Number Two

The musical countdown continues, and this week's tune of doom goes back a dozen years to the year 2000: Idoeteque by Radiohead.

This song track from Radiohead's album, Kid A, is seen as a departure for the band, as the song driven by electronic beats. Some think this is an apocalyptic song, a song about destruction brought by the hand of man (who's in the bunker) or nature (ice age coming) - - the end of the world! Lyric lines come off as thought capsules from assorted victims - - collective voices from all walks of life, persons in a state of panic with the hypothetical questions posed. ‘What would you do?’ 'Keep a cool head?'

Who's in a bunker?

Who's in a bunker?

Women and children first

And children first

And children

I'll laugh until my head comes off

I swallow till I burst

Until I burst

Until I . .

Who's in a bunker?

Who's in a bunker?

I've seen too much

You haven't seen enough

You haven't seen

I'll laugh until my head comes off

Women and children first

The children first

The children . .

Here I'm allowed, 

Everything all of the time

Here I'm allowed, 

Everything all of the time

Ice age coming

Ice age coming

Let me hear both sides

Let me hear both sides

Let me hear both . .

Ice age coming

Ice age coming

Throw it on the fire

Throw it on the fire

Throw it on the..

We're not scaremongering

This is really happening, happening

We're not scaremongering

This is really happening, happening

Mobiles working

Mobiles chirping

Take the money and run

Take the money and run

Take the money . .

Here I'm allowed, 

Everything all of the time

Here I'm allowed, 

Everything all of the time

Here I'm allowed, 

Everything all of the time

Here I'm allowed, 

Everything all of the time

Be fathers to the children

Be fathers to the children

Be fathers to the children

Be fathers to the children

Be fathers to the children

Be fathers to the children

Be fathers to the children

Be fathers to the children

Musical Countdown No. Four

Apocalypse Please (2003) by English alternative rock band Muse is this week's Countdown choice. Written by lead vocalist, guitarist and pianist Matthew Bellamy, it reached number ten (Sept 2004) on the UK Official Download Chart. Drummer Dominic Howard described it as "a very theatrical song about religious fanatics and their wish that their prophecies come true . . . So that they can confirm their religion."

Declare this an emergency

Come on and spread a sense of urgency

and pull us through

and pull us through

and this is the end

This is the end
of the world

It's time we saw a miracle

Come on it's time for something biblical

To pull us through

and pull us through

and this is the end

This is the end
of the world

Proclaim eternal victory

Come on and change the course of history

and pull us through

and pull us through

and this is the end 

This is the end
of the world

Number Five - Musical Countdown to BIFF

The song Doomsday Clock by the alternative rock band Smashing Pumpkins is this week's selection. The opening track for their 2007 album, Zeitgeist, starts with an energetic drum solo. At the time of this recording, Smashing Pumpkins was a reformed band led by singer and guitarist Billy Corgan and drummer Chamberlin from the original group along with newcomers including guitarist Jeff Schroeder, bassist Ginger Reyes, and Lisa Harriton on keyboard. Fans of the movie, Transformers, will recognize this song from the soundtrack.

The song title refers to the Doomsday Clock that since 1947 has been maintained by the directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago. The closer the clock is to midnight, the closer the world is estimated to be to global disaster.


Is everyone afraid?

Is everyone ashamed?

They're running towards their holes to find out

Apocalyptic means are lost amongst our dead

A message to our friends to get out

There's wages on this fear, oh, so clear

Depends on what you'll pay to hear

They're bound to kill us all in whitewashed halls

The jackals lick their paws

Please don't stop

It's lonely at the top

These lonely days

Will they ever stop?

This doomsday clock, ticking in my heart, not broken

I love life every day, in each and every way

Kafka would be proud to find out

I'm certain of the end

It's the means that has me spooked

It takes an unknown truth to get out

I'm guessing I'm born free, silly me

I was meant to beg from my knees

Please don't stop

It's lonely at the top

These lonely days

Will they ever stop?

This doomsday clock, ticking in my heart

These lonely days, will they ever stop?

