Receive an e-mail notification of new posts on this site:
|
|
|
Ramble On - Or How I Get Through This Life
Recently I was watching the movie Joe Dirt starring David Spade and it sent me down a nostalgic path regarding the beloved "mullet" hairstyle. For those in a coma since the 90s, is simply a haircut that is short in the front and long in the back. The style is strongly associated with the demographic most likely to attend a truck and tractor pull, wear a wife beater, drink a sixpack while reloading and driving a hand-painted Camaro. Billy Ray Cyrus in particular, helped the "Order of the Rednecks" claim the mullet as their signature hairstyle. More Mullet Madness
I digress... a little time spent revisiting photographs of 80’s bands, revealed that the mullet was once embraced by a higher echelon of society. Here is my list of some of my favorite performers who were a part of the Mulletia
[ Click here to read more ]
What makes a rock and roll rebel? Is it about challenging the rules, politically, sexually, and creatively? There is more to rock rebellion than just being an asshole, although sometimes that's part of the job. Many rebels are assholes, but only a tiny fraction of rock assholes are truly rebels. I salute the ill-mannered, the obnoxious, the unmanageable, and the absurd and I raise a toast to the rock heathens! I thumb my nose at the Rock and Roll assholes.
[ Click here to read more ]
Glam rock (also known as glitter rock), is a style of rock music, which initially surfaced in the post-hippie early 1970s. Although glam rock has been around in one form or another thru out the history of rock music, even up to the present. But in 1975 we saw the decline and death of this era of glam. The American Glam rock made less of a commercial impression and was largely confined to enclaves of fans in the cities of New York, Detroit, Cleveland and Los Angeles.
Glam fans usually referred as "glitter kids" and performers distinguished themselves with Sci fi or old Hollywood glamour. Often confused with hair metal, glam rock took its fans on a gender bending rollercoaster of theatrics. Musically it typically fairly simple, with crunchy guitar rock put across with outrageous theatricality. Most of the music was catchy, with melodies drawn from bubblegum pop and hip-shaking rhythms from early rock & roll. Lyrically, the genre's emphasis was most often centred on sexual matters, but drugs, science fiction and "teenage revolution" were also key subjects. However, the later bands of the glam rock genre tended to be more arty than the earlier band, producing a very diverse range of musical talent
[ Click here to read more ]
This past week I was traveling and listening to Gorgol Bordello Link to video and enjoying it a lot. As we drove I begin to think “What makes a band unique or unmistakable? Does unique mean one of a kind, so it is not possible for there to be degrees of uniqueness? In that case a band is either unique or not. Or maybe I needed to distinguish between unique and unmistakable. Eddie Vedder's voice is unmistakable, but Pearl Jam as a group isn’t really unique.” (There was more in this inner dialogue but won’t bore you with the details.) Do unique bands use instruments in unusual ways or just plain uses unusual instruments? Is it the fact there are no spin-off bands that sets them apart from other bands? I think there are a lot of bands that possess unique sounds, its just trying to find a band that has a listenable unique sound that is difficult To me it is their ability to do this and still remain original is what truly makes the band unique in my humble opinion. These bands may not be most people’s favorites but I enjoy them because they are in their own league.
I thought I would venture way off the beaten path with some of these recommendations of bands that might fit your criteria of unique or unmistakeable
[ Click here to read more ]
While the pressure to name an album isn't as great as naming a band, it's still there. The obvious move is to just pick the title of the strongest song of the album. Or if it's the band's first album (or not) they can just go the old self-titled route. They spent all that time on the band name, anyway--milk that sucker.
It's very difficult to say what makes a good album title and what makes a bad album title; there are really no criteria for it. It usually comes down to personal taste. Personally...the more clever the better I would say. Creativity goes a long way, however, as does an interesting story behind the naming of the album. Simply identifying albums by numbering albums certainly isn't good enough (sorry, Led Zeppelin). We've all seen album titles that we thought were clever, humorous, or just cool for whatever reason. Here are some of my favorites
[ Click here to read more ]
Today I was hanging out with a cage boxer who was discussing songs that he liked. For a 6 foot 4 inch tough guy with a six pack and skeleton tats, his taste in music was pretty sissy. Our conversation got me to thinking.
Here is my vote for 20 old school songs that paved the way for weiners everywhere:
[ Click here to read more ]
Today I was reading an article regarding Barbara Morgan an Idaho schoolteacher turned astronaut, will fly with six other astronauts to the international space station on the Endeavour. Morgan was selected as the backup candidate for the NASA Teacher in Space Program on July 19, 1985. and trained with Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger crew at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas. Following the Challenger accident, Morgan assumed the duties of Teacher in Space Designee. From March 1986 to July 1986, she worked with NASA, speaking to educational organizations throughout the country. In the fall of 1986, Morgan returned to Idaho to resume her teaching career as a second and third grade teacher at McCall-Donnelly Elementary. Here is the ABC news story regarding Ms. Morgan
ABC News
[ Click here to read more ]
I was cruising down the information highway and found a wonderful and funny article by Blender magazine.
10 Songs You Were Probably Conceived To (If You’re Between 25 and 35)
[ Click here to read more ]
I was watching the movie "This is Spinal Tap" for the umpteenth time and was thinking about bands that appeared in TV shows and movies and other bands that pretended to be real or who were spawned from other, slightly more real bands. After review I had to admit that some of these fake bands or acts are actually kickass, while others make me laugh or are just plain embarrassing.
1. Spinal Tap; "This is Spinal Tap
[ Click here to read more ]
We've heard a lot about what the Jews have contributed to science, literature, the fine arts--all the high brow stuff... but what about rock? The Jewish contribution to blues, folk, pop and rock music, and the influence of Judaism on these performers, musicians and songwriters has been substantial, but little publicized. Identifying as a Jew was considered bad for business back in the day.
Whatever it is, veteran Jewish rockers from the '60s and '70s -- observant or not -- are less reluctant today to discuss their Jewishness. Long-time record producer Brooks Arthur who began his career as the studio engineer on most of Neil Diamond's hit singles and more recently produced Adam Sandler's '`Chanukah Song'', observes that among Jews in the music business ''Your (Jewish) pride was more covert back then and now it's overt
[ Click here to read more ]
More Posts
311 Posts dating from April 2005
Email Subscription
Receive e-mail notifications of new posts on this blog:
Miswanderlust's Blogs
11891 Vote(s)
1037 Comment(s)
148 Post(s)
3331 Vote(s)
187 Comment(s)
39 Post(s)
|
|
|
Read More
Comments (8)
Add Comments
