Countdown for the Shutdown (#15 - #11)

Well the good thing about this shutdown is that is has given me plenty of time to finish this.

#15 What this World Needs - Casting Crowns
Being an unabashed Big Country fan, Dolberry has always been fascinated by "one-hit" wonders. What factors have to come together for a band to have one huge song then drop back into obscurity?  In some cases it simply appears to be a case in which the stars are aligned just right ... and the song taps into a contemporary but very finite zeitgeist ... and gets propelled into the mainstream.  In other cases, it appears that the artist simply had the resources for ONE big statement, one exceptional piece of art that ... through its sheer power .... forces its way into the mainstream.  The first class of one-hit wonder is analogous to a virus. Songs like "The Pina Colada Song" and "Mickey" or "The Fox" (now) spread quickly from person to person until they eventually provoke an immune response that eliminates the virus.  These songs generally disappear as fast as they emerged, never to be heard from again.  The second type may be imperfectly compared to bacteria in that the song itself is an organism with its own functions and characteristics.  These songs tend to have a little more staying power and can retain their popularity for long periods (e.g., "In a Big Country" or "99 Luftballoons" or "Take on Me") ... although some of these hits are probably are pathogenic.

Regardless of type ... being a one-hit wonder shouldn't be viewed as failure ... one triumph of this regard is one more then the many who have zero.  I love Stuart Adamson's quote about being the 39th ranked "one hit wonder" of all time ... "If we're known for nothing more than just that one song, I'd be pretty happy with that."  Anyway, this extended intro is a long-winded way of introducing the #15 song which mentions one hit wonders ...

Sample lyrics: What this world needs is not another one hit wonder with an axe to grind / Another two bit politician peddling lies / Another three ring circus society / What this world needs is not another sign waving super saint that's better than you / Another ear pleasing candy man afraid of the truth  / Another prophet in an Armani suit 

We can't strap ourselves to the gospel because we're slowing it down / Jesus is going to save the world ... maybe the best thing we can do is get out of the way.

This is a pretty seditious song for a band so firmly beloved by K-Love.  I'm surprised they weren't lambasted for it.  Oh ... after 15 secs of googling ... I found multiple blogs/comments lambasting them for it.  Very good, internet, you never let me down.  Anyway, if you want to read a blog way better than this one, I point you to this one from a friend considering how the failure of many churches to address the full spectrum of moral issues is pushing young Christians away from the GOP and maybe even away from God.  I hope the next 0-20 years of Christiandom will (actually, it's probably already started) feature a pendulum swing back in the direction winning others through Christ-like behavior at the expense of self-defeating (often largely hypocritical) political activity.

#14 Re-Education (Through Labor) - Rise Against
First, great band name.  With the possible exception of Rage Against the Machine, here's a band whose name most matches it's style.  (Dolberry also would have accepted Five Finger Death Punch.)  Second ... like Rise Against ... Dolberry once lived in the Chicago suburbs and can fully understand why they're so angry at the world.  The second or third time you have to wear a long-sleeved shirt to a baseball game in late May, you're ready to go Occupy something.

Sample lyrics: We crawl on our knees for you / Under a sky no longer blue / We sweat all day long for you / But we sow seeds to see us through / 'Cause sometimes dreams just don't come true / Look now at what they've done to you.

The title takes its name from the Chinese prison system and the lyrics are written from the POV of a repressed population.  Before you jump to the conclusion then that it's about China ... here's what Tim McIlrath (lead singer) has to say about the song:  "It's talking a lot about the 9-to-5, dog-eat-dog lifestyle, and what we are asked to do to simply make ends meet nowadays, and I think it's a feeling shared by people all around the world and especially in this country."  That seems like a reasonable sentiment.  It stands in stark contrast to the video for the song which features people dropping off backpack bombs all over Chicago w/ the final scene showing the Windy City in flames.  Err ... you kinda lost me there Rise Against ... even though the prospects of Dolberry never getting another U of Chicago fundraising plea is somewhat tempting.

