Don't label Martin Gore

The Vanity Fair website includes a brief interview with Martin Gore that discusses remixes and other topics. Toward the end of the interview, Gore made this statement:

It’s the end of our EMI period. With Sounds of the Universe we only signed for one album and a remix collection. After this we don’t have a label.

The remix collection is out now, longtime English Depeche Mode label Mute has again become independent of EMI itself, and things are sounding interesting.

Which led to Vanity Fair's next question:

Would you release music independently?

Gore was non-committal, but it's a fascinating question because of statements made by former bandmate Alan Wilder a few years ago. As I previously noted, Wilder was disheartened with what happened to Mute during the EMI years. In an essay for Side-Line, Wilder spoke of going label-less:

So why bother with a record deal at all? And that is what many artists are now asking themselves. Why wouldn't they when they are being told that their company just can't afford to spend any money? Or that the company wants a cut of the artist's live income to pay for marketing. This is why we see the mass exodus taking place, squeezing the already crippled record industry. The artists that find it easiest to walk away are those that are already highly successful, compounding the problem still further. Why? Because the likes of Radiohead and Prince can afford to give their music away as a cheap promotional gimmick in order to create publicity for their respective machines. They get noticed for doing so and benefit in other areas. So with everyone now expecting free music, all the other artists lose what little income they could expect from record sales, maybe leading to a low credit score, even though the love and money spent producing their product hasn't changed.

Wilder of course realizes that Recoil's music benefits to an extent from Wilder's previous success as a member of the Hitmen. Or whatever the name of that really famous band was.

Now that band's ability to remain with Mute may be questionable. Incidentally, I didn't mention Mute's re-independence when it happened, mainly because in my non-trendy way I didn't even know about it until recently. But here's what EMI said:

LONDON, 22 September 2010 — EMI Music and Mute founder Daniel Miller have reached a preliminary agreement that will see EMI support Miller in the establishment of his second record label, and the continuation of the Mute brand as an independent recorded music business.

Since he founded Mute in 1978, Miller has signed and developed some of the world’s most innovative and influential recording artists including Depeche Mode, Moby, Goldfrapp, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Erasure and Richard Hawley. He sold Mute to EMI in 2002 and has continued to lead the label since then.

Miller’s new label will operate under the trademark Mute which it is licensing from EMI. It will tap into EMI’s Label Services unit for sales, distribution, synch & licensing and merchandising in the US, UK, Canada and Ireland, and a network of independent record distributors elsewhere. The label will be controlled by Miller, with EMI taking a minority equity interest in the company. Miller will also take a consultancy role with EMI Music as part of the new agreement.

To help fund the label, EMI is licensing to Miller part of the Mute back catalogue. It is also providing Miller with operational support in areas such as royalty administration and business affairs.

Mute artists Depeche Mode, Goldfrapp, Richard Hawley, Kraftwerk and White Rabbits remain signed to and marketed worldwide by EMI Music, with Miller continuing to work with them in his A&R consultancy role with EMI. The remainder of the Mute roster will move over to Miller’s new independent label including Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Grinderman, Yeasayer, Erasure, Andy Bell, Liars, Polly Scattergood and A Place To Bury Strangers.

So if you combine EMI's statement from last year from Gore's statement in Vanity Fair, Mute didn't get Depeche Mode, and EMI doesn't necessarily have them either.

Now for people on my side of the pond this is all an academic discussion, because United States Depeche Mode releases have been issued by the Warner Music Group for decades. However, Warner didn't really shape the way that the music was actually produced - and even in more recent years, in which Depeche Mode has used producers other than Miller, he's always been a presence around the band.

Can you imagine Depeche Mode leaving the cocoon and being thrown into a more typical A&R process, in which a 25 year old guy is trying to convince Dave Gahan that auto-tune might be a good idea?

At least I'm consistent in my likes (revisiting Alan Wilder, the metaphorical drummer)

I was surfing around, reading about Moby, which led me to reading about Mute Records (I didn't realize that it was independent again, kinda sorta), which led me to thinking about Alan Wilder, which led me to this 2009 post by Aircrash which quoted from another source. The other source had written about Alan Wilder, drummer for Depeche Mode. Here's part of what the other source said, as quoted by Aircrash:

...some of the groups which were even more heavily in thrall to the space-age world of the electronic keyboard - particularly New Order and Depeche Mode - either retained their drummers or, in the latter case, made Alan Wilder play the drums because the rest of the band didn't like Alan Wilder very much, they were jealous of him, standing there behind the keyboard, like Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys, but with leather trousers. Many groups have metaphorically made Alan Wilder play the metaphorical drums, although only one group has literally made Alan Wilder play the drums, that group being Depeche Mode, in which group Alan Wilder was in.

