Foo Fighters, Wasting Light, and The Grammys

When Dave Grohl (wearing a Slayer t-shirt!) got up to give his Grammy acceptance speech and stated that "To me this award means a lot because it shows that the human element of music is what's important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that's the most important thing for people to do,” I couldn’t help but think back to Eddie Vedder’s acceptance speech for Pearl Jam’s winning of a Grammy for their track “Spin The Black Circle” several years ago. Eddie stated “I don’t know what this means” in reference to his band’s winning of a Grammy. There was a time that I would have agreed with Eddie. I myself wondered  just what winning a Grammy meant, especially since so many musicians that I really am not into win most of them. That time period extended from just about the time that I became interested in “alt” rock to just before Dave’s speech during the 2012 Grammys. (Well, not exactly…but it makes for a better story don’t you think?)

The Darkness Wins the Super Bowl (Ad Contest)

I am one of the Apple sheeple that the Samsung Galaxy Note commercial was dogging on, yet I simply loved this commercial, which ended up winning the Super Bowl of Ad Contests yesterday. Yeah, the Clint Eastwood one was great and powerful. The Seinfeld one succeeded in making me feel my age. (Jerry’s grey hair really struck a chord with me…), and the hilarious anti-Twilight Audi commercial pure genius. In fact, if I wasn’t writing this article for my music blog, then it would have probably won the Super Bowl of Ad Contests instead. It was Justin Hawkins though, and his crazy 70 rock/hair metal parody/tribute/revitalization band’s “I Believe In a Thing Called Love” power ballad, which is still potent (surprisingly) 8 years after it debuted, that really served as the perfect anthem for the perfect feel good commercial. I remember turning to some of my friends during the commercial and remarking how “The Darkness represents everything that is antithetical to my music tastes, but man I sure did enjoy that album.” So much in fact, that since I saw that commercial yesterday, that song has been stuck in my head, and that album has been cued up on my iPhone all day.

Eternal Descent

As some of you might have noticed, my other (and heretofore main) writing gig is for one of the best independent comic book review sites on the web, comicbookbin.com. My two recreational and literary passions are both comic books and music, and I’ve discovered that I have a great deal to say about both subjects. Everything that I have to say isn’t extremely profound or groundbreaking (most of the time), but from time to time I stumble across something that really inspires me to let loose, and the words just seem to flow and flow…and every once in a while I come across something that intelligently dabbles in both of my favorite pastimes. They are few and far between, but every once in a while I find a real gem of a project.

Evanescence: My Heart Is Broken (vs. My Immortal)

The Amy Lee Music Project AKA Evanescence AKA This Blogger’s Favorite Guilty Pleasure has released their second single off of their most recent album, Evanescence. It was a good choice as the album’s second single, and not just because it’s my favorite track off the album. “My Heart Is Broken” is the one song that Amy has released that is closest sonically and thematically to the sound of their first album Fallen. As I remarked in my review of the album itself, “My Heart Is Broken” is a classic example of the power of Amy’s voice to take rather melodramatic lyrics and sing them so convincingly that one can’t help but be caught up in the uplifting emotion that she is conveying (again, as melodramatic as it is). The video for the song is pretty good as well, even if it pales in comparison to the artistic value of “My Immortal’s” video.

20 Years of 1991: The Reissues

I wonder how my parent’s generation felt in the 1980s when all of their favorite albums were hitting their 20 year release date anniversaries? Honestly, I don’t remember there being a special 20^th anniversary re-release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. No, most members of my parents’ generation were far beyond their hippie days by the time the 1980s rolled around. Many of them probably wouldn’t have been particularly interested in a Beatles re-issue. They were too busy voting for Reagan, deregulating business, being the worst kind of greedy capitalist possible, and generally paving the way for Generation X’s own music revolution, as well as the Great Recession. There probably wasn’t a market for a 20^th Anniversary Re-Issued, Re-Mastered, and Re-Packaged Meet The Beatles. There does appear to be a market for Re-Issued and Re-Mastered Re-Releases of Achtung Baby (actually this one isn’t re-mastered), Gish, Siamese Dream, Ten, Vs., Vitalogy, and Nevermind though. Hmmm…maybe my parents’ generation figured out how to repackage our own (musical) rebellion and sell it back to us as well, kinda’ like they have with theirs, a la the Volkswagen Beetle.

TOOL (on Tour)

Mystagogues unite! There is no new album on the way, or at least no official word that there is or isn't, but Maynard and the gang have decided that the inter-dimensionally based, but extra-terrestrial, gods of the Golden Ratio and the Jungian Dark Calculus have deemed this the proper time to hit the road, even though Maynard doesn’t like traveling. Seriously though folks, if you’re any type of hard rock/art-metal fan then you really have to see Tool live at least once in your lifetime. The shows I’ve seen have been the equivalent of a good acid trip, acid not needed, and a mind expanding stoner trip, with no marijuana necessary. Tool often requires (or at least encourages) their fans to “Think for Yourself,” and the imagery, music, and non-abrasive (nor invasive) message that they promote during their shows really does inspire that type of thinking. Put aside all of the junk you’ve heard about Adam Jones being into occultism and black magic, and Maynard’s fascination with his dick. The sum of a Tool show (like the band itself) is obviously greater than its parts. Keeping with the band’s interest in mystic math and Pythagorean Theorems, much of Tool’s concert light show is based around the projection of diagrams, symbols, mathematical constructs, Fibonacci sequences, etc. For an example of a Fibonacci sequence in a Tool song check out this classic fan made video from youtube.com:

Pearl Jam Boring?

LA Weekly blogger Nicholas Pell recently posted an entry in the “West Coast Sound-Haterade” blog titled “Pearl Jam is The Most Boring Band in 20 Years.” In the blog-happy internet age, where everyone is a critic and self-published writer, one has to be either really good at what they do or really controversial in order to garner any attention. Blog entries that stoke the ire of a legion of one particular band or performer’s fans are a good way to drum up hits, and hits are what it’s all about. Dissing on one of the most popular rock bands of the past 20 years is definitely a way to make a name for ones’ self, especially if you’re writing for a big name site. Pell has done this at least twice now. Since declaring Lulu the Best Album of 2011 wasn’t enough, he went on to call Pearl Jam boring. The reasons Lulu is not the Best Album of 2011, if they’re not self-evident enough on their own, are fully explained here. Everyone is entitled to their opinion though, so please “allow me to retort.”