Top Ten Power Pop Albums of ‘09

The world may have entered a gigantic metaphorical sphincter but there is progress in at least one field.  Power pop has never been better.  We are living in one of the great musical flowerings of history and it shows no sign of abating.  I had a real problem picking just ten records for my top ten, so I kept on going.  Just a little bit.  We’ve still got a ways to go so I might have to update this list. 

The qualitative differences among the top five are nugatory.  One could easily choose any of them as the record of the year. 

–

#1: The Shazam – Meteor

These big-hearted stadium rockers have been building toward this titanic yawp of iconic anthems for years.

“So Awesome” opens the record with a twenty-one guitar salute to the joy of living, lead guitar as hard and elegant as the Golden Gate Bridge.  “Don’t Look Down” is a power ballad with every lick carved in stone.  You could climb the notes like a staircase.  Hans Rotenberry’s vocals are winsome and masterful, going from cooed aside to anthemic bellow in a heartbeat.  “Disco at the Fairground” is the best Move song the Move never recorded.  Alternating sinister, earth-chewing minor chords with drunken sailor music hall choruses it crunches euphorically.  Zappa would approve. (more…)

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Tags: Broken Promise Keeper, Campbell Stokes Sunshine Recorder, Curtains for You, Fun, Jeff Litman
Posted Nov 15th 2009 at 6:26 am in Featured Story, Music | 26201058 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mbaron/2009/11/15/top-ten-power-pop-albums-of-09/Top+Ten+Power+Pop+Albums+of+%27092009-11-15+14%3A26%3A47Mike+Baron

Rammstein: Teutonic Metal Gods Conquer America?

For most non-Teutons the idea of German rock is not very appealing. The fatherland of Bach and Beethoven may well have produced many interesting experimental groups (Kraftwerk,  Einstürzende Neubauten etc) but on a global, top 40 level it’s an entirely different matter. Consider: 

1) The Scorpions- hair metal popular in the 80s, approximately as good as Winger.

2) KMFDM- plodding industrial metal from the late 80s/early90s.

3) That Nena chick of ‘99 luftballons’ fame. 

In short, a roster of acts so unnecessary that we could safely consign them to the same dark abyss as Croatian thrash or Russian hip hop and the human race would be none the poorer for it. And yet fortunately for the glory of popular Deustche musik this is not the end of the story- for in the mid 90s what rough beast slouched towards Germany to be born? Breathing flames and reveling in death and all manner of deviancy, its name was Rammstein. 

Formed in the early 1990s by veterans of several crap East German groups, Rammstein consisted of six men in their 30s who had grown up under communism. They took their name from Ramstein, a US military base where a terrible disaster had occurred during an air show in 1988, adding an extra ‘m’ to dislocate it slightly. With the Berlin Wall fallen, the band was now liberated to steal as many sounds and ideas as they desired. These included elements of classic heavy metal, industrial metal and gothic synth pop such as Depeche Mode; not to mention liberal appropriations from Laibach, a Slovenian group fascinated by the links between mass culture, pop music and totalitarianism. (If you have a few minutes I recommend you watch Laibach’s reinterpretations of Queen’s One Vision and Opus’ Life is Life: the originals will never sound the same again.) (more…)

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Tags: Berlin Wall, germany, Hip-hop, Nena, queen
Posted Nov 7th 2009 at 6:40 am in Featured Story, Music | 25863079 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dkalder/2009/11/07/rammstein-teutonic-metal-gods-conquer-america/Rammstein%3A+Teutonic+Metal+Gods+Conquer+America%3F2009-11-07+14%3A40%3A59Daniel+Kalder

INTRODUCING: ‘Yosi Needs a Hug’ by Gary Eaton

Fellow Big Hollywood contributor Moxie and I have been in the process of developing a radio show over the past couple of months.  Over the course of the development and rehearsal process, we’ve been focusing much attention on the NEA Conference Call story and the fall-out associated with it.

One of our ongoing segments has been to read aloud (in suitably dramatic fashion) Yosi Sergant’s twitter feed.  (It really is quite entertaining).  It became such a popular segment with the handful of friends who listen to our practice shows that Moxie decided we needed a “Yosi Update” theme song.  She “Volun-Told” our friend and musician, Gary Eaton to write the diddy and within twenty four hours he had completed his masterpiece.

