MY IMMORTAL

Never Give Up

The Evanescence are a rock band from the United States, formed in Little Rock in 1995. The band takes its name from the word "evanescence", the state or act of vanishing.
Their music is characterized by a fusion of alternative metal elements, gothic metal (especially at the beginning).
The band was founded by vocalist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody in 1995. According to various sources not always congruent, the two met in a young camp in Arkansas, where Moody listened to Lee playing the piano and singing I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Will not Do That) by Meat Loaf; later he would say: "I thought I was in paradise. Almost I was dry. In that tiny young camp there was one of the most powerful and beautiful voices I'd ever heard.

LYRICS

I'm so tired of being here 

Suppressed by all my childish fears 

And if you have to leave 

I wish that you would just leave 

'Cause your presence still lingers here

And it won't leave me alone 

These wounds won't seem to heal 

This pain is just too real 

There's just too much that 

time cannot erase 

When you cried I'd wipe away 

all of your tears 

When you'd scream I'd fight away 

all of your fears 

I held your hand through 

all of these years 

But you still have 

All of me 

You used to captivate me 

By your resonating light 

Now I'm bound by the life 

you left behind 

Your face it haunts 

My once pleasant dreams 

Your voice it chased away 

All the sanity in me 

These wounds won't seem to heal 

This pain is just too real 

There's just too much that 

time cannot erase 

When you cried I'd wipe away 

all of your tears 

When you'd scream I'd fight away 

all of your fears 

I held your hand through 

all of these years 

But you still have 

All of me 

I've tried so hard to tell myself 

that you're gone 

But though you're still with me 

I've been alone all along 

When you cried I'd wipe away 

all of your tears 

When you'd scream I'd fight away 

all of your fears 

I held your hand through 

all of these years 

But you still have 

All of me, me, me

All together, we’ve chosen this song, in memory of our dear friend Angelo who, after a fatal accident, lost his life.

Angelo was more of a classmate or a friend. Angelo was a part of us and from one day to another everyone lost him.
As the song says, it is a pain that none of us can forget because it is such a strong pain that even time can’t erase, it’s “a spirit staying with you after its death and haunting you until you actually wish that the spirit were gone because it won't leave you alone”.

GLOSSARY
Suppress: to put an end to the activities of a person to keep in or repress (a feeling, smile, groan, etc.)
Wound: an injury or hurt (also to emotions)
Heal: to repair or take care of
Tear: drop of water coming from your eyes when you’re sad, wounded, ecc…
Fear: you have fear when you’re in an impending danger
Guitarist: a performer on the guitar
Classmate: a member of the same class at a school or college
Fusion: the act or process of fusing or the state of being fused

Linkin Park

MMCEditorial

We’ve always loved rock music, we can listen to it for hours and hours. But Linkin Park's music left a mark on our hearts. We discovered the band hearing the song “What I’ve Done” from the Minutes to Midnight album and we liked it so much that we started to follow the band and the other songs later published.

This Band can satisfy all kinds of ears, because it's rock influenced by hip hop, alternative rock and electronics. The band was founded in 1996 in Los Angeles by three high school friends, Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon and Brad Delson. They called their band Xero and firstly recorded in Shinoda's bedroom. After recruiting Chester Bennington, they renamed the band Hybrid Theory. 

Their first concert was in Los Angeles, after which they got a contract with the Warner Bros Records, but they had to change their name one last time in Linkin Park, and changed their lineup. Their first success was the album Hybrid Theory, that sold over 30 million copies influenced by other groups like Defnotes, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche mode, and other ones. 

In 2003 the band began a small tour, the “Lp Underground Tour” reserved only for the fan club members; it started in Milano (23 February) and finished in Los Angeles (25 March). Their lineup in 2017 was: Chester Bennington, Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Rob Bourdon and Joe Hanh. Linkin Park's logo was initially a square with the letters L and P inside it (the letter P was reversed) but in 2007 the logo was modified to a circle with two triangles in it, indicating in a particular way the initials of the band. The last logo published was an exagon with the triangles inside, indicating the band formed by 6 members. After the death of Bennington, Shinoda posted the same logo, but with the exagon missing a side.

