Popmatters: Miley Cyrus and the Mainstreaming of Hipster Appropriation

Miley Cyrus and the Mainstreaming of Hipster Appropriation

For good or bad, Miley Cyrus' latest music video marks the final move for the hipster sub-culture (with its appropriated hip-hop imagery) into the mainstream.

Also: Ugh. What a piece of garbage.

The Daily Swarm - The Beach Boys Have Been Fired from The Beach Boys...

The Daily Swarm - The Beach Boys Have Been Fired from The Beach Boys...

I guess no job is secure in these tough economic times... Seriously though it might be time for Mr. Love to have his pills checked.

Blogto commenters prove once again that no one reads Blogto articles

Today's exhibit: Steely Dan shows how a rock band ages gracefully

I could spend all day picking apart the comments section of this article in particular, but it would make me unnecessarily angry, and hate all the people who live in my city.

So to be brief - it's obvious that the first and third commenters didn't read the article at all, since what they are saying makes no sense... the article says the exact opposite and is, in fact, agreeing with what they are saying. 

This is why I usually avoid reading comments on articles online, as it really pains me to be faced with the realization of something I already know - there are a lot of really stupid people out there walking around, driving cars, making food that I eat, etc, etc...

Time out for Astrology

Apparently, here in the 21st century, when we're sending spaceships into space and have devices in our pockets that can access the entirety of human knowledge at the press of a button, people still fucking believe in astrology!

I know, I know I could hardly believe it myself. Apparently some article came out telling people "facts" that were incompatible with their world view, and have resorted to saying things like "astrologists already knew that".

It's astonishing and depressing and baffling all at once.

Here's Carl Sagan debunking astrology more than thirty years ago, which is my segue into an excuse to post this track:



Seriously, if you haven't watched the documentary series Cosmos, do yourself a favour and check it out. You will never look at the world the same way again. My horoscope this morning said so.

Whoa

Cringe inducing video of Britney Spears performing... this is her "actual voice". You shouldn't believe that these pop stars can sing at the level that they do whilst running around the stage like chickens with their heads cut off, but come on...

Only in America...

Depeche Mode's Martin Gore subpoenaed in World of Warcraft lawsuit [The Guardian]

In one of this year's loonier lawsuits, Depeche Mode's Martin Gore has been subpoenaed by an American videogamer and asked to testify on the subject of "alienation".

Oh dear.

A most unwelcome return

Run for the hills, Creed is back. And with a song pompously titled 'Overcome', no less. Here's a sample of their lyrical gems:

Don’t cry victim to me
everything we are and used to be
is buried and gone

How can that be, when they sound exactly the fucking same as before? I think Scott Stapp is taking the Jesus-resurrection thing a bit too far.

Check out the video that looks like it was shot for the money they stole from their church collection plate:



And the 'Tube commenters couldn't be any dumber.
jstryker77 writes:

All I can say is...HOLY CRAP!
I am completely blown away by the new album.
I was excited when I heard about the reunion but I wasn't expecting this great of an album...sorry I underestimated you guys!
Creed was probably the first band that I listened to religiously...and even though my taste in rock music has completely changed, Creed will always be a major inspiration and influence in my life and music.
God bless you dudes!
FREAKIN AWESOME!

The apocalypse is upon us, the end is nigh.

===


In the words of David Cross, "I'd rather hear the death rattle of my only child than have to listen to that fucking shit." True say, David. True say.

We've finally reached the end of the universe

Air Guitar Hero:

Kind of a dumb idea

Not sure why anyone who actually cares about sound would ever be interested in such a thing, but here's a table with speakers built in.

It reminds me of a George Carlin joke, something about "If you nail two things together that have never been nailed together before... some shmuck will buy it from you."

Pictures of people with no life whatsoever, apparently

Why In Hell Are People Camping Out For the iPhone 3GS?

Not Weird Al

Being a huge Weird Al fan, I find it bears repeating that half the songs on P2P networks are not actually by the incomparable Mr. Yankovic.

Not Weird Al

---

If the song that your idiot friend is talking about features any of the following:

-swears
-hurtful commentary
-political commentary
-derogatory statements about any group
-sexual references
-drug references

...it's not Weird Al.

Oh, and check out the new single on his website.

Bloggers are idiots

Just needed to vent: I hate mp3 blogs that brand the files they post. Images, album titles, genres... what's wrong with you people? Not only are you giving away someone's hard work for free, you're re-purposing it for your own slimy schemes. Drives me nuts. URL in the comment section will do just fine, thanks.

Oh, and another thing: what's with mp3 files that don't have the right info tags? The person pirating obviously has Internet access, otherwise the files wouldn't get anywhere - so why is the info incorrect? Is the person ripping the file by the byte? Even worse is when the info is wrong! How does that even happen? You'd have to go out of your way to change the info, what, to make someone's life less enjoyable? More irritating to perform the act of pirating?

Bah.

Another version of the truth

A few months back, Nine Inch Nails launched a YouTube film festival for the Ghosts album. Here's a friend's stellar submission:

Affinity pt. 1:



Affinity pt. 2:



On the whole, a lot of the entries to the fest are surprisingly watchable, most taking cues from either the Year Zero concept or Mr. Reznor's quote about Ghosts being a “a soundtrack for daydreams.” Not many of the entries feature a narrative of any kind.

Then, there are videos like this one, "The Craft of SackTapping", made by a group of savage mooks who hopefully were damaged in all the right places during the filming of this one. My guess is safety guidelines are not at the top of their list. Don't watch too much of it. I didn't get past about 10 seconds, but my guess is that it isn't pretty.

Hot corner

It's been a good year to be a baseball, pop, and gossip fan, with all the inter-medium shenanigans... First it was Roger Clemens with a C-list country singer, and now it's Alex Rodriguez with Madonna.