We hope that you, our the loyal readers of Big Hollywood, who are well-versed with the players involved in this story, will appreciate our “Yosi Update” song:   (more…)

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Tags: Gary Eaton, Moxie, Stage Right, Yosi Sergant
Posted Nov 5th 2009 at 10:03 am in Art, Music, Political Humor, Politics | 25817836 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/11/05/introducing-yosi-needs-a-hug-by-gary-eaton/INTRODUCING%3A+%27Yosi+Needs+a+Hug%27+by+Gary+Eaton2009-11-05+18%3A03%3A02Stage+Right

ELEMENTARY EPIDEMIC: 11 Uncovered Videos Show School Children Performing Praises to Obama

Big Hollywood has already posted a couple disturbing videos of young school children singing/speaking praises to President Obama, but when eleven more dropped in our email box it came as quite a shock. What seemed like an aberration now appears to be a troubling pattern. 

Maybe “epidemic” is a better word.

Each one of the videos below is creepier than the last because the further down you go, the younger the children — brace yourself for kindergartners –  except for the last and most disturbing video, which you have to see to believe.

Young captive minds, easily influenced, eager for direction, enlisted into a cult of personality focused on an individual who, other than being the first black president, has yet to accomplish anything of significance. 

But Obama’s skin color has nothing to do with this. Does anyone interested in retaining their merit badge for intellectual honesty really want to argue that Condi Rice or J.C. Watts would’ve spawned a dozen-and-counting tribute videos?

This is about brainwashing our children into Leftist identity politics. Sure, the schools can argue that they had some kind of parental permission — which, if true, is somehow even more disturbing — but who even considers doing something like this with young minds? That’s a rhetorical question.   (more…)

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Tags: Barack Obama Elementary School, Giffen Elementary, Gotham Avenue School, Harmony Leland Elementary School, Hennigan Elementary School
Posted Nov 4th 2009 at 3:21 am in Art, Featured Story, Music, Politics | 2517381,217 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/11/04/elementary-epidemic-11-uncovered-videos-show-school-children-performing-praises-to-obama/ELEMENTARY+EPIDEMIC%3A+11+Uncovered+Videos+Show+School+Children+Performing+Praises+to+Obama2009-11-04+11%3A21%3A35John+Nolte

Oh, The Horror!

What is horror?

The word comes down to us from the Old Roman, horrere, which means literally “to stand on end” (as in hair) or “to shiver,” whether from fear or cold – Ovid refers to the “chill-bearing breath” of the North Wind (Metamorphosis, I.65).

Halloween is a unique holiday, marked for the celebration of the chill bearing, when demons and witches are allowed to come out to play and scare the bejezzus out of us – or at least, that’s how it used to be.

Over the last decade or so, Halloween has become less about creep and more about camp; Dracula and Frankenstein costumes replaced by Octomom and Obama masks (OK, those are more scary). What I want to do here is help those who would like go old school this year, and have a truly frightful All Hallows’ Eve.

(First suggestion – avoid bars. Like St. Patrick’s Day and New Year’s, Halloween brings out the amateur drinkers, a more loathsome species than any undead thing you may encounter. No, Halloween is best spent alone with someone special to snack on in the dark, with something scary to read, listen to, or watch.) (more…)

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Tags: Alien Sex Fiend, All Hallows' Eve, Bauhaus, Catastrophe Ballet, Catch 22
Posted Oct 31st 2009 at 6:18 am in Featured Story, Film, Music | 25323870 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mpatterson/2009/10/31/oh-the-horror/Oh%2C+The+Horror%212009-10-31+13%3A18%3A52Matt+Patterson

‘This Is It’: A Genuine Thriller

Michael Jackson was the epitome of a human Rorschach test. To his fans, he was a Messiah of entertainment, seemingly able to transcend the mere mortal abilities of nearly anyone in the history of show business. To his detractors, he was an eccentric who was also repeatedly accused of molesting children. To yet others, he was both. 

When he died of an apparent drug overdose just shy of his 50th birthday on June 25, while rehearsing for an intense 50-show engagement in London, it seemed that this conundrum would never be solved and that his life and legacy would be forever shadowed. Then word emerged that concert promoter AEG had decided to sell extensive footage it shot of the show’s rehearsals and put it up for bidding war, which Sony Pictures won for $60 million. Debate raged throughout Hollywood and the business world about whether this was an appropriate outcome, or if it reeked of exploitation.  (more…)

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Tags: "This Is It", concert, documentary, drugs, Michael Jackson
Posted Oct 28th 2009 at 10:33 am in Film, Music, Reviews | 25433470 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ckozlowski/2009/10/28/this-is-it-a-genuine-thriller/%27This+Is+It%27%3A+A+Genuine+Thriller2009-10-28+17%3A33%3A14Carl+Kozlowski

The Worst Song of All Time: ‘Imagine’

In a world of Starland Vocal Bands, Lady GaGas, Bon Jovis, Snoop Doggs and 1910 Fruitgum Companies, it takes real talent to write a song so unbelievably horrible that it transcends mere awfulness and crosses the frontier into a whole new realm of sheer crappiness.  An artistic, musical and philosophical failure of staggering proportions, John Lennon’s “Imagine” is the worst song of all time.