#13 The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead - XTC
OK, I promise this is the last of the "Christian" songs.  The song talks about what it might look like if the Messiah had come to earth somewhere around 1992 instead of somewhere ~ 2-4 BC.

Sample lyrics: Peter Pumpkinhead pulled them all / Emptied churches and shopping malls / Where he spoke, it would raise the roof / Peter Pumpkinhead told the truth / But he made too many enemies of the people who would keep us on our knees ...

Peter Pumpkinhead was too good / Had him nailed to a chunk of wood / He died grinning on live TV / Hanging there he looked a lot like you / And an awful lot like me!

Peter feeds and houses the poor ... gives the religious establishment the holy whatfor ... makes enemies ... preaches a steadfast message of love ... gets slurred and eventually crucified by the religious movement of the day.  In the old days it was the Pharisees ... there'd probably be a fight to be first stonethrower in line these days.  Despite the depressing theme ... it's at least reassuring to know that some within the Christian church recognize and remind that the goal is to be beholden to Jesus as opposed to pastors, churches, and/or the religious experts who are more about rules then people.  That all our gold is no good unless used to benefit others.  That any kind of love is all right.

What's that?  It was written by an atheist?  ... well ... ahh crap.

#12 Rockin at the T-Dance - The Rainmakers
In 1981, a walkway across the atrium of the Hyatt hotel in Kansas City collapsed killing 114 people who'd gathered there for a "tea dance".  The subsequent investigation determined that the building architects had communicated poorly with the contractors actually building the skywalk.  Everyone was in a hurry to get the job done.  Everybody assumed someone else was doing the math (the engineering calculations that determine whether the structure was safe).  But somewhere along the way, a design change was made for expediency, nobody checked the weight loads, and the resultant skywalk could barely hold its own weight, let alone that of scores of people watching a dance below.

Sample lyrics:  Take a trip with me in 1967 / With Grissom, White, and Chaffee on a rocket ride to heaven / A dead-end date aboard AS-204 / It was American made / Only the best for our boys / And we were rockin' at the T-Dance.

Take a trip with me to Kansas City MO / To the Hyatt House, to the big dance floor / You can still see the ghosts / But you can't see the sense / Why they let the monkey go and blame the monkey wrench.

In the end, there were lawsuits and lost licensures.  Additional regulations and quality control steps were instituted.  People had to live with the mistakes they'd made.  Other people had to live without loved ones. And of course, 114 people lived no more ... all for a mistake that everyone admitted could have been uncovered by a 1st year engineering student.  Sometimes life just doesn't make sense.  Maybe singing out some of the anger helps.

#11 We Will Rock You / We Are the Champions - Queen
There should be a law that these two songs always have to be played together, like they always were on the radio in the 80's.  They work well together ... conveying the truism that any meaningful victory is always associated with some sort of a fight.

Sample lyrics: Buddy you're a boy make a big noise / Playin' in the street gonna be a big man some day / You got mud on yo' face / You big disgrace / Kickin' your can all over the place / Singin' we will we will rock you / We will we will rock you.

We are the champions, my friends / And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end / We are the champions / We are the champions / No time for losers / 'Cause we are the champions of the world.

It's going to be a fight to make this world a better place.  We're going to have to resist our selfish urges to build ourselves at the expense of others.  We're going to have to call out and resist those who sows seeds of doubt, despair, and hate.  We're going to have to take some shots and come back stronger.  We're going to have to forgive ... even when nursing a grudge feels so right.  We're going to have to laser focus on our goal. In the end people of love will rock.  In the end people of love will prevail.  Though victory may not ultimately look like what we expect.

Countdown for the Shutdown (#20 to #16)

Ugh.  Dolberry was called out on Twitter last night for never finishing countdowns I start.  As a face-saving measure now I gotta stick this pointless exercise out.  What was Dolberry thinking?  Shoulda listened to NC Republican Senator Richard Burr when he said this countdown was the second dumbest thing he'd ever heard of.  OK ... where was I?

