Who is this guy? Daniels? Oh yeah.
Long story short on my absence for the last two weeks:
Coding for Mania Launch > Writing a News Column.
So now I’m back, although the return of Eric S to the The Rasslin Section is probably turning far more left-clicks today than my mediocre return to the Music Zone.
For any of you who are new here, I do the Tuesday News Report, which is basically me shamelessly stealing bits from the rest of the site and various places around this Internet and op-eding on them for about 10 pages.
Some Dated Mail to start things off:
Mailbag
My Left-Eye vs Layne tirade WAAAAAAAY back when I did the news got a decent e-mail response (that is to say more than none, which is usually what I get to this column) from folks.
Jonas, Taking some time off from his extensive indy work following Tough Enough 3: Alice in chains was alot better than Nirvana in my opinion… however there was a mistake in your column…
Alice in chains was a four piece band… Layne Jerry sean and Mike.
Nirvana was a three piece, but to say that AIC music sounds more 3d is rediculous, cuz they both had one guitarist, one bassist, and one drummer. Only difference that Lane didn’t play guitar… Jerry Cantrel did, and Kurt did both in nirvana.
All I’m saying is that they had the same amound of instuments playing. AIC did not have a second guitarist (generally speaking, often times there would be a second guitar and no bass guitar)… all this being said, I honestly don’t know if they had a second guitarist on the unplugged album, but the original band was a 4 peice.
Anyway, all that aside, Layne is one of the best vocalists ever… and Left eye was just a crazy bitch…I didn’t know she was getting so much so much attention. It’s a damn shame.
MTV and pop music are cancer’s on decent forms of art. Most of them don’t even write their own lyrics… and guys like Layne who bear thier soul get crapped on. MTV can go to hell…. Layne was a groundbreaking vocalist.
I don’t usually write in like this, but that left-eye bullshit touched a nerve. Pop culture has made music about appearences and gimmicks. I guess sticking a f*cking condom in you glasses is more important than being a great musician.
You are right, I f’ed up when I said they were a five piece. I was thinking of the Unplugged, where I think they did have a second guitarist picking up some of the acoustic stuff. However, I fully stand by my statement that AIC was far and above Nirvana, and much more three dimensional. A lot of Nirvana’s stuff sounded the same, whereas AIC had a range from Would? And Man In The Box which went all the way to Nutshell and Down In a Hole. Nirvana had Smells Like Teen Spirit and… well… stuff that sounded like it.
I fully expect e-mails about how I only know radio Nirvana and blah blah blah. Well, you’re wrong. I know enough Nirvana to know it all sounded the same. When AIC had a song, you knew what he was singing about… not some obscure references that only made sense to him (when he wasn’t trying to f*ck with his audience) and people who think they knew what he was talking about.
Another Email sent me a link to Metal Sludge, who had their own anti-MTV rant. Worth a read.
Richard: I am very sorry. I don’t remember if it was you or another columnist at 411 that I wrote to say thank you regarding the State, but gosh-darnit, anytime anyone mentions the State I’m going to reply.
And thank you for it. Now go dip your balls in something and smile.
And a shoutout to Kenny Anderson who read the Fozzy Review and took the time to say he enjoyed it. All you have to do is write something, Ken, and I’ll pimp it for you.
Joey: What is also a shame, is how the sad death of Layne Staley was
treated. We merely got a mention of his passing. Yet, when a member of TLC dies, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, we get all kinds of press and tributes on it. Well FUCK THAT!!! That just pissed me off to no end. How is she any more important to music then Layne. Layne, along with the rest of Alice, did far more for music then she did. Face it, even if you are a fan of TLC, she is easily replaceable(I dont mean to come off cold-hearted, but its the truth). Just look at Destineys Child, how many members have they gone through? She was one of three who shared vocal duties. You lose the LEAD vocalist of your band and its very hard to continue.
Very true… it’s like if one of the members of N’Sync popped himself. You could pick any of the guys from any of the other myriad of Boy Bands out there and you have a brand new band. In fact, who would notice?
