It’s that time of year again–Top 10 music lists are out in force, and everyone’s got their own best and worst songs to showcase their wonderful taste. Well, what if you could do both–have a best worst songs list? Yes, a celebration of guilty pleasures, of songs so bad they’re good–songs you have no excuse for liking and listening to over and over again. As a connoisseur of all things musically trashy and lowbrow, I present to you the 10 Best Terrible Songs of 2011. Read, intrepid audience; read, listen, and weep.

10. Korn (Featuring Skrillex) – “Narcissistic Cannibal”

This is a decision so bad it had to time travel from 1998 to get here. Sure, Korn’s popularity may be lagging, but is that really a good reason to intentionally imitate Nine Inch Nails imitators like Filter or Stabbing Westward? Nu metal and electronica do not mix, especially toothless, uninspired, most-likely-merely-contractually-obligated nu metal and electronica. This one makes the #10 slot on the list because it’s mostly just bad, but since I’m not above tawdry dubstep, I usually at least make it to Skrillex’s breakdown after a few choruses. (more…)

Fox News:

Strange songstress Lady Gaga prompted many jaws to drop during the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night when she channeled her foul-mouthed, whisky-drinking, chain-smoking male alter-ago, Jo Calderone.

“She left me! She said it always starts out good and then the guys — meaning me, I’m one of the guys — we get crazy,” the Calderone character said in the opening monologue. “I did. I got crazy. But she’s f—ing crazy too, right?” 

During Gaga’s multiple appearances on stage throughout the night, she continued to find the need to reinforce that “Gaga wasn’t here tonight” and that “Calderone” “was accepting the award on her behalf.”  

However, we’re told Gaga’s somewhat crass drag routine wasn’t just restricted for the cameras. An insider told FOX411’s Pop Tarts that the performer also spent the day using men’s room.

We’re sure that was … interesting … for male attendees.

But the strange behavior didn’t end there.

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“Feminism is a Crock – and Other True Stories.” That’s the title for a book I’d like to write someday. The reason I say feminism is a crock is because it has morphed from “equal rights for all” to “women are better than men, and if you disagree you’re a sexist pig who should be castrated.” It’s also morphed into a sexual free-for-all: what used to be sauce for the gander (and those ganders were usually considered cads) is now sauce for the goose. This image is being perpetuated by pop culture and entertainment, and women are more and more frequently being portrayed as strong through their sexuality, not through their actual accomplishments. Is this the standard to which we want our daughters to aspire?

Early feminists fought against the centuries-old image of a “woman on a pedestal.” Gloria Steinem (she of the “a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle” who in later years ended up getting married anyway) once said, “A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.” I suppose a bra is also a small, confined space, which might explain the bra burnings of the 1960s. But the early feminists had a point – to a point. If a woman wants to be put on a pedestal and admired and adored, fine. But if she doesn’t, she should have the right to do with her life as she chooses. She should be free to pursue any vocation for which she is qualified, either as a single or married woman, children or no children.

But one of the problems with the new feminism was the annoying little fact that children could get in the way of this brave new world. Having to either stay at home with the little tykes or find daycare for them – not to mention all of the discomfort and disfiguration that comes with pregnancy itself – sure put a damper on Gloria Steinem’s idea of a “liberated woman” being “one who has sex before marriage and a job after.” Unbridled sex does, after all, have consequences. And so, according to historian Elaine Tyler May, birth control was “an important tool to gain control over their lives.” (more…)

Hollywood has a problem.  They are currently losing the cultural popularity contest.  A new Pew research poll shows that only 33% of Americans have a favorable view of entertainment industry.  By way of comparison, Rasmussen reports that 48% of the public identify with the Tea Party movement.  To further add perspective, less than six months after he left office, CNN reported that President Bush’s favorable rating had climbed to 41%, eclipsing that of the denizens of Tinsel town.  So why is the entertainment industry losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the American public?  The answer is simple.  It’s all about values. 

Hollywood did have a Golden Age, and the current time is not it.  While most people know Clark Gable for 8 famous words, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,” and his role in the film “Gone with the Wind,” what a lot of people don’t know is that he was a genuine American hero.  At the height of his popularity he enlisted in the military to serve his country during World War II.  As an observer-gunner on a bomber, he participated in 5 combat missions and was almost killed when flak and enemy interceptors nearly took down his B-17.  He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism.  He was eventually promoted to the rank of major.  While his valor and physical courage were probably uncommon, the values that he represented were not.  

