I’ll leave it to his fans to fill us in on the greatness of this man: Scott Miller (Game Theory, The Loud Family) is dead. As much as I thought I should like his records, they never quite did it for me. But what does that matter? By all accounts he was beloved, respected, and marveled at for his musical talent by friends and fans. That’s not a bad legacy to leave.
Is the older woman next to Patti Smith carrying a picture of Sinead O’Connor?
The All-Star Jam is the place to do your thing.
Is there a particular part in a song that you like enough to wait through all the boring (or worse) bits? While flipping stations this morning I landed on a song I’ve never warmed up to, except for one part: U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” I have always liked the “How long, how long must we sing our song?” break enough to wait through the song’s annoying elements. (And I know I’m probably in a tiny minority of people who find this song annoying for the reasons I find it annoying.)
That song and the War album mark my initial drifting from my high school U2 fandom. The song is not terrible and there are always elements I like, but the open martial snare beat, swishy hi-hats, and the Celtic violins that punctuate the song always bugged me. I don’t like the production of War; to my ears it exposes the things I like least about the band’s rhythm section. For some reason, too, the production of Bono’s voice on “Sunday Bloody Sunday” made me feel for the first time that he was trying too hard to transcend his band’s humble music. These days, the wiser, kinder, gentler me has come to appreciate Bono’s abundance of pomp, but I still get the sense he’s milking me a little too hard on that song, at least until the “How long, how long must we sing our song?” break kicks in. That break delivers the goods in ways I was accustomed to the goods having been delivered on U2’s first 2 albums.
This morning, like most times that song has come on the radio, I stuck with “Sunday Bloody Sunday” in all its swishy, high-end hollowness so I could enjoy that break. How about you, what song has a specific part you like so much that you’ll tolerate the rest of the song for a few measures of glory?
Quitter!
It was 43 years ago yesterday that Paul McCartney‘s self-interview that accompanied the release of his first solo album effectively announced the beginning of the end of The Beatles.
Q: Do you foresee a time when Lennon-McCartney becomes an active songwriting partnership again?
A: No.
That was some way to announce the end of a band! Did Paul Weller make some self-important splash when he decided to end The Jam? Didn’t they put out an EP announcing the break up and coming farewell tour? A few songs into The Gift I’d already broken up with them.
I recall Little Richard and David Bowie each broke up with themselves in dramatic, once-and-for-all fashion a few times. What other artists staged memorable break ups?
We here in the Halls of Rock Town are sometimes taken to task for being overly negative, snarky, hyper-critical, and all too often, just downright rude. As part of our collective efforts to bring a bit of sunshine and light to the world wide web, we occasionally make an extra effort effort to find something good to say about, you know, stuff that is clearly godawful.
It is in that spirit that we embark on yet another effort to bring some positivity to our proceedings. Please spend some quality time with the video above, then—if you can—please find something nice to say about it. You’ll feel a whole lot better, I promise you.
I look forward to your comments. Just remember, if you can’t say anything nice about this video… please don’t say anything at all.
In honor of the newly late Margaret Thatcher, feel free to compile a list of songs about the late Prime Minister. Not being a very politically astute guy, I think I know enough to identify The English Beat‘s “Stand Down Margaret” as our first entry. Even I am aware of 2 other songs that will fit this bill.
I found many things “right” about this 1976 Fleetwood Mac performance of “Rhiannon,” which was passed along by a friend. I also found a few things annoyingly “wrong.” I’m curious to know where you stand on matters of right and wrong in this clip. Thank you.
