1. Sloan - "Money City Maniacs"
This was most of the country's first exposure to Sloan, Canada's fab four. It comes off the 1998 album Navy Blues the follow-up to their brilliant 1996 album One Chord To Another. I don't think many drivers would be fooled by the sirens at the beginning of this song, as they tend to be more old-timey than modern. PS I don't know why in the christ I can't find the actual video here. Someone needs to get on uploading that
2. Sweet - "Blockbuster!"
We're going even more old-timey with this siren, but it gets a bit of a pass since the song is from 1973. Sweet (or The Sweet depending on what side of the ocean you're on) were one of Britain's biggest glam rock groups of the 70's and 80's. They are probably more well known for their songs "Ballroom Blitz" and "Fox On The Run"
3. Tune-Yards - "Gangsta"
Though they usually stylize their name as the tUnE-yArDs, i'll look past that nonsense and focus on their music, which is quite original and refreshing. "Gangsta" not only starts with a feint siren, but some of the vocals mimic sirens throughout the song as well. The Tune-Yards is a musical project of Merrill Garbus, a Smith College graduate from New England.
4. Coheed & Cambria - "Number City"
Modern day prog-rockers and conceptualizers Coheed & Cambria have announced that they will be releasing a new album later this year. Fans are a little divided on the matter as they have decided to take a break from their Amory Wars narrative that the rest of their catalog was submersed in. As long as the songs are good and can listened to, i'm fine with them changing up the subject matter. "Number City" was a song off their last album, listen for the sirens during the quiet part near the middle.
5. Dickies - "My Pop The Cop"
Stop giggling! The Dickies were pioneers of the American Punk scene in the late 70's. Some would even say they engineered the whole pop-punk wave that would become popular by bands like Blink 182, NOFX, New Found Glory and Sum 41. Many of those bands cite The Dickies as influences too.
6. Erykah Badu - "Danger"
"Danger" comes off Badu's 2003 album Worldwide Underground. It serves as a sequel to one of earlier songs "Otherside Of The Game" in fact it uses samples from that song. Wondering what Badu is up to these days? She is reportedly working on a new album due for a release later this year. She has also been doing some modeling for fashion designer Tom Ford and was the face of Givenchy's 2014 Spring Collection
7. KO - "Capable"
That's pronounced "coe" not K-O and he's a hip-hop artist with folky vibes from Toronto. This song is from his 2009 album Let's Blaze, but his last release was in 2012. No word on whether he has another release pending or what he's up to these days. Chill song though.
8. Danny Michel - "Feather, Fur & Fin"
Plenty of Canadian content on this go around. Michel is a singer/songwriter/producer and even filmmaker from Kitchener, Ontario. "Feather, Fur & Fin" is a great song that uses many different sound samples released in 2008. It's Earth friendly message got it used on Playlist For The Planet by the David Suzuki Foundation and Michel even landed a spot on Suzuki's Last Blue Dot tour
9. The Clash - "White Riot"
Perhaps the most famous song with sirens at the beginning "White Riot" was one of the Clash's best known crowd pleaser before Combat Rock came along and ruined everything. This was true punk anger and anarchy in the UK.
10. Black Sabbath - "War Pigs"
The subtle, almost ambiguous siren heard near the beginning of the song has the hallmark of an air-raid siren that would blare to warn of an imminent attack. Black Sabbath said they wrote 'War Pigs" after hearing stories while playing a show at a US Airforce Base and after playing in a grim and desolate location in Zurich, Germany.
Thanks for reading and keep your wits about you whilst driving!!
JZ
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