The Monks, And A Sampling Of Other One-Album Wonders

by Marc Hirsh

Unless you're a weird-rock aficionado, it's likely that you've only heard of the Monks (if at all) if you shelled out the big bucks for Rhino Records' Nuggets boxed set from 1998. There, in the midst of all manner of garage bands trying their damnedest to ape the Rolling Stones and Yardbirds, was "Complication," a sonically aggressive, sloganeering, borderline fascistic stomp that sounded like nothing else on the collection's four discs.

It'd be hard to find four discs of anything that sounded like what the Monks were throwing down in 1966. The Monks -- five American servicemen stationed in Germany who helped pioneer the concept band by performing in robes and points-for-commitment tonsures -- couldn't pull it off themselves, folding after a single album.

But Black Monk Time (newly reissued) made the most of the Monks' one shot at glory. The beats anticipated the Stooges in their focused primitivism; Gary Burger's raspy tenor would have sounded amiable if he weren't so unsettlingly weird; the songs were built around bitter satire, cross-linguistic puns and, most disturbing of all, sex; and Dave Day's electric banjo was... wait, what?

Anyway, it was brilliant and fleeting. So what better way to toast the Monks' renewed availability than by celebrating the one-album wonder? Below, we honor those performers who were limited to a lone full-length release and took the opportunity to burn brightly before burning out. Or breaking up. Or vanishing. Or dying.

Note 1: This is not about releasing one good album during the course of the band's lifespan. It's about releasing one album, period. Accompanying the rerelease of Black Monk Time is a collection of unreleased Monks demos. Doesn't count. Nor do compilations of singles, B-sides, live performances or what have you. If it was put together after the fact to capitalize on an act's popularity or importance or continuing contractual obligation, it doesn't count. In terms of going into the studio for the purpose of recording and releasing a record, it starts and ends with one.

Note 2: This is not intended to be any kind of definitive list. It suffers from being limited by my own biases and tastes. So there's no claim that these are the best one-album wonders, only that one-album wonders exist, and these are some of them. I invite you to list your own favorites in the comments.

With that said, let's hear some music, after the jump...

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2:34 PM ET | 06-26-2009 | permalink

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Michael Jackson: The Moment That Made Him The King Of Pop

Michael Jackson: In May of 1983, the world saw him become a superstar. Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank

 

by Linda Holmes

I don't think there's ever been anyone harder to write about than Michael Jackson. On the one hand, he was brilliantly talented. On the other hand, he gave every appearance of having destroyed himself.

On the one hand, there were allegations about him that were horrifying. On the other hand, he did nonsense things that were hard not to find amusingly bizarre. (The chimp, and so forth.)

I'm not sure this is one where, in remembering his life, there's such a thing as "putting aside what he did offstage" — simply because his offstage life has so thoroughly dominated his performing career for so many years, in such powerful ways.

So for me, there is just this.

Jackson's performance of "Billie Jean" on Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, the 1983 television special, caught him precisely at the moment when he was at his most amazing, his most otherworldly in a good way, his most lithe and eye-popping and wonderfully alien. Still recognizably the kid who sang "The Love You Save," but recognizably something entirely new as well. It was six months after the release of Thriller.

For many, many people, this was the first opportunity they had to see this incarnation of him. This is where everyone I knew first saw the moonwalk, and if you weren't there or didn't watch it or maybe weren't a kid at the time, you cannot imagine what a big deal it was. I was in middle school, and I think we all tried it. You can hear the crowd scream when he does it here — it's not a scream of recognition, like it would be when he did it later. It's a scream of shock.

Before YouTube allowed people to actually relive a performance like this at will and en masse, this was the sort of thing that spread as legend more than as reality. Watch this, though, and you can see that it was entirely real:

Michael Jackson has occupied a unique space in American popular culture, which has deteriorated from the perfect, infectious pop the Jackson 5 made when he was a child, to the increasingly strange, seemingly miserable images of him that emerged in the last years of his life.

To a lot of people, he was everything terrible about celebrity, but to a lot of other people — or perhaps to many of the same people — he was everything good about the summer of 1983.

If it's ever not made sense to you what the big deal was, this is what the big deal was. This performance, in May 1983, was, in its time, probably almost as significant as the Beatles on Ed Sullivan.

A lot of this stuff — all this regrettable, awful stuff with him over the last 20 years or so, and the continuing fascination with it, has roots in this moment.

6:32 PM ET | 06-25-2009 | permalink

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Your Best Live Experience: Of Tiny Desks And Fine Evenings

The Avett Brothers: This is what they looked like at Coachella in 2007; they were a little cozier in the NPR offices. Karl Walter/Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

I'm never sure whether to assume those of you who make it here are also keeping up with the goings-on at NPR Music, but if you're not tuning in to the Tiny Desk Concert series, I feel compelled to make sure you don't miss it.

The way Tiny Desk Concerts work is that a band comes in to the NPR offices and plays at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen. That's it -- a band and Bob's desk and a few songs. (It's maybe the single most profoundly NPR-ian thing that has ever been invented.)

They've recently posted a performance by The Avett Brothers, which I happened to be in the office to see live -- from my prime spot about three feet from the cellist's elbow.

I can honestly tell you that it was one of the greatest things I've ever seen live. It's hard to explain the visceral effect of a fantastic band that is not separated from you by amplifiers. And it made me think of the other performance I usually describe this way, which was a December 2007 show from The Swell Season, fresh off the success of Once, at the Beacon Theater in New York.

Guitars with holes, and a question for you, after the jump...

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1:31 PM ET | 06-22-2009 | permalink

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Meet 'Weird Al' Yankovic, Stealth Pop Musicologist

by Marc Hirsh

Behold, the video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's latest single "Craigslist," which hit the Internet in the past week. It's already inspired Michael Ian Black (of The State, Stella and Pets.com fame) to write an eloquent and dead-on post about how and why Yankovic has endured for three decades now. (Short version: he was never cool, which insulated him from the ravages of time and shifting trends.)

Yankovic, of course, is best known for song parodies like "Eat It," "Smells Like Nirvana," "Like A Surgeon" and "White And Nerdy." It's his m.o. of rewriting the lyrics to popular songs into paeans to junk culture (and junk food) that once caused rock critic Robert Christgau to refer to him as Mad Magazine for the ears.

"Craigslist," on the other hand, is the type of song he typically gets less credit for, where he takes on not a specific song but an artist's style (in case you missed it, it's the Doors). And it marks the latest appearance of a fellow I like to call Weird Al, Stealth Pop Musicologist.

More from Weird Al, SPM, after the jump...

