Big Shiny Tunes 5

It’s the review you’ve been waiting 21 years for!

Okay, maybe not. In fact, I’m not even sure this is going to be a review. It’s more like, I’m going to listen to every song on this CD in front of me, and let you know if I like them or not, while providing other thoughts that you’ll forget in five minutes.

Sound good?

For those of you who are unaware, Big Shiny Tunes was a compilation album in Canada put together by MuchMusic, which was a television channel that primarily played music. I may or may not have been in the audience for one of their live shows when I was in high school.

Wikipedia tells me they made 17 Big Shiny Tunes albums between 1996-2009. Today, I’ll be listening to Big Shiny Tunes 5. Don’t ask questions.

All of the songs are from 1999 and 2000.

My ratings are subjective and I reserve the right to change them to 5/5 if anyone from the band ever finds this post and gets mad that I rated their song poorly.

1. Matchbox Twenty – Bent

I like Matchbox Twenty and am familiar with a bunch of their songs. However, this was a new one to me. Whenever I listen to a song for the first time, if I don’t feel like listening to it on repeat, then I probably don’t like it. That’s the case with this song.

Sorry! We don’t choose the music we like.

The YouTube comments section is full of people who love it, so they’ll be fine.

1/5

2. Matthew Good Band – Load Me Up

I have heard this song before, though I didn’t recognize it from the title. I feel like it should’ve been the first one on this album. It’s a good opener and gets the head bobbing. The music video features a bunch of high school students running in slow motion, swimming, and getting caught in the rain.

So, pretty much par for the course when it comes to music videos of the era. They also jumped off a roof (in slow motion, of course) which looked identical to the one used in The Room.

Maybe Tommy Wiseau borrowed it?

5/5

3. 3 Doors Down – Kryptonite

This was my favourite song when I was nine-years-old. I’m not entirely sure why, or where I even heard it, but I liked it! I think it appealed to me because I could actually understand all of the words and wasn’t just wossling along.

Wossle/wossling is what I’ve always called it when you’re singing along, but don’t know the words. I don’t know if I made this word up, or if I’m spelling it wrong, because Google has no idea what I’m talking about.

5/5

4. Stone Temple Pilots – Sour Girl

This was my first time hearing this song. I didn’t enjoy it, mainly because I was distracted by what I thought were evil Teletubbies. I was wrong, so save your hate mail, Tinky Winky. They were actually evil bunnies, or some sort of creatures that liked to invade personal space.

Sarah Michelle Gellar was also there.

1/5

5. The Bloodhound Gang – The Bad Touch

This is one of those songs you don’t think you’ve heard until you get to the chorus. Or maybe you only think you recognize it because it sounds a lot like, You Spin Me Round (yes, like a record).

But then they say “Discovery channel” and you’re like, “Ahhh I’ve heard it.”

Anyway, I was just describing my own listening experience.

A lot of children probably knew the lyrics to this song. Their parents were mortified.

2/5

6. Treble Charger – American Psycho

Everyone in Canada under the age of 35 knows the chorus to this song, though I’m sure now that I’ve said that, a bunch of Canadians are going to come out of the corners of WordPress to tell me I’m wrong.

I think it was played at elementary school dances, so if that was the case, then it was definitely popular for the college kids at the time.

Treble Charger was also known for Hundred Million People, which I like more.

4/5

7. Filter – Take A Picture

I thought I didn’t know this song, but I do. It’s a softer song that sounds like it’s building up to something, but never quite gets there.

It has major, “it’s raining outside, so it’ll be indoor recess” vibes. Don’t ask me why.

I do like how when you type the song title next to the band name, it basically predicts the future of photography.

Who knew? Probably not them.

3/5

8. Everclear – Wonderful

This song is about divorce, as told from a child’s perspective. I’m sure it’s a song that has helped many people over the years.