Many feel this ballad is a touching hymn that gives voice to man’s yearning for a better world.  They are wrong.  “Imagine” is a cloying, boggy, sonic swamp of numb-skulled sentiments that sound like they were recycled from a bong-fueled, 2 a.m. bull session between a couple of pampered, credulous UC Berkeley lit majors.  It’s the national anthem of the hopey/changey crowd — all at once pretentious, smug, tiresome and intellectually bankrupt.  (more…)

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Tags: 1910 Fruitgum Company, American Idol, Atheism, Bon Jovi, communism
Posted Oct 27th 2009 at 12:53 pm in Music | 251898469 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2009/10/27/the-worst-song-of-all-time-imagine/The+Worst+Song+of+All+Time%3A+%27Imagine%272009-10-27+19%3A53%3A09Kurt+Schlichter

‘Damn it Feels Good to Be a Victim’

(more…)

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Tags: ACORN, Barack Obama, bush, Congress, Global warming
Posted Oct 26th 2009 at 5:22 pm in Music, Politics, Video | 25183862 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/arachel/2009/10/26/victicrat/%27Damn+it+Feels+Good+to+Be+a+Victim%272009-10-27+00%3A22%3A01Alfonzo+Rachel

‘It Might Get Loud’: The Redemption of Jimmy Page

What happens to an artist whose creative peak has long past? That is the question which looms like a sustained E chord over the new documentary It Might Get Loud, a strange and wonderful cinematic ode to the electric guitar by director Davis Guggenheim. whose previous credits include An Inconvenient Truth (don’t hold that against him).

It Might Get Loud’s central conceit is simple and elegant in principle, but surprisingly messy and complex on screen: Take three eminent guitarists of differing styles and generations, interview them individually, get them to open up about their relationship with their instrument and then, for the film’s climax, throw them together on a sound-stage surrounded by guitars and see what happens.

Guggenheim’s choice of guitarists is a surprising one that somehow makes sense; Jack White of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs (in his 30’s), The Edge of U2 (in his 40’s), and Jimmy Page of The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin (in his 60’s). (more…)

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Tags: Alison Krauss, An Inconvenient Truth, David Coverdale, Davis Guggenheim, Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
Posted Oct 26th 2009 at 6:55 am in Music, Reviews | 250126110 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mpatterson/2009/10/26/the-redemption-of-jimmy-page/%27It+Might+Get+Loud%27%3A+The+Redemption+of+Jimmy+Page2009-10-26+13%3A55%3A55Matt+Patterson

Review: U2 360° — Great Music, Bi-Partisan Politics

OK, first things first: U2 put on a great show in FedEx Field in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, September 29, 2009.

This was a relief, because the previous Saturday they had turned in a dismal, oddly disjointed performance on “Saturday Night Live.” But three days later the boys were back in fighting shape; it was, in fact, one of the hardest rocking shows I’ve ever seen them give — and I have seen my share of U2 shows (my lifetime total is now somewhere in the double digits).

The show opened with several numbers from the woefully under-appreciated new album No Line On The Horizon; the thrilling and unique “Breathe,” segued into “Magnificent,” a tune which doesn’t quite soar as as high as it wants to, but comes closer live than on record. The lackluster “Get On Your Boots” was followed by Zoo-era favorite “Mysterious Ways,” bringing the stadium down and prompting Bono to remark, “Well, it’s a warm night after all!” He then gave a preview of the rest of the set: “We have old songs; we have new songs; we have songs we can barely play!” (more…)

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Tags: Bono, FedEx Field, Larry Mullen Jr., The Edge, U2
Posted Oct 16th 2009 at 4:37 pm in Entertainment, Music, Reviews | 24403841 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mpatterson/2009/10/16/review-u2-360-great-music-bi-partisan-politics/Review%3A+U2+360%C2%B0+--+Great+Music%2C+Bi-Partisan+Politics2009-10-16+23%3A37%3A14Matt+Patterson

Trivia Time: Can You Tell the Difference Between Lennon and McCartney?

Time out from all things politics. Instead, let’s turn our attention to “all things Beatles trivia” for this short essay/game.

I went on Amazon yesterday to purchase The Beatles Stereo Box Set and was informed it was still on back order. Borders noted that the set will be available on a limited basis in October on a “first-come, first-served” basis. The Mono version, which sells for $30 more than the Stereo version, is also on back order. So the Beatles obviously remain popular.

