Maroon 5 & Travie McCoy: "Stereo Hearts"

I started this blog earlier this year for the specific purpose of getting a certain Weezer song out of my head. I'd literally listened to it a dozen times a day for a week, and I feared I may grow to hate the song, as tends to happen with radio overplay. By posting it on the blog, I got it out of my system and maintained the integrity of the intrinsic enjoyment it still brings me. That and Sara Bareilles is just so darn cute.

As you may have surmised by this point, I'm hoping to achieve the same success with this radio hit, a collaboration between Adam Levine of Maroon 5 and Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes. My love for Levine is no secret -- he's ear and eye candy of the highest caliber -- but Travie McCoy is also fun to watch, spitting rhymes while Adam dances with the mic stand.

Okay fine, so maybe I was watching Adam the entire time. But Travie sounds good, so I assume he's fun to watch too. Crank it up, appreciate when good songs make it to the top of the pop charts, and have a happy and productive Monday.

Maroon 5: "Sunday Morning"

It's Tuesday, but I'm dreaming of Sunday. Best day of the week.

I adore Maroon 5. They're the exact right balance of pop and rock, and Adam Levine's voice is unique and pitch-perfect. He's pretty much the reason I started watching The Voice (the newest American Idol knock-off) and now I'm sort of obsessed. Don't be surprised to see some performances from that show making their way to this blog; the array of characters they've got is both astonishing and refreshing.

This song is a classic, off Songs About Jane (2002), which in my opinion is one of the best albums released in the last decade. It's solid all the way through, and the live performance is just as soothing and musically entertaining as the studio version. Adam's got more than a little soul in him. And he can rock the skinny tie.

Maroon 5: "Must Get Out"

Maroon 5's album Songs About Jane may be one of the best full-length releases of the past 10 years.

It took awhile to get there though. The band formed in high school under the name Kara's Flowers and released their first album in 1997. They were pretty good, actually, but the band didn't find commercial success until they added a new guitarist (James Valentine) and released Songs About Jane in 2002. It was re-released in 2003 and made it into the top 10 album charts in countries around the world. Maroon 5 toured a bunch, won a Grammy for Best New Artist (2005), and released two more albums in 2007 and 2010.

Adam Levine has said the band will probably release one more album before disbanding -- though he's clarified the disbandment won't occur anytime soon. And why would it? Maroon 5 is doing incredibly well (though the second and third albums haven't lived up to the incredible hype of the first) and everyone is attractive, filthy rich and dating models. Good sense says they'll stick with it for awhile.

This is a great track, if only for the reason that it hasn't been played a million times by every Top 40 DJ. Levine even says at the beginning that it's become one of his favorites to perform live, and you can see why: I dig the percussive (and dirty) lyrics, funky guitar line and Levine's gorgeous, Michael Jackson-like intonation.

I saw Maroon 5 at the Allstate Arena a few years back; great show, but it would have been much more fun in a smaller space. Living up to his playboy reputation, Levine brought a girl on stage at one point and sang directly to her. The sound of thousands of girls swooning at once is something I won't soon forget.

Because my God, Adam Levine is hot. I mean seriously. (Warning: potentially NSFW.) And the music is awesome too. Enjoy.

"Must Get Out," performed by Maroon 5.
Original on Maroon 5's "Songs About Jane" (2002).

Reminder: Be sure to stop by tomorrow as our new regular Tuesday blogger, Brittan, will make her debut!