There's two types of people in this world: Those who enjoy collaborations on songs and those who don't know what they're talking about. Over the years we've seen plenty of stellar team ups between musicians/bands that stand out ahead of the rest e.g. David Bowie & Queen with 'Under Pressure', Korn & Limp Bizkit's 'All in the Family', Polaris & Marcus Bridge (Northlane) with 'Hold You Under' and not to forget Michael Paynter & The Veronicas 'Love The Fall'. But what about the songs that sometimes go unnoticed OR don't perform as well as other tracks from a band's album, despite the fact they're fuckin' bangers too? Here's my picks of the Top 7 Underrated Collaborations starting with...
#7: Skyway feat. Winston McCall (Parkway Drive) - 'You Promised Me The World, But Brought Me An Atlas'
The Gold Coast's music scene was slowly but surly making a comeback and pop-punk heroes Skyway were leading the way ahead of the rest, especially following the release of their album Finders Keepers... which if you forgot featured a sneaky cameo from Parkway Drive frontman Winston McCall who made the song 10 times better than it already was and gave fans an insight to what the band could sound like with a screaming co-frontman/woman.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNDOmwsiQxk&w=640&h=360]
#6: You Me At Six feat. Oli Sykes (Bring Me The Horizon) - 'Bite My Tongue'
Remember back in 2011 when upcoming bands (at the time) were at their absolute peak and the majority of the albums that came out that year were close to perfection (ADTR - Homesick, Trivium - In Waves, Amity - Youngbloods, D.R.U.G.S - Self Titled and Four Year Strong - Enemy of the World just to name a few). You Me At Six also released Sinners Never Sleep (arguably their last decent album) which had Oli Sykes helping out the lads to once again, show what life would be like if they added a screamer to their band roster. While most loyal fans recommend tracks like 'Underdog', 'Trophy Eyes' 'Stay With Me' or 'Loverboy' to potential new fans, you'll always find me pushing them towards this one.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1CTbE3u0PQ&w=640&h=360]
#5: Pierce The Veil feat. Kellin Quinn (Sleeping With Sirens) - 'King For A Day'
I went along to see Piece The Veil when they last toured Australia for two reasons...
One was to see Beartooth again (because they fucking rule) and the other was to see them play this song live, hoping for a sneaky cameo on stage from Kellin Quinn or someone else on the tour taking his place... it never happened, so now the closest I've ever come to witnessing it, is by re-watching the music video below (or the viral video of the two boys who killed it)
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icXUkIfZxyg&w=640&h=360]
#4: David Draiman (Disturbed) feat. Jonathan Davis (Korn) ' Forsaken'
Long before Draiman's vocals got stuck in your head when Disturbed covered 'The Sound of Silence', let me take you back to the year 2002 where the band teamed up with the Korn frontman for a song taken from the Queen of the Damned Soundtrack which Jonathan Davis was the mastermind behind. Featuring a creepy, gothic inspired backing track which the emo kids at your school probably died for (not literally), the track has that signature Korn nu-metal/slow jam feel to it, but with another band performing.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQmS_yTTpNo&w=640&h=360]
#3: blink-182 feat. Yelawolf - 'Pretty Little Girl'
I always stated that the album blink-182 would release after Neighborhoods would be their best to date... that comment didn't count for the Dogs Eating Dogs EP (due to it not being a full album), HOWEVER you know deep down that EP was better than their previous attempt at a post-reunion release and one of the hidden gems from it was the colaboration with rapper Yelawolf. The man is no stranger to the band, for those not in the know he worked on some pretty decent genre crossing rap-rock with Travis Barker in the past. This time around the group combined upbeat pop-punk with raw, southern fast rapping that just worked so well together.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ggl4GsCm9k&w=640&h=360]
#2: The Amity Affliction feat. Michael Crafter - 'Jesse Intense'
Severed Ties still remains, hands down, the best album The Amity Affliction have released so far and one of the the reasons why is because it featured the absolute banger track 'JesseIntense' featuring MichaelCrafter on guest vocals. The song itself remains a white unicorn for many fans who have never had the pleasure of witnessing TAA&Crafter performing it live onstage together... will that change at UNIFY 2018? Here's why we think it will.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBJrfJkvLow&w=640&h=360]
and the winner is...
#1: X-Ecutioners feat. Wayne Static (Static X) and Mike Shinoda & Mr Hahn (Linkin Park) - 'It's Going Down'
At the peak of their game LinkinPark were an unstoppable force in the nu-metal scene who managed to nail everything they released or were a part of. Wayne Static in his own right fronted Static-X, one of the best industrial metal bands going around at the time and when they joined up with hip-hop group X-Ecutioners for this one off performance, it momentarily catapulted the rappers into stardom with it's genre crossing goodness and star power. Before Mike Shinoda formed his solo project Fort Minor, he was well and truly dedicated to the rise of LinkinPark, but when he jumped into the producer role on this track and brought along his DJ band mate Mr Hahn, he really prove he was more than just a co-frontman.
Throw into the mix a touch of Static-X and you have yourselves the making of a banger of a track which reached #28 on the Aria Charts upon release back in 2002 however that would be the last time the X-Ecutioners would infiltrate our Australian charts...
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSyLwAf7Ewk&w=853&h=480]
There you go, there's so many other songs that were worthy enough for a spot but missed out due to a lack of space... no doubt I'll bring this one back again for another round so make sure to let us know what was missed.
Before you go, if you were wondering what the "King For A Day Kids" were up to nowadays, well, they've grown up and are still smashing out the odd song cover together. They even redid their Pierce The Veil cover to show how much better they are now... Enjoy
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQIyEmp0E4Y&w=640&h=360]
