Mixtape Mondays: Feel-Good Music (Pt.1)

Welcome to another Mixtape Monday. If you missed the last one, you can find it here.

This week we dedicate Mixtape Monday to the songs we all find ourselves rocking to on a particularly high mood. Be it after a particularly good day, a  sudden raise in salary, an aced test or finally nabbing the girl of your dreams, these are the days when we all feel like we have accomplished something of merit -

- LIKE A BOSS.

So we take these days, appreciate them and milk them for every ounce of feel-good yumminess they have. Yes, the best way to relish in transient success is with a good old playlist.

This playlist is the first in a series of Feel-Good Music playlists that I'll be separating based on tempo, feel and atmosphere. You can expect that this playlist mostly deals with hyped of rhythms and beats and a lot of rock. Don't worry, I'll follow up with a mellow playlist next week ;)

To skip the banter and go directly to this week's playlist, click here.

This playlist is mostly my personal feel-good playlist, and while the soundtrack of my life has a wide array of pieces to it (much of it containing music that isn't even in english, but we'll leave that for another playlist), these are the few songs that I find always hype my mood up and get me feeling like I rule the effin' world. I'm pretty sure a lot of the songs in this playlist will change the way you guys view me, especially since my blog is all pink and girly. The truth is, good music is good music no matter what the genre - Kpop, Jpop, Metal, Punk, Alternative, Pop, I listen to it all, and I hope this playlist is a manifestation of that fact. Although I won't be including any non-English songs for the sake of my audience (maybe another time).

Let's start the playlist off with a kicker. The Red Hot Chilli Peppers are one of those bands whose music I will never ever ever ever get tired of listening to and if I could make an entire MM Playlist dedicated to them I would, but then I'd probably piss a whole lot of people off. So instead, I'm starting this playlist off with the song I listen to almost every morning - Can't Stop.

There's something about this song that makes anyone feel invincible in the mornings. Whether you attribute it to the intoxicating beat and music or the sexy voice of lead singer Anthony Kiedis this is a song that appeals to the masses. It's a shame this single wasn't included in their greatest hits album, but maybe that's why I like it. I'm hipster that way. The video is also worth a watch. I think it's worth mentioning that RHCP's been doing weird artsy trippy music videos long before the crap artists of today have and so have many other much better bands than what kids these days listen to. Just sayin'.

Now that you've woken up and started the day right, you've got places to go and people to meet and wasting time is a no-no. So imagine driving your car, riding your bike, skateboarding, running, walking, crawling on your bare hands and feet to wherever the hell you want to go and this song is playing. What song? The Offspring's Come out and Play of course.

Yep. Epic travel music right there. This song is famous for being the first song of The Offspring's ever to be made into a music video, and is very much responsible for some of the band's initial success. While the band did get some flack for being accused of copying the Arabian sounding guitar progression from Agent Orange's Bloodstains, I personally think The Offspring did it much better. That aside, most of you would recognize the band from their song Pretty Fly (For a White Guy). Come to think about it, I should include that in a future playlist.

Setting aside the punk in this playlist, let's move on to an all-time favorite. This song, I remember to have loved in my grade school days and with good reason. The music's fresh and the lyrics are addicting to sing and as usual Smash Mouth graces us with the awesome song, Allstar.

It's so awesome that they converted it to widescreen despite it being released in 1999. Since then it's graced the big screens in movies like Mystery Men and Shrek. Not to mention it's been credited in the Digimon Movie and Inspector Gadget as well as in various other media. I remember jamming to this song when I was in grade school and awkwardly air-guitaring in front of friends as a class presentation. Guess what? I still do that now, the only difference being that my air-guitar has vastly improved. Yehp, that's as good a feel-good song can get.

So now you're all pumped up and hyper and you can't be held responsible for any collateral damage your insane spike of energy has most likely built up. But who cares? Nobody's gonna rain on your parade. So what if they think you're a deranged maniac? Haters' gonna hate. Times like this, the perfect song to get you back on track is Bad Reputation. While Joan Jett set up the legacy for this uberly wonderful song, the version I listen to everyday, is not surprisingly, from Kick-Ass by The Hit Girls.

It's not often that I prefer a cover tot he original and this might just be bias talking but this song has so many faces and covers it's almost impossible to choose which version suits my mood the most, but I've found that the most accessible to me was this one. So there. It's fast-paced, upbeat and something I would totally listen to on a sugar high whilst pogo-sticking around a supermarket and reeking havoc on all the store employees. Don't judge me - it's part of my bucketlist.

Now that you're all riled up, it shouldn't be too hard to find a band of people who are as riled up and happy with life as you are. Start a flash mob, a revolution, a coup d'etat - who says you can't be productive when you're feeling on top of the world? You know what would be the perfect song for your high-induced plot to take over the world? My Chemical Romance's  Na Na Na  (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na).

I'm not a big fan of My Chemical Romance, but this song is just that addicting. It doesn't take long to memorize and once it's stuck in your head it's in there for practically forever. I never doubted my mother when she said I didn't have ADHD and I was just a rather outspoken child, but this song brings out the worst in me and I've practically broken my bed jumping on it to the beat of the song. While I still maintain my stand that punk in the 90's will forever trump punk now, this song almost makes me change my mind.

Let's end this playlist on a lighter note, with a song I discovered a few years ago. It's a rather abrupt ending to the infinite high that is my odd taste in feel-good music, but it'll have to do. Killer Life by Morningwood (hold in the immature snickers at the innuendo please) is just the song to end this playlist, because damn right it's a killer life.

This song is what we should all listen to as an instant picker-upper. The band, produced by Gil Norton, the same dude who's produced the Pixies, The Foo Fighters and the like definitely knows how to pick his players. It's hard to believe that this band's been around since 2001 since they've continuously been coming up with fresh music with passion reminiscent of all those groups who've just started. Basically we should all just enjoy life, and feel good.

That just about wraps up this week's Mixtape Monday. If there are any songs you guys deem fit for this playlist, leave a comment below. I'd love to hear about you guys' awesome taste in music.

To view this week's full Mixtape Monday on playlist mode, feel free to visit my YouTube page or go directly to the playlist here.

Stay tuned for more Mixtape Mondays and comment below for next week's theme suggestions!