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  • But Isn’t John Bonham Dead??

    OK, folks, seriously.
    I love Led Zeppelin-really, I do.
    But what’s the big hubbub over this reunion concert? (For those who don’t know, the three surviving members of Zep are performing in the U.K. at a tribute concert for the late Atlantic Records honcho Ahmet Ertegun).
    First off-it’s not like they haven’t had reunions before. Remember Live Aid? (where Phil Collins subbed on the drum kit for the dearly departed John Bonham…best rock drummer of all time IMHO). What about the Page & Plant acoustic album and tour in the mid-Nineties?
    And is it really a “reunion” when one of the members is deceased? If Paul and Ringo went on a tour today as The Beatles, it wouldn’t be the same, would it??

  • Friday Throwback – I Ain’t Mad At Cha

    Tupac Shakur died on September 13, 1996 and I figured it was fitting to showcase one of my favorite Tupac songs for Friday Throwback. It’s crazy to realize that it’s been now eleven years since he passed. Part of the reason I like this song so much is because of the timing. The video was released to MTV only two days after he died. And in the video, it shows him dying and partying in heaven. It was odd timing, but more coincidental than ironic. The video was filmed several months earlier. The song itself was on Pac’s All Eyez On Me and featured a sampling of DeBarge’s A Dream.

    • Where have you gone Bokeem Woodbine?
    • They can get a real actor like Bokeem, yet hire people off the street to play the one scene where there’s dialogue in the ambulance?
    • Redd Foxx greets you after you die?
    • I like the album version of the song much better than the video version.
    • Quick to approach a ghetto cutie with the same line? I remember them hollerin’ at hoochies with the same line.
    • Whatever happened to Danny Boy?
    • That was a broke ass Sammy Davis Jr. in there.
    • While he redid the song entirely for the video version, most of the first and second verses are similar and only changed because of the cursing. However, the third verse is entirely different.
    • Marvin Gaye was dancing like a mad man and Jimmy Hendrix was wearing some loud colors.

    Even though his works were probably a bit overrated lyric wise, there’s no arguing about his impact in hip hop. I still wear my Pac shirt today.

  • High School Musical-Something Like A Phenomenon?

    So, everyone knows about record sales being in the crapper…yadayadayada.
    But the fact is…people are still running in to buy certain things. It’s just that phenomenons are fewer and further between.
    This week, the High School Musical 2 Soundtrack marks it’s fourth consecutive week on top of Billboard’s Album Chart, with sales at a very healthy 170,000 copies. It’s sold nearly 1.5 million copies in four weeks. This comes after the soundtrack to the first movie sold over 4 million copies and was the top selling album (not soundtrack, mind you…over all album) of 2006.
    It’s still in the Top 40 18 months later.
    Me, I’m not a Disney channel watcher. I can’t vouch for why this is so successful, especially in light of failed past Disney projects (anyone old enough to remember The Party back in the early Nineties?) AND the fact that albums by members of HSM’s cast have either underwhelmed or flopped miserably (Vanessa Hudgens is the only cast member to go Gold on her own). It might be because it’s a family movie and a family soundtrack, and the best-selling albums historically have been albums the entire family can listen to…or at least are kid-friendly (see: Carrie Underwood, Nickelback, et. al.).
    Of course, there might be a little extra hubbub nowadays since the news popped about the nudie pictures of Ms. Hudgens. The fact that the news appeared not to affect sales at all speaks to how trivial the whole deal is (she’s 19…get real people!). My main curiosity is…how long is this juggernaut going to last? And how long is Disney going to continue to milk this? Because if these albums continue to sell, I can see High School Musical: The 10-Year Reunion coming to a store near you in 2016.
    Here are this week’s Top Ten albums (courtesy of Billboard Communications)
    1. High School Musical 2 Soundtrack: Various Artists
    2. The Dutchess: Fergie
    3. Hannah Montana 2 Soundtrack: Meet Miley Cyrus: Miley Cyrus
    4. The Altar & The Door: Casting Crowns
    5. Bone Palace Ballet: Chiodos
    6. Hairspray Soundtrack: Various Artists
    7. Now That’s What I Call Music 25: Various Artists
    8. All The Right Reasons: Nickelback
    9. Back To Black: Amy Winehouse
    10. Minutes To Midnight: Linkin Park