Some musicians are complaining because the US military is using the attempts at music, or entertainment, as a torture device to get terrorists to crack. I can see why some of this stuff would work. Here’s an abbreviated list of some of the tunes they often use:
“I Love You,” from the “Barney and Friends” children’s TV show.
“Born in the USA,” Bruce Springsteen.
“Babylon,” David Gray.
“White America,” Eminem.
“Sesame Street,” theme song from the children’s TV show.
Other bands who’s music has been used, but they didn’t identify the songs are:
Aerosmith
Britney Spears
Christina Aguilera
Don McLean
Lil’ Kim
Limp Bizkit
Meat Loaf
Rage Against the Machine
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Tupac Shakur.
Now some of these would crack me. Anything by Eminem sends me over the edge. Tupac Shakur and Metallica played more than once in a week’s time would work as well. Others generally have that one bomb they wish they’d left on the recording room floor. ACDC, well, I’ve been a fan of theirs for years, but it’s very noticeable to me real quick that none of these are Bon Scott songs. Brian Johnson repeated more than a few times might just do it.
Some songs I really thought would be on the list, but apparently aren’t:
“Killing an Arab” by The Cure. No brainer.
“Oliver’s Army” by Elvis Costello. “Londonderry’s full of Arabs” was a heck of a social comment, and that was 25 years ago.
“The Sheik Yerbouti Tango” and “Jewish Princess” from Frank Zappa’s Sheik Uerbouti. A Jew mocking Jewish stereotypes in the personna of an Arab would have to send an Arab terrorist’s blood level over the top.
“Cygnet Committee” by David Bowie. Not only is it a song about “terrorists” abusing religion as a cause and subsequently becoming the corruption they are rebelling against. But, he sings it in an incredibly teen angst whine that would surely push someone over the edge if played at full volume around bedtime. Honorable mention for Bowie would have to be “Running Gun Blues”, a song about shooting people up for no apparent reason.
This is just plum goofy. Guns n’ Roses started recording their album Chinese Democracy in 1994. It got to be such a joke about it ever being released that Dr. Pepper pretty much joined the joke by saying if it did get released this year, they’d buy everyone a drink ( of Dr. Pepper ). Sure enough, after fourteen years, it got released. Dr. Pepper quickly set up a site where everyone could go get a coupon for a free drink. It didn’t work too well apparently. So, Axl Rose is filing a lawsuit against Dr. Pepper.
Now, my take on this is not good. You have to understand that the band that recorded Chinese Democracy in 1994 looked something like this:
That line-up, of course, is subject to change. If I were at Dr. Pepper, I’d probably counter-sue that the Guns n’ Roses that recorded the album in 1994 should be the proper litigants. If I were Dr. Pepper, I’d simply state that one man does not make a band. There’s a lot more to that statement than simply arguing over a free drink. Secondly, I’d argue that since it took fourteen years for them to release the album, Dr. Pepper should have the same time frame to release their coupons. I’m not sure what the terms of the “bet” were, but I doubt there was a time frame involved. And lastly, although Axl is saying the botched coupon promotion represented unauthorized use and abuse of their publicity and intellectual property rights“, it’s probably the best promotion Axl could have hoped for since Guns n’ Roses is considered pretty much a joke these days.
I, like millions of other people, loved Guns n’ Roses when they hit the scene. However, it became evident real quick that Axl was a little prick and not worthy of my adulation. All the advent of Chinese Democracy and this lawsuit proves is Axl still is. This line-up is not Guns n’ Roses, it’s Axl and his latest cast of support members. There may be some decent tunes on this album, but I’ll pass. I will however, continue to support my favorite soda. Dr. Pepper.
