’ songs on the list or keep great songs off the list, but sometimes those things really made a difference. Some songs were mainstream, popular, or what are referred to as commercial songs. I will add more on this subject if I can think of something else that is important.

It’s necessary to know that there were many great songs that did not make the list, and that's one reason why I’ve been thinking about continuing with another 100 songs (same years of 1970 to 2010 and maybe a couple more songs from 1969 that carry over to the '70s) which would make that list 101 to 200. I already know many songs that did not make the top 100 but were very close.

First I’m going to update the list of 100 to include some 2011 songs.

I used the word “best” but everyone should make their own list of best rock songs, if that’s what they choose to do.

My list has what I thought were the best songs from all the songs I’ve listened to, and my reason to call it the “best” was so people don’t mistakenly think it’s only a list of favorites. However, I’d say all the songs on the 100 Best List are among my one thousand or two thousand favorites. I like great songs. I think everyone else does too. We just have different lists based upon what we think makes a song great.

Some of the songs were singles and big hits. However, there are quite a few of these songs that I never heard on the radio, although maybe they were played on the radio in other countries. I’ve never heard Lacuna Coil‘s song “The Maze” on the radio. It’s a very exciting, interesting, enjoyable song to listen to and I wish it was played on the radio. The decisions made about which songs become singles aren’t always right.

“The Maze” is one of 100 great songs on my list, with it’s strengths being that it really rocks, has terrific singing by Andrea Ferro (male vocalist) and Cristina Scabbia (female vocalist), and the lyrics are better than some of the classic rock and grunge rock songs eliminated from consideration on the final day of compiling my list. It’s among the finest singing ever in the chorus, in my opinion, especially by Cristina. I’m really impressed by the songwriting and music, and the bass playing and drumming make this song very interesting from start to finish. Well, actually Cristina has the last word.

Lacuna Coil The Maze

“The Maze” is one of 100 great songs on my list, with it’s strengths being that it really rocks, has terrific singing by Andrea Ferro (male vocalist) and Cristina Scabbia (female vocalist), and the lyrics are better than some of the classic rock and grunge rock songs eliminated from consideration on the final day of compiling my list. It’s among the finest singing ever in the chorus, in my opinion, especially by Cristina. I’m really impressed by the songwriting and music, and the bass playing and drumming make this song very interesting from start to finish. Well, actually Cristina has the last word.

I bought the CD “Shallow Life” by Lacuna Coil in 2009 and hope other people who don’t already have this CD will think about buying it.