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  • Hippies Of The World Rejoice: Phish is Back (…and the Band Reunion Theory)

    Phish. Photo by Joe Goldberg.
    Phish. Photo by Joe Goldberg.

    So, here’s a thought musicians.

    Say you’re in a band, right? You’ve been together for a period of time. You don’t especially like one another anymore. You decide to take a break, as your guitarist is about to crush your lead singer like a pancake in between two Marshall amps. You guys hate each other so much that you don’t think you’re ever going to get back together.

    Hold off on actually saying that shit.

    In the past two years alone, Phil Collins has reunited with Genesis after a decade and a half apart. The Police returned to action after twenty years. New Kids on the Block got back together after a 1 year absence. Scott Weiland returned to Stone Temple Pilots after taking off the entire 21st century so far. Even A Tribe Called Quest have gotten back together for a handful of tour dates. Now, there’s the news that Phish (who, to be fair, never ruled out a reunion at some point in the future) are headed out on a tour, their first since their breakup four years ago. Somewhere, a barefoot longhair is smiling (no disrespect to you, Rock Dad. I don’t figure you for a Phish fan! 🙂 )

    What gives?

    I mean, you could very easily say it’s the promise of a big payday. It’s easy to think that both Collins and NKOTB’s Wahlberg looked at pending alimony payments and realized they needed a quick infusion of cash. However, does anyone think any of the three Police-men needed money? What about Phish? Has pot become that expensive that the band members need to reunite to keep themselves rolling in that sticky icky?

    So here’s my proposal. This is for The Talking Heads, The Jackson 5 and any other band that might have preliminary discussions about getting together, but it’s more for bands who may be contemplating the idea of splitting up and think that the breakup will be permanent. Don’t do it to yourselves! 10 years from now, there’s going to be a tearful reunion (or someone is going to hold up dollar signs that will be just too impossible to resist) and you’re gonna end up eating crow. Even though the fans that are cursing you for going back on your word are probably gonna shell out top dollar to see you anyway.

  • Catch a Falling Star: Nelly

    Nelly. Photo by reeb0k2008.
    Nelly. Photo by reeb0k2008.

    Actually, if you think about it, Nelly’s six or seven year run was longer than probably should have been expected. The St. Louis rapper’s career was more or less based on a gimmick-Nelly pretty much spilt the difference between your average singer and your average rapper…and make no mistake, he was pretty average at both. The failure of his current album “Brass Knuckles” and his label’s yearlong campaign to turn shit into sunshine to no avail should put the cap on the career of one of the biggest selling pop rappers in recent history.

    Make no mistake, Nelly was a superstar from the moment he appeared on the scene in the summer of 1999. At a time when Midwest rappers from Bone Thugs n Harmony to Eminem were making waves, the rapper was in the right place geographically, and his sing-song flow had massive amounts of pop (and youth) appeal. Despite the occasionally sexually explicit lyric, he was the MC that was playable to a street audience as well as the Nickelodeon set.

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  • Blueprint 3 Track Listing: This Could Be Good!!

    Jay-Z. Photo by "iamguilty".
    Jay-Z. Photo by

    Hip-hop heads have been buzzing about two major releases scheduled for the end of 2008-Kanye West’s “808’s & Heartbreak” (is it really a hip-hop album if Kanye doesn’t rap?) and Jay-Z’s Def Jam finale “Blueprint 3”, which is rumored to have been produced almost in it’s entirety by West.

    An alleged tracklisting for BP3 has surfaced on the net, and although its’ validity is being questioned, there might be something to be hopeful about if this track listing *is* in fact real. Namely the fact that the awful first single, “Jockin’ Jay-Z” and the T.I./Kanye/Lil’ Wayne collabo “Swagga Like Us” are NOT on the album (again, allegedly). Could Jay be throwing a red herring at us before hitting us with an album that captures the soulful, mature vibe of the first “Blueprint” album? While I don’t think “BP1” was a super-legendary classic (actually, I don’t even think it’s Jay’s best or even second best album), it would be nice to hear him making music reminiscent of that era. Because “American Gangster”, despite being jocked by everyone else, didn’t exactly move me.

    Anyhoo, here’s the (alleged) track listing. Man, I’m using that word so much you’d think I was writing an article about R. Kelly!!

    01. Wake Up New York (Intro)
    02. Most Kings
    03. Hades (Lucifer Pt. II)
    04. Eternal Jewels (ft. Jay Electronica) [prod. by Jay Electronica]
    05. Blueprint 3
    06. Lucy (ft. Chris Martin)
    07. The Audacity of Dope
    08. Swagger Like Us Pt. 2 (ft. Nas, Andre 3000, and Young Jeezy)
    09. Election Night (We believe in Obama)
    10. Just Memories
    11. Apostate (ft. Eminem) [prod. by Eminem]
    12. Oasis
    13. My Brothers Keeper (ft. Scarface)
    14. Brooklyn Lost
    15. Weeds & Concrete
    16. Without Rain