What up gang?
In what was a bit of a strange battle, Heart get the victory with three votes to two. (Sue voted for the hummus song, which wasn't actually supposed to be an option.)
Here's the video for "These Dreams." Good shit.
Showing posts with label classic rock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label classic rock. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
These are guilty pleasures even for me: Heart v. Crime Mob
OK, before we get to the heavy shit, watch this.
You're welcome.
OK, onward.
So, I'm not big on the concept of "irony" or "guilty pleasures." I kind of feel like you should like something and totally own it or just leave it alone. As a result, I've been known to openly express my love for crap like pro-wrestling, Gossip Girl and movies the Ben Stiller remake of Starksky and Hutch.
That said, I do enjoy some things that are so totally inexplicable that "guilty pleasure" may be the only way to describe them.
The Main Event
In the red corner, from Seattle, Washington via Vancouver, BC, the greatest female-fronted rock band ever, HEART!
Heart were formed in Vancouver in the early '70s by sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson and a bunch of random Vietnam War draft dodgers. They took their name from a book by futurist and scuba diver Arthur C. Clarke. In 1976, they released their debut album Dreamboat Annie, which produced two hits, "Magic Man" and "Crazy on You." Both of these songs count as CanCon for CRTC purposes, which is why Q107 plays them about a million times a day.
In 1977, Jimmy Carter said the male members of Heart (along with hundreds of thousands of other draft dodgers) could come back to the States, causing the band to relocate back to Washington State.
To make up for lost time, the band released four albums in 1977 and '78, toured relentlessly, and had an extended legal battle with their Canadian label, Mushroom Records. By early 1979, most of the members not named "Wilson" had quit and Heart were pretty much on hiatus.
The Wilson sisters released two commercially unsuccessful albums in the 1982 and '83. In 1985, Heart re-emerged with their hard rock edges rounded off, making shiny pop-rock tunes, including "What About Love," "These Dreams," All I Want to Do" and, most importantly, the best power ballad of all-time, 1987's "Alone."
In the '90s, Heart went back to making hard rock, but their cred was already shot.
Here's the video for "Alone." I don't know why I like this song so much, I just do.
The Opposition
In the blue corner, from Ellenwood, Georgia, a group that pretty much takes every negative stereotype about rap music and lives up to it, CRIME MOB!
Crime Mob were formed in 2003 in DeKalb County, Georgia by high school friends Jay "MIG" Usher, Alphonce "Cyco Black" Smith, Brittany "Diamond" Carpenter, Christopher "Killa C" Henderson, Jonathan "Lil' Jay" Lewis, and Venetia "Princess" Lewis. In 2004, they released their self-titled debut album and produced three hit singles, "Knuck if You Buck," "Stillettos," and the oh-so-charming "I'll Beat Your Ass." All three songs were about fist fighting, as was most of the rest of the album. In Crime Mob's defense, the band's average at the time was 17.5, with Diamond being the baby at 16 and Lil' Jay being the Mob's senior citizen at 19.
Their second album, 2007's Hated On Mostly, came out a year after it was supposed to, and by the time it dropped, Crime Mob was down a member. Killa C was convicted of child molestation in early 2006, and then jailed for failing to register as a sex offender. The Mob really, really don't like to talk about this. Hated on Mostly was a more polished sounding record, and more importantly, the group had grown lyrically. Songs about mob violence were replaced by songs about sex. There was even, God forbid, something that verged on being a Cool J-esque rap ballad ("Circles"). It also had a song that sampled the theme from Conan ("On the Rise"), which is pretty fucking rad.
There's no denying that Crime Mob may be the most willfully ignorant rap group of all time. I'm not sure that anyone has done more to undermine the work done by "conscious" rappers than this group of barely post-adolescent Georgians. Maybe The Clipse, but even they have some pretty amazing word play. That said, either Crime Mob album is a guaranteed winner if you put it on at a party.
Here's the video for their first hit, "Knuck if You Buck." Check out the part where Princess compares herself to Saddam Hussein, Hitler and Osama bin Laden.
Comment to vote, votes due by Friday.
You're welcome.
OK, onward.
So, I'm not big on the concept of "irony" or "guilty pleasures." I kind of feel like you should like something and totally own it or just leave it alone. As a result, I've been known to openly express my love for crap like pro-wrestling, Gossip Girl and movies the Ben Stiller remake of Starksky and Hutch.
That said, I do enjoy some things that are so totally inexplicable that "guilty pleasure" may be the only way to describe them.
The Main Event
In the red corner, from Seattle, Washington via Vancouver, BC, the greatest female-fronted rock band ever, HEART!
Heart were formed in Vancouver in the early '70s by sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson and a bunch of random Vietnam War draft dodgers. They took their name from a book by futurist and scuba diver Arthur C. Clarke. In 1976, they released their debut album Dreamboat Annie, which produced two hits, "Magic Man" and "Crazy on You." Both of these songs count as CanCon for CRTC purposes, which is why Q107 plays them about a million times a day.