One topic I have always found interesting is the distinction between Lennon’s songs and McCartney’s songs. Of the 200 plus songs the Beatles wrote, perhaps about 30 had some form of  collaboration between the two, with maybe 20 being jointly written completely. Yet, I have always found this distinction very misleading. Their influence on each other was so deep that their individual songs really were effectively collaborations. Besides the obvious difference in sound between, say, Wings and McCartney written Beatles songs, I have constructed a “Beatles” trivia quiz below to demonstrate this point.  I assert that we think we can tell the difference because most of us know the songs well. But in reality, they were highly influenced by the other and are more similar than we sometimes realize. (more…)

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Tags: Beatles, Lennon, McCartney, The Beatles Stereo Box Set
Posted Oct 3rd 2009 at 10:40 am in Entertainment, Music | 23343051 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mrulle/2009/10/03/trivia-time-can-you-tell-the-difference-between-lennon-and-mccartney/Trivia+Time%3A+Can+You+Tell+the+Difference+Between+Lennon+and+McCartney%3F2009-10-03+17%3A40%3A34Michael+S.+Rulle+Jr.

The Grand and Gracious Andy Williams

This story warms my heart: Andy Williams is not a fan of the president:  

I think he wants to create a socialist country. The people he associates with are very Left-wing. One is registered as a Communist.

Yes, that Andy Williams.

Of “Love Story” fame — you don’t have to love the movie to sing the song.

Or, for the men in the room, there’s The Godfather.

And this is the kind of story I usually only get listening to Bill Bennett’s interviews with random musicians on his morning show:  (more…)

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Posted Sep 29th 2009 at 4:08 pm in Music, Politics | 23720266 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kjlopez/2009/09/29/the-grand-and-gracious-andy-williams/The+Grand+and+Gracious+Andy+Williams2009-09-29+23%3A08%3A50Kathryn+Jean+Lopez

Kanye West Doesn’t Care About White People

On television, how often do you see the Heartland, the South, or innocence portrayed as positive, or as the innocent victim of thuggery or artistic elitism gone awry? If I told you that it happened over the weekend, would you have guessed that MTV was the network that aired it?

As it turns out, Joe Wilson isn’t the only inappropriate interrupter of the last week. If you haven’t seen Kanye West’s shocking-only-to-people-who-have-never-seen-or-heard-Kanye-West-perform-or-say-words outburst at the normally classy and restrained MTV Video Music Awards, take 90 seconds and watch the train wreck. I don’t want to say it was awkward, but I haven’t seen a performer arouse that many embarrassed faces since…well, since Kanye West did the exact same thing at the European VMAs in 2007, which at the time was the most awkward TV moment since Kanye West hijacked a Katrina charity TV show to rant that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” (more…)

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Tags: Beyonce, Dixie Chicks, Kanye West, MTV, Obama
Posted Sep 17th 2009 at 1:03 pm in Celebrity News, Culture, Featured Story, Music, Politics | 225250161 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/djenkins/2009/09/17/kanye-west-doesnt-care-about-white-people/Kanye+West+Doesn%27t+Care+About+White+People2009-09-17+20%3A03%3A42Dallas+Jenkins

U2: An Exquisite Team

This past Saturday, my wife Karen, and I had the opportunity to once again take in a U2 show.  This one was at Soldier Field in Chicago and kicked off the U.S. leg of the 360 Tour.  The tour gets its name from the round stage — which allowed for more seating.  We had been to several U2 shows in the past, but never a stadium concert.  Every one of those extra seats was filled and the energy was tremendous.

What I am struck by is the amazing solidarity U2 has had over the years.  Make no mistake, they are an exquisite team.  Many people know of my relationship with Bono.  He is a man of faith who has used his celebrity to save countless lives in Africa.  He’s the front man with haunting vocals.  The Edge has that unique sound which keeps the band moving forward.  Larry Mullen’s drums keeps them in the now.  Finally, Adam Clayton’s bass allows the band to maintain that seemingly raw quality.  It’s no wonder they have been one of the world’s greatest rock bands all these years. (more…)

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Tags: Africa, Edge, John Kasich, Rwanda, Soldier Field
Posted Sep 16th 2009 at 1:34 pm in Culture, Featured Story, Music | 22577075 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jkasich/2009/09/16/u2-an-exquisite-team/U2%3A+An+Exquisite+Team2009-09-16+20%3A34%3A33John+R.+Kasich

Stand Up Notes from Flyover Country: How Did Russell Brand Get a Green Card?

I am sure that Congress has a lot more important things to do right now but when we get around to looking at immigration can we get an investigation into how an alleged comic named Russell Brand got a green card.

