No jam session is complete without these fifteen songs.
Picture this:
You're in your car, you've finished finals, you're headed home and you need a good clean jamout session. Only one thing: you don't have any good songs to listen to.
Well you need not worry, because I have the perfect songs for you! Prepare to sing these songs at the top of your lungs.
They don't play it on the radio, but you're missing out on these classics.
If you want five Broadway shows that will get you hooked onto musicals then check out the link to my first article below:
SEE ALSO: 5 Broadway Musicals For People Who Aren't Fans Of Musicals
Not impressed with any of them?
Well, I refuse to give up!
Here are seven more musicals that will get you hooked for sure:
Ok, to be honest with you, I'm only writing this so I can tell you how much I love Steven Sondheim's magnum opus "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." Based on the 1840s pulp stories, Sondheim retells the story of the fallen barber as a revenge tale. The man formerly known as Benjamin Barker who was wrongfully convicted and sent away by a jealous judge and beadle, with the judge lusting after his wife.
15 years after being exiled to Botany Bay, Barker returns under the new name Sweeney Todd to exact revenge on the judge and beadle, with the judge keeping his daughter Johanna as his ward. Todd loses his sanity due to his obsession with revenge and becomes a serial killer in the process. And he's assisted by the owner of the pie shop below his barber shop, Mrs. Lovett, into cooking his victims into meat pies.
The lyrics.
The melodies.
The characters.
The twists.
Sweeney Todd is simply The GOAT.
There are several great versions of Sweeney Todd such as:
The original Broadway soundtrack sung by Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury (Mrs. Potts herself).
The TV movie of the show with George Hearn as Todd
A 2001 concert with Hearn and Patti Lupone as Mrs. Lovett
A unique Broadway revival with Lupone and Michael Cerveris as Sweeney
And, of course, the Tim Burton 2007 movie starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter
Also, the cast of "Hamilton" paid homage to it and it might be the greatest thing to ever be made ever.
One of the controversial and complicated musicals of its time, "Jesus Christ Superstar" is hard to describe, yet it's simply retelling the most famous event in human history: The Crucifixion.
With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, no company would dare take the risk of doing a rock opera about The Crucifixion during the 70s, especially since the musical ends with Jesus's death and does not feature The Resurrection. It also tells the story from Judas's perspective and emphasizes with his decision that is considered the worst in human history: betraying Christ and turning him in.
So without having their show picked up, Webber and Rice released their musical as an album and it turned out to be the right musical at the right time for a rebellious generation in the 1970s. The enormous popularity of the album led to countless adaptations that feature intentional anachronisms to reflect modern society and show just how radical Jesus actually was for his time.
Different versions include a very well-done 1973 movie and even a live performance aired by NBC on Easter Sunday last year starring John Legend as Jesus and Sara Bareilles as Mary Magdalene which I highly recommend.
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice followed up their rock opera about an idol who died at 33 with another rock opera about an idol who died at 33 in "Evita." This time its biography about an icon you may have never heard of in Eva Peron, the former actress who became the first lady of Argentina to President Juan Peron.
Peron's life and death are told through the narration of a character named Che who holds an extreme prejudice against. He believed she was a fraud who ruined his country and talks about her the way I talk about current American politicians:
"Instead of government, we had a stage
Instead of ideas, a prima donna's rage
Instead of help we were given a crowd
She didn't say much, but she said it loud"
"Forgive my impertinent behavior, but how long do you think this pantomime can last?"
"How can you claim to be a savior, when those who oppose you are stepped or cut up or simply disappear?"
"Tell me before I seek worthier pastures, and thereby restore self-esteem. How can you be so short-sighted, to look never further than this week or next week, to have no impossible dream?"
Damn Che, she's just a lady trying to get by, calm down because it doesn't get any better after this.
Like "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Evita" was released as an album and became a huge sensation, leading to tremendous success on the stage and screen with Madonna playing the iconic role in the 1996 movie.
And don't you just think this is the kind of role that Lady Gaga would be perfect to play today?
I stumbled onto this show out of nowhere last year and it's probably the most underrated musical I've ever heard. I never thought this show based off a children's story would as incredibly rich and compelling as it. The lyrics flow through you and raises your senses to another plane of existence. The music takes you to a fantasy world so simple yet you're too drawn to it.
You won't find a movie version of this musical or see it's billboard all over Broadway, but this soundtrack is a must-listen.
A musical based off of a mid-forties lesbian comic book artist's childhood about her family running a funeral home in small-town Pennsylvania. It's the perfect the formula for a Broadway smash.
It's not the sweeping epic of other musicals, but this little intimate story about a girl's journey of self-discovery and confronting her complicated relationship with her father keeps you engaged until the very end.
Many critics have ranked "Gypsy" as the greatest musical of all-time with melodies and lyrics that blend together perfectly.
While it's not about an actual Gypsy, it's the story about a mother's constant struggle in the pushing herself and her kids to stardom in the entertainment business.
Rose, the mother, fights through her mid-life crisis to make it in the big-time, and it costs her sanity and the relationships with her family.
"Gypsy" is decades old, but it was decades ahead of its time and the show is still incredible to listen to today.
As with the last musical list, I had to include a musical adaptation of a Disney movie of what I think is one of their most underrated films ever with "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."
Even though the movie has faded into obscurity, the score by Alan Menkin and some of the songs is some of the best Disney has ever made, so it was inevitable that a stage-musical had to be made.
Disney made that stage show in 2015 and made some changes from the movie including replacing the flawed gargoyles with a Greek chorus representing the bells of Notre Dame, and included the dark ending of the original novel by Victor Hugo.