#20 I'll Stick Around - Foo Fighters
1995 wasn't the best year ever.  There was long list of plagues cursing our pale blue dot of a home that year: there was the Great Hanshin earthquake near Kobe Japan ... you had anti-government Tim McVeigh blowing up the Federal building in Oklahoma City ... the OJ Simpson trial was all-consuming ... Windows 95 was released ... Calvin and Hobbes ended.  In the midst of all this Dolberry got pneumonia and a side salad of depression (not surprising, in retrospect).  So, given all this discord, maybe you can forgive Dave Grohl this agitated screed directed at Courtney Love.  Maybe he doesn't need forgiveness ... Love never seemed very likeable.

Sample lyrics: How can it be / I'm the only one who sees / Your rehearsed insanity / I still refused / All the methods you abused / It's alright if you're confused / Let me be.  

The song closes w/ Grohl repeatedly yelling "I don't owe you anything!".  Good stuff.

#19 God Is Not A Secret - Newsboys
This was the first CD I ever got from a band in the genre of "Christian rock".  Got it for my birthday from the Siler City crew and was considerably skeptical (hopefully not rudely so).  My previous experience with "Christian music" consisted of Amy Grant (ok), Petra (oof) and Carman (bleagghhgh).  I knew the Newsboys were in that genre ... and given that incredibly bland name ... Dolberry was expecting the worst. The problem w/ "Christian rock" back in the day was that it was so tame ... so bland ... so unlike the confrontational God that the music was dedicated to.  This probably resulted from many of the groundbreaking artists (like Steve Taylor) constantly having to fend off accusations from conservative pastors that they were merely mouthpieces of Satan w/ their six-six-six strings.  There were likely exceptions, but the majority of the genre was pablum. The beautiful KMD suggested we play the gifted CD on the 40 min ride home from Siler City to Apex. Dolberry slumped in his seat.  CD starts w/ 10 seconds of promising wah-wah guitary stuff followed by a solid set of power chords then this ...

Sample lyrics: You don't understand / This is not what you think it is / You don't get it, man / You want to boil it down to show biz / Your in-depth research shows / Drop the God, emphasize the beat / I've heard that positive pop you dig / I'd rather be buried in wet concrete.

Holy John Lennon ... an "Christian rock" protest song.  I guess what Peter Furler and Steve Taylor (who co-wrote the song) were agitated about were the sales pitches that record labels/agents/producers would sometimes make to successful "Christian bands" suggesting that secular radio riches were on the horizon if they'd just mute the message.  Sadly, while this song was really cool, this sentiment was often used to bash other "Christian bands" as sellouts when they'd become popular in the secular scene (even when the message was unmuted).  Back in the day on the Relient K message boards you'd have people saying stuff like ... "Your last album referenced Jesus nine times and this one only does 3 times.  I hope you enjoy eternal damnation."  Anyway ... when it's all said and done ... whether you've kept God a secret or not won't likely won't be judged on what songs you sang.

#18 Come Out and Play - The Offspring
This song is nearly 20 years old and despite having rung out "You Got Keep 'Em Separated" at the right point in the song everytime it has ever come on the radio, Dolberry had no idea what this song was about until APD looked up the lyrics a month or so ago.

Sample lyrics:
Like the latest fashion / Like a spreading disease / The kids are strappin' on their way to the classroom / Getting weapons with the greatest of ease / The gangs stake out their own campus locale / And if they catch you slippin' then it's all over pal / If one guy's colors and the other's don't mix / They're gonna bash it up bash it up bash it up bash it up.

Hey, man you talkin' back to me? / Take him out / You gotta keep 'em separated / Hey, man you disrespecting me? / Take him out / You gotta keep 'em separated

By the time you hear the siren / It's already too late / One goes to the morgue and the other to jail / One guy's wasted and the other's a waste / It goes down the same as the thousands before / No one's getting smarter / No one's learning to score / Your never ending spree of death and violence and hate / Is gonna tie your own rope tie your own rope tie your own

While the Offspring's lead singer and lyricist Dexter Holland (who has an interesting resume for a punk rock singer having earned a Master's degree in molecular biology at USC) was clearly talking about gangs in schools ... the song is a better-than-fair analogy for the state of our Congress ... especially in light of the comments that Indiana Republican Marlin Stutzman made this week on the shutdown. "We’re not going to be disrespected.  We have to get something out of this.  And I don’t know what that even is.”

