Here is the playlist.
Homes In The Sky
What is the price of trying to be like someone else instead of being true to you?
This concept is the central theme of the song.
And the title of “Homes In The Sky” came to me from the various post GFC documentaries and articles about how our leaders have become part of the high rise corporate elite community, with their heads in the clouds and the cash of corporations in their backsides, so out of touch with the people who vote them in.
Furthermore, a few movies that had cities floating above the polluted surface of Earth came to mind immediately. The 2009 animated “Astroboy” movie, and the Matt Damon movie, “Elysium”, which has the rich and powerful living a city orbiting the Earth are two that come to mind.
Also released in 2009, the movie “2012” came out and the same theme of how the rich and powerful had paid and financed the building of the Ark’s and as a by-product, booking themselves a ticket, as the world was meeting the apocalypse. And to finish it off, the “Falling Down” movie with Michael Douglas was coming to mind, when I was writing the verses.
Deadlihood – Sixx Am
It’s got that syncopated metronome style riffing which I like in the verses. The themes of chasing your dreams, stars burning out and how people who are meant to be there to count on, end up being the locusts that suck you dry and leave you for dead are all over this song.
This Is Love, This is Life – Bon Jovi
This song is hidden on disc 2 of the deluxe “Greatest Hits” album. And the chorus, while it uses the same chord structures as other Jovi songs, is worthy.
American Slang – The Gaslight Anthem
It’s in the key of A minor and I call this the best Springsteen song in early 2000’s that Springsteen didn’t write.
Paradise – Tesla
Another song in the key of A minor, it starts off with harmony guitars, has guitar throughout and it has a kicking outro solo.
Believe – Lenny Kravitz
Another song in the key of A minor and that outro solo. It makes me press repeat.
Child In Time – Deep Purple
In the key of A minor, guitar solos are everywhere and it has a vocal line that inspired thousands of bedroom singers to replicate what a studio cut and paste job did for Ian Gillian. Because hey, when people heard the record, they wouldn’t have known if the vocals had studio trickery added to them.
Tonight – Ozzy/RR
The outro guitar solo from Randy Rhoads always grabs me.
The Spirit Carries On – Dream Theater
That guitar solo from John Petrucci is emotive and out of this world.
Give Me All Your Love Tonight – Whitesnake
I just love the A minor groove of the song and how Coverdale/Sykes took a blues groove and jazzed it up into a heavy rocker, perfect for the mid 80’s era.
Fade To Black – Metallica
It’s got the Am, C, G, Em riff in the verses and an outro solo in the key of B minor which goes from Bm, A, G and back to A.
All of the music from these artists planted seeds in my mind about what kind of songs I would like to write, how I would like those songs to flow and so forth.
I also love listening to different bands and eras. I don’t like using terms associated with genres because I don’t believe they properly sum up a band. And as Nikki Sixx once said on Twitter, genres are all made up by A&R reps to sell records.
What genre would artists like Queen and Led Zeppelin fit in with?
Free Spirits Rising 