Re: Go Rays!
 

Maybe God hates cheesesteak sandwiches...too...where have you been hiding you crazy sockbastard?!?! I missed you.

Question for Thurgreed
 

does this Bluedevil travel?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7DjZ...eature=related

Re: Facebook
 

I haven't seen it yet, but the clips I saw looked good. Not preachy, but (faux, of course) serious and questioning.

Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

That is all.

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

Re: Go Rays!
 

Maybe He does. But maybe He hates old people or artificial turf more. Or maybe I offended Him with my rash statement last night.

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

"You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge."

People will disagree, but I think that line was the moment modern rap started. Yeah, yeah, I know... "It Take a Nation of Millions," "Paid in Full"... etc...

None were as fun or daring as SAC. None are still on my Ipod. SAC is.

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

Street knowledge is stronger than book knowledge, eh?

Re: Go Rays!
 

It is entirely possible (and perhaps even probable) that God hates Philadelphia.

Re: Question for Thurgreed
 

Is that a trick question?

TM

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

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

TM

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

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.

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

One more note: The iPod is 7. It calls Madonna Mrs. Ciccone Ritchie. Or, "ohhhh, Mwale's mom, whoa."

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

I just love the sound, and the fact that, fake gangstas or not, they just said what they felt like saying. Nobody since the Pistols had so openly said "Fuck it" and did their own thing.

The music, though, was the thing. The opening cut has one of the greatest hooks I've ever heard. Sure, it's a simple loop (I think a sped-up version of a piece of "Funky Drummer"), but that heavy horn/guitar effect locked with that faster-than-most-rap-at-the-time beat made it almost sound like a standard rock song. One of the things I recall having an issue with early on in listening to rap is that most rappers sounded like they weren't fully connected to the music behind them. I don't know it was cheap mastering or bad mixing or whatever, but on SAC, it sounded like these guys were in the room with the people making the music. They sounded like a rock band. Hell "I Ain't Tha One" and "Express Yourself" could have been sung just as well as they were rapped. Of course, the Eazy-dominated tunes like "Dopeman" and "8 Ball" were old school and the connection between the rapper and the music was lacking, but the rest of the record... Hell, a punk band could cover most of it.

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.

Re: Congratulations Slave and Catrin!!!
 

I don't remember the question, but I'd be curious to know what the answer is.

Re: This guy says the horse can do.
 

You handled this post quite nicely, nicely, thank you.

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

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.

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

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.

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

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

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

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).

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

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

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

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.

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

Awesome!

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

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.

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

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.

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

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?

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

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

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

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

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

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?

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

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"

Naaaahhhh....
 

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?

Re: Naaaahhhh....
 

Burgerpedia says Aura Lee

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

He's crazy, but he ain't insane.

TM

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

I think it's a business model that only works for ancient bands that have a fan base that buys CDs.

You might not be able to buy Radiohead on iTunes, but you can certainly (legitimately) get Radiohead online.

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

What is the problem with iTunes from the band's perspective? Do they not pay the bands enough? Do they ask for too much control?

FWIW, I downloaded SOC this morning based on the discussion here and would have gotten the new AC/DC album as well if it were on iTunes. But I doubt I will trek to wallieworld just for one album, so I'll likely rip a friends copy after they buy it. Why doesn't AC/DC want my money?

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

I believe AC/DC has some exclusive with Verizon at least for this album. But more generally, some bands apparently want to sell only albums, not individual songs, and iTunes seems to discourage that (although there appear to be exceptions or, for Led Zeppelin, allowed to make one song "album only", but allow the others as singles).

Looks like AC/DC feels the same way.

ETA: Or read RT's post a couple pages up making the same point, but earlier.

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

One of my many rainy day projects is to go into the iTunes song information and reorder the tracks on the boxed sets into their original albums.

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

Sure, me too. But I see hip hop now as basically mirroring all pop music. There is a bunch a derivative, soulless crap that is in the Top 40 and sells a ton, and there is a bunch of stuff that is more critically acclaimed stuff that (for the most part) does not sell well but it much more to my liking. Just for fun, I went to Billboard.com and clicked on "Hot Rap Tracks." The Top 6 are by 1) T.I., 2) Lil Wayne Featuring Bobby Valentino & Kidd Kidd, 3) T.I. Featuring Rihanna, 4) The Game Featuring Lil Wayne, 5) Lil Wayne Featuring T-Pain, 6) Jay-Z & T.I. Featuring Kanye West & Lil Wayne. Other than Jay-Z and Kanye, I seriously know almost nothing about any of these artists, although I seem that they all seem to be friends, which is nice. I am just as likely to listen to this slice of the hip hop market as I am to listen to the latest Pink, Britney Spears, or Rihanna, which are in the top ten of the general Billboard Top 100.

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

Good day, fine sir! I've read your post and am as yet uncertain about the nature of the clarification you seek. Do forgive me if seem a bit dim today. I've been reading Billboard.com.

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

So AC/DC says they want to sell albums, not singles. That seems easy and it makes little sense that iTunes would deny this sort of control to acts that can sell enough to make it worthwhile. Set a bar and grant the power to any who make it over that bar. If the market doesn't want to pay for whole albums then the band suffers too.

But, Kid Rock complains that the royalty is not high enough. He points out that iTunes doesn't have all of the promotional expenses that a normal label does, so the royalty should be more than the royalty from a CD sale. Also a valid point, but nobody else can get his music on my ipod as a impulse purchase. (To be clear, there is no way Kid Rock would ever make it on in any case, but without iTunes it is even more unpossible.)

Both of these issues seem relatively minor. Is Apple really so stubborn that they can't get this sort of shit together?

Re: Madonna is 50. Five-oh.
 

If you've stated Kid Rock's argument correctly, then he is a socialist, or at least French. If Apple can get music to consumers for a lower cost, then shouldn't they be entitled to profit from those cost savings? If we operated on his principle, then iTunes would never have been developed, since they'd just pass along all their savings to artists.