Guess who I’m going to see Friday. I’ll give you a hint ( if the title hasn’t already ):
Now, I’d go into a LOT of detail of how Rod Stewart’s music has been a part of my transition from kid to adult. But, I would guess it would mimic pretty much every 40-something’s experience. For me, since about 1978 or so, if you wanted to get some, or even wanted to try, you HAD to have Rod Stewart’s album on. Or, at the very least, have his picture on the album laying around very visibly after you’ve gotten about six beers into your love for the moment. If that didn’t work instanteously, put on Buffett and get them a little drunker. THEN fall back on Rod. Sure, some guys passed around some pretty awful rumors about Rod, but he was scoring models faster than any of those guys scored period. Rod is somewhere in the same league as Hugh Heffner to me. Just one of those guys that just don’t have a clue how to be anything other than a babe-magnet. I can’t relate, I don’t want to either. If I could, then I’d have no reason, other than hearing Maggie May, to go have some fun Friday night.
And trust me peeps, I’ll have lots of tequila ready. If it works, I don’t change it.
Post show update:
The show was excellent! Rod did all the classics and tossed in some covers. The best of which was definitely “Have you ever seen the rain?”. Toss in a smokin hot sax player and three backup singers who can sing better than almost anyone I’ve heard in years, and you’ve got an excellent show regardless of the headliner. The one thing that really struck me was his stage. It was white. All white. Not just curtain white, but instruments were all white, carpet was white, microphones were white, even his wristwatch was white. This made for some very neat, very simple effects. I tried to capture them, but needless to say, my equipment was rudimentary at best. Here’s some samples:
and:
In essence, with a simple flick of the switch, the entire stage changed. For ballads the stage would be blue. For rockers the stage would turn white, purple, whatever. It was very, very, simple. And, it was even moreso effective. I love it. Toss in a massive super high definition screen and you had all kinds of special effects for songs, and pics to tell a story. It was just a well done show. Nothing wild, nothing crazy, just impressive. Toss in Rod’s crowd-abilities and you had a very enjoyable show.
You’d think kids today would look at old-rockers like Rod, Bowie, the Stones, The Who, etc.. and take note that forty years after getting started, they’re still draw crowds in the tens of thousands. Those pics just show the people in front of us. There are probably twice as many, or more, behind us.
Due to a bout with sciatica before and during the show, this may be my last major outdoor show. It’s just too hard on me. If it is my last one, it was definitely worthy of going out on!
Moonlet and I went to see an Elvis impersonator for an American Cancer Society fundraiser last night. This guy was a blast. Looked kinda like Elvis, sounded a LOT like Elvis, and bantered very well with the audience. Totally enraptured by the presentation, my boy decided to park right in front of the stage. “Elvis” asked him his name pretty close to the beginning of the show, and then would occasionally ask him if he liked a particular song for the rest of the evening. It was a hoot. Given the advent of the Iphone camera having absolutely no settings whatsoever or a flash, it makes for some unusual effects. I really liked this one:
This weekend we had our annual Master Musician Festival. It’s a rather large gala here that stretches over two or three days and features all kinds of performers from all kinds of backgrounds and genres. In essence, you never really know what to expect from one group to the next. Especially, if you’ve never heard of the performer before. Every year, we have one or two acts that just seem to stand out from the rest. This year, for me, there was one act particularly that just hit me just right. That band was called Bonepony. Now, ya gotta understand what I like in a performance to start with. I like nergy. Not just fast and loud, but physical energy as well. Too many bands just stand there. That bores me visually. I could sit in my home and listen to that and enjoy it just as much or more. For a show to be unique, I like something visually that cranks me up along with the music. Secondly, I like a positive show. One that cranks you up for all the right reasons. There’s too much pushing people down in this world. I look for and enjoy those things that push you up. And lastly, I like to see the personality of the performer onstage. I prefer to look at shows in the perspective of who they are moreso than a collective group impression. When I saw Bon Scott with ACDC, you knew what ACDC was all about. Brian Johnson carried the tunes ok, but he just seemed to be there. The focus shifted 100% to Angus, which was more than enough . But, with the dueling personalities of Bon and Angus, it was a unique experience that I still haven’t forgotten. Seeing ACDC in 1979 still ranks as my favorite show ever. When you saw them then, the energy level just exploded at you. The personalities just exploded at you. And, needless to say, the music just exploded at you. I’m not sure I ever experienced anything close to that since. Maybe Ted Nugent’s Guitar Army was fairly close, but all you got personality wise was Gonzo. This weekend was close to that. Now, one last preamble before I dig in too deep, the reason I remember ACDC in 1979 better than I do in later years was because I still remember laughing hysterically at what I was seeing. They were fun. Maybe not in all the right reasons, but they were an absolute riot.
