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Pop Rock Nation

Category: People

all-about-musicians-and-the-people-who-help-them-make-music

  • The Legend of Oates’ Mustache

    John Oates' MoustacheThis was too good to pass up…

    I recently came across an article on billboard.com that says that there is a cartoon in the works called “J-Stache”. This animated series will focus on the adventures of one of the great mustachioed men of our time, John Oates. Oates will be a mild-mannered (wait for it) FAMILY MAN (that’s a Hall & Oates song, people) who turns into a crime-fighting superhero when his mustache attracts him back to being a rock star.

    Said mustache will be voiced by Dave Atell, meaning that this will automatically be the funniest thing Atell has ever been in.

    The coolest thing about this is that Oates is totally co-signing it! He’s got a fantastic sense of humor about it, although I guess I would too if a cartoon about my facial hair was going to potentially make me a shitload of money.

    According to the article, the pilot episode will focus on Oates trying to open a wing of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (an institution that H2O are curiously not members of) dedicated to mustachioed musicians and joining forces with David Crosby and Tom Selleck.

    One word=awesome. I’m so there, it’s not even funny.

    Daryl Hall’s perfectly coiffed tresses had no comment.

  • Monday Message: John Mayer’s “Say”

    I was going to write something about how much I enjoy John Mayer’s music even though the whole starlet-dating thing rubs me the wrong way. Then I was gonna write something about how happy I am that all the folks who cracked on me for liking him ate crow when “Continuum” came out. So then I decided to write something about how he always seems to express himself lyrically the exact way I would if I was, like, a talented writer. I figured I’d also add something about how even the songs of his that pander the most-“Your Body is a Wonderland”, “Daughters”-turn out to have something that makes me like them despite themselves.

    Then I decided to screw all of that and just post this video because this song has been running in constant loop in my head all morning. The saying “leave it all out on the field” can be applied to just about any facet of life, and I’ve been thinking a lot about life and motivation and desire and honesty and all sorts of other things that this song (in my head, anyway) addresses. At any rate, enjoy, and thanks John.

  • Number One Hits From Hell: “Because I Love You (The Postman Song)”

    This week, “I Kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry knocked Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” out of the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, thus becoming the 1,000th Number One single of the rock era. As the majority of music buyers (I didn’t say music *lovers* mind you, but music buyers) view music as a song-by-song medium, having a #1 single is a pretty big deal, so to have been one of those 1,000 songs means that, for better or for worse, your song has struck a chord with someone.

    However, that’s not to say that the folks that put songs at the top of the charts always exhibit good taste. Of course, some of the most iconic songs in music history have made it all the way to the apex of Billboard’s charts- a look at the amount of chart-toppers by Elvis, The Beatles, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, to name a few, bears that theory out. But there are a pretty good amount of legendary artists who have never hit the top of the singles charts. Bruce Springsteen has never had a #1. Neither has James Brown. Or Led Zeppelin. Or The Who. Luther Vandross? Nope. The Clash? Elvis Costello? Run-DMC? Public Enemy? The Beastie Boys? 3 top ten singles between them.

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