Top Ten Favorite Jonathan Young Covers

     Who is Jonathan Young, you ask?  Well, he is a musician on YouTube who is most notoriously known for making rock and metal covers of Disney songs.  I discovered his channel a little while back and have been trying to soak up as much of his material as I can fit into my schedule because the guy is just that damn good.  Seriously.  Originally this post was going to be Top Ten Best Jonathan Young Covers but that would imply that I've gone through his entire library of material when in truth I haven't so these are my personal favorites as of this very moment.  Enough lollygagging, let's get right to it!

     10 - Hotline Bling (Punk Goes Pop Style ft. Travis Carte)

     Given my musical tastes, it probably is no shocker when I say that I really did not care for Drake's "Hotline Bling."  Even if I was still in my multi-genre days and more open minded to the hip-pop genre, I doubt I'd like it simply because I really don't like Drake's vocal style and I need my music to be energetic and containing life force, something the original severely lacks.  Here, Jonathan and guest Travis Carte takes the lifeless song and turns it into a genuinely amusing song (not ironically amusing in that "funny that this song is so popular" way I see it) and music video featuring some of the funniest "white guy" dancing and Drake's lyrics being performed through Travis' roar that would make Ivan Moody of Five Finger Death Punch proud.  This one might be at the bottom of the list because topping Drake isn't a tough bar to clear for me (no offense if you're a fan, music = art = subjective) but man this one makes me feel good.

     09 - Danger Zone (Power Metal Cover from Top Gun ft. FamilyJules7X & RichaadEB)

     I've always been a fan of the original Kenny Loggins version of this song (it's as crunchy as he ever got), even though I've never bothered to watch the movie that made it popular start to finish (didn't hold my attention, sorry).  I've always liked how the verses slowed down before kicking up again with the chorus and solo.  Here, Jonathan and his roommates have added a continuous upbeat tempo to the song and it is fun in its own right.  Even though I may find myself leaning more towards the original, this one is still well worth checking out.

     08 - Hellfire (Symphonic Metal Cover from Disney's Hunchback Of Notre Dame)

     Confession time: I've one seen Hunchback maybe thrice and that was years ago so forgive me if I have forgotten how damned dark the villain is and this song is a great reminder of that.  While I do really like this version, there is something about the original that is much more damaged and unsettling with the Gothic aesthetics and those red robed fuckers towering over Judge Claude Frolo, staring down at him in judgement.  Calm down, Frolo!  Seriously, nobody's blaming you, this is totally normal.

     07 - Poor Unfortunate Souls (Metal Cover from Disney's The Little Mermaid)

     Hey, look!  Another immensely unsettling Disney villain song.  Given Jonathan's deep voice during the second verse, it is quite creepy here too just with more power chords and pounding drumming.  This one is closer to the original than Hellfire but as much as Jonathan sells the twisted sales pitch that is this song, Ursula's tone and expressions do eek ahead in terms of disturbing.

     06 - In The Dark Of The Night (Metal Cover from Anastasia)

     I honestly don't remember if I've ever seen Anastasia start to finish but I heard this one on a list of villain songs and it really stood out to me (Jim Cummings singing as Christopher Lloyd will usually do that).  The original does have that discomforting feeling like the previous two entries but unlike those ones, Jonathan is able to bring a similar scale of fright while turning up the crunch and in all honesty, I would consider this a tie between cover and original.

     05 - Eye To Eye (Pop Punk cover from Disney's A Goofy Movie)

     This one I have seen, theatrically in fact.  Much like In The Dark Of The Night, this was another tie between original and cover for me.  The original sounds to me like a Michael Jackson song if Sammy Hagar provided guitar work and I can honestly see either version being on the radio but I do think that Jonathan brings a certain energy to this song that the original doesn't have, especially in the chorus.  Both are still damn good.

     04 - Kiss The Girl (Pop Punk cover from Disney's The Little Mermaid)

     I don't think I brought it up in Poor Unfortunate Souls but I think I've only seen The Little Mermaid like, once.  Maybe.  I know that within the context of the story, the song is playing in a slow momentum romantic moment so obviously a pop punk version would seem out of place.  However, as far as Disney songs go, the original Kiss The Girl felt pretty...meh to me.  Enter Jonathan Young, who adds a pulse to this song that is quite uplifting and makes me bob my head and tap my feet along every time I hear it.  Literally.  Also, I do like how his version acknowledges some of the flaws to The Little Mermaid and the story of the video of him and Savannah Stuckmayer reminds me of Scholar and I before we started dating so this one has sentimental value for me, despite not being attached to The Little Mermaid.