This weekend came close to that feeling. First of all Bonepony’s primary personality shines through via Scott Johnson. Now, here’s Scott:
The immediate impression I got was a cross between Iggy Pop and Bobcat Goldthwait. Now, anyone who knows me well knows that is a most excellent comparison. Iggy had the energy, and Bobcat had, well, let’s jsut say a special presence. However, Scott’s smile was totally disarming. One look at him initially and I didn’t really expect too much musically.
Nick Ngyuen sort of had a Jimmy Page look and feel to me. Now, Jimmy’s never been one of my favoritest guiter players. But, he had a presence to him that few have been able to match. Jimmy, like few others, looked someone who was in control of what he was doing. I like that in a musician under one caveat. They have to match that look. And, I have to say, at least live, Nick is possibly the most incredibly talented string man I have ever witnessed in my entire life. The dude just bounced from one instrument to the next and played them in ways that most people only dream of. What most people forget is that Jimmy Page’s greatest solos were emulating other stringed instruments with his guitar. What he should have done is what I’ve seen people doing more of lately and Nick has down to an art form. They make other instruments sound like guitars. The advantage for Nick is multi-fold and it showed. They don’t have a bass player. Why bother when you can do it all yourself? Nick was amazing for me to watch. It’s not terribly often that a performer plays a popular festival in a small rural town that just makes me go “WOW!”. NIck and Cowboy Crush’s Debbie Johnson being the only two in many years. The things Nick does with strings just left me slack-jawed.
Here’s Kenny Wright playing the drums. Like the other two members, he played several instruments. Now, the thing about Bonypony is they are just a trio. That’s it. No studio stand-ins, nothing. Just the three of tiem. They made more sound than the follow-up act did with four guiters by a mile. That folks, is talent. Now, their music is pretty simple. Their message usually very upbeat. In other words, it’s hard to take them seriously. But, if you pay attention to what is being done and especially the live sound, you realize these guys are on a talent level very, very few bands ever achieve. They were pretty remarkable to me.
And quite frankly, the airwaves need a LOT more Bonepony’s that lift you up and lot less urban ghetto crap that beats our society down.
I will be seeing Bonepony again when I can. And, my five year old boy will be there with me.
Just a side note, I really pity whoever follows these guys during a show. Kinda reminds me of the days when ACDC opened for UFO. Anyone who attended those shows in ‘79 remember seeing UFO? Regardles of the hits count, these guys need to be the headliners. Or, at the very least, the show-closers.
Excellent show guys! I can’t recommend a better show for my peeps out there right now.
Back in the old days, music was a lot more fun. Censorship still lasted probably sort of into the late 70’s or so, so people had to work around the obvious. The result then was sometimes you really didn’t know if a song was supposed to be creepy or not. Nowadays, they just blurt it out. You’d have to be pretty much deaf dumb and blind not to figure out a song is supposed to be creepy, freaky, or what.
Now, some bands pushed the edge of censorship by being very graphic, but not using any of the sinful words. Some bands pushed the edge by not making much sense at all, but left it to the imagination of the listener. Other bands, in my opinion, didn’t even know they were creepy, freaky, or whatever. They wrote what they felt. What they felt, deep down in their hearts apparently, was just creepy. Here’s five examples that I bet a lot of people never thought much about, but if you dig just a teensy weensy bit, it just doesn’t seem quite right to me:
By 1980, The Who, and by default, Pete Townshend, were no longer the leading edge of The British Invasion or a symbol of youthful rebellion. By this time, Pete was 35 years old. The Who was pretty much fading away, so Pete came out with one of his solo albums. The feature song on that album was a song called “Rough Boys”.
