Inside Pulse launched on August 9, 2004, and has covered the world of music for over a decade. Every day, we take a look back at what was happening in the world of music 10 years ago, as reported right here at Inside Pulse!
Music To Help You Score With Smart People: Essentials 1904
All of my colleagues on this site have been busy arguing about the best recordings of 2004. I have stayed away from those arguments because I don’t really care about modern popular music. I do, however, care quite passionately about very old and unpopular music. I don’t know what that says about me psychologically. Today’s column looks back to the world of music as it stood just over a century ago.
In 1904, Teddy Roosevelt was elected president of the United States, and Frank Gotch beat Tom Jenkins to win his first American Heavyweight Wrestling title. The first Rolls Royce was built, the Trans-Siberian Railway was completed, and the ice cream cone was invented. Count Basie, Joseph Campbell, Joan Crawford, Bing Crosby, Salvador Dali, John Gielgud, Cary Grant, Glen Miller, Pablo Neruda, Dr. Seuss, B.F. Skinner, and Fats Waller were all born in 1904. The first ever remake of a successful film was shot in 1904, an inferior version of the 1903 classic “The Great Train Robbery.”
1904 was also an important year in the history of music, as flat disc phonograph records were invented by Emile Berliner, and the following events also took place:
5) Alexander Glazunov’s Violin Concerto was debuted.
Glazunov is generally counted among the best of Classical Music’s minor composers. His music is kind of a bridge from the rich melodies and colours of Tchaikovsky and the more complex and intellectual music of Prokofiev and the other post-revolution Russian composers. While the Violin Concerto may not be his greatest work, it
Various Artists – Sing a Song with Six Strings Review
When I heard about this CD, I thought it was a totally cool idea and was excited to hear it. What I heard was that it was a record made by fathers for their children. I imagined it would be children’s songs set to rock and blues guitar to make them cool – something to introduce children to good music. With names like Slash, Peter Frampton, Santana and Stevie Ray Vaughan to back it up, I imagined it could be nothing short of great. The product proved otherwise.
“Sing a Song with Six Strings” is a collection of songs written for, about or because of children. They don’t carry a good continuity, and the music is pretty weak. The best songs are the instrumentals that are pushed to the end of the CD, by which time most people will have stopped listening.
The songs individually show marked ups and downs. Peter Frampton’s “Mia Rose” is a good song, but not strong enough to stand out sandwiched between two slow and uninteresting tracks. Keb’ Mo’ has an awesomely rich voice, reminiscent of back-in-the-day soul singers, but his song, “Grandma’s Hands” is nothing short of silly. Slash has one track on the CD – his instrumental attempt to make the children’s song “Sing a Song of Sixpence” rock. Unfortunately, even he can’t make it off and save the CD. Likewise with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Santana’s efforts – they just aren’t good enough to make the album palatable. The last four tracks are all instrumental, and should have been mixed throughout the CD, as they are the best and, if well placed, might have given the record a better flow.
The goal of this album was to make a heartfelt album for fathers and children to listen to together, but all in all it’s sappy and poorly arranged. Perhaps I am just not the right audience to be critiquing the CD, but I can’t figure out who the target audience is. Some of the songs are for kids, some for fathers, and some are just about children. When putting the album together they should have
[Beats] Guess Which Hip-Hop Power Couple Were Married Last Weekend?
After a two year engagement, rapper Nasir Jones and singer/songwriter Kelis were married in Atlanta over the weekend.
The small ceremony consisted of only close friends and family, including Nas’ father Olu Dara, who appears on Nas’ latest song, “Bridging the Gap.” Nas’ brother Jungle was the best man.
The smitten rapper proposed to Kelis on Christmas Eve 2002 at her mother’s home.
The two met at P. Diddy’s after-party for the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, which Nas said he didn’t want to attend initially. His longtime producer friend Steve Stoute convinced him to fly to New York for the show on August 29. Nas proclaimed that the encounter with Kelis was love at first sight.
Hoever contrary to the small gathering that took place, Nasir “Nas” Jones once professed that his wedding would be a grand ceremony in the song “Getting Married” off the Queensbridge rapper’s recently released Streets Disciple double LP.
“[We] spoke on eloping, but then I deaded the thought/’cause she deserves Cinderella’s ball and the whole s**t,” Nas raps.
Before the wedding, a source reportedly revealed that a secret wedding would be surprising since Nas seemed to want a large, traditional service. But plans of a covert ceremony emerged when Kelis reportedly cancelled a London concert.
A spokesperson for the London nightspot, Club Koko, where Kelis was supposed to perform, said the Harlem songstress called off the show due to last-minute plans. “She simply told us she couldn’t honor the commitment,” the rep told a UK publication. “We didn’t even know she was getting married this week.”
Nas recently talked up his lady in an interview with AllHipHop.com last summer, describing Kelis as his perfect match. “Everything is just easy. Even when s**t is crazy with me and her, s**t is easy at the same time,” Nas said. “I’m an easygoing person and she’s that way too in a lot of ways. She’s a Le
Summertime Blues, News, and Views: The War Within
As reported by one of my friends on LiveJournal:
So, Nightwish donated $13,000 to the Tsunami Relief fund. On the messageboard on Blabbermouth.net, there are two dumb c***s who are saying, “Nightwish blows and the only reason they’re doing that is to gain fans.” WHAT?!?!?!?
I’m not a Nightwish fan, but still; if nothing else has ever shown exactly why the metal community is so ill-respected and at war with itself, this is it.
I would like to tell a little tale, be it totally true and tune-like, as it were:
Once upon a time, I used to write for a metal site. It’s been defunct for quite some time, although they still have a community via their message board. There are many neat people I have met there and continue to speak with; conversely, there are also many Typical Metal Idiots that thrived there as well.
The Typical Metal Idiot isn’t necessarily defined as simply as finding someone who can’t spell or type; in fact, many metal fans are foreign, so it’s par for the course to swim through intelligent messages buried in barely-coherent English. Nay, for the Typical Metal Idiot is one usually found replying in threads in such a manner:
[Metal Fan One]: Slayer rules!
[Typical Idiot]: All you pseudo-metal fanboys only listen to Reign In Blood and think you know everything about Slayer! YOU SUCK!
[Metal Fan Two]: I love black metal. Cradle of Filth rules!
[Typical Idiot]: Cradle of Filth are sellouts! They’re not black metal! YOU SUCK!
[Metal Fan Three]: Anyone heard the new Queens of the Stone Age?
[Typical Idiot]: THAT’S NOT METAL! YOU SUCK!
Other such discussions usually devolve into picking apart a genre label until it has spawned into 1400 distinct sub-genres; insulting someone’s family and work because they think one drummer is better than another; and my personal favorite, arguing about who is more TRUE.
