For Your Listening Pleasure
Mos Def – Black on Both Sides
Nope, still not ready to do that “hip hop vs. rap” column I’ve been teasing for months, but soon… soooon…. In the meantime, throw this classic into your discman and take it all in. This here’s a hip hop album.
News to You
It’s summertime, so that means, well, three things this year:
(1) The time-in-my-cubicle-to-time-in-the-sun ratio is WAY out of proportion
(2) The best new albums being released are movie soundtracks
(3) It’s concert season
I address #1 later on. As for soundtracks, check out Jay Newman’s recent review of the “Bad Boys II” soundtrack on Moviefone.com.
Of course, that brings us to concert season. Well, call me a sucker, but a few weeks back I caught the July 9th Pearl Jam show at Madison Square Garden, and I’ll admit it — it was pretty hot. No Bush-enanigans, a crowd that was 8,000+ fan club members (i.e., the band was feeling a great vibe and energized throughout the show), and a set list that included everything I wanted to hear, from “State of Love and Trust” through “Glorified G”, “Porch”, “Red Mosquito” and on and on. I wasn’t even supposed to go to the concert, but a friend had an extra ticket, and it was well worth it — I even bought the “official bootleg” CD of the show on the next day, and I don’t regret one penny I spent.
This past weekend, I hit up my second major concert of the summer, seeing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in their home state at Giants Stadium. I’m not a huge Bruce fan, and only knew about 10 songs he sang over the 2 hour, 45 minute set… but being surrounded by 70,000 Springsteen heads was surprisingly a nice way to spend a summer Saturday night (and the beers, sausage sandwiches, and carnival games in the stadium parking lot’s “Boardwalk” really set the mood prior to the concert).
Of course, now that I’ve seen Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen, it’s only right that one of my readers (not so subtle hint) sends me a couple of tickets to one of the August Dave Matthews Band shows, just so I can complete the “crazy fan trifecta”.
And Now… a Poll!
Come on, don’t deny it. Is there any mainstream rock band with a more hardcore, ridiculous fan-base than Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen or Dave Matthews Band? Okay, maybe we should throw Phish and Radiohead in there, and make it a nice little poll.
Which rock band has more insane fans?
o Pearl Jam
o Dave Matthews Band
o Bruce Springsteen
o Phish
o Radiohead
Send your responses here. Votes will be tallied, exaggerated, and included in my next column.
Launched
Spending a lot of time in your cubicle when you’d much rather be enjoying the sun, as I mentioned above, can be a depressing time. You know the feeling. Sure, your work gets done, but the mini-breaks between projects increase as each day goes on, and you’re constantly looking for some sort of distraction. Maybe you check out your friends’ blogs, or post on your own. If you’re a Bruce/Pearl Jam/Dave/etc. fan, you’re likely spending part of your day posting on fan-sites’ message boards, or getting kicked off of them (three people are getting this joke right now, and I’m one of them!). And of course, you find the time to read everything on 411mania, moodspins or 1-42 (cheap plugs rule!).
If you’re a pro like me, though, it only takes a couple of minutes to scroll through the major headlines on your favorite news sites, and there’s only so much online Scrabble that you can take. Sometimes the only “distraction” you need is some online music.
That leaves a couple of options: find the live broadcasts of your favorite radio stations online, or experiment with Web radio stations you’ve never heard of before. But you know as well as I do that most likely you’re either going to end up with a commercial station that plays the same damn songs over and over and over again, or some free-format Web-based or college station that is great one hour, and a bunch of crap (noise/polka/whale sounds) the next.
A few years ago, I was surfing around at work, probably during a warm summer day, and stumbled upon the greatest thing to happen to Internet music since Napster: Launch.com’s “Launchcast” personalized radio stations. Launch has since been merged into Yahoo! (located at http://launch.yahoo.com), and is actually a very good source for music news online. But Launchcast goes above and beyond — and even if you think I’m exaggerating here, at the VERY least, it’s fun to play with.
Here’s how it works: when you first sign up for Launchcast, you’re asked to fill in some information about yourself. What radio stations in your area do you listen to?, What genres do you like?, etc. Eventually you’re able to start listening to your personal radio station (you can click through to my station here: bisc76’s Station), and that’s all you HAVE to do.
BUT… if you so desire, this is where the real fun begins.
As you start listening to your station — or someone else’s, as well as a variety of pre-programmed stations — a window pops up showing you what song you are listening to. Alongside each song are three tabs, allowing you to rate the song, the artist, and/or the album that the song is found on.
If you love a song/album/artist, rate it 100. Think it’s okay? Score it a 35. Absolutely hate it? Click the red “X” and you’ll never hear it again.
As you rate more and more songs/albums/artists, Launchcast “remembers” your tastes, and uses this information (along with the info you submit when you first sign up) to shoot more songs over to you that Launchcast thinks you will enjoy. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s very interactive and pretty freakin’ cool.