I’m no expert on immigration law but I think in order to come here to work you have to demonstrate you have some special skills or talent that no American has. This rule prevents big multi-national companies from bringing in a bunch of cheap unskilled labor to take American jobs. For example, let’s say you are a bricklayer and you live in Poland. You may be a good bricklayer but if you want to come to the United States to live you need to go through a long process and show you have some skill that no American bricklayer possesses — unless you are a person who can sneak across the southern border,  in which case you are welcome to come and take an American’s job and pick up some free health care and education. That’s another issue and I have been ADD-ing pretty badly recently so I need to get back to the topic at hand: (more…)

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Tags: illegal immigration, Immigration, Kanye West, MTV, Russell Brand
Posted Sep 16th 2009 at 10:19 am in Celebrity News, Music, News, Politics | 224482144 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjena/2009/09/16/stand-up-noted-from-flyover-country-how-did-russell-brand-get-a-green-card/Stand+Up+Notes+from+Flyover+Country%3A+How+Did+Russell+Brand+Get+a+Green+Card%3F2009-09-16+17%3A19%3A58Jeffrey+Jena

‘The Audacity of Hos’: ‘Daily Show’ Skewers ACORN

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Tags: ACORN, acorn prostitute, acorn prostitute video, acorn prostitution, acorn scandal
Posted Sep 16th 2009 at 8:05 am in Media Criticism, Music, Political Humor, Video | 226898234 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/09/16/the-audacity-of-hos-daily-show-skewers-acorn/%27The+Audacity+of+Hos%27%3A+%27Daily+Show%27+Skewers+ACORN2009-09-16+15%3A05%3A57Big+Hollywood

Honoring September 11th: Earle’s Take

The September 11 attacks reset plenty of people’s ideological clocks, with Dennis Miller being one of the more prominent folks to reconsider their views.

For me, the attacks showed me a new side of some of the country’s most respected artists. And it wasn’t pretty.

Earle

Artists reacted to 9/11 in a number of ways. Some wrote songs promising a holy whup ass (Toby Keith) on the terrorist nation, while others went on to create stirring work about a city struck without warning (Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising”)

Alt-country troubadour Steve Earle opted to write a song from the perspective of the traitorous thug, John Walker Lindh, who joined the Taliban against his own country. (more…)

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Tags: Dennis Miller, Earle, Springsteen, Steve Earle, Steve Earle. John Walker Lindh
Posted Sep 11th 2009 at 4:47 pm in Art, Culture, Music, Politics | 22249451 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2009/09/11/honoring-september-11th-earles-take/Honoring+September+11th%3A+Earle%27s+Take2009-09-11+23%3A47%3A02Christian+Toto

What’s Right is Rights: Piracy is Theft

Word is getting around that the RIAA seems to be stepping away from lawsuits as a key strategy against piracy.  Lawsuits were never going to be the solution, as other major rights-holders, like those working together through Arts+Labs, will attest.

That’s not to say that we’ve all stopped believing in creators’ rights or that we no longer think piracy is a real problem.  On the contrary: the creative economy depends on creative rights.

We all understand the demand for easy access to inexpensive content, and the people who produce that content – artists, movie makers, journalists, musicians, songwriters and more – are eager to deliver it. But, as it turns out, they want their rights to be respected.

Unfortunately, some consumers get confused about the difference between demand and entitlement. A recent TechDirt screed illustrates this entitlement mentality.  Writing about Joel Tenenbaum, who was sued for pirating and distributing songs online (a jury found that he had willfully infringed copyrights and awarded a judgment far larger than had been asked), Mike Masnick wrote: (more…)

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Tags: artist rights, Music, Napster, piracy, RIAA
Posted Sep 8th 2009 at 5:03 am in Entertainment, Law, Music | 215926120 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mmckinnon/2009/09/08/what%e2%80%99s-right-is-rights/What%E2%80%99s+Right+is+Rights%3A+Piracy+is+Theft2009-09-08+12%3A03%3A34Mark+McKinnon

Daily Gut: Reponse to Pitchfork — The Really Bestest Songs of the Last Ten Years

So the music website Pitchfork unloaded its top 500 songs from the last ten years, and it was a mix of mainstream mediocrity, desperate hipsterism, and legitimate inspiration. For every great choice they made (say, Goldfrapp), they immediately canceled it out with some horrible wrist-slitting trash (Britney, Justin, more Britney). But, rather than rag on Pitchfork (I picture their contributors looking like homelier versions of Michael Cera), which is an otherwise pretty good site despite its easily mocked pretensions, I’ve decided to post my own list of the top songs from the last ten years.

It’s in some kind of order. Here we go:

“Civilized Worm,” The Melvins. A song Ozzy would have sacrificed his first, second and third born for. You kind of wish he had. How did this song not become a massive anthem? I ask again, how did this song not become a massive anthem? It should have been bigger than lingerie football.

