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Pop Rock Nation

Author: Money Mike

  • “The Jacksons:A Family Dynasty”-This is NOT Reality

    You know I’m a serious fan of the Jacksons when not only did I skip watching my beloved Giants, but I skipped watching my almost-as-equally beloved “Family Guy” to check out the premiere of the new reality show “The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty” on A&E. Granted, the Giants lost (although I managed to catch most of the exciting part of the game) and I was able to watch “Family Guy” on DVR later, but I can still think of several things I could have been doing that would have made better use of my time than watching this series.

    I’m not stupid. I know that most “reality TV” is scripted. However, “Family Dynasty” continues a tradition that the Jackson family has been a part of for decades: they think that their fanbase consists of idiots. From Michael repeating that he only had two nose jobs and a cleft put into his chin (and no other surgery) to Janet claiming her “wardrobe malfunction” was an accident, these folks have severely underestimated the intelligence of their followers.

    The first two episodes contained plenty of manufactured “drama”, which seemed to have been written by a lower-echelon sitcom writer. When Jermaine takes a lunch break from a studio session, Jackie proceeds to erase his vocals from the track they’ve worked on. After that confrontation, Jermaine and Jackie have a (crocodile) tear-filled heart-to-heart about the feelings of loneliess Jermaine felt when the brothers left him at Motown-back in 1975. Are you trying to tell me that there has never been a conversation about this in the thirty-five years that have passed since the split? That was the first of many eye-rolling events that took place over these two hours.

    Of course, the biggest elephant in the room was the fact that Michael was not there. The brothers kept referring to this as a “Jackson 5 reunion” when the most important member of the group wasn’t around (and he was alive when they filmed the first episode). To add insult to injury, youngest brother (and arguably the most musically talented of the five surviving brothers) Randy refused to participate in the show, so we end up with The Jackson…4??? It’s almost hilarious to see them going over a set list that includes “Can You Feel It”, “Lovely One” and “Shake Your Body”, all of which were written and sung by the two brothers who weren’t even there!!

    If you’re looking for unintentional comedy, then “The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty” is for you. If you’re looking for a look into one of the more interesting showbiz families of our time, you’re better off waiting for one of the renegade relatives to release a tell-all book, which I’m almost positive will happen at some point.

     

  • Not Necessarily The News: R. Kelly, Nick Jonas and the Grammys

    Here’s what’s going on in the music world this week.

    *R. Kelly is writing his autobiography with the help of celebrity biographer David Ritz, who collaborated with Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin on their biographies-Aretha’s was an autiobiography and Marvin’s was released posthumously. This is wrong on so many levels. First off, do you honestly think Kells is going to tell the truth about his life? Is he going to admit to marrying Aaliyah? I don’t see this going well at all, simply because if he was to write a true autobiography, he would be up shit creek legally. Secondly, I just don’t find the guy interesting-today’s artists don’t really have the backstory that a lot of the legends have, and Kells is not exactly a creative genius, so even from a songwriter’s or musician’s standpoint, what would there be to say? Finally, isn’t this cat illiterate? How can a dude that can’t read write a book?

    Nick Jonas (I’ll admit that I have no idea which of the Jonas Brothers he is…I would imagine he’s the lead singer) has formed a new group called The Administration. This band has three former members of Prince’s New Power Generation-Sonny T., Michael Bland and Tommy Barbarella. I can’t find the news article anymore, but, Jonas alleges that the songs have a strong Prince influence. I call shenanigans. Those of you who watched the Grammy nomination special last week saw Nick & The Administration perform (unless you took the opportunity to take a bathroom break) and the song they played sounded nothing like Prince. It sounded like a Hanson B-side. My take on it? Those NPG guys need some serious cash, and Nick Jonas is seriously deluded. It’ll be interesting to see how this album does, since the last Jonas Brothers album performed below expectations.

    Finally, in some Grammy news: Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb” (actually not a bad song for what it is) was pulled from the category it was nominated for (Best Song from a Motion Picture) because it wasn’t specifically written for the film it was featured in (“The Hannah Montana Movie”). Those Grammy folks sure are weird. You can make three albums and get nominated for Best New Artist, but if you write a song, somehow get it placed in a movie, you can’t get nominated for Best Song from a Movie? huh?

    Miley’s beef with the Grammys may not be as big as Rick Ross’s. The gargantuan Florida rapper apparently is pissed off about being overlooked for Best Rap Album at the Grammys and addressed it in a mixtape remix of Beyonce’s “Video Phone”. OK-first of all, let’s look at the rappers that were nominated: Eminem, Mos Def, Q-Tip, Common and Flo-Rida. All of those artists (obviously excluding Flo-Rida) can rap circles around Rick Ross. Em and Common might have made shitty albums, but at least they have skills. Ross can’t rap AND his music sucks! I guess, though, if they put Flo-Rida in a category and omitted me, I’d be pretty pissed too. Because who would want to be left out of something in favor of Flo-Rida???

  • First Listen: Billy Corgan’s “A Song for a Son”

    I’ll admit. Billy Corgan gets on my nerves.

    First, there was the fact that he just seemed like an obnoxious prima donna. Granted, “Siamese Dream” and “Mellon Collie” are classics, but Billy just came across as kind of an egotistical whiner-especially after firing D’arcy and James Iha and kind of outing them as not contributing very much to the Pumpkins sound. I was just weirded out by the fact that he fires the whole band and then rehires the unreliable heroin-addict drummer?

    The last Pumpkins album was a moderate commercial success, although I gotta say that I was lukewarm on the album and VERY disappointed when I saw them live a couple months later. Now, Billy is promising to release 44 new songs over the period of 3 years free over the internet. I have to laugh, because Billy’s complaining about the state of the industry is kinda hypocritical given the fact that his ability to give away 44 free songs on the internet is largely due to the promotional machine that the music industry provides. It’s easy for him to make that statement because he doesn’t have to worry about making money.

    Anyhow, this is about Billy’s new song “Song for a Son”. I wasn’t expecting much from it, but I like it way more than I initially thought I would.It’s a typical grandiose rocker, with traces of peak-era Elton John and Queen. His voice seems to have gotten less grating over time as well, which is a good thing. As Billy has reformed the Pumpkins with a COMPLETELY new lineup (and is now allegedly dating Jessica Simpson…shudder…), I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more from him in the months to come.

    Get “A Song for a Son” here.