Popular Songs Of 2008, Vol. 2

Continuing this miniseries of songs that were popular ten years ago, here's another set that's sure to make you feel old. At least a little. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Coldplay  ~  “Viva La Vida”

2)  M.I.A.  ~  “Paper Planes”

3)  Kid Rock  ~  “All Summer Long”

4)  Miley Cyrus  ~  “7 Things”

5)  Gavin Rossdale  ~  “Love Remains The Same”

6)  Keyshia Cole  ~  “I Remember”

7)  Gary Allan  ~  “Learning How To Bend”

8)  P!nk  ~  “So What”

9)  Chris Brown  ~  “With You”

10)  Jewel  ~  “Stronger Woman”

11)  Keith Urban  ~  “You Look Good In My Shirt”

12)  Rihanna ft. Ne-Yo  ~  “Hate That I Love You”

13)  John Mayer  ~  “Say”

14)  Taylor Swift  ~  “Should’ve Said No”

15)  Sean Kingston  ~  “Take You There”

16)  Carrie Underwood  ~  “All-American Girl”

17)  Lupe Fiasco ft. Matthew Santos  ~  “Superstar”

18)  Katy Perry  ~  “I Kissed A Girl”

19)  Darius Rucker  ~  “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It”

20)  Estelle ft. Kanye West  ~  “American Boy”

Superb Songs By Muslim Musicians

The following songs have been "extreme vetted" for quality and have been cleared to post in this blog. Fair warning: Any preconceived notions you may have or existing stereotypes you might espouse may be dramatically challenged. Enjoy?  ~  JH


1)  Narcy ft. Shadia Mansour  ~  "Hamdulillah"

2)  Brother Ali  ~  "Us"  (This guy doesn't exactly have the same skin tone as most of the folks in this post, for two reasons. First, he's an albino...so there's that. Second, he's an American who converted to Islam as an adult.)

3)  Yuna  ~  "Lanes"  (This sweet songbird hails from the island nation of Malaysia.)

4)  A Tribe Called Quest  ~  "I Left My Wallet In El Segundo"  (Two of this group's four members are practicing Muslims, so technically they qualify.)

5)  The Kominas  ~  "See Something Say Something"

6)  Alsarah & The Nubatones  ~  "Habibi Taal"

7)  Lupe Fiasco  ~  "Kick Push"

8)  Omar Offendum  ~  "Straight Street"

9)  K'naan  ~  "Take A Minute"

10)  Maher Zain  ~  "Number One For Me"

11)  Sami Yusuf  ~  "Forgotten Promises"

12)  A.R. Rahman  ~  "Infinite Love"

13)  Yusuf Islam  ~  "Peace Train"  (In case you didn't recognize him [and who could blame you?], Islam is the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens.)

14)  Hamza Robertson  ~  "From The Soul"

15)  Krewella   ~  "Alive"  (The two girls [sisters] in this group are Muslim. Though, judging by the video, I'd wager a guess that they don't adhere to all the tenets of their faith "religiously.")

16)  Maitre Gims  ~  "Bella"  (Wish I spoke French. Then I might understand a word of this. Still a good-sounding song and a cool vid, though.)

17)  Kareem Salama & The Witwits  ~  "Love Will Live On"

18)  Assala  ~  "Aisha Ala Ely Fat"  (This is a pretty song, too. I don't understand any of the lyrics whatsoever. But it sounds wonderful!)

19)  Native Deen  ~  "Not Afraid To Stand Alone"

20)  Saif Adam  ~  "Believe"

21)  Harris J  ~  "Salam Alaikum"  (Ladies and gentlemen, the Muslim version of Justin Bieber. You're welcome. And I'm sorry. In case you're wondering, the song's title means "Peace Be Unto You.")

22)  Humood  ~  "Kun Anta"  (How could anyone have a problem with the positive, empowering message of this song?)

23)  Raef  ~  "You Are The One"

24)  ZAYN ft. Taylor Swift  ~  "I Don't Wanna Live Forever"  (I'll bet you didn't expect to see Taylor Swift in this post! She is not, however, the Muslim in this song. That would be Zayn Malik, former member of the British boy band One Direction.)

25)  Zain Bhikha  ~  "Someday"  (Last but not least, this song...because peace among all mankind is a very good thing.)