“One More Robot – Sympathy 3000-21,” The Flaming Lips. Off the Yoshimi album, it’s the best thing the Lips ever did. One subtle note change by Wayne Coyne is enough to make you feel like calling everyone you know and telling them how much you appreciate their smell. (more…)

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Tags: decade, Music, Pitchfork, songs, ten years
Posted Sep 7th 2009 at 1:27 pm in Daily Gut, Featured Story, Music | 21927897 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2009/09/07/daily-gut-reponse-to-pitchfork-the-really-bestest-songs-of-the-last-ten-years/Daily+Gut%3A+Reponse+to+Pitchfork+--+The+Really+Bestest+Songs+of+the+Last+Ten+Years2009-09-07+20%3A27%3A28Greg+Gutfeld

Obama Czar Van Jones Cut Vile, Anti-American Album in 2003 (NSFW)

This is no youthful indiscretion, this is 2003. Will the ObamaMedia be able to ignore a Czar associated with lyrics like this:

The American way manufactured by white folk in office, by these rich men here to mock us. The United States; a piece of stolen land led by right-wing, war-hungry, oil thirsty… And when it’s all said and done still can’t [garbled] the wrong place cause they got people of color playing servant to do that shit for them; mother fuckers ready to wipe out soft targets on territories harboring terrorists?

Tragedy.

The true terrorists are made in the U.S.

Truther/Czar Jones himself at the 4:20 mark: (more…)

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Tags: album, Barack Obama, cop killer, czar, Green Jobs Czar
Posted Sep 5th 2009 at 10:33 am in Art, Music, Politics | 218486138 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/09/05/obama-czar-van-jones-cut-vile-anti-american-album-in-2003-nsfw/Obama+Czar+Van+Jones+Cut+Vile%2C+Anti-American+Album+in+2003+%28NSFW%292009-09-05+17%3A33%3A46Big+Hollywood

The Vault: An Exploration of the Gothic

Part 2 – In The Beginning

1965.  Cafe Bizarre.  Greenwich Village, New York City.

An unknown band takes the stage and begins to play.  The electric viola weeps an unearthly, hypnotic lament, as the singer chants: “Not a ghost-bloodied country, all covered with sleep, where the black angel did weep…’”

–

Perhaps The Black Angel’s Death Song was just a little too bizarre for Cafe Bizarre.  Perhaps the song’s rumored anti-communist message did no go down well in deep-red lower Manhattan.  For whatever reason, The Velvet Underground are promptly fired from their first regular gig for playing the strange and dissonant tune they had been warned not to play.

But the Velvets had secured their future nonetheless:  Andy Warhol was at Cafe Bizarre that night.  He described the audience as “dazed and damaged” after the performance – Warhol loved it.  He took them into his fold and became their manager, producer and sponsor.  He helped them secure their first record contract; he painted the cover for the first album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. (more…)

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Tags: Alice Cooper, Andy Warhol, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, John Cale
Posted Aug 29th 2009 at 6:03 pm in Culture, Music | 21277831 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mpatterson/2009/08/29/the-vault-an-exploration-of-the-gothic-2/The+Vault%3A+An+Exploration+of+the+Gothic2009-08-30+01%3A03%3A28Matt+Patterson

MTV: When Rush Says It, It’s ‘Graphic Detail’

MTV ran this headline today: ‘Rush Limbaugh Responds To Jay-Z’s ‘Off That’ In Graphic Detail’

A network’s that’s spent two decades lining its pockets selling vulgar sex to young people calling anything “graphic” is patently absurd. Here’s what Rush said on his show regarding rapper Jay-Z:

I’m now in a rap tune by the famous rapper Jay-Z. I would remind the rapper Jay-Z: Mr. Z, it is President Obama who wants to mandate circumcision.  We had that story yesterday; and that means if we need to save our penises from anybody, it’s Obama.  I did not know I was on anybody’s balls, either.

“Penises” and “balls” qualifies as “graphic detail”? For MTV? Rush is of course referencing the possibility the Obama administration will mandate circumcision for all baby boys.  But let us not forget Mr. Limbaugh’s quote is in response to a song where he’s asked to remove himself from The Jigga Man’s scrotum and testicles: (more…)

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Tags: "Off That", Andrew Breitbart, Jay-Z, MTV, Obama
Posted Aug 26th 2009 at 4:02 pm in Culture, Entertainment, Music | 212070131 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/amarlow/2009/08/26/mtv-when-rush-says-it-its-%e2%80%98graphic-detail%e2%80%99/MTV%3A+When+Rush+Says+It%2C+It%27s+%E2%80%98Graphic+Detail%E2%80%99+2009-08-26+23%3A02%3A13Alexander+Marlow

Music Review: The Shazam’s ‘Meteor’

Nashville’s The Shazam have been around since 1993, delighting audiences with anthemic, hook-laden rock in the spirit of their two poles, The Who and The Move.  They moved beyond those obvious influences on ‘03’s stunning Tomorrow the World, a blast of rawk big enough to fill the Grand Canyon. 