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10:41 AM ET | 06-18-2009 | permalink

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Let Us Allow The Word 'Cougar' To Die Instantly And Painfully

Mythical species: If seeing what's attractive about Adam Lambert is what it takes to be a cougar, then cougars don't exist. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

It was this Newsweek piece, entitled "Why Cougars Crave 'Idol' Runner-Up Adam Lambert," that finally broke me.

It is time for the word "cougar" to go, preferably instantly.

The Newsweek writer, Joan Raymond, spends paragraph upon paragraph explaining why she and her "cougar court" spent an American Idol season sweating over the heavily hyped, extremely popular, out-without-having-ever-been-in Lambert. How could this be? How could it possibly be that they, as non-teenagers, could be interested in an American Idol who, at 27 years old, was young enough to be ... their nephew, if they had a significantly older sister?

When I first heard it, "cougar" was a crude slam; I think I first noticed it on the "Aldrin Justice" episode of How I Met Your Mother, which aired in October 2006, though this ABC story was chatting it up in 2005, and it surely is much older than that.

But interestingly, as the ABC story notes, it began as a putdown — a term of ridicule for older women who went home from bars with "whoever was left."

We could go through the sexual politics, the cultural baggage that comes with older men and younger women vs. younger men and older women. We could explain why seeing women gleefully referring to themselves the same way Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) did on How I Met Your Mother is kind of disheartening.

But really, it's not necessary. The term "cougar" can be easily retired, simply on the grounds that it's so stupid.

Crazy fans, too many sex therapists, and never calling yourself "punk rock," after the jump...

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9:08 AM ET | 06-12-2009 | permalink

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A Blog Supreme, And Why Not To Fear The Jazz People

The piano: You know, they use it in music, which is good for times when your favorite shows are in reruns. (Just kidding!) iStockphoto.com

 

by Linda Holmes

As NPR's collection of culture-related blogs continues to grow, I wanted to make sure you had all had a chance to see A Blog Supreme, the new project from NPR Jazz.

"Jazz? But...but I like television! They won't like me or want to be my friends!"

No, seriously. It's not that kind of jazz blog, I promise.

They're trying, in part, to do some of the same stuff we're doing here, which is to find ways to harness the power of the enthusiast without the occasional insularity that fans can demonstrate. Furthermore, if you liked talking about Pixar and girls, you'll love talking about women and jazz.

(And do not miss the awesome post about naming the blog, which I love dearly, because oh goodness, oh gracious, have I ever been there.)

If you're wondering whether you're going to encounter a solid wall of...I don't know, snapping hipsters or whatever the least pleasant and most silly stereotype of inhospitable jazz fans might look like, consider this passage from blog big cheese Patrick Jarenwattananon:

Educate as we might, jazz audiences will never be comprised of only highly-trained musician-types. So much of the barrier to entry of jazz is a perception that it requires a foundation of history and music theory to appreciate at any level -- a perception no doubt bolstered by the behaviors of typical jazz nerds (who have historically been male). Teaching more and more people jazz literacy will help, but more importantly, jazz needs to find a public tone of voice which informs but doesn't intimidate its potential new audiences (female or otherwise). [Meta-Editorial: I'd like to think that's what we're trying to do here, albeit in too many words.]

In other words, they'd still like you to listen to some great music, even if you don't have the time (or perhaps even the inclination) to become a full-time student.

I feel exactly the same way about getting people to watch Wipeout. (Not really. I'm only kidding. Don't e-mail me!)

More importantly, it's well-written and interesting, and you have to admire any project that involves regular conversations where a guy educates his own boss. (I don't know why I haven't forced Trey to sit through some episodes of Dancing With The Stars. Next season!)

So check it out, and listen to good music, and don't forget me when you become a sophisticated snapping hipster.

9:54 AM ET | 06- 4-2009 | permalink

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Is This Significant?: Kylie Minogue Changes Her Tune

Kylie Minogue: A huge international star, she gave up on the U.S. a long time ago — until now. Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images

 

by Marc Hirsh

Not long ago, it was announced that Kylie Minogue will be embarking on a North American tour — the Australian pop singer's first in a career that stretches back to 1988, when her remake of "The Loco-Motion" hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In the 21 years since then, she's had a small handful of American hits and become a major gay icon. She'll play the United States and Canada for six scheduled shows starting Sept. 30.

So: Is this significant?

Why it is: Kylie is one of the biggest pop stars in the world. You know the world, right? Big place, located inconveniently outside U.S. borders? Yeah, Kylie's massive there. Like, Madonna huge. (Specifically, Madonna-10-years-ago huge.)

Plus, she more or less gave up on trying to break into the U.S. years ago, so an undertaking on this scale is something of a substantial policy shift for her. Not to mention a gift to Stateside fans who don't wish to shell out a thousand bucks or more to catch one of her legendarily lavish concerts overseas.

Why it isn't: Six dates doesn't sound like much of a tour. It sounds like six dates. And while her bookings at the Hollywood Bowl and Air Canada Centre stand to place her in front of nearly 20,000 fans at each, some of the other venues have a maximum capacity closer to 3,000. It's a safe bet that if Kylie were confident that she could pull it off on our shores, she'd aim for much larger venues all around.

As it is, it hardly looks like she can command the audiences she would if she were a Madonna-sized star in the U.S. Which, it bears repeating, she isn't.

The verdict? After the jump ...

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2:22 PM ET | 05-22-2009 | permalink

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Jason Robards, James Cagney And Metallica, Together At Last

by Marc Hirsh

If you're of a certain age and musical temperament, this week's DVD release of Dalton Trumbo's 1971 anti-war movie Johnny Got His Gun makes you think of one thing in particular, and that's Metallica's "One."

The film, which stars Timothy Bottoms and Jason Robards, is about a wounded World War I soldier whose mind is alive even as his injuries have turned him into a blind and deaf quadruple amputee with no way of communicating with the outside world.

The song, as metalheads and even the more pedestrian brand of rock nerds know, was inspired by the 1939 novel (also written by Trumbo), so much so that the band included scenes and dialogue from the film in the video.

Maybe "included" isn't the right word there: let's try "supersaturated." Even by the standards of the clip-heavy soundtrack videos of the 1980s (such as the Bangles' "Hazy Shade Of Winter" from Less Than Zero or Roxette's "It Must Have Been Love" from Pretty Woman), "One" was pretty extreme in its disregard for the boundaries between the video and the movie. So much so, in fact, that the casual MTV viewer of the time might have assumed that Johnny Got His Gun was in multiplexes right then.