We wanted to leave here a tribute to Chester Bennington, who died in 2017: “You satisfied our ears with your music, now let us remember you continuosly hearing your songs".

GLOSSARY
Lineup: members composing a music band
Mark: sign, little scratch on something
Underground: below the ground level
Recruit: to look for and hire new members for a band
Influence: to cause an effect on something or someone
Found: to form a music band
Record: to put sound on a disc or a tape
Exagon: a figure having six angles and six sides

Green Day

I.B.C.

The Green Day are a U.S. rock band founded in 1986. The band is composed by: Billie Joe Armstrong (guitar and voice), Mike Dirnt (bass and secondary voice) and Tré Cool (drum).
The Green Day are among the top-selling groups in the history having sold more than 85 millions discs all around the world. Also the Rolling Stone magazine has put them in the “new immortals” list; “new immortal” is a list of artists defined as the legend of the music history . The historical newsweekly “Billboard” has ranked them at the 4th place in the chart of the best alternative artists of all time. In addition the band has won 6 grammy awards so far and on 18 april 2015 they were introduced in the rock and roll Hall of Fame.
One of their most famous albums is “American idiot” published on 21 September 2004; this album was put in the 500 best albums by Rolling Stone magazine, at the 225 place. Till 2012 it sold 14 milions of copy. The main topic of the album is the attack addressed to the “american idiot”: the band criticizes the american paranoic life-style where everything passes through the media and they brodcast what they want you to believe.

Among the polemic targets of the Green Day there is the usless war in Iraq that caused thousands of deaths. Another theme is about a rebel guy who wants to do whatever he wants and to be free. One day he runs away from home, but at the same time he is very confused and falls into the trap of drugs and alcohol. Then he starts thinking about suicide; finally he is helped by a girl he falls in love with, at this point he tries to understand what to fight for and what he reallly wants for himself.
The song we like the most is “Boulevard of broken dreams” and it talks about the rebel guy and his mood after his last hangover when he realizes that he will always stay alone if he runs away from the problems by taking refuge in alcohol.

Lyrics
I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's only me, and I walk alone
I walk this empty street
On the boulevard of broken dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one, and I walk alone
I walk alone, I walk alone
I walk alone and I walk a
My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
Till then I walk alone
Ah ah ah ah ah
Ah ah ah ah ah
I'm walking down the line
That divides me somewhere in my mind
On the border line of the edge
And where I walk alone
Read between the lines
What's fucked up and every thing's all right
Check my vital signs to know I'm still alive
And I walk alone
I walk alone, I walk alone
I walk alone and I walk a
My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
Till then I walk alone
Ah ah ah ah ah
Ah ah ah ah ah
I walk alone, I walk a
I walk this empty street
On the boulevard of broken dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one, and I walk alone
My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
Till then I walk alone

We chose this song because it sounds great but also for the meaning: it makes you understand that life will always be troubled and, to feel better, you will have to deal with problems instead of avoiding them.

GLOSSARY
Avoid: to keep or stay away from something
Target: aim, goal; a person or thing at which an action or remark is directed
Criticize: to judge or dicuss about the merit of faults of something
Meaning: it’s what the song’s lyrics talks about
Hangover: the aftereffects of drinking alcohol
Broadcast: to transmit programs on radio or tv
Mood: it’s an emotional state in a particular time 
Theme: it’ s a subject of a talk
Newsweekly: it’s a newspaper published every week
Top- selling: something that is extremely popular, usually sold in large quantities

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

 JMC7

I wasn’t that type of guy that listens to rock music. I usually preferred the most commercial one, like some rap, pop, the Italian one… But that day I started loving that music genre!

It was a Saturday afternoon, my friend Giovanni and I were ready… We were ready to go to the betting shop like we do every week and place a winning bet... or at least to try to win!
During the trip Gio connected his phone to the car’s bluetooth, and he started playing some random songs.

Than he looked at me saying: “Listen to this!”

I don’t know... My first impression was how good that song was, how relaxing music can be.

So I tried to listen to it a few more times and then I fell in love!
I started listening to other similar songs and to other bands: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, etc. I loved them all, but this was the one that makes me appreciate this type of music, so... here it is!

