Tobacco: I Smoke a Lot

k's Choice: I Smoke a Lot

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This song immediately came to mind for this theme for obvious reasons. I've posted k's Choice here a number of times before so I'll spare you their history, but their music just seems to fit the themes often. Lead singer, Sarah Bettens, has a voice that you can believe when she says "I smoke a lot", and despite not being a smoker myself, there is a universal quality to the song that everyone can probably relate to. There's always someone who thinks they need to lecture us on how to properly live our lives and let us know that whatever our vices might be, that we ought to stop, as if we didn't already know.

Fathers and Fatherhood: Dad

K's Choice: Dad

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It seems like every other week we get a theme that a song by K's Choice would be good for. I have decided to choose other selections for some of those since I don't want it to be a glut of them, or to make it sound like I'm obsessed with them. Simply put, it's been very coincidental that the themes match up with their songs.

But I have held back long enough, this song is too good a fit not to post. "Dad" is a simple piano ballad sung as if written as a present to their own father (the group's songwriters are a brother and sister duo). But what is great about it is that though it's mostly a very sweet and sappy ballad, it's got enough realness to keep it sounding intimate and personal. It's really beautiful and touching, and a must-have for any Father's Day mix if you ask me.

Drugs: Not An Addict

k's Choice: Not An Addict

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Months ago I posted another song (link no longer available, sorry) by the Belgian sister-brother fronted rock band k's Choice. "Not An Addict" is their single from that same album, and the song that got me into them when I heard it played on the local alternative rock station back in 1997.

The song is a passionate first person song about addiction denial. It takes on the "coolness" of drug culture by taking that first person approach so that you're hearing what it sounds like to hear someone talk about how other people may have addictions, but they don't because they only do it because it feels good and makes them more creative. It's a beautifully powerful rock ballad.

The Music Biz: My Record Company

k's Choice: My Record Company

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I am not sure what is more surprising, that more anti-record company songs aren't made considering how many artists get screwed over by them, or that there still are some that make it onto major label albums despite their "bite the hand that feeds them" content.

Belgian brother/sister fronted band k's choice released their 1996 album "Paradise in Me" on Epic's 550 Records. The album contained many songs with biting social commentary, including the song "My Record Company" that expressed how record executives "smell like food that has gone bad" among other pleasantries.