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Pop Rock Nation

Author: Money Mike

  • First Listen: Elliott Yamin’s “Fight for Love”

    yamin

    The first season of “American Idol” that I watched was the season in which Elliott Yamin competed, and it was largely due to him that I made it through that entire season and watched at least parts of subsequent seasons. The guy’s got skills, point blank, and enough people believed that to catapult Elliott to a 3rd place finish on the show. He then confounded critics by going the indie route and scoring a Gold album with his self-titled debut, which spawned the smash single “Wait for You”. Two years later, Elliott is back with a new album due in May and its’ first single “Fight for Love”.  It’s a pretty, midtempo joint with a chorus that you won’t stop singing for days. As always, Elliott brings the goods vocally. No Auto-Tune needed for this cat.

    AOL’s Popeater debuted the song. Listen to it here and let us know what you think.

  • blink-182 & Limp Bizkit: Reunion Fever Strikes Again

    blinkI’ll admit, it was nice to see the three members of blink-182 back on stage at the Grammy Awards last Sunday, especially after the plane crash that almost took drummer Travis Barker’s life. Though blink was never one of my favorite bands, they were catchy enough, and the last album they made (the self-titled one) stretched the band out artistically and made me think that they were more talented than their juvenile pop-punk indicated. In terms of band reunions? This one’s cool. And you’d feel the same way if you had to sit through one of those awful Angels & Airwaves records. Lordy. The whole is definitely greater than the sum of blink-182’s parts.

    But who the hell told Limp Bizkit (or is it limpbizkit?) to reunite? According to this Billboard article, Fred Durst and his cronies have decided to get back together for a tour and album. This move puzzles me for a couple of reasons. First off, I’d imagine the Bizkits would know that their fans (most of whom were in their early teens and receiving their first exposure to music-so therefore didn’t know any better) have grown and moved on to more refined musical tastes. Which, let’s face it, isn’t so difficult. Second, isn’t it a little too early for there to be late-90s nostalgia? What’s next? Is Lou Bega gonna hit the road again?

    We thought we were rid of Fred Durst and that damn backwards red baseball cap. We thought he’d gone from soiling our ears with music to ruining Ice Cube’s movie career. But noooooooo. He and his band have returned to violate our senses once again. Man, some bands should really stay broken up.

  • CriticClash: The Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique

    beastiesThis morning I’ll be sending you guys over to one of my favorite sites, Popdose, to check out my review of The Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique, one of the best albums in any genre of the past 20 years.

    This review turned out to be quite timely because it arrived on the same week that the 20th Anniversary edition of Paul’s Boutique hit shelves. Despite the fact that it doesn’t have the extra bells and whistles usually associated with reissue projects (except for the download card that offers track-by-track commentary if you log on to the Beasties’ website), it’s still worth the pick up if only for the vastly improved sound quality.

    Anyway, enjoy the review and why don’t you stick around and check out some more stuff from my buddies at Popdose?