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Pop Rock Nation

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  • SonicClash 2008 Top Tens: Aboard the Rock ‘n Roll Train

    Over the next week, the team here at SonicClash will be posting lists of their favorites from this year. First up to bat is our rock ‘n roll renaissance man, Mikey Hersh. Take it away, Mikey.

    Keep in mind that this Top 10 list is not about the greatest tunes in terms of musical integrity.  These are the ten songs of 2008 that brought a smile to my face. These ten songs have great melodies, great guitar riffs, or a great dance beat. My list probably isn’t going to match up to all of the critics, but I determined my list on what songs really made an impact on me regardless of whether it’s cool or not to admit.  I have no shame in including songs from the Pussycat Dolls and New Kids On The Block on my list. Remember to understand my warped tastes in music, and don’t take me all that seriously on this list. Music is very subjective, and just because a song has three chords or is formulaic doesn’t mean it isn’t quality.

    1) Rock & Roll Train:AC/DC-  AC/DC not only put out a killer album after making me wait eight years, but they also contributed another song that will be a classic in the same vein as Highway To Hell and Back In Black.  Rock & Roll Train was AC/DC’s first ever song to be nominated for a Grammy, and has been
    kicking ass on the modern rock charts.  The song even peaked at #47 on the dance charts.

    2) Never Walk Away:Journey–  Journey also returned in full fashion going back to the sound that made them famous, even if Steve Perry is no longer in the picture.  Never Walk Away, the first track on the album, is a killer tune that sounds like Be Good To Yourself from the Raised On Radio album.  A song so good, that I got chills upon listening to it for the first time.

    3) Use Me:Hinder–  I thought Hinder would be a here today, gone tomorrow band.  Their first album was okay, and that Lips Of An Angel song was definitely not as great as it was hyped up to be.  Use Me, the first single from Hinder’s sophomore album sounds just like an 80’s hard rock song.  It has a great opening guitar riff, and a fun chorus.

    4) Summertime:New Kids On The Block– This is the first song on my list that I’m sure to get shit for.  I don’t care, this song has a great dance beat, and was the perfect comeback tune for a group who I wanted to die quickly back in 1988.  It’s a song that defined the summer, and a song I wish I would have heard more of at the clubs.  The New Kids surprised many, and especially me with a catchy pop song that works.

    5)  My Apocalypse:Metallica–  I was very impressed with Metallica’s new album, and the fact that they decided to go back to their old sound.  My Apocalypse was not officially released as a single, but was one of the tracks you could download before the album was released.  The song is a full-out kick-ass song, and a song that works well when you are having a bad day and want to take your aggression out.

    6) I Will Be With You (Where The Lost Ones Go):Sarah Brightman & Paul
    Stanley    –  Not a well-known hit, but anytime Paul Stanley from KISS goes outside the box, I’m going to take notice.  On this track, he collaborates with Broadway star Sarah Brightman for a fun little pop song.  It’s always fun to hear Paul try to sing songs that are outside the rock and roll style we are used to from him.

    7) Troublemaker:Weezer–  I truly believe this should have been the first single, although as the second single of the Red Album, it’s been a huge hit on the modern rock charts.  Rivers Cuomo is the king of writing these 3 minute rock songs with that noticeable melody.  The lyrics are fun, and this might just be my new theme song.

    8) When I Grow Up:Pussycat Dolls–  I’m getting to get heat for this one also!  I thought nothing would best Don’t Cha, but I was wrong.  When I Grow Up has a fun dance beat, and the “When I Grow Up, I want to have boobies” line in the song is the lyric of the year.  Ha ha ha ha ha!

    9) Rise Above This:Seether–  It might be formulaic, but still good. Seether knows how to write songs that get ingrained in your head.  My eyes light up whenever I wake up to WDHA in the morning and hear this song as I try to wake up.

    10) Hot N Cold:Katy Perry–  I know I’ll also get shit for this one, but I prefer Katy Perry’s second single.  I Kissed A Girl got old really quick, but Hot N Cold is a fun song that brings back memories of rollerskating back in the 80’s for some reason.

  • What’s The Real Story Mike?

    Yesterday, there were two stories going around about the health of Michael Jackson. On one hand, he was nearly blind in one eye and was suffering from a lung condition that was diminishing his life. And on the flip side, Mike was planning a world tour and was talking with television networks for possible specials.