Then again, of course it was extreme. It was freakin' Metallica. Even with Guns n' Roses having recently left most of the hair-metal pack in its wake the year before, there was nothing on standard-rotation MTV remotely as fast and heavy as this song.

I certainly hadn't heard anything like it before, even though I was familiar with the name Metallica through my metalhead friends. What's funny is that after I bought the cassette single (thus being on both the losing end of technological history and the winning end of musical history, as "One" became, amazingly enough, a top 40 hit), I always liked to pretend that it was the quote-unquote "folk" portions at the beginning of the song (yes, that's actually how I referred to them) that I loved.

But that was a lie.

The bond between movie and band, after the jump...

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11:36 AM ET | 04-29-2009 | permalink

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A Delightful Performance To Supercharge Your Afternoon

by Linda Holmes

Everything about this clip of the students of PS 22 singing "Eye Of The Tiger" is utterly delightful, starting with the fact that they think this song is really good, and in the context of this clip, it is really good. I also love to death the teacher's expression at the very end. Much of why people teach is right in that grin.

Not a Survivor fan? How about this, then?

Now, excuse me while I disappear down the rabbit hole of watching PS 22 videos. (Check out their Coldplay! Thrill to their Crowded House!)

Hat-tip to Vulture.

3:26 PM ET | 04-27-2009 | permalink

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Bon Iver's Justin Vernon Goes Back To High School Jazz Band

by Linda Holmes

As we have discussed before, Justin Vernon is the man behind Bon Iver, the Official Bearded Moody Wisconsin-Based Band of NPR Music. But that doesn't mean he doesn't enjoy a good jam with his high school jazz band.

That's right -- on Sunday night, Vernon headed back to Memorial High School in Eau Claire, Wis., to his one-time home: Jazz Ensemble I. In this all-too-short clip, he and the band perform "Since I Fell for You."

(Hat-tip to Stereogum.)

9:17 AM ET | 04-21-2009 | permalink

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How Do You Get To Carnegie Hall? YouTube, YouTube, YouTube

by Linda Holmes

Last night at Carnegie Hall, the YouTube Symphony Orchestra debuted under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, the music director of the San Francisco Symphony, who called the project "somewhere between a classical music summit conference, Scout Jamboree, with an element of speed dating."

For more about the development of the project, you can check out this March piece from All Things Considered.

Note that the group got a decent review from the New York Times, which admitted that it was "gimmicky" (file that under "stating the obvious") but also acknowledged that the group played "quite well," particularly given the short rehearsal time. In fact, Anthony Tommasini seemed mostly frustrated at not hearing a more straightforward concert from these talented folks who were rounded up via online auditions.

12:13 PM ET | 04-16-2009 | permalink

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Open Questions: What Song Should Retire From Montages?

by Linda Holmes

IFC has this up-to-date explanation of the overuse of just about every version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" to score everything from The West Wing to Watchmen.

But there are other offenders as well. I recall a moment in the late '90s when it appeared that just about everything was accompanied by Kate Bush singing "This Woman's Work." That whole business started here, in 1988, in a surprisingly sweet montage from the John Hughes film She's Having A Baby, for which the song was apparently written.

What would you nominate for the It's A Pretty Song, But Enough Already Hall Of Fame?

3:15 PM ET | 04- 7-2009 | permalink

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Amanda Palmer And The Complex Psychology Of (What Really Looked Like) The Perfect Prank

Amanda Palmer: She is either colluding with Pitchfork to pull a magnificent prank, or...she's not. AFP/Getty Images

 

Update: As explained in the comments, longtime readers of Amanda Palmer's blog had actually already heard of this project, so it apparently is real. You must admit, it's still pretty amazing timing. -- Linda Holmes

by Marc Hirsh

In an announcement dated yesterday, indie bellwether Pitchfork reported that Dresden Dolls singer Amanda Palmer will be involved in a high-school production of a play based on In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, the cult-classic Neutral Milk Hotel concept album driven in part by singer Jeff Mangum's fascination with Anne Frank.

(We'll let you digest that.)

Today, of course, is April 1, so it seems from the timing that the whole thing must be a hoax. Lexington High School even seems to have gotten in on it, with a listing on its Fine and Performing Arts Calendar of "Spring Play Performance" on the dates mentioned in the story. It has all the earmarks of a thoroughly planned April Fool's Day joke.

But it may be even better than that.

Tying ourselves into knots, after the jump...

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3:18 PM ET | 04- 1-2009 | permalink

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A Free Download You Won't Be Able To Keep Quiet About

Careful listening: With the volume turned all the way up -- that's the only way to listen to one of this week's free downloads from iTunes. iStockphoto.com

 

by Marc Hirsh

If you've never signed up for an account at the iTunes Store, now's the time, because among this week's standard handful of free songs, videos and audiobook excerpts is one of the landmark compositions of the Twentieth Century.

That's right: for a limited time, you can own your very own copy of John Cage's 4'33" for nothing. The timing's a little suspect -- it's not April 33 yet -- and the audiophiles will surely argue over whether Apple's proprietary file format captures the piece with the same warmth and fidelity of vinyl.

But whoever wrote the description really understands the true essence of Cage's work, and the passage from 0:23-0:29 is genuinely gripping if you'll allow it underneath your skin. (No, really.) (No. Really.) Because it's only the first movement, though, it feels like it's over before it starts, just as it rises to a harrowing climax starting at 1:35. For the rest, you'll have to pony up another $1.98. Well-played, iTunes.

12:18 PM ET | 03-31-2009 | permalink

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Your 'Send In The Clowns' Education Continues On YouTube

by Linda Holmes

If you missed NPR's fantastic "What Makes It Great" discussion of Stephen Sondheim's "Send In The Clowns," I encourage you to listen to it immediately.

And then enjoy the above clip in which Sondheim teaches a singer to perform "Send In The Clowns." It's just wonderful; he's terribly generous and likable, and the things he tells her are entirely relatable even to a non-expert, despite the fact that it's information being passed from a legendary composer to a trained singer. This is the first of two parts; the second, involving a very different singer, is after the jump.

Hat-tip to the always surprising and impishly smart Metafilter, which offers even more like this in this post.

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2:23 PM ET | 03-30-2009 | permalink

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Day 3.5 And Day 4 At SXSW: Spilling Beer In The Final Chapter

Late-night crowds: Two o'clock in the morning looks like this on Austin's 6th Street during South By Southwest. Nick Bischoff

 

by Elizabeth Nelson

We are driven back downtown, into the fray, leaving paradise for Oz. Not the "Wonderful City of." The prison. It is a chaotic, incoherent hell of people and wristbands and thundering Marshall Stacks.

