Many internet radio stations have declared today a "National Day of Silence". Several stations are not broadcasting today (my favorite, WOXY.com, being one) to protest the impending bill that will substantially increase music royalties (a 300 - 1200% increase!) and could subsequently put many small stations out of business on July 15, 2007.
If you enjoy music like I do, it's about time you clicked on SaveNetRadio.org and did something about it! I've already contacted my senators (Chuck & Hillary!) about it and hope something can be done to amend this bill. The first stations to fold will likely be "personalized" ones like Pandora and Finetune (although probably not Last.fm, who was just bought by CBS). The music industry is so backwards, they don't realize that these stations actually HELP stimulate music sales (I know I've found some great new stuff just from listening to net radio). In trying to create more revenue for musicians, instead this could have the unintended effect of driving music listeners to turn to illegal ways of obtaining music. Good work, idiots!
Here's a good article from a legal website (not all lawyers are useless!) that agrees that this is a horrible idea:
#85 "These Boots Were Made For Walkin'" by Jessica Simpson Even if she changed the lyrics to "These Jugs Were Made For Suckin'" it'd still be hard to listen to.
#69 "We Will Rock You" by 5ive For starters, I hate 5ive for using a "5" instead of an "F" in the first letter of their band's name. It's pretty 5ucking 5oolish. This cover of the Queen classic may have band members from Queen in it, but once the boy band tough guy "vocals" kick in, you just start praying for a zombie Freddie Mercury to take the stage and eat all of their brains (which admittedly wouldn't be much to snack on).
#49 "More Than This" by 10,000 Maniacs Swapping Merchant with Mary Ramsey is like losing Al Pacino in your movie and getting Screech to take his place.
#45 "Another Brick in the Wall" by Korn You know, Pink Floyd seemed smart enough to say, "We don't need no education" with some authority, Korn...not so much.
UPDATE: Well, it's all over but the crying. I agree with some of their later additions, including #18 "Love Song" by 311, #16 "Chop Suey!" by Avril Lavigne ("the musical equivalent of your girlfriend yelling at you on the phone for an hour"), and #12 "911 Is A Joke" by Duran Duran (that whole covers CD was torture).
#10 "Piece of My Heart" by Faith Hill #9 "Downtown Train" by Rod Stewart #8 "The Greatest Love of All" by Kevin Rowland #7 "Ring of Fire" by Olivia Newton John #6 "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" by Ol' Dirty Bastard and Macy Gray #5 "American Pie" by Madonna #4 "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit #3 "Stairway to Heaven" by Dolly Parton #2 "Every Breath You Take" by Puff Daddy #1 "Layla (Unplugged)" by Eric Clapton
Yes, I agree with many of these, especially #9 "Downtown Train" by Rod Stewart ("I'm sure Waits had said that he would have never even recorded this had he known that Rod was going to wipe his ass with it like this"), and certainly the talentless hack Puff Daddily Diddly, who makes Madonna look like Mozart.
I don't agree with #1, however. Isn't a cover song technically done by someone other than the original artist? (They have two of these in the top 13; the new version of "Candle in the Wind" is just as shitty as the first). Yes, Slowhand's unplugged version ripped the balls off of the song, making it no longer "a song to steal George Harrison's wife with", but he was trying a different interpretation of it (like every 'unplugged' album did at the time). Sure, it made you forget how great the original was (When that piano kicks in at the end? That's hard to beat). And while it was a novelty the first time you heard it, and after the 40,000th time it was just a gimmick, it's not the worst cover song ever.
Of course, the big question is: why isn't Bill Shatner on here? Did these kids not get the memo that his "Transformed Man" album was actually intended as a serious work of art? It may seem hard to fathom but it was NOT a novelty record, and he was NOT in on the joke back then, like he is now. He was 100% dead serious about that album, reading poetry and reciting popular rock lyrics like he was some sort of renaissance man, and it was 100% incredibly bad.
Therefore, I am removing Clapton and replacing him with William Shatner "Mr. Tamborine Man" at #1. Done.
Here's a funny parody video of the above song:
SEE ALSO: Kirk & Spock: Their Celestial Musical Fantasy
In this fast paced, crazy iPoddified world, nobody sits and listens to CDs anymore, or so I'm told. In fact, most people don't even purchase entire albums anymore, but in the olden days some of us would actually listen to a CD from start to finish. Now you can just listen to a thousand tracks on shuffle, select just the tunes you want to hear, or never even buy the crappiest tracks to begin with. However, some albums are actually listenable all the way except for one glaring defect that just had to be skipped over. Here are a few albums that are SO CLOSE to being perfect.
The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, "Within You Without You". Other people might claim that Paul's schmaltzy "When I'm 64" kills this album's momentum, but I disagree. There's just something about the sitar, especially the one on this George Harrison song, that is just grating. It was probably cool at the time (and might still be, if you're high), but now it's merely an annoying, atonal downer.
The Police, Synchronicity, "Mother". This Andy Summers wailing, tuneless dirge brings this album to a complete halt. Here's the irony: I bet he's full of shit and doesn't even have mommy issues; they probably met for tea every week. He just wanted to try to upstage that smug bastard Sting, and he does so in a song that comes at you like a musical game of chicken, daring you to not hit the skip button. The next track, Stewart Copeland's limp "Miss Gradenko", is listenable by comparison.
U2, The Unforgettable Fire, "4th of July". Sure, Brian Eno's ethereal soundscapes are nice, but not from the band that brought you Sunday Bloody Fucking Sunday! This little instrumental interlude, in which The Edge puts his guitar echo effect up to 11, is just dying to be skipped to get to the anthemic "Bad".
The Smiths, Strangeways, Here We Come, "Paint A Vulgar Picture". From their last and weakest studio album, this song is excruciating to sit through because of Morrissey's less than stellar lyrics about posthumously released albums: "Reissue, repackage, repackage! Re-evaluate the songs!" I don't know if he's musing about Elvis, Liberace or predicting his own bands' fate, but ironically they have more "collections" in their catalog than studio releases (a live album, two Best Ofs, two Singles, and a Very Best Of--can an outtake/B-sides boxset be far behind?).
Radiohead, OK Computer, "Fitter Happier". After a stunning first half, the album hits a speed bump with this track featuring a droning computer voice reading a checklist of self-improvement mantras on top of a lilting background piano and creepy synths. A social commentary about the increasingly robotic nature of modern life, this track gets more annoying every time I listen to it and interrupts an otherwise classic album.
SPOON. On the heels of their sixth album release, one of the most acclaimed bands in indie music delivers a rocking concert including some of their latest material. DATE: July 11, 2007, TIME: 7:00pm, LOCATION: Rockefeller Park
It would be great if they sang "Rockafella Skank". I'm definitely going to check out that show (weather permitting). Other bands playing freebies: The New Pornographers (7/4), Menomena (7/13), Bishop Allen (7/20), The National (8/17), Camera Obscura (8/24), among others.
The Police kicked off their reunion tour with a show in Vancouver, BC, which was essentially a "dress rehearsal" for about 4000 fan club members. This YouTube video of the entire song "Walking In Your Footsteps" is pretty damn good, considering most of them look like shit and are only 43 seconds long. It's good to see that it's only the three members of the group playing, sans backup singers and keyboard players, etc.
The Police - Walking In Your Footsteps (Live in Vancouver, May 27, 2007) [YouTube]
