Reviews Supplemental

18 Dec 2014: Helloween/"Pink Bubbles Go Ape" (1991)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-feeling-by.html

The follow-up to the two-album series Keeper of the Seven Keys has a ridiculous, nonsensical name. There is no way this could go poorly.

The album begins with a filler intro track. Sweet.
There's also a song called "Heavy Metal Hamsters". I think that just about says it all.

A silly album compared to the Keepers, but this album is pretty good, regardless.

19 Dec 2014: Bachman-Turner Overdrive/"Bachman-Turner Overdrive" (1973)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-princess-by.html

The maple leaf is a nice touch. Unfortunately, it might be the only nice touch here. The album just kind of plods along, never really surpassing the first track. The last track might equal it, but I can't say either is going to leave a lasting impression. It's good enough, I suppose.

19 Dec 2014: Mick Ronson/"Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" (1974)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-broken-heart.html

After he was done with Bowie (though it was probably the other way around), this is what Ronson did. Let's see how this goes.

If you had given me this album unlabeled, I would have called it Ziggy-era Bowie outtakes. Emphasis on "outtakes". I mean, it's good. It's good. It's just not great, aside from I'm the One, which is stupendous. Oh, and Pleasure Man.

It's better than fucking Diamond Dogs. Well, actually, let's see if that's true.

BONUS REVIEW: David Bowie/"Diamond Dogs" (1974)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2010/08/birthday-by-le-gary.html

I'm pretty sure that filename is supposed to be a SpongeBob references, not a le ebin rebbit maymay

This review will contain no references to Metal Gear or Quentin.

As a refresher, I previously stated that the only song worth anything on this album was Rebel, Rebel. And then I said "if the best song on your album is fucking Rebel, Rebel, you've got a problem".

The first track is the epitome of filler intro tracks. I'm in awe at how completely indifferent I am to it.
The title track is mostly let down by the annoying saxophone and weird frog? sounds. Diamond Frogs?

The backing vocals on Sweet Thing are absolutely awful. Completely and totally awful.


This album is the biggest case for why reviewing albums first thing in the morning was a fucking stupid idea. This isn't a half-star. This is at least two-and-a-half stars, if not three.

20 Dec 2014: Mott the Hoople/"All the Young Dudes" (1972)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-day-off-by.html

Speaking of David Bowie and Mick Ronson, here's Mott the Hoople.
The story goes that Mott and co. were tanking pretty hard, so Bowie gave them the title track of this album, which saved them from complete and utter obscurity and whatnot.

Mott's songs are good enough, but Bowie's is the one that really shines. And Ready for Love, I suppose, but Bad Company kind of took that one from them. I've read that both the albums after this one are better, so I'll get to those eventually. This was a good album, but not really "great".

20 Dec 2014: Big Star/"#1 Record" (1972)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-sleep-by.html

So the song Alex Chilton in RB2 was my introduction to The Replacements, and I've done a bunch of their albums.
But what about the man the song is actually about? Well, I guess we've all heard The Letter, but fuck that shit. This shit is like legendary or something? Who fucking even cares?

The album opens with one of the worst vocal performances I've ever heard.
Luckily, it was apparently intentional, because the vocals on the second track are nice and not awful.

Listen, I'm no marketing genius, but isn't having the first track be completely and utterly horrible a detriment to the goal stated in the fucking title of the album? It's not like all they can do is be horrible, because the rest of the album isn't horrible. Who did this and why? What were even the reasons?

Don't Lie to Me has a pretty great riff.

So, I like this album a lot. I even relistened to the first track afterwards, and it wasn't as bad as I'd thought at first. It's still the worst on the album and an absolutely horrible opener, though.

BONUS REVIEW: Creedence Clearwater Revival/"Willy and the Poor Boys" (1969)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2010/08/take-it-guy-by-guys.html

Another of my "oh God I hate this" albums.

The title track, Down on the Corner, is great. Then It Came Out of the Sky is, too. I've always thought this.
I am not budging on the harmonica instrumental being filler.

Feelin' Blue is just so boring. Holy shit.
Fortunate Son is great, if overplayed. I can't complain.


I'd just like to say this:
I'm right. This is boring as shit. Fuck you.

