Have you ever had those moments where you’re in a bad mood and you need something to cheer you up? Well, that’s what this post is about! I’ve picked 10 of my favorite songs that always put a smile on my face whenever I’m in a bad mood. If you’ve been following my blog for a while, some of these songs may not be a surprise. Without further ado, let’s get on with the music!
10. “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” (1993) by Bon Jovi
Keep the Faith (1992) is without a doubt my favorite Bon Jovi record because the band sounds refreshed and they’ve pushed their hair metal days aside, giving us a much more mature sound. There are numerous favorites from this album like “Bed of Roses,” “In These Arms,” and “If I Was Your Mother.” But I ultimately went with “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” because the chorus is so dang catchy and when the band performed it in Zurich, Switzerland on the Crush tour, Jon Bon Jovi told the crowd, “You spent too much time with those boy bands, you got a man band up here tonight, baby!” Haha!
9. “Last Rose of Summer” (1977) by Judas Priest
I’m not an expert on Judas Priest’s catalog, but I dig “Last Rose of Summer” from Sin After Sin (1977); it’s actually the main reason why I bought the album in the first place. I love the melody and orchestrated guitar parts, but also Rob Halford’s vocals on this track. His vocals sound rough, but it kind of works with “Last Rose of Summer” because of the emotion he brings to it. It’s a very enchanting piece by the band and easily one of my favorite Judas Priest songs overall.
8. “Life is a Highway” (2006) covered by Rascal Flatts, originally by Tom Cochrane in 1991
Strangely enough, the American Idol contestants covered “Life is a Highway” in season three when they still did music videos back then. While I don’t care about that version, I love the Rascal Flatts version because it reminds me of walking down Route 66 in Cars Land. I miss Disneyland so much, so hearing any music from Disneyland or Disney California Adventure gives me so much joy. For those of you that don’t know, “Life is a Highway” was covered by Rascal Flatts for the Pixar film Cars (2006). I’m not a country girl, but thanks to a touch of Disney magic, “Life is a Highway” became a hit in my book!
7. “One Time”(2009) by Justin Bieber
For years, I thought that My World (2009) was Justin Bieber’s debut album, but no, it was an EP, what the heck? I’m glad other people dig Bieber’s stuff post-puberty, but I prefer his sweet high-pitched voice because he was so innocent, and his pop tunes were really catchy and relatable. While everyone else thought he was a girl when the first single came out, I knew Bieber wasn’t a girl because I was lucky enough to see the music video first. The old Justin Bieber brings back so much nostalgia and happy times in my life, that I couldn’t help but pick “One Time” because I had to pay tribute to my first childhood crush.
6. “What Do You Do For Money Honey” (1980) by AC/DC
I was torn between “Gone Shootin’” and “What Do You Do For Money Honey,” but I went with my gut and chose the latter. Everytime that song comes on, I’m like, “YES!!!” because I know I’ll be in for a real treat. Being new to AC/DC’s catalog last year, “What Do You Do For Money Honey” was one of the songs that stuck with me after watching Stiff Upper Lip Live (2001) for the first time on YouTube. It’s on the band’s best-selling album, Back in Black (1980), yet they mostly focused on the title track, “Shoot to Thrill,” “Hells Bells,” and “You Shook Me All Night Long” whenever they went on tour. But why would they do that when they have headbangers like “What Do You Do For Money Honey”? Oh, it’s because they have to play for the casual fans, my bad!
5. “River of Love” (1991) by Richie Sambora
Even if you’re not a fan of Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora’s first solo record is worth a listen because he easily has a better voice than Jon Bon Jovi. Not that Sambora’s other two solo records are awful, but I’ve always preferred his first one because of his emotional performance on Stranger in This Town (1991). I’ve always thought Sambora was a pretty guy, but “River of Love” took his pretty boy status up another level, especially with those growls. The lyrics are sexual and Sambora sings every word like he means it!
4. “Na Na Na” (2011) by One Direction
It’s so unfair how “Na Na Na” wasn’t released on the band’s Up All Night (2011) album, along with “Another World.” It would’ve been a perfect album if they got rid of “Stole My Heart” and “Taken,” and replaced them with “Na Na Na” and “Another World.” The chorus is simple, yet so dang catchy and again, the boys were young and innocent back then. Before the music world and boyband life took its toll on One Direction, the only real drama within the group was that Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan didn’t get enough solos. For the longest time, “Na Na Na” wasn’t on Spotify until about a year or two ago, and when I finally found the song on there, it was one of the greatest days of my life!
