5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #179

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. Mind Your Manners, by Slash feat. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators

Guns N' Roses axe man Slash is at it again with a new single from his upcoming album Living the Dream. This song is pure straight up, bare bones, no frills rock n' roll. It's pretty much exactly what you expect from a solo Slash song at this point. I don't think it is anything all that special, but it knows what kind of song it is and doesn't try to be anything more. I think that is where the strength of it lies for some people.

2. Only Friend, by The Temperance Movement

I went to a Judas Priest and Deep Purple double bill last week, and much to my pleasant surprise, The Temperance Movement was opening. I've been wanting to see them for YEARS and this was the chance I wasn't expecting. This was one of the tunes they played and it has grown on me even more than it already had before. It's so grooving, bluesy, and full of soul. This could have easily been a radio hit back in the 70's.

3. Megitsune, by Babymetal

Now I know what you're going to say. Babymetal, Josh? Really? Yes, really. I think if you gave them a chance you might find that you actually like some of their stuff. Their blend of J-Pop and modern metal works surprisingly well. Plus, they have some fantastic choreography and costumes to boot. If you're at all curious, this song in particular is a song about female empowerment and I think that is a wonderful thing.

4. Living After Midnight, by Judas Priest

This is one of the songs that Judas Priest encored with last week - to the surprise of absolutely no one, of course. It's a good song and it is one of the ones that put them on the mainstream radar, even to this day. It's definitely not my favorite song of theirs, nor is it anywhere near their most heavy and technically proficient song, but it's catchy, rocking, and fun. At the end of the day, there is just as much a place for that as there is anything else in metal.

5. Bloodsucker, by Deep Purple

Much to my pleasant surprise, Deep Purple pulled out this obscure gem at the concert last week. You don't hear them playing all that much of anything from Deep Purple in Rock any more, so this was pretty cool. That said, Ian Gillan can definitely NOT do the kind of screams he was doing in 1970 any more, but it was still an overall solid performance. This is one of my personal favorite tracks from that album, so I definitely feel it is worth giving at least one listen.