Before we give Damon all the credit in the world for the (admittedly great) name Blur, let's remember that it actually came from a record exec, and they were originally named Seymour, which is...maybe not quite so clever.
How about they name the band: Los Angelan, Nigerian, and Essex Dogs? The Charmless Men? Dan Abnormal and the Slap Happy Afrobeats?
Gwyneth Paltrow is going to sing an auto-tuned, censored version of a song that is only a few months old anyway, on Glee? I don't think they could possibly do anything more to prove Damon Albarn is exactly right about that show.
I try hard (I really do) to see both sides to any issue, but in this case all I can see is wretched vanity on the part of George W. Bush. Even after time for reflection, years even, what he's been stewing on the most is what he perceives to be a personal insult? As the low point? Shouldn't time soften that wound, just a little bit? Especially with all the other things that you could have been pondering while "writing" your memoirs?
But kudos to Kanye for not being regretful about saying it.
You must nurture your inner 13 year old self, blueman. Take some time out of your day to listen to Brokencyde, eat a hot pocket, and irrationally hate one or both of your parents.
Well if Peter Buck is Down By The Water with the Decemberists, I guess he finally Found The River? Ahhhhhahahahahahaa, hahah, hah, ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Ohh, maybe he's there to do a little Nightswimming, yes?
But it does sound a lot like 1992 R.E.M., although, as with all The Decemberists songs, I can't actually get past Colin Meloy's voice. I'm not sure why, it's not an extreme voice in any direction, it just hits my ears all wrong and I can't listen to it.
Thanksgiving with the Kinks! First, Ray prepares the bird alone, and what a bird it is, so uniquely English that instead of stuffing he packs it full of Bangers and Mash! Then he lets Dave be the lead carver of the turkey, but makes fun of him the whole time and eventually unplugs his electric carving knife.
Then Damon Albarn shows up late to dinner, with his own turkey that looks a lot like Ray's, but has some of the trendiest modern herbs and spices thrown on top, but what the hell, it still tastes so good that no one really cares.
Well! Let it be known that Hammer comes through on his promises.
I think I need to sit down with a Hammer scholar from the local University, though, and have them explain to me the significance/reason-for-existing of the opening bit with CEO Hammer and the board members (?) of Hammer Inc. Is it to show that Hammer knows how to run a business meeting, which is to run it in 3-D with 3-D glasses required for all participants?
Stories like this are so discouraging. Touring is stressful and difficult, duh, but I wonder if there is a disconnect between the new way of making a music career happen via internet and blogs and small record labels, and who handles the financial and emotional strains of touring. Thanks to the internet, more people have been able to hear of this band than they would have before, without the assistance of major label distribution channels, which is great. But on the flip side, they also don't have the larger record label touring support, so when things get sour, more of the burden is on the band.
Or maybe this is all stupid and theoretical, and really the appropriate thing to say is that I hope the individual parts don't give up on music altogether, whatever happens with the band as a whole.
Did Bing come up with all the wrestling women videos from the "brawl" in the post title? Or, has internet culture finally reached the nadir in which the most common videos featuring women involve either wrestling or bikinis or both? And if so, 2012 isn't for another two years, internet!
I'm in your boat too, Mans. I am an avid reader of the comics, but have no TV service and so can't watch this. However, I heard through the grapevine that the show is going to develop its own story lines and not necessarily adhere to what the comics have already done? And skimming Gabe's recap above, it seems like they are already straying pretty far from how the comics started (I'm trying not to spoil anything so I don't read too much about it). Maybe your dreams will come true!
I just wonder if they are really going to make a TV series as bleak as the comics are. Those can seriously get Jimmy Corrigan levels of depressing.
I thought The Zombies got a lifetime pass to be on any Halloween playlist? Wasn't it part of the deal to get them to actually name themselves The Zombies?
You don't like Carrie, Mans? I saw it again recently, and the religiosity of Carrie's Mom is terrifying. When she drags Carrie, kicking and screaming, into the tiny closet to pray for hours in the dark, that's some frightening stuff right there, for reals.
