OK, it was time for me to come back around here. I had managed to put some words on the social medias about the November 13 events, but I couldn’t come back here straight after and talk about shoes, lipsticks, or even about the attacks themselves. Today, I think we all need to take our minds off things, so the looks are back this week on the blog, but I wanted to start by talking about music, because music makes people alive, happy, and because no one will manage to prevent us from listening to music, to go to concerts. So here it is, a small post with my top 5 (and more) bands, the ones that made me who I am today, and that have been with me, kind of like a background soundtrack.

1. Green Day

A lot of people around me think that Biffy Clyro is my favourite band, which is part true, and part false. It is definitively the best band in the world (yeah, no less) but Green Day is my band, the one that has been with me since I was a little kid (or, rather, the band I follow), my first concert (Lyon, 2005) and, above all, the band that I listened to during my teenage years, and that is something that can’t be denied.

For those of you who don’t know Green Day or who never deigned lend an ear to it, I recommend you listen to the album Dookie, obviously because it is really good punk-pop-rock-garage, and also American idiot, and because this album is a beauty from the first to the last track, and it largely managed to be a real rock opera album.

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2. Biffy Clyro

What more could I say about them that I haven’t already say the past two years ? Biffy Clyro’s music has been with me for the two past years of my adult life. These past two years, I got my diploma, and straight away I started working full time as a freelance online community manager. It hasn’t always been easy, and their music was of great moral support, in addition to my friends and family’s. This band made me meet great people with whom I shared lots of things since. Each concert made me more alive, was like a breath of fresh air, as if I could resume my life more easily after each concert. After all, maybe that’s what music is.

If, in spite of all my posts about them, you haven’t listen to them, I recommend the album Only Revolutions, a really good rock album, extremely melodious. If you’re more into “raw” rock, Blackened Sky will convince you 🙂

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3. Blink 182

Blink was the first band I traveled for just a concert (London in 2012) and Mark Hoppus will always be the coolest guy in the world for me (and incidentally, with the coolest Twitter account as well). Their concert at the Frequency festival was one of the best concerts in my whole life, partly because of the finale in which Mark threw his Tshirt to me, the “gal with the flower crown”, but also because I never thought I would ever be first row at one of their concerts, and since Tom Delonge left the band… But in spite of their separation, it is still a cult band for me, and I will continue to listen to what they do.

My favourite album from them still is Take off your pants and jacket, some good californian pop-punk that you never get tired of, but the eponym album Blink-182 is as perfect and really shows the evolution of the band towards a more mature era. I look forward to what they’re going to do in the future years with Matt Skiba filling in for Tom Delonge.

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4. Twin Atlantic

A recent favourite, but still a favourite, Twin Atlantic ! I discovered them as the support band for Blink at their London concert in 2012, I kept listening to them after that and their album Great Divide released last year closed the deal for me : this band deserves more than a light listening. After I interviewed them at the beginning of the year before their parisian concert, we decided with a friend to follow them during their UK tour, and we had a blast ! So we kept following them and my latest concert was last month in Cardiff ! Right now they are in the studios to record their next album, and I’m looking forward to see what it’s going to be like ! Until then, you should listen to Free and Great Divide, they are uplifting and have a whole new meaning when performed live !

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5. Editors

The last band from my top 5, Editors ! I talked about their last album not so long ago here and it’s definitively my favourite album of the year. I’ve been listening to them for a few years already but their last two albums are my favourites. A bit like Biffy Clyro with Only Revolutions or Blink with their eponym album, The Weight of your love et In dream represented the shift in style the band experienced, and I like these kind of changes. The band became less rock, more electro, more retro, and almost new wave, as I was saying in my last post about the album In Dream, it’s melancholic enough, but still powerful and electric at the same time…I love it, I love it, I love it !

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Some extras…

It’s hard to choose only 5 bands so I broaden my top with bands that left a mark on me, or that I discovered recently and that I want to discover even more in the next years…

Queens of the stone age

Because Josh Homme, because of the sound of his guitar, because it is the sexiest music on earth. Their last album was perfect, maybe their best, and I can’t get enough of it.

Rammstein

AKA the craziest band to see live. I discovered them thanks to my middle school german pen pal, and even if at first it was my father who became a huge fan, I caught on pretty fast to it, and I used to bring back their albums as souvenirs from my trips to Germany. I saw them live 3 times and I’m looking forward to seeing them next year at the Download festival, and probably at the Hellfest… By the way, if you haven’t bought your tickets for Download Festival, look at that line-up : Biffy Clyro, Deftones, Rammstein, Iron Maiden, Korn… that’s something to have a great week-end 🙂

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The Smashing Pumpkins

I think it’s one of my key bands from my childhood with Queen, Scorpions or Iron Maiden. I was lucky enough to have a father who was into rock music, I’m pretty satisfied of my musical heritage haha, and the Smashing Pumpkins are like my Proust madeleine. The album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is a beauty, and will always remain in the top 10 of my favourite albums. Small drawback, however, for the band today, so I don’t listen to their newest albums because the musicians have changed so much since that it is nothing like the 90’s band it used to be.

Foo Fighters

Dave Grohl. Is that enough as a justification ?

To develop more, I feel like I never really listen to them, and yet I know all the albums by heart. So many hits, so many great songs, I was really looking forward to seeing them this year, but because of the recent events, it won’t happen. It was hard to bring ourselves to ask for a refund on the tickets, but we’ll get more occasions.

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Marilyn Manson

Once again, an idol from my teenage years. The posters on my wall were scary, but his music was on the background of a lot of my studying sessions for my GCSE and my Baccalaureate. Even though Antichrist was an excellent album that I listen to a lot, I prefer Mechanical Animals, the perfect album, and again, it would fit in the top 10 of my favourite albums.

Bonus : Arcane Roots

They’re not really in the top 10 of my favourite bands ever, because I just discovered them, but this band is so good live that I couldn’t not talk about them, their live show last month in London left me in awe, it probably was one of my top 3 best concerts. I was supposed to see them live last week, but it didn’t happen, that would be one more reason to go see them abroad next year. Until then, I bless Biffy Clyro for picking them as their guest band for their parisian show two years ago. I will talk about them again very soon, they just released an excellent EP last month !

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That’s all for my top, it’s pretty personal, but I hope you discovered at least one band, and if not, maybe an album you missed. I would love to hear about your top ! And don’t forget, keep going to live shows, to LIVE music, and to live, we are scared but we shouldn’t deny ourselves what makes us happy, because we are going to need these little moments of happiness for the years coming.