Well, excluding The All-American Rejects and the bands I saw live, I guess.
Those needed their own posts because there was so much excitement, plus it gets in more songs.
Even with the bands who did not became major influences on my life and that I have not seen live, there was still excitement. Going back over that is a trip down memory lane.
While I had not remembered quite how exciting the first year was for concerts, I do remember all of those concerts clearly. I also remember the bands that I really loved and the songs that got to me.
The bands that were just fine, I don't remember as well. That may not be fair, but the bands I really disliked? It's amazing that eight years later I still resent it; you should have spent less time trying to get new listeners, and more time making something worth listening to!
To be fair, I only remembered one of the bands that was just too shallow. In fact there were two, and they blurred together.
And, if some of them never dug that deep, but they had fun, that's probably okay. Some of these bands have completely disappeared now, even having taken down their links. I may have been one of the last people to check them out.
That doesn't have to be terrible. Many of the musicians went on to other bands, or they are doing other things for a living but they are having satisfying lives. It can't be a career for everyone, but seeing some of them and the places they got to go even for a short time, it seems pretty cool. I hope those are good memories for them.
My biggest heartbreak for that is the dissolution of The Black Sea. They were excellent. I still have part of their song in my head, but I want to be able to listen to the whole thing, and let other people listen to it, and they removed all traces.
Before I started this, I was starting to feel a special musical affinity for New Jersey. As I reviewed more bands, I was finding that for Manchester as well. They put out some good bands.
And, it is not quite only Manchester; that includes nearby Leeds and Bolton and the neighboring county, Lancashire. However, New Jersey musicians seem to hang out with Philadelphia musicians a lot too, and maybe some parts of New York (like Long Island), so I think it all works. Regardless, about a tenth of my first 100 bands reviewed were Mancunian or adjacent, with more coming in later reviews.
Some of that is that as bands retweet their reviews, sometimes it inspires other bands to follow you. You can't always know that it was for the review, but there were two things that really made me feel good. They both happened in March, so pretty early on too.
Our Fold (from Bolton) had followed me. They had it set up where you could download their entire catalog so I bumped them up the line, reviewing them a bit sooner than I normally would have.
Both they and a fan wrote back to tell me I had gotten it right. It was so validating, and only my 18th band reviewed.
Then, Titors Insignia (from St. Helens, 26 miles from Manchester) followed me, but also messaged me asking me to review them. So flattering, and then a man who worked on a local web site for St. Helens asked if he could share my review. Of course! So my 24th band reviewed (my 23rd review written, because I had doubled up two other bands) was shared in another country.
And really, bands were showing up from all over. I reviewed bands from Turkey, South Africa, Sweden, France, Denmark, Finland, Australia, and Austria, plus lots of people from England, the United States, and a few Canadians.
This is also the year where the songs of the day started. I had really only done that in February 2012 previous. As I was reviewing more, I discovered some Halloween appropriate songs. I thought I would do those and some Misfits in October, and after that it made sense to keep going. I was finding new good music all the time. That was why initially I tried very hard not to repeat, so more could get exposure.
All in all, it was a very auspicious beginning.
Daily songs from reviewed bands 1 - 100
“Honey, Honey”
by Chantal Claret -- One of my first non-concert reviews, I did choose her for MCR connections, but I enjoyed her music a lot, especially this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNOe1n1X0TI
“The Voice
Inside My Head” by Sky Crawlers -- Turkish punk. One of the earlier bands to follow me and I really liked them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sELI4pr0iE
“I Should've
Kissed You” by Color Theory -- Musically I love this song, and personally I relate to it more than I like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdNqOZeg6Ww
“She Goes On”
by Our Fold -- They said I was pretty much spot on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U22o4I8F4j4
“Beg, Plead &
Pray” by Titors Insignia -- My first requested review. They have some songs that really celebrate football, which probably makes sense for Manchester. This is non-sports related, but I think my favorite of theirs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtBlM110pRY
“Oceans Apart”
by Yves Jean -- He's a New Yorker, but he has some Caribbean roots that I think infuse the music and makes it pretty catchy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfJDYq6EWTg
“Dracula's
Tango” by Toto Coelo -- Not a band I have reviewed, but one of those songs that made me wonder why so many stations think Halloween is limited to "Monster Mash" and "Thriller", therefore a big part of the start and continuation of songs of the day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROtqnIOHMJs
Related posts:
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2013/03/band-review-our-fold.html
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2013/03/band-review-titors-insignia.html
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2013/11/halloween-videos-and-misfits-songs.html
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