I guess ... you got keep 'em separated.

#17 Rain on the Scarecrow - John Cougar Mellencamp

As I've chronicled here before, Dolberry spent the better part of two summers in the mid-80s cruising across southern Indiana in my (well ... El Cueto's) not-that-sporty Datsun 210 putting Oreos on grocery store shelves.  Most of the time between stores was spent with the windows rolled down (El Cuerva valued free AC) ... driving from smalltown to smalltown ... gazing at Indiana farmland ... and singing along to JCM tapes in the cassette deck.  And while I prefered "The Lonesome Jubilee" to "Scarecrow", there was considerable appeal in the clarion call of Scarecrow's opener.

Sample lyrics:  Rain on the scarecrow blood on the plow / This land fed a nation this land made me proud  / And son I'm just sorry there's no legacy for you now  / Rain on the scarecrow blood on the plow.  

I suppose the fight to maintain small family farms in the face of behemoth corporate farms was a battle that was fought and lost.  They put on some pretty cool rock shows, but according to Farm Aid's web site ... 83% of the beef slaughtered in the U.S. is now controlled by just four companies (Tyson, Cargill, JBS, and National Beef).  And I tried to look up what percentage of the U.S. corn crop is genetically modified but the USDA site is shutdown.  Oh right ...  This countdown is depressing me.  It was supposed to be about anger.  I'm not sure Dolberry can stand another 16 songs.  Can we at least get ONE where what the protest song was clamoring for finally came to fruition?

#16 Another Brick in the Wall - Pink Floyd

That's what I'm talking about!!!  We DIDN'T need all that education they were trying to cram down our throats in the early 80's.  Just like Mr. Floyd said.  Now we live in a world where it's perfectly acceptable to be one of the 9% of Americans who believe the U.S. has a fleet of black helicopters that will eventually be used in a UN takeover of the country.  Who's going to tell you you're wrong?  You don't want to believe that CO2 re-radiates IR energy?  Who's going to make you!?!  Don't believe the studies that show that violent video games increase short-term hostility?  Yeah, the researchers were probably biased.  All facts (at least the ones that you don't like) are ambiguous and therefore not really worth learning.  Plus most facts can be mutated in a pinch anyway ... as long as your motives are pure ... and of course your motives are pure. 

Sample lyrics: We don't need no education / We don't need no thought control / No dark sarcasm in the classroom / Teachers leave them kids alone!

Hey ... Father Sans ... leave that Dolberry alone!

Countdown for the shutdown (#25 to #21)

Welcome back to the countdown.  Recall that we are counting down Dolberry's top 25 songs for the government shutdown.  These are protest songs whose righteous anger over the brokenness of the world inspires their listeners to attain great heights to right the wrongs identified within (or write blogs posts that ... maybe upwards of 8 people will ever read).  The scoring rubric was addressed earlier.

#25 Even a Dog Can Shake Hands - Warren Zevon.
The issue here is one near and dear to Dolberry ... the inflated role of useless middlemen in the life of a successful and humorous rock star.  Zevon's sardonic wit is on full display as he highlights the insincerity of agents and miscellaneous talent-less hacks that leech on to a talent and attempt to milk it for every drop their worth.  This is why Dolberry doesn't have a book deal!

