Thump the Gold Army

A while back, I responded to one of my friend's posts about music and what classifies it as good. Perhaps you read it, but if you haven't refer to "Response to MM" if you'd like to know more background. For one of his first posts, he made a list of good bands that people should check out and listen to rather than the mainstream pop crap that they play on the radio. Now, I had already listened to most of the bands and artists on his list, but there were a few that I had heard maybe one or two songs by, but didn't really listen to them much. I had a sudden urge to change that about two of the bands on that list.

The first one is a band by the name of the White Stripes. Many of my band friends may know one of their most famous songs just from people playing the bassline on their instruments. It's called "Seven Nation Army" and has one of the best and simplest basslines ever. In fact, it's not actually a bassline because it's played on a guitar, reason being they only have two band members: a drummer and a singer/guitarist/keyboardist. But despite the lack of complexity in both the drum and guitar part, the song has adds in certain aspects that actually make the song sound interesting. Their other famous song, "Icky Thump," incorporates a drum beat and guitar part with slightly higher difficulty, but adds in a completely different factor. In this song, you have to take into account the incredibly strange, bagpipe-like sound of the keyboard with intricate solos between verses. Later on, Jack White, the frontman of the band, continues with the complexity of the song by ending with a guitar solo using strange effects that I'm not savvy enough in auditory skills to recognize.

The second band's name completely contradicts the name of the first one as they are known as the Black Keys. If you've heard of them, then I like you already, even more so if you like them. Most people who have heard of them have probably only heard their hit song "Gold on the Ceiling." If you're one of these people, I recommend you listen to some of their other stuff because all of it is good and none of it sounds the same. Specifically, watch their video for "Next Girl." Not only is it an awesome song, but you really have to watch it three times to fully enjoy it: once for the music, once for the video, and once just to read the caption scrolling across the bottom of the screen. These guys really know how to both make music and keep followers interested and entertained.
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