On Friday, ultimate-guitar.com (by way of Buzz Feed) posted a list of ten disappointing facts about music. The article is available here.
I'm usually not a fan of December year end lists, but this one caught my eye because UG seems to consider high record sales of "bad music" as something we should be disappointed about.
Consider point 1: I bet that Creed have sold more records than a lot of hugely influential artists, but UG chose the granddaddy of them all, Jimi Hendrix, as Creed's sales foil.
The list goes on with popular contemporary artists outselling legends - The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Michael Jackson, Johnny Cash - as an argument for music disappointment.
Do you consider high record sales of "bad" music over "good" music disappointing?
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees
It's that time of year again, and even though Rush and Kiss aren't feeling the love, a new crop of 80s - 90s music icons are. Guns n Roses surprised the music world by being inducted this year - the first year they are eligible according to the 25-year since band inception criteria. Now we play the waiting game and to see if Axl can patch things up with Slash for a performance by the original group. Both Axl and Slash are successful apart, but coming together for this ceremony would be a huge treat for fans.
Also making the cut this year are Red Hot Chili Peppers. Anthony Kiedis' father apparently cried after hearing his son's band will be inducted. This is a grand gesture considering that Papa Kiedis is known for his history as the stone-cold drug dealer "Spider." Maybe John Frusciante - fresh on his leave from the band - will reunite with RHCP for the ceremony. Frusciante has never been one for awards and accolades, so I'm guessing he won't show up.
Beastie Boys also join the ranks for rock supremacy in 2012. I really enjoyed their album Paul's Boutique, even though these white boys seemed like a joke when they debuted. Beastie Boys have been consistently popular and had a grand return to form this year with the album Hot Sauce Committee Part Two. Check out the 30 minute short film Fight for Your Right Revisited starring Danny McBride, Elija Wood and Seth Rogan, here:
Other inductees include: Donovan, Laura Nyro, The Small Faces/The Faces, Freddie King, Don Kirshner, Cosimo Matassa, Tom Dowd, and Glyn Johns.
Also making the cut this year are Red Hot Chili Peppers. Anthony Kiedis' father apparently cried after hearing his son's band will be inducted. This is a grand gesture considering that Papa Kiedis is known for his history as the stone-cold drug dealer "Spider." Maybe John Frusciante - fresh on his leave from the band - will reunite with RHCP for the ceremony. Frusciante has never been one for awards and accolades, so I'm guessing he won't show up.
Beastie Boys also join the ranks for rock supremacy in 2012. I really enjoyed their album Paul's Boutique, even though these white boys seemed like a joke when they debuted. Beastie Boys have been consistently popular and had a grand return to form this year with the album Hot Sauce Committee Part Two. Check out the 30 minute short film Fight for Your Right Revisited starring Danny McBride, Elija Wood and Seth Rogan, here:
Other inductees include: Donovan, Laura Nyro, The Small Faces/The Faces, Freddie King, Don Kirshner, Cosimo Matassa, Tom Dowd, and Glyn Johns.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Corey Taylor Show Review
Clad in an Amazing Spider-man t-shirt, Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Stone Sour fame took the stage promptly at 8:30 PM on Friday night at the Virgin Mobile Mod Club. Taylor started the night with an introduction to the "reflection and future" theme of the evening. He spoke of how his life in music has facilitated good and bad changes. An enraptured audience laughed at his anecdotes. Taylor read a page from his New Seven Deadly Sins book, which was also greeted with applause, and fans finding the merch table to buy a copy. Luckily he only read one page, because the audience was getting antsy for music.
Taylor answered around ten questions - most of them asinine - about his personal interests, thoughts on religion, and future endeavors. He answered each question respectfully and even had an audience member ejected because the lout was acting unruly. Only one piece of information gleaned from the question period was the least bit interesting: Taylor is hoping to work with Dave Grohl on a future project.
The musical portion of the show began with "Dying" from Stone Sour's 2010 album Audio Secrecy. The audience seemed really into it, but in my opinion the show really "started" with Taylor's solo acoustic rendition of "Bother." Just about everyone was singing and Taylor commented that the Toronto audience was one of the craziest on the whole tour - does he say this in every town?