We've been invited to a party hosted by a popular triumvirate of independent labels, co-hosted by You Tube. The club is insane. Ginormous. Labyrinthine. multi-level. Two-stages. Cacophonous. At all times, two bands are performing simultaneously at panic-inducing volume. It is impossible to determine if what we are hearing is a folk band or the sounds of jackhammers, drills and banshees tearing the place down.

Security intervenes, roosters crow, and what was lost is found, after the jump...

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8:53 AM ET | 03-24-2009 | permalink

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Day 3 At SXSW: How To Party

How to party: Revelry spills into the streets on a regular basis at South By Southwest. Nick Bischoff

 

by Elizabeth Nelson

Another early morning, another sweltering procession from hovel to downtown Austin. I tell Timothy I think we should "party," but I don't really know how. I need some indicator, a rabbit hole, perhaps a gateway drug of sorts.

Fortunately, strolling down 4th Street towards Red River, I receive just such a jarring slap to the senses, a harbinger of the reckless fun to come: A voluptuous woman in her fifties, standing in front of the convention center, fumbling with a pack of cigarettes, wearing a pair of stained acid-washed pants and nothing else. Her tattooed nipples heave in our general direction, beckoning us to follow her and find our bliss. Oh Mermaid! I will do thy bidding.

And should this clarion call not have been enough to lead us into bosom of temptation, our mission is crystallized shortly thereafter when we see our friend and NPR Music editor Stephen Thompson, weathered, resolute, storm-tossed, in the middle of the 6th Street sea of humanity, equipment strapped to his chest and microphone in hand, recording sounds of drunken revelry. I salute him as we walk past, but he will not acknowledge us. Dedication!

And in a war, one needs like-minded confederates. Our strongest ally is Tim Quirk. Frontman of beloved alt-rockers Too Much Joy and now an executive at the burgeoning Viacom subsidiary Rhapsody, Tim says he's been to every SXSW since 1998, and the very fact that he is comfortable referring to the entire event as 'South By' confers legitimacy on his claims. We call him and secure our first high-stakes invitation to a SX day party. All that is left is for us to plot our coordinates, scope out the venue, and have our faces melted.

Navigating Austin, the power of cab drivers, and why people really attend this festival in the first place, after the jump...

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1:45 PM ET | 03-23-2009 | permalink

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Day 2 At SXSW: The Mechanics And Economics Of Access

Wristbands: At South By Southwest, it's all about who you know. Well, who your wrist is allowed to know, really. Elizabeth Nelson

 

by Elizabeth Nelson

Early on Day 2, we descend upon downtown Austin. It is very hot here, and our walk is a two-mile trail of tears. I pass the pawn shop/check-cashing place near the cottage and head towards 6th Street, towards the action. Dubious-looking entrepreneurs who stop us to "just ask a quick question" give way to shrugging, hung over, skinny kids with green or yellow bracelets hanging off of their bony wrists.

Civilization turns to havoc shortly thereafter, with city streets closed to car traffic and monitored by non-threatening-looking city police. It is here that I first peep an unkempt beard and plaid shirt worn by the non-homeless and a preponderance of low-cut jersey tank tops worn with little else besides a pair of slouchy boots. It is exactly like being on either the set of Pirates of the Caribbean or on the ride of the same name, take your pick. Yo, ho, indeed.

It is noon, and already, people are drinking. They are alternatingly appearing not to care about what is happening, listening intently, and vomiting on one another. Area businesses have cloistered themselves with high white tents to facilitate the hosting of 'day parties,' a SXSW phenomenon that tacitly encourages drinking at this early hour.

Guitars, drums, and dirty Rhodes sounds punctuate the air. Is it possible to just walk into a day party without any credentials? It is not. Timothy has informed me that we need to go and pick up his credentials. I have decided to forego obtaining credentials for populist reasons, but evidently, he needs them for one reason or another.

Full NPR coverage at NPR.org/sxsw. Plus: the magic of credentials and the price of admission, after the jump...

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4:30 PM ET | 03-19-2009 | permalink

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Day 1 At SXSW: In Which Getting There Is, With Any Luck, Not Actually Half The Fun

Rock Band, indeed: These "partygoers" are rocking out playing Rock Band at the MTV And Rock Band Official Showcase at the South By Southwest music festival. Our correspondent is emphatically not doing this. Sasha Haagenson/Getty Images

 

by Elizabeth Nelson

Today is a travel day. A crying day.

Nine hours by train and plane to Austin with Timothy, my fiancé (who is accompanying me to play with a band) -- the sort of madcap itinerary that could only be devised by dint of late planning, "sky miles," and a broken pledge to never again book tickets following the consumption of a third vodka-filled "Health Smoothie." Why travel by train from Brooklyn to Baltimore-Washington International Airport in order to get to Texas? Well, I'm no travel agent.

Why do you think I am going to the SXSW festival for the first time ever this year? Am I performing in a rock band? No. Am I a music enthusiast anxious to marinate in the burgeoning talents of some promising and ascendant independent music favorites? Well, it's not that either. To be completely honest, I've had an incredibly hard time enjoying anything pertaining to popular music since Prince 'solved' the Problem of Excellence with his transcendent halftime performance at the Super Bowl a couple years back.

Full NPR coverage at NPR.org/sxsw. Plus: the real reason for attending the festival, and the hazards of air travel, after the jump...

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4:03 PM ET | 03-19-2009 | permalink

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From The Department Of Good News: Studying Music Changes Your Brain

Music and the brain: Research says studying music literally expands a child's mind. Now, go practice! iStockphoto.com

 

by Linda Holmes

It may not be good news for kids who don't want to experience a forced march to piano lessons, but it is good news for those who like to believe that skill in the arts can be acquired and does not entirely have to be foisted upon you by an accident of birth.

British researchers have found that areas of the brain related to auditory and motor skills grew in six-year-olds who studied music for 15 months, and not in those who didn't.

It's no secret that school arts programs are eternally imperiled, but it will be interesting to see what it contributes to that debate to have better evidence that, particularly for kids who can't afford private lessons, a lack of exposure to music in school may literally make for a smaller mind.

12:30 PM ET | 03-16-2009 | permalink

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Afternoon Lull-Buster: The Shangri-Las

by Linda Holmes

Some combination of looking around for that clip of "The Letter" yesterday and looking around at talk-show buffoonery has managed to land me, twice in the last two days, on clips of this afternoon's lull-buster: the Shangri-Las. It's a perfect example of one of the Internet's most wonderful hazards: the tangent that eats an hour.