We gotta dig in, gas masks on

Wait in the sunshine, all bug-eyed

If this is living, sake's alive

Well, then they can't win, no one survives

Is everyone afraid?

You should be ashamed

Apocalyptic screams mean nothing to the dead

Kissing that ol' sun to know all there is

Come on, last call, you should want it all

Ah, it's lonely at the top

These lonely days, will they ever stop?

This doomsday clock, ticking in my heart

These lonely days, will they ever stop?

This ticking in my heart, is everyone afraid?

Late with the Musical Countdown - Six Weeks till BIFF

So what's the excuse for this week's Musical Countdown selection being late? There has been Wildfire here in Wayne County, Utah. This past week, over two-thousand acres were blackened but things now are under control.

Get your FastPass soon; make sure that you have a seat on Friday night for the first film of "Duck and Cover: It's Doomsday 2012." Take a look at the schedule of BIFF events such as the Party of the Stars, the Survivor Challenge, the World's Fastest Parade and much more!

In light of the recent forest fire, this week's selection comes from another American thrash metal band, Metallica. It’s the opening cut to Metallica‘s best album, And Justice For All, back when Lars Ulrich still used a double bass. “Blackened” (1988) refers to the charred remnants of the planet after a nuclear war. It's about the end of the world and human civilization - - through the destruction and pollution of the environment. And don’t forget the nuclear winter that follows.

Blackened is the end

Winter it will send

Throwing all you see

Into obscurity

Death of mother Earth

Never a rebirth

Evolution's end

Never will it mend

Never

Fire

To begin with the dance of the dead

Blackened is the end

To begin with the dance of the dead

Color our world blackened

Blistering of Earth

Terminate it's worth

Deadly nicotine

Kills what might have been

Callous frigid chill

Nothing left to kill

Never seen before

Breathing nevermore

Never

Fire

To begin with the dance of the dead

Blackened is the end

To begin with the dance of the dead

Color our world blackened

Blackened

Opposition (Opposition)

Contradiction (Contradiction)

Premonition (Premonition)

Compromise

Agitation (Agitation)

Violation (Violation)

Mutilation (Mutilation)

Planet dies

Darkest color

Blistered Earth

True death of life

(Termination) Termination (Termination)

(Expiration) Expiration

Cancellation

Human race

(Expectation) Expectation

(Liberation) Liberation

(Population) Population laid to waste

See our mother

Put to death (Death, death)

See our mother die

Smoldering decay

Take her breath away

Millions of our years

In minutes disappears

Darkening in vain

Decadence remains

All is said and done

Never is the sun

Never

Fire

To begin with the dance of the dead

Blackened is the end

To begin with the dance of the dead

Fire

Is the outcome of hypocrisy

Darkest potency

In the exit of humanity

Color our world blackened

Blackened

Seven Weeks 'till "Are You Ready for Doomsday 2012?"

Are you ready for BIFF? The Countdown Continues . . . Number Seven:

We Will Become Silhouettes (2005) by The Postal Service. A song with a pretty melody and beautifully sung but alarming lyrics - - of impending doom! Nuclear holocaust and being to close to the explosion; the intensity of the flash burning your body's image into whatever is around you. The music sounds happy, but it's not!


Released in February by Sub Pop Records on an album with the same name, We Will Become Silhouettes was the band's most successful recording, reaching number eighty-four on the Billboard charts. The song was used in the trailer for the movie Funny People and was also used in Love Happens, both released in 2009.

