steve kwan user experience designer

#3

(September 7th, 2005 - 6:22PM)

#3: Matthew Good - Avalanche

This should make "ashelteredtown" happy. While simultaneously making Richard and everyone else mad.

All of the songs in my top ten are personal favorites, but none of those mentioned up until now have emotional significance to me. The top three, on the other hand, are different.

Matthew Good gets a lot of flak. A lot of people seem to think of him as a pompous, preachy dork, and judge his music accordingly. I've never met Matthew so I don't know what he's really like, but if his music and the news are any indication then the allegations of his arrogance are probably true.

It's also true that he's a genius. Regardless of whether or not you like Matthew Good as a person, it's hard to deny that his music is amazing. It has a unique, poetic sound that you're unlikely to find elsewhere.

If you listen to Canadian rock stations, you might hear any number of Matthew Good songs. Avalanche is not one of them. It was never released as a single. That being said, of all his songs I like it the most. In addition to being my definitive Grouse Grind song ("one foot in front of the other"), this song makes me think of being young and happy. It reminds me that being human isn't such a bad thing after all.

That being said, as with most Matthew Good songs I have no clue what he's actually talking about. This song could be about nothing more than an avalanche, and I wouldn't know any better. But it still means something to me.

Matthew Good's greatest hits album, In A Coma, comes out on September 20th.

The top ten so far:

1. ???
2. ???
3. Matthew Good - Avalanche
4. Def Leppard - When Love and Hate Collide
5. U2 - Where the Streets Have No Name
6. The Waterboys - Fisherman Blues
7. Leonard Cohen - Dance me to the End of Love
8. Dave Matthews Band & Paul Oakenfold - When the World Ends
9. Massive Attack - Angel
10. Stereophonics - Mr. Writer