Todd In The Shadows Thread

Personally my favorite song by them has been Warriors.

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?

I'm gonna attempt my own top 5 best/worst here because why not. These choices are by no means comprehensive and leave out a lot I still love (e.g. Macklemore's stuff, Lady Gaga, fun., Gotye, "I Took a Pill etc."—some of these I admit I'm overlooking because obvious choices) and dislike (e.g. Beebur, Taylor Swift):

Best

1. "Treasure" by Bruno Mars (technically not covered in a review, in a top 10 instead, but regardless, I love this song, I loved it even before it became a hit and championed for it to be a single until it did)
2. "Royals" by Lorde (again, same, but still, love this song)
3. "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars (shoutouts to the whole Uptown Special album being fire too)
   Tied with: "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers (same applies here as well for RAM)
4. "FourFiveSeconds" by Kanye West, Paul McCartney, and Rihanna (two of my favorite musical artists plus someone with an amazing voice and fantastic lyrics, amazing yet sparse accompaniment, this whole song is a modern day masterpiece)
5. "Your Love Is My Drug" by Kesha (it grew on me a lot after not too long, plus I like your beard)

Worst

1. "Marvin Gaye" by Meghain Trainor and Charlie Puth (tied with pretty much all of the Meghan Trainor songs he's reviewed—this one just happens to be the most offensively bad to me, in a Pat Boone kind of way)
2. "Gorilla" by Bruno Mars (the only Bruno Mars song I actively dislike, just for how asinine and pompous it is; used to hate "The Lazy Song", but now it just gets an "eh" reaction from me)
3. "Do What U Want" by Lady Gaga and R. Kelly (a song he actually put in his "Best of 2013 list", a choice with which I HEAVILY disagree, largely due to the boring beat, hackneyed lyrics, and R. Kelly making the song seem more rapey than it should by his mere presence as someone who has actually committed statutory rape and attempted child marriage)
4. "Look At Me Now" by Chris Brown feat. Busta Rhymes & Lil Wayne (UGHHHHHHHH THIS SONG, I hated it before I even knew it was a hit because my roommates freshman year of college WOULD NOT STOP PLAYING IT FUCK THOSE GUYS)
5. "Whatcha Say" by Jason De Rulo (taking a song I was already sick of, but was admittedly an okay if not great bit of a "fun with a vocoder" number, and sampling it into a song that's even more obnoxious. Great job, Derulo, you made me hate a song I already hated even more.)

And my top 6 so-bad-it's-good/guilty pleasure pop songs Todd's covered for the hell of it. This one's in no particular order:

1. "Bedrock" by Young Money feat. Music/Lloyd (this one is just too hilarious to knock)
2. "Like a G6" by Far East Movement (I'll admit to actually unironically enjoying this one, plus the ACKIN LIKE THEY DRUUUUNK like amuses me)
3. "Sexy Chick/Bitch" by David Guetta feat. Akon (I like the beat, and the lyrics are just dumb enough to amuse me without getting on my nerves
4. "Cool For The Summer" by Demi Lovato (I actually find the song really obnoxious, but some lines in it are just too fun to say)
5. Pretty much any LMFAO song he's covered, thanks to in-jokes among friends
6. "Want U Back" a.k.a. the UNGHH song by Cher Lloyd (that grunt is amazing)

edited 10th Jul '16 11:18:53 PM by Odd1

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Adding on to what 0dd1's spot-on analysis on how it has the admittedly cool song tropes you mentioned TyeDye but doesn't know what to do with said tropes - I'll say like what Burnt Mario said about Todd's reasoning for "Fight Song" - it is just a pretty average song that thinks it is more than that - and to use similar Todd logic probably why he (or in this case at least I) wouldn't care for it and think it's 'bad'.

Gorilla falls in the So Bad, It's Good catergory for me. The lyrics are so dumb but I don't mind Mars' vocals that much so it's kinda hard for me to hate the song.

My Tumblr "If theirs one thing I'm good at, it's blowing" Jesse Cox 2013

Yeah, agreed. I'm a pretty big Bruno fan, and even though I wouldn't call Gorilla one of his better songs, I think it's too goofy to get too mad at.

Though I've always wondered, what is it with that guy and monkeys anyway? First the dancing monkeys in the Lazy Song video, then "Gorilla"...which, by the way, was the fourth single off an album that had a gorilla on the cover.