After that the piece got really weird.

The whole thing made me curious - what was the original source of the material quoted by Aircrash? All that Aircrash said was that the Wilder stuff was buried in a post about A Flock of Seagulls.

So I began searching for information on metaphorical drummers, and I was led to a post by a a little blog called the Ontario Empoblog, written in 2005. Perhaps you've heard of it. I know I have.

The post, which also mentions then-love of my life Helen Marine and the four times that individual Beatles quit the Beatles, includes a lengthy quote from the original post about Alan Wilder the metaphorical drummer. It also includes a link to the original post at http://www.ashleypomeroy.com/seagulls.html. Sadly, while there is still a website at ashleypomeroy.com, there is no seagulls.html post any more, so Aircrash and I are the only people who have preserved any portion of the original post.

Or perhaps not. After some searching, I found another copy of Ashley Pomeroy's original essay on A Flock of Seagulls. I'm going to skip over the parts about Rudolf Hess (yes, Pomeroy discusses several British bands) and put Ashley's statements about Wilder in context.

Four people manned the tank that was A Flock of Seagulls. Mike Seagull sang, and played the electronic synthesiser keyboard - and because this was the early 1980s, he almost certainly played a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 - whilst his brother Paul Seagull played the electric guitars, and ironically although Mike was a hairdresser, he was genetically predisposed to baldness, and indeed his brother Frank was losing his hair even at the height of the group's success, and both have lost their hair now. There were two other Seagulls, being Frank Seagull, who was also a hairdresser, and Ali Seagull, who respectively played the bass guitar and the drums and was the brother of Paul Seagull. A Flock of Seagulls did not pride themselves on their ownership and use of a drum machine. Frank is an uncommon name nowadays.

It is easy to forget, nowadays, that although so many bands of the early 1980s used synthesisers, the vast majority also used traditional electric instruments, and drums, which are not electric at all, although they are often amplified with electric currents and microphones and amplifiers and so forth. None of the aforementioned leading lights of the New Romantic movement entirely dispensed with their drummers, and indeed some of the groups which were even more heavily in thrall to the space-age world of the electronic keyboard - particularly New Order and Depeche Mode - either retained their drummers or, in the latter case, made Alan Wilder play the drums because the rest of the band didn't like Alan Wilder very much, they were jealous of him, standing there behind the keyboard, like Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys, but with leather trousers. Many groups have metaphorically made Alan Wilder play the metaphorical drums, although only one group has literally made Alan Wilder play the drums, that group being Depeche Mode, in which group Alan Wilder was in. He is like Jesus Christ; just as Depeche Mode in 1990 made Alan Wilder play the drums, so too did the society of wherever it was that Jesus Christ lived in BC 30 or whenever... that society made Jesus go from playing the keyboards to playing the drums, and then he left to do a solo project and was never heard of again. By the end of the 1980s the technology which powered the drum machine had advanced to such a state that it could also power musical synthesisers; the machines which had once held rhythm patterns could now hold melody as well, and poor Alan Wilder stroke Jesus Christ was left with nothing to do. But I digress.

After that the piece gets really weird.

P.S. Whenever I see a mention of Visage the band, I think of Kelly Osbourne.

Community, cancer, and a very long tongue

In my mrontemp blog, I shared a couple of posts that mentioned Parrot Heads of the Triad, and the charity work that is performed by this organization of Jimmy Buffett fans.

One of the groups supported by Parrot Heads of the Triad is Relay for Life, a fundraising event for the American Cancer Society.

But it turns out that parrot heads aren't the only music fans who support this charity, as this article from the Dawson (Georgia) News & Advertiser indicates:

Tommie Smith, left, and Cole Pearson pose for a picture with Gene Simmons at Relay for Life. J. Pearson (Gene Simmons) dressed up as the rocker from KISS as part of his team's '70s theme. (Photo/A.J. Puckett)

To see Puckett's photo, click here. You can see J. Pearson in all his glory, including his tongue.

And other KISS-related groups have participated in similar fundraisers (here's an example). Their slogan? "KISS Cancer Goodbye."

And sometimes the fans provide musical entertainment.