Here’s a sample of 30 songs that my Launchcast station played while I was writing this column:
Everything But The Girl – Wrong
New Order – The Beach
Macy Gray – I Try
Aerosmith – Walk This Way
James Taylor – Sweet Baby James
The Sex Pistols – Don’t Give Me No Lip Child – Live
Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’
Goo Goo Dolls – Iris
Beck – He’s A Mighty Good Leader
The Doors – Hello, I Love You
Deftones – Minerva
The Offspring – I Choose
Sugar Ray – Someday
50 Cent – Who U Rep With
Pearl Jam – 1/2 Full
Ned’s Atomic Dustbin – Legoland
Seal – Don’t Cry
Madonna – Fever
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Pea
Led Zeppelin – Wearing And Tearing
Prince – Diamonds And Pearls
Talking Heads – Memories Can’t Wait
Jimi Hendrix – Voodoo Child
Arlo Guthrie – Ring-Around-A-Rosy Rag
Ani DiFranco – 32 Flavors
Queen – We Will Rock You
Tower Of Power – Do You Wanna (Make Love To Me)
Green Day – Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)
U2 – Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me (Single Version)
Bob Marley – Mellow Mood
Now, understanding that I didn’t skip or rate any of the above (since I was writing), and that I most likely could have skipped, say, Sugar Ray, that’s not a bad little mix of music to pass the time by. A few days ago, the songs were more hip hop focused, and I’m sure the process isn’t flawless, but definitely good enough for me this summer… it beats most of what I’ve found on commercial radio lately, and some of the songs are nostalgic and/or campy enough to make the time spent rating/skipping worth it.
Women in Rock: Reader Thoughts
Thanks to IamUn4givenFreak and several other readers for pointing out that, yes, I somehow left Janis Joplin off of the list of CURRENT members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Who needs a copy editor when I have you guys?!
Dustin suggested that I include PJ Harvey, Heart (how did I forget about them?) and “that girl from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs” (I think he was kidding about her) on my list of potential future Hall of Famers…
Thanks to Tom Stockel, who shouts out Blondie, along with these comments on Kate Bush:
… Kate Bush is my all time favorite. I would love it if she were inducted and received the credit she is due. Without Kate there would be no PJ Harvey, no Tori Amos, no Lisa Loeb, among others. She is a major creative force and has been an influence on the women performers that followed her. I just wish she’d get her latest album out, I’ve missed her greatly these past ten years.
Emptying out the INBOX, let’s end this week’s column with some thoughts on women in rock from 411mania.com’s Jeff Modzelewski:
Through my vast understanding of the R&R HoF induction process, here is my educated opinion as to which women rockers that you mentioned will be in the HoF:
Blondie-Yes; Patti Smith-Should be already, will be soon; The Pretenders-not eligible till 2005 (based on your info), won’t be in till about 2010; Madonna-if she’s not inducted on her first ballot, it’d be a crime; Kate Bush-No; ABBA-shouldn’t be, but may slip in; Sonic Youth-May slip in as “influential underground” a la Velvet Underground, but I doubt it, unfortunately; Cher-Shouldn’t be, but probably will; Sinead-No, and shouldn’t be anyways; Aimee Mann-No;
Ani DiFranco-Probably will be deserving, but no; Cyndi Lauper-No, and not deserving; The
Go-Go’s-probably not; Bjork-No; Sheryl Crow-No; Whitney-This is gonna depend on how the HoF views this type of music when the time comes. I’d say no, just because if she gets in, you have to let folks like Britney have their chance also; Mariah-No, no matter what; Tori Amos-deserves to be, because of her mix of popular hits and artistic influence, but I’d doubt it;
Janet-Yes; Melissa Ethridge-I don’t think she deserves to, but I’ll bet she gets in.
The one group that you missed that I’d say is almost a definite “Yes” are the Indigo Girls. Again, moderate popularity coupled with huge influence. Also, the Smashing Pumpkins may get in eventually, and they had the chick bassist. Finally, I’d say that Joan Jett and the Blackhearts still have a shot at getting in.
Just my opinion. Keep up the good work!
Jeff
Jeff — PLEASE don’t compare Whitney Houston and Britney Spears ever again. I’ll give you a pass this time, but that’s it. No more warnings. Mrs. Bobby Brown will not be disrespected in this column by anyone other than me.
As far as the Indigo Girls, I personally can’t advocate adding anyone to the Hall of Fame that literally drove me to SLEEP during their concert a few years ago… I don’t think the Pumpkins will make it, but it all depends on who’s doing the voting in a dozen or so years… and do you really think Joan Jett will get the nod? The Runaways, maybe, but the Blackhearts? Didn’t Michael J. Fox sit in with them on a movie soundtrack in the late 1980s?
Until next week…
peace. love. moe.
– Matt
Till My Head Falls Off can be found weekly on 411 Music (old columns are archived in the pull-down menu below). Already hit everything on 411? You can find more from Matthew Michaels at moodspins and 1-42.