If you aren't familiar with them (poor you!), the Shangri-Las were a '60s girl group best known for a series of songs that were mostly about teenagers dying in car crashes, often after being oppressed by their parents in some horrible manner or another. That's them up top, introduced by Steve Allen and singing to Robert Goulet, who's camping it up as Jimmy, who comes to a bad end in "Leader Of The Pack."

Other delights, after the jump...

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5:14 PM ET | 03- 3-2009 | permalink

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Michael Jackson Threatens A Series Of Comeback Concerts

Michael Jackson: It's like he's not even back yet, and we already have the fatigue. Dave Hogan/Getty Images Entertainment

 

by Linda Holmes

So it appears that Michael Jackson may be preparing to come back. In a series of concerts.

I don't think I can take a Michael Jackson comeback. Not as a music consumer, but as a comedy-product consumer. I cannot take the return of Michael Jackson to late-night monologues, The Onion, or, quite frankly, the entire Internet.

If this plays out as anticipated, all that's going to happen is that he's going to show up in public with the zoo animals and the oxygen tanks and the...whatever, Jedi costume, and there will be pictures of him in magazines where he's in a nun's habit, walking an ocelot and carrying a watering can, and then his nose will fall off during a charity benefit, and he'll make some weird new best friend like Joe The Plumber or Miley Cyrus, and we'll all be back on the Michael Jackson Express Train To Weirdsville, and I cannot take it.

12:28 PM ET | 03- 3-2009 | permalink

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Kanye West, The Edited Version

by Linda Holmes

Kanye West is a powerful performer and kind of a fascinating guy -- it's not for nothing that he's won twelve -- yes, twelve -- Grammy Awards. Tomorrow night, he brings his act to VH1's Storytellers, long a showcase for singer-songwriters. Based on the clip above, it may well be a fine show, but it's currently being eclipsed by controversy over what you're not going to see.

According to Reuters, you won't see either an airing of grievances about Radiohead's Thom Yorke or -- more interestingly -- a statement that the public should give singer Chris Brown "a break."

Brown is currently the subject of one of the ugliest public investigations in recent memory, and West's comments are likely the most headline-friendly aspect of the entire show. But you won't see them; they were cut along with the Yorke business.

Bill Flanagan, the show's executive producer, says that this is all perfectly normal as part of the process of editing a much longer performance down to what's usually a one-hour show -- but has been extended in West's case to 90 minutes. The idea, Flanagan says, is to encourage people to "keep talking" on stage, in return for which the show agrees to "eliminate any 'gotcha' moments."

That seems like a dangerous bargain, doesn't it?

The scratching of backs, after the jump...

Continue reading "Kanye West, The Edited Version" »

10:21 AM ET | 02-27-2009 | permalink

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The Ticketmaster/Live Nation Merger Already Has Powerful Enemies

Bruce Springsteen: Antitrust regulators are one thing, but the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger is up against this guy, too. Jamie Squire/Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

The big news in enormous corporate entities eating each other is that Live Nation and Ticketmaster have announced their plans to merge, meaning that instead of two giant entities in charge of most ticket sales for high-profile live shows, you'll have one.

New York Sen. Charles Schumer has already announced his displeasure with the deal, which he says would "give a giant, new entity unrivaled power over concert-goers and the prices they pay." As a matter of fact, shares of both companies fell after the announcement, apparently because many believe the merger is going to be squelched on antitrust grounds before any such "unrivaled power" can be unleashed.

One notable non-fan of the merger is Bruce Springsteen, who had a high-profile dispute with Ticketmaster last week after ticket buyers were automatically redirected from the Ticketmaster site to a Ticketmaster-owned subsidiary that resells tickets for substantially more than face value.

After that happened, Springsteen issued a letter to his fans expressing outrage about the incident and condemning Ticketmaster's actions -- for which they later apologized -- but he said something else too.

As Rolling Stone points out, Springsteen also took pains to mention, while the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger hadn't even been announced yet, that such a merger, and the single ticketing system it would create, would be "the one thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan than it is now." Ouch.

1:24 PM ET | 02-10-2009 | permalink

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Couch-Potato-ing The Grammys With NPR Music's Stephen Thompson

by Linda Holmes

In the (undoubtedly endless) chat below, please join me and NPR Music editor Stephen Thompson of NPR Music as we discuss the Grammy telecast from the comfort of our respective couches. We'll update from time to time, as fast as my typing fingers will carry us. (We don't actually speak live, lest one of us blurt out his or her Social Security number.)

Beginning at eight, we will share our knowledge, lack of knowledge, and feeling that we are too old for the Grammys. Or possibly too young. Depending entirely on the nomination in question. Join us, beginning as soon after eight as I post our first string of outbursts.

The outbursts begin after the jump...

Continue reading "Couch-Potato-ing The Grammys With NPR Music's Stephen Thompson" »

7:49 PM ET | 02- 8-2009 | permalink

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Live Tweeting The Grammys

Join Mandalit del Barco as she tweets from the red carpet and from the press room of the 51st Grammy Awards.

5:55 PM ET | 02- 8-2009 | permalink

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The Grammys Give Polka Its Moment

Jimmy Sturr: Seen here accepting a Grammy in 2003, he's up again this year. Mark Mainz/Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

While reading a CNN story about polka megastar Jimmy Sturr and other lesser-known Grammy nominees, I noticed that the Grammys have made a change to their format this year that might allow you to enjoy some awards presentations you might otherwise miss.

It turns out that this year, the Grammys are streaming a "pre-telecast" that will allow winners of awards that don't make the prime-time TV spectacular -- polka awards, for instance -- to have a moment in which their fans can watch them be rewarded. Beginning at 4 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, you'll have the chance to catch a lot of very good musicians you've probably never heard of take home awards in, the site claims, more than 100 categories.

So if your tastes lie outside the realm of the three-and-a-half-hour (yipes) Sunday night show, you might still have a shot at toasting the folks you're rooting for the most.

And a special note: I'll be helping out with this year's Grammy coverage, collaborating with Stephen Thompson of NPR Music. Stephen will provide the in-depth knowledge of music; I will provide the set-ups for Stephen's punch lines regarding my lack of in-depth understanding of music. And we will both provide the comments that will provoke angry letters from someone's fans, if history is any guide. It will be fun! More details soon!

2:31 PM ET | 02- 5-2009 | permalink

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One Unnecessary Edit And Many Elegant Ones

by Marc Hirsh

In the "simple pleasures" column for the day, please enjoy this video from Oren Lavie. The technique on display isn't exactly new, but it's so smartly conceived and well-executed that it serves as a nice reminder that while technical innovation is all well and good, creativity and imagination still trump it.

