My brother Brad has played trumpet in a few ska bands, at least one or two of which have performed live.  He’s a devoted ska fan. As a listener and performer, he’s somewhat of a ska expert. I asked him to make a list of the best ska songs, and he more than stepped up to the challenge, producing a list of fifty.  Without further ado, Brad’s 50 favorite ska songs.

The Top 50 Ska Songs

by Brad

Keep in mind that this list is written by a guy who listens to a lot of Suburban Legends, Catch 22, Streetlight Manifesto, and Reel Big Fish.  The list is weighted toward these groups.  I have listened to lots of other bands too, but these are my favorite.

Most lists like this will be about how important and influential songs are.  This one is simply made of ones that I like, in order from 50 down to 1.  I hope you enjoy it!

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Editor’s note: This post is written as a dialogue between me — raptor — and Listosaurus Rex regular, yoshi.

Alright, we came across a list on the site FilmSchoolRejects.com, which is a pretty popular movie blog I sometimes read, that caught our attention.  It’s a ranking of the top five Batman films.  The list is a bit outdated, though.  It was released in 2006, a couple of years before the most recent Batman movie.  Here’s what the site came up with:

1. Batman Begins
2. Batman Forever
3. Batman and Robin
4. Batman (1989)
5. Batman Returns

raptor: I’m not a big fan of this list.  In 2006, Batman Begins was easily the best Batman movie.  But after that, I’m not sure I like where it heads.

yoshi: I agree with your and FSR’s ratings about Batman Begins.  I did see it before all of the Batman movies, so I’m going to be biased.  But it was one of my favorite movies of all time even before the hype of the sequel.  Although I haven’t seen it all the way through, I definitely would not have put Batman and Robin at number three.

raptor: Yeah, I agree.  Batman and Robin is regarded by some as one of the worst sequels of all time.  My feelings aren’t quite that strong against it, but I just didn’t find its wacky art direction and campy one-liners all that appealing.  Cute, maybe, but not great.  Batman Forever, at number two, isn’t quite as bad, but I was still not a big fan.

yoshi: As a side note — my aunt designed some of the furniture props on the evil half of Two-Face’s lair in Batman Forever!  I agree with you, though, raptor.  I preferred the darker feel of Burton’s movies, Batman and Batman Returns.  It reflected the type of introspection that makes Batman as a character interesting, as opposed to the comedic side of the later two.

raptor: I’m with you, yoshi.  For my money, the original Batman is the best of the four from the eighties and nineties, if for no other reason than Jack Nicholson as The Joker.  His performance was a 10 out of 10 in that, and made up for the stiff acting of Keaton and somewhat shallow plot.  You can go through any of the other villains in the series up until Begins, and none of them match the greatness of Nicholson.  Jim Carrey, too manic.  Schwarzenegger, too hard to see as Mr. Freeze.  I haven’t seen Batman Returns all the way through, so I can’t say much about those villains.

yoshi: I’ve seen it.  Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman and Danny DeVito as the Penguin impressed me.  I would’ve put  Batman Returns ahead of the other three from the era.

raptor: But we can agree, yoshi, that by far the best villain from any Batman movie is Heath Ledger?  The Dark Knight came out afte this list was made, but it surely would’ve held the number one spot.

yoshi: Yes.  It was really the details that brought out the insanity of the evil deeds of Ledger’s Joker:  the lip-licking, the makeup, the limping, and especially the way he talked.

raptor: I agree.  He couldn’t have done it better.  He’s a cross between a criminal mastermind, a psychotic creep, and a silly clown.  It just blew my mind.  That wasn’t the only good thing about The Dark Knight, though.  It’s just a top-rate piece of cinematic storytelling, engrossing and thrilling from beginning to end.

yoshi: The Dark Knight wasn’t the only movie missing from the list.  The Batman Movie from 1966 has always held a special place in my heart.  It was in no way a good movie.  The acting was terrible.  But it was so terrible it was hilarious.  The puns are really what made it.  So, raptor, what has yellow skin and writes?

raptor: A ball-point banana! And, you know, some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb.  I read an interview with Adam West, he said people still come up to him and quote lines from that awful but wonderful, extremely campy Batman movie from the ’60s.  I’m with you, yoshi.  In terms of entertainment value, it’s a good one.  The only other Batman movie I thought of that wasn’t on the list was the animated Mask of the Phantasm from 1993.  I adored it as a kid.  I haven’t seen it in a while, but I remember it was an entertaining and thoughtful piece of animated noir.

yoshi: I haven’t seen that one.

raptor: The animated series that it came from was great and pretty influential.  You see touches of it in the other movies, especially in Batman and Robin.  As subpar as Batman and Robin was as a movie, it did a decent job with clever Batman references.  So, at this point, are we goin to make our own respective Top 5 Batman Movies list?  Ready, yoshi?

yoshi: Yep!  My top five are:

1. The Dark Knight
2. Batman Begins
3. Batman Returns
4. Batman (1989)
5. Batman Forever

yoshi: With the 1966 movie barely missing the cut.

raptor: Solid all-around.  To me, Forever and Batman and Robin were just too disappointing.  They couldn’t decide if they were going to be silly or if they were going to be great, nuanced and deep.  The result was a mishmash.  Here are my five:

1. The Dark Knight
2. Batman Begins
3. Mask of the Phantasm
4. Batman (1989)
5. Batman (1966)

yoshi: Sounds pretty good.

raptor: Yep.  And Batman, in general, is the bomb-diggity.

yoshi: You know it.