So, I had this idea. I've been playing a lot of Tony Hawk lately, so I'm going to review albums songs from Tony Hawk games were on for the next ten days. I've got some rules to prevent myself from enjoying myself:
1: It has to be the album the song was actually on, with one exception.
2: It can't be an album I've already reviewed (29 Dec 2014: Nirvana/"Nevermind" (1991)), unless it's one of those bonus reviews I do
I've already got my twenty albums picked out, but we'll see if I can actually find them to review them.
So here we go:

21 Dec 2014: THPS1
Albums I've already reviewed:
Goldfinger/"Hang-Ups" (1997)

21 Dec 2014: Dead Kennedys/"Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables" (1980)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-tub-by-bathers.html

This was the exception to rule number one. Police Truck was technically a B-side to Holiday in Cambodia, I believe. That's on this album, so FUCK IT
I mean, I could have waited for THAW to do this, due to California Uber Alles, but just between you and me, THPS1's soundtrack only had three good songs.

If you like one song on this album, you will like them all. If you do not like one song on this album, you will like none of them. They are all the same.
That said, I like the song. It grew on me as it progressed.

One thing I will say is that Holiday in Cambodia really doesn't fit with the other song here. They actually put effort into that one. And Viva Las Vegas. That cover is pretty fun.

21 Dec 2014: Primus/"Sailing the Seas of Cheese" (1991)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-brief-by-cases.html

To my knowledge, I have heard two Primus songs. John the Fisherman is complete and utter shit, but Jerry Was a Racecar Driver is pretty sweet.

THIS ALBUM IS WEIRD AND I DON'T LIKE IT

22 Dec 2014: THPS2
Albums I've already reviewed:
Bad Religion/"No Control" (1989)
Public Enemy/"It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" (1988)
Rage Against the Machine/"The Battle of Los Angeles" (1999)

I wanted to do the best song in THPS2, Out with the Old, but apparently the artist credited doesn't exist.

THPS2 was the first Tony Hawk game I played, and I'd rate it as second best, overall. Even if it's missing some valuable tricks added later (like the revert), it's got great level design and a GREAT soundtrack.

22 Dec 2014: Millencolin/"Pennybridge Pioneers" (2000)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-jesus-by.html

No Cigar feels a lot different than most of the rest of this album. I mean, you can tell it's the same band, but it just feels like they put way more effort into that song than the others.
The album hits a lull in the middle, and suffers from that punk rock "every song sounds the same" thing, but I like it.

22 Dec 2014: Powerman 5,000/"Tonight, the Stars Revolt" (1999)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-bless-by.html

From the album cover: "Striking! Startling! Staggering! THE SUPREME EXCITEMENT OF OUR TIME"
Let me tell you, nothing is more striking, startling, or staggering than a filler spoken-word intro track.

This band fucking loves loud/quiet dynamics. Quiet verses, loud chorus, every time. Foo Fighters detractors ought to hear this album, honestly.

When Worlds Collide is 100% the standout here. No other song has as good a chorus or vocal performance, really. It's a shame, but this album is just okay at best.
One-trick pony, and the trick isn't even all that great.

23 Dec 2014: THPS3
Albums I've already reviewed:
Motorhead/"Ace of Spades" (1980)
Ramones/"Ramones" (1976)
Red Hot Chili Peppers/"The Uplift Mofo Party Plan" (1987)

This is the best Tony Hawk game. It's got all the bare essentials from a gameplay standpoint, and some of the best level design in the series. The soundtrack is great, too. The bonus characters are absolutely great, with Wolverine and Darth Maul being highlights. And Doomguy, if you have it on PC for some reason.

The first time I played this game was on the original Xbox. I do not recommend that. The load times are absolutely abysmal, and happen far too frequently. I'm so glad I picked up the PS2 version. You can probably finish the PS2 version in the time it takes you to get through the main menu of the Xbox version.

22 Dec 2014: Zebrahead/"Waste of Mind" (1998)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-originality.html

We'll start with the best song in THPS3, Check.

Unfortunately, Check is the only song here that wasn't completely and utterly phoned in. I mean, holy shit. Instead of making fucking thirteen worthless songs, they should have made, like, one other good one and released a CD single.

23 Dec 2014: Adolescents/"Adolescents" (1981)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-independence.html

It's like they only had half an hour to record everything, and recorded all their songs as fast as they could without care for making them sound different in any way at all. Except Amoeba. The running theme of these albums seems to be "the song I know is head and fucking shoulders above the rest".
There's one song that's over five minutes long, which is really surprising. They probably recorded that first, then realised they had to pick up the pace.

I kind of enjoyed this. It's a pretty standard punk album, but it's executed pretty well.

24 Dec 2014: THPS4
Albums I've already reviewed:
AC/DC/"High Voltage" (1976)
The Cult/"Electric" (1987)
Iron Maiden/"The Number of the Beast" (1982)
N.W.A./"Straight Outta Compton" (1988)

THPS4 was the first Tony Hawk game I got REALLY into. I think the mission structure is really what did it for me. The level design is, well, lacking. The first three levels are some of the best in the series, but the last four just aren't that great. They're not bad, I guess, but the goals there definitely are.

