About time I returned to the old days, and to be specific to 2012. Yes, it's time to get back to Everfree Radio's Top 100 fandom songs from that year. You can read about my four rules that decide whether I include or skip a song by clicking that link, but here they are in potted form.
Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the artist
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion
The format is the same as before: a brief summary up here, then videos and waffle beneath each one. Here are today's tracks:
83: Alex S. – Trixie the Pony Troll
82: Zabrina – Pinkie Pie Smile Song Piano Cover
81: Sim Gretina – Crystal Fair (Sim Gretina Remix)
80: ThatSonofaMitch – First Night Alone
79: Rina-chan – Colgate's Brew
78: PrinceWhateverer – Guardians of Equestria
If you want to know more about these tracks, please keep reading!
Rule 2: official archive channel
It's time for some dubstep! Perhaps not quite so much these days, but there was a time when dubstep was the brony musical style. I can't say it's ever been my favourite, but Alex S. certainly knew what he was doing in the genre. This song dates from the days when we'd only seen a single Trixie episode, and indeed there are plenty of samples from "Boast Busters" here. The version above is the VIP from a bit later, but the original is no longer available and the differences are slight. There's a Mediafire download for a higher-quality MP3 in the video description.
Rule 1: on Daniel Ingram's YouTube channel!
Something a little out of the ordinary now: a show song that is actually hosted by Daniel Ingram himself! This cover of the beloved classic from "A Friend In Deed" features vocals and piano by 13-year-old Zabrina, and it's a really heart-warming interpretation. A little slower than the original, but invested with plenty of emotion and a performance that's extremely impressive from one so young. I have no idea what became of Zabrina after this, but she really put a smile on my face here. No HQ version as far as I can tell.
Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 25 Oct 2012
I could probably save time by just writing, "Sim Gretina remix. It's great" every time, but I suppose I should make a little more of an effort than that! This one is, of course, based on the (to my mind, underrated) second song from the S3 premiere, "The Crystal Empire". It's what you'd expect from SG: well-made, bouncy and happy. For once there is something I dislike about it: the ending. It's too abrupt for me, despite that obviously being deliberate. Still, a minor complaint in an otherwise excellent song. SoundCloud link in the video description.
Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 24 May 2012
I'll confess that I'd never even heard of ThatSonofaMitch until now, still less this song. His last output was a "Loyalty" remix in 2014, so perhaps that's not surprising. This is a track about Colgate – this was long before the name "Minuette" became canon – and, unlike many early songs about her, it's not to do with teeth! This title and final line ("What good is the morning if the night never comes?") suggest this is about a breakup, though it could also relate to another popular fan theory of the time, that her hourglass cutie mark indicated certain powers over time and space. This song was mastered by another old-fandom big name, HMage, and though a little busy in places and perhaps overlong, it's a pleasant bit of electronica. The video description has 320k MP3 links to both the full song and an instrumental version.
Rule 1: uploaded to YouTube 27 Aug 2012
This Rina-chan track is a real oddity: a parody of "Pinkie's Brew" (no. 38 in the 2011 list) consisting of Colgate telling Derpy that her dental health is at risk if she doesn't lay off the muffins. Rina-chan has always been really good at this particular voice, and this track is no exception. The lyrics fit pretty nicely to the rhythm, too, with only one or two places where they're a bit hard to understand first time around. Sadly, the links to download the song in the video description now return "403 Forbidden" errors, as indeed does Rina-chan's entire site, so no HQ version is available.
Rule 1b: updated version available from the artist
Another entry on the list here from one of the fandom's most durable musicians. PrinceWhateverer released this song in 2012, but a few years later it disappeared. Like quite a few of PW's early songs, it's a little on the scratchy side, although there's no doubting its energy. It's about the changeling invasion of Canterlot. Luckily for us all (and for the song's inclusion in this feature!) a 2019 version was published just last month. It definitely sounds more polished than the original, and if you want it you can buy it for £1 on PrinceWhateverer's Bandcamp.
Man, that little girl would be around 20 now. I wonder if she's still singing. :D
ReplyDeleteThat's one of my favorite of Sim's early remixes. I sometimes get it stuck in my head for hours at a time for no reason whatsoever. :'D
I apparently had that TSOAM track once upon a time. I've always liked All Levels at Once, of course. :) And I'm liking it all over again for the first time!
I can't believe someone made a parody of Pinkie's Brew. Or that it's about Colgate. XD Some of those lines don't make any sense in context, though, because she didn't change the words...
The answer to your first question is yes! Info provided by Whisper Key in the comment after yours! :)
DeleteI like All Levels at Once myself, but somehow I'd missed (or forgotten about) this particular track. :)
Logan, if you're serious about your comments on Zabrina's present whereabouts, you're in luck. Just last month she rerecorded "The Smile Song" with Daniel Ingram and Ellie Hay as part of Ingram's ongoing YouTube series of acoustic covers of pony songs.
ReplyDeleteOh, brilliant! Thanks so much for the pointer, as I'd missed that when it came out. :)
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