We could pull example after example from Hollywood’s golden age of celebrities who represented values that were more in line with main stream America then they are today, but let’s fast forward about sixty years and see what passes for Hollywood values today.  (more…)

Like many Americans, I tuned into “Glee” this Monday to give the show a second go. In the spirit of objectivity, I must admit that the cast is talented, the characters well-developed, and there’s some strong writing to tie it all together. I felt that it deserved another shot. Only eight minutes into the episode however, much like Ralphie with his Little Orphan Annie decoder pen, I’d been skunked again. Is anybody else turning the dial off of “Glee” for good?

If you frequent the BigHollywood often, you’ve no doubt read about Glee’s recent jabs aimed toward Conservatives (more specifically, last week with Sarah Palin). Despite Sarah Palin having a legion of supporters (many of whom watch “Glee”), the people at Fox thought that it was a safe bet. After all, none of their Hollywood buddies would criticize them for it. That would require, shall we say… testicles? No, when it comes to speaking up against the popular opinion among their elitist peers, Tinseltown decided to lie themselves on the neutering bench a long time ago. It’s because of this that they travel in packs, making drive-bys and are more akin to acting like Cobra-Kais’ cronies than fighting the establishment a la Daniel Larusso. When “Glee” took a swipe at Ann Coulter this week, one could faintly hear the cries of their Hollywood lackeys screeching “Get’him a bodybag!” in the studio back lots and writers’ boardrooms. (more…)

The recent fracas at the American Music Awards is yet another reason why I am glad I don’t go in for the mutual admiration society gatherings known as awards shows.

American Idol runner up Adam Lambert, one of the performers during the live East Coast broadcast, shocked viewers with his “pelvic-thrust[ing] … four-minute, S&M-themed routine, taking time out from singing to grope a female dancer, kiss a male musician and, most shockingly, shove a male dancer’s face into his crotch, in an act that simulated fellatio.”

Nothing like watching a little simulated fellatio to round out an evening with the family. Pass the popcorn!

Sources from the AMA claimed that those dance moves had not been part of the rehearsal, and the West Coast version of the show was edited to delete the scene. Now there’s the real scandal: trying to protect children who might be watching. If it’s good enough for the likes of the celebs in the AMA audience, it should be good enough for your 10 year old. (more…)

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In this episode, “NewsBusted” covers: China, Venezuela, The Fairness Doctrine, General Motors, President Obama, Minnesota Voters, Climate Change, Al Gore, Bob Woodward, the NBA, and Britney Spears.

YouTube no link

Apparently, reality TV couple Spencer and Heidi Pratt – who got their start on MTV’s The Hills and are now a part of this summer’s I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here – have run afoul of one of NBC’s reality programming head honchos with their latest attention-getting antics.

“They are everything that’s wrong with America,” executive vice president of alternative programming for NBC and Universal Media Studios, Paul Telegdy, said in a statement to Access Hollywood. “They are insincere, lazy, entitled and they claim the devil has possessed them.”

Apparently the couple not only demanded the royal treatment, but threatened to quit more than once and basically acted like a couple of spoiled brats.

I’d like to ask Mr. Telegdy: what did he expect? Reality shows take everyday people and turn them into minor celebrities overnight. It’s not like they had to work for years honing their craft while they waited tables and went on endless auditions, hoping and praying for their big break. (Of course, if one or both of your parents is Hollywood royalty, you skip that part and move right on to the big time.) The only “work” involved in reality stardom is standing in line to audition, hoping to get picked; although sometimes people with unusual life circumstances are approached by producers who hope to exploit their lives for ratings that translate into dollar signs (think Nadya Suleman, lovingly referred to by society as the “Octomom”). (more…)

In this episode, “NewsBusted” covers: President Obama, Jimmy Carter, Leno, Letterman, Nancy Grace, Cuba, JFK, telePrompters, Senator Harry Reid, Congress, I Love You Man, Britney Spears, “Fight Club,” and VH1’s “Rock of Love.”

The disconnect between beauty and popularity in music has never been greater.  Where once America sang the Beatles or Motown (“The Sound of Young America”), today the music industry is severely fragmented.  Gangsta rap.  Speed metal.  Trip-hop.  The major recording companies whine about declining profits even as they pay Mariah Carey $18 million not to record.

Unanimity of public opinion over popular song has passed.  Music, which used to unite, now divides.  Eminem and Ludacris would have been unthinkable thirty years ago.  We live in an antinomian age where it’s hip to defy conventional wisdom long after every vestige of conventional wisdom lies in tatters.  Where Keats’ Grecian Urn once proclaimed, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” today’s antinomian consumer proclaims, “Whatever,” in a voice oozing ennui. (more…)