He ran through a few more Stone Sour songs before busting into an alt-country version of "Spit It Out." This has to be seen to be believed:
I can only imagine what would have happened if he asked us to sit and "jump the f--- up" as he does when Slipknot plays "Spit It Out."
Taylor ran through a few more Stone Sour songs before playing some covers. The audience was a little turned off by all the covers (Elvis Presley, U2, Tom Petty) but good times were had all around. Taylor had his friend Jason Parisi play guitar with him on a few songs. I wouldn't have minded if Parisi played a few more acoustic Slipknot songs with Taylor singing them; the audience would have really appreciated this.
With a quick intermission between the question period and the music, the show ran around two hours. Not bad for one guy, his friend, and two acoustic guitars.
Taylor answered around ten questions - most of them asinine - about his personal interests, thoughts on religion, and future endeavors. He answered each question respectfully and even had an audience member ejected because the lout was acting unruly. Only one piece of information gleaned from the question period was the least bit interesting: Taylor is hoping to work with Dave Grohl on a future project.
The musical portion of the show began with "Dying" from Stone Sour's 2010 album Audio Secrecy. The audience seemed really into it, but in my opinion the show really "started" with Taylor's solo acoustic rendition of "Bother." Just about everyone was singing and Taylor commented that the Toronto audience was one of the craziest on the whole tour - does he say this in every town?
He ran through a few more Stone Sour songs before busting into an alt-country version of "Spit It Out." This has to be seen to be believed:
I can only imagine what would have happened if he asked us to sit and "jump the f--- up" as he does when Slipknot plays "Spit It Out."
Taylor ran through a few more Stone Sour songs before playing some covers. The audience was a little turned off by all the covers (Elvis Presley, U2, Tom Petty) but good times were had all around. Taylor had his friend Jason Parisi play guitar with him on a few songs. I wouldn't have minded if Parisi played a few more acoustic Slipknot songs with Taylor singing them; the audience would have really appreciated this.
With a quick intermission between the question period and the music, the show ran around two hours. Not bad for one guy, his friend, and two acoustic guitars.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
GNR's First Fifty Shows Are A Riot!
Out of all the people who attended high school with Slash, only one, Marc Canter, documented the guitar god's first fifty shows with Guns N' Roses. Perhaps he should have attended the first "69" to make the book more marketable/tongue-in-cheek. Canter had the foresight and luck to follow GN'R from 1985 - 1987 and collect enough memorabilia to fill a book called Reckless Road.
The impression I get from the Reckless Road promo video, here, is GN'R went through so much in the early days, that they stuck together and wrote a debut album that's sold 28 million copies as of 2011.
Today it seems like the most popular bands only stick together as long as they are commercially viable, then go on solo tours, then reunite once nostalgia sets in and they are commercially viable again.
A GN'R tour with all original members would be massively successful, but Slash and Co. would rather do their own thing in Velvet Revolver and other side projects. Velvet Revolver were once offered a Rockstar: Supernova-type TV show to find a new vocalist when Scott Weiland left the band, but they declined - opting instead to work on other projects and eventually find a vocalist on their own.
Sure enough, when Stone Temple Pilots were commercially viable again, Scott Weiland got the band back together and set off on a successful tour.
As for some of Scott Weiland's latest career moves, I don't know what to say ...
The impression I get from the Reckless Road promo video, here, is GN'R went through so much in the early days, that they stuck together and wrote a debut album that's sold 28 million copies as of 2011.
Today it seems like the most popular bands only stick together as long as they are commercially viable, then go on solo tours, then reunite once nostalgia sets in and they are commercially viable again.
A GN'R tour with all original members would be massively successful, but Slash and Co. would rather do their own thing in Velvet Revolver and other side projects. Velvet Revolver were once offered a Rockstar: Supernova-type TV show to find a new vocalist when Scott Weiland left the band, but they declined - opting instead to work on other projects and eventually find a vocalist on their own.
Sure enough, when Stone Temple Pilots were commercially viable again, Scott Weiland got the band back together and set off on a successful tour.
As for some of Scott Weiland's latest career moves, I don't know what to say ...
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