What a time to be alive.

For my entertainment, someone should start a Wikipedia page about all the ballplayer/music singer affairs. I would read that. Speaking of Wikipedia, what's up with people? I was browsing Madonna's singles list looking for inspiration for a better title (didn't find it), and I found this. Who has the time to give a frame by frame synopsis of the video? I can't imagine a world where I would have that much time on my hands.

Breaking: Hanson clones released into society; Matt has too much time on hands

There was a right kerfuffle down at the MuchMusic building today, as "throngs" of batshit fucking insane fans of popular girl group The Jonas Brothers gathered to hear the "band" play Bay City Rollers covers.

Check out the report on Disney's latest spawn infesting the city of Toronto here

New copyright law: links do the talking

boing boing
CBC
Toronto Star
National Post

Complete with the usual spin & accompanying ideology-specific photos!

Like a shot in the head

The Fall Out Boys dig deep, waaaay deep for their new single, a cover of Jackson's "Beat It" with John Mayer subbing in for Eddie Van Halen. I hope this one crashes and burns like the complete train wreck that it is, completely devoid of the irony it so desperately tries to evoke.

Luckily, there are the demon netizens of YouTube who will help keep this one alive. As the brilliantly named 'sk8ter4233244'(I'm guessing that's her phone number?) claims, "this song is awsome i love it falloutboy does a much betetr job!!"
I couldn't have put it better myself.

Also from the shot in the head category, George Michael brings 25 Live Greatest Hits tour to North America this summer. Insert 'third leg' joke here.

---

Links:

Fall Out Boy - Beat It

Fickle me El Mo

EYE: Queens Of The Stone Age @ El Mocambo, May 9

"the crowd weren’t as into it as they might have been had it not been a once-in-a-lifetime show...the band cut their set short as a result."

---
Toronto fans weren't into Queens rocking out at the fucking El Mocambo... hmmm... why is that not surprising? The band had every right to cut their set short for a group of ungrateful rock poseurs who were only there for the trend factor. And when Josh Homme says "let's get drunk", he's not talking about grabbing a second ice cold domestic, but the thirteenth or fourteenth. A couple years ago, it seemed the band loved playing here... the big guy's comment was something like "last time we were here, we drank the whole fucking bar"... and now it's come to this. Maybe the Hummingbird Centre show from last October made most of this city's tepid rock fans forget what the band is all about. Shame on you all.

But I guess last night all the cool kids were over at the Phoenix for the Cut Copy show... it was probably only the second time I've actually seen a whole room full of T.O. fans bouncing along and actually having a good time, the other being the LCD Soundsystem/M.I.A show at the Opera House back in 2005. This was a great concert, helped in part by the fact that there was a third, unannounced band that opened, Mobius-something or other, who came on before the oh-so-hip Black Kids (the group is actually made up of kids of assorted ethnicities).
This allowed for extra time with my good friend, beer.

Before the concert, Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime" came on... maybe it was just a coincidence, but it foreshadowed not the show we were about to miss, but the show we were about to experience.

---

ROCK!

Queens of the Stone Age - 3's & 7's

Find a way to smile

Every once in a while a band comes along that makes you say "Well, at least things can't get much worse than this", to which the response always is - "Yes, yes it can."

Hedley is that type of band. This mook-fueled puke-fest of a band, cut from very similar cloth to Ruben Studdard, has managed to make Simple Plan seem like a group of mature singer-songwriters. The Canadian Idol excretion's latest single, "Never Too Late", is making its way up the CTV music charts with the steady ease of a third-string Nickelback single.

The best part about the whole thing is their SHOT-BY-SHOT REMAKE of Duran Duran's "Rio" from 1982. I could not make this stuff up if I tried. I wish I could, because then I'd be a very, very rich person... which in Canadian music industry terms amounts to getting pulled over in your Lamb for a DUI.

In any case, I can't see how this tribute (read: ripoff) has anything to do with the British New Wave sensation. If my English language training up to grade four taught me anything, it was how to read. Applying that exact skill of reading to the lyrics of "Never Too Late", and applying the skill of "compare and contrast", we find that the two songs have less in common than ever imagined! Jacob Hoggard's whiny, cold, and calculated attempt at an emo-anthem falls flat on its eye-liner and crushed face.

But if cultural bellwether Wikipedia is any indication, the music-loving public is eating this stuff up - "The video was parodied by Canadian rock band Hedley for their song "Never Too Late."

Tough to top that one.

---

Links:

Duran Duran - Rio

Akon fucks up. Big time.

"Wanna Be Starting Something 2008".

Jackson comes out of a decency-imposed retirement to drop a fresh, steaming turd in the collective beverages of the 104 million people who bought Thriller the first time around. This alleged song totally destroys the urgent, paranoid, club-busting feel of the original, neuters the track, and leaves it lying in the alley writhing in agony hoping stray dogs will come out and tear it to bits... just to put it out of its misery.

Kanye West on Billie Jean: Why bother? No new vocal from Michael, but some of Kanye's trademark "Uhhn"'s, and that same kick drum sample he uses on every one of his tracks were just what this song needed. If Kanye wanted to be taken seriously, he should have skipped this project.

will.i.am on Girl is Mine: Actually... not so bad! I hate the original version about as much as you can hate a song, so Mr. Adams, Jr. does the right thing and finally puts this one out of its misery. If this is where Jackson's next album is coming from, it might be bearable to human ears. My prediction on that one: three plays before the autonomous response of hurling is produced.

Do yourself a favour and avoid Thriller 25 at all costs. There is no reason for this album to exist, whatsoever.
What? What's that? Yes... I suppose, millions of dollars of debt... previous dismal "comeback" attempts... right. Guess there are a few reasons why this has to exist... none of them good.