What Song Would You Want Played at Your Funeral?

 Posted by
May 232010
 

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If you’re a little morbid, like me, or a lot morbid, like Jeff Conaway, maybe you’ve considered what song you’d like played at your funeral. Just a couple of weeks ago, for some reason, I began thinking about this. I’ve yet to reach a decision, but I may do so through this thread. How about you? Have you considered what song you would like played at your funeral?

I was at Citizens Bank Park last year, when legendary and beloved broadcaster Harry Kalas was memorialized. As his casket was led through a line of Phillies players and into the hearse, Simon and Garfunkle’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” was played. Kalas’ sons set it up, saying that it was his favorites on their old car 8-track player and the song their dad requested to have played when he died. I’m not a big Simon and Garfunkle fan or that song, but it was touching.

How do you want to touch your loved ones and admirers when you’re put to rest? Choose now so that the task of selecting your song is not left to Shawn Love!

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Rock Arcana: Speed Round Edition!

 Posted by
May 222010
 

I’d like to try something we’ve never done before, in a way we may have never attempted had we done so to this point.

I’m going to throw out a question concerning a piece of rock arcana or trivia. Once that question is answered, in the Comments, the person who answers that question can throw out a new question. Then the person who answers that new question can ask the next question. And so on.

If the answer to the question requires multiple responses, as my first question will, the answers can come in piecemeal with any Townsperson who has contributed to the final answer – only after the full answer has been provided – can pick up the next question.

Got me? Let’s go…after the jump! Continue reading »

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Overdue Record Review: Boston Spaceships, Zero to 99

 Posted by
May 212010
 

Crackin’ up.

Continuing with the prescribed listening order from Townsman Kpdexter, it’s time I catch up on my overdue record review of Boston Spaceships‘ third release of 2009, Zero to 99. The first few times I spun this album it was among my least-favorite of the batch of 2009 Pollard releases that my man sent me, but over time some of the things I initially perceived as impediments to my enjoyment of the album became points of entry.

Boston Spaceships, “Trashed Aircraft Baby”

Unlike the first two Ships (as hardcore fans call them) album, Brown Submarine and The Planets Are Blasted, Zero to 99 is less focused and a bit noisier, more like what I’d come to expect from a typical Guided By Voices album. The opening track, “Pluto the Skate,” is the kind of brief F-U that Pollard left behind on the first two Boston Spaceships albums. “Trashed Aircraft Baby” revives use of his beloved Radio Shack mic. What sounds like some cheap bobo bass straining the limits of an early ’80s model Peavy amp stomps all over “Psycho Is a Bad Boy.” As I got acquainted with this album after listening to the first two I found the tight-ass in me missing the Quality Control processes that helped those first two albums go down so easily.
Continue reading »

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Missheard Lyrics

 Posted by
May 192010
 

Little red fly.

Townswoman ladymisskirroyale raised the following question for discussion on The Main Stage. We may have had a thread or two related to this topic long ago, but there’s been lots of turnover since then, and lots of new Townspeople to add to the collective personal history of rock that is part of our mission. To that end, please do us one favor: keep your misheard lyrics personal, OK? Don’t copy entries out of some “There’s a Bathroom on the Right” book. Here’s what ladymiss wants to see discussed:

I see a post that needs to be done of misheard lyrics. Shall we start one? One of my favorites: My brother thinking that Wings‘ “Live and Let Die” actually says, “Little Red Guy.” Hmmm.

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Death Cab For Idiots?

 Posted by
May 192010
 

How well do you know the sound of a band you like? If I told you to check out the new song by Death Cab For Cutie, would you be interested to check out this link?

I don’t know how to disguise this video – so I’ll just tell you, it’s not DCFC – It’s a band called Velveteen. A blogger named Joe Berkowitz was fooled by another blogger who claimed to have a leak of the last DCFC album, Narrow Stairs. But in fact, aside from actually containing the single “I Will Possess Your Heart,” the “leak” actually was music by the band Velveteen.

Read here.

To Mr. Berkowitz’s credit, he does refer to himself as a “jackass,” and further, I certainly hear the similarity between DCFC and Velveteen. But then, he also goes on to say, “the rest of the album hit all major points on The Death Cab For Cutie Sound checklist.” Now does it? Does it really?

The writer’s byline is vague, but it’s my feeling that if he really thought this music was by Death Cab, then he has no business writing about music. Despite the similarities, he can’t hear the difference between the vocalists? What about the drumming? Death Cab’s drummer, to me, is very distinctive because he plays some very technical stuff and lays down a deep pocket, deeper than the casual listener might realize. But then, it says he’s an “assistant editor,” so for all I know, his gig is reading manuscripts from the slush pile for a publisher of romance novels.

This person listened to the wrong album for 16 months, and apparently thought it was great. Do you think you could listen to an album for that stretch of time, not realizing that you were actually listening to something else? Really, I want to know.

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Last Man Standing: Flagging Rock Bands That Release a Self-Referential Song to Aid in Reviving Their Brand

 Posted by
May 182010
 

This has been said before, but I’m pretty sure this will be our most challenging Last Man Standing competition yet! If you’ve never played before, the idea is to submit one entry at a time until no other answers to the LMS competition come to mind. The reason I feel this LMS will be the most challenging ever is because I can only think of 4 possible answers, 2 of which come from the same band. I’m pretty sure there are no more than 4 possible answers, but I’m also pretty sure that I’m wrong about this. Prove me wrong!

By the way, there are a couple of limitations. Only songs by ROCK artists will be accepted – no hip-hop artists, who are self-referential on 75% of their songs. Also, the song must come in the second half of the artists’ relevant years. The song “Bad Company,” by Bad Company, for instance, does not qualify, because it was one of their first singles.

Because there may be so few answers to this question, I will not kick off this thread with an entry, but I will give one clue regarding probably the best-known of these songs: although rock nerds would not rank it among the band’s top 20 songs, it’s become a staple of the band’s abbreviated sets for nationwide television performances and the like. Go!

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