3. “High ‘n’ Dry (Saturday Night)” (1981) by Def Leppard
“High ‘n’ Dry (Saturday Night)” is on My Top Ten Def Leppard Songs post, and I ranked it number five. Same thing with AC/DC’s “What Do You Do For Money Honey,” as soon as I hear the opening riff, I prepare myself for the magic my ears are about to be blessed with. I created a dream setlist for Def Leppard in early April and “High ‘n’ Dry (Saturday Night)” was easily on my setlist because it’s Def Leppard at its meanest and finest. Not that I don’t like anything from Hysteria (1987) and onward, but I wish the boys would bring back their older stuff and write more headbanging tunes like they used to. I know they can do it; Def Leppard is my favorite band of all time, yet, I complain about them a lot because I know they have potential to be bigger than they are now. I know the casual fans would dig the heavy riffs from their first two albums, if they just gave them a chance.
2. “It’s a Small World” (1963) by Richard and Robert Sherman
You’re either one of those people that love “It’s a Small World” or one of those that can’t stand it. I cannot count how many times I randomly started singing “It’s a Small World” because it’s usually when I least expect it. Like after I fed my dog the other night, I started singing “It’s a Small World,” and I wasn’t even watching a Disney video beforehand. The song is so happy and makes me miss Disneyland even more. Walt Disney was about bringing peace and harmony to this world, and that’s what “It’s a Small World” is all about!
1. “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” (1987) by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes
I wish I could remember how I discovered “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” but I know it was covered on Glee and I’ve pretty much heard this song my whole life because it’s a classic. “My Heart Will Go On” is easily my favorite song from a movie soundtrack, but “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” is my second favorite song from a movie soundtrack. I went through a C. Thomas Howell phase in 2018, where I started watching The Outsiders (1983), Secret Admirer (1985), The Hitcher (1986), and Soul Man (1986). Since I was in an 80s mood, I ended up watching Dirty Dancing (1987) somewhere down the line and it became easily one of my favorite movies, next to The Outsiders.
There you have it! Those are 10 songs that always put me in a good mood, no matter how horrible my day was. So let me know in the comments below what are some songs that put you in a good mood no matter what!
Take care and see you real soon!
Lana
You lost me at Rascal Flatts. I loathe them. They completely ruined that song for me. I like Tom Cochran so much more, and to have the worst band in country music cover that song, it made me ill. But you can have all the rest. LOL!!
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I am with you on RF. Tom’s is the only version worth the time. Not saying I could do better, I’m saying it didn’t need to be done.
I also have an enduring memory of being in a hotel in London following my sister’s wedding, in the middle of a January snow storm, with our son who was less than a year old at the time (and trying to sleep), and the room next door was full of folks who’d just come back from a RF concert that night and were hooting and hollering and carrying on in the room and hallway. I don’t often call front desk for help shutting up idiots, but that time I did. The band wasn’t even involved but I associate them with those asshats.
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For the time, you had to be a kid growing up in the 2000s to dig the Rascal Flatts’ version.
I can see how that memory makes you dislike the band even more. I can’t imagine how frustrating that must’ve been for you since your son was trying to sleep. How did you know they came from a Rascal Flatts show though?
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Our son loved Cars and liked that version, but I play the TC version to counteract the demons lol.
How’d I know? T-shirts and the boombox they were blaring, plus their not-at-all-quiet voices talking about the show.
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Haha, that’s funny!
Ah ok, that makes sense. The shirts, boombox, and the fact that they wouldn’t shut up are good indicators that they were from a Rascal Flatts show.
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Yup.
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Ha! Great way to hate a band…but I don’t feel you need a reason. To me, they are what is wrong with Country music…at least a part of it anyway. There are more acts like them that sour me on some of today’s country.
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Most of today’s “country” is not my thing. Just rock and roll with a twang. There can be excellent songwriting (structurally), excellent production for sure, but as plastic as anything else. Like anything else, you’ve gotta really search to find the good stuff. The rest is chaff.
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Agreed
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On the other side of the coin, the music has to change. You can’t just have people re-creating the old stuff over and over, it’d die. And tons of people love it. I just remember listening to CMT at an ex’s house and realizing it was a wash of the same sound.
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Change can be good in some cases, but according to the top 100 songs of 2020 on Apple Music, people listen to garbage today!
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(See other conversation): some folks like that stuff so it sells. It’s all marketing and push to radio etc. The rest of us like other things.
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True, people like different things (as mentioned in the other conversation) and they may even think that the music we like is garbage. If only radio didn’t play the same songs over and over again.
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Yeah you’d think Led Zeppelin only wrote three songs lol.
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That’s cause other than those three “hits,” their songs are too dang long lol.
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Hm, good point. Their loss.
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Well I’m not a Zeppelin fan either, so I guess it’s my loss too.
