Happy 1st Birthday, Daijams! Check out the Top 5 posts of Year 1!

I was raised on music. The nineties, ie the time I spent between ages of 3 and 13, were a blur of Dave Matthews, the Smashing Pumpkins, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, among many others. In 2010, my parents even started a Facebook community dedicated to posting YouTube videos of their favorite artists and songs. It's like a hereditary disease of the best variety.

A year ago today, I realized my friends (particularly my beloved but beleaguered roommates) were fed up with my constant babble about the live music videos I was collecting in my YouTube "Favorites" file. The videos were, at that time, heavily influenced by my budding Weezer obsession, and my roommate Allie took to asking whether I was going to listen to the "SWEATERRRRRRRRRR" song again tonight, or if she could go to sleep in peace. I took that as a sign that I needed some sort of outlet, beyond my parents' celebrated Facebook community. I wanted to create a searchable library, a canon of good live music, along with (of course, as I am a narcissistic writer, and this is just what we do) my own commentary.

So one year ago today, this blog was born.

In fact, the very first video posted here was a Weezer/Sara Bareilles collaboration. I began that post thus:

"The inaugural video on this blog is one that I have not been able to get out of my head for seven days. Seven. Full. Days. It's actually the reason I'm starting this blog: To try to get this song out of my head. I figure if I post a new live music performance every day, eventually, maybe in four or five years, I'll get this song out of my head."

Here's the video that started it all, in case you don't want to click through:

Happily, that song has been out of my head for approximately 11.5 months, thanks in large part to this blog. The daily chore of writing posts has turned into my favorite daily task, thanks in large part to the growing readership (YOU!) that has not only interacted with me via comments and Facebook postings, but in real life: The other day a friend texted me that she was sitting on a plane next to a woman actively engaged in a creepy vocal fry, which I'd written about a few days prior in a post about everyone's favorite white female rap-talk-singer, Ke$ha.Thank you again to everyone who has read and responded, or just read and enjoyed privately. If you've ever actually watched one of my videos all the way through, you're my best friend.

In an act of sentimentality, today we look back at the five most popular posts in this blog's first year of life. Let's dig in:

5)  Kelly Clarkson: "Express Yourself" and "Already Gone" (posted July 13, 2011)

In this post from last July, I mused over the talent of the only artist (save maybe Carrie Underwood) to have truly transcended the American Idol stamp on her career. Kelly Clarkson is wicked talented, and the post included two videos: her 2002 audition video and a 2009 live studio performance of her then-smash hit, "Already Gone." The progress was striking. Thank God her career didn't end with From Justin to Kelly.

4) The Rolling Stones: "Time is On My Side" (posted February 2, 2012)

After a run-in with Bill Murray at the end of January 2012, I felt the need to delve deep into this song and its history, as well as the Rolling Stones' start on the coattails of the Beatles, their progression of live show style (they got a LOT more outgoing), and the artists who did this song before the Stones made it famous.

3) Nikki Yanofsky: "Lullaby of Birdland" (posted May 19, 2011)

This then-17-year-old jazz singer has a voice beyond her years, and you guys seem to agree. Her phrasing and confidence still takes my breath away. Originally posted in May 2011, this song was in the lead for a long time until the next two artists completely obliterated her pageviews.

2) Hanson: "Thinking 'Bout Somethin'" (posted December 1, 2011)

The Hanson brothers are proof that if you're talented, and you stick together long enough (as family is hopefully apt to do), you're going to find not only the slow-soaking success that is the Holy Grail of the music industry, but also that people will really dig it when their favorite band from 5th grade is still awesome. More than three months after I posted this, and I'm still obsessed with this song.

1) Pink: "Bohemian Rhapsody" (posted November 29, 2011)

After only three months, and with more than three times the pageviews of the runner-up, Pink's version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" is by far the most viewed post on this blog. I'll credit Freddie Mercury's fashion sense, Pink's gusto, and our country's undying love of all things Queen.

Thanks for sticking with me through Year 1! If you're just joining us, Year 2 kicks off tomorrow with a post celebrating a bevy of my favorite musicians from all over the spectrum -- pop, blues, rock, even rap. Why? Because tomorrow is my birthday, and I can do whatever I want!

Until next time -- jam on!

Pink: "Bohemian Rhapsody"

If you're going to attempt Freddie Mercury, you'd better be ready to pull off Freddie Mercury. The man had a four-octave range, an unimpeachable fashion sense, and what is known as "stage presence." He is an icon, a performer whose personality and flamboyance guaranteed a fascinating live show, beyond the music itself. My generation missed something by not being alive to see him.

And "Bohemian Rhapsody" was not only a huge song when it came out in 1975 -- it has remained one of the most well-known songs in English, appearing in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. More importantly, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is an anthem celebrated at the climactic moment of every drunken dance party -- because, you know, who doesn't love a chorus of inebriated voices struggling to create harmony before giving up and head-banging themselves into oblivion.

My god, I love this song.

Despite the usual chorus of liquored voices, this is actually an incredibly difficult song to perform. It vacillates between a ballad, an opera, and hard rock. There's a crazy guitar solo. The six-minute epic causes blood pressure to spike at various points, particularly at 4 minutes in, when the song explodes from a chorale into a cymbal-crashing head-banger. And Pink is right there, drumstick in hand, rocking out.

We've come to expect a performer like Pink, whose 2009 Funhouse tour spanned three continents and 151 shows, to hold her own on the singing. After all, she rose from small town Pennsylvanian obscurity to become one of the richest and most popular pop singers of the millennium. She's had eleven Top 10 hits, and her mantle is weighed down by three Grammys, 5 MTV music video awards and two Brit awards -- so far. That mantle is likely in a kickass mansion, too, because in 2010 Forbes named Pink the 27th most powerful celebrity. That kind of meteoric rise requires more than musical talent -- it takes tenacity, risk, and a somewhat oversized personality.

The execution starts with the fashion, in which Pink pays direct homage to Freddie, with the patterned pants and replica yellow jacket. Freddie may not have worn pink pasties on his chest, but I'd venture he would approve of the overall effect:

 

One of Pink's many looks on the Funhouse tour. Left boob = pastie.

 Freddie Mercury

But it's more than the look and the voice. Freddie was all about performance, and Pink seems to be a disciple of the same philosophy. She jumps all over the stage, jamming with the keyboardist and the lead guitarist, smacking the cymbals with borrowed drumsticks, conducting the band. The crazy funhouse set doesn't hurt the mood:

We may have lost Freddie Mercury much too soon, but Pink's performance accomplishes the task of honoring his memory, his role in music history, while also allowing her to show off her own stage chops. It's well-planned and well-performed from start to finish, a mix of old and new, classic and contemporary. In Pink's hands, a legendary song is both safe in its tradition and malleable in its execution.

In other words, I dig it.

What, you thought I was going to spend half the post talking about Freddie Mercury and then NOT give you a video? You're in good hands here, dear reader. Enjoy some classic Freddie (this video is part 1 of 5, from the 1985 Live Aid Festival):