European Soccer Fans Rocking Like It's 2003

Ask any official in the 2008 EURO Championships, and he'll tell you that the official song for Europe's biggest football (that's our soccer, kids) tournament is "Can You Hear Me" by Enrique Iglesias. The fans seem to have something different in mind.

Videos like this are why I LOVE European soccer fans:


Sadly that was the best video of the phenomenon I could find. Apparently "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes has become the de facto song for all EURO 2008 games (as well as the qualifying matches). Sure the song's 5 years old now, but when the alternative is Enrique? Look, I'll admit to owning a couple of his songs, but not exactly what I'd consider good pregame music for one of the most insane sports phenomena the world has seen.

The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army [iTunes]
(Thanks to Pirates of the Bargain Bin for posting this first and thus allowing me to come across it)

==TJ==

Enough Music To Last Me A Week

In case you were curious, I haven't done a Top 40 rundown for the last two weeks because, frankly, for the last few weeks the Top 40 has been pretty lame. I'll consider another one this week if I see something interesting.

In the meantime, my status as the Arcadia's music geek has been challenged. Yesterday a dude by the name of Mike Newsham and I bonded over music, and ended up sharing bits of our collection. He got my 30 Seconds to Mars CDs, some Beatles, almost all of my Foo Fighters, and a bunch of other stuff. Mike gave me:

-Enough Eric Clapton to last me for awhile. (By Clapton I mean any band Clapton's ever been with; Derek & the Dominos, Cream, Blind Faith, solo stuff...all of it)
-A primer on the works of the Counting Crows
-A healthy boost to my Queen collection (including the soundtrack to We Will Rock You)
-All 3 singles by the Gin Blossoms (one of those '90s bands where you recognize the music when you hear it, but probably never got around to picking up any of the music).
-Some blues stuff from Jools Holland's TV Show (info here)
-Albums by John Mayer and Jimmy Eat World

In all there were 302 songs added to my computer yesterday. I'm still sorting through most of it, but I'll get back to you on what I think of all of it. Here are some MP3s from that set so far (stuff I already heard and approved.

Derek and the Dominos - Layla
Cream - Sunshine of Your Love
Counting Crows - Rain King
Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy
Rainbow - I Surrender

Eric Clapton on iTunes
Counting Crows on iTunes
Gin Blossoms on iTunes
Rainbow on iTunes

Rainbow is Ronnie James Dio's band before Black Sabbath. He left by the time I Surrender came out, but it's still pretty cool.

I don't remember if I actually did this yet or not, but ratings for the two albums I bought off Amazon last week.

Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles
The sound is positively epic, Tom Morello's guitar comes out firing on every song, and overall it shows the band at their absolute best. A stunning way to end a band's career (or so we thought back in 2000)
Ruling on the Field: 9.5/10
Highlight Reel: Testify, Sleep Now in the Fire [iTunes]

The White Stripes - Icky Thump
Expect a Second Spin on The White Stripes later this week.
Ruling on the Field: 8/10
Highlight Reel: You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told) [iTunes]

And an update on something I posted about not too long ago; I was a runner-up in The Crash Motive's iMix and Win contest, so I got an autographed CD and T-Shirt. Will post pictures in the near future.

Back next time I can find some spare time.

==TJ==