     03 - Stayin' Alive (Power Metal cover of The Bee Gees ft. RichaadEB)

     Okay, everyone knows the original Stayin' Alive, either in actual song form or in parody form.  If you haven't, you're probably under the age of, say, 20 or you've just emerged from that rock you've been living beneath all your life.  I jest, of course, but while I don't hate the original exactly, it could safely be said that I've heard it enough times to last me the rest of my life and I never thought it would as a metal song.  That is until I heard this version and I was surprised at two things, like actually being able to understand the lyrics in the chorus for the first time in my life (I'm 30, for the record) the fact that I want to headbang to Stayin' Alive.  Disco might be dead but this version has plenty of life left in it.

     02 - Bells Of Notre Dame (Metal Cover from Disney's Hunchback Of Notre Dame ft. Caleb Hyles)

     This was the song that made me subscribe to Jonathan's YouTube channel, not that I have any particular attachment to the film but just that this is a really good song in its own right, source material not withstanding.  I know the original version plays at the beginning of the movie so you don't want to pummel the audience too early but for a song that tells the story of a Judge murdering a gypsy and nearly committing infanticide, its pretty...fluffy in comparison.  Jonathan and guest Caleb make the listener feel like they are at the cathedral being stared at by the name dropped "Eyes Of Notre Dame" with how foreboding the tone is.  And that breakdown with the Latin chants and galloping guitar?  Nnnnggg, that's the good shit right there and I'm so happy to see that it has passed one million views.

     01 - The Phantom Of The Opera (Metal Cover from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom Of The Opera ft. Malinda Kathleen Reese)

     Allow me to put this into perspective: I know the basic story of Phantom but I haven't seen any of the movies or musicals (I'm an uncultured swine, I know).  After listening to this song, they are on my "To Watch" list.  In the meantime, I looked up different versions of this song, the most prominent being the 1986 Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford original (near as I can tell, please correct me if I'm mistaken), the 2004 Emmy Rossum and Gerard Butler version from the Joel Schumacher film and, sadly my least favorite, the Nightwish version.  I like Nightwish but Phantom is not one of their better songs.  In my research for this one, I found that none, NONE, of those versions came close to the greatness of this collaboration.  Malinda starts off singing softly, slowly building up to that amazing ending while Jonathan brings this wounded snarl to the Phantom that makes me believe he's truly a lonely figure living beneath the theatre falling for Christine (Malinda) and her voice.  A good way to gauge if I like a song is how often I sing it to myself at work and I find myself singing this every shift.  While writing the words you are reading right now, I have listened to this song eight times and it makes my hairs stand on end every time and were I to play it another eight, the same thing would happen.  I didn't think it was possible to out-opera metal Nightwish but Jonathan and Malinda have not so much wiped the floor with the others, Nightwish's especially, but more sent them crashing through the floor beneath them.

Not unlike this scene.

     Well, guys and gals, there's my take on my favorite material from Jonathan Young.  If you want to check out more of his stuff, check out his YouTube channel.  If you've liked what you've heard on this list and wish to support him, here are the links to his iTunes, Spotify, Patreon and his website.  Also, while you're at it, be sure to nudge that "Follow" button here and subscribe to me on YouTube and I'll leave you with one of Jonathan's original songs, Restless Heart.

     Stay cynical!

     -The Cynic

Top 15 Songs That Take Me Back (And Make Me Feel Old)

Look, I apologize for not filming tonight but sometimes things just don't go as planned. The Halloween special will be completed and ready for view by Wednesday, October 31st. I am not entirely without creativity right now though, and this particular post is an idea that I've had for some time.

For as long as I've been a fan of movies, I've also been a fan of music, perhaps even longer because you hear music before you see movies growing up...or at least, I did. Anyway, sometimes songs come along that really cements that particular time frame in your mind and then when you hear it again years later, you think to yourself, "Wow, this song takes me back..." and then you realize said song is being played on some retrospective music special and then you go, "Damn, this song makes me feel old..." Here are my personal Top 15 Songs That Take Me Back (And Make Me Feel Old). I'm going to leave out some of the more obvious ones that would (potentially) be on a lot of other lists and try to make this one unique.  Was gonna make this list 13 originally, but much like my Guitar Hero blog, more entries kept coming up as I was thinking of them, but I'm gonna cut it off at 15.

#15 - "Summertime In The Void" by I Mother Earth (1998)

Okay, I won't lie, I haven't heard this song in, like, 12 years.  Gimme 5:17.  *5:17 later* Okay, that's better.  Um, truth be told, this song ain't nearly as good as I remember it being back in 98.  Probably why it didn't pop into my head until I thought of this list and why it's on the bottom.  Next.