The soundtrack was absolutely great. I had a good number of options to choose from here, and I'll probably get to the ones I didn't choose for today at some point.

24 Dec 2014: Goldfinger/"Open Your Eyes" (2002)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-deja-vu-by-the.html

I reviewed Goldfinger's second album because of Superman from THPS1, and I wasn't impressed. I'm hoping that history won't repeat itself. I actually like Spokesman better as a song than Superman, for what it's worth.

Going Home would be great if the drums weren't so FUCKING LOUD
Those opening chords of Spokesman instantly get me pumped. I'm sure they're nothing special, musically, but I love them.

The title track is filler. Never a good sign.
Tell Me sounds so familiar, it's killing me. I've heard that melody before.

January is a rip-off of Friday I'm in Love. I mean, shit. Listing off the months (even skipping a few) isn't very exciting.
Woodchuck is a Disturbed song. It even has the "wa-ah-ah-ah".

The final song is called "Fuck Ted Nugent". I have cut myself on all the edge, and am currently bleeding out. The liberals have won. Goldfinger will be remembered as heroes for centuries to come.

24 Dec 2014: System of a Down/"Toxicity" (2001)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-case-by-case.html

If you had asked me a week ago what the first SOAD song I'd heard was, I'd have said Chop Suey in Rock Band 2. But now I realise I was mistaken, and the true answer is Shimmy in THPS4.

THEY'RE TRYING TO BUILD A PRISON
THEY'RE TRYING TO BUILD A PRISON
THEY'RE TRYING TO BUILD A PRISON
THEY'RE TRYING TO BUILD A PRISON
THEY'RE TRYING TO BUILD A PRISON
THEY'RE TRYING TO BUILD A PRISON
THEY'RE TRYING TO BUILD A PRISON
for you and me, babyyyyyyyyyy

I'm on board from that first track. 100%.



Listen. This album is fucking amazing, and words do not do it justice. It's just so entertaining.
If you weren't big on Chop Suey in RB2, give it chance anyway. It's just like, holy shit.

I've read time and again that their music is politically-charged or whatever, but fuck if I can tell under all the layers of complete and total "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON"
This album alone was worth the whole Tony Hawk thing, even if every single album for the last six days is absolute shit.

25 Dec 2014: THUG
Albums I've already reviewed:
Bad Religion/"No Control" (1989)
Jane's Addiction/"Strays" (2003)
KISS/"Destroyer" (1976)
KISS/"Lick it Up" (1983)
Queens of the Stone Age/"Songs for the Deaf" (2002)
Sublime/"Sublime" (1996)
The Clash/"The Clash" (1977)

I loved THUG when it came out. I got it for GameCube, since Walmart was out of the PS2 version. Soundtrack was pretty good, but lacking in comparison to the last three games.

25 Dec 2014: Dropkick Murphys/"Blackout" (2003)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-me-by-me.html

I've already reviewed the albums of most of the songs I can remember in THUG, so here's a band I've been meaning to do an album from anyway.

This album is pretty good. Suffers from the same punk rock shit, but that song with the female guest vocalist sticks out like a sore thumb and is kind of horrible.
It's nice to know that the song in THUG was one of the worst on the album, anyway.

25 Dec 2014: KISS/"Alive!" (1975)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/12/julio-and-case-of-missing-floral.html

I'd like to imagine one of you thought "wait, there were three KISS songs in THUG", followed by "oh no OH NO"

This two-disc live album could have easily been shortened to one disc. There's a lot of fat to trim.
For a supposedly "legendary" live album, it's kind of mediocre. I'm disappointed, really.

Studio 100,000 Years is, like, the best KISS song. Live 100,000 Years is bullshit.
WHY IS IT FUCKING TWELVE MINUTES
WHY DOES IT HAVE A FUCKING DRUM SOLO
WHY IS PAUL STANLEY ASKING ME IF I LIKE TO PARTY/GET HIGH (AS IF THEY WEREN'T THE SAME THING)

At least they fixed Black Diamond.

26 Dec 2014: THUG2
Albums I've already reviewed:
Faith No More/"Angel Dust" (1992)
Jimmy Eat World/"Futures" (2004)
Metallica/"Kill 'em All" (1983)
Red Hot Chili Peppers/"Blood Sugar Sex Magik" (1991)
The Doors/"The Doors" (1967)
The Living End/"Modern Artillery" (2003)
The Stooges/"Fun House" (1970)
Violent Femmes/"Violent Femmes" (1983)

First, holy shit. I guess the soundtrack was pretty fucking great.

