Archive for the ‘the rolling stones’ tag

saturday throwback. the verve – bittersweet symphony

just like the white town post a few weeks back, this weekend is another absolute classic from the late 90s that feels like its much less than 12+ years old. the on again off again band known as the verve released “bittersweet symphony”, one of the most instantly likeable tracks in recent memory, despite being shrouded in controversy over an alleged unlicensed rolling stones sample.

even after hearing this song millions of times, it still elicits a smile when i hear those opening strings come through the speakers. and it doesnt hurt that it was perfectly placed at the end of the quasi-guilty pleasure film “cruel intentions” (which i happen to own on dvd), just when the whorish kathryn is exposed to the entire body of her uppity prep school after self-servingly delivering her step brothers eulogy. i mean, the film was nominated for 4 mtv movie awards and won 2 of them, how can it not be considered a classic?

the verve – bittersweet symphony

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the rolling stones – play with fire

the rolling stones have become the punchline of just about every old person rock star joke by everyone ever. as well as a bunch of other jokes too. i mean really, who snorts their dads ashes? thats just kind of weird and messed up. but that doesnt mean they havent brought a ton of good music and good times over the year. one of our family friends are diehard rolling stones fans and i have vivid memories of them coming over with 3d glasses when we were little kids and all of us watching a rolling stones 3d concert on the tele. i can still remember keith richards dancing in front of a green screen with 3d planets moving past him on the screen. that was some high tech shit back in the early 90s, ya know?

of all their hits too numerous to count, “play with fire” is among my favorites. its just so simple and low key, and id say i like being low key in general. and i like the lyrics a lot. besides the great refrain of “dont play with me cuz youre playin with fire”, it tells a nice tale for todays youth. the good girl wants to be with the bad boy. her parents tell her not to. she does anyway. parents shun girl. girl moves in with bad boy. girl realizes she may have made a mistake, cuz bad boy tells her not to cross him or else shes outta there. at least thats how i read it. but to be fair to the bad boy, he warns her about himself five times throughout the song, so she really should have known better. but she was pretty sheltered growing up so we can give her the benefit of the doubt.

rolling stones – play with fire

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