#14 - "Blown Wide Open" by Big Wreck (1998)

Yeah, the same guys who did "That Song."  Seriously, that's the name of the tune.  It also occurs to me that, for reasons unbeknownst to me, a lot of these songs are probably going to be from around 1998.  I'm not entirely sure why this is.  It's not like 1998 stood out to me as an absolutely stellar year or anything.  I mean, I was finishing Grade 6, I listened to a bit of everything & Roland Emmerich's Godzilla had come out.  Fuck-a-doodle doo, right?  Anyway, "Blown Wide Open" was one of the big songs from that year (as a Canadian radio listener, anyway) and it has a very small piece of nostalgia in my heart.  Has aged better than "Summertime In The Void", but it's not really my kind of rock anymore.  Still better than Ian Thornley's solo stuff.

#13 - "Why" by Wide Mouth Mason (1999)

So I can't find the official video, but oh well.  Wide Mouth Mason's "Why" was sort of a pump-up song for me back in 1999 (sad, right?) and looking back on this song 13 years later, I kinda like the slightly jazzy, Zoot Suit swinger feeling of the guitar riffs now.  Makes me wanna don a Fedora and striped suit to chat with The Rat Pack or something.  Again, not really my kind of rock anymore, but still catchy.  "Sugarcane" is the better song, but "Why" holds more nostalgia.

#12 - "Terrible" by Insane Clown Posse (1999)

Yeah, I used to listen to Insane Clown Posse, what of it?  I never considered myself a "juggalo" by any means, but y'know what?  As a socially frustrated teenager with some dangerously dark thoughts running through his head in 1999, ICP had their use and place and this one was my favorite.  Listening to this song again as a more analytical adult, I still dig the guitar riffs and the whole message that society and news groups do not have their priorities in order and focus on trivial things instead of the real issues ("bombs are blowing and the cops are corrupt, but all you care about is who the President fucked?!" as an example) really isn't that far off, even all the way back in 1999.  I haven't followed them in well over a decade, but I'm sure Violent J & Shaggy 2 Dope are having a field day with the world of news media today.

#11 - "Brackish" by Kittie (1999)

1999 was the year of the infamous Woodstock 99, which got me thoroughly acquainted with the wonderful genre of music called "metal" (my 13th birthday was the same day as the Limp Bizkit/Rage Against The Machine/Metallica riots).  It was also around this time that girls became more...ahem, interesting, if you will, to me.  So when you have a ravenously horny, freshly crowned metal-head Canadian watching a music video of an all-female Canadian metal band...I don't know how to end this sentence appropriately, so I'm sure you can put two and two together here.  Besides, just so I don't end this entry sounding like a gross pig, I'd like to point out that this song is still Kittie's best (IMO, I haven't followed them for about 10 years) and holds up fairly well.  As an adult, I can respect a band who skipped their final exams of high school to tour Ozzfest 2000, featuring one of the best lineups in the festival's history.

#10 - "Independence Day" by Martina McBride (1992)

As I mentioned in my Top 7 Guilty Pleasures In Music entries, I used to be a country fan when I was younger.  However, the official video of this song has been blocked in my home country.  Fine, I can deal with that.  Upon hearing it again, is it bad that...I still kinda like this song?  When I was 6, I just loved Martina's voice and that more or less sold me on this song, not taking the lyrics into consideration (I was 6, who had time for that?).  Listening to the lyrics as an adult, I'm like, "Holy crap, my parents let me sing along to this?"  For those who don't know, the song is about the perspective of a little girl who's mother is tired of the father abusing the child, so to get even, she sends the kid off to the fair and burns the house down.  That's...wow, I didn't realize for all these years that this song was as dark as it was. Well played.

#9 - "Hello Time Bomb" by Matthew Good Band (1999)

Ah, the days where Matthew Good actually had some beat to his music, prior to the days where began singing about how he was the embodiment of panes of glass.  "Hello Time Bomb" takes me back to a specific place, a sock-hop at my school where my buddies and I tried to start a mosh pit to this song (again, sad, right?).  Suffice to say, the teachers separated us all and the song was changed.  Hm, and people wondered why I didn't like going to the dances.

#8 - "You Don't Know What It's Like" by Econoline Crush (2000)

I rediscovered this song the other day and immediately put it on my phone, which is also my car stereo.  Anyway, I can't decide if this song falls under the hard rock or metal category as it seems to have elements of both within, but when I think back to some of Econoline Crush's other stuff, it never quite screamed "metal" to me.  Maybe that's why this one was my favorite back in the day and why it popped back into my head when I was knocking this list around.  I'm glad that I still like it as much as I did 12 years ago and wish Econoline Crush the best.

