Full Title: Over the Edge Director: Jonathan Kaplan Year: 1979 Fun Fact: This was Kurt Cobain’s favorite film and served as inspiration for the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” music video. Comments: This here is a molotov cocktail in your very hands for you youngsters out there. Yeah, I know y’all didn’t catch my little Jerry Rubin reference, but catch this a town filled with tired and uninspired teenagers abandoned by their wealthy parents, whom only care about making more money while their community is rotting from the inside. Edge is the dark version of Dazed and Confused (1993); kids in the 70s, apathetic, anarchic, and ready to Rock and Roll: having a good time is the top priority. I must say being a fan of youth oriented/teen/coming of age films, I really dug this work and while watching it I had a myriad of reactions. It really felt like I was watching some sort of archive footage from the 70s. In some ways the story seemed schizophrenic, meaning I could not tell if the movie was rooting for the kids or for the adults. There was this afternoon made for TV movie special feeling to it (which was actually kinda cool!) and simultaneously a Rock and Roll High School (1979) youth rebellion aesthetic to it as well. I have come to the conclusion that this ambiguous combination serves as a reminder that life in general is never black and white and this film does not need to shove a message down your throat to say something. Overall, I have very little to no gripes with this film; I thoroughly enjoyed it and I look forward to watching it again and again. It is not perfect, but honestly I don’t think I would like this film if it was. Ya dig?
P.S.: Going back to Cobain, with the characters in this flick I could totally see a little Kurt in some of these kids- before you know it they will be at their first Minor Threat/Black Flag show!
Is porn degrading to women? men? Does it matter what kind of porn? How has this affected the relationship between men and women? What do you guys think? For some of you these questions may seem obvious and I must look like an idiot for posing them, but I intentionally made them broad to encourage dialogue and not have my opinion dictate the post. Perhaps I will reveal some of my views in the comment section, but first let us know what you think.
From the maker of the video for “Waddlin Around,” and “Fish Fight” comes the video for “Invisible Girl,” an excellent track off of The King Khan and BBQ Show’s 2009 LP of the same name.
Back with another edition of “Who Did it Better?” and this time I found three good covers of one of my favorite songs of all times The Smiths ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’. First up the original:
Second a Anberlin cover:
Next up is Noel Gallagher (the genius behind Oasis):
Lastly a Nada Surf cover:
I happen to like all three covers, but I don’t think they stand up to the original, although I must admit there is something haunting about the Anberlin cover that comes close to the original.
Take a look inside the MetroSonic Recording Studios in Brooklyn, New York where the Black Lips recently finished recording with Mark Ronson. Inside you’ll see Cole’s infamous human skull and a boat load of analog equipment. For those confused about the Lips pairing with Ronson, Ronson says it’s not like he came in and said “hey, I’m going to clean up the Black Lips!” From the video, it looks like there’s a new song with what I like to call the “Dirty Hands” arrangement — a D-A-G chord progression and Cole’s vocals. The last song that is played sounds absolutely fantastic, an ode to the production techniques of Brit Invasion rock and roll.
I’ve got all sorts of sinister shit for y’all. In the forthcoming days reviews of Over the Edge, Pink Flamingos, American History X, Boogie Nights, To Die For (possibly) and most anticpated of all (at least for me) Trash Humpers! Stay tuned kids…
Watching this documentary, you might feel like you are reading this website. There are shots of living and deceased (literally/not literally) KLYAM regulars like Black Lips, Jay Reatard, King Khan & BBQ Show as well as shots and interviews with other great musicians and performers like Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Davila 666, The Dirtbombs, The Magic Kids, Hunx and His Punx and Box Elders. What is garage rock? For Jay Reatard, it was about grossing people out. For Joe Bradley, “it’s about keeping it simple, stupid. That’s what we’re [Black Lips] are trying to do. It’s about fun and entertainment.”
VICE goes around interviewing some of the most notable and downright prolific names in garagerock. Part 1 examines the scenes in Memphis and Detroit.
Rapper: Kanye West Release: 11/2010 Label: Roc-A-Fella
1. “Dark Fantasy” – A+ 2. “Gorgeous” – A 3. “Power” – A+ 4. + 5. “All Of The Lights (Interlude)/All Of The Lights” – A- 6. “Monster” – A- 7. “So Appalled” – A 8. “Devil In A New Dress” – A 9. “Runaway” – A- 10. “Hell of a Life” – B+ 11. “Blame Game” – B+ 12. “Lost in the World” – B 13. “Who Will Survive in America” – B-
Comments: My history with listening to Kanye West is brief and to the point. I bought The College Dropout in the summer of 2004. I really loved that album. It’s still pretty great. After that, I fell out of touch with West, not necessarily because he was gaining fame or anything (no such ‘indie’ mindset for a thirteen year old), but because…well, I don’t know. This album, along with man himself, has received a lot more hype in the past few months than I can ever recall before. Initial reviews have near universally dubbed this one of the best pop albums of all time. “Dark Fantasy” certainly gives these claims some validity. The beat. The lyrics. The chorus of “Can we get much higher?” is something that is overwhelmingly more luscious and “bigger” than most of the shit that gets played on Top 40 radio today. I think “Power” is one of the best songs of the year. I must say this was looking like something special by the end of “Power,” but ultimately fails to keep up that pace. He didn’t fail to jot down his thoughts on paper and get a bunch of great guests to spot on this record. As an all-encompassing work of art, this kind of album will be hard to surpass. To put it simply, it doesn’t (through-and-through because as I’ve mentioned there are some ace tracks) sound as great as it looks on Wikipedia. Realistically a top 30 album of the year. Top 10 or top 5? Definitely not.
I talked about Robert Plant having a very strong solo career so I thought I would take a little time and go through it over a few posts (yes all the way from post Led Zeppelin 1980 to now). After the unfortunate death of John Bonham in 1980, Plant quickly went to work on a solo career, his first effort “Pictures at Eleven” was released in 1982. While musically some of it is, well typical 80’s songs, other songs (such as Slow Dancer) hold up very well over the years. Vocally he isn’t as commanding as he was in Led Zeppelin, but he isn’t trying to be either (although he does go pretty hard on a couple of tracks). The result of “Pictures at Eleven” isn’t a masterpiece by any means, but is a very strong solo effort that gives listeners a first glimpse into Robert Plant post Zeppelin, not the rock icon they knew, but a new phase of a legitimate musical artist.