It loses a point for the "edit" that occurs at the 2:37 point, which violates the reality that the rest of the video has worked so hard to establish. (So much so, in fact, that you'll note that I referred to it as an edit in a video that's nothing but edits.) But it gains that point back by the way the woman at the center of it all keep her eyes closed through the entire thing like the dream that it is.

11:59 AM ET | 02- 5-2009 | permalink

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The End Of Music

by Marc Hirsh

If you've listened to the radio at all in the last two weeks, chances are you've heard U2's "Get On Your Boots." (Many, many times, if your radio stations are anything like mine.) It's also entirely possible that at some point during the song, you may have found yourself singing "I'm on tenterhooks, ending in dirty looks..."

It's not the first song that has ganked Elvis Costello's "Pump It Up" for inspiration; any child of the late '80s can probably recall the Escape Club scoring a #1 hit with the soundalike "Wild, Wild West."

But even with a radically different instrumental track and a chorus that veers off completely, it's hard not to hear Costello's song in Bono's vocal. It's most obvious when you compare Costello's snarl "You wanna torture her, you wanna talk to her" with Bono yowling "I got a submarine, you got gasoline." Same rhythm, same inflection.

Why Coldplay has the right to roll its collective eyes, and some thoughts on why nobody minds lifting when Bono does it, after the jump...

Continue reading "The End Of Music" »

12:41 PM ET | 02- 3-2009 | permalink

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Good Morning: The Harmonica Dude

We're getting a late start this morning, but what goes with a late start better than an enormously entertaining harmonica video? Nothing, that's what. In the clip above, Buddy Greene explains that there is more to his instrument than "Oh, Susanna."

9:51 AM ET | 01-27-2009 | permalink

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Madonna Is Your Tour Champion

Madonna: This, surprisingly, is an almost-teenager's mother. But her Sticky & Sweet Tour hasn't lost a step, ticket-wise. Mauricio Lima/AFP/Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

The results are in from Pollstar magazine, and the highest-grossing concert tour of 2008 was Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour, which made more than $105 million. She's followed in the top ten by Celine Dion, the Eagles, Kenny Chesney, Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Diamond, Rascal Flatts, the Police, and Tina Turner.

It's like my entire high-school class time-traveled 20 years into the future and dominated the year in ticket sales, except that the only thing we had to listen to in the time machine was contemporary country radio (you know how that happens in parts of, like, Wisconsin), so we emerged liking everything we liked back then, plus Kenny Chesney and Rascal Flatts.

3:04 PM ET | 12-30-2008 | permalink

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Fear Of Jonases

Run for your life: What are the New York police worried about for New Year's Eve? The terrifying Jonas Brothers. Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

Today in adolescent menaces: People reports that the New York Police Department is very nervous about New Year's Eve in Times Square, because one of the performances on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve is the Jonas Brothers, the Disney-driven pop trio made up of (left to right in this photo) Tall Hair Jonas, Flat Hair Jonas, and Jonas Who Looks Like Tom Hanks In Bosom Buddies.

What could happen, after the jump...

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1:02 PM ET | 12-30-2008 | permalink

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"I Said, 'I Shot A Man In Reno.' Hello? Anyone?"

Johnny Cash: A new edition of a classic album has more to say about his performances at Folsom Prison than you may want to hear. Getty Images

 

by Marc Hirsh

As eagerly as music nerds await the release of collections like Johnny Cash's brand-new, probably-under-your-holiday-shrubbery-of-choice At Folsom Prison Legacy Edition, there's always a very real risk involved of shattering 40 years' worth of illusions. It's the same reason you don't look under the hood of a classic car you've always lusted after or take a gander at the inside of a sausage factory: sometimes it's just better to close your eyes and hang on to the myth.

That can be especially true of an album like At Folsom Prison, which for all its unimpeachable musical virtues owed much of its power to the combination of what was happening backstage (Cash's own career tailspin, which the original release effectively reversed) and in front of it (the release-valve rowdiness of the prison audience). But things look a little different once you open your eyes to a warts-and-all view of history. It turns out, there are warts. Let's look at some of the more surprising revelations to be found on the new two-CD/one-DVD set, which officially makes available the undoctored entirety of both concerts that Folsom hosted on January 13, 1968.

Spontaneity, sort of, after the jump...

Continue reading ""I Said, 'I Shot A Man In Reno.' Hello? Anyone?"" »

9:59 AM ET | 12-29-2008 | permalink

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'Everybody Knows A Turkey, Handsome Mr. Soul'

The MSNBC Test Pattern blog points today to an entry over at Snopes.com on misheard holiday lyrics.

I think Gael Cooper at MSNBC correctly identified "Get dressed, ye merry gentlemen" as probably the champ, but I also like "Strike the heart, enjoy the florist" and " Barney's the king of Israel."

8:43 AM ET | 12-23-2008 | permalink

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'Absolutely No Brown Ones': The Van Halen M&M Rider

Sorting candy: If you're a powerful enough band, you can get people to do it for you. iStockphoto.com

 

There's been a legend for many years that Van Halen used to have a concert rider (the document laying out requirements for everything from lighting and ticketing to backstage food for the band and crew) that required a supply of M&Ms with all the brown ones removed.

For years, The Smoking Gun has been publishing various concert riders from various bands, many of which are deeply hilarious. I enjoy Christina Aguilera's accidentally funny request for Flintstones vitamins, as well as the intentionally funny Foo Fighters rider that includes fabulous lines like, "Artist shall not be required to share dressing room with any other performer, except Supergrass, Oasis, or maybe Led Zeppelin." (Read the whole thing -- helpful red arrows point out the highlights.)

But they never had the Van Halen rider -- until now.

Thanks to the family of a concert promoter, the 1982 Van Halen concert rider has surfaced, and it does indeed ask for M&Ms with the caution, "ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES." The supposed justification is that it's a test -- if the promoter doesn't read the rider carefully, the presence of brown M&Ms is how you can tell. But of course, that doesn't change the fact that some low-paid underling winds up sorting through a pot of M&Ms to pick out the brown ones, which seems sort of...humiliating, whether it's a test of the promoter or not.

7:39 AM ET | 12-12-2008 | permalink

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How Mainstream Is NPR Music?

by Linda Holmes

If you like good music, good chatter, or vigorous nerd fights, you will surely enjoy the All Songs Considered show featuring NPR Music's 2008 Year In Review. It's a funny, lively discussion that will remind you of some of the best music of the year.

But how many people listen to that stuff? Last.fm, as it happens, has released its "Best Of 2008" lists, which aren't so much "best of" lists as "most listened to" lists. The way Last.fm works, its software (if you choose) can make a note of what you listen to on your computer, in order to improve its understanding of what you like. They can also use the data to come up with these aggregations of what artists, tracks, and albums people actually listened to the most in 2008. Not what they said they listened to, but what they actually listened to.