THUG2 was the first of two games I consider the low point of the series. On the positive side, both games reintroduced classic mode, as it was in THPS1/2/3.
THUG2 was just edgy for the sake of being edgy. It was less "Tony Hawk's Underground" and more "Bam Margera's Underground". In an effort to keep things fresh, each level of story mode had a guest character riding not a skateboard, and they were all invariably horrible. While there were some cool bonus characters on actual skateboards (Ben Franklin), the game was a victim of the time it was released, when developers/publishers decided games can't be just one thing any more (the GTA effect).

To the point, THUG2 would be one of the worst games in the series if not for "the dark ages". More on that later. It's not actually a bad game, though, and the level design was solid (especially the new levels in the PSP version). The mission structure wasn't even bad, it was just that the goals kind of missed the point of a SKATEBOARDING game.

26 Dec 2014: The Explosion/"Black Tape" (2004)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-guys-by-guys.html

I could have done this yesterday, since it has both No Revolution from THUG1 and Here I Am from THUG2. I just really wanted to do Alive. Plus, I like Here I Am better than No Revolution anyway.

If you had set Go Blank in front of me without telling me what it was, I would have said it was a JET song. Not a particularly good JET song.

The THUG songs are better than the rest, but it's still pretty enjoyable.

26 Dec 2014: Frank Sinatra/"That's Life" (1966)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-crew-by-where.html

Interestingly (to me, anyway), this album came out on the 31st of December. So rather than having to go up against Sgt. Pepper, it's against the much more managable Revolver  

That's Life is the best song in THUG2, and one of the best songs period.

Probably a horrible choice for a first Sinatra album, as it's twenty years after his first album, but That's Life is really worth the other twenty-two minutes. And those twenty-two minutes are pretty good anyway, so it's not really a loss at all.
It's his forty-fifth album, by the way.

27 Dec 2014: THAW
Albums I've already reviewed:
Dead Kennedys/"Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables" (1980)
Death from Above 1979/"You're a Woman, I'm a Machine" (2004)
Green Day/"American Idiot" (2004)
Motley Crue/"Too Fast for Love" (1981)
The Doors/"Morrison Hotel" (1970)

THAW was bad. The career mode was absolutely dreadful, barring you from doing the simplest tricks until your character learned them. Add to that a near-unlikable cast, and you've got a real winner. The bert slide trick was introduced solely to infuriate players.
The soundtrack was sub-par, for reasons I'll go into later.

27 Dec 2014: Bad Religion/"How Could Hell be Any Worse?" (1982)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-corpse-by.html

Bad Religion (along with Public Enemy) have more songs in Tony Hawk games than any other band. One is in the next game, and I almost reviewed that album instead of this one. This was Bad Religion's first album, and I figured it would probably be better than one released 22 years later. If it hadn't been two days in a row, I probably would have reviewed both

Rough around the edges, as you'd expect. It's not bad, but not great. It's okay, you know. The last few tracks sound kind of lethargic.

27 Dec 2014: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (2005)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-fat32-by.html

THAW did something very special for its soundtrack. Neversoft or Activision or whoever got then-modern punk bands to cover classic punk songs.

They kick it off with Senses Fail covering Institutionalised. It's bad. They replaced "Mike" with "buddy", and the guy has a horrible voice for the song. It doesn't even seem like he's too bent out of shape about the whole "being committed to an insane asylum" thing. He seems on the verge of tears about not getting a Pepsi, though.
Taking Back Sunday's Suburban Home/I Like Food is great, though. Don't think I've ever heard the original.

MCR's Astro Zombies is better than anything that made it onto Danger Days, even if that is saying absolutely nothing. It's followed by a pretty good cover of Search and Destroy.
Save the Day's Sonic Reducer is really cool. Probably the best song here.

Dropkick Murphys follow with something really generic. I wouldn't have been able to tell you that it was them if I hadn't just read it. Luckily for them, Thrice's song is even more generic. The Bled, not to be outdone, bring on the genericy in full-force.
Why did HotSnakes name himself after this band? They're pretty generic.

At least Fall Out Boy's and Alkaline Trio's songs are good. Thursday's Ever Fallen in Love is kind of pointless. If I hadn't known it was a cover, I would have assumed it was the original.
From Autumn to Ashes are a lot more screamy than I'd imagined. It's not bad, I suppose. It ends on a Rise Against song, which is just like all the others.

This was better than I'd remembered these songs being. It's not AMAZING, but most of these are pretty good covers. Fuck Senses Fail, though.

