Keeping' Time...

Hello, readers of The Clock. I feel like last week I spent the first edition of "Keepin' Time" by launching into a tirade about super groups without properly introducing the column or myself. So hi, I'm Ben, Assistant A&E Editor for The Clock. I'm a junior and I like dogs. Whenever I meet someone new the first and important question asked is "What are your top 5 favorite bands?"

Answer carefully, because it determines the basis of our friendship for the duration of the time we know each other. Seriously. So it's only fair, while I may have already met or will meet many of you and pose this very question, that I answer first. As a true music nerd, the classic "Top 5" question is insanely impossible to answer, but I will do my best to make an answer as concise and true to my heart as I am capable. So without further ado, here's where I'm coming from.

5.) The Movielife - This now defunct Long Island band only put out three albums and one EP, but the first notes of "Hand Grenade" were all it took for me to start making girls mix tapes (TAPES, not CDs). The Movielife hold a very dear place in my heart mainly because of Vinnie Caruana's uncanny ability to write songs that I actually felt were about my life. The Movielife are gone, but Vinnie is still going strong with his new band I Am the Avalanche. Check them out.

4.) Bruce Springsteen - Growing up in the King household, it was impossible not to be exposed to "The Boss." My parents are huge Springsteen fans, and it trickled down to me over the years. My Dad had an old brown Ford truck that we'd drive around in and play the "Born to Run" and "Darkness On the Edge of Town" albums front to back, over and over again. As much as I love Bruce, I still prefer to hear "Thunder Road" sung (poorly) by my mom and dad while making breakfast or doing chores on a Sunday morning.

3.) Alkaline Trio - At some point I discovered that life is much easier to deal with when you have a singer to turn to who has the ability to just make the world make sense. To me, Matt Skiba is that man. Alkaline is the ultimate band to listen to with your friends, whether as the backdrop to a serious conversation or just having drinks in your living room. I don't even remember how I got into Chicago's finest goth punk band, but I do know that my brother and I can't drive more than an hour in a car without playing "Radio."

2.) New Found Glory - Florida's own New Found Glory is the emo generation's answer to Bad Religion: they have a ton of material and most of it sounds pretty similar, but this band is just incapable of writing a bad song. I place New Found in my Top 5 not only because of their consistency in putting out amazing records (Guys, I am willing to pretend you never released "Coming Home." Even Bad Religion put out "Into the Unknown." Ugh.), but also because I have seen them live more than any other band, somewhere around 20 times by now.

1.) Blink-182 - In my own personal life, Blink-182 is the most important band ever, in the history of the world, period. I could write a fairly lengthy book about the reasons, so I'll cut myself off here.So there you have it. I feel a little bit closer to you guys. Now next week: back to the ranting.