Aerosmith's performance during the Flaming Moe episode (and Mrs. Krabappel trying to bed drummer Joey Kramer) was worth a mention.
I guess in 500 extremely-popular episodes, you get a ton of rock cameos, and it's tough to narrow down a list. Or as I believe they say on the internet, "U Suk ballzz, list FAIL!!1!1eleven!"
MJ really should've been high on this list. That episode was fantastic, even though, IIRC, he didn't actually do the singing bits. He had his own sound-alike do it, because the show couldn't pay his going rate to sing.
Every second of that episode is a classic...right up until the point they bring on the McCartneys. Then, it's a mediocre, slightly-preachy meh.
The first 10 minutes of that one were epic, as I recall. The trip to the petting zoo ("Out of the way, you!"), the "BBBQ" invitation, the Beef Council video (RIP, Phil Hartman), a classic Ralph ("Sleep! That's where I'm a viking!")...
Between the recent Courtney Love/ Frances Bean thread and Whitney Houston dying, I can see that some people are working overtime to give Taking Loads And Loads Of Drugs a bad name.
"Confusion in my soul?" Soooooo, when Chan booked the show, she just kinda assumed that Israel and Palestine would be living in peace by now? OK, so either she's drastically under-informed about the world, or she's anti-Israel, or she only booked this show in order to cancel it and get free publicity. Which would not hurt her these days, if you know what I'm saying.
She's not accomplishing anything by cancelling. She should do the show (spreading some tix around to the various factions) and take some time to learn about the complicated ISR-PAL situation before saying "screw you " to her fans. That might cure the "sickness of her spirit."
Well, who am I to quibble with Brian Williams' taste in music? He wrote Pet Sounds and SMiLE and I'm just a ... huh...what now? He didn't? Then who... a news guy? Really. Hmmm.
Wonder what Ted Koppel thinks of her.
Oberhofer seems destined to appear on every soundtrack of every movie starring either Ellen Page or Jesse Eisenberg/Michael Cera for the next three years.
Their songs will be better than the films.
I thought it was great -- kind of a alternative-rock in-joke. If someone didn't get it, I hope they Googled it to find the original Costello "Radio Radio" clip. I was hoping St. V might complete the reverse-homage by going into Watching The Detectives (the song EC actually halted and switched with Radio Radio), but no such luck.
But you forget, a 16-yr-old Prince R. Nelson put out a naively funk-ish EP in 1974 called "Never Gonna Change My Name (To a Symbol)". Besides title song, it included singles "Can't Wait Til I Can Dunk" and "Assless Pants". P4K gave it a 91.
So Purple Rain qualifies, is what I'm getting at.
Thought for sure I had a few, but Elvis Costello's "King of America", Ministry's "Psalm 69", and Depeche Mode "Violator" are both 9th-year records.
"Frank Black and the Catholics" was 10 years after "Surfer Rosa," for what it's worth.
See, there's an art to being an Indie-Blog List Author. You have to be "inclusive" enough to rate catchy pop songs that were popular during the year, UNLESS those songs were by indie-ish bands. Because then, they were uncool "sell-out" songs, see?
So, some of the most popular songs of this year (Pumped Up Kicks, Lost In My Mind) are ignored and mediocre RnB and very bad hip-hop songs take their place.
Similarly, here are some relatively popular "indie" songs (XM-rotation kind of stuff) that were certainly better than Beyonce, Kreayshawn, and Kelly Rowland:
Strokes "Under Cover"
Vaccines "If You Wanna"
Lykke Li "Get Some"
Generationals "Greenleaf"
Tapes n Tapes "Badaboom"
Smith Westerns "Weekend"
Decemberists "Down By The Water"
Elbow "Open Arms"
And what? No Beyonce?
Their reviewers don't feel the need to appear inclusive, I guess. Though we did just get in the obligatory "Kanye" in the last slot. It's like clockwork, that one.
Time to roll out my General Theory of "Top Album" Lists. Written in 2007, I'm always amazed at how prescient it is.
#1 Shocking selection of an unexpected record that will get people to comment on my site
#2 More mainstream indie record that was a bit better than #1 if I’m honest
#3 Big-name Indie veterans who released their best record three years ago
#4 New band that was hyped during the spring/summer
#5 Top-selling Hip-hop record to show my inclusiveness
#6 Record from a girl singer to show my inclusiveness
#7 Best record of the year, but it came out in April, so it’s not hot anymore
#8 Second-best record of the year, but it came out in January and leaked in November of last year
#9 Comeback album from a band you thought broke up six years ago
#10 Kanye West
It's a nice list. Everyone will have something to like (Austra, Yuck, and M83 back-to-back-to-back) and not like (Beyonce?). For me, the Vaccines would richly deserve to be on any top 50, as would Generationals, Anna Calvi, Cults, Lykki Li, Battles, Joy Formidable, the Wombats, Civil Wars, and Wye Oak.
If RS wasn't run by white male ex-hippies who think time stopped in 1983, this list would contain Rodrigo. Or Gabriela. Take your pick. No, seriously, Rodrigo is much better.
Of course, the one classic song that's conspicuous by its absence is "Mervyn & Isaac Find A CD" by Ace Bushy Striptease. Cmon 'Gum. I expect you not to miss the obvious.
Also "Song Two" is really 1:59. So that counts. Also "Wreckin' Bar" -- Vaccines. And about 10 great songs by Los Campesinos! And "Fuuuuuun" by Be Your Own Pet.
"I spent days trolling around Williamsburg, looking at shitty apartments with cockroaches...fighting neighbors...rats...bedbugs...cat-pee-soaked carpets...What was the reason they turned me down? Because it was easier to rent to a rich, trust-fund, straight-guy banker ...?"
You know the type: rich, trust-fund straight bankers who love cat pee and shitty apartments. I HATE THEM SO MUCH!
Really, only two from Reckoning? From the early LPs, they left off:
Wolves, Lower
9-9
Harborcoat
Can't Get There
Green Grow The Rushes
These Days
Swan Swan H
Hell, you could make a "Best Of..." out of what was LEFT OFF of the first 7 records and it would totally kick ass. Early REM was brilliant
"I’m one of those weirdos who really enjoyed lots of their last decade, for all its ups and downs."
And I'm the opposite. I camped out for Document and Pageant record releases in high school, but I've had little interest in their releases since Automatic. Still, people shouldn't forget how, when the first EP and Murmur came out, they sounded totally different to everything else. They were from a different planet, musically, and I can make the argument that they were the best band in the world for a few years.
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