SENSES FAIL?
MORE LIKE SENSES... UH... YEAH

28 Dec 2014: THP8
Albums I've already reviewed:
Eagles of Death Metal/"Death by Sexy" (2006)
Gnarls Barkley/"St. Elsewhere" (2006)
Joy Division/"Unknown Pleasures" (1979)
Kasabian/"Kasabian" (2004)
Primus/"Sailing the Seas of Cheese" (1991)
The Sword/"Age of Winters" (2006)

Most people will tell you THP8 was the beginning of the end. I'll tell you that it was a return to form after THUG2 and THAW. Sure, nail the trick could have been better, I suppose, but the game was finally about skateboarding again. I even liked the city they created.
I really don't see what everyone's deal with product placement in games is, though. Oh, your phone in-game is a Nokia. Wow. I am so fucking enraged. And billboards?! SO UNREALISTIC
CITIES DO NOT HAVE BILLBOARDS

The soundtrack was probably the worst yet, though.

28 Dec 2014: Nine Inch Nails/"With Teeth" (2005)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-bad-by-bad.html

Not only does this have THP8's Getting Smaller, but it also has RB1's The Hand That Feeds. I've actually been wanting to do this one for a while.

The first song is too quiet and is a minute or two too long.
The Hand That Feeds was the first NIN song I'd ever heard (to my knowledge), and it gave me weird expectations for the band. I like it a lot, but it's a shame that it's not more indicative of their music as a whole.

Despite a few tracks that really add nothing to the album, it's good. Probably the best NIN I've listened to, even if that's not saying much.

28 Dec 2014: Ramones/"Halfway to Sanity" (1987)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-interior-by.html

I hated their debut, but maybe I'll like this one. Probably not. Definitely not.
Still glad I didn't choose that Wolfmother album

It helps that I Wanna Live is my favourite Ramones song.
I like that the vocals on most of these songs have more grit to them than typical Ramones fare. It makes them less monotonous.

Better than the debut, but not great.

29 Dec 2014: THPG
Albums I've already reviewed:
Foo Fighters/"Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace" (2007)
Nirvana/"Nevermind" (1991)
Silversun Pickups/"Carnavas" (2006)
Smashing Pumpkins/"Zeitgeist" (2007)
The Clash/"The Clash" (1977)
The Kooks/"Inside In/Inside Out" (2006)
The Rolling Stones/"Beggars' Banquet" (1968)

THPG was the last real Tony Hawk game. It was the only one to directly compete with EA's Skate, and it kind of lost horribly. Following the success of Guitar Hero, Activision decided to make a fake skateboard peripheral, which no one fucking wanted. Go to a pawn shop, and they'll probably have a Tony Hawk's Ride/Shred skateboard. Hell, Walmart might still have a couple in the "PLEASE JUST BUY THIS" section.

THPG was a good game. The rigger shit was a bit underdeveloped, but nail the grab was a much better alternative to nail the trick, if you remember to NEVER EVER FINGERFLIP BECAUSE THOSE ARE IMPOSSIBLE
The soundtrack was quality over quantity, I suppose. I mean, Breed was pretty much worth the whole thing. I considered reviewing Nevermind Deluxe Edition, but that would just be silly. Maybe sometime later.

29 Dec 2014: The Reverend Horton Heat/"Liquor in the Front" (1994)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-bundle-by.html

In spite of everything, this is the album I'm doing today that I'll probably like more. This album has both Baddest of the Bad from THPG and I Can't Surf from THPS3. I wish Psychobilly Freakout were on here, so I could say I listened to that album, too. My next project is probably going to be all albums songs in GH2 come from


This is so much better than I'd imagined from what I'd heard from the Tony Hawk games and GH2. It's like they specifically chose the reverend's worst songs. Better than Stray Cats, anyway.

29 Dec 2014: Sex Pistols/"Nevermind the Bollocks" (1977)
http://musiccouldbebetter.blogspot.com/2014/03/julio-and-case-of-missing-bitches-by.html

OH YES
HERE IT IS, IN ALL ITS LEGENDARY GLORY
AN ALBUM THAT SINGLE-HANDEDLY GAINED THE BAND ADMITTANCE TO THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME, EVEN IF THEY DIDN'T WANT IT

Holy shit, these vocals are even worse than I'd remembered.
Edginess for the sake of edginess: emphasising "CUNT" in "country", emphasising "CUNT" in "vacant", songs played for shock value, oh boy.

Problems was worth it for the Megadeth cover, but that's about it. It's a terrible song.

Everything sounds the same, and nothing here is good. As I expected.