OK, they mimed it, but "Paul" certainly gave his all toward the end of the performance.

Yes - a Mike Smrek music video!

On Wednesday, my Empoprise-BI business blog included a post about high school teacher and former basketball player Mike Smrek. It turns out that I'm not the only person who has written about Smrek. In addition to Steve Greenberg of Sporting News, Mr. Smrek has been covered by Peter Kim in The No-Look Pass.

(Coincidentally, on Thursday Dan Patrick stated on-air that he was the master of the "look pass." But I digress.)

Kim's piece goes into detail about Smrek's career, including a positive assessment of Smrek from Karl Malone. Kim also notes that Smrek was the first Canadian to earn an NBA championship ring.

And Kim also lauds Smrek's performance in a video. After the Super Bowl Shuffle (which I wrote about in 2009), it seems that every 1980s team had to put a video together. The Lakers chose to record a "just say no to drugs" message which not only included Smrek, but also some other people that you may have heard of, such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Byron Scott, Kurt Rambis, and Pat Riley.

The video is here.

(empo-tymshft) "Hocus Pocus" not by Focus

One of my favorite songs growing up was "Hocus Pocus" by Focus. It came out at roughly the same time as "Frankenstein," resulting in a double whammy of rock instrumental classics. I just checked to see if I had ever blogged about "Hocus Pocus" before, and it turns out that I did - way back in November 2003 when I first started the Ontario Empoblog.

There are several different edits of "Hocus Pocus," but all of them feature episodes of a guitar-driven chorus, alternating with excerpts of - well, whatever. Yodeling, scat singing, it's all there in its Nederlander glory.

Whenever you have a great song like this, the question always arises - is the song itself a good song, or is it only good because of the particular arrangement? Many songs work well no matter who sings them or how they are sung - "With a Little Help for My Friends" is a good example.

So what would happen if "Hocus Pocus" were arranged differently?

On Wednesday evening my niece was begging me to listen to the Cleverlys on YouTube, to hear their bluegrass take on Beyonce. (My niece, being unfamiliar with bluegrass, referred to the Cleverlys as a folk band.) But once I discovered that the Cleverlys had performed a bluegrass version of "Hocus Pocus," I had to hear that.



Well, yodeling certainly fits well with acoustic music - just ask Slim Whitman. And the scat singing works well in this arrangement also.

I wonder how many of the people listening to that Cleverlys performance were familiar with the original arrangement.

(empo-tymshft) (empo-utoobd) Peaches, Herb, Simon, Nick, the Taylors, and Justin?

I heard Duran Duran's songs when they first came out, but some people weren't around at the time. When THEPRANKCALLERS94 posted "Union of the Snake" to YouTube, commenter HazelEyedEpiphany offered the following observations:

omfg! i remembe the first time i heard this was on the radio a few years before all this justin bieber crap, and i never knew the name of the song! :( yesterday my friend was telling me about her mom's favorite band when she was a tween, i looked them up and...REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD!!!!

It should be noted that the final phrase is a quote from a 1970s song that predates Duran Duran, but has obviously entered our musical consciousness.

Speaking of Herb (real name Herb Feemster, stage name Herb Fame), he became a court security officer in 1986 and hasn't looked back. Well, not much.

"I come here to work," he says during an interview in an empty courtroom. "I really enjoy coming to the court every day. I enjoy the people here; I smile and laugh with them every day. And I enjoy standing in the court and listening to these trials."

Or:

Some entertainers hire bodyguards; Feemster is more or less working as one, as his duties include judicial personnel protection. He carries a Glock and two extra magazines on his belt, and if you want to make a No. 1-with-a-bullet joke, well, by all means.

I think I'll pass on making that joke. And I won't make that joke with Peaches, either - Francine Barker passed away in 2005.

Common names

For the record, David Mason, the trumpet soloist who appeared on "Penny Lane" - and who recently died - is NOT the same person as Dave Mason, former member of Traffic and solo artist who also performed with some ex-Beatles.

Oh, and if you want to refer to Mick Jones the English guitarist, you need to specify whether you're talking about the one from the Clash, or the one from Foreigner.

Presumably you can buy nine inch nails at the Home Depot

On Saturday I was at the Home Depot in north Fontana, California, and I happened to look up at the ceiling. There, in big letters, was the word "REZNOR."