Sample lyrics:  All the worms and the gnomes are having lunch at Le Dome / They're all living off the fat of the land / Everybody's trying to be a friend of mine / Even a dog can shake hands.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure the song (written in the mid-80's) even translates to the modern day.  Does any one even shake hands any more?  First, it's unsanitary.  Second, no one really expects anyone to adhere to any particular agreement anymore.  That's why we have a legal system, right?  Third, I think people now generally appreciate that dogs are smarter and more useful than people anyway.  It's sort of like singing ... even a nuclear physicist can solve the approximate bind energy of a helium nucleus that has a mass defect of 0.0000000000000000000000000000052 kilograms ... except ... you know ... rhyme-ier.

#24  My Country - Midnight Oil
To my recollection ever single Oils song was an angry one: "Beds are Burning", "Blue Sky Mine", "Forgotten Years", "The Dead Heart".  Lead singer Peter Garrett was awfully agitated for someone that lived in down under in Oz.  What's to get angry about there ... what with the kangaroos and the perpetual shrimp on the barbies?  Maybe it was the vegemite or baby-eating-dingos?  Dolberry doesn't know.  Dolberry gathered most of his knowledge about Austraila from movies and pop music.  Actually, I recall the Oils being mad about Australia's treatment of its indigenous people.  Sheesh, I have no idea what the Aussies did to theirs but it couldn't have been near as bad as what we did to ours, and we didn't have a whole rock band focusing on it ... and we could have spared a few.

Sample lyrics: I hear you say the truth must take a beating / The flag a camouflage for your deceiving / I know, yes I know / It's written on your soul / I know, we all make mistakes / This is not a case of blurred vision / It's a case of black holes, pocket holes, soul holes  / And did I hear you say... my country right or wrong?

The expression "my country, right or wrong" has an fascinating history ... apparently mutating from a rallying cry in the Revolutionary War days to a sarcastic rejoinder in the Vietnam War days.  I think the expression hit it's high-water mark in the late 1800s when a senator from Missouri orated from the floor ... "My country right or wrong.  If right, to be kept right; and if wrong to be set right."  This senator, Carl Schurz, later expounded upon his point in an anti-imperialism speech in Chicago in 1899 ... “I confidently trust that the American people will prove themselves … too wise not to detect the false pride or the dangerous ambitions or the selfish schemes which so often hide themselves under that deceptive cry of mock patriotism: ‘Our country, right or wrong!’ They will not fail to recognize that our dignity, our free institutions and the peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: ‘Our country—when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right.’.

So chanelling the late Senator Schurz and the angry Oils, let Dolberry just say that when ever I see an American flag-filled Fox News backdrop behind their lie-spewing, moron-baiting, Murdoch-puppeteered vacant talking heads ... knowing what that flag really represents ... I want to projectile vomit.

#23 The Spirit of Radio - Rush
Here's another protest song that doesn't really stand the test of time.  Sadly, the object of the song's scorn ignored the warning sirens issued by the Hall-of-Fame power trio from the Great White North.

Sample lyrics: All this machinery making modern music can still be open-hearted. / Not so coldly charted / It's really just a question of your honesty, yeah, your honesty / One likes to believe in the freedom of music / But glittering prizes and endless compromises shatter the illusion of integrity. 

So ... this will be too complicated to explain to anyone under 40 but the gist of it is that ... back in the dark night that passed as day of 1980 ... you basically had to listen to radio, or buy albums, if you wanted to listen to music.  And since radios were at least minimally mobile, they were the place where most people got to hear music.  There were no customizable playlists or Pandora or Spotify or any of that.  You were beholden to whatever the programming director at the radio station wanted to play.  Even if that included that awful Pina Colada song ... which it often did in 1980.  And the whole system was corrupt.  Record labels would pay PD's to play certain songs over and over and over again. And songwriters started aiming for the lowest common denominators of easily-digestible hooks and trite lyrics.  I'm looking at you Captain and Tennille ... (and take off that ridiculous hat!).  Rush suggested a better path.  Radio didn't listen and got blown away by whatever music listening mechanism showed up next (first MTV, then mixtapes, then illegal downloading, than iTunes, then YouTube, then Lala, and now Pandora/Spotify).  And now nobody listens to radio except sad souls who need their daily IV drip of hate from oxycodone-addled blowhards that pander to the basest instincts of humanity (frightened tribalism over sacrificial love).  Ironically, if we'd have listened to Rush, we might not have Rush.