But, thats not all that gets to me about how Layne’s death was handled. Which brings me to compare him with Kurt Cobain. Both Cobain and Layne both suffered from similar addictions. Both had it in for the heroine. The difference was that Cobain just gave up all together and shot himself. Big freakin hero Cobain is, yet hes treated like
a musical god. I am a fan of his, but when it comes to how he handled
his problem is where I stop to praise the man. Layne tried to hold on, but he just couldn’t and eventually the drugs got the best of him. The
reasons for their deaths are very similar, yet Kurt gets LOADS of press and still to this day, but Layne gets but a blurb in the obiturary of his hometown. That sickens me, though not as much as when you compare Lopes to Staley.
Kurt just made the right choice of blowing himself away while he was still on top of the world and when MTV still treated rock/grunge music as relevant. Layne let himself fade away till most of the world thought he was already dead before dying. Kurt was a pussy and gave up. Layne put up a fight. He lost it, but he put it up.
New Stabbing Westward Release
I only mention this because, for some reason, I continue to buy Stabbing Westward albums. I’m not quite sure why, considering each album has like, two or three good songs, and the rest of them are a blend of meandering industrial music that really doesn’t go anywhere or save anything.
To help the rest of you to not suffer the same fate I have, I am officially announcing the release of Essential Stabbing Westward, the new Greatest Hits album to be released by the band on April Fool’s Day.
The Track Listing:
01. Lost
02. Control
03. Nothing
04. Lies
05. What Do I Have To Do?
06. Shame
07. I Don’t Believe
08. Sleep
09. Crushing Me
10. Save Yourself
11. Sometimes It Hurts
12. Haunting Me
13. Dawn
14. Torn Apart
This album officially has every good Stabbing Westward song ever created, with the possible exception of Violent Mood Swings off the Clerks soundtrack. So, buy this and download that, and you should have the, go figure, Essential Stabbing Westward.
Maybe I’ll sell my Stabbing Westward Discs on Ebay and Buy this. That would probably be dandy.
Anyone looking to buy old Stabbing Westward disks… cheap?
He’s Still Fun to talk about
Limp Bizkit’s Bipolar is due out on 5/13/03 and by all accounts (Well, Fred’s Anyway) it’ll be the sickest thing we’ve heard since Starfish… which wouldn’t be hard… but also depends on the kind of sick you’re talking about. I mean, Starfish was sick in a different kind of way. A way that said, “damn, If I hear this one more goddam time, I’m gonna be sick.â€
Regardless, Fred says the new joint is done and all that’s left is the mixing and mastering, and then the details.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Limp’s Newest song is called Just Drop Dead and is available on The Band’s Official Website. It’s a decent song… for anyone other than Limp Bizkit. The lack of Wes is VERY apparent on this track, as there is no heavy guitar at all, just a constant repition of the same two notes over and over and over again… then the chorus hits, and it’s two different notes over and over and over again. The song was conveniently placed on the band’s website three days after Brittney dissed Fred on the TRL awards, and is about a relationship gone sour.
You know, the planning of some of these events would almost make one think they’re working us like sheep. Oddly positioned around the time the publicity for both their new albums start heating up.
Speaking of Wes Borland, Fred said in an interview with Britain’s Kerrang! magazine, that Limp’s evolving (read, spiraling into the shitter) sound has nothing to do with Wes’s leaving, inf fact, in his words:
I’m really proud of the record: it’s very real, very honest and I feel that when I listen to my album. And there’s some growth there. It’s always scary to think that people won’t be ready to grow with you. But I think that we’ve grown to the point where we still remain LIMP BIZKIT. We haven’t changed or evolved personally into not being ourselves. Knowing that, we are really still remain LIMP BIZKIT, and I am LIMP BIZKIT. And I really realized after Wes quit, I had to pick up the guitar and write every single song myself, how much I really had to do with LIMP BIZKIT in the first place. That’s why Wes wanted his freedom, because I really told him what to play — I wrote everything, did everything.
If there’s room next to Jesus, maybe Fred can crawl up on the cross and die for us while he’s at it.
I don’t buy for half a heartbeat that Fred wrote anything Wes played, at least not on the first two albums. Maybe someone else had some input on the last album, but that’s when the sound of the band shifted from Overdrive into Second. Just Drop Dead is still in second, and the song should be in Overdrive.
