Thursday, December 18, 2008

Five reasons to quit your job

There's no end to the amount of great songs about working, quitting your job, getting fired, telling the boss off or struggling to stay on top of a 9-5. However, depending on your tolerance for high volume/awesomeness, here are a few that should be on any mix CD.

Monster Magnet, "Powertip"
An underrated band and absolutely killer live act, Monster Magnet are a filthy stoner metal band that verged on stardom in the late '90s. Best known for their infectious hit "Space Lord," they really struck gold with this song, perhaps the greatest ode to megalomania in existence. It's hard to beat the chorus, "I'm never gonna work another day in my life."


Rebel Meets Rebel, "Get Outta My Life"
While breaking from Pantera, Dimebag, Vinnie and Rex recorded an amazing barfight metal album with outlaw country legend David Allan Coe. Hank Williams III guests on "Get Outta My Life," perhaps the band's strongest track. It's a redneck superstar party that employs rock's oldest and greatest theme--sticking it to authority. Try not singing along by the second chorus. It doesn't work.


Dead Kennedys, "Take this Job and Shove it"
Another DAC composition, this one performed by the irrepressible Dead Kennedys (when they were still talking to each other.) "Take this Job" has been recorded by a slew of different artists, but no one, not even Coe, could sing it with the bite, roguishness and defiance of the eternally obnoxious Jello Biafra.


Bad Brains, "Sailin' On"
This is probably about a girl, but it's vague enough to be a perfect send-off song for any occasion. No one could drop a melody into a hardcore song the way that Bad Brains could, and "Sailin' On" is easily one of the best songs that HR & the gang ever offered. It alone is more than enough to justify the workplace, relationships and even punk rock as a whole.


Rage Against the Machine, "Maggie's Farm"
Of course the original's better, and Dylan fanatics that tell you to check out the Bootleg Series version aren't just being fanatics. But for a heavy rock band telling someone where to shove it, it doesn't get much better than Rage Against the Machine drastic rewrite of one of Dylan's masterpieces. By the time we reach the part about Maggie's brother, I already feel sorry for whoever hired Zack de la Rocha.

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