If Life Ain't Just A Joke, Then Why Are We Laughing?

If Life Ain't Just A Joke, Then Why Are We Laughing?

A fine collection of songs here. Though I used a picture from the upcoming Batman movie, The Dark Knight, this mix has little to nothing to do with the film. Though, the titular track, "Dead" by My Chemical Romance, has a vaguely Joker-ish flair to it.

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So, let's get to it, shall we?

1. The Hold Steady - Chips Ahoy!
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Phenomenon
3. A Perfect Circle - Weak & Powerless
4. The Dears - Who Are You, Protectors of the Earth?
5. Bear vs. Shark - Baraga Embankment
6. Elliott Smith - Son of Sam
7. Dieselboy - Dear John
8. Flogging Molly - Old Beggar's Bush
9. Superdrag - Remain Yr Strange
10. The Apples in Stereo - Do You Understand?
11. 2 Skinnee Js - Sugar & Candy
12. The Beatles - She Said She Said
13. My Chemical Romance - Dead!
14. David Bowie - Afraid
15. Courtney Love - Mono
16. A - Better Off With Him
17. Reggie & The Full Effect - Your Boyfriend Sucks
18. Sarge - A Torch
19. No Use For A Name - June 19
20. Piebald - Long Nights
21. Alkaline Trio - If We Never Go Inside
22. Spacehog - Space is the Place
23. Imarobot - Creeping Me Out

Quick and easy, cause I'm running out of time.

The Hold Steady rock in a way few people do. Buy their record, Boys and Girls In America, you won't regret it.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs make fun, art-rock that doesn't sound pretentious. (Ok, maybe a little bit). Show Your Bones is endless fun.

A Perfect Circle = Tool - angsty maleness. 13th Step is underrated, and I don't know why.

The Dears are like Morrissey, if he joined an indie-rock band and was black. Gang of Losers is awesome, No Cities Left is way better.

Bear vs. Shark = Fugazi + At The Drive-In. RAAAR! Get Terrorhawk today!

If you don't own Figure 8 by Elliott Smith, you don't know what you're missing. "Son of Sam" is the most rock Elliott ever laid to tape.

Dieselboy, the sex-obsessed pop-punk group, not the hyperbolic DJ, wound up writing one of the better John Lennon tribute songs ever. Don't ask me, I have no idea how. From the album Sofa King Cool.

Flogging Molly are Irish, they love their roots and punk rock. It works wonders on Swagger and everything they've put out since.

This Superdrag song was written and sung by Rob Pollard of Guided by Voices. Might as well be a GBV song, since it sounds so similar. The rest of Last Call for Vitriol, except, "Baby Goes to 11" was actually written by the band proper.

Apples in Stereo are cotton candy for the ears! Velocity of Sound is their best record, so far.

Speaking of candy, 2 Skinnee Js rap about candy, contact lenses and hobos. Yes, this is par for the course for the album Volumizer.

The Beatles. 'Nuff said. Taken from Revolver, this trippy gem is dark as hell.

The aforementioned My Chemical Romance song, from Black Parade. Dark, twisted and a lot of fun to shout along with.

David Bowie has been getting better as the years go by. This track from Heathen proves it.

Courtney Love, on the other hand, continues to go downhill. "Mono" from her solo record America's Sweetheart is about the only good thing she's done since "Violet"

British band A (yes, the vowel) are hard to find on Google. But they're worth the search, especially their album Teen Dance Ordinance.

Reggie & The Full Effect is a emo "supergroup" - members come from The Get Up Kids, The New Amsterdams and others. The album Greatest Hits 1984-1987 is well worth the purchase, considering the re-release has the "Lord of the Bling" trilogy on it.

Sarge are no longer around, but their album A Glass Intact was a template for other women-fronted punk bands in the Midwest.

No Use For A Name are still around and still making soulful punk rock, which sounds like an oxymoron. Hard Rock Bottom came out to literally no notice whatsoever. It's a great record, though.

Piebald just finished touring with MC Chris. And if that's not enough nerd cred, one of the albums is called If It Wasn't For Venetian Blinds, It'd Be Curtains For Us All. This song comes from the record We're The Only Friends That We Have and is one of the best on there.

Alkaline Trio make dark punk music for the goth kid who hates Peter Murphy, but loves the Misfits. This song is from Good Mourning, still considered one of their better albums.

Spacehog got overlooked in the 90s because of their tasty jam "In The Meantime." People bought Resident Alien expecting more of the same and they didn't get it. Songs like "Space is the Place" really rock and can not be ignored.

Ima Robot make fun, drugged-out music that's funny and very often self-depricating (see the line, "Well, there must be a mistake / Girl, you're way too hot / You could make a million dollars with the face you got / Don't you know my last album was a flop?") Monument To The Masses is a slice of pure awesome.

whew. That still took forever.....