Fred does say, however, that he misses Wes. I think he didn’t like me being in control of situations, and he was like, in competition with me. The struggle for control thing. It was really sad. It’s sad when you have someone who’s in your family, and you think has you backed forever thought thick and thin, and you find out they don’t. And that’s hard.
Or it could be possible that Wes wanted to remain in a metal band… not a pop band… but that’s just conjecture and speculation.
New This Week
Barely a goddam thing. Couple of Ice Cube Reissues with Bonus Tracks… Lethal Injection and Predator. I have no idea if these are good or not, but with Cube, it’s a safe bet they’re worth a listen. Ask Cameron, he’ll let you know.
New Disk from Everclear, called Slow Motion Daydream. I haven’t heard any tracks off this yet, but I will personally bet the farm that Art Alexakis says “Ye-ah†in 75%, if not all, of the tracks on this album. I will also personally guarantee that they are all the same five chords and in the same time signature. Call it a hunch.
New Disk from possibly the most Over-rated Singer Songwriter of Our Time, Ani Difranco. Look for the lesbians to be lining up like its Testicle Tearin Time.
Speaking of Lesbians, I saw a Tori Amos concert last week and sat next to a couple very nice ones. They looked like men, but they were very nice. I will be doing a concert review shortly. Also, if anyone can recommend some good Jeffrey Gaines tracks for downloading, please Email Me.
And a Classic Remastered set of tracks from Frank Sinatra. You boys want to get laid… Frank is your man.
General Stupidity
Muslim Singer Youssou N’Dour cancelled his upcoming US Tour over the Iraq situation. N’Dour bailed on what was to be the biggest US Tour of his career citing opposition to Washington’s Iraq policy. N’Dour’s biggest international hit was Seven Seconds with Neneh Cherry and was due to perform 38 shows across the US.
Washington, nor no one in the continental United States, seemed to give a damn. In an exclusive 411mania poll, 98% of respondents said “Who?†and that was Just to Nenah Cherry.
When asked, Neneh Cherry threatened to “Hang in a Buffalo Stance†and would say no more other than “Come on, man… remember?â€
While I respect the guy’s convictions for not letting the payday come in over his values… he should probably realize that he’s missing out on one of the bigger opportunities of his life.
A close second in the battle for stupidity is Antwan Kevin Baker who was arrested last April for stalking Master P. Antwan was sentenced to one year in jail after a guilty plea to stalking after LA Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner found him mentally competent to stand trial. Which is interesting, since most human beings would have found him incompetent, just for still liking Master P.
Broadway is Dark Tonight… and Last Night… and the night before
In a story that none of us uncultured f*cks are probably keeping up with, Broadway is shut down for the fourth day running over a dispute between the American Federation of Musicians Local 802 and the League of American Theaters and Producers. The dispute is centered around the minimum number of musicians required to properly put on a Broadway Musical.
Up until the walkout actually occurred, the Producers group had planned shows to go on with Virtual Orchestras, or entirely computer generated music. They hadn’t planned on the stagehands AND the actors to support the musicians in their strike. Many of the actors basically stating that they weren’t willing to perform with virtual music because that’s not part of Broadway.
One of New York City’s biggest tourist attractions, this battle is being watched closely by most of the bureaus in the city… Broadway brings in an estimated $4.4 billion annually.
I don’t know what side to take in this battle, but I’m going to wager that the musicians know what they’re talking about. The dispute is over the size of the Orchestra. The Producers feel justified in cutting the minimum number of musicians per show to 15… more than 10 less musicians than are currently required by the Musician’s Union. And, unfortunately, neither side looks to be willing to budge.
I haven’t seen a Broadway show in my life… but I’m curious to see the outcome of this. I think most of it is probably a group of producers looking to raise their bottom line during a time when NYC’s tourism is being nailed. Not being a being a big classical buff myself, I decided to interview someone who knows what they’re talking about. Everyone, meet Ms X:
Another Shot at File Swapping
A firm in Amsterdam has discovered a new way to try and make both mp3 swappers and the RIAA happy. It has, apparently, developed a software that will both allow users to share music AND earn the company enough money to pay off the Recording Mafia.