In 1977, Jimmy Carter said the male members of Heart (along with hundreds of thousands of other draft dodgers) could come back to the States, causing the band to relocate back to Washington State.
To make up for lost time, the band released four albums in 1977 and '78, toured relentlessly, and had an extended legal battle with their Canadian label, Mushroom Records. By early 1979, most of the members not named "Wilson" had quit and Heart were pretty much on hiatus.
The Wilson sisters released two commercially unsuccessful albums in the 1982 and '83. In 1985, Heart re-emerged with their hard rock edges rounded off, making shiny pop-rock tunes, including "What About Love," "These Dreams," All I Want to Do" and, most importantly, the best power ballad of all-time, 1987's "Alone."
In the '90s, Heart went back to making hard rock, but their cred was already shot.
Here's the video for "Alone." I don't know why I like this song so much, I just do.
The Opposition
In the blue corner, from Ellenwood, Georgia, a group that pretty much takes every negative stereotype about rap music and lives up to it, CRIME MOB!
Crime Mob were formed in 2003 in DeKalb County, Georgia by high school friends Jay "MIG" Usher, Alphonce "Cyco Black" Smith, Brittany "Diamond" Carpenter, Christopher "Killa C" Henderson, Jonathan "Lil' Jay" Lewis, and Venetia "Princess" Lewis. In 2004, they released their self-titled debut album and produced three hit singles, "Knuck if You Buck," "Stillettos," and the oh-so-charming "I'll Beat Your Ass." All three songs were about fist fighting, as was most of the rest of the album. In Crime Mob's defense, the band's average at the time was 17.5, with Diamond being the baby at 16 and Lil' Jay being the Mob's senior citizen at 19.
Their second album, 2007's Hated On Mostly, came out a year after it was supposed to, and by the time it dropped, Crime Mob was down a member. Killa C was convicted of child molestation in early 2006, and then jailed for failing to register as a sex offender. The Mob really, really don't like to talk about this. Hated on Mostly was a more polished sounding record, and more importantly, the group had grown lyrically. Songs about mob violence were replaced by songs about sex. There was even, God forbid, something that verged on being a Cool J-esque rap ballad ("Circles"). It also had a song that sampled the theme from Conan ("On the Rise"), which is pretty fucking rad.
There's no denying that Crime Mob may be the most willfully ignorant rap group of all time. I'm not sure that anyone has done more to undermine the work done by "conscious" rappers than this group of barely post-adolescent Georgians. Maybe The Clipse, but even they have some pretty amazing word play. That said, either Crime Mob album is a guaranteed winner if you put it on at a party.
Here's the video for their first hit, "Knuck if You Buck." Check out the part where Princess compares herself to Saddam Hussein, Hitler and Osama bin Laden.
Comment to vote, votes due by Friday.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Yeah, Sorry About That aka Comeback Videos: The Kinks vs. LL Cool J
Hey all, sorry I haven't been blogging in the last month.
To be honest, I got distracted by soccer. I was producing a daily soccer round up show during Euro 2008. I also kept holding out hope that the Turkish miracle would end with Tuncay Sanli lifting a trophy, but alas.
To celebrate my triumphant return, I figured some comeback videos would be in order.
The Contest
In the blue corner, from Queens, New York, don't call it a comeback, he's been here for years, LL COOOOOL J.
LL Cool J released his first album, Radio, when he was 17 years-old. As much as we all like to knock LL for being kind of soft in 2008, in 1985, Radio was considered a heavy-ass album. It was one of the first hip-hop albums to use pop song structure in hip-hop, contained the first hip-hop ballad and, along with other Def Jam artists like Run DMC and The Fat Boys, helped LL push old school, disco minded, "a-boogie-to-the-boogity-beat" rappers with elaborate stage shows and costume changes away from the forefront. Cool J and company dressed like kids in the hood and made albums built for boomboxes, not clubs. He was also the first rapper to appear on American Bandstand.
His next album, Bigger and Deffer, was another tight record. The first single, "I'm Bad," has the distinction of being the first rap single to contain the word "motherfucker," paving the way for thousands to follow. As a balance, it also contained what may be the sappiest ballad ever, "I Need Love."
His third album, Walking with a Panther, was heavy on ballads and pop-dance songs and very light on hood-credible songs like "Radio" and "I'm Bad." At a time when hip-hop was in the midst of two rising tides, West Coast gangsta rap and and "conscious" East Coast Native Tongues shit, the weak, poppy Panther got overlooked and dissed.
Eighteen months later, he set about trying to regain some of the fans he lost with Panther, he released Mama Said Knock You Out, featuring a totally reworked ballad-to-hard shit ratio with tracks like "The Boomin' System" and "To Da Break of Dawn," where he dissed Ice T, MC Hammer and Kool Moe Dee at the same time.
