Flashy zines and other assorted commentary.
My colleague at Rock n’ Roll Archaeology, Maynard Edwards, has a piece up about the state of popular music that sounds awfully depressing . A few examples: 4.) Flo Rida’s “Low” has sold 8 million copies . . . the same as The Beatles’ “Hey Jude”. 11.) The cast of “Glee” has had more songs… Read More And Did I Mention That You Damn Kids Should Get Off My Lawn?
Blogging will be light today: one of those Mondays when one feels the need to get ahead of everything, and an 18-hour day is expected. So my day is to be swallowed up. Enjoy some music instead. Here’s the First Lady of the Blues, Mamie Smith: And just for a left turn, some Joy Division:
And it would be heartless to say “Who’s Surprised?” but I can think of no better response. This is not another example of me hating another 80’s pop songstress. Houston was not Madonna; her songs are exactly what they should be and nothing more. No harm, no foul, and if I got tired of seeing… Read More Whitney Houston has Died
…and of Stacy McCain’s judicious assessment of same, here is a re-post of me fisking a Madonna press conference back in 2005: Madonna: the Gag That Keeps On Giving We were hoping that Her Pretentiousness would grace us with a response to those who’ve been mocking her these past several weeks. Well the God she… Read More In Honor of Madonna’s Splendidly Awful Show Last Night…
They’re a non-ironic, retro-in-the-seventies pile of pub rockers who make a good case for the value of the genre. Nothing quite as epic as Eddie and the Hot Rods “Get Out of Denver,” but it swaggers finely.
That’s the basic takeaway from this old interview that Andrew Earles posted to his blog. Way too many people take pop music way too seriously. It doesn’t deserve it. The fans of the critics’ faves don’t think for themselves–if they did, what comes out of their mouths might be interesting, what lives in their book… Read More Music is Funny.
And apparently, downloadable for free. I shouldn’t hold it against Hear, Hear! that he can’t identify “That song the Pixies play at the end of Fight Club” should I? UPDATE: Hear Hear’s! page has a link to the song “Where is My Mind.” I failed to note the Irony, so the Ignorant Girl image has… Read More The 90’s are Back, Baby
My wife mentioned this to me yesterday, and while I could understand what she was telling me, my mind’s eye did not fully grasp the horror of Disney’s Joy Divison T-Shirt (h/t Other McCain): Pitchfork is aghast: Uhhhhhhhhh…. Does Disney know that the singer of this band hanged himself?! Do they know where the name… Read More Disney Flings Itself, With the Terrifying Enthusiasm of a Drunk Girl at 2:24 am, at the Hipster Market
…and you don’t. Unless you do. Click the image below for a rundown of why you should, courtesy of Shallyboy’s Music.
52. REM — Automatic for the People In January 1999, I was on assignment for my first job at Nabisco Headquarters in New Jersey. I was driving a 1986 Lincoln Mk VII that I’d purchased for a song the previous August. I used to drive up from my Philadelphia apartment early Monday Morning and drive… Read More Rating My CD’s: Automatic for the People
Content Blues 