Specifically, I was presumably looking at the Reznor Unit Heater:

Suspended from the ceiling of a Factory, Box Store or Warehouse, unit heaters provide an excellent solution for Doorway Heating, Freeze Protection, Space Heating, and summer time air circulation.

Low First Cost
Easy to Install & Maintain
Excellent Redundancy

Let's go back to the nineteenth century, when a man named George Reznor was being awfully inventive.

George Reznor, manufacturer, inventor & Civil War veteran of Mercer [Pennsylvania] ... was born November 9, 1835 in Lancaster County. His parents, John and Mary Reznor in 1842 settled on a farm at Leech's Corners, this county.

After attending the county school of his neighborhood, Mr. Reznor took service with the Cleveland Engineering Co....

Mr. Reznor later ... entered the drug firm of Reznor and Williams and later that of Reznor and Garber. Mr. Reznor perfected a machine for the manufacturing of illuminating and fuel gas from gasoline and later a gas stove. For the making of the later device, the Reznor Manufacturing Company was organized. Its plant is said to be one of the largest of its kind in the world.

Or at least it was in 1915, when George Reznor died. The company was subsequently managed by his descendants - George Foster Reznor, George Watson Reznor, David Reznor Webster - before the family sold the business.

In November of 1961 Reznor Manufacturing Company became a subsidiary of Bell & Gossett Company of Morton Grove, Illinois. In 1962 it became a division of that company. In September of 1963, Bell & Gossett became a subsidiary of International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation. Today Reznor is owned by Thomas Betts, Incorporated.

Now you may have noticed that I posted this in my Empoprise-MU music blog, not my Empoprise-BI business blog. This raises the obvious question. And the answer is yes:

Is Trent Reznor, the lead singer for the band Nine Inch Nails, associated with Reznor HVAC Equipment?

Trent Reznor is a direct descendant of George Reznor, who founded the Reznor Company in 1888. The Reznor Family sold the business in the 1960's. Reznor heaters are still manufactured in Mercer, Pennsylvania - Trent's home town.

Now did the name of Trent's band possibly bubble up subliminally from the family's industrial background? I guess it's possible. Here's what Trent has said about the band name:

I don't know if you've ever tried to think of band names, but usually you think you have a great one and you look at it the next day and it's stupid. I had about 200 of those. Nine Inch Nails lasted the two week test, looked great in print, and could be abbreviated easily. It really doesn't have any literal meaning. It seemed kind of frightening. [In his best he-man voice] Tough and manly! It's a curse trying to come up with band names.

Of course, if you're familiar with the av1611.org website, you know that there are other accounts:

DC Talk's video "Jesus Freak" is one of the most popular Christian video's ever recorded.

But, how "Christian" is it?

"Jesus Freak" was directed by an Englishman named Simon Maxwell. And who is Simon Maxwell? Simon Maxwell is video director for the satanic and blasphemous Nine Inch Nails!

DC Talk openly admits to watching one of Nine Inch Nails videos, and liked Maxwell's style. "We had seen some of Simon's work with Nine Inch Nails", says DC Talk vocalist Toby McKeehan. "HIS STYLE APPEALED TO US." (Billboard, November 11, 1995)

Have you seen the "ultra-blasphemous" video "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails? It shows a monkey crucified on a cross!

And those who are familiar with contemporary Christian music can probably deduce that the av1611.org folks think that it's as bad as Nine Inch Nails and former Trent discovery Marilyn Manson. Read this for av1611.org's views on Michael W. Smith and Steve Taylor. (Here's one of my previous posts on Taylor, and here's another one.)

Now of course Trent Reznor isn't the only musician connected to the business world. Bette Nesmith Graham's son received an inheritance in 1980 that not only ensured that he could keep well-stocked with knit caps, but also that if the son ever made a mistake on a typewriter, he could afford to buy something to correct it. For example, perhaps the song might leave the G off of the word Cruising.

Not for the Bruins - I revisit O.P.M.

On Sunday night, Mike Nayyar shared the fact that he was listening to Elton John's "Levon." This reminded me of my previous comments in this blog about "Levon" and other early Elton John songs, and the influence of Paul Buckmaster. Now Buckmaster was not the only creator of O.P.M. - over-produced music. In the post, I made a passing reference to another tune.

Now "Tusk" was pretty much a one-off - there's no marching band on "Albatross"...

"Tusk," of course, is the title track from Fleetwood Mac's Tusk album. The title song famously featured the University of Southern California marching band, which was recorded in a nearly-empty Dodger Stadium, decades before Frank McCourt owned the place.

