Music Week 2010
Here are the songs from this year's Discerning Ear Project in Ethics class. The gist of the project is that the kids bring in music (MP3s with lyric sheets) and explain it as fitting in one of three moral categories (good, bad, or neutral); thus, we spend the week listening, discussing, and debating meaning and morality.
After they spend a week wrestling through the difficulties of trying to categorize their music (dualism example: If there's some good and some bad in the song, does that then make it neutral?), we then talk about a more Reformed way of approaching things, asking what we can affirm in each song, what we should challenge, and (and this is where it gets dicey), what our listening responses should be in light of passages like 1 Corinthians 10:31, 1 Thessalonians 5:22-23, and others.
There was plenty of new music this year that I wasn't familiar with, but I confess nothing really stuck out enough to make me want to instantly (or even eventually) download it. Take a look through the songs and bands and let me know what I ought to take a chance on the next time I have some iTunes money.
100 Years by Five for Fighting
Accidents Can Happen by Sixx A.M.
American Honey by Lady Antebellum
Apologize by One Republic
Away from the Sun by 3 Doors Down
Beauty from Pain by Superchick
Bicycle Race by Queen
Billionaire by Travie McCoy (featuring Bruno Mars)
Black Rock by O.A.R.
Buddy by Musiq Soulchild
California Stars by Billy Bragg and Wilco
Cat’s in the Cradle by Harry Chapin
Chicken Fried by Zach Brown Band
Chop Suey by System of a Down
Cleaning this Gun by Rodney Atkins
Dance Anthem of the 80’s by Regina Spektor
Dead and Gone by T.I. (featuring Justin Timberlake)
Dear Life by Anthony Hamilton
Dynamite by Taio Cruz
Eclipse (All Yours) by Metric
Everything by Michael Buble
First Date by Blink 182
Ghetto Gospel by Tupac (featuring Elton John)
Grassman by Dodgy
Handlebars by The Flobots
I Am the Walrus by The Beatles
I Run to You by Lady Antebellum
I Was Made for Lovin’ You by KISS
If It’s Love by Train
If You’re Reading This by Tim McGraw
Imagine by John Lennon
Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars
King of Anything by Sara Bareilles
Lasso by Phoenix
Laughing With by Regina Spektor
Live and Let Die by Guns ‘N Roses
Love the Way You Lie by Eminem (with Rihanna)
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer by The Beatles
Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson
Mr. Brightside by The Killers
My Generation by Nas and Damien Marley
My Heart by Paramore
Narwhals by Weebl’s Stuff
Needle and Haystack Life by Switchfoot
Not Afraid by Eminem
Play the Song by Joey & Rory
Pray for You by Jason and the Long Road to Love
Put Your Records by Corinne Bailey Rae
Roxanne by The Police
Scapegoat by Epik High
Second Chance by Shinedown
Show Me What I’m Looking For by Carolina Liar
Sing for the Moment by Eminem
Snuggle Song by Schnuffel Bunny
Sorrow by Flyleaf
That’s What Youth Is by No Brain
The Cave by Mumford and Sons
The Man Who Can’t Be Moved by The Script
The Show by Lenka Tricky by RUN D.M.C.
Queen Jane by Bob Dylan
Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles
What I’ve Done by Linkin Park
Where is the Love? by the Black-Eyed Peas
Unthinkable by Alicia Keys
Vengeance by Yngwie Malmsteen
Yellow Submarine by The Beatles