Congratulations Slave and Catrin!!!

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Of course, all this is offered by a man who's going to get in his truck and listen for the 40th time to the new AC/DC record so, in matters of music, YMMV, considerably.

I heard on the radio this morning that the new AC/DC album will probably sell 800,000 copies in its first week of release, given the first two days of sales. And it's only available at Wal-Mart. Apparently there were concerns that since one of the songs had already been illegally downloaded over a million times that the album wouldn't sell well, cuz really, who wants to go to Wal-Mart. The morning DJs speculated that the Guns 'n Roses album that comes out next month at Best Buy will probably sell around 1.2 millionish in the first week given the AC/DC numbers.

Both bands refuse to get involved with iTunes or other digital download sites, perfering instead to sell full albums.

And Sebby's been to Wal-Mart or Sam's Club recently.

[taxwonk]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

And Ice Cube, the writer of Straight Outta Compton, now makes main stream family comedies.

TM

I've heard one track off his new disc and it sounds like he still has the knowledge. He just also acquired the strength of Disney knowledge.

[greatwhitenorthchick]

Originally Posted by Atticus Grinch

That is all.

Oh, and Erasure's "The Innocents"? Released twenty years ago. Twenty. And so was "Straight Outta Compton."

I have trouble with the fact that my boyfriend was born two years after Duran Duran released Planet Earth.

[greatwhitenorthchick]

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan

the Guns 'n Roses album that comes out next month at Best Buy

What? Is this Chinese Democracy? I thought that was never going to happen. I told someone I was going to get remarried when Chinese Democracy came out becaues I thought it was like saying "when pigs fly". Please say you're joking. Alternatively, perhaps you'd like to go to California and tie the knot (sneak in before Prop 8).

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally Posted by greatwhitenorthchick

What? Is this Chinese Democracy? I thought that was never going to happen. I told someone I was going to get remarried when Chinese Democracy came out becaues I thought it was like saying "when pigs fly". Please say you're joking. Alternatively, perhaps you'd like to go to California and tie the knot (sneak in before Prop 8).

I think I'm free to get married before November 23. My boyfriend will surely understand.

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

Some think of it as the death of real hip hop.

Straight Outta Compton was a great album. Very entertaining. But look at what it did. Rap had gone from block parties/I can rock a party better than you to my neighborhood is better than yours to creative sampling and social consciousness to fake ass gang bangers on wax. And aside from some lyrical oriented rappers here and there from that point until now, that's almost all it's been about. Once the country (read: suburban white kids) could classify it as gang music and consume that stereotype in neat little packages, that is all the labels were interested in. Hell, if an artist wants to escape that mold, he better have his own fuckin' label.

So, it's a great album, but giving birth to modern rap isn't exactly something to be proud of.

TM

eta: I'm not overlooking the fact that Straight Outta Compton was actually a social commentary too. Fuck tha Police was a powerful song and it spoke to the hopelessness and futility of growing up poor, black and under the thumb of the police before hand held cameras became affordable. But rappers are still hiding behind that, "I write what I see/know" explanation. And for most of them, it's pure bullshit.

Yeah, it broke the ice for wannabe gangstas, but it I think it was a pretty radical statement for the time. "They have the authority to kill a minority. Fuck that shit, cuz I ain't the one, for a punk motherfucker with a badge and a gun." Or whatever the lyrics were.

Sebby, Express Yourself is a great tune, but it's pretty fucking funny to hear Dre clucking in disapproval at drug-using rappers, a couple of years before he comes stumbling out of the cheeba van with Snoop.

Lyrical-oriented rap still has a strong presence. Talib Kweli recently packed First Avenue at $25 a ticket. The Roots show no signs of slowing. I went to an outdoor concert during the RNC that had everyone from Billy Bragg to Mos Def, the fully reunited Pharcyde, and local rapper Atmosphere. There were a ton of people and Mos Def was worshipped like a god (although I could not help but think about the Stuff White People Like post on Mos Def). And Atmosphere has two sold out First Avenue shows next month. On a more underground tip, Murs just played back-to-back shows in Minneapolis, and I heard they were packed. And this is just off the top of my head about hip hop shows here in the last month and a half.

[greatwhitenorthchick]

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan

I think I'm free to get married before November 23. My boyfriend will surely understand.

Awesome!

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan

I heard on the radio this morning that the new AC/DC album will probably sell 800,000 copies in its first week of release, given the first two days of sales. And it's only available at Wal-Mart. Apparently there were concerns that since one of the songs had already been illegally downloaded over a million times that the album wouldn't sell well, cuz really, who wants to go to Wal-Mart. The morning DJs speculated that the Guns 'n Roses album that comes out next month at Best Buy will probably sell around 1.2 millionish in the first week given the AC/DC numbers.

Both bands refuse to get involved with iTunes or other digital download sites, perfering instead to sell full albums.

And Sebby's been to Wal-Mart or Sam's Club recently.

Wal Mart. The record is pretty remarkable in terms of commercial appeal. The sound on the thing is flawless and somehow the singer is once again able to stretch into those super-high ranges he had on Back in Black.

