Top Ten Songs by the Used
Chances are if you are into anything rock/emo you’ve heard of The Used. They came up onto the scene in a big way with the release of their 2004 album In Love and Death. Although The Used currently only has two albums up for grabs, reports directly from the boys promise a new album is in the making; excellent news for music lovers everywhere, potential fans and die hard followers alike. However, despite the lack of albums released, the task of choosing only ten songs from the lists of twelve from each album was harder than expected. Unlike many other bands, The Used has a great record as far as really hard hitting, relatable songs. The type of songs that you can feel, the type of songs you can understand on a level that is truly personal. With this in mind I created the list of ten best Used songs out there. If you are going to break into listening to this band and want a tester, one from this list is the way to go. If you’re already a fan, chances are that your favorite song is on this list. As the trouble of even choosing ten songs seemed insurmountable, I have listed them in no particular ranking order.
Before we begin here are the band members:
Bert McCracken: Vocals
Quinn Allman: Guitar
Jeph Howard: Bass
Branden Steineckert: Drums
Now lets get to the music�
1. I Buried Myself Alive
To start things off I’ve chosen a track from the first, and self titled, album. This track sports the highly energetic, tense, and emotional vocals we’ve come to know and love from lead singer Bret McCraken. The lyrics for this song paint a vivid and hauntingly beautiful picture, while the music drives the song on demanding more and more from the vocals. This clash results in one of the most powerful and moving songs The Used has ever written, and a song that can pull up and together those who really understand what the lyrics mean.
2. Blue and Yellow
For an equally, yet all together different emotional roller coaster check out Blue and Yellow. A softer track filled with rhythmic music flowing behind floating lyrics. Sure, sounds like a strange way to describe a rock band, but this song really delivers a smoother sound to an album so filled with tension and scraping lyrics. It ends up being an amazing contrast that works out all too well. The lyrics on this song provide for an experience that is truly relatable. An excellent track for anytime, but a highly insightful one for those in similar situations. This track is also found on the first album.
3. I’m a Fake
On the second album In Love and Death comes this is highly poetic song which truly relate the plight, reality, and hardships of personal emotions and those of the people around you. Everyone’s take on this song is different, it’s one of those songs that you listen to and get a personal experience from. The beginning is smoothly and poetically performed, an emotional, insightful, sympathetic, even touching tribute to what is to follow. The chaotic music that kicks in after the initial beginning lyrics serve to show the tension, anger, and angst that comes from the feelings emitted through the poem in the front. I have yet to listen to this song without some sort of reaction. It isn’t simply a good song, it really gives a looking into the real and sometimes frightening feelings some of us deal with on a daily basis.
4. Taste of Ink
To accompany the poetic “I’m a Fake,” I’ve followed it with this song “Taste of Ink.” Like the former this song really conveys the everyday for some people, although not as dark, “Taste of Ink” relates the mundane and routine aspect that we deal with. The same day in and day out struggle to break into something new, something worth while. Both music and vocals on this piece are highly melodic with a backbeat that drives the song and pulls all the pieces together into one tight and well performed song, a bit of a break from the tension bound music that sometimes characterizes The Used.
5. Noise and Kisses
The title of this song is more appropriate than some may realize upon a first listen. “Noise and Kisses” is a powerful tribute to the struggles of relationships, opening up, and sharing those things closest to you. The lyrics convey the impact and importance of being close. This song is truly powerful and touching on many levels. The chorus kicks in with a stronger vocal and musical foundation to solidify the impact and intense emotions that come with such a subject matter. The versus are played with a lower guitar riff and vocals that seem to state the dismay and despondency that comes with the absence of closeness. Every part of this song screams with emotion; true, raw feelings.
6. Let it Bleed
Starting with the sound of a ticking and then a guitar riff that really sets the mood for this song, “Let it Bleed” carries a steady driving beat provided by both bass and drums, and vocals that seem to follow it. The vocals on this song are absolutely amazing. The raw, power tones, the anxious laughs that seem to convey the irony of pain and disillusionment to it (sort of an “isn’t it ironic”), and the screams that emphasize the emotion of the song. I don’t want to put a meaning into words because I know too many people that have a different feeling of what it means. I guess it’s just one of those songs. That’s probably why this one has made it on to the top ten list. It’s highly tension filled and a bit chaotic which all too appropriately conveys the feelings you experience while listening.
7. Sound Effects and Overdramatics
This one is loud, heavy, somewhat messy, and a little piece of angsty heaven! The perfect tune for a bad day, the perfect tune for those angry times, and a perfect tune for those sad ones. The music here really takes on a heavy and hard hitting feel while the vocal scream over it. Again, what you get from this song is different, and some people just don’t get it at all. There is no saying exactly what one should or shouldn’t know by this song, simply what it can do and what one can feel. For me, the song holds a power and meaning beyond what is actually said in the lyrics. The intense amount of emotion in this song alone is enough to put on the list with the best.
8. All That I’ve Got
A favorite of so many due to it’s smoother sound and more easily identifiable lyrics, “All That I’ve Got” delivers a beautifully melodic and powerfully emotional relatable song. The beats on this song are great and right on, if ever The Used blended and meshed this is the song. It’s a bit of a change from their others where tension is the intended direction. Instead, this song means to deliver the soothing feeling of being alright despite what is going on and holding on to those things that make you who and what you are. All the parts of this song are performed so well, the cues are hit perfectly, the vocal intensify in all the right places, and harmonies are right on. This is piece is a great work to be considered a masterpiece, perhaps the reason that even those wary of this somewhat loud, emotionally driven, and chaotic band, like it.
9. I Caught Fire
This is a rather blatant love song found on the second album. It is beautifully written and performed, and the lyrics are truly amazing. It really conveys the power behind meeting the right person, getting close, and the feelings involved in it. The guitar in this song plays a great riff throughout the song that provides the song with a base for the confusion of falling of love and the need to be there. This is one of the softer songs, yet Bert McCraken still delivers his classically powerful vocals, minus the usual and much adored emphasizing screams.
10. On my Own
Finishing off the list is one of the softest tunes to be found by The Used, and the title really tells all as far as what the song is about. It is played with a beautifully performed acoustic guitar, strings, and smooth vocals throughout the versus. The brides are haunting and only build up to be more so as they go on and you hear Bert McCraken scream with an echoing background, and effect that wrenches the heart of the listener. Whether you can really relate to and feel the lyrics or not, this piece is mind-blowing. There is no way you can listen to it and feel nothing. The emotions of the song writer are in the music in every possible way from each instrument to the vocals themselves.