I've got a cupboard with cans of food, 
filtered water, and pictures of you 
and i'm not coming out until this is all over

And i'm looking through the glass

where the light bends at the cracks

and i'm screaming at the top of my lungs
pretending the echoes belong to someone

Someone i used to know

And we become
silhouettes when our bodies finally go

Ba, ba, ba, ba . . . ba, ba, ba, ba

I wanted to walk through the empty streets

and feel something constant under my feet,

but all the news reports recommended that I stay indoors

Because the air outside will make
our cells divide at an alarming rate 
until our shells simply cannot hold all our insides in

and that's when we'll explode

(and it won't be a pretty sight)

We will become
silhouettes when our bodies finally go

Ba, ba, ba, ba

We will become, we'll become, we'll become
silhouettes when our bodies finally go

Ba, ba, ba, ba

We will become, we'll become, we'll become
silhouettes when our bodies finally go

Ba, ba, ba, ba

We will become, we'll become, we'll become
silhouettes when our bodies finally go


(Faintly)

Ba, ba, ba, ba
We will become, we will become . . .

Ten Weeks to Go - Till BIFF

For sure, you don't want to miss this one. This could be the last BIFF. Erh, that is if the prophesies for 2012 are accurate? Dropping back to 1986 for this week's Countdown tune that was written by Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Michael Rutherford.

The song, Land of Confusion, came out on Genesis's album, Invisible Touch. You may remember its music video on MTV. The video featured bizarre puppets that were caricatures of the band members and included puppet versions of Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Collins commissioned Peter Fluck and Roger Law of the British television show Spitting Image to create puppets of the entire band, as well as all the characters in the video. See how many famous, contemporary and historical people you can identify, world leaders, and hang on til the very end of the video clip when then President Reagan awakes from his dream.

I must've dreamed a thousand dreams

Been haunted by a million screams

But I can hear the marching feet

They're moving into the street

Now did you read the news today

They say the danger's gone away

But I can see the fire's still alight

There burning . . into the night

There's too many men, too many people

Making too many problems

And not much love to go round

Can't you see this is a land of confusion?

Well this is the world we live in

And these are the hands we're given

Use them and let's start trying

To make it a place worth living in

Ooh, Superman where are you now

Where everything's gone wrong somehow?

The men of steel, the men of power

Are losing control by the hour

This is the time, this is the place

So we look for the future

But there's not much love to go round

Tell me why this is a land of confusion

This is the world we live in

And these are the hands we're given

Use them and let's start trying

To make it a place worth living in

I remember long ago - - when the sun was shining

Yes and the stars were bright, all through the night

And the sound of your laughter, as I held you tight
So long ago

I won't be coming home tonight

My generation will put it right

We're not just making promises

That we know, we'll never keep

Too many men, there's too many people

Making too many problems

And not much love to go round

Can't you see, this is a land of confusion?

Now this is the world we live in

And these are the hands we're given

Use them and let's start trying

To make it a place worth fighting for

This is the world we live in

This is the world we live in

And these are the names we're given

Stand up and let's start showing

Just where our lives are going to

Week Eleven - Countdown to BIFF

This week's countdown song, London Calling, is by the British punk rock band, The Clash. It was released as a single from the band's 1979 double album London Calling. This apocalyptic, politically charged rant combined the band's famous reggae basslines with punk electric guitar riffs and vocals. The urgent first chorus finds Joe Strummer snarling his way through a grim little warning: "The ice age is coming" . . .  The second chorus adds another cataclysmic possibility to Strummer's list of worries: a nuclear error, perhaps inspired by the recent meltdown at Three Mile Island. The line, "London is drowning and I live by the river" came from the belief in England that if the Thames river ever flooded, all of London would be under water.

Surprised? There you were - - just swinging to the beat, maybe not aware what the lyrics were all about!

Written by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones (1979)

London calling to the faraway towns

Now war is declared and battle come down

London calling to the underworld

Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls

London calling, now don't look to us

Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust

London calling, see we ain't got no swing

Except for the ring of the truncheon thing

[Chorus]

The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in

Meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin

Engines stop running, but I have no fear

Cause London is drowning and I . . . live by the river

London calling to the imitation zone

Forget it brother, you can go it alone

London calling to the zombies of death

Quit holding out - and draw another breath

London calling - and I don't want to shout

But while we were talking - I saw you nodding out

London calling, see we ain't got no highs

Except for that one with the yellowy eyes

[Chorus]

The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in

Engines stop running, the wheat is growing thin

A nuclear era, but I have no fear

Cause London is drowning, and I . . .  I live by the river

The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in

Engines stop running, the wheat is growing thin

A nuclear era, but I have no fear

Cause London is drowning, and I . . . I live by the river

Now get this

London calling, yes I was there too

And you know what they said? Well, some of it was true!