The Shazam are part of the underground independent pop scene, the guys who gather for the Charlottesville Power Pop Festival, International Pop Overthrow, or SXSW.  Shazam have been with Not Lame since 1999’s masterful Godspeed the Shazam.  Meteor is the first disc Not Lame has produced in three years, not counting their annual International Pop Overthrow compilations. Meteor is a titanic yawp of hard rock anthems alternating with hooks so sweet they take your breath away.  Hans Rotenberry, who wrote and sings the songs, has carved a unique and immediately identifiable style from hard rock dynamics crossed with his sweet, supple voice.  (more…)

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Tags: "Don't Look Down", "Meteor", "So Awesome", Godspeed the Shazam, International Pop Overthrow
Posted Aug 22nd 2009 at 5:55 pm in Featured Story, Music, Reviews | 20927811 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mbaron/2009/08/22/review-the-shazam-meteor-not-lame/Music+Review%3A+The+Shazam%27s+%27Meteor%272009-08-23+00%3A55%3A02Mike+Baron

The Vault: An Exploration of the Gothic

Part 1 – Introduction

The bats have left the bell tower, the victims have been bled… - Bauhaus, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”

Goth is dead.

Well, OK, maybe not.  But if it is not dead, exactly, Goth certainly isn’t what it once was.  In this, Goth is rather like conservatism – with which it shares much (more on that later) – a glorious 1980’s heyday, followed by a confused 1990’s…and a disastrous 2000’s. 

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True, some elements of Goth limp along in the new millennium, having been cannibalized by, and absorbed into, mainstream culture.  In some instances, co-opted bits of Goth have been so deracinated as to seem entirely anomalous – witness the black hair, black eyeliner, and black nail polish of the latest American Idol runner up; like claws on a cow, once dangerous and distinct trappings draped on an entirely neutered and non threatening pop singer. (more…)

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Tags: Bauhaus, goth, gothic, Velvet Underground
Posted Aug 5th 2009 at 6:03 pm in Culture, Music | 19799858 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mpatterson/2009/08/05/the-vault-an-exploration-of-the-gothic/The+Vault%3A+An+Exploration+of+the+Gothic2009-08-06+01%3A03%3A36Matt+Patterson

Popular Music Abandons Everyone Over Forty

Those damn kids today and their strange and frightening music raise an important question for me:  When did I become my dad?

Back in the eighties – when popular music reached its pinnacle of achievement - I would be home from college, in my room, cranking cool tunes and my father would get home from work, peer in, scrunch up his face and ask how I could listen to that infernal racket.  The answer, of course, was that I had (and still have, dammit) really awesome taste in music.

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I actually pitied my Dad for being unable to appreciate the Midwestern-inflected post-punk glory of The Replacements, or the sonic frenzy of their Minneapolis brothers-in-noise Husker Du, or the soaring, roaring guitar heroics of The Clash.  I don’t know what music he actually liked.  There were some LPs lying around the house – kids, you can ask your parents what those are – but they were things like the Kingston Trio and the Sound of Music soundtrack.  This last one was a particular sore point for me since my mom got the idea to name me Kurt, which is the German equivalent of Melvin, from the little Von Trapp twerp who sang “Fa.” (more…)

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Tags: 50 cent, Black-Eyes Peas, fergie, Flo Rida, Husker Du
Posted Jul 31st 2009 at 5:03 am in Celebrity News, Featured Story, Music | 193510252 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2009/07/31/popular-music-abandons-everyone-over-40/Popular+Music+Abandons+Everyone+Over+Forty2009-07-31+12%3A03%3A46Kurt+Schlichter

The Strings of Judy Garland’s Heart

Thirty years after Judy Garland-”Dorothy”-first publicly performed “Over the Rainbow” on June 29, 1939, previewing the soon-to-be-released Wizard of Oz, this quintessential girl-next-door reached for more sleeping pills and hoped-for sleep, only to be, mercifully, granted eternal rest.

She always wanted to be “glamorous,” forgetting her far-surpassing appeal as the very essence of America. 

Her story, the final earthly chapter ending forty years ago today, embodies American triumph and tragedy.  

Born Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10, 1922, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, her life nearly ended in 1921 after her parents’ marriage was rocked by revelations of her father’s homosexual infidelity. 