Now you can find several third-party sources that discuss how the song was conceived, and how the video was conceived, but I thought it best to go to the original source - the band's website. After all, the page promised to provide commentary on the songs. Unfortunately, the commentary on "Tusk" was written by third parties. Here's a sample:

ugg boots on sale
Submitted by shely on Thu, 06/17/2010 - 20:08.

ugg UK|uggs on sale|cheap ugg boots|ugg classic boots|
ugg bailey button|ugg bailey button black|ugg bailey button chestnut|ugg bailey button chocolate|ugg bailey button yellow|ugg bailey button Golden|ugg argyle knit|ugg argyle knit black|ugg argyle knit charcoal|ugg argyle knit cream|ugg argyle knit fig|ugg argyle knit stout|ugg cardy|ugg cardy balck|ugg cardy blue|ugg cardy gray|ugg cardy purple|ugg cardy rose|ugg cardy white|ugg crochet|ugg crochet black|ugg crochet chocolate|ugg crochet cream|ugg crochet oatmeal|ugg flower|UGG Classic Tall Tomantic Flower|UGG Classic Tall Tomantic Flower|ugg leopard|UGG Classic Tall Leopard|ugg mini|ugg mini black|ugg mini chestnut|ugg mini chocolate|ugg mini sand|ugg paisley|UGG Classic Short Paisley|UGG Short Paisley|ugg short|ugg short chestnut|ugg short chocolate|ugg tall|ugg tall black|ugg tall chestnut|ugg tall chocolate|ugg tall mettlic gold|ugg tall mettic pewter|ugg elsey wedge|ugg elsey wedge black|ugg elsey wedge chestnut|ugg elsey wedge espresso|ugg infants erin|ugg infants erin chestnut|ugg infants erin sand|ugg langley|ugg langley black|ugg lo pro|ugg lo pro black|ugg lo pro blue|ugg lo pro cream|ugg lo pro button|ugg lo pro button black|ugg lo pro button blue|ugg lo pro button cream|ugg locarno|ugg locarno black|ugg mayfaire|ugg mayfaire black|ugg mayfaire chestnut|ugg mayfaire chocolate|ugg mayfaire sand|ugg nightfall|ugg nightfall black|ugg nightfall chestnut|ugg nightfall chocolate|ugg nightfall sand|ugg rainier eskimo|ugg rainier eskimo black|ugg rainier eskimo cream|UGG Sundance II|UGG Sundance II balck|UGG Sundance II chestnut|UGG Sundance II brown|UGG Sundance II sand|ugg ultimate bind|ugg ultimate bind black|ugg ultimate bind chestnut|ugg ultimate bind chocolate|ugg ultimate bind sand|ugg ultra short|ugg ultra short black|ugg ultra short chocolate|ugg ultra short sand|ugg ultra tall|ugg ultra tall black|ugg ultra tall chestnut|ugg ultra tall chocolate|ugg ultra tall sand|ugg suede|ugg suede black|ugg suede chestnut|ugg suede sand|ugg upside|ugg upside black|ugg upside chestnut|ugg upside mocha|ugg roxy|ugg roxy black|ugg roxy chestnut|ugg roxy chocolate|ugg roxy sand|ugg seline|ugg seline black|ugg seline chestnut|ugg corinth wedge|ugg corinth wedge cocoa|ugg liberty|ugg liberty black|ugg liberty cigar|ugg highkoo|ugg highkoo brown|ugg highkoo espresso|ugg highkoo grey|ugg highkoo black|ugg knightsbridge|ugg knightsbridge black|ugg knightsbridge chestnut|ugg knightsbridge grey|ugg knightsbridge sand|ugg knightsbridge chocolate|ugg bomber jacket|ugg bomber jacket chestnut|ugg bomber jacket chocolate|ugg bomber jacket pink|ugg adirondack|ugg adirondack brown|ugg adirondack chocolate|ugg suburb crochet|ugg suburb crochet black|ugg suburb crochet chestnut|ugg suburb crochet chocolate|ugg suburb crochet grey|ugg suburb crochet white|ugg boots|uggs on sale|cheap ugg boots| ugg boots|uggs on sale|cheap ugg boots| ugg boots|uggs on sale|cheap ugg boots| ugg boots|uggs on sale|cheap ugg boots| ugg size guide|ugg boots|uggs on sale|

There are a number of similar types of comments for everything from jewelry to sports jerseys.