London calling at the top of the dial

After all this, won't you give me a smile?

London calling

I never felt so much a'like, a'like, a'like . . .

Week Thirteen - Knights of Shame by AWOLNation

The musical countdown to BIFF continues: This week's song is by AWOLNation, an Indie electronic, pop, rock band formed by Aaron Bruno in 2010. The band's first single, "Sail" debuted at #30 on the U.S. Billboard chart and was included on their debut 5-song album. Knights of Shame was cut on their first full-length album, Megalithic Symphony in 2011 - - it may be the longest cut selected for the Countdown, coming in at over twelve minutes.

Knights of Shame
(Link to higher quality but edited version with interview segment)

by AWOLNation

Lyrics (Or as close as I could get them):

Dance baby dance like the world is ending

[x3]

Dance baby dance like the world is ending

(x3)

Dance baby dance like the world is ending

(x3)

Dance baby dance like the world is ending

(x3)

This is who you are

[x3]

This is who you are

[x3]

Oh

Sit back and look for the warnings

The futures bright and alarming

Sit back and look for the warnings

Sit back and look for the warnings

The futures bright and alarming

Sit back and look for the warnings

What

Woo

Huh

Cool

They be walking around with your head cut off

They be walking around with your head cut off

Oh

They be walking around with your head cut off

They be walking around with your head cut off

Their power's fear and it surrounds us

Their signs, you can see

One day we will wake the walking zombies

'Til then we pray

Oo

Everybody

The king and his ghost are laughing at me

These signs, you can see

One day well listen for the sirens

'Til then we pray

Skeletons

Marching army

Guns

Drop your feet

I'm scared

I'm duke Ellington

My mother said there'd by days like this

But one of the fires lit made her piss

Calling all zombies

All up inside me

Transforming vampires

Right beside me

And you can't run

'Cause, you did, you'd be dead

And them walls can't run from the side of my head

I beat the ghoul

My beats are cool

But here's last kiss

All suckers

They will cease to exist

I can't entertain with a beat up human

Lay wast to cities

Leave towns i ruin

I am a robot

Whole arsenal stock

Ready to blow

Lastly you see

Me, be three by three

Firing these things called TNT

Fire these things called TNT

These things called TNT

They call me TNT

These things called TNT

Ahh,

We can dance like the world's over

Yeah it's almost 2012 

Call your girls over

Let's kick back

Pop shots

Have a ball

And if the world blow up

Next life, we do it all over

Uh, Yeah

Let's toast to the memory

I wrote my name in the sky

So remember me

Baby forever we

Together mentally

The day I leave my baby over something

Then helll'll freeze

Froze

This world cold like Natalie

So

Let's lose our clothes like Adam Eve

Back to the basics

Step out the matrix

Step out your cool

Baby, get on my spaceship

I seen her face lit

She seen a sign like a Mason

So we ran home like a base hit

Safe

Life is whatever you think it is

Yo,  what you think this is?

Uh

Yeah it's all in your mind baby

You gotta do what you feel, like a blind lady

You gotta spread your wings and just fly, baby

It feel like you're reborn?

That's my baby

She said she feel it in her soul like a vibrator

I got some things for your thoughts we can try later

Let's hit the dance floor

Right before we out of time

And just party like it's 1999

You know what prince said

Girl, you my princess

I got the glass slipper

I hope the thing fits

Your body on fire

Let me extinguish

hop on this white horse

Ride to the sunset

Is anybody really out there breathing?

Is anybody really sick of bleeding

So come out scream to the sky this evening

And 'fore the morning I'm a touch your feeling

Ha,

Let's start today!

Thank you, alright

Let's start today!