So how did Last.fm users line up with NPR Music? You can look for yourself, and you'll see that among Last.fm's top ten artists are Santogold, Fleet Foxes, MGMT, and -- yes -- Bon Iver, The Official Bearded Mountain Band Of NPR Music, all of whom got mentions in the piece. Bon Iver is also featured in the clip above, performing "Dance, Dance, Dance" with Lykke Li.

Among the top albums, in addition to those from the artists already mentioned, are the records from Coldplay and Death Cab For Cutie, which were sort of the NPR Music flag-wavers for more heavily played music that was still good.

All in all, not a bad alignment between what was good and what was popular, although Bob Boilen will have to wait a little longer for the inevitable resurgence of Sparks.

9:43 AM ET | 12- 9-2008 | permalink

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CNN Hates The Holidays

by Linda Holmes

Okay, that might be unfair. But not that unfair. CNN's report on the most annoying holiday songs is pretty grouchy.

As for me, I do not truck with people who hate "Jingle Bells." And I'm not sure I ever hear the Chipmunks anymore, except in the context of pieces about the least enjoyable holiday songs. If I did, I'd definitely vote for that.

For what it's worth, this is my current favorite holiday pop song: Barenaked Ladies' "Elf's Lament," in which we learn about bad labor conditions at the North Pole. What? Social justice is festive! On the record, they perform this with hokey crooner Michael Bublé, which makes it even more absurdly great.

So I'll throw the question out there: What's the most annoying song December inflicts upon you? Go.

10:59 PM ET | 12- 4-2008 | permalink

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Midweek Blah-Buster: Ben Folds

Ben Folds - "Such Great Heights" Hey, Play This. . . !

A room full of excitable nerds with acoustic guitars is never, never, never a bad idea. This video of Ben Folds covering the Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" has been kicking around for a couple of years now, beloved by random YouTube stumblers and email link-followers. There's a lot of love in that room.

Happy middle of the week.

6:27 PM ET | 12- 2-2008 | permalink

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Hey, Has Anybody Noticed That Taylor Swift Can't Sing?

by Marc Hirsh

It's a good time to be Taylor Swift, as if there's ever a bad time. Last Sunday, she won an American Music Award for Favorite Female Artist, Country Music, which should sit nicely alongside her awards for Top New Female Vocalist (Academy Of Country Music), Video Of The Year and Female Video Of The Year (CMT), Breakout Artist (Teen Choice) and last year's Horizon Award from the Country Music Association. She also currently has the #1 album in the country, with her sophomore release Fearless topping this week's Billboard 200 chart. Plus, of course, the cuteness and the perkiness and teenagerness and the used-to-date-a-Jonas-Brother of it all.

Continue reading "Hey, Has Anybody Noticed That Taylor Swift Can't Sing?" »

7:57 AM ET | 11-28-2008 | permalink

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Are These The 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time?

Rolling Stone asked members of a "blue-ribbon panel" to name their favorite vocalists, and from their responses, it compiled its list of the 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time. Top of the list? Aretha Franklin.

It's an interesting list, and provided you understand that it's not terribly broad (as commenters quickly noted, there are no great vocalists who sing primarily in other languages?), it makes a nice, compact collection of mighty vocalists.

Be warned: They show a "playlist" for each artist, and it's very nice that they went to the trouble of setting it up, but it isn't ordinary streaming -- it plays through the Rhapsody music service. Rhapsody will give you 25 free streams a month, but you have to install their software, so think of the playlist as a nice idea more than a functional add-on for the average surfer.

7:11 AM ET | 11-19-2008 | permalink

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Free Movie: 'Gandy Dancers'

That's a one-minute trailer for a remarkable thirty-minute film available through Folkstreams.net. The movie is called Gandy Dancers, and you can stream it live on your computer. (Another great thing to do instead of getting work done.) Gandy Dancers were railroad workers, almost exclusively African-American, who used music -- including spiritual, nonsensical, and raunchy songs -- to coordinate their track work. Long-retired workers not only explain how the whole thing worked to both practically synchronize movements and inspire very tired guys, but they demonstrate, as old men, what they did as young workers. It's about a half-hour long; watch it if you get the chance.

Hat-tip to Metafilter.

7:12 AM ET | 11-13-2008 | permalink

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Five (Plus One) Vintage Videos To Improve Your Inclement Wednesday

by Linda Holmes

If you're among the many people who miss the days when MTV showed videos all day instead of reruns of The Hills and My Super Sweet 16, you may be heartened by the launch of MTV Music, where you can go and choose from a fairly substantial library of videos to watch online. Contrary to some of the suggestions I've read, it certainly doesn't contain every video MTV ever showed -- more on that later -- but it includes some good ones, and certainly enough to perk up your Wednesday, if you're flagging. Up there is the 1983 "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" video where many folks first discovered the unusual Annie Lennox.

Four (plus one) more, after the jump...

Continue reading "Five (Plus One) Vintage Videos To Improve Your Inclement Wednesday" »

11:50 AM ET | 10-29-2008 | permalink

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'Disco Godfather': Remembering the Remarkable Rudy Ray Moore

Pimpin' it Godfather style: Rudy Ray Moore rocks the snakeskin-and-glitter-frames look. Getty Images

 

by John Ridley

Most of the obits for comedian Rudy Ray Moore, who passed away last Sunday at the age of 81, tended to note his extensive list of party albums, his penchant for working bluer than blue. They pointed out that Dolemite, his stage and film character, was an influence on any number of pimp- lovin' playas from Big Daddy Kane to Snoop Dogg.

But for those of you who've never heard of Rudy Ray Moore — and I'm guessing that's a lot of you — I'd like to recall none of that today.

Rather, in eulogizing the man, I'd like to remember his unforgettable 1979 film Disco Godfather.

Disco Godfather is one of the worst movies ever made. It also has a permanent home in my DVD collection. If you appreciate what Rudy was all about, you can't help but appreciate the film.

The allure of Disco Godfather explained, after the jump ...

Continue reading "'Disco Godfather': Remembering the Remarkable Rudy Ray Moore" »

1:01 PM ET | 10-22-2008 | permalink

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Speaking of Unlikely Collaborators: Gwen Stefani Meets the Soggy Bottom Boys

This uparallelled YouTube treasure just popped up on my Facebook page, courtesy of an actor I know. I've played it four times now, and I'm thinking my day will involve another six or seven listens, minimum:

Looks like it's been up on the Tubes for about a year and a half, in which time it's racked up a mere 103,000 plays. Surely it deserves better than that, no? I mean, who'd have thought to mash those two up?