And you thought the RECORDING was a cacophony...

P.S. The video's embedding is disabled by request, but you can see it here.

Keynes and Hayek rapping about the last century

Jim Ulvog is a friend, a fellow worshipper, and a blogger. I've referenced him at various times in my Empoprise-BI business blog, but have never done so in my Empoprise-MU music blog.

Until now.

Ulvog's recent post Rappin’ economists, round 2. Yes, rapping. Yes, round 2 links to an EconStories post entitled "Fight of the Century."

In one corner, you find John Maynard Keynes.

In the other corner, you find F. A. Hayek.

Their weapons? Rhymes. Here's one of the initial volleys from Keynes.

Are you kidding? my cure works perfectly fine…
have a look, the great recession ended back in ’09.
I deserve credit. Things would have been worse
All the estimates prove it—I’ll quote chapter and verse

Here's one of Hayek's responses, concerning World War II.

Wow. One data point and you’re jumping for joy
the Last time I checked, wars only destroy
There was no multiplier, consumption just shrank
As we used scarce resources for every new tank

Pretty perverse to call that prosperity
Rationed meat, Rationed butter… a life of austerity
When that war spending ended your friends cried disaster
yet the economy thrived and grew faster



But this isn't the only economic music on YouTube. Here's a love song to Hayek.

We we so excited and it ain't even Friday

The person who shared this video with me noted that it included a lot of rap references. I missed most of those, but I did get one of the references. (See the title of this post.)

Iman Crosson as Barack Obama presenting the Osama death message that was ORIGINALLY planned.



And no, I don't know who Antoine Dodson is. But I know who Charlie Sheen is. And Donald Trump. As the Huffington Post notes, the video "works in almost every meme from the last month." And even after Sheen and Trump and Dodson have been forgotten, it's still a catchy tune.

I Am Not Trendy, the May 7 edition

On April 28, I heard the Florence + the Machine Song "Dog Days Are Over" for the first time. The song was released several years ago, but I finally got around to hearing it last month. I liked it so much that I posted a video of the song in the Empoprise-MU page on Facebook. Here's the video that I posted:



I heard the song again today.

At the Lowe's in Upland, California.

It was followed by Naked Eyes' "Always Something There to Remind Me."

Dave Berry Slept Here (where "here" is Sheffield)

There is a "Crying Game" website, based in the UK, that talks about the rich musical history of Sheffield.

Sheffield?

Yes. This is obviously not a Boy George website, but a site dedicated to Dave Berry, the original singer for "The Crying Game." Here's what Berry's web site says about Sheffield:

Sheffield has long since proved to be a fertile breeding ground for musical talent- from the Human Leaque, ABC and Def Leppard in the 80s to Pulp and Moloko in the 90s and more recently the Arctic Monkeys and Richard Hawley. But back in the 60s, the city of steel only reared two genuine stars; Joe Cocker, and the enigmatic Dave Berry.

I lingered on the website, and it suddenly started playing "This Strange Effect." Normally I hate website that play music without allowing the viewer to control it...but it's a good song.



And here's Dave singing "The Crying Game.".



By the way, Boy George isn't the only artist who has covered a Dave Berry song. Listen to Hooverphonic.



P.S. For an explanation of the title, read the first sentence of this post.

Osama, peace, and that song yet again

If you've been reading my music posts over the last several years, it's probably no surprise to you that a particular song has stuck in my head since the announcement of Osama bin Laden's death. If you haven't read my old posts, let me refer you to one of them - a February 2005 post entitled Cowboy in Pakistan:

Estephania points to BigBrainBoy, whose friend James saw the following text on CNN:

Hunt for bin Laden
Experts agree: Al Qaeda
leader is dead or alive

In an effort to satisfy my regenerated earworm, I found this performance of the song in question.



First, I have to say that the introduction to the song is outstanding.

Second, I have to say that the venue also sounds interesting. It was recorded at the Moscow Music Peace Festival in 1989, and Wikipedia has a lot to say about it:

The Moscow Music Peace Festival was a one-time gathering of high-profile hard rock acts for a performance in Moscow, Soviet Union on 12 and 13 August 1989 to promote world peace and establish international cooperation in fighting the drug war in Russia. It was part of an era of momentous change in the Soviet Union, in which capitalism was on the march and communism was collapsing. In 1991, the Soviet Union was officially dissolved.