Last week, I declared Make Believe to be Weezer’s worst album.  This is a guest post by regular reader and commenter Grant J. that defends the album and explains why Make Believe is, in fact, Weezer’s best album.

In their career trajectory, Weezer have rarely followed the traditional rules of rock and roll.  Their debut was an unexpected success, but the subsequent long layoff and eventual follow-up, Pinkerton, suggested they didn’t have aspirations of grandeur; yet it was hardly a typical sophomore slump, as it became, over time, their most popular album.  Lulls and comebacks have defined the band’s career, but Make Believe, their fifth studio album, is the work of a supremely confident group doing just what it wants to do.  It succeeds both by projecting a more mature emotional perspective than their earlier output and because of its sheer sonic grace and beauty.

From beginning to end, the album sounds soothing and heavenly, with a majestic scope that rivals 1980s U2.  Whereas some of Weezer’s other work can come across as abrasive upon repeated playings, Make Believe is one of the most euphonious albums I own.  Without sacrificing power, the band and producer Rick Rubin create mellifluous soundscapes that underscore the emotional purity at the center of the songs, producing a strikingly absorbing result.

And the album has the songs to match its sound, for along with eschewing their occasionally caustic sound, Weezer also leave behind their amateurishness.  The album opens with the hit single “Beverly Hills,” which announces that anthemic chants will rule the day.  Make Believe is full of grandiose choruses and guitar solos that envelop songs sung with full conviction by frontman Rivers Cuomo, with themes ranging from typically self-conscious (“Perfect Situation”) to idealistic (“This is  Such a Pity”) to shamelessly emotional (“Hold Me”).

Yet even when the chorus isn’t perfect (“Situation”), the band nevertheless sounds stronger than ever.  “Hills” is a touch bland, but “My Best Friend” could easily be a Green Day ballad, and the verses of “The Other Way,” especially on the heels of the chorus, click along in ideal rhythm.  “Pardon Me” builds to its crescendos masterfully, and the haunting album closer “Haunt You Every Day,” which wouldn’t fit on any other Weezer album, makes you want to do nothing more than close your eyes and be carried away.

Then, however, there are songs (such as “Pardon Me”) where the choruses are just about perfect, and it’s almost impossible to deny Cuomo’s sentiments.  That’s all the more true because his lyrics are as smooth as the music, conveying a refreshing gratitude to replace his prior whininess. (“I can’t tell you how the words have made me feel” wipes the floor with “What could you possibly see in little old three-chord me?”) But it’s his vocals that deserve the most acclaim.  His extended notes in “Hold Me” represent his finest moments, and he shows an equally deft touch sighing “Did I hurt you / Are you OK” on the change-of-pace effective “Freak Me Out” as he does belting out the lovely oh-oohhs of “Perfect Situation” and “Peace.”  Playing to the crowds, perhaps, but the earnestness is undeniable.

That sentiment applies to the whole album.  The band may be striving for accessibility, but in a much different way than their early power-pop did.  Their melodies have never been stronger, their songs never denser, and they’re accessible because Weezer is capable of wearing their hearts on their sleeves without coming off as overwrought.  That’s not easy to do, as albums can collapse under the weight of their good intentions, but the songwriting prowess evinced here alleviates any such concerns.  They’ve stripped away their unfortunate qualities to reveal their musical gifts, in the process indicating a willingness to continue to grow.

Make Believe isn’t quite muscular enough to be one of my all-time favorite albums, and you could argue that the songs sound a little too similar, but the exquisitely warm and soothing sound ensures that playing it lights you up.  All their talent coalesces on “Hold Me,” which has more heart than most modern bands’ entire catalogues.  They stretch all the way out here, and in the interlude, Brian Bell launches into a guitar solo that sounds timeless and old-fashioned at once, the product of a forgotten age when bands were unafraid of unabashed emotion.  When they leave their insecurities behind, Weezer are one of the few bands who can still pull that off.

I hope you’re not reading this, and that you’re celebrating the holiday with your families.  But if you choose not to celebrate Christmas, for whatever reasons, or you’re taking a break from the family for some computer time, I figure you might stumble across the site here (I personally wrote this post earlier and it’s just running today).  So, in the spirit of the holiday, take a gander at my five favorite holiday songs.  Feel free to look them up on iTunes or YouTube, if you don’t already know them.

Honorable mention: Santa Claus is Coming in a Boogie-Woogie Choo-Choo Train - The Tractors

5. (Must Have Been Ol’) Santa Claus - Harry Connick, Jr.

4. Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley

3. Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town - Jackson Five

2. White Christmas - Bing Crosby

1. Jolly Old St. Nicholas - Chicago

The best Weezer music is some of the best music you’ll find.  Unfortunately, the band has a lot of filler too.  Their spottiness is frustrating.  I feel like I’m doomed to buy each one of their albums only to write a mixed review of it.  Who knows, maybe they’ll release another classic some day.

Here is my attempt at a countdown ranking of their six albums, starting with the worst and ending with the best.  I’ve listened to each one of these albums many times through.

If you’re interested, you might also want to check out my ranking of their twenty-five greatest songs.

Anyways, here we go:

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