DURAN DURAN - JAPANESE COMMERCIAL

This cracks me up.

It's a Japanese commercial for whiskey featuring Duran Duran.



Ha!

VIDEO DUMP: ROCK-AFIRE EXPLOSION "LOVE IN THIS CLUB" (2008)

I honestly could NOT stop laughing at this "music video".

Usher (feat. Young Jeezy) "Love In This Club" as performed by animatronic robot band Rock-afire Explosion.



From Wikipedia:

The Rock-afire Explosion was an animatronic robot band that played in Showbiz Pizza Place restaurants from 1980 to 1994. The show was created and manufactured exclusively for Showbiz by Creative Engineering, Inc. in Orlando, Florida. In later years, the show was sold to other restaurants and entertainment centers. The characters in The Rock-afire Explosion were various animals ranging from a dog to a gorilla. They would perform medleys of classic rock, pop, and country music, as well as original compositions.

Wow, that's hilarious. Great job by programmer Chris Thrash.

VIDEO DUMP: YO LA TENGO "SUGARCUBE" (1997)

Here's one of the funniest music videos out there. It's for "Sugarcube" by Hoboken's own Yo La Tengo, featuring Bob and David of Mr. Show fame.



"The Foghat Principle: your fourth album shall be DOUBLE LIVE!"

(I can't believe this clip is 11 years old.)

VIDEO DUMP: PETER GABRIEL "SKY BLUE" (LIVE) (2003)

This version of "Sky Blue" by Peter Gabriel featuring The Blind Boys Of Alabama is stunning. The extended chorus at the end is amazing.



From Peter Gabriel's Growing Up Live tour concert film from 2003.

VIDEO DUMP: TIM CURRY "I DO THE ROCK" (1979)

I heard this last weekend (on XM on the way to the wedding rehearsal), and we couldn't get it out of our heads. This song falls somewhere between early Roxy Music ("Virginia Plain") and Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London". I'm just proud of the fact that I guessed it came out in 1979. And I guessed it was David Sanborn on sax. Yikes.

One thing is for sure: Tim Curry does the ROCK ROCK ROCK. And he rocks that 'fro.



That song seems longer than 4:20, doesn't it? Here are the lyrics. I have no idea what they mean.

Edith Sitwell giving readings
14 Moscow Road
Osbert's giving champagne parties
Sachie's got a cold
Gertrude's hanging pictures
Alice making tea
Me, I do the only thing that still
makes sense to me
I do the Rock
I do the Rock Rock

John and Yoko farming beef
raising protein quota
Sometimes they make love and art
inside their Dakota
Rodney's feeling sexy
Mick is really frightfully bold
Me, I do the only thing that stops me growing old
I do the Rock
I do the Rock Rock
I do the Rock Rock Rock

Well, it's stimulating
Solzhenitzin feels exposed
build a barbed-wired prison
Nietsche's six feet under but his babies still got rhythm
Einstein's celebrating ten decades
but I'm afraid philosophy is just too much responsibility for me
I do the Rock
I do the Rock

Baby Ruth and Dizzy Dean
Best and Colin Cowdrey
Little Mo, Virginia Wade
Pistol Pete and O.J.
I've always like DiMaggio
and Rockne's pretty knute you know
I could never wack a ball with such velocity
I do the Rock
I do the Rock
I do the Rock
It's stimulating - I'm a keen student

Liz and Dick and Britt and Liza
Jaclyn, Kate and Farrah
Meg and Roddy, John Travolta
Governor Brown and Linda
Interwiew and People Magazine
Miss Rona and the Queen
It must be really frightfull to attract publicity
I do the Rock
Myself
I do the Rock

Carter, Begin and Sadat
Breznhev, Teng and Castro
Everyday negotiate us closer to disastro
Idi Amin and the Shah
and Al Fatah is quite bizarre
I could never get the hang of ideology
I do the Rock
I do the Rock
I do - I do - I do - do the Rock.

I had no idea he name checked O.J. Simpson. Wow.

Tim Curry "I Do The Rock" (1979) [YouTube]

THE BLACK KEYS - TERMINAL 5, NYC, MAY 15, 2008

I saw The Black Keys last night at Terminal 5. My Lord, they ripped the roof off the place. And yes, there are only two of them on the stage at all times, Dan Auerbach (gtr/vox) and Patrick Carney (drums). The sound he manages to get out of just one guitar (no bass, no rhythm to help) is astonishing, and Patrick's energetic powerful drumming is just amazing. Who knew two boys from Akron could rock so hard?

They kicked it off with "Girl On My Mind", and followed with "Set You Free", "10 AM Automatic" and never let up. Even "Oceans & Streams", the only song which featured Dan playing fuzzy distorted keyboards instead of guitar, sounded fantastic.

None of these clips are from last night's show, but I thought I'd post them anyway to show you what you missed.

"Girl on My Mind" from SXSW 2008.


Here's "I Got Mine", one of the tracks from their new album Attack & Release.


(No, I didn't take any of these videos. I wish I had.)

Here's the duo performing "Stack Shot Billy" from the incredible album Rubber Factory on Letterman.



To all you hipster douchebags who gave Terminal 5 1 star on Citysearch, I don't know what the hell you're talking about. The sound was great, there were two balconies and a huge floor section to view the stage from (only one section to the left on the 2nd floor was VIP, but could be "bought" for $20), and the bartenders and staff were extremely friendly. Maybe if you didn't see a shitty Cat Power show, you would have had a better night.

As Rob succinctly put it "THEY JUST GET IT." Indeed. Fantastic show.