The song titles and lyrics are predictably idiotic, but as always, the riffs are infectious and the drum/bass click as well as Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman ever did.

I think Radiohead and the Beatles also refuse to do Itunes.

It's not a bad business model. Currently AC/DC and the Beatles are two of the top five selling bands in history, worldwide. Makes sense for certain groups. I couldn't imagine buying Abbey Road or OK Computer in bits and pieces. And I never liked the way the Zeppelin boxed set scattered bits of I and II over various discs. The songs on those records had a unique sound and stood together on albums much better than they stand apart as singles.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

Yeah, it broke the ice for wannabe gangstas, but it I think it was a pretty radical statement for the time. "They have the authority to kill a minority. Fuck that shit, cuz I ain't the one, for a punk motherfucker with a badge and a gun." Or whatever the lyrics were.

Sebby, Express Yourself is a great tune, but it's pretty fucking funny to hear Dre clucking in disapproval at drug-using rappers, a couple of years before he comes stumbling out of the cheeba van with Snoop.

Lyrical-oriented rap still has a strong presence. Talib Kweli recently packed First Avenue at $25 a ticket. The Roots show no signs of slowing. I went to an outdoor concert during the RNC that had everyone from Billy Bragg to Mos Def, the fully reunited Pharcyde, and local rapper Atmosphere. There were a ton of people and Mos Def was worshipped like a god (although I could not help but think about the Stuff White People Like post on Mos Def). And Atmosphere has two sold out First Avenue shows next month. On a more underground tip, Murs just played back-to-back shows in Minneapolis, and I heard they were packed. And this is just off the top of my head about hip hop shows here in the last month and a half.

Nice call. That is an embarrassing lyric considering The Chronic.

Connecting threads, a buddy of mine saw the Roots recently and said they did a wild version of "Immigrant Song." Their lead guitarist can seriously, seriously play. Guy said it was an phenomenal show, and this guy is a music freak.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

Straight Outta Compton was a great album. Very entertaining. But look at what it did. Rap had gone from block parties/I can rock a party better than you to my neighborhood is better than yours to creative sampling and social consciousness to fake ass gang bangers on wax. And aside from some lyrical oriented rappers here and there from that point until now, that's almost all it's been about. Once the country (read: suburban white kids) could classify it as gang music and consume that stereotype in neat little packages, that is all the labels were interested in.

I read this and think, you can't blame that album. If they hadn't discovered that there is more money to be made selling rap to suburban white kids, don't you think someone else would have?

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

Yeah, it broke the ice for wannabe gangstas, but it I think it was a pretty radical statement for the time. "They have the authority to kill a minority. Fuck that shit, cuz I ain't the one, for a punk motherfucker with a badge and a gun." Or whatever the lyrics were.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

Lyrical-oriented rap still has a strong presence.

I guess it depends on your definition of "strong presence." They don't move the units the crap does. I just wish they got some more shine.

TM

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

I read this and think, you can't blame that album. If they hadn't discovered that there is more money to be made selling rap to suburban white kids, don't you think someone else would have?

Sure I can. Just like I can credit De La Soul for opening the door to the craft of sampling different types of music (besides James Brown), political messages aside, I can fault NWA with ushering in an era of I'm-a-gangsta-look-at-my-bitch artists. Sure, someone else would have done it, but they made it popular.

TM

[pernsky no account]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

There were a ton of people and Mos Def was worshipped like a god (although I could not help but think about the Stuff White People Like post on Mos Def).

A big holler of Hippity-hop to you, old gent!

Querry: on that web site entry you corrrecty site aforesaidgoing, I had a bit of beef. when that site notes that "one of his songs become a white person wedding staple, Ms. Fat Booty", I am concerned. While this was my wedding song for my first bethrothal, i have not heard it again, although I do frequently hear "Miss New Booty" by Bubba Sparxxx at many of the white guy weddings I attend. Clarification?

[notcasesensitive]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

Agreed.

I guess it depends on your definition of "strong presence." They don't move the units the crap does. I just wish they got some more shine.

TM

I happened to see a Carlo Mencia bit the other day that was pretty funny (and I rarely find him funny) about mainstream rap and the overuse of the *n* word by everyone except Eminem and how he acts all tough and cool but he knows the rules and you'd never catch him saying that word, though it is probably said around him constantly. You probably had to be there (as with most stand up), but it was kind of funny to hear him impersonate [air quotes]Slim Shadey[/air quotes] being all:

"my wife is a slut and I tied that bitch up and I threw her in the trunk and drove her off a bridge" "what? no I can't possibly say THAT"

[dtb]

I am sitting outside the music classroom at my son's school where some girl is having a piano lesson.

The song she is learning is the tune to which the following is sung:

• Zeta Chi,
  Zeta Chi, my friend
  'Neath the elms we sing our tones
  We're brothers to the end
  
  Muffy in the bathroom stall
  Margaret by the lake
  Susan down in Whitsley Hall
  Constance on the make
  
  Constance Fry,
  Constance Fry,
  Anytime you'd call
  Constance would fulfill your needs,
  Winter, Spring, or Fall.

That has to be the tune to something else, right?