-- Trey Graham

2:09 PM ET | 10-21-2008 | permalink

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Decoding the Rainbow With NPR Music's 'What Makes It Great'

Where you'll find her: Rob Kapilow charts a landscape of yearning in 'What Makes It Great.' Hulton Archive/Getty Images

 

by Trey Graham

Ever seen a movie? Ever listened to music? Then don't miss Rob Kapilow's super-smart, eye-poppingly revealing, hugely entertaining deconstruction of a movie song you probably think you know. (I don't really have to tell you which one, do I?)

It's part of What Makes It Great, a new from-the-archives series from the good people at NPR Music. Watch for new installments once a week; each one will go deep on a piece of truly unforgettable music, looking at what makes it work so well. (Fans of Performance Today will remember these commentaries as being part of that program back in the day.)

Now, I've gotta confess, I was dubious about Kapilow's opening argument here: "Five minutes from now, you are not gonna believe the meaning of these first two notes," he says, and yeah, I was skeptical.

What won me over, after the jump ...

Continue reading "Decoding the Rainbow With NPR Music's 'What Makes It Great'" »

11:48 AM ET | 10-15-2008 | permalink

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'Take On Me,' Taken Literally

by Linda Holmes

Almost as much fun as yesterday's round of recut movie trailers is today's literal music video. This is the then-state-of-the-art video for A-Ha's "Take On Me," rewritten so that you can follow the action a little more easily. Just watch it. It made my morning. Note that the video has some language in it that I'd classify as extremely mild, but depending on your location, you might still want headphones.

(Hat-tip to Best Week Ever via Buzzfeed.)

9:11 AM ET | 10- 8-2008 | permalink

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Bob Dylan, Taco Bell And NPR's Big CD-Release Event

Dylan: His latest, here, starting at midnight.

David Gahr

 

You could write a boring book — or a boring blog post, for that matter — about the countless ways the decline of the music industry has affected the way we listen to music. Record stores are disappearing, MP3 downloads are replacing CDs, piracy runs rampant, label mergers have consolidated artists' catalogs into ever fewer hands, and so on.

If that paragraph hasn't caused you to nod off like a herdsman bitten by a tsetse fly, perhaps you'll join me for a moment as I lament the decline of the CD release party, that wonderful byproduct of record stores that allows like-minded fans to gather in person and hear a much-anticipated album for the first time.

What any of this nonsense has to do with Bob Dylan, after the jump ...

Continue reading "Bob Dylan, Taco Bell And NPR's Big CD-Release Event" »

3:40 PM ET | 09-29-2008 | permalink

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Happiness Is Just A Thing Called [Your Product's Name Here]

The Pussycat Dolls: If their "brand-dropping" agency is to be believed, they'll sing your product's praises — for a fee, of course. So: What songs would you rewrite? Illustration, Alice Kreit. Photo: Getty Images

 

If you thought yesterday's post about product placement in television was impressive, wait until you hear about the emerging practice of this Wired product placement in song lyrics.

With this outstanding trend in mind, I present to you: Twenty Existing Songs That Would Be Much Better If They Were Rewritten To Be About Products.

1. "I Left My Heart In San Francisco's Finest Five-Star Hotel"

2. "Dr. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"

3. "You Light Up My Life-Savers"

4. "Shake Your Google"

5. "The Star-Bedazzled Banner"

The rest of the list, after the jump...

Continue reading "Happiness Is Just A Thing Called [Your Product's Name Here]" »

2:05 PM ET | 09-23-2008 | permalink

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Kat DeLuna Sings National Anthem; Patriotism Says 'Uncle'

Look, the national anthem is a hard song. It has a notoriously huge range, it's not particularly rhythmic, and right at the end, it does that la-and of the freeeee" thing to you that will just really cause pain to the unprepared.

Nevertheless, most people called upon to sing the national anthem on a public stage as prominent as the one Monday Night Football provides can be counted on to rehearse it enough that the experience doesn't wind up being ... too painful.

This is not always the case, however.

On Monday night, the anthem was performed by pop singer Kat DeLuna, who managed to hit enough sour notes that she was lustily booed by the crowd when the performance was over.

Granted, she made some choices about changing the mood of the song that not everyone would agree with. (A friend of mine commented, "I've always thought our national anthem needed more 'Unbreak My Heart.'")

But that really wasn't the problem.

The problem was the bad notes -- including the very last note, which is very, very bad indeed.

The good news? She's not lip-synching, anyway.

--Linda Holmes

10:10 AM ET | 09-17-2008 | permalink

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Billboard's All-Time Hot 100 Proves That We Are All Guilty

Billboard magazine has offered us all reason to despair: It has calculated the All-Time Hot 100, which is the magazine's attempt to explain what songs are the absolute hottest, the most hot, the tip-top hot songs of all time. (Well, "all time" since the Hot 100 started in 1958, which you'll notice mostly because a good chunk of the career of Elvis Presley is missing.)

This just in: I need to lie down, and so will you after you read this list.

No. 1 is "The Twist." Which...okay. It's "The Twist." I'm not offended. I don't know about putting it atop any all-time lists of hot songs, but if I were to get too wound up about it, it would sap some of the energy I will need to be outraged over the second-hottest song of all time, which is "Smooth."

Yes, "Smooth," that deathless collaboration between Santana and Mr. Matchbox Twenty himself, Rob Thomas.

Also among the Top 10: "How Do I Live," by LeAnn Rimes; Olivia Newton-John's "Physical," Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life," and -- yes, really -- "Macarena."

More bad news, after the jump ...

Continue reading "Billboard's All-Time Hot 100 Proves That We Are All Guilty" »

12:10 PM ET | 09-12-2008 | permalink

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Notes On the Cello (Or: Great Moments in Pop-Soul Strings)

Who's That Diva? You've heard her biggest hits. But there's at least one you should really listen to.

In today's Song of the Day, my office-mate Stephen Thompson celebrates a wistful little Laura Gibson tune, not least for what the Portland Cello Project does by adding its "army of cellos" to what had been a bare-bones original.

"There's something about the instrument's soft, rich tone that supplies a sort of intravenous warmth, adding shading and texture without overwhelming the arrangement," Stephen writes.

Which made me think: Best chart-topping string arrangement ever?

My answer, plus where to submit yours, after the jump...

Continue reading "Notes On the Cello (Or: Great Moments in Pop-Soul Strings)" »

2:04 PM ET | 08-28-2008 | permalink

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