I love to learn, I love to yearn, and most of all... I love to make money.

I'm guessing cause dick jokes? I know people call their penises monkeys, but I don't get the gorillas.

Maybe he's just a fan of monkeys and gorillas? 'shrug'

My Tumblr "If theirs one thing I'm good at, it's blowing" Jesse Cox 2013

Bruno Mars: "Monkey!"

I mean, I'll admit "Gorilla" isn't the worst thing in the world, but I just personally dislike it since it's a blight in an otherwise near-perfect discography (if we're looking solely at his albums).

Now, if you want a truly "so-bad-it's-good" Bruno Mars song, I've got you covered...

I'll say this, one thing you can never fault Bruno Mars for is that he always sounds incredibly earnest, no matter how goofy his lyrics can be.

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I actually got a bad attack of the giggles when I was in a public place and that Cher Lloyd song started playing. You have to listen to the song all the way through, it doesn’t really come across in Todd’s review, but the non-stop grunting makes it sound like she had a bad attack of constipation.

Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883!

I remember one of my friends first told me about the song after hearing it in a store or something, and he couldn't stop talking about the grunting in it. He unironically loved that, and, to be honest, I kinda do too. If nothing else, she's certainly putting her all into the song

Certainly better than the grunts in this:

(this one is just great for its own reasons)

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I don't particularly mind "Want U Back" apart from the lyrics and the constipated grunting. The rest of it kind of hits that weird hatefuck territory between attractive and annoying.

Wasn't that from when Elton John recorded budget covers of other people's hits?

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?

I think it is

" I did the right thing, didn't I? It all worked out in the end." "In the end? Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends."

It is. There exists an LP that was released after he became famous of a bunch of those soundalike covers he recorded, some with David Byron (Uriah Heep) and others with Daniel Boone (né Peter Lee Stirling, forgotten OHW responsible for “Beautiful Sunday”). I can’t find info on this LP anywhere, but I know it exists. I imagine it came out around 1972-73, as it had to have been released soon after “Beautiful Sunday.” Hardly anyone remembers that song or who sang it anymore.

Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883!

David Byron of Uriah Heep?

Damn. I know that Elton John auditioned once to sing lead for King Crimson, and I think may have been considered to join Gentle Giant. Seems the guy has a big of a prog rock side to him.

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?

First time I heard "Want U Back", my mind immediately went: "...is this a cut Alpha Bitch Villain Song from a Disney Channel movie?"

To be honest, it does work in that way. It's just cheesy enough to work without being too obnoxious, I'd say.

@Banananana: Not sure about the original LP compilation, but there exist a ton of different CD rereleases of those songs, which aren't too hard to find. Chartbusters Go Pop is the most common name the compilation is given, from what I've seen, that and some variation of 20 Legendary Covers by Elton John.

That whole compilation is worth it just to hear Elton John singing about being a young, gifted black woman.

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While I personally can't stand the song, I can understand that point of view.

In a similar way, I think Bruno Mars's "Grenade" works well if you view it as a Sanity Slippage song.

I love to learn, I love to yearn, and most of all... I love to make money.

I think almost any song works if you imagine it as a Sanity Slippage Song tbh.

"If you spend all your heart / On something that has died / You are not alive and that can't be a life"

Yup. I understand that Dana Gillespie (actress and pop-blues singer, briefly a protegée of David Bowie) also recorded for the same production company.

A recording featuring Elton and David together (there may be more, as I’m sure Elt played piano on a ton that he didn’t actually sing on):

Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883!

Heckers, I'm gonna come up with a Top 10/5 best/worst list for songs Todd (I think "I Took A Pill In Ibiza" is a surprise fave from me)

And while I agree that "Do What U Want" has it's issues, that song is actually like - super duper important to me because it helped me cope during a bad patch in my life

I'm having to learn to pay the price

To be honest, I feel like it's supposed to be viewed that way. The lyrics come from a place of despair and extreme feelings. Hell, even the symbolism of the music video seems to support it.

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This year's not so good for Todd, musically anyway.

All the Ewoks will look up and shout, "Save us from the Klingons!" And I'll whisper, "Why so serious?"

Honestly, same. This is the first year in forever that I haven't even bothered trying to keep up with the charts in a non-cursory way.

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Hey, Britney Spears and Katy Perry just released new singles. They're interesting, right?

...right?

I love to learn, I love to yearn, and most of all... I love to make money.