Top Ten Tuesday: You Can't Stop the Rock

Top Ten Tuesday is a weakly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  They love lists as much as I do, so it's only fair to tip my hat.

This week?  BEST TOP TEN TUESDAY EVAR!!!  However I'll warn you now, there will be some vulgarity, so don't read/listen if you hate the swears.  If I could assign theme songs to books (and I totally do in my head), it'd look something like this:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Theme: Stadium Love by Metric

Every living thing pushed into the ring, fight it out to wow the crowd.  Guess you thought you could just watch...no one's getting out without stadium love.

Sure, this song's talking about animal fighting in a stadium, but is that really so different than throwing a bunch of teens in the arena for a fight to the death for the spectator's entertainment?  I think not.  

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Theme: Little Bit by Lykke Li

Hands down, I'm too proud for love, but with eyes shut it's you I'm thinking of.  But how we move from A to B it can't be up to me, 'cause you don't know.  Eye to eye, thigh to thigh, I let go.  I think that I'm a little bit, little bit, a little bit in love with you.  But only if you're a little bit, little bit, little bit in love with me.

This song can be interpreted several ways, but to me it comes across as a chick who's totally in love with her friend, but is too scared to move beyond friendship unless she knows first that he feels the same way.  Sound familiar Anna fans?

The Gunslinger - Stephen King

Theme: 99 Problems by Hugo

Tip my hat to the sun in the west, feel the beat right in my chest.  At the crossroads a second time, make the devil change his mind.  It's a pound of flesh but it's really a ton,  99 problems and a bitch ain't one.  If you haven't got problems, I feel bad for you son.  I've got 99 problems, and a bitch ain't one.

This Jay Z cover is amazing, and pretty much evokes the image of Roland Deschain all over the place.  What can I say?  The man's got a lot of problems.  But a bitch ain't one.

52 Reasons to Hate My Father by Jessica Brody

Theme: Rich Girl by The Bird and the Bee

You're a rich girl, but you've gone too far 'cause you know it don't matter anyway.  You can rely on the old man's money, you can rely on the old man's money.  It's a bitch girl, and it's gone too far  'cause you know it don't matter anyway.  Say money but it won't get you too far.

I haven't had the opportunity to read 52 Reasons yet, but is there any denying that this is the perfect theme?  Heck, the covers of the book and the album are even similar.  Both book and song are about rich girls who plan on relying on the old man's money, but learn the hard way it doesn't quite work like that...

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Theme: I Am Not a Robot by Marina and the Diamonds

I'm vulnerable, I'm vulnerable, I am not a robot.  You're lovable, so lovable, but you're just troubled.  Guess what?  I'm not a robot, a robot.

I have to hat tip Anna from Anna Reads for this one as she posted this song with her Cinder review, but it couldn't be more perfect.  A troubled but lovable guy and a vulnerable girl who wants him to think of her as a person and not a robot?  Mmmhmmm.  Besides, that much glitter and body paint is amazing whether or not you're a robot.

The Odyssey by Homer | Scarlet by A.C. GaughenSo if there were a mashup of these two books I'm thinking:Theme: Two Years Spent Before the Mast by Astronautalis

Two years spent before the mast and no one knows the secrets that we're hiding.  If word got loose, you'd face the lash and thirteen loops would hold me fast and silent.  Things are not always as they seem to be outside us.  Devil got poor Persephone, but they can't take, they can't take you from me.

People!  This song is awesome.  I want someone to write it as a full length book, but until then I'll have to dream.  Basically it tells the story of a sailor who finds a woman stowaway on board, and instead of throwing her in the brig, he cuts off her hair, dresses her as a man, and she works alongside him as a sailor.  He plans to smuggle her off ship with the opium after eight weeks, but they fall in love and she risks staying on board to stay with him.  So I think The Odyssey, for the years spent on a perilous journey at sea (and the mythology mentions), and Scarlet for the dangerous masquerade.  LOVE IT!

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Theme: Buried in Teeth by Mariee Sioux

 

Buried in arms, buried in teeth, can't tell if we're being eaten alive.

This song has a very haunting feel, and the whole arms and teeth and being eaten alive makes it pretty pitch perfect for The Forest of Hands and Teeth.

Kick Ass by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.

Theme: Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler

Where have all the good men gone, and where are all the gods?  Where's the street-wise Hercules to fight the rising odds?  Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?  Late at night I toss and turn and dream of what I need.  I need a hero!  I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night.

This song is just screaming for a teen boy with misguided notions of super heroes to put on some spandex and fight crime.  Perfect for Kick Ass!  

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Theme:  This series is way too big for just one song.  Hell, I'd love to pick a song for all of the major families, but I'll restrict it to my last two selections.

For the Lannisters: Runaway by Kanye West

Let's have a toast for the douchebags, let's have a toast for the assholes, let's have a toast for the scumbags, every one of them that I know.  Let's have a toast for the jerkoffs that'll never take work off.  Baby I got a plan, run away fast as you can.

We all know the Lannisters are the family for douchebaggery.  Love 'em or hate 'em, they're dicks, and there's no denying it, but Song of Ice and Fire would be nothing without them, so cheers!

For the Starks: Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts by Wolf Parade

I've got a hand, so I got a fist, so I got a plan, it's the best that I can do.  Now we'll say, it's in God's hands, but God doesn't always have the best goddamn plans does he?  I ain't quite the beauty, pulls out two guns and shoots at the pretty pretty view.  Gotta keep thinking, things, hunters, and kings to block out the view.  I gotta get a new bell to ring, a new song to sing, a steady hand to ring, a readiness of things I do.  I gotta get a new plan to bring to the people, people I can trick them into anything.  Oh rust is just right in the light it's gold, it's gold.

Oh the Starks...we love them.  And their direwolves.  They're looking for a plan to iron out the jumble of things, hunters, and kings, and they're hoping the people will support them.  Plus...um, hello?  It's effing Wolf Parade!

That's it for me this week, hope you all enjoy listening to this awesomeness as much as I enjoyed allocating it.  What books did you give theme songs to?