Playlist of Fame

Maybe it's the rain, but I just had a brainstorm.

Why not make a Smart playlist in iTunes that adds every artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! What a brilliant idea! I should have thought of it sooner... maybe I did, but just didn't bother to do anything about it. Yes, that will be the official story.

Naturally, it's a huge list with some unnatural additions. There are definitely some kinks (not the band... or The Band) that need to be ironed out (not the Sabbath).

For example, the following songs that may not quite be "Hall of Fame" material:

Aerosmith - "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"
Bryan Adams, Sting and Rod Stewart - "All For One"
David Bowie & Mick Jagger - "Dancing in the Streets"
Any/all Elton John collaborations
Kenny G & Smokey Robinson - "Save the Best For Last"
Madonna - all of her songs
Michael Jackson & Akon - "Wanna Be Startin' Something 2008"
Joni Mitchell & Michael McDonald - "Good Friends"
Glass Tiger & Rod Stewart - "My Town"

I guess it's just proof that all awe-inspiring artists make terrible, horrible, no-good very bad music at some point... but there's simply no excuse for this pop atrocity:



Not only is it a totally unnecessary and frankly offensive cover version, the video is fucking terrible! I thought Bowie was relatively drug-free by the mid-80s, but this video suggests otherwise. By the end of the decade, the Thin White Duke was offering up thin white puke, in the form of "Fame '90". He must really have needed the money. Really, really needed the money. Why else would he slash and burn his first US #1? Don't forget this was after the massive train wreck that was 87-89. Never Let Me Down, Glass Spider, Tin Machine...

Yep, it all makes the "smart" playlist, even the unforgivable Hours.

Now... time to give this playlist a whirl! If only I could solve the Beatles bootlegs dilemma...

Free bird

It was Free Comic Book Day Saturday, and here on Monday, it's Free Album day.

Yes, all the hype is true, Nine Inch Nails dropped a very free yet unnecessary album to the utter delight of fans today. Only a few tracks short of a yawn-fest, things don't really start cooking until the third track, "Letting You", by far the most interesting thing on the album. The track is a continuation of the thread along the "Wish"-"March of the Pigs"-"Starfuckers"-"You Know What You Are" line. Mr. Reznor also goes into the old bag of tricks for a "Pinion" re-write to lead off the disc... wait, it's not a disc yet. That'll be in July. It's also his shortest major release since Broken.

Perhaps having Trent Reznor loose without a label isn't such a good thing. I think this whole adventure could have been more successful simply as an EP of strictly the electronic driven stuff, leaving out the painfully pedestrian "Discipline" and "Echoplex", both of which are getting radio airplay for some reason. The shortness of the EP format, mixed with the experimental (for him) nature of the music would provide a perfect jumping off point for whatever his little heart wants to do next. Just like Ghosts I-IV, this album is more interesting in terms of its delivery and distribution than on the merit of the music itself.

but let's hope the final three tracks on the album, beginning with the wicked-cool and tripped out "Corona Radiata", symbolize the rebirth of a star. Otherwise, this is simply a black hole.

Like they say, you get what you pay for.

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Suggested Playlist: The Slip EP

"Letting You"
"Head Down"
"Lights in the Sky"
"Corona Radiata"
"The Four of Us are Dying"
"Demon Seed"

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Haha... "Demon Seed", like "Discipline" are songs that sound like would-be b-sides of his from the early 90s. I'm reminded of the Beastie Boys' To the 5 Boroughs from a couple years back. The group took the same sort back-to-basics approach to scrape the bottom of the well, and since then have ostensibly quit the rap game.

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The great thing about being Trent Reznor is having your very own personal Weird Al. The dark prince himself seems to have come to terms with it too, embedding this very video on the official page days after its release.

Mellon Collie re-imagined

I thought it might be interesting to see what it would be like to split the Smashing Pumpkins album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by heavier tunes versus the lullabies. Aside from putting "Zero" as the first track of the heavy disc, I pretty much kept the same sequence that appears across the album.

The vinyl edition of the album featured a much different track sequence from the CD edition altogether, taking advantage of the format's capabilities/limitations.

Here's my take. I came up with the titles all by myself. Best enjoyed by making a playlist from an mp3 rip.

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness: Quiet

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Tonight, Tonight
To Forgive
Cupid de Locke
Take Me Down
Thirty-Three
In the Arms of Sleep
1979
Stumbleine
We Only Come Out At Night
Beautiful
Lily (My One and Only)
By Starlight
Farewell and Goodnight


Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness: Loud

Zero
Jellybelly
Here Is No Why
An Ode to No One
Love
Galapogos
Muzzle
Porcelina of the Vast Oceans
Where Boys Fear To Tread
Bodies
Tales of a Scorched Earth
Thru The Eyes of Ruby
X.Y.U.

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And from that album, here's one of the greatest videos of all time, "Tonight, Tonight".

The couple is played by Tom Kenny and Jill Talley, who just began appearing on Mr. Show right about this time.

Sunday Night Playlist

Matt's Big Day Out

Queens of the Stone Age - If Only
Fela Kuti - Zombie
Philip Bailey & Phil Collins - Easy Lover
The Clash - Train In Vain
Bjork - Crabcraft
The Notorious B.I.G. - Things Done Changed
Bloc Party - Two More Years (MSTRKRFT Remix)
Carly Simon - Coming Around Again
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Hey Hey My My
The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love
LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations
N*E*R*D - She Wants to Move (DFA Remix)
Queens of the Stone Age - Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
Joni Mitchell - All I Want
Smashing Pumpkins - Stand Inside Your Love
America - Sister Golden Hair
Marvin Gaye - Heard it Through the Grapevine
Chicago - Saturday In the Park
Iggy Pop - Sixteen
Blancmange - Don't Tell Me
Alan Parsons Project - Eye In The Sky
David Bowie - Breaking Glass
David Bowie - Fame
Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time
XTC - Earn Enough For Us
Ike & Tina Turner - River Deep Mountain High