Woo, ah, yeah

Let's start today

Ha ha, yeah, wooo, okay

Let's start today

Start today

Start today

Come on down

The queen's heart

The knights of shame

The people's voice

So we pray and we pray

The queens heart

The knights of shame

So we pray and we pray!

The queens heart

The peoples voice

So we pray and we pray

The queens heart

The knights of shame

So we pray, and we pray

Oooooooo

And yeah it's no fun waiting for the fall

And there'll be no more waiting for you all

And there'll be one more chance for the truth

Without you, I would die

And yeah it's no fun waiting for the fall

And there'll be no more waiting for you all

And there'll be one more chance for the truth

Without you, I would die

I would die

Waiting on a heartbeat

Does anybody hear me?

We're waiting on a heart beat

Is anybody listening?

BIFF Countdown - End of the World!

End of the World (1962) by Skeeter Davis - Sixteen weeks until BIFF

Mary Frances Penick (December 30, 1931 – September 19, 2004), better known as Skeeter Davis, was an American country music singer best known for her crossover pop music songs.

In this tear-jerker ballad, the end of the world is strictly metaphorical. But truthfully if the world were actually ending, could Skeeter Davis have sounded any sadder?. The opening lines are apocalyptic poetry: "Why does the sun go on shining? Why does the sea rush to shore? Don't they know it's the end of the world?"

Skeeter Davis goes on to wonder why the birds go on singing and ends with a heartbreaking sigh of "I can't understand how life goes on the way it does." I think that I might get a little bummed out if this song isn't playing when the Rapture comes.

End of the World by Skeeter Davis

Why does the sun go on shining
Why does the sea rush to shore
Don't they know it's the end of the world
'Cause you don't love me any more

Why do the birds go on singing
Why do the stars glow above
Don't they know it's the end of the world
It ended when I lost your love

I wake up in the morning and I wonder
Why everything's the same as it was
I can't understand, no, I can't understand
How life goes on the way it does

Why does my heart go on beating
Why do these eyes of mine cry
Don't they know it's the end of the world
It ended when you said goodbye

Why does my heart go on beating
Why do these eyes of mine cry
Don't they know it's the end of the world
It ended when you said goodbye

BIFF Musical Countdown - Seventeen Weeks Until the Eighteenth Annual BIFF

Counting down to the Bicknell International Film Festival, July 20 - 21, 2012. Reminder that there is time to plan, develop and create an original video and enter the BIFF Independent Film Contest. Check out the guidelines and enter. Now on to this week's music:

Symphony Of Destruction by Megadeth

Megadeth is a heavy metal band from Los Angeles. Formed in 1983, they along with Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax are recognized for developing the thrash metal sub-genre whose songs typically use fast percussive tempos and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead guitar work. Song lyrics often deal with social issues. So it is with this song - their most successful hit single from the 1992 album, Countdown to Extinction. Penned by vocalist and frontman Dave Mustaine, the song explores the hypothetical situation where an average citizen might be placed into a position where they can run the country while the public is led like puppets by a phantom government. The politician is assassinated causing anarchy and riots to ensue.

Symphony Of Destruction (1992) by Megadeth

You take a mortal man

And put him in control

Watch him become a god

Watch people's heads a'roll

A'roll

A'roll . . . . . . .

Just like the Pied Piper

Led rats through the streets

We dance like marionettes

Swaying to the symphony

Of destruction

Walking like a robot

Its metal brain corrodes

You try to take its pulse

Before the head explodes

Explodes

Explodes . . . . .

Just like the Pied Piper

Led rats through the streets

We dance like marionettes

Swaying to the symphony

Just like the Pied Piper

Led rats through the streets

We dance like marionettes

Swaying to the symphony

Swaying to the symphony

Of destruction

The earth starts to rumble

World powers fall

A'warring for the heavens

A peaceful man stands tall

A'tall

A'tall . . . . . . .

Just like the Pied Piper

Led rats through the streets

We dance like marionettes

Swaying to the symphony

Just like the Pied Piper

Led rats through the streets

We dance like marionettes

Swaying to the symphony

Swaying to the symphony

Of destruction