all-about-musicians-and-the-people-who-help-them-make-music
The Top 100 Songs of the ’00s, #95: “S.O.S.”
It’s amazing what producers and songwriters can do to a blank slate. Rihanna’s debut single, “Pon de Replay”, might get my vote as one of the most annoying songs of this past decade. I remember sneering at the TV every time the video came on VH-1’s top 20. However, just one year later, the Barbadian beauty was well on her way to becoming arguably the best singles artist of the decade (she’s the #2 artist […]
FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #38: Sanitized By Swisher
R.E.M. “Driver 8″ b/w “Crazy” (I.R.S. Records #52678, 1985)
Alternative rock became a saleable commodity in the 1990’s, but back in ’85 it was mostly confined to non-commercial college radio stations, dorm-room record-players, frat-house keggers and a string of musky all-ages clubs that stretched from Jacksonville to San Diego. Acting as a genuine “alternative” to all the Poison, Warrant and Cinderella gumming up the airwaves, down-to-earth acts like The Minutemen, Husker Du and The Replacements provided a […]
Making an Ass Out of Eminem
I generally have no use for the MTV Movie Awards, but this shit is pretty funny (if more than a little tasteless). Sasha Baron Cohen’s Bruno character makes a crash-landing on a perturbed Eminem during last night’s live telecast. Hard to tell whether this was staged or not (if it wasn’t, I think Eminem would have leveled the guy), but it’s funny to watch anyway.