Note the lyrics:
Tough Boys, Running the streets, Come a little closer
Rough toys, Under the sheets, Nobody knows her
Rough boys, Don’t walk away, I very nearly missed you
Tough boys, Come over here, I wanna bite and kiss you
I wanna see what I can find
Tough kids, Take a bottle of wine, When your deal is broken
Ten quid, She’s so easy to find, Not a word is spoken
Rough boys, Don’t walk away, I’m still pretty blissed here
Tough boy, I’m gonna carry you home, You got pretty pissed dear
Gonna get inside you
Gonna get inside your bitter mind
Rough boys, Don’t walk away, I wanna buy you leather
Make noise, Try and talk me away, We can’t be seen together
Tough kids, What can I do?, I’m so pale and weedy
Rough fits, In my Hush Puppy shoes, But I’m still pleading
Tough boys, Running the streets, Come a little closer
Rough toys, Under the sheets, Nobody knows her
Rough boys, Don’t walk away, I very nearly missed you Tough boys, Come over here, I wanna bite and kiss you
I wanna see what I can find!
Now, that can be interpreted a couple of different ways. But, one of those ways is just plum creepy. In 2003, Pete was “cautioned” for cruising child porn sites.
In 1983 The Police released “Every Breath You Take”. It was a monster hit. Now, I bet when thinking of The Police, you’d think “Don’t Stand So Close To Me”. Creepy topic, but handled well. “Every Breath You Take” on the other hand wasn’t so overtly obvious:
Think again about the lyrics to “Every Breath You Take”:
Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I’ll be watching you
Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I’ll be watching you
O can’t you see
You belong to me
How my poor heart aches with every step you take
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I’ll be watching you
Since you’ve gone I been lost without a trace
I dream at night I can only see your face
I look around but it’s you I can’t replace
I keep crying baby please
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I’ll be watching you
Sounds like a stalker to me. Someone sings that to me, I’d have a restraining order issued. And, it would be easy to get.
Now we’re getting into the meat of some songs I truly have loved for a LONG time. These are in a class by themselves for me personally.
In 1972 a band exploded on the US scene. Being long before MTV, the only real exposure I had to them was LP’s and the usual teen mags. As such, by listening to them, I had to assume they were part of the British invasion. The Raspberries hit 1972 through 1974 or so with a slew of hits. No party was thrown without playing at least two of their songs. Especially if you weren’t old enough to drink. One of those songs was “I wanna be with you”.
Here’s the lyrics:
If we were older, We wouldn’t have to be worried tonight
Baby oh, I wanna be with you
So bad, (yes, I wanna be with you)
Oh, darlin (oh, I wanna be with you)
Oh yeah (yeah, I wanna be with you)
Well tonight’s (tonight) the night
We always knew it would feel so right
So come on baby, I just wanna be with you
Someday’s a long time, And we’ve been waiting so long to be here
Hold me tight
Our love could live forever after tonight
If you believe that what we’re doing is right
Close your eyes and be still
Now, “if we were older”, Eric Carmen was 23 or so when he sang this. In order to “not worry about tonight”, his date would have to be about 15 in most states. Sounds statuatory to me. “Close your eyes and be still” sounds a lot more like rape than love to me. Then, to top it off, that heavy British accent you hear? They’re from CLEVELAND. Their creepiness wasn’t always so subtle tho, their biggest hit “Go All The Way”, was banned in, you guessed it, England. Guess they didn’t appreciate Buckeyes faking it too much either.
In 1975 the Bee Gees were pretty much considered has-beens. They had knocked off some great hits in the 60’s, but were largely forgotten by 1974. Then, in 1975, they released possibly my favorite Bee Gees tune, “Nights On Broadway”.
