The Pop Era
1997: “I’ll Be Missing You,” and “Barbie Girl.”
1998: “Ghetto Supastar” and “Miss America.” 1999: “Mambo No 5” and “Blue” 2000: “The Real Slim Shady” and “Can I Get A” 2001: “In the End” and “Whenever Wherever” 2002: “Lose Yourself” and “Hey Baby”
The Hip-Hop Era/Videogame Era 2003-2006: In sixth grade I started to become pretty obsessed with hip-hop music and culture…but not overly obsessed. I wasn’t listening to anything too far from the mainstream. I sort of took a break from hip hop in late seventh grade and all of eighth grade. I returned to hip hop (more obscure shit this time) in summer and fall 2005 only to lose interest in it a few months later. During this time I became more and more engaged in “alternative” rock and underground/electro-rap thanks to soundtracks on MVP Baseball, Madden NFL, and NBA 2K.
The Modern Age 2006-Now: A lot of credit should be given to Chris as he showed me/got me into a lot of music that I was pretty unfamiliar with. 2007 is when I started to research bands online and explore the unexplored. It’s pretty incredible to think that my top two favorite bands of today (the Black Lips and No Age) were completely unknown to me before 2008. This is true for so so many of my other favorites. My rock tastes haven’t changed that much in as though I still don’t like a lot of the screamo and hardcore punk that I didn’t like before. I remember initially saying something like the Black Lips are something country truck drivers listen to. Obviously I don’t believe that anymore!
I watched the new ABC show Shark Tank tonight. Here’s how it works: there are four greedy sons (and one daughter) of a bitch who are out there to steal away the ideas of prospective businessmen and women. The prospective businessmen and women (contestants) try their best to sell their product and investment offer to the five sharks. The sharks are typically hard to please, unless the products have made a decent profit and great sales. They also demand more than half of the ownership of the contestant’s company or product. The contestants are usually left with two options that look something like this: 1) sell a majority of the equity to the sharks or 2) walk away with no investment. It comes down to this: doing it yourself or having billionaire big business people run the operations for you. For instance, one contestant selling a life saving seat belt attachment rejected the sharks’ offer (which would have given them complete control his patent, his idea) because he would have “sold out” in essentially the same manner that independent rock musicians do when they sign to a major label. That’s really a core aspect of the show: does the contestant want to be completely immersed in something that he created…something that he knows what direction it should go in…OR does the contestant want somebody with more “business knowledge” to take control in the name of greed and “branding”? The first contestant was selling a line of clothing called Crooked Jaw Fashions. The sharks were only interested in the brand awareness/target audience of the clothing line. I’m probably going to keep watching this show even though I despise the sharks. And you might say well aren’t the contestants dumb for coming on to the show? Not really. They are asking for extra funding, like any investor might. When the contestant sacrifices control of the business, the operation, in my opinion, becomes unethical. Another contestant on tonight’s show made a Shakespeare rock disc collection to help students better understand the great English writer. Awesome idea! But he sold it away to the sharks. He’s only going to get 5% in royalties. Seems kind of ridiculous.
From NME:
Radiohead are strongly rumoured to be releasing a new EP next week.
The move comes after a new song ‘These Are My Twisted Words leaked’ earlier this week and fansite At Ease reported that source files of the track revealed that the title ‘Wall Of Ice’ was found twice with a release date set for August 17, 2009.
The site now claims that there could be up to four tracks on the EP and that a weblink has surfaced which leads directly to Radiohead’s online merchandise store, a similar tactic the band used to release their last album ‘In Rainbows’.
Apparently it’s going to be called Wall of Ice and apparently it’s going to be released in two days. That’s just the buzz on a bunch of music sites.
The Radiohead concert in Mansfield ended around 11:30-ish. Best concert ever. We waited in the parking lot from 11:39 PM until 1:15 AM. Didn’t get home until 2:45-3:00 AM. Good times.
From AP: NEW YORK — Les Paul, the guitar virtuoso and inventor who revolutionized music and created rock ‘n’ roll as surely as Elvis Presley and the Beatles by developing the solid-body electric guitar and multitrack recording, died Thursday at age 94.
Known for his lightning-fast leads, Paul performed with some of early pop’s biggest names and produced a slew of hits, many with wife Mary Ford. But it was his inventive streak that made him universally revered by guitar gods as their original ancestor and earned his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the most important forces in popular music.
Paul, who died in White Plains, N.Y., of complications from pneumonia, was a tireless tinkerer, whose quest for a particular sound led him to create the first solid-body electric guitar, a departure from the hollow-body guitars of the time. His invention paved the way for modern rock ‘n’ roll and became the standard instrument for legends like Pete Townshend and Jimmy Page.
1. “Blues Not Speed” – 9.4 2. “Turkey Sandwich” – 9.3 3. “I Got A Lot (New New New) – 9.6 4. “Wild Bore” – 9.2 5. “Sex” – 9.5 6. “Totion” – 9.5 7. “On the Rise” – 9.6 8. “Beat the Rush” – 9.7 9. “Johnson R. Cool” – 9.1 10. “Sex Jazz” – 9.4 11. “Keep on Calling” – 9.3 12. “Turkey Barnyard Mix” – 9.5
Comments: Sounds like an all-girl version of early Black Lips material, except a little bit more punk and a little bit more catchy. It’s no wonder why Ian St. Pe said this is a band he is really digging.
Comments: This album is quite the experience on headphones! It’s weirdly catchy. That means there are some songs that you might not dig at first, but that you quickly gain respect for. You could argue that Deacon suffered from the disease of “over-doing” it while making this album. The symptom was mostly quality music being made. The Alvin and the Chipmunks cover (not really), “Baltihorse,” is strangely amazing. You know what I mean?
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 