My Michelle

Guns N' Roses, about time, right? This song actually has a lot more depth into it than I'd thought. My Michelle was released in 1987, on Guns N' Roses' first album, Appetite For Destruction. In terms of composition and things to note throughout the song, it starts quiet and slow, as if it's going to be a slow song, they quickly change that by adding distortion and a heavy drum beat. There is one thing missing from this song though, one of Slash's solos, he has a few licks, but no real solo. Anyways, this song was written when Axl and Slash were in junior high. Michelle was Slash's girlfriend's friend, and one night her and Axl were in his car together. Your Song, by Elton John came on the radio, and Michelle voiced how she would love it if someone would write a song for her. Axl had originally intended for the song to be soft and sweet, but after writing it, decided he didn't like it and wrote this instead, taking a more truthful approach to the whole matter. When the band heard the lyrics, they told Axl not to show them to Michelle, as they might upset her, but he did anyways. She liked them for their honesty, telling the truth about her life. Her father worked in pornography, her mother passed on due to heroine, Michelle had a drug problem, these things are what the song is about, the truth regarding her life. Michelle later cleaned up herself, and moved to California.

Lovin', Touchin' Squeezin'

Alright! Today's a Journey day. Lovin', Touchin' Squeezin' was released on Evolution, Journey's fifth studio album, in April of 1979. Evolution was Journey's first hit album, selling over three million copies in the US. This is bluesy song, with just absolutely fantastic vocal work by Steve Perry, and a great mounting crescendo  of sound and instruments coming together. The entire song is bluesy, starting with a straight drum beat, playful piano work, and an even bass. In my opinion, the subject of the song is laid straight out for you in the lyrics, it's about a couple in which the man is cheating on the woman, and the vocalist has feelings for the woman, and doesn't want her to get hurt, but that's just my opinion. I hope you enjoyed, it's a lovely song.

Roxanne

Roxanne, now isn't this a lovely song. Written by Sting, this song was released in Outlandos d'Amour, The Police's first album in 1978. This album was released with a very small budget, and was only recorded when Surrey Sound had free time or a band cancelled. The word "Outlandos" comes from a mix of outlaws and commandos, and "d'Amour" is French for "of love", this was proposed when the funding of the band, Miles Copeland heard Roxanne, and pictured the band in a more romantic sense. Due to the small amount of advertising, and controversial song lyrics, this song hardly received any publicity upon its release, but grew in popularity and rose to #6 on the UK's top album charts. As many of the songs by The Police, the music is fairly simplistic, with only three instruments and no track layering. This gives the song an inexplicable quality of bareness and unneeded adornment. They do a great job in this song of volume control, crashing and ebbing on the verse and chorus respectively, showing emphasis upon the verse. The subject of this song is love and prostitution. In France, Sting saw many a harlot and wrote a song about falling in love with one such cocotte, Roxanne. In this song, Sting expresses his distaste for her choice of career, and tries to convince Roxanne to find work in another field.

I Can't Help Myself

This song is fabulous. Taking a step back, I'm heading into a soul filled '65. This song may be popular and commonly known, but for good reason, it's glorious. As you may have realized by now, I adore smoothness in a song. This is one such song, being filled with perfectly coordinating chords and lyrics. This song was released as a single in 1965, and had two main bursts of popularity, one from June 12 to June 19 and another from June 26 to July 3 in 1965. The subject of the song is simple, but can be conceived in two manners, he's a helpless man, who needs this woman to save him, or he can't help himself from loving her, which is the one that I prefer. This song mainly appeals to me due to its lyrical harmonies and all around fantastic vocals, but the music is also classic, and uses all major chords, making it something that you would get stuck in your head, something that you would hum without thinking about it.

Runaway

Runaway, one of Jon Bon's most popular, was written in 1980, and was submitted into a local songwriting contest. After doing this, he was told to assemble a band in order to perform it. He hastily got a group together, and they were known as Jon Bongiovi and the Rest. This group was not the lineup for Bon Jovi, but rather a temporary group created to perform this immensely popular song. Richie Sambora caught up with Jon after a show, and requested for a position as the lead guitarist. Jon gave him a shot, and when they next met, Richie had the material down, he continued to become the official lead guitarist, and Bon Jovi was born. Released in their 1983 album "Bon Jovi", this song was their first hit. It became a huge sensation in the summer of 1983, and hit number thirty-four on the US Billboard top 100. This song has a very haunting intro, which ties in well with the lyrics, which are about neglect and prostitution. It's about a girl who has a father that gives her no attention, so she resorts to fleeing from that frontier, toward men that treat her the same way. From lack of attention and contact, she turns to prostitution, in order to please others, not thinking of her own distaste for how she lives.

Jaded

Even if you don't have a strong affinity to Aerosmith, I hope you can put that aside and take a listen to this song. It's quite different from the standard Aerosmith, it's incredibly smooth, softer than the standard we have come to expect from them, and has a feeling to it that I can't really explain, sort of jazzy-blues thing. Jaded was released on Aerosmith's thirteenth studio album Just Push Play, which was released on December 21, 2000, exactly twelve years before the world is "supposed" to end. A couple of the things that appeal to me in this song are the lyrics, they're intricate, deep, and flow very well, and the guitar, they're sort of ripply and appeals to the ear with great ease. This song could have many interpretations, but to me it seems like it was written about just being sick of everyone and everything around you, needing to escape.