The Black Keys [Official Site]
The Black Keys on MySpace

TOM WAITS "PRESS CONFERENCE"

To announce his "Gloom and Doom" 2008 Tour (which won't be coming to the Northeast), Tom fashioned this humorous performance piece.

VIDEO DUMP: SPOON "YOU GOT YR. CHERRY BOMB" (2008)

This is a cool video for one of my favorite songs from last year "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb" by the indefatigable Spoon. It's on their 6th album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007), which gets better with every listen.



Spoon "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb" [YouTube]

VIDEO DUMP: BAND AID "DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS?" (1984)

Presenting Music Dump's A Very Special Video Dump: the greatest Christmas song written in my lifetime. Leave it to the Brits to make a Christmas song that's also a great drinking song.

FEEEEEEEEEEEED THE WOOOOOOOOOOOOOORLD!!!



MERRY CHRISTMAS!

"Do They Know It's Christmas" Band Aid (1984) [YouTube]

ROCKTOBER: NIRVANA "BREED" (1991)

What more can be said about Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, and Krist Novoselic? This is "Breed" from their 1991 Halloween concert (16 years ago today!) at the Paramount Theater in Seattle. That was the year they singlehandedly brought rock music back from the brink.



I hope you enjoyed ROCKTOBER. I know I did.

ROCKTOBER: THE BEATLES "LET IT BE" ROOFTOP CONCERT (1969)/LIVE AT SHEA STADIUM (1965)

ROCKTOBER could not be complete without The Beatles.

"Let It Be" is not currently in print, but these three clips from their famous rooftop concert in 1969 are the highlights (unless you prefer watching it in nine separate parts).

Part 1 ("Get Back"/"Don't Let Me Down")


Part 2. ("I've Got A Feeling"/"One After 909")


Part 3. ("Dig A Pony"/"Get Back")


Ah, screw it, here's one more clip, because it's ROCKTOBER and I fucking said so. Live from the (thankfully) soon-to-be-demolished Shea Stadium in 1965, named after Cuban guerilla leader Che Stadium. They just started cracking up during "I'm Down", because they knew no one could really hear them.

("Twist And Shout"/"Baby's In Black"/"I'm Down")


Some might disagree, but you can't name a more influential band in rock history. And they did it all in the span of about 7 years.

ROCKTOBER: QUEEN "BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY" (1982)

Quite simply, the greatest rock voice of all time: Freddie Mercury. Here's Queen performing "Bohemian Rhapsody" live at Milton Keynes Bowl, June 5, 1982.



I still have this 45 that I bought when I was 5 years old. Believe it or not.

ROCKTOBER: BUILT TO SPILL "STOP THE SHOW" (1999)

Doug Martsch is a guitar god. However, I didn't really appreciate him until seeing B2S (yeah, that's my cool shorthand) live in 2002. "Stop The Show" is from their essential Perfect From Now On album from 1997. This live video with mostly tight shots of the guitars is very interesting.

ROCKTOBER: SONIC YOUTH "TEEN AGE RIOT" (1988)

Great song from the Daydream Nation album. Great video, too: a short-attention span, 80s pop-sub-culture feast. See how many you can spot! Patti Smith! Pee Wee! Harvey Pekar on Late Night With David Letterman! I just wish it wasn't so grainy, it sucks even for YouTube.



Sonic Youth set the tone for every shaggy haired slacker indie band to come out of the 90s, for better or worse.

ROCKTOBER: STEVIE NICKS "EDGE OF SEVENTEEN" (1981)

I realized that women are horribly underrepresented here during ROCKTOBER, so what better female rock singer to choose than Stevie Nicks? In the 80s, every rock fan wanted to either be Stevie or be with her, or both. Here she is singing "Edge of Seventeen" on Dec 12, 1981, the last night of her first solo tour before returning to record with Fleetwood Mac.



(I love the comment, "Is something wrong with Stevie?" Yes, SHE'S HIGH! She's a rocker in the 80s, probably on a heroic amount of cocaine. Helloooo?)

There's a commentary version here that's very interesting. She wrote the song about John Lennon, which I never knew.

ROCKTOBER: SPOON "JONATHON FISK" (2002)

From the fantastic Kill The Moonlight album, here's the Austin, Texas band Spoon with "Jonathon Fisk".



"Religion don't mean a thing, it's just another way to be right wing."

ROCKTOBER: THE CULT "SHE SELLS SANCTUARY" (1985)

The Cult live at the Ritz in New York City singing their classic "She Sells Sanctuary", from the essential 1985 album Love.



These guys are back out there touring again with a new album, but this was the Cult in their prime before they convinced themselves they were rockstars.

ROCKTOBER: BLACK KEYS "YOUR TOUCH" (2006)

The Black Keys performing "Your Touch", live at Grimey's Records in Nashville, TN, 2006.



I can't get enough of these guys. There were about 145 videos I could have chosen, but this is one is just down home and dirty.

ROCKTOBER: U2 "OCTOBER/NEW YEARS DAY (LIVE AT RED ROCKS)" (1983)

Today's ROCKTOBER entry can be found over at Open Hockey blog: U2 "OCTOBER/NEW YEARS DAY (LIVE AT RED ROCKS)".

ROCKTOBER: FOO FIGHTERS "BEST OF YOU" (2005)

I would be remiss if I didn't include the Foo during ROCKTOBER. Dave Grohl is my rock hero. Here's the great video for 2005's "Best of You".



They just put out another album Echoes Silence Patience & Grace, and although it might not be their best, it predictably rocks. That's hard to come by on today's album charts.

There goes my hero, watch him as he goes.