Following the release of rock trio The Crooked 45's new single, we caught up with Sam and Alex from the band to find out more about the songs they love and why. If you dig the tracks below then be sure to check out their new track 'Why Are You Complaining?'. (Music video at the end of the feature).
1. Cock Sparrer - 'Working'
Sam: "I love this album. It's from a punk album that just never really made it like "London Calling" or "Never Mind The Bollocks" like it should have. It's one of those songs that completely changes me the second it kicks in. I'll be on the tables and swinging from the rafters screaming my bonnet off like a mad man when it comes on. The lyrics beautifully depict the every day graft of the working class and maybe more importantly the sheer frustration. There's an unspoken language the working class have to understand each other and this does it perfectly.
"Call me a crook, call me bent, but I need more than food and rent"
2. 2Pac - 'Changes'
Sam: "2pacs impact on society was astronomical, even if you're not particularly aware of it. 2pac came out with these hard "thug life" tracks (that are amazing) and then came out with this really rational and intelligent piece of art that stood the test of time. Not to say his older stuff wasn't intelligent but this is sensitive with the anger still remaining very present. The lyrics are still some of the best lyrics I've ever heard
"I see no changes, all I see is racist faces
Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races"
3. Converge - 'Eagles Become Vultures'
Alex: Converge were a huge band for me growing up, they bring raw unapologetic energy. There is part of me that feels like an angry teenager every time I turn on a Converge track. This video speaks to me because everyone would like to kill their boss sometimes right.
4 . Fugazi - 'Waiting Room'
Alex: The reason why this particularly well known live video and not the original is because it in captures how underground punk culture should be in 3:11.
5. Radiohead - 'Just'
Alex: Great song but more so for the video, this was originally meant to be a short film. The band perform inside a flat as they witness carnage unfold from below their window: A man collapses on the pavement, no one can understand why until they see what the man saw. They then find themselves also on the floor staring up at the sky, you never do find out what it is they saw and that is the beauty of it, the viewer can make the own interpretation on what they believe has happened.
Check out 'Why Are You Complaining?'
Check out more from The Crooked 45: