Yo, what up!

A pile of papers to grade means yet another #Halfassed edition of this series. So rather than go through an involved selection process to determine the mix, I just shuffled my iPod and selected the first four songs that came up. Here they are!

Up first we have an absolute monolith of metal in the form of this classic hit from the Blizzard of Oz. "Crazy Train" is immediately recognizable from its killer opening riff and the timeless lyrics: "Crazy, but that's how it goes." Indeed it does, Ozzy.

Up next a beautiful ballad from probably my favorite band that I still haven't seen live: Swedish melodic death metal masters Opeth. This song from their landmark transitional album "Watershed" is an interesting piece for two reasons: first, it's much shorter than the average Opeth songs at just over 3 minutes long (Opeth usually run for an average of 8 or 9 minutes), and second it features female vocals accompanying lead singer Mikhail Akerfeldt. This is "Coil." (The song starts at 23 seconds in)

Next we have a live performance (because that's all YouTube has, S/O to Interpol's crack team of internet lawyers lol) from indie rock gods Interpol. This is one of their best songs in my humble opinion, which Kbonay eloquently celebrated in his recent TIMH.

This last one you may recognize from the movie Back to the Future. This slow, lovely ballad was well chosen by the filmmakers, as it perfectly encapsulates many people's rosy-tinted clean-cut image of the 1950s United States. This song was originally recorded by doo-wop group The Penguins, and contrary to popular belief not only is it not a Buddy Holly song, but Buddy Holly never even covered or played it live once. This is "Earth Angel."