I realize not a lot of time has passed to put The Next Day in perspective. But it's GOTTA be better than Let's Dance! right? Plus, I could go on at length about how Diamond Dogs is better than Young Americans.
other than that bitchy-ness, great, well-written piece! (oh, and Ziggy isn't no. 1; no way, no how)
The good:
As with Angles, loved half of it, disregarded the rest. I look at it this way, at least I got 6-7 good new Strokes songs! 50/50, Welcome to Japan, 80's Comedown Machine, Partners in Crime were great (btw, loved that last track, kinda reminded me of some of the noodling on Blur's 13)
The bad:
1. Why do the Strokes seem so intent on making video game music?
2. Why can't they do a decent guitar solo anymore?
by the way, i googled Ben Gibbard 2013 and he appears to look just about the same today hair-wise as he did back then. Sure he's gone through different length phases and glasses on/off phases, but i was unsure why a wig was even necessary. I thought the sketch was hilarious, but it didn't add to the accuracy or humor for me. It just caused a distraction and took me out of the moment for a sec. Just like the weird prosthetic Joseph Gordon-Levitt wore in Looper (great movie, btw). I see what they were trying to do, but I felt it was unnecessary and distracting. Ben Gibbard didn't do any Bowie-esque transformations in the last 10 years as far as I'm concerned.
Michael Hanna,
Concerning my original comment, yeah i was kinda goofin around cuz the fact that he was wearing a wig was so distracting in the video.
Concerning all comments made in reply to my original comment AND the comment above:
There was this show a few years back called "Arrested Development". I really, really suggest you watch it.
awww editors choice! I feel so proud, it put a smile on my face.......but getting back to it, I wish good luck to Ben Gibbard and his Alopecia (and I'd appreciate it if we could all be sensitive to it)
wow, a new album from David Bowie AND Iggy and the Stooges..what is it? 1973? it's gonna be a great year! That has nothing to do with this weeks comments but i was so excited I had to say it somewhere.
I am a huge Beatles fan and a minor scholar in Beatles-stuff. But I also realize how much of a dick Lennon was, and how Harrison cheated on his first wife like a bastard. Hero worship is a tough disease that ends badly most of the time. Why do our brains expect great artists to be great people? A lot of great historical figures do terrible things contrary to the great things they're commended for.
I think her performance only looks great in comparison to the last two halftime shows (geezer-dance Madonna, and atrocious Black Eyed Peas). She danced/whipped her hair more than she sang. She kept asking the crowd "how y'all feelin?" and other such applause-baiting nonsense as if to say "see! i'm not lip-synching!". I'm not saying it was a bad show, it was pretty cool looking. I just got kind of upset when The Who got badly panned a while back for singing a bit off-key. They played like The Who, what more do you want? It goes to show that if there's choreographed dancing and flashing lights, America approves.
you summed up festivals pretty well; quantity vs. quality. Also, something thats always bothered me about festivals besides the obvious is the live sound. Outdoor festival sound systems make bands sound terrible unless your lucky enough to be right in front. Seeing Grizzly Bear at Lollapalooza 2010 was kind of a drag, not because they played poorly but because it sounded bad 30 rows back. Their sound needs to be able to reverberate naturally in a room. I saw this past year in a small-ish room and it blew my mind. In fact, out of the best shows i've seen in my life, none of them were at an outdoor festival.
most annoying thing ever = people pretending not to care when they OBVIOUSLY do
Sorry Michael Hanna, I love your posts and everything but you can't write Magna Carta-sized comments and say you don't care or are "having some laughs". No one laughed at the Magna Carta...i think? They said TL; DR, or whatever that would be in Latin.
anyone have any thoughts on roger waters looking an absolute idiot? That performance was embarrassing. All the douche-y rock and roll posturing in the world can't make up for something THAT atrocious. He can barely sing anymore and even his bass playing was pretty shoddy, nowhere near the "pocket". He was busy being in love with himself.
"For instance, in pressuring the government to make sure US payment processors and advertising networks aren’t doing business with overseas torrent trackers, cyberlockers, and websites everyone knows exist only to deny musicians their common rights."
good luck in convincing any Republicans to support that kind of legislation. It's ironic how they would defend "free-enterprise" and simultaneously screw over American companies AKA artists/labels etc. I suppose most artists wouldn't be the type to vote for them...
I'm really afraid that the jesus camp gif will somehow morph into a nightmare tonight. I'm really afraid to go to bed like in that Simpsons Treehouse of Horror where Groundskeeper Willy stalks Bart and Lisa in their dreams.
Lousy Smarch weather.
Working at Target, many times around the electronics section, I hear every chorus of every Taylor Swift single (she has a special partnership with Target). It's no wonder why she sells so much.
- she gets her own custom made display.
- regular play on both the in-store music players and on the TV's on the back wall.
- she's super cute.
- constantly in the tabloids
- very salable to young girls (which is always a must in raking in sales)
- plays (or use to play) country-ish music which is a huge cash cow
....so what? Many people do this, and have done it for years. I just don't understand what the big deal is and why this article needed to be written.
The section the made the 2004 version so great was the 2nd movement. Wonderful/Song For the Children/Child Is Father of the Man/Surf's Up. Goddammit. Hearing it all together almost makes me weep with joy. Everything else is spotty for sure (with glimmers of good and bad). But hearing the original SMILE with the original session players (especially Carol Kaye!) and original BB voices is what gives the newer (well,older really) version an edge. The Beach Boys still have the best vocal blend in the history of recorded music as far as I'm concerned.
I think they're tied. It's the best judgement I can muster.
This top 10 is kinda underwhelming. With the exception of numbers 10, 8 and 5, the rest are boring. Some of them got huge upvotes for just being among the first to comment and for stating the obvious. I'm no poet laureate of the comment section, but Dr. Feelgood's bean chart was #1 for me. and chumbawamba a close 2nd.
What do ya think, sirs?
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