Top Ten Father/Daughter Songs
Last week, you guys helped me narrow down my first-dance song choices (haven’t made a decision yet, but we love all the suggestions). This week, I present my father/daughter song picks. Every time I turn on the radio I hear another cheesy country song that would work—Tim McGraw 's “My Little Girl”, Trace Adkins' “Then They Do,” Gary Allan's “Tough Little Boys,” Heartland's “I Loved Her First,” you name it. But I inherited my love for country-pop from my mom and not my dad, so the twang isn't gonna fly. Here are my top ten—you can listen below. Too... read more
Five Classic Scenes from The Wire
One of our colleagues is now working his way through The Wire, and although we're happy that he gets to experience what may be the best television show ever, we feel a twinge of sadness knowing that—having already devoured the series—we'll never again see a new episode. Fortunately we'll always have these scenes to look back on with a smile and a well-placed expletive. ... read more
The 10 Best Cop Shows of The Last 10 Years
Sure, there are plenty of doctors and lawyers on television these days, but cops still reign supreme. Since the day Dragnet went on the air back in 1951, network executives have continued to fall in love with cop shows to the point that any city without its own CSI or NCIS just doesn't take crime very seriously. There have been plenty of formulaic police procedurals clogging the airwaves, but cops and robbers have also inspired some undeniably great TV. Detectives and patrolmen, we salute you.... read more
Five Reasons Why Globalization Rocks
The world is getting smaller. We're increasingly more connected to folks around the world and have broader access to other cultures' news and arts than ever before. We at Paste are continually excited as global collaborations in the vein of Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mombazo's Graceland seem to be springing up every day. Some are made possible by the ease of modern travel, others by the infinite potential for exploration in the internet's music library and the growing bandwidth that allows musicians to telecommute across continents, laying down synth in Brooklyn and drumbeats in Bangkok. Here's a list that... read more
One on One: 20 Single-Artist Cover Albums Worth A Listen
A well-done cover song is a beautiful thing—and, by extension, so is a compilation of tracks by a slew of musicians paying tribute to one of their heroes. But it takes a special combination of love and guts and a hearty dash of hubris for a single artist to tackle the oeuvre of another—whether a friend or a legend—all by their lonesome. Sometimes the result is a mess (like Dirty Dancing songstress Jennifer Warnes' maudlin, schlocky Leonard Cohen tribute, Famous Blue Raincoat), but when the stars align, it can be really wonderful. Here are a few of our favorites. (Scroll... read more
Pick Up the Phone: Seven Songs that Want to Give You Their Digits
Singing a full seven-digit phone number in a song can mean the risk of plaguing innocent non-Jennys with your curious fan base's calls, but there's still no shortage of digits getting dropped into lyrics. Catchy, concise and a good viral marketing strategy if the number leads to a pre-planned voicemail, songs with a dial-ready number are usually a good call, at least for the artists, anyway. The following songs have got your number.... read more
Essence of the '80s: The 10 Best Movies John Hughes Ever Wrote
For anyone who grew up during that singular era of the 1980s, filmmaker John Hughes was damn near a prophet. He didn't talk down or pander to teenagers; he didn't have to because he understood them so well. At times, he understood them better than they understood themselves. It was as if his films, although fictional, were deep-cover documentaries about who we are and how we interact.Hughes directed eight features in his heyday, and wrote and produced many more classics along the way—movies that defined the time in which they were crafted. Tragically, Hughes—only 59 years old—died yesterday of a heart... read more
Top Ten First Dance Songs
I’m getting married in a few months, and so far, the only topic of contention has been music. My fiancé and I are determined to get every song right, and we haven’t agreed on a first-dance song yet. I present to you my top ten choices—you can listen to most of them below. ... read more
Great Moments in Off-Key Hip-Hop Vocalizing
For all the talk about hip-hop and Auto-Tune, it’s worth remembering that sometimes rappers sing without robotic pitch correction. And when they do, hilarity ensues! Here are six moments we wouldn’t dare correct with technology. ... read more
The 20 Best U2 Songs of All Time
After having so much fun compiling the list of the Best R.E.M. songs, I had to take a stab at doing the same for U2. I polled our Twitter followers and my fanatical friends, who then suggested more than 50 different songs, including just about every cut from War, Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. All five of the first tracks off Joshua Tree made this list, but it also draws from nearly every era—from Boy all the way up to Atomic Bomb (and an argument could be made for No Line on the Horizon's "Magnificent" or "White as Snow"). Tell... read more