Songs About Scars

Apparently, writing and performing Songs About Scars is a thing in popular music  A big thing, actually. Here's a bunch of good ones for your listening enjoyment. Next up, there'll be even more of the same. In other words, these posts...are gonna leave a mark. (Yeah, I know. *ugh*)  ~  JH

1)  Alessia Cara  ~  “Scars To Your Beautiful”

2)  Krizz Kaliko ft. Tech N9ne  ~  “Scars”

3)  Emmanuel Jal ft. Nelly Furtado  ~  “Scars”

4)  James Bay  ~  “Scars”

5)  Tove Lo  ~  “Scars”

6)  Stone Sour  ~  “Made Of Scars”

7)  Allison Iraheta  ~  “Scars”

8)  George Shelley  ~  “Scars”

9)  Mandisa  ~  “What Scars Are For”

10)  Lupe Fiasco & Guy Sebastian  ~  “Battle Scars”

11)  Jack Savoretti  ~  “Written In Scars”

12)  Scars Of Tears  ~  “Tear My Scar”

13)  Disciple  ~  “Scars Remain”

14)  Anna Nalick  ~  “Scars”

15)  Martin Luke Brown  ~  “Scars On Scars”

16)  Gems  ~  “Scars”

17)  Divided Multitude  ~  “Scars”

18)  Def Leppard  ~  “Scar”

19)  Phebe Starr  ~  “Lavender Scars”

20)  Lee Kernaghan & Dierks Bentley  ~  “Scars”

21)  K’s Choice  ~  “Perfect Scar”

22)  Evans Blue  ~  “Erase My Scars”

23)  Chris Cornell  ~  “Scar Upon The Sky”

24)  Miranda Lambert  ~  “Scars”

25)  I Prevail  ~  “Scars”

“Against” Songs, Vol. 1

And now, for the "Against" songs. As previously mentioned, with the "For" songs I limited myself to choosing only songs that began with the word "For" and tried to do the same with the "Against" songs. Sadly, I couldn't find enough good ones to balance out the number of "For" songs, so I expanded my search to songs with "Against" anywhere in their titles. And here's what I came up with. Volume 2 will follow, and this series will be complete. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Phil Collins  ~  “Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)”

2)  Accept  ~  “Against The World”

3)  Hudson And Troop  ~  “Against The Odds”

4)  Bonnie Tyler  ~  “Against The Wind”

5)  Dee-1 ft. Big K.R.I.T. & Lupe Fiasco  ~  “Against Us”

6)  Chloé Bird  ~  “Against Each Other”

7)  Coldplay  ~  “Us Against The World”

8)  Morgan Page & Michael S  ~  “Against The World”

9)  After Hour Animals  ~  “Against All Odds”

10)  Gary Allan  ~  “Lovin’ You Against My Will”

11)  City And Colour  ~  “Against The Grain”

12)  LORD  ~  “Against The Wind”

13)  Survivor  ~  “Man Against The World”

14)  Milow  ~  “Against The Tide”

15)  Jamie Allensworth  ~  “Against The Grain”

16)  Danger Mouse & Danielle Luppi ft. Jack White  ~  “Two Against One” 

17)  Vicious Rumors  ~  “Against The Grain”

18)  Cello Fury  ~  “Against All Odds”

19)  Helen Reddy  ~  “You And Me Against The World”

20)  Cage The Elephant  ~  “Back Against The Wall”

He Said, She Said Songs

With this conflicting group of songs, you'll never know WHOM to believe! Don't sweat it...simply enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Group 1 Crew ft. Chris August  ~  “He Said”

2)  Collective Soul  ~  “She Said”

3)  Betty Hutton  ~  “Murder, He Says”

4)  Rhett Akins  ~  “She Said Yes”

5)  Lupe Fiasco ft. Gemini & Sarah Green  ~  “He Say, She Say”

6)  Simple Minds  ~  “All The Things She Said”

7)  Ricky Van Shelton  ~  “I Meant Every Word He Said”

8)  Circ  ~  “Destroy, She Said”

9)  Barclay James Harvest   ~  “He Said Love”

10)  John Hiatt  ~  “She Said The Same Things To Me”

11)  Social Code  ~  “He Said, She Said”

12)  Wild Child  ~  “That’s What She Say”

13)  Ivy Raye  ~  “I Said Hello, He Said Goodbye”  (That hairdo, though…)

14)  The Rolling Stones  ~  “She Said Yeah”

15)  The Olms  ~  “She Said No”