One thing I want to point out from the music video is it looks like every kid at school is getting on the same school bus at the end of the day. There wasn’t one kid with a bike. Very suspicious.

2/5

9. Blink 182 – Adam’s Song

If you’ve ever listened to Blink 182, you’ve definitely heard this song.

I don’t have much to say, so I’ll leave a quote below from Mark Hoppus, who talked about the meaning behind the lyrics.

“The heart of the song is about having hard times in your life, being depressed, and going through a difficult period, but then finding the strength to go on and finding a better place at the other side of that.”

5/5

10. Limp Bizkit – Re-Arranged

This was the most subdued Limp Bizkit song I’ve ever heard. Granted, I could probably only name two. I assumed all of their music was filled with yelling and screaming and anger. But that wasn’t the case with this song.

I was pleasantly surprised. It opened up my eyes.

1/5

11. Wheatus – Teenage Dirtbag

I don’t even know where my generation was listening to songs like this, but we all seemed to know them. At least, I’m assuming everyone did.

Music videos of that era really loved having a school theme. They all saw a trend and swam with the current.

5/5

12. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Otherside

I know I’m in the minority, but I’m not really a fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Their sound doesn’t quench my ear-thirst. Is that a thing?

It’s like when you suck on a straw, but you’re at the bottom of the cup and a small piece of ice gets lodged in the straw. You think, “Okay, I got an ice cube, but I wanted so much more.”

That’s how I feel. Don’t worry, they and their 5.2 Billion YouTube views will be just fine without me.

Again, we don’t choose the music we like! Don’t get mad at me.

1/5

13. Sum 41 – Makes No Difference

I hadn’t heard this Sum 41 song before. The music video fulfills other popular tropes from the era. They have a band – drum sets and all – set up at a college house party. No one questions why they’re there. They just dance within non-socially distanced proximity.

Things eventually go awry because that’s the only way these parties ever end. A car crashes through the window to add shock value.

The song started to catch on after the second listen.

2/5

14. Deftones – Change (In The House Of Flies)

I could see this song being played in a TV show where the main character wakes up at 4:23am with a pounding headache and slowly walks to the bathroom to take a Tylenol, but then they trip over their kid’s toys in the hallway and fall down the stairs. Don’t worry, they’re fine.

The whole scene would play at half speed.

Don’t say I didn’t tell you, when you see this on ABC in the fall.

Anyway, this song isn’t for me.

1/5

15. Disturbed – Stupify

Stupify is a Harry Potter spell, isn’t it?

This song fits in the mould of other Disturbed songs. The whole, “sing as many words as possible using just one breath, and then let out a shriek” thing. You know what I mean.

I’ll admit, I was ready to give it a 1/5, but it’s growing on me. I’m going to look up the lyrics.

If this were a game show and I had to listen to the song and write out all the lyrics, I’d probably get one word right. I’m looking at the lyrics now and I’m certain I didn’t hear 98% of these words.

That’s just a me thing, though. I’ve never been good at hearing lyrics unless they are blatantly obvious.

3/5

16. J. Englishman – More

Not my kind of music.

1/5

17. Kid Rock – Only God Knows Why

This one caught me off-guard, just like the Limp Bizkit song. I don’t pretend to have a handle on what Kid Rock music traditionally sounds like, but I’m pretty sure it’s normally loud(?).

This song is very slow and I guess only God knows why?

1/5

18. Nickelback – Breathe

I know Nickelback gets a lot of hate and people say all of their songs sound the same. I mean, you could say that about a lot of bands, but no one seems to do that.

They have good songs, okay. Have you even listened to Savin’ Me?

As for this one, it wasn’t for me.

1/5

Well, we’ve reached the end.

I’m not going to like every song I listen to, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good or that there aren’t thousands/millions of people who do like it.

It just means that I didn’t like it.

That’s all.

Which songs did you know/like from this list? Should I do this again for another CD? What do you miss about music videos from 20 years ago?