Unfortunately, the show never made it to Broadway and has since faded away like the movie, but thankfully the original cast recording is available on Apple Music and I highly recommend you check it out.
I also want to lobby Disney to make a live-action adaptation of Hunchback because I think it's the perfect time to retell the iconic story that has touched generation after generation.
There is also an "interesting" French musical of the story called "Notre Dame De Paris" which is....interesting.
And yes I know "Dear Evan Hanson" is the talk of Broadway right now I just haven't listened to it yet but I will...someday...
Some tunes for all your Spooky season and Halloweekend needs.
There are so many Halloween songs that GO OFF! Here are a few personal favorites and iconic tunes.
You might not know this, but heartthrob Ryan Gosling was in a band that only released one album. The self-titled album included strictly Halloween bangers, including this one. Lose your Soul exudes some good vibes for your Halloween gathering... Anything with Ryan Gosling involved exudes good vibes!
This song bangs year round, but it's especially fun during these days leading up to Halloween. The lyrics are reminiscent of a spell you'd cast on an ex-boyfriend or a toxic friend. Thank you for this witchy masterpiece, Suzy Wu!
If you go to a party this Halloweekend and they don't play this song.... leave..... just LEAVE.
Not only is this a great Halloween song, but David Bowie is a great Halloween costume idea. Come through Ziggy Stardust!
Basically if "The Crucible" was a song.
I mean... technically not a "Halloween Song" but, it's my list and I say that Redbone belongs on this list. When Donald Glover sang "They gon' find you, gonna catch you creepin'"? I felt that. This song just feels like one of those posts your friends would send you that you had to repost or else a little dead girl would appear on the foot of your bed.
I am convinced Alexandra Savior is a WITCH. I mean witch in the most endearing way. She's like if Lana Del Rey drank a spooky potion or something like that.
Isn't this the song that plays in the woods as witches dance around a fire?
The brother duo, The Lemon Twigs created a masterpiece. Now it is our duty to spread this song around like the frickin' plague!
Can we all agree that the Hex Girls are the best fictional female witch band ever?
Just an important halloween staple. That is all.
If Yoko Ono's a witch, then I'm a witch.
"Psycho Killer" is a perfect song. That is all. Thank you David Byrne, love you.
This song has nothing to do with Halloween and isn't scary sounding at all, but bear with me and just watch the music video. You will completely understand.
Well.... DUH!
Two beats in and you're shaking your groove thing like it's 1985.
Sometimes there are songs that, as soon as you hear the intro, you're up and out of your seat making a fool of yourself. Here are just a few because who can really name them all?
You do not have to be Irish to get down to this song. As soon as the intro starts, you're up and dancing like a fool, thinking that you can do an Irish jig with the best of them (even though you cannot understand a thing they are saying). One day, my dad made a statement about the song that I have found to be true ever since: "If you know any guy in his 40s or 50s who is in a bad mood, just play this song and he'll cheer right up." Go ahead and try it, I dare ya.
If you ever want EVERY SINGLE PERSON in a bar to stand up and start singing, play this song. You'll have your arms wrapped around your worst enemy and cheering on the one brave soul who started this in the first place.
The music video may make you feel like you're on some kind of drug, but dang is this song catchy. You don't even know you start dancing at first, either. You just see that everything around you is bouncing up and down and BAM—you finally realize it. Also, there is always one brave soul who tries to hit the high notes (i.e. my boyfriend).
I don't know what it is about this song. I'm honestly not a huge fan of it, but it always gets me hype before I know it. Plus, who doesn't like a classic '80s song?
I don't know if it's because of the "Rocky" movies or just the hypnotic intro, but this song will make you want to run a marathon you never even trained for. No matter the reason, this song is always bound to get anyone in earshot ready to go.
This song is bound to bring out your club dancing—moving and shaking in ways you never want to do anywhere other than in front of your bedroom mirror at 2:00 A.M. when everyone else is sleeping.
The intro of this song alone is enough to make you match your steps to it. It's intoxicatingly good. You don't really need to know any of the lyrics other than "another one bites the dust" and you can still love the song and dance along to it.
If this song doesn't bring out your inner leather-wearing, crop top-rocking, bad girl self, nothing will. I'm pretty that sure this song had me saying that I loved rock 'n roll when I was still listening to "Kidz Bop" and had never heard anything "rock" at all.
I don't know if it's the techno feel of this song or if it's just the uniqueness that makes this song so intoxicating to listen to. It also helps that there was the video of bears dancing to this going around, and no matter how much you wanted to quit watching it, you couldn't.
Michael Jackson. Need I say more? It does help, though, that it makes you want to stop the big bully from beating up the tiny little neighbor boy you have taken under your wing.
This song is bound to give you the boost of energy you would need in a race when you're starting to lose your will to continue. It's enough to give you the power to beat up the bully who has been picking on you all year. This song will make you want to conquer the world in the best way possible.
I don't exactly know the full meaning behind this song. I know a guy will do anything to wait for the lady of his dreams and he'll never stop. How Africa got involved, I'll never know, but dang this song is too catchy. And boy, does it make you want to just slowly slide back and forth while dancing.
This song makes you want to travel to Australia and eat a vegemite sandwich, whatever the heck that is. This is also the kind of song that will make you seriously question the dance moves you're currently doing.
That sigh in the beginning! This is a song that will get you in your feels and make you cry even though you were happy ten seconds ago. It makes you miss the cute guy you saw at the beach for 0.2 seconds and make you think you missed out on finding your one true love.
This song is bound to put anyone in the mood by just the intro. You don't even need the rest of the song. The first ten seconds of the song are more than enough to drive anyone crazy.