The idea is this… The Honest Thief takes two established forms of software and ties them into one. The first, you probably all know, as your general Kazaa and Napster type file sharing service. The second is a little less known.
Without going into huge amounts of details (I’ll let the Seti@Home people do that)… basically the client takes all your computers unused cycles, and uses them to process some sort of huge amount of data. For instance, one of these clients has been used in the past to calculate a prime number with over four million digits.
The idea is this: people get to swap whatever files they want, and their only membership fee is to allow this distributed process run on their computer. Basically, it runs in the background at the lowest priority, and only goes to work when you are either away from your computer, or staring at the monitor doing nothing. So you basically take an enormous problem, split it into 100 parts, send it to 100 computers who then process their little chunk, and send it back to the main server, who reassembles the answer. It’s actually one of the most powerful ideas in the computing world today, and has allowed SETI (The group from the movie Contact) to get something like 1,000,000 years of computing time done in like five years. Then, they sell this network to whatever company is willing to rent it out and, bang, you have a tremendous source of income for the filesharing company, which can in turn pay back the recording industry for the files swapped on it’s network.
It will be interesting to see if the RIAA is actually interested in a system that pays royalties, or if their true colors continue to shine through. I’m guessing the latter.
Upcoming Releases that Aren’t Limp Bizkit’s
Linkin Park has started on the promotion of Meteora due to hit stores 3/25/03. Drummer Rob Bourdon said in an interview with MTV that it is the next logical step in the progression of the band, and fans should not be disappointed. It is a better blending of the two different genres, since the two lead singers, Chester and Mike, were able to learn a lot about the others’ style with all the time on the road.
Out of 30 Songs, only 13 were included on the CD, for a total running time of 36 minutes. Personally, if the songs are good, the running time won’t bother me, but I also refuse to pay $20 for a half hour of music. I’ll have to find it for like $10.99 or $11.99 before I pick it up. I’m sure I won’t find it for $9.99, like I did with Hybrid Theory. The disc will also include a 40-page booklet and an enhanced CD, which will be a documentary about the album. Certain limited edition discs will be available with a Bonus DVD. Is this the RIAA giving people incentives to buy albums?!
The Deftones have finished work on their new, self-titled album due out 5/20/03. They have recorded 15 songs for it but expect to keep only 10. The album has been delayed as the final kinks were worked out since 2002. Following the release, they will be on the Summer Sanatarium Tour with Metallica, Linkin Park, and others.
The Backstreet Boys will be making their last grasp at relevance when they return to the studio to record their (my guess is final) next studio album. Howie (whichever one he is) has already written 15 songs for the new record and they hope to have it out by late summer or early fall. We wait with bated breath.
Brittney Spears has lined up a veritable army of producers for her new album… since someone has to make her sound like she can sing. This just in: the album will still suck, but she’ll still be hot.
Madonna’s lastest disc, American Life is due out 4/25/03. The first single, the title track, has already drawn fire for it’s intense anti-war message. Look for the f*cking slut to move to Iraq and make billions being a whore on television there.
Or wait… would that be STONED TO DEATH.
And finally, Staind will release it’s fourth studio album, 14 Shades of Grey on 5/20/03. The first single will be called Price to Pay. Also, the song Aaron Lewis wrote about Layne Staley, called Layne will be included on the album. Watch for MTV to not pay any attention to this fact, even if it’s released as a single and goes to Number One on TRL. Will this be the last one before Aaron swallows a shotgun? Stay tuned to find out.
In Other Reading…
Cody with what is good, bad, and sad.
Katz with YOUR Indy Info.
Blaszkowski has Evanescance. I will be picking that up this week.
Ashish has Fabolous.
McCann has Hell is for Heroes.
All the other lazy bastards took the week off.
In closing
What are you all still doing here? Don’t you know that Eric S returns today? Get’cher ass over to wrestling and read what the man has to say.
I’ll be back later in the week with a concert Review of Tori Amos’s Palace Theater Show… and still a First Listen of the new Limp Bizkit song on the can.
Till then…