The concert exposed the Soviet Union to western culture and specifically rock music. The concert was also a pinnacle moment in glam metal and the peak in hard rock music's popularity.

Oh, and...

The concert was put together by the Make a Difference Foundation, rock producer Doc McGhee, Stas Namin and other major players in the Soviet Union and the United States. McGhee agreed to bring his artists to Moscow after becoming involved in a drug scandal himself and wishing to avoid a jail sentence.

Mötley Crüe have been on record stating they were upset with McGhee at this point in time. McGhee let Bon Jovi close the show, and use pyro, something Mötley Crüe was told they could not do. Bon Jovi fired McGhee after this show, as did Mötley Crüe.

Oh, and...

Don't Blame Me: The Tales of Ozzy Osbourne states that after the event, Osbourne was given multiple bottles of Russian vodka. Ozzy drank all of them and became "beyond drunk". It was then that Osbourne attempted to kill his manager–wife Sharon Osbourne.

For some more context on my discussions about Bon Jovi, turn the page to this earlier Empoprise-MU post.

Not everyone is a Jim Morrison fan

It's fair to say that Jim Morrison is (was) (is???????) one of the more divisive figures in music. For every person who orates on Morrison's artistic genius, there is another person whose views of Morrison are not as positive.

One of the latter writes for the Onion.

Citing the 17-year-old's awkward overuse of Native American imagery and general ability to make long lists of random adjectival phrases, the Jim Morrison Foundation announced Monday the awarding of a $50,000 grant to self-obsessed ... Jerome Caudry of Shullsburg, WI.

Read the whole thing here.

It's a wonder this band didn't play Korea

Entertainers who have a variety of talents have an advantage, because they have more of a chance of earning a paycheck. Take the members of The Relatives, a band from the late 1960s. Their most famous gig was a three-month stint at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas. Since the lead singer was under 21, she had to enter the casino via the kitchen.

Eventually The Relatives ran its course, and the lead singer moved on to another band that played a just-opened San Francisco hotel.

[T]heir first performance was in a brand new San Francisco hotel that had no sidewalk entrance built yet, so they played to mostly the janitors and whatever hotel guests parked their cars in the underground garage. But she performed so well under such intimidating circumstances that Howard "Speedy" Garfin nicknamed Lynda "Wonder Woman"!

Which was a good thing, because Lynda the lead singer happened to be Lynda Carter, who would become most famous for her television role as Wonder Woman.

But her friend from The Relatives, the drummer in the band, didn't do too badly either. Carter got him a guest shot on the Wonder Woman show, but by that time the drummer was already famous from movie and television appearances. That drummer was Gary Burghoff, most famous for playing the character Radar O'Reilly.

And they probably don't like Jane Fonda movies either

Perhaps you don't remember - I honestly don't remember parts of it - but when large segments of the U.S. population opposed the Vietnam War, some assumed that the opponents were members of the Communist Party. "Hanoi" Jane Fonda, Walter Cronkite, and so forth - you name them, they were all part of Communist Party cells.

So you would assume that after Vietnam fell, all of these so-called Communists would be greeted with warm welcomes by the Vietnamese government. Or, alternatively, the Vietnamese government would have laughed at the stupid Americans that supported them.

Would anyone have considered that the Vietnamese reaction would be - total indifference?

Take Bob Dylan, considered by many as the voice of a generation until Bruce Springsteen and Doug Fieger came along. You would think that he would be a hit in Vietnam. Not exactly:

Days after his historic and headline-generating concert debut in mainland China, Bob Dylan played his first performance in Vietnam on Sunday night, eliciting criticism but drawing only moderate crowds....

Appearing in a performance space that could hold about 8,000 people, Mr. Dylan played to a crowd only half that size...

The New York Times and its source articles identified two possible reasons for the tepid reaction. First, the ticket prices were higher than the average Vietnamese monthly salary. Second, most people in Vietnam don't know who the heck Bob Dylan is, since half of the Vietnamese population is, in the words of the popular phrase, "over 30."

And many people, including Human Rights Watch, Maureen Dowd, and others objected to the fact that the Vietnamese government had approval over Dylan's set list - something that hasn't happened since Ed Sullivan modified Rolling Stones lyrics many decades ago.

I guess Ed Sullivan was a commie too.

If only more band interviews were like this - Emily the Strange interviews Ladytron

[12:15 PDT - MADE A COUPLE OF CORRECTIONS. IF HELEN TRULY WERE A MARINE, HER HAIR WOULD BE REALLY SHORT.]