However, I always got a kick out of the lyrics:
Here we are, In a room full of strangers
Standing in the dark Where your eyes couldn’t see me
Well, I had to follow you
Though you did not want me to
But that won’t stop my lovin’ you
I can’t stay away
Blamin’ it all on the nights on Broadway
Singin’ them love songs
Singin’ them “straight to the heart” songs
Blamin’ it all on the nights on Broadway
Singin’ them sweet sounds
To that crazy, crazy town
Now in my place, There are so many others
Standin’ in the line, How long will they stand between us
Well, I had to follow you
Though you did not want me to
But that won’t stop my lovin’ you
I can’t stay away
Blamin’ it all (blamin’ it all)
On the nights on Broadway (blame it on the nights on Broadway)
Singin’ them love songs
Singin’ them “straight to the heart” songs
Blamin’ it all (I’m blamin’ it all)
On the nights on Broadway (blame it on the nights on Broadway)
Singin’ them sweet sounds
To that crazy, crazy town (blamin’ it in on those nights)
I will wait
Even if it takes forever
I will wait
Even if it takes a lifetime
Somehow I feel inside
You never-ever left my side
Make it like it was before
Even if it takes a lifetime, takes a lifetime, ooh
Blamin’ it all (blamin’ it all)
On the nights on Broadway (blame it on the nights on Broadway)
Singin’ them love songs (yeah, yeah)
Singin’ them “straight to the heart” songs (yeah, blamin’ it all)
Blamin’ it all (blamin’ it all)
On the nights on Broadway (blame it on the nights on Broadway)
Singin’ them sweet sounds (oh yeah)
To that crazy, crazy town (yeah)
Once again, sounds a lot like an obsessed stalker. Three brothers dancing around in spandex pants and singing falsetto didn’t help dim the creep factor much either. When it came out, I loved it. When I realized it signaled the birth of disco, I had to listen to it quietly, alone. That just deepened the creepiness for me. Now that disco is dead, I blare it as loudly as I can. Since no one under the age of 40 understands subtle nuance in lyrics, they just don’t get how creepy the Bee Gees were compared to goofy acts like Korn who have to scream it in order someone doesn’t get it.
And, last on this list for tonight, but certainly not the end of the list, is a song from 1978. I was sixteen at the time, older guys hitting on girls I went to school with creeped me out then. So, imagine my angst when “Hot Child in the City” hit #1:
Danger in shape of something wild
stranger dressed in black she’s a hungry child
No one knows who she is or what name is
I don’t know where she came from or what her game is
Hot child in the city
hot child in the city
running wild and looking pretty
hot child in the city
so young to be loose and on her own
young boys, they all want to take her home
she goes downtown and the boys all stop and stair
when she goes downtown she walks like she just don’t care
Hot child in the city
hot child in the city
running wild and looking pretty
hot child in the city
Come on down to my place baby
we’ll talk about love
come on down to my place woman
we’ll make love
Hot child in the city
hot child in the city
she’d kinda dangerous
hot child in the city
young child
running wld and looking pretty
young child, running wild
hot child in the city(x3)
Hot child in the city
OK, so you got this 27 year old hitting on “hot child”ren. Now, the extra creep factor is in order to get these lyrics, I had to steal them from a listing for Pat Benatar. If you want, you can watch a video creation on youtube of Pat Benatar’s Hot Child in the City. Only problem is, that’s Nick Gilder. A guy. He just sounded a lot like a girl. And, he wasn’t the most masculine looking dude either:
This is most likely just a start. There were plenty others that I just didn’t feel like listening to tonight. It sure is a lot more fun figuring out the hidden creepiness of a song than just having it thrown in your face. The constant barrage of intentional commercial creepiness that is so pervasive in today’s music really makes me think censorship was a good thing.
There is so much wrong with this song! I’ve loved it for years. Not sure if Dread is still around or not, but I’m looking! If I were to have another bash on the lake for my birthday, this is who I want for the band!
Rodney Carrington truly understands what makes the world go ’round, makes it get along better, and the key to world peace: ( WARNING! Not totally safe for work, but worth the risk. )
