Hello it's Thursday, and you know what that means! I'm exhausted. 

I wish I had another opening beyond exhaustion but really, everything on this planet is designed to stress me out and I just want to nap. This one might be a bit short because ya girl is struggling through NaNoWriMo and suffering and needs to save every word she can. (eta: it's not. oops)

It hit me a few days ago, when I was listening Styx's Renegade that my love of rock music legit came from two places. And honestly, they're both embarrassing, but you know what, we're here to read me for filth.

Anyone remember Guitar Hero? That game where you had a plastic fake guitar and you pushed buttons and you pretended you could play guitar, while actual guitar legends were like "What in the christ is this shit" and would fail their songs on Easy? Guitar Hero 2 in particular had some incredible songs, such as Killing in the Name Of by Rage Against the Machine, Rush by YYZ, Monkey Wrench by the Foo Fighters... honestly I could go on. And after playing them with the plastic hellscape of a fake guitar, there was nothing left to do but actually rock out to the music in their real form, without all the pings of the failed notes you meant to hit. 

But Guitar Hero? That's child's play. No, the real meat of this tomfoolery of a newsletter is that I got most of my favorite rock songs from Supernatural. If you never watched the show, it ran for 15 seasons, has one of the most confusing plots on this side of Kingdom Hearts, and generally is either beloved or incredibly hated. But one thing that the creator, Eric Kripke knew, is fucking good music, and that show put it to work. (And he continues in his current series, The Boys.

(Oh, for context, Supernatural is a show where two brothers go around the country in a gas guzzling car to fight demons and ghosts real good. The creator of the show planned it to be five seasons. Considering I said it went to season 15, clearly, it went off the rails.)

The way the music worked with the scenes were always incredible, and below are just a few of my favorite musical moments from the series:

• In season 2, the brothers are escaping from the FBI, and they use the opening of Styx's Renegade, and let it rest on the heart beat to let the viewer ratchet up the stress and it's incredible.
• In season 3, where the brothers are stuck in a time loop, and they use Asia's Heat of the Moment as an alarm, and you know they're finally free when Back in Time by Huey Lewis and the News comes on and it's jarring and so WELCOME cause good lord, they've done over 100 time loops and Sam has watched his brother die in so many creative ways and to see his brother alive and well is such a rare sight.
• There's also the scene at the end of season 3, when they're trying to keep one of the brother's from going to hell, and as they drive, they end up rocking out to Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead or Alive. It's heart wrenching because they're having fun but they also know that their time is limited and they're trying to make the most of what they have.
• This doesn't technically count as rock, but O Death by Jen Titus when they introduce the character of Death. That? That is how you do a character introduction. 
• Of COURSE I have to bring up Kansas's Carry On My Wayward Son which was used in the second to last episode of season one, and then became the theme for the finale recap for the next FOURTEEN YEARS. 
• Oh, and finally, I have to mention Eye of the Tiger by Survivor. What would a Supernatural song list be without it??

These songs are clearly bigger than Supernatural and Guitar Hero, and a part of me will always listen with fondness because without that silly game or that ridiculous show that jumped the shark so high, the Fonz would've been impressed, I would've never discovered bands like The Foo Fighters, Kansas, Alice in Chains, and so many more. Blasphemous? Probably, but it's always weird to see what things can help shape your love of music, even if they are terrible television.


Moving on, some recommendations because that's what you're actually here for. 

• I love Greek Mythology. Growing up, I was that annoying little kid who could correct you when you mistakenly called Hera Helena or something ridiculous like that. All that's to say, I saw this thread about characters in Greek Mythology as memes and buddy, I switched out a rec this week for this because I want YOU, my readers, to stay up on the 411. I gotchu. Also I laughed. A lot. 

 

• So I sat down to write and Youtube recommended me a chanel called Wait in the Wings, which discusses Broadway shows, recommended me in particular about the chaos behind Spider-Man - Turn Off The Dark. I heard about this show and I knew it had been a clusterfuck, but this video really dives into how so many things went incredible wrong. I'm not sure if it was because I was procrastinating but I was hooked and honestly couldn't look away. Warning: The video is over a half hour!

 

• Say what you want about the Hobbit movies - they got me to see Richard Armitage with a beard and I loved it. But I stumbled into this dude singing the song Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold and like, it was so low, I think I could feel it in my bones??? Incredible. 

That's it for me. If you see me around the internet, go yell at me to get back to writing. :(