The text talks about Jimmy, a guy that is in a psychological confusion, sadness and loneliness period.
He is in a lonely, silence and empty road and he is walking alone. This guy consideres this road like a house and the only place he has ever really known. In that street the only living things are his heart and his shadow and he sometimes has the wish that beside him there could be someone but “Till then I walk alone".

“Boulevard of broken dreams”

I walk a lonely road,

The only one that I have ever known,

Don't know where it goes,

But it's home to me and I walk alone,

I walk this empty street,

On the boulevard of broken dreams,

Where the city sleeps,

And I'm the only one and I walk alone

I walk alone,

I walk alone,

I walk alone,

I walk a..

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me,

My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating,

Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me,

'Til then I walk alone

I'm walking down the line,

That divides me somewhere in my mind,

On the borderline of the edge,

And where I walk alone,

Read between the lines of what's

Fucked up and everything's alright,

Check my vital signs to know I'm still alive,

And I walk alone

Glossary:
Trip: a journey for some purpose (usually including the return)
Betting shop: a licensed bookmaker's shop where people may place bets, watch horse races etc on television, and collect their winnings
Appreciate: to recognize with gratitude, to be grateful for something
Sadness: emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being
Loneliness: sadness resulting from being forsaken or abandoned

Beside: postion of someone or sometingh near you

Am I crazy?

It was winter, 1994. Our politicians were talking about Europe and globalization, Jugoslavia was torn by a civil war, Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction were shot and the following year they would win the Oscar prize. In the meantime, in Rwanda two enemy tribes, the Tutsis and the Hutus, were fighting each other cruelly.

In the USA and all around the world the radio was transmitting the song "Basket Case": punk rock was still alive, Green Day were the proof!

Listen to this song:

 

The American punk rock band released their third album, Dookie, in 1994. Its popularity made Punk music mainstream and it won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.

Even if the music sounds dynamic and overwhelming the real meaning of the lyrics is actually quite different and not so positive. Let's have a look at the meaning!

Do you have the time to listen to me whine

About nothing and everything

 

All at once I am one of those melodramatic fools

Neurotic to the bone

No doubt about it

Sometimes I give myself the creeps

Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me

It all keeps adding up

I think I'm cracking up

Am I just paranoid?

Am I just stoned?

I went to a shrink to analyze my dreams

She says it's lack of sex that's bringing me down

I went to a whore

He said my life's a bore

So quit my whining cause

It's bringing her down

Sometimes I give myself the creeps

Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me

It all keeps adding up

I think I'm cracking up

Am I just paranoid?

Uh, yuh, yuh, ya

Grasping to control

So I better hold on

Sometimes I give myself the creeps

Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me

It all keeps adding up

I think I'm cracking up

Am I just paranoid?

Am I just stoned?

 

The singer is talking about himself: he is worried about his actual situation. He asks to himself "Am I  just  paranoid? Am I just stoned?" He is going to a "shrink", a psychoanalyst, to a whore... he's looking for answers about his state, but nobody seems to be able to help him. The singer is cracking up, he doesn't know what to do and when he looks at his own situation he "gives himself the creeps".

The energetic music and the hallucinatory state of the dazed singer are the main features of the whole song.

 

Glossary

torn: divided, lacerated

shot: filmed

alive: if you are alive, you are living, in other words you are not dead

to release: to set someone or something free, like a caged animal or a prisoner / to prepare something for public distribution

mainstram: what is viewed my most people as normal

overwhelming: something very intense and

lyric: the words of a song

to whine: to complain in an annoying way, to cry like a baby

fool: idiot

bone: a single section of a stone

to give someone the creeps: to have the feeling of fear and revulsion

to play trick: to deceive, to make someone believe something untrue

to crack up: to suffer a nervous break down

stoned: under the influence of narcotics

shrink: it's the informal word to refer to a therapist, a psychiatrist

lack: the absence of something (eg. when there's a lack of food, people starve, they die)

to bring someone down: to move  something or someone to a lower position

whore: a prostitute

bore: if your freinds fall asleep every time you open your mouth, probably you are a bore (in other words, you are not very interesting)

to quit: to stop doing something

to hold on: to be persistent, to refuse to stop