Nice Memes, Nice Memes, We All Scream For Nice Memes

Sweet galloping trousers: this meme is spreading through the scribosphere like some breed of plague. Sheikspear got me with it - and quite possibly someone else, as even with Google Reader's help I've struggled to catch up with the scribosphere since getting back from holiday.

So here we go. Here's the meme info which I've been ordered to reprint:

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to."

And let's have a look to see which fragments of iTunes I've been playing most...

1) GINGER Ten Flaws Down (from the album Valor Del Corazon)
A superbly self-pitying and miserable track, which helped me through a difficult period last year. Personal sentiment aside, though, it's a stone-cold brilliant piece of work from The Wildhearts' frontman. Talk about a song which rips the singer wide open. You can hear it on his MySpace page's music player here.

2) MALEVOLENT CREATION The Will To Kill (from the album The Will To Kill)
Sometimes, you can't beat an outburst of pure, primeval aggression. It's good for you. These Floridians are my favourite death metallers, perhaps because they're so damn vicious. This particular track features a killer example of suddenly-going-slow-for-maximum-effect, somewhere around the middle. Hear it on their MySpace page's music player here, or watch a live performance below (even if you don't like death metal, you'll find the spoken intro amusing):



3) JUDAS PRIEST Breaking The Law (from the album British Steel)
I don't believe I'll ever stop loving this track. The finest metal song of all time, for me. Hear a live version on the band's MySpace music player, here, or watch the Brummie bruisers playing it live in Memphis 1982, below:



4) BLOODHOUND GANG Magna Cum Nada (from the album Hooray For Boobies)
A ticklesome tune about being a complete loser, from the puerile, juvenile funsters. My favourite lines: "Have you seen my will to live/Because I seem to have lost it" and "My future plans include: not much". If MySpace wasn't coming up with one of its "unexpected errors" (yeah, right, like it's unexpected by now - no wonder Facebook's sweeping the floor with 'em) then I'd post a link. But hey, here's YouTube to the rescue with a live performance:



5) METAL CHURCH Start The Fire (from the album The Dark)
An awesome track, with a riff that just keeps on giving. Here's a bizarre fanmade YouTube video which describes itself thusly: "Metal Church's best song through a glass of beer."



6) FAITH NO MORE What A Day (from the album King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime)
An unsung (apart from by the band's singer, clearly) gem from the defunct San Francisco freakshow, which is a great example of telling a story in a song. I've never Googled for the lyrics and I don't want to, because the snatches of words I can hear are really evocative. Here they are, playing it on ludicrous TV youth show, The Word:



7) RAZOR Edge Of The Razor (from the album Violent Restitution)
This Canadian band are my favourite thrashers: it's all about the riffs and ludicrously heavy guitar tone here. You can listen to this wonderful track on the band's MySpace music player, here.

Hmm, this has taken rather long than expected. I'll re-edit this last paragraph to pass on the meme, later on...

RE-EDIT: God knows if anyone remains un-memed by this, so I'm going to shoot blind: Piers, Helen Smith, MJ, Dan Turner, Christine, Good Dog and Stephen Gallagher. All of whom, if game, should re-post the italicised instructions above, as well as following them.