173-172: A Night At the Opera

173. "Rockaria!" by Electric Light Orchestra [iTunes? Yes]
"She's sweet on Wagner. I think she'd die for Beethoven. She loves the way Puccini lays down a tune. And Verdi's always creeping from her room!"

Remember a few songs ago (#185, to be exact) when I was ragging on Jeff Lynne for not having memorable or clever lyrics? Well, that's not the case with this song! This is a fun little hootenanny about a rocker trying to teach an opera singer how to rock and roll.

This song is memorable, clever, and fun. It's got some driving guitars and some sing-along-able lyrics. And it'll leave you "reeling and a-rocking all through the night!" Yeah, you'll be "rocking at the opera house until the break of light!"

172. "Headache" by Frank Black [iTunes? Yes]
"My heart is crammed in my cranium, and it still knows how to pound."

This one definitely falls into the category of "I don't know why I like it, I just do." It was the late 90s and I was trying to, you know, "stay" "hip" and "with it." I was looking for some new bands to follow. I read somewhere that if I liked They Might Be Giants I might also like Frank Black.

So, I bought his CD "Teenager of the Year" at the used CD store. (You remember the used CD stores, don't you? It was right next to the Blockbuster.) I listened to it and found 80% of it not worth a second listen. A couple of the songs were okay. And then there was this one.

Other than it being a good sing-along song, I really, truly have no idea why I like this song this much. I was trying to figure it out, but it was giving me a headache.

COMING UP NEXT: A song from Billy Joel's backup singer and ELO's bass player!