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Not a Zep fan? At all?
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I like a few songs by them. I tried listening to a full album of theirs, but the intro was so long that I gave up. I think it was ‘House of the Holy.’
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lol HotH is my fave of theirs right now. I change all the time, but ight now it’s HotH.
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Oh sorry lol.
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No worries! Remember we talked about subjectivity? It’s all good.
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That’s true!
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I liked what Taylor Swift did, which was mix country and pop together, but now everything she does now irritates me so I stopped listening to her altogether lol. I can’t stand country accents, not to be rude, but it sounds too perky to me. What you said about searching to find the good stuff is spot on!
That reminds me of a youtube comment I saw on an AC/DC video about how we don’t have good music anymore (or something like that), then there was a reply that said we still have good music, we just have to search harder to find it.
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It’s so subjective. Many are happy with whatever pap is foisted. Some need more. Some avoid popular music altogether. We’re all different, and it’s all out there. The internet makes it easier to find stuff. I was 24 before I had internet of my own. I remember what that was like, you kids have it easy lol.
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Yeah well thanks to the internet, I get addicted to youtube easily, so there are pros and cons to everything haha! I should really set up a timer for myself like my old therapist suggested (I keep brushing it off, thinking I don’t need it).
Yeah, everyone is different and likes different things. What’s interesting is that there’s also people that like popular music and think the music we listen to (rock, metal, oldies music) is garbage and vice versa.
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A timer is a great idea. There’s also probably a screen time application that’ll show you how much use so you have an idea of where you’re at.
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My laptop has the screen time effect and I ignore it lol. But yeah, I better consider using the timer again.
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Give ‘er!
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You should have asked for there room number and then said this…
https://app.box.com/s/6g0b326j962asvubp2lfi8ue9leeco36
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Haha I’m afraid to click that.
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That’s more Rascal Flatts for me then, lol! If you were a kid in the 2000s when Cars was released, then you’d appreciate their version of the song too!
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You can have them Lana!! LOL!! Maybe, but it is his vocals I can’t stand. It reminds of my girls when they were little and such whiny brats. He sounds like that when he sings. Plus the songs are so generic and cookie cutter crap. Ok, sorry, don’t mean to bash them but it is one of the few bands that make my skin crawl.
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Huh, that’s an interesting comparison. And no worries, bash on Rascal Flatts all you like. I’m not a country fan anyways; I just like that cover (and “What Hurts the Most”), meaning I only have one song of theirs on my Spotify playlist. So I really don’t care if you hate them. There are Disney fans out there that dig the Rascal Flatts version, though, just saying lol.
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Ha! I know…but they are all wrong!! LOL!!
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You’re taking a page out of Geoff’s book, accentuating the positive. Well done!
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Thanks for reading Aaron! These listicle posts are a good way to get to know me better. I eventually want to do one about 10 songs that head bang away heartbreaks (that’s a maybe though).
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A fun way to get to know you better, for sure. That other idea is great, go for it!
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Thanks so much Aaron! I’ll start working on the draft for that post; it won’t be posted for a while though.
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All in good time.
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I can’t think of any that fit this criteria for me, but a song that never fails to make me sad and depressed (in a good way) is Pink Floyd’s “Welcome to the Machine”
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If it makes you sad, in a good way, then I guess that counts! Wait so you can’t think of any songs that put you in a good mood?
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That’s not really how songs work for me. If I was ever in a bad mood, which is almost never, it would take more than a song to cheer me up
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Ok, fair enough! Everyone is different and for some, music isn’t enough to lift their spirits. I praise you for hardly being in a bad mood, though.
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I’m a pretty laid back fellow, but a surefire way to get my blood boiling is to insult Blaze.
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Respect! I love that you’ll stick up for Blaze.
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Music I like will always put me in a good mood so there’s no way I could compile a top ten list. A noble effort on your part.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts 80smetalman! In a way, it’s a good thing you like a lot of songs that you can’t compile a top 10 list because you are a music lover. This list was almost impossible for me to do lol!
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I agree that they should’ve gotten rid of taken and added another world, or na na na.
They deserve more😑
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FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT!!! Those tracks deserved better. If it weren’t for youtube, I wouldn’t have known those tracks existed. I think their first two albums are underrated because they tossed those albums to the side completely when ‘Midnight Memories’ came out (with the exception of “What Makes You Beautiful”).
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interesting list. Very eclectic! B.B. King or just the blues in general usually puts me in a good mood. Hearing someone else having a tough time makes me feel like I’m not alone.
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Awww that’s so beautiful and it makes sense. And that’s why people write songs about their pain yeah? So that others can relate to it and know that they’re not alone.
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