#22 Money For Nothing - Dire Straits
This one's confusing.  Some two decades before Stephen Colbert's spoof on conservative cable dingbats, we had Dire Straits narrating a wickedly piercing takedown of musicians from the point-of-view of a regular Joe workingman.  The story is that Mark Knopfler was in a department store in the mid 80's somewhere in the States (the idea of a rock star hanging out in a Sears is a little hard to grasp) and overheard one of the workers in the electronics department point mutter disgustedly at a TV playing a music video ... "That ain't working.  Money for nothing."

Sample lyrics: Now look at them yo-yo's that's the way you do it / You play the guitar on the MTV / That ain't workin' that's the way you do it / Money for nothin' and chicks for free / Now that ain't workin' that's the way you do it / Lemme tell ya them guys ain't dumb / Maybe get a blister on your little finger /Maybe get a blister on your thumb.

The confusing part is ... much like when Dolberry watches Colbert ... I'm not sure which opinion I'm supposed to be in agreement with here.  When you consider a Miley Cyrus or a Wham! ... it's hard not to agree w/ the department store guy.  When you see talents like Mark Knopfler or Sting, it's hard not to marvel at their gifts.  Best not to think too much about it ... we're supposed to be angry here ... simply enjoy the rapturous guitar solo that launches this one and the chanty "I want my MTV" Sting falsetto that closes it.

#21 The Nerve - Mutemath
We all knew Dolberry couldn't go 25 songs without plugging one of his personal favorite dark horse bands who's quality far outpaces their recognition.  Dolberry himself is surprised he made it to #21 in this countdown without proselytizing.  So while you don't get Switchfoot, Big Country, House of Heroes, or Relient K on this countdown, you do get these guys from the Big Easy.  (Speaking of N'awlins ... looks like a hurricane may be coming their way ... let me be the first to joke (it's 5:29p on 10/03 ... i'm probably at least in the first 1000 or so to suggest this) that the SHUTDOWN government's response will likely outpace the Katrina response.  Obama better do a better job this time around!!!!)

Sample lyrics: Can you believe this world's just a double dealin' joker, gonna stick to his guns? / Can you believe this world's just a television blaring, a million devils at once? / Can you believe this world's just a charmer in disguise with a lavender soul? / Can you believe this world's just exactly as we built it, runnin' out of control?  Set it on fire! (x7)

The best lines in the song are the first two ... Can you believe this world has the nerve to insist it won't trade for a better one?  Can you believe this world is yelling out in the dark it wants to be left alone? While not identifying themselves as a "Christian band" (whatever that is), Mutemath does mix many Christian allusions into their lyrics.  The good news is ... and I believe this as much as I believe that Dusty Baker should be fired (i.e., 150%) ... that Light came into the world and darkness will never overcome it. And that's great ... but you don't have to look too far around (or even into your own soul) to see that it's still pretty damn dim.  The question then becomes ... how do we risk reaching our arms out in this dusky world and jointly rescue one another?  I don't know but I'm fairly certain it doesn't involve callous indifference to their plight ... misguided marketing efforts to get people to buy our product ... or arguing that football is biblical (what the what Southern Baptists?!?), or devoting energy in attempts to legislatively impose a belief system that is really only meaningful when it is adopted willingly and humbly and then used to sacrificially serve in transforming the world.

20 more to go.

Countdown for the Shutdown (Introduction)

Yeah ... so Dolberry has some time on his hands.

Enough time to create and present to the world one of Dolberry's famous rock-n-roll countdowns.  This one's is the Top 25 rock n' roll songs that are at least mildly cathartic for a sullen Dolberry when played at volume levels that are just below the maximum operating capacity of the human eardrum.

Here's the scoring rubric ... although as always all decisions are Dolberry's and Dolberry's alone and are final and not subject to appeal and are likely inerrant to begin with.