#7 - "Got The Life" by Korn (1999)

I'd be lying if I said that I was won over by this song on the first listen.  In fact, I remember hating this song when I first heard it.  Yet, much like how Slipknot did three years later with their Disasterpieces DVD, "Got The Life" got the grow on me and I remember spending many nights hanging out at a friend's house listening to the Follow The Leader album, with "Got The Life" on loop a few times.  Listening to it again, it takes me back to those fairly care-free years of biking through the field that is now a Wal-Mart parking lot and talking about how awesome of a show Korn put on at Woodstock that year and arguing over whether or not the amount of tits that are flashed to you during your set determined how well you performed (hint: it doesn't).

#6 - "Above" by Finger Eleven (Released in 1997, didn't hear until 1999)

This was my first introduction to Finger Eleven and 13 years later, I'm still a fan.  I never bothered to buy the album Tip (that this song comes from), but once their follow up The Greyest Of Blue Skies hit shelves, I was on that like flies on shit.  A lot of bands tend to fade in and out of my view over time and I find myself rediscovering old acts quite often (especially as of late), but Finger Eleven has been one band that has always been there.  Say what you will about the direction the band has taken over the years (I could honestly go the rest of my life without ever hearing "Paralyzer" again), but I still like them and I have "Above" to thank for getting me into them to start.

#5 - "Powertrip" by Monster Magnet (1998)

I remember hearing this song for the first time and being told it was on the soundtrack for the movie Soldier.  I wanted to see that movie for the very reason until one of my friends saw it and told me that he didn't actually hear the song featured in the film.  Suffice to say, my interest in the movie Soldier dropped dramatically and I stuck with rocking out to the song.  From what I hear, I made the right call.

#4 - "Du Hast" by Rammstein (1997)
 
This is the song that put Rammstein in North America's notice.  "Du Hast" is Rammstein's "Stairway To Heaven," their "Enter Sandman," their "Pour Some Sugar On Me."  If you don't follow what I'm trying to say, this is their most popular song and chances are if someone says "Du Hast" is their favorite Rammstein song, it's probably the only one they've ever heard.  This doesn't make the song any less nostalgic or enjoyable, because this is the first Rammstein song I ever heard.  I kept an eye on these guys and they just seemed to get better and better with each album.  Oh, and these guys easily put on one of the best fucking live shows I've ever seen.  It should be on everyone's bucket list to see a Rammstein concert.

#3 - "Line Up" by Aerosmith (released in 1993, heard it in 1994)

Probably my second favorite Aerosmith song, taking second place to fellow "Get A Grip" track "Eat The Rich."  I present everyone reading this blog a challenge: listen to this song without thinking of the montage from Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.  Go ahead, I'll give you a minute.  You can't, can you?  That's okay, neither can I.  Hell, I like this song because of that movie.  This is a great cruising song, too.

#2 - "The Thunder Rolls" by Garth Brooks (1990)

Fuck yeah!  I've never been able to find the official video for this until now!  I've mentioned this song before on the list of Songs That Should Be Covered By Hard Rock/Metal Acts on my What Gives entry.  If you're a long-time reader of my blog, you probably already know that this is one song that my opinion of has never changed in 22 years and that a metal band could do an amazing cover of it (come on, Machine Head.  Get on that!).  It turns out Jet Black Stare (famous for doing Film Brain's Bad Movie Beatdown Theme Song) did a cover, but it doesn't compare well to the original.  However, when researching the release date of this song, I found that Tanya Tucker had originally written the song but didn't want to release it initially.  Garth picked it up and got a hit single out of it.  Tanya eventually released her version in 1995, but it doesn't hold a candle to Garth's, for his captures the tone of the conflict far better than hers or Jet Black Stare's does.

#1 - "Stereo" by The Watchmen (1998)

I got the urge to YouTube this song the other day and as soon as vocalist Daniel Greaves began singing, I just felt drenched from head to toe in nostalgia.  This song holds a very special place because I believe it's one of the first that I actually went above and beyond to memorize the lyrics for and amazingly enough, 14 years later, I still remember most of them.  And y'know what?  This is still a pretty damn awesome song.  How fitting, a song from 1998 (what was it about that year?) by a band from the capitol city of my home province takes the #1 spot and makes me feel really reminiscent and old at the same time.  How poetic.

Now, if you'll excuse me, Old Man Cynic is far overdue for his nap.  Good night, everyone!

-The Cynic