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.
“Blackbird” came on Pandora “radio” the other night, as my wife and I drove home from a long road trip to Central Pennsylvania. I cringed. I’d just cringed for the previous song, an REM song, I believe. For my wife, this second cringe was one cringe too many. “What’s your problem with this song?” she made the mistake of asking, as I reached for the SKIP button. In an extraordinarily rare moment of compassion and maturity I left my answer at, “I don’t know, that’s one of my least-favorite Beatles songs.”
Of course I know exactly why this essentially solo, fingerpicking, tender love song by McCartney ranks among my 5 Least Favorite Beatles Songs (excluding throwaways like “Wild Honey Pie,” which aren’t worth ranking): It makes me feel inadequate.
Somewhere on YouTube there’s a person who wrote the following comment following the posting of one of many Blood, Sweat & Tears‘ versions of my least favorite song in the world, Laura Nyro‘s composition “And When I Die”:
This is the song I told my family to play at my funeral—except my ‘One Child Born” is now “Four”
That’s kind of sweet that this person is thinking ahead. I have been too. Hear me out, Townspeople, and see that my family gets the word: This is the song I do NOT want played at my funeral!
Not this version:
Yeah, I’ll get in on the action, all right. It’s a shame the tuba player’s big moment had to appear between the hairy cheeks of David Clayton-Thomas.
Tonight a Townsman is taking his kids to see Foo Fighters. This will be the second time said Townsman, who will remain nameless until he outs himself, has seen “the Foos,” as he tells me The Kidz call ’em. He, like me, sees way less concerts than might be expected considering his encyclopedic knowledge of greatest hits albums and how opinionated—and right—he prides himself in being. We got to talking about it. Not counting cult and underground bands we’ve loved and seen multiple times (eg, Pere Ubu, Gang of Four, and Big Dipper, for myself), beside Elvis Costello it’s possible that neither of us has seen a national-level band more than one time. (By “national-level” I mean big enough to have been on commercial radio, have albums stocked in major chain stores, be big enough so that “regular people” at work are likely to know who you’re talking about if you bring them up in conversation.)
That’s right, he’s seen Nick Lowe twice, but the first time as an acoustic opener, so maybe that doesn’t count. I was supposed to go to that second show with him but had to stay home for, uh, security reasons. Tonight my Townsman friend will leave me in the dust, joining us tomorrow with what are likely to be spot-on comparisons between the two Foos’ shows he’ll have under his belt.
Can anyone beat my record of only having seen one national-level band more than one time? If not, what band have you seen the most times, not counting your friends’ bands or bands you’ve opened for? (I’ve seen Pere Ubu 6 or 7 times.)
Ian Anderson is just one of rock’s many practitioners of ka-raaay-zeeee eyes. Sometimes we like to believe our rock ‘n roll heroes are capable of actually peeling back society’s layers of civility and letting loose with just how ka-raay-zeeeee life is. Madness, I say! Anderson is one of many rock singers who have delivered on our expectations. What other lead singers come to mind who consistently roll out a pair of ka-raay-zeeeee eyes?
