What’s the deal with the drum sound in Van Halen’s “Jump”? Is it good? Does it serve the song/fit in with the production? Does anyone else feel like I do, whenever they hear “Jump” on the car radio? I always think, “That’s a weirdly unaffected drum sound! What’s the deal? Where are my drummer friends when I need them riding shotgun?”
Seriously, every time I hear this catchy VH song, not an entire verse goes by before I am reminded of how drums sound in a recording studio, at first playback, when the band has finished its take and loads in, with tremendous anticipation, to hear the engineer’s playback of the newly recorded rhythm track.
In honor of the great (and now stupidly frustratingly dead) Philip Seymour Hoffman, whose Instant Offense acting chops managed to raise even Almost Famous, one of the most grating, ass-kissing movies I’ve ever had the displeasure of sitting through, let us celebrate music critics, as portrayed on film.
Both real and fictional music critics appearing as characters in movies are eligible. Real critics playing themselves are eligible, but they must appear in a dramatic film, not as talking heads in an actual rock documentary. Critics appearing as themselves as talking heads in mockumentaries, however, are eligible for inclusion.
Since this is likely to be one of our more exclusive Last Man Standing competitions, multiple portrayals of the same critic are eligible, provided you specify a new film.
Got that? So, Lester Bangs, as portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman in Almost Famous is OFF the board, but I can think of at least 3 other critics who appear as movie characters. I’m sure you’ll think of more!
[NOTE: I dug up the 2009 interview Hoffman did with Terry Gross on Fresh Air that’s stuck with me through the years. Click here to listen. At the 20:30 mark, Hoffman starts talking about sports then addiction. I wanted to high five that guy at that point and still wish I could.]
A few music-related Super Bowl XLVIII prop bets to consider. I’m not an odds-maker, so I’ll leave it to you to help set the odds before making your picks…after the jump!
In this week’s Saturday Night Shut-In, a Super Bowl Eve extravaganza gets railroaded when your host and moderator goes there, to a place he wishes Madonna and all of us would never go, repeatedly saying a word he is truly opposed to saying, but saying it anyhow for a greater purpose. This episode, it goes without saying, is NOT SAFE FOR WORK. The show’s producers are not happy! Mr. Moderator offered the following statement after the show: “I apologize for straying from the best interests of my audience.”
Prior to an uncharacteristic detour from the fun, partying, and rock ‘n roll that characterizes Mr. Moderator’s interests, your host shares reflections on the life and death of Anna Gordy Gaye and some killer tunes!
A lot of XTC fans (not I) feel that Skylarking is the band’s album. There are many stories of Andy Partridge‘s frustrations with the heavy hand of producer Todd Rundgren. This interview with Todd on working with Laura Nyro is telling. Man, it’s got to be hard to put your work in the hands of an equally driven, iconoclastic producer. Good stuff all around!
For me, The Beatles’ rooftop performance from Let It Be is one of the most fascinating musical performances ever put to film. It’s not the “greatest” performance ever committed to film, or anything like that, but it’s like stumbling across the gods of Mount Olympus playing a pickup game of touch football on an open city lot. Just the still images of them playing live and in the studio on the cover for Let It Be resonate with me as deeply as they did when I first stared at them, as a kid.