But, family physician Dr. Marcus Rabwin told Frank Gumm, “you go back to your wife and tell her I said she must have this baby.”  The “powerful” Garland “force field,” as fellow MGM star Ann Miller put it, was evidently already at work.  (more…)

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Tags: Frances Gumm, judy garland, MGM, mickey rooney, Strike up the Band
Posted Jun 22nd 2009 at 3:21 pm in Classic Hollywood, Music | 166126One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mckendall/2009/06/22/the-strings-of-judy-garland%e2%80%99s-heart/The+Strings+of+Judy+Garland%E2%80%99s+Heart+2009-06-22+22%3A21%3A49Mary+Claire+Kendall

Act of War: North Korea Holds American Hostages

The tin-pot dictator, Kim Jong-Il (who has turned his entire country into a Communist Gulag) has snatched a couple of American journalists, dragging them across the border from China to be tried on trumped-up spy charges and sentenced to twelve years of hard labor.  Here is how the North Korean news agency reported it: “The trial confirmed the grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing as they had already been indicted and sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labor.” Isn’t that a great line, “Reform through labor…”?   Given that almost everyone in North Korea is already starving, I suspect that Euna Lee and Laura Ling are not likely to survive twelve years of “reforming” big rocks into gravel.

At the same time, dictator Kim Jong-Il rattles his puny saber and threatens that if any of his ships carrying nuclear materials to other rogue nations are stopped on the high seas, he will consider it an “act of war.”  Well, gee… There was a time not too long ago when the kidnapping of American nationals would have, in itself, been considered an “act of war.”  I imagine that had Teddy Roosevelt or even Ronald Reagan been at the helm when Kim Jong-Il took two American nationals hostage, the response would be quite different.   More likely it would have gone along the lines of: “You have 24 hours to return our citizens before we start obliterating your military bases – one every hour until the hostages are set free.  If we run out of military bases and you still continue to hold them then, unfortunately, we’ll have to start on your cities.  Have a nice day.”  Then, like any good parent, we would follow through with our pledge. (more…)

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Tags: "China", Al Gore, Current TV, Euna Lee, Hiroshima
Posted Jun 18th 2009 at 8:16 am in Music, Politics | 1635303 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ebalogh/2009/06/18/163530/Act+of+War%3A+North+Korea+Holds+American+Hostages2009-06-18+15%3A16%3A58Endre+Balogh

Album Review: Chickenfoot

Joe Satriani lives. 

On the self-titled debut album Chickenfoot, Satch sounds better and looser than he has in years – it’s easily his best work since 1993’s Time Machine.  With his bald pate, shades encased face, and the sleek and shiny Ibanez hovering effortless in his hands, Satriani has morphed into the spitting image of the Marvel Comics character who graced the cover of 1987’s Surfing with the Alien.  Unlike the Silver Surfer, however (always a rather glum chap in the comics) Satriani seems to be having a blast. 

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And why not?  He’s in a great band who’ve just made a great record, a rollicking stomp of riff and chorus.  To the surprise of many, instrumental virtuoso Satriani flourishes as co-writer and supporting player, keeping his trademark pyrotechnics on slow burn, never overpowering vocalist Sammy Hagar during the verses, and all while adding perfect surface sheen to the tight grooves laid down by bassist Michael Anthony (formerly of Van Halen) and drummer Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers).  When it’s time for him to solo, however, Satch lets the fire loose in some surprising ways – check out the Faith No More like mid-section of the otherwise classic stadium fare “Oh Yeah.”  (more…)

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Tags: Chad Smith, Chickenfoot, Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar
Posted Jun 11th 2009 at 8:39 am in Music, Reviews | 156662One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mpatterson/2009/06/11/album-review-chickenfoot/Album+Review%3A+Chickenfoot2009-06-11+15%3A39%3A42Matt+Patterson

The Pop Underground Strikes Back

Few shows illustrate how low the state of popular music has fallen than “American Idol.”  While AI regularly finds singers of talent, the songs they feature are mostly chestnuts.  The show also encourages the type of singing that is more at home on Broadway than in small smoky clubs.  The judges put an inordinate amount of focus on vocal pyrotechnics encouraging contestants to test the outer limits of their ranges.  The most exciting news to come out of the most recent season is the possibility that Adam Lambert might join Queen, replacing the ill-considered Paul Rogers.

I would love to see Adam Lambert join Queen.  I already know all the songs.  And that’s a problem.  Singer/songwriters have been moving off-grid since the nineties.  With the demise of the major music conglomerates, innovative talent understands it’s up to them to record and release their own material.  The internet makes this possible.  No one knows the extent of the effect downloading has had on the music industry, but if we are to judge from the reaction, it has been devastating.  The Recording Institute Association of America has brought suits against parents whose children illegally download songs. (more…)

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Tags: "American People", Adam Lambert, Andy Morten, Bat for Lashes, Big Music
Posted Jun 2nd 2009 at 6:40 am in Music | 1479662 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mbaron/2009/06/02/the-pop-underground-strikes-back/The+Pop+Underground+Strikes+Back2009-06-02+13%3A40%3A04Mike+Baron