Seven Brilliant, Terrible and Brilliantly Terrible Metal Covers of Pop Songs
Your average metal band usually has wildly different musical sensibilities from top 40 radio pop (and that goes double for said average metal band's fans). But is there really any good reason for that other than genre segregation that forbids metal fans from rubbing their leather-clad elbows with bubblegum popsters? That question may remain unanswered for now, but some metal acts are bridging the divide with covers of pop tracks that range from excellent to execrable. Let's take a look, and see how they stack up against the originals.... read more
Ten More Former Freaks & Geeks and What They're Up To Now
Freaks & Geeks was canceled in 2000 after just 18 episodes, but for many of its cast and crew, there may not have been a better career move. Executive producer Judd Apatow, in particular, has gone on to much bigger (if not always better) things, making stars of Seth Rogen (Ken Miller), Jason Segel (Nick Andopolis) and James Franco (Daniel Desario) in the process. Linda Cardellini (Lindsay Weir) just wrapped up a six-year run on ER (we'll forgive her for Scooby-Doo), and Samm Levine (Neal Schweiber) will round out a string of movie roles this fall with Inglorious Basterds. But... read more
Five Boston Travel Tips
A few months back, I offered to you, dear reader, five Hawaii travel tips. Consider this, then, the second installment in a consistently inconsistent series. From my first-ever visit to Beantown, I present to you, patient Paste website visitor, five Boston places you should check out the next time you're in the capital of the commonwealth of Massachusetts:... read more
10 Songs I'm Pretty Sure Are About Masturbation
(Above: Judge Reinhold gets busted by Phoebe Cates in Fast Times at Ridgemont High) Masturbation. I remember when that was a dirty word. Back in 6th and 7th grade, nobody—and I mean nobody—would cop to doing that shit. Around then, my friend Chris and I had a conversation that went a little something like this:Chris: You know, I read something in this magazine about how like 90 percent of guys in middle school masturbate.Steve: No way, man. I don't believe it.Chris: Well, that's what it said. But you're right, there's no way. [awkward pause] You don't do that, do you?Steve:... read more
Ten Songs About Painkillers
As you read this, I’m probably knocked out in a chair somewhere getting my wisdom teeth taken out. Since it hurts to have four giant teeth carved and yanked out of your face, I got to thinking about painkillers and how much I’m going to need them tomorrow. Enjoy these ten songs about painkillers, and let’s hope they’re doing their magic on me! ... read more
Ten Awesomely Bad Album Covers Reproduced in Microsoft Paint
In 2007, a pair of British wisecrackers had a great idea: Let's reproduce album covers using the primitive art software Microsoft Paint!... read more
The 20 Best R.E.M. Songs of All Time
If there was a single band that shaped my teenage ears, that shook me from the confines of classic rock radio and awakened me to quirky, adventuresome college rock, it was R.E.M. Soon after discovering Document, I had worked my way back through every cassette in their catalog. And when that was exhausted, I started looking for other bands that just sounded something like R.E.M. I felt sheltered, even betrayed, learning that all this music had been made during my adolescence—just up the road in Athens—while I was mowing the lawn to Foreigner 4.... read more
Ten Funny Fakes to Follow on Twitter
When Phil Spector was under trial and subsequently imprisoned for murder, some media pointed excitedly to his supposed Twitter account to get some prison updates. Apparently, Spector was busy befriending a cockroach he named Wilson, as well as ranting that the authorities took his wig, all tweeted on top of a custom background of prison cell photos. The account was later removed, but it exemplifies the potential hilarity of parody Twitter accounts Whether they actually try to dupe their audience or not, these faux celebrities play up the best and worst of their doppelgangers. Although some of the best have... read more
Five Great Sources for Aesthetically Delightful Desktop Wallpaper
Deteriorating eyesight. Rapidly shortening attention span. Fiery hatred of rolling green hillsides, tulips basking in midday sunshine, outer space explosions and abstract line configurations. These are just a few of the side-effects of spending the majority of one's waking weekday hours planted in front of a computer screen. Fortunately, changing your desktop from cliche to clever is a bit quicker than a trip to LensCrafters, and certainly easier than retraining your e-brain. It's also much, much cheaper. Here are five of the best sources for aesthetically delightful—and totally free—desktop wallpaper on the Internet. Right click away!... read more
Thirty Reasons Why the Insane Clown Posse's 2009 Gathering of the Juggalos Infomercial is the Greatest YouTube Clip Ever
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