Here's the title track. You know it, you love it.
In the red corner, from London, England, with a fetish for transsexuals, The KINKS!
The Kinks were formed in London, England in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies and schoolmate Mick Avory. They took their name from their stage get-up, which consisted of leather capes and high boots (considered "kinky" in the '60s, or so I'm told.)
We in North America tend to think of them as a British Invasion band, far less important than the Stones, The Beatles and The Who, but a little more crucial than the Dave Clark Five. I would disagree, putting The Kinks ahead of all of these bands, if only because they were the inventors of what's now a great rock n' roll tradition, trashing your gear on stage.
The Kinks are also remarkable because they managed to be hugely popular in two separate time periods after a tremendous fall-off. The first period was from the early '60s through to the early '70s, bookended by the hits "You Really Got Me" and "Lola." They then spent most of the '70s making super-inaccessible rock operas.
In the late '70s, bands like The Jam and The Pretenders started to talk about The Kinks as a major influence, while Van Halen made a hit out of their cover of "You Really Got Me," allowing the Kinks to stage a comeback. They produced three hit albums between 1979 and 1984 and had their most commercially successful single ever, "Come Dancing."
In 1984, Avory and Dave Davies had it out once and for all, acknowledged that they'd been pissing each other off for over 20 years. Avory quit the band. The Davies Brothers and various plugs continued to record and tour for another 12 years, but never had another Top 40 hit.
This is the video for "Come Dancing."
If you've forgotten, comment to vote. Voting closes Friday. It's good to be back.
To be honest, I got distracted by soccer. I was producing a daily soccer round up show during Euro 2008. I also kept holding out hope that the Turkish miracle would end with Tuncay Sanli lifting a trophy, but alas.
To celebrate my triumphant return, I figured some comeback videos would be in order.
The Contest
In the blue corner, from Queens, New York, don't call it a comeback, he's been here for years, LL COOOOOL J.
LL Cool J released his first album, Radio, when he was 17 years-old. As much as we all like to knock LL for being kind of soft in 2008, in 1985, Radio was considered a heavy-ass album. It was one of the first hip-hop albums to use pop song structure in hip-hop, contained the first hip-hop ballad and, along with other Def Jam artists like Run DMC and The Fat Boys, helped LL push old school, disco minded, "a-boogie-to-the-boogity-beat" rappers with elaborate stage shows and costume changes away from the forefront. Cool J and company dressed like kids in the hood and made albums built for boomboxes, not clubs. He was also the first rapper to appear on American Bandstand.
His next album, Bigger and Deffer, was another tight record. The first single, "I'm Bad," has the distinction of being the first rap single to contain the word "motherfucker," paving the way for thousands to follow. As a balance, it also contained what may be the sappiest ballad ever, "I Need Love."
His third album, Walking with a Panther, was heavy on ballads and pop-dance songs and very light on hood-credible songs like "Radio" and "I'm Bad." At a time when hip-hop was in the midst of two rising tides, West Coast gangsta rap and and "conscious" East Coast Native Tongues shit, the weak, poppy Panther got overlooked and dissed.
Eighteen months later, he set about trying to regain some of the fans he lost with Panther, he released Mama Said Knock You Out, featuring a totally reworked ballad-to-hard shit ratio with tracks like "The Boomin' System" and "To Da Break of Dawn," where he dissed Ice T, MC Hammer and Kool Moe Dee at the same time.
Here's the title track. You know it, you love it.
In the red corner, from London, England, with a fetish for transsexuals, The KINKS!
The Kinks were formed in London, England in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies and schoolmate Mick Avory. They took their name from their stage get-up, which consisted of leather capes and high boots (considered "kinky" in the '60s, or so I'm told.)
We in North America tend to think of them as a British Invasion band, far less important than the Stones, The Beatles and The Who, but a little more crucial than the Dave Clark Five. I would disagree, putting The Kinks ahead of all of these bands, if only because they were the inventors of what's now a great rock n' roll tradition, trashing your gear on stage.
The Kinks are also remarkable because they managed to be hugely popular in two separate time periods after a tremendous fall-off. The first period was from the early '60s through to the early '70s, bookended by the hits "You Really Got Me" and "Lola." They then spent most of the '70s making super-inaccessible rock operas.
In the late '70s, bands like The Jam and The Pretenders started to talk about The Kinks as a major influence, while Van Halen made a hit out of their cover of "You Really Got Me," allowing the Kinks to stage a comeback. They produced three hit albums between 1979 and 1984 and had their most commercially successful single ever, "Come Dancing."
In 1984, Avory and Dave Davies had it out once and for all, acknowledged that they'd been pissing each other off for over 20 years. Avory quit the band. The Davies Brothers and various plugs continued to record and tour for another 12 years, but never had another Top 40 hit.
This is the video for "Come Dancing."
If you've forgotten, comment to vote. Voting closes Friday. It's good to be back.
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