Off Topic Time: Is it a generational thing to be so entranced by "classic era" pictures? I look above and all I can think is "oh hell hes, peak-era Nirvana, so cool...so damn cool." Is it just because when these pictures were coming out in real time I was thinking the same thing, about how cool they were? Or, from a purely objective standpoint, does a picture like this fill the viewer with a sense of youth-long-fled and hipness-long-gone that while staring back 18 years into the eyes of rock heroes frozen in time a small fraction of that excitement is captured once again, just because it's a good photo?
Only +6 upvotes?!?! In a perfect world, where we all ride CGI motorcycles and there is always Daft Punk music in the air (and the birds sing a pretty song), this comment would win the Monster's Ball.
I might be forever in the minority with this opinion, but I love the ego in this man right here. I love every pompous, self-important declaration he makes. I feel like it's sort of essential, and I don't want him to be humbled in really any way. I want him to keep thinking that the world wants to see 35 minute music videos starring himself, because then we'll get stuff like this! And honestly, it's great, it's an utterly strange and original thing. After suffering through the indulgence of Puffy in the late 90s, it seems like there is finally someone with a big enough ego AND the strange sensibilities to make something wild and original like this. It is like Purple Rain and The Wall, in that there's another artist with enough of an ego to try something big.
This might sound like a diss on Kanye, but I promise it isn't. I love it, I really do.
Does it sound like there is the world's slowest phaser on this song to anyone else? It's like the whole thing is slowly swaying back and forth, like an old hippie dancer in slow motion.
And Bing seriously needs to chill with that pervy stuff.
Well, anyone who has ever seen the original Muppet Family Christmas TV special, and NOT the edited version that was released on VHS/DVD, will remember the Sesame Street gang putting on a performance of Twas The Night Before Christmas, with Bert and Ernie playing Ma and Pa, respectively. I'm not saying it means anything, just saying...it happened. And Ernie got a kick out of Bert playing his wife.
Here's a pro-tip for all you Encyclopedia Brown amateur sleuthers out there: if anyone is ever reluctant to tell you their age, just ask them when they think SNL started to go downhill!
Mid 2000s: So young! The world is still bright and wonderful to these people, envy them!
Late 90s Will Ferrell/Cheri Oteri Reign of Terror: Probably mid to late 20s, will have many fond memories of cheerleaders and surprisingly operatic voices.
Early to Mid 90s Meyers/Carvey/Farley/Rock/Wow So Many Stars: Early 30s, fiercely defensive of early Adam Sandler movies.
Mid 80s Young Hollywood Cast: Mid-30s, but people who think this was a funny time have a strange sense of humor.
Early 80s Eddie Murphy Show: Mid to late 30s, very susceptible to re-enacting the "you dropped your ice cream" bit (good party trick!).
Late 70s to Early 80s Disaster Show: This person does not exist, they are lying to you.
Mid 70s Original Cast: So old, don't even talk to them! Or they really like to stream Netflix Watch Instantly. In either case, don't still don't talk.
(no offense meant "areyoucereal", I think you're a funny commentator, but this just popped into my head and it's Monday so I figured I'd share)
Well, actually, Will Oldham did criticize that in an interview with the AV Club a few years ago:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/will-oldham,26498/
But I remember when Rushmore came out, the soundtrack was a Big Deal. There was even an interview I read at the time with the Musical Director of the film, saying basically "holy shit you put Here Comes My Baby in the movie!!!" So whatever it has become, when it first came out it was a novel and interesting idea.
Paul! Such language! Bitches in the living room! Pocket full of rubbers!? What would Edie Brickell think!
But I like that Paul Simon has been game for a lot of funny stuff in his career. There was an old old old SNL skit where he played one-on-one against some NBA star that was very funny, and he said his strategy would be sticking to his strengths: singing and songwriting. And then little rhymin' Simon got hilariously schooled on the court.
I hope the corporations don't get their rename-happy hands on it. "Oh I remember you well, in the AOL Time-Warner Conglomerate presents The Chelsea Hotel..." Just doesn't have the same ring to it.
