When this list popped up in a Google search, I was immediately intrigued because I knew that there was a very strong chance that this list would be a walking, talking, breathing stereotype. After all, what is a “gay” album? I mean, is MHW a gay blog or a gay site? We’re not, even though (as I find myself repeating with alarming frequency of late) I and three other members of this staff are out gay men. But the four of us (who can reveal themselves if they choose to) certainly don’t have the same musical tastes, and just because you happen to like making out with people of the same sex, it doesn’t mean that you’re predisposed to like or dislike certain types of music. My former co-worker Evan is a metalhead. There are gay punk-rockers. Hell, I like everything from Kanye West to The Shins. So I could write a long, political essay on how minority groups will never get anywhere unless we stop buying into tired stereotypes, and then I realized something…
Category: News
music-news-from-breakups-to-the-lastest-buzz
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New Music: Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire”
I’ll admit, I didn’t jump onto the Kings of Leon train until last year. Promotional copies of “Youth & Young Manhood” and “Aha Shake Heartbreak” landed on my desk and were played once and then filed away. Articles screaming their praises in the rock press were glanced at, thumbed through and discarded.
Then I happened to hear “Because of the Times” as I was shopping in a record store. Holy shit, did that album sound good. It wasn’t jammy, noodly swamp-rock, but these dudes had a little bit of a kick to them. If you have a really good sound system, listen to a song like “On Call” and have your mind blown. The groove alone will get ya even without vocals, and once I obtained a copy of the entire album, I was officially a member of the KOL fan club.
“Sex on Fire” is the first single from their upcoming fourth album, “Only by the Night” and damn it, does this song smoke. The video’s appreciably weird as well, and the Followill guys (three brothers and a a cousin, for those who are uninitiated) are continuing their metamorphosis from greasy, long-haired bearded dudes to guys who have every right to be singing a song entitled “Sex on Fire” (actually, I’m waiting for diehard fans to start grumbling about how they sold out by cutting their hair). Their legion of fans has grown with each album, now’s the time to make sure Kings of Leon get their propers as one of the best young American bands out right now.
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Infatueighties: #89: “I Wonder if I Take You Home”
I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in a lovely little neighborhood called East Flatbush. Among the many memories of my adolescence, some of the more distinct ones involve playing football or punchball (a form of baseball in which the ball is one of those blue rubber thingies and the bat is your fist) and then having to practically dive back onto the sidewalk as an expensive sports car barrelled down East 45th Street. The driver of said sportscar was often Bow Legged Lou, who you may know as one of the muscle-bound relatives that made up the R&B band and production team known as Full Force. Not only did these guys score a handful of hits on their own (not to mention the fact that they starred in the “House Party” movies with Kid ‘n Play), but they’ve also built up a fairly impressive resume as writers and producers. They’ve had a hand in music by everyone from 80s pinup ho Samantha Fox to teen dreams Backstreet Boys and ‘NSync to TV actress-turned-singer Jasmine Guy to LaToya Jackson. They also discovered a stable of acts that included UTFO of “Roxanne Roxanne” fame and the group that comes in at #89 on this countdown-Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam.
