Songs that are the reason I love a band, #1.

This will be a little series where I give songs by bands I love, not necessarily the song I love by them the most, but they are the reason I fell in love with the band to begin with. I will try and explain why this song is picked and why it personally is the one I liked. I will try and explain 5 artists per post in this series, until I run out of artists to do this with. Without further ado, let's go!

1. Artist: Linkin Park, Song: Castle of glass.

Yes, I used to/still love Linkin Park. Yes, there are other songs by them that are way more popular, and songs that are way more catchy. And yes, I realize that this song is on one of their worse albums, but for some reason, it was one of their first songs I had ever heard. If you haven't heard it, well it's a little more ballad than your usual Linkin Park song. It starts with just Mike Shinoda leading the song, then for the rest of the song it's either Chester singing or both of them. The part that I loved most about this is that they have pretty different voices, yet they somehow made this song work. Their voices blended together perfectly in my opinion, and I also believe that this song is massively underrated.

2. Artist: Foster the People, Song: Houdini

A rather odd pick from a rather odd band. Foster the people, for those who don't know, is an Indie Pop group from the 2000s, they have released three albums, one as recently as 2018. While they had released two albums by the time I started listening to them, I listened to torches first, and while I liked the second album better, I thought this song was a really good song. Of course I love the classic Pumped up kicks, but there was something about the song Houdini that captivated me at the first listen. The slightly more electric sound, and the lyrics that match the title really well, well this song for me is a really good representation of their sound and it really made me appreciate the band while at first I wasn't sure what to think.

3. Artist: My Chemical Romance, Song: Welcome to the Black parade.

Probably the most obvious choice I would make here, for all of you My Chemical Romance fans, it's probably the song by them you heard first, and the first song you loved by the band. (Except maybe Teenagers). I first heard this song at a point in my life when I really thought I was depressed (but as a matter of fact I was just very unmotivated to work, and consequently as I didn't do the work I needed to do, I felt guilty about it). Anyway, this song really helped me to feel not so alone when I heard it, to feel like I could live and be happy, all the while being an amazing song that I still love to this day. It's the first song people hear by them for a reason, and while it isn't my favorite song by them by a long shot anymore, I still think this song is a great introduction to their work and one of the greatest songs by them.

4. Artist: Kelly Clarkson, Song: Dark Side.

Ok, so this pick is a bit of a stretch, Stronger (the album) was definitely not the first album of hers I heard, nor the first one I enjoyed by her, (Piece by piece being the first album I heard, and My December was the first one I really enjoyed by her) but for whatever reason, I kept coming back to this album. It has it all, the vulnerable songs like the one I just mentioned or Don't you want to stay, the upbeat fun-to-listen-to songs like the title track or Mr. Know it all, and a lot of other songs here that are a good mix between the other two. But back to the song. I had listened to this album about 7 times at this point, and while there were songs I connected to initially, I really brushed over Dark Side I suppose, because at that point, I absolutely loved the song. Kelly Clarkson is by no means a perfect songwriter, this song is in my opinion a perfect example of why someone would like her. It's vulnerable, it's heartfelt, and it's just... Good. It's a lot like other pop songs, but in this case it has some very meaningful lyrics, and I really connected with them.

5. Artist: Coldplay, Song: Square One.

By no means my favorite song by them anymore, nor was it ever my favorite song by them, I still think this song is good. The reason I like this song in this case needs less explaining than the rest of these choices here, it's a pretty straight forward reason why, in short, it's because I absolutely loved X&Y, and a lot of times I would listen to it was because I only heard the first song or two. Not to mention that this song this song has great meaningful lyrics, thought this song is not the most appealing musically.