    What’s the story Mike?

    E!Online posted a story with quotes from biographer Ian Halperin which stated that Jackson is suffering from a possibly fatal genetic condition called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.

    The story quoted an In Touch magazine article.

    Jackson’s condition has worsened over the years to the point where “his quality of life is severely diminished,” Halperin tells In Touch magazine, so much so that he’s “barely able to speak” and has lost 95 percent of the vision in his left eye. “He’s had [the deficiency] for years, but it’s gotten worse,” Halperin told the magazine. “He needs a lung transplant but may be too weak to go through with it…[But] it’s the [gastrointestinal] bleeding that is the most problematic part. It could kill him.”

    Then, later in the day, E!Online was back with quotes from MJ representative Dr. Tohme Tohme.

    “Mr. Jackson is in fine health, and finalizing negotiations with a major entertainment company and television network for both a world tour and a series of specials and appearances.”

    MJ is either sick or he’s ready to moonwalk again. What’s the real story?

  • Lightning Isn’t Striking Twice for Soulja Boy

    Picture (c) by Niko203
    Picture (c) by Niko203

    You know, in a sense, it is quite a surprise Soulja Boy is still around, a year after he scored one of the biggest digital singles of all time: the triple-platinum juggernaut, “Crank Dat (Soulja Boy).” At a time when every other ringtone rapper who emerged in 2007—the same year as he—has gone the way of the Beta tape, Soulja Boy lingers on like a turd in a latrine that has just been flushed. When was the last time you heard from Rich Boy, MIMS, the Shop Boyz, Huey and Baby Boy? What, you’re still thinking about it?

    Blame it all on the 700,000-plus people who purchased Soulja Boy’s full-length debut (which I believe was one of the worst rap albums of 2007); the fact that he scored two follow-up Billboard Hot 100 singles in “Soulja Girl” (#32) and “Yahhh!” (#48); and the dubious assistance he provided V.I.C. in being a ringtone hit-maker like himself (He appears as a co-producer and in the video for “Get Silly”). Soulja Boy just wasn’t going away.

    But by the end of this year, however, it has become apparent that Soulja Boy has become more famous (or more accurately, infamous), for his exploits outside the studio than in it. With no inane, simplistic singles to pester the public with, the wiry teenager has become hip-hop’s favorite punching bag for everything that fans perceive is wrong with the genre these days. (Only Lil’ Wayne rivals him in this regard. And is 50 Cent still alive?) If Ice-T is not telling him that he needs to feast on a certain delicate part of the male anatomy, he is proving why he should consider upgrading his intellectual faculties by thanking slavemasters—if for nothing else apart from donning metaphorical, glimmering equivalents of the devices that bound his ancestors in captivity.

    And don’t get me started on the e-thugs who litter the comment boards of hip-hop sites everywhere, verbally pummeling him with some of the coarsest words known to Man.

    I don’t see that changing with the release of Soulja Boy’s sophomore album, iSouljaBoyTellEm. There’s the album title: What’s with the self-obsession? Remove the “i” and add the “dot com” to it, and it is the exact titular replica of his debut. Is this guy so bereft of imagination that he cannot even come up a remarkably different title? Yeah, you’re Soulja Boy! We got it, like, a gazillion times already!

    Maybe that is indicative of what to expect from the album, which I fear—and I shudder greatly when I think of this—is even worse than the one that preceded it. And maybe, just maybe, the high level of derision for Soulja Boy will be commensurate with his work’s commercial reception from this point onward. It’s already happening. How many people know that Soulja Boy has dropped four singles already for his latest project? Heck, it only took a browsing of BET—which, in my humble estimation, is one of the most abominable TV channels currently in existence—for me to realize that “Bird Walk” was out. And was I surprised that it attempts to be a pathetic copy of “Crank Dat” (down to the “Youuuuuuu” refrain and dance-oriented vibe), let alone stalled at #40 and #19 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hop Rap Tracks charts respectively?

    If you bet 20 bucks that I was, better hand over the dough to your buddy right now.

    But ultimately, in another sense, you know what? It’s about time this happened. For all his campaigning to have his new album go platinum the first week, I’d be supremely surprised if this guy sells more than 50,000 copies.

    Word of advice to Soulja Boy: You might want to hold on to your money a little more preciously. At least you have an idea of the fact that lightning will not strike twice.

    And get an education.