5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #163

5 Songs to Get You Through the Week is a feature I run on Young Ears, Fresh Perspective on Sundays/early hours of Monday morning where I pick out 5 tunes that I think are notable and tell you a bit about them. The point is to give you some rocking music to help you deal with your weekday blues. You can either listen to one each day, listen to them all at once, or any other combination that you feel. As long as you can get through the week without the man getting you down, that's all I care about. Without further ado, here are the 5 tracks I've picked out for this week:

1. Big Tings, by Skindred

If you have never heard of these guys, you have most certainly been missing out. They are a Welsh reggae metal band and they ROCK. I know you would think such a sub-genre would be weird, but somehow they actually make it work in a way that kicks some serious ass. It's some hard rocking tunes with a fantastic groove to them that don't sound like they are just trying to copy the 70's or 80's all over again like a lot of today's revival bands.

2. This is Gonna Hurt, by Sixx: AM

I've always thought that this was one of Sixx AM's best tracks. It's one of those fist pumping, arena rocking anthem-type songs that is definitely good for getting you energized and motivated. Definitely something you want to be listening to if you need a little kick in the ass to get your week going. It's unfortunate though that it seems like the band for the most part is over. I guess they did everything they set out to do.

3. Let Me Hear You Scream, by Ozzy Osbourne

Now as you all know, it's absolutely no secret that I am a HUGE fan of Ozzy and everything he has done the past five decades. That said, I thought the last album he did (Scream, which is already eight years old) was absolute trash. This was the only track on that album that I liked at all. If the rest of Scream would have followed suit, it might have turned out to be a fairly decent record. Oh well. At least this song rocks out with its male chicken out.

4. Down Again, by Black Country Communion

This is hands down one of my absolute favorite Black Country Communion songs, with maybe only one or two ahead of it. Regardless, that guitar riff is just absolutely killer and the steady groove it pushes just hits me in all the right ways. Plus, the vocal performance is absolutely dynamite and full of energy despite Glenn Hughes's noticeably advancing age. He is probably one of the only 70's rock singers still around today aside from Paul Rodgers, Dennis DeYoung, and Ozzy Osbourne who still sound close to the way they did back then.

5. Ten Years Gone, by Led Zeppelin

This is one of my favorite Led Zeppelin tunes that I never seem to hear anyone talking about. It's a great one, though. That cleanly strummed main riff has this lonely, slightly melancholy feel to it that makes me feel all kinds of things. It just goes to show you that when done right, music doesn't need any lyrics in order to evoke deep emotions from the audience. Jimmy Page really was something back in his day.