• Does the song clearly present an issue of concern (at least to Dolberry)?  (40%)
• Does the song invoke a previously unfelt desire to locate, then storm some barricades? (30%)
• Does the song skillfully skewer the human condition that has led to this issue of concern? (25%)
• Does the song scream or at least make you want to scream a significant fraction of the lyrics? (10%)
• Is the song from one of those acts that only Dolberry likes and everyone wishes he'd just give it a rest already? (-5%)

Also, only rock and roll songs need apply.  Folk songs may appeal to a certain segment of this disaffected population ... but as a short guy w/ an Irish temper ... Dolberry ain't got time for that hippie crap.  So Dylan and Lennon and Crosby can take their pathetic acoustic guitars back to the smoking area.

So ... with just a little more ado ... here are the songs that just missed the Top 25 w/ a short synopsis.  The actual Top 25 songs will be dripped out over the next few days unless something happens to change Dolberry's mood. Each of the top 25 songs will be accompanied by a touching and inspirational vignette about Dolberry's interactions with the song and some sample lyrics.

Countdown for the Shutdown: Honorable Mentions:

Buckets for Bullet Wounds - House of Heroes  ... the way-too-underappreciated quartet from Columbus OH loudly lament the human condition and liken our pitiful response efforts to merely getting buckets to capture the blood pouring from our gaping wounds (alert!  countdown foreshadowing!!). Sample lyrics: "There are no doctors ... only victims ... only bloodshed.  There are no churches ... only prisons ... only senators. There are no handshakes ... only handguns ... buckets for bullet wounds!"  Hells yeah HOH!  Would have made the countdown but for the obscurity thing.

Flame of the West - Big Country ... E-bow fueled rant about the hero's welcome many Britons gave Reagan when he visited the UK in the early 80's.  Sample lyrics: "He had the voice of an angel and the face of a saint.  And though they fell behind him, I knew what it was he meant.  His eyes were full of demons as he made the message clear.  He strode the world like Caeser and with a trident held his fear."  All you young 'Merican isolation Rand Paulites should look you up some Big Country and thank me later.  Missed top 25 on account of obscurity.  (Yeah, your loss bozos!)

Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana ... Classic passive aggressive protest for the flannel-wearing slackers everywhere. Sample lyrics:  "Oh well ... whatever ... never mind."  Dolberry has rocked out to the crunchy goodness of this song probably 1000+ times in his life but is still not totally sure what he's supposed to be angry about.  Does it have something to do w/ antiperspirants?  Mr. Cobain, I've marked your song down a bit for its ambiguity.  Don't pretend you don't care, slacker.  And tuck in your shirt!

Born in the U.S.A. - Bruce Springsteen ... Yes I have a rock protest anthem countdown w/o a single Springsteen song in it.  Sue me.  (Actually, please don't.)  This one came close, but ultimately it's been co-opted too many times by politicians who were too lazy to even google "Born in the U.S.A. lyrics" like Dolberry is just about to do.  Sample lyrics: "Born down in a dead man's town.  The first kick I took was when I hit the ground.  End up like a dog that's been beat too much, 'til you spend half your life just a-covering up.  Born in the U.S.A.".

What's My Age Again? - blink-182 ... Puerile but all-too-fun complaint from SoCal pop-punk goofballs about how no one likes you when you're 23 and you still act like your in freshman year.  Once 23-year old Dolberry hollas "Amen".  Oh ... don't click the link and don't look up the lyrics.  (Huh huh huh ... Beavis he said 'puerile butt',)

Will the Wolf Survive - Los Lobos ... Dolberry really wanted this song to make the countdown because it would show that he is not only sensitive to the unique struggles that Hispanics face to maintain their identity while being assimilated into America, but that he also has hefty chops for classic and underappreciated 80's songs, but instead I had to put it here to right the ship after that whole Blink incident.  Sample lyrics: Standing in the pouring rain.  All alone in a world that's changed.  Running scared, now forced to hide.  In a land where he once stood with pride.