18,000 Dollars?!!?!?! Hachi Machi. Did they fail to mention that the record was also dipped in gold, and slathered in 4,000 year old honey from ancient Egyptian tombs, and served with a century egg cracked over a Honus Wagner baseball card on top?
But I do hope that Jack and Meg got a cut of that, and that it wasn't some Sotheby's style auction. If so, Jack needs to give Damien Hirst a call so that he can learn to get in on the ground floor of that bizness.
I feel like what the DJ is saying, rather than Damon, is more geared towards the American Idol thing, you know? I don't know how you can argue that being on Glee can lead to more success in the music industry. I mean, when he says that it's a way for bands to have their music out there, does Glee ever use music from obscure or up and coming bands? I don't know, I'm honestly asking because I've only seen one episode, but they were singing Doors songs on the one I saw. And then didn't they do an entire Madonna episode? It doesn't seem like it's a springboard to success to me.
I think that the point about Wes Anderson is a good one, except for Needle In The Hay from Tennenbaums. Pretty haunting, that scene, music especially.
You know what I think is cool, related to Danzig? High school bands that cover Hybrid Moments. I don't see how a list of cool things can be cool without this.
Reminiscent of his Music for Airports stuff. I would keep this going if the plane went down, that's for sure.
And I'm really getting more excited about this album. I hope they're all as short as the three so far, I sure like a long album filled with short songs.
I think that is certainly true in the realm of The Archies (still underrated) or Gem and the Holograms, but with Gorillaz and how much thought and care goes into both the visuals and the music, I think you do need to take into account the intent of the creator(s). When I listen to Gorillaz, I hear a group of people trying to create a new music for a new century, but I don't think anyone will argue the same about Glee. Or maybe they will? Prove me wrong, kids, prove me wrong.
When I was in college, I worked my way through school in the ad department of the school newspaper. At one point, a local sandwich shop wanted some ads that were edgy and "sexy," kind of like what the above is going for (though this was long before that ad was even a twinkle in the half-lidded beady eye of a permanently hungover mad man). I was tasked with this, and I created a number of completely vile and horrific ads that shocked me to my core, so much that every night I went home and sat in my dingy little off-campus apartment in the dark and trembled at whatever un-checked hyper-misogynist ego this assignment was unleashing, and how if I didn't stop soon I would not escape with my soul intact. Luckily, I suppose, the sub shop thought my ideas were too tame. I can't remember exactly what they went with, but I'm pretty sure it involved a close up of a woman's open mouth.
So a poor performance evaluation, but my soul remained un-crushed, for a few more years at least.
I think it's wonderful to see humans and robots working together in peace and harmony. See robots, instead of rising up and attacking your human creators, forcing us all to live underground and fight for our very existence, we can instead join together and make beautiful music.
He says "thank you" in between the songs. I'm so glad I watched it to that point, it really made me smile. And possibly as a result of my unexpectedly warm heart, I really liked Do Something.
Should we add it to the ever growing list of over-used indie-rock band naming conventions?
As in: Black Crystal LAKE Wolf Bear Body Parts?
Which reminds me, way back in the day there was a Beavis and Butthead book (a viable work of literature and most definitely NOT a cheap quick-cash gimmick) that had a page where you could name your own grunge band by selecting different nouns and adjectives from three different columns. Sure it was funny and relevant at the time, but seeing the trends in band names these days, I can't help but think: this has all happened before...
Oh la la! What a moody groovy piece of work this is, and what a balance it strikes between a sulking sort of reproachful tone and the peppy beat underneath it all. Like if you were passive-aggressively reprimanding a lover while trying to dance the Elastic Hip-Stomp with them. Great!
And the song that fades in at the end, is that a sample of some old pop gem?
Yup, I'm with you on the awfulness. Although thanks to the terrible hangover I had the next day, I now have a new favorite name for hangovers: The Curse of the Crystal Skull.
ex:
Offissa Pupp: You mouse, what's wrong? Krazy comes by tempting sin, and you sit on a brick not tossing one bit!
Ignatz: Curse of the Crystal Skull, Kop.
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