Clang & Clatter

I didn’t think you cared about my Friday Five at Popdose.

Galactic Cowboys - “Bucket of Chicken” (Let It Go, 2000)
A funky organ-based instrumental filler of sorts from the Cowboys’ swan song. Not a bad track, but not what you’d expect from this group.

Foo Fighters - “Best of You” (In Your Honor, 2005)
One of the best (and commercially successful) tracks from this double-album from the Foos. Say what you will, but Dave Grohl knows how to write a good rock song.

Metallica - “That Was Just Your Life” (Death Magnetic, 2008)
Much ado was made about the mastering of this album, so much so that the songs themselves were often overlooked. Death Magnetic was a return-to-form of sorts—not the revisiting of the Master of Puppets glory days that fans have long craved—and in my opinion it was an excellent album and exactly the shot in the arm the band needed after the beating they took for St. Anger. This song kicks off a relentless James Hetfield riff-fest that slows down only a couple of times during the album’s 72 minutes, and that’s just fine by me.

Queensrÿche - “Sign of the Times” (Hear in the Now Frontier, 1997)

Would someone please let me know
How we have spun out of control
Has the captain let go of the wheel?

Little did guitarist, primary songwriter, and founding member Chris DeGarmo know how prophetic these words would be as longtime fans currently find themselves scratching their heads wondering what has happened to this band. Or maybe he did. HITNF was the last album with DeGarmo on-board as a full-time member, choosing instead to follow a career as a professional pilot and a short stint as a hired gun for Jerry Cantrell’s backing band. This album doesn’t get much respect in the Queensrÿche ouvre—and that’s understandable in light of some of the classics that preceded it—but for the most part, it’s not a bad album. It’s just that as a Queensrÿche album it’s fairly forgettable, and it was definitely a sign that the band’s better days were behind it.

Glen Phillips - “Didn’t Think You Cared” (The Unreleased Songs Compilation, 1st Edition, Disc 1)
Just like it says on the tin, this is a compilation of live and demo versions of (at the time) unreleased Toad the Wet Sprocket and Glen Phillips solo material. This is a typical ballad-y Glen song from a poor quality bootleg played to an audience that was obviously way more interested in talking (and eating? I think I hear clinking silverware in the background). I’ve heard a couple of other bootleg shows like this one, and it never ceases to amaze me how much chatter there is when Glen isn’t playing a Toad song.

Listen to this entire Friday Five playlist on Spotify.