Interviews can be tedious, or they can be good, or they can be exceptional.

Since the band Ladytron has been around since 1999, I'm sure that the band members have experienced all three types of interviews, over and over again. So I'm sure that an interview that takes a different tack is welcomed.

I have no idea who Emily the Strange is, but she obviously knows a bit about Ladytron, based upon the questions that she asked Helen (Marnie) and Mira (Aroyo).

And oh, what questions.

The interview is undated, but a Ladytron blog shared it on April 10, so it may (or may not) be recent.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

(Emily) If you boost all the RGB and in your cover art, what do you get?

Mira: Owls kissing

Helen: Eagles and lizards.

And here's another one that Mira fans will appreciate:

(Emily) Have you invented any instruments? Tell me about them...

Mira: No but I have invented many many strains of bacteria and quite a few new genes and proteins.

Helen: Not as yet.

Let me share one more:

(Emily) Do you ever use the C-sides of records?

Mira: On the hexagonal records we use the C side for writing notes and the F sides for doodling when I'm bored.

Helen: For secret tracks.

Read the whole interview here or here.

Let me close out with some other like-minded observations about the band and its work. I like the site songmeanings.net, in which various people analyze songs. Several people analyzed the Ladytron song "Seventeen" but two of those analyses stood out.

shoez:

the song is obviously about fishing. if you are too big(21 inches) they can't legally keep you, so they take a picture and throw you back in. if you are the right size(17 inches) they want you. you guys read too much into these songs sometimes.

ephidaboost:

It's about rim sizes. She is saying that 17" rims are great because they are the most functional diameter for most sports cars. She is taking a stab at the homeys who roll around with 21" rims basically saying that they are just for show "taking polaroids" and the "say that they will let you know" part is a reference to how people who drive on oversized rims are less responsible than the general population and when they get interviewed they almost never get jobs. She makes it clear that 21" rims are "no fun" because they have high rotational weight and cause performance issues and low gas mileage. By saying "so come on" she is saying "Come on, guys. Big rims look rediculous and offer no performance advantage. Spend that money on something that will better your lives, like your education or your children."

Here is something that I wrote back in May 2005. Louis Marshall Jones is better known by his stage name "Grandpa Jones."

The only similarities between Louis Marshall Jones and Helen Marnie is that both of them wore makeup.

And I should close by thanking Martin Bryant, whose scrobble of the song "Seventeen" inspired me to dig deeper.



And after reading this Reuben/Mira interview in which they discussed the video, I am forced to conclude that shoez and ephidaboost were both on so something here.

Phil Collins revisited via @Joffi - and I do care

I previously discussed Phil Collins in this blog back on September 11, 2009, in a post that looked at his retirement from drumming due to spinal issues. It also looked at Collins' drumming work as a solo artist, in Genesis, and with Brian Eno.

It's time to revisit Collins again.

My lastfmfeeds room on FriendFeed tracks last.fm scrobbles by various music fans, and it caught this March 28 scrobble by Joffi222 (@Joffi on Twitter, Michael W. May in the real world). The song? "I Don't Care Anymore."

If you want to talk about interesting drum parts, here's a good place to start. When Collins shot the video for this song, he had a whole band behind him as the singer, but in reality Collins himself recorded all of the parts except for the guitar.



The song, incidentally, was written as the result of a breakup of a marriage. No, not the breakup with Orianne Cevey a couple of years ago that cost him millions, but from an earlier marriage to Andrea Bertorelli that ended in 1980. Collins is quoted as saying:

"I had a wife, two children, two dogs, and the next day I didn't have anything. So a lot of these songs were written because I was going through these emotional changes."

Despite this, the UK Biography Channel web site claims that Collins and Bertorelli "remain on friendly terms."

So presumably Berrtorelli doesn't think of Collins as a gorilla.

Bands encouraging covers - OneRepublic and Tamar Kaprelian

I spent one evening on YouTube listening to cover versions of the OneRepublic song "Apologize," including versions by SpongeBob SquarePants and a Chipmunks knockoff, and then I ran across this cover. One difference - this cover was selected by OneRepublic itself as the winner of a contest.



Not only did she win the cover contest, but OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder helped her get a recording contract with Interscope Records. Her first single, "New Day," ended up being used on the TV show The Hills.

More information can be found at Tamar Kaprelian's official website.