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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Nine Inch Nails

  • Beep beep!

    Beep beep!

    Our cars are finally here! Beep beep! Time for a few automotive tunes!

    We shipped our two cars from Texas to Germany in late July. It’s now September 23 and supposedly our cars are finally ready for us to collect them. In retrospect, we probably should have just driven up to Bremerhaven in northern Germany and picked them up. We would have had them a lot sooner. But that would have involved about six hours on a train or flying somewhere and finding our way to the port. Our dogs would have had to go into a kennel. We opted to have them shipped to southern Germany and now they’re finally here.

    Since we have maybe another week or two of weather that might be agreeable to driving with the top down, I decided today’s post would be about cars and the many songs that have been written about them. I don’t mean driving music… I’ve already done a post or two about that. This is a post celebrating cars and how glad I am that we’re finally getting ours. I just hope that I don’t have an accident trying to drive again after two months.


    Believe it or not, it was Martha Stewart who introduced me to the great singer-songwriter David Wilcox, who contributes a great guitar laced number, “Rusty Old American Dream”. This is a great song about a classic car waiting for the right last owner.

    Some years ago, I bought a CD of songs compiled by someone in Martha Stewart’s company. It was full of adult friendly songs that are gentle enough to soothe babies to sleep. One of the songs on the compilation was by David Wilcox. I liked it so much that I bought one of his live CDs and “Rusty Old American Dream” was on it. Neither of our cars are American and I doubt either is made of much chrome. But we’re glad to have them back, anyway, as long as neither was damaged in transit.


    Gary Numan joins Nine Inch Nails at a concert in London singing his classic hit, “Cars”.

    This song from the late 70s always reminds me of roller skating or watching shitty movies on HBO. But given that the song is called “Cars”, I think it belongs in this post. Besides, how cool is it that Gary Numan is doing this song live with Nine Inch Nails? This is a pretty great live clip. Sometimes YouTube makes me so happy!


    Paul McCartney sings a classic Beatles hit, “Drive My Car”.

    Actually, I think the greatest version of “Drive My Car” I ever heard, aside from the original, was done by Melissa Etheridge. And here I’ve found a video of a bunch of stars singing “Drive My Car” and Melissa Etheridge is among them, belting out the chorus…


    This video is fun, though a little odd…

    Speaking of Melissa Etheridge…


    “Baby, You Can Sleep While I Drive” is quite sexy. I like Melissa’s original and Trisha Yearwood’s cover, too.

    And finally, there’s the very annoying yet whimsical 50s era song, “Beep Beep” by The Playmates.


    Does anyone drive a Nash anymore?

    Today, as we collect our vehicles, I imagine we’ll be dealing with Germans beeping at us. I look forward to taking my Mini Cooper, which I bought here in Germany five years ago, on the autobahn with the top down… the car’s, not mine. Have a great Tuesday!

  • New Music In Stores & Online 7/22/08: Miley Cyrus, Nine Inch Nails, U2 Reissues & More!!!

    So I still haven’t gotten the Hold Steady record yet. I was away all week and never made it to a record store that sells new music. When I finally did Saturday night (in a rush because I was on my way to a party), the place I went was sold out. Grr. I consoled myself with the new Nas record. So, this week, I’m gonna pretend that “Stay Positive” is a new release…because not much else here interests me. Here are the Top 5 picks.

    *Miley Cyrus “Breakout”: If you’d told me five years ago that Billy Ray Cyrus’s teenage daughter was going to be one of the biggest pop singers in the country, I’d have laughed in your face. Shows you what I know. “Breakout” is the first album where Miley is not at least partially in character as Hannah Montana. If you’re under 16 and female and you want this, I’m cool with that because it means in five years you’ll probably be listening to metal to get that sanitized pop taste out of your mouth. If you’re over 16 and female and you listen to this, the last train to Adulthood is pulling out of the station! Better hop on! If you’re male and you want this CD, either you need your dick cut off, or you’re a creepy old man. In which case you need your dick cut off. So there.

    http://www.mileycyrus.com/official

    *Nine Inch Nails “The Slip”: This is Trent Reznor’s third album of new material in a 16-month span, and it’s a 3-CD set. Shades of Prince circa 1997. “Year Zero” was an OK album, although I’ve sort of grown tired of 40-something year old Trent whining about how fucked up the world is. First single “Discipline” jams harder than any NIN single since “Only”,and the rest of the album (which was pretty much recorded on the fly) promises to at least be interesting. Those of you who are NIN superfans probably have this already, because it was made available on their site a couple of months back. (The CD version of this album is a limited release, folks. So get it while you can.)

    Home

    *U2 “Boy”/”October”/”War” (special editions): Following last year’s successful 20th anniversary re-release of “The Joshua Tree”, U2’s first three albums are given the deluxe treatment, with an added disc each of live stuff, alternate takes and other bonus goodies. They’re all remastered, as well. If memory serves, this is the first remastering job that has been done on these albums, and the improved sound is sorely needed. Although I’m a major U2 fan, I started at “The Joshua Tree” and only went part of the way backwards from there (I don’t own “Boy”, and have only sparingly listened to “October”). That said, “War” is an absolutely must-have album with at least three stone-cold classics (“New Year’s Day”, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, “Two Hearts Beat as One”). Might be worth the extra scratch for this special edition. Not that they need the money or anything.

    http://www.u2.com/

    *Sugarland “Love on the Inside”: Actually, this album comes out in earnest next week (which means, given the scarcity of quality releases next week, I may write about this again!). However, there’s a special edition “fan pack” in stores today as well as the vinyl version of the release (you haven’t heard, y’all? Vinyl is back!). You probably remember Sugarland as the country duo who sang with Bon Jovi on “Who Says You Can’t Go Home?” (the God-awful “s’awright, s’awright” song…it won a fucking Grammy, people). I read an Entertainment Weekly article on them over the weekend, and this album-allegedly inspired by artists as varied as Marvin Gaye and R.E.M.- sounds vaguely interesting. It would have to be damn good in order for me to forgive that damn Bon Jovi song.

    http://www.sugarlandmusic.com/splash.html

    *One Day as a Lion “One Day as a Lion (EP)”: Those of you waiting for that eternally-in-gestation solo debut from Zack De La Rocha are gonna have to wait some more. But in the meantime, the former Rage Against the Machine frontman releases this EP with some guy called Jon Theodore. Nope, I dunno who he is either.

    http://www.onedayasalion.org/

    Here are a couple of “WTF” releases for you: Candlebox (remember “Far Behind”? Well, you do know because I’m posting the video) are releasing “Into the Sun”, their first album in ten years. Cue the sound of interested fans numbering into the single digits. Also, apparently Danny Aiello (who the average person either remembers as Sal the pizzeria owner from “Do the Right Thing” or as the guy who played “papa” in Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach” video), is releasing “Live from Atlantic City” today. Danny Aiello sings? Who knew?

    Also…former Squeeze frontman Chris Difford releases the hilariously titled “The Last Temptation of Chris”, former Three Six Mafia associate La Chat is back in action with another album that’s gonna set female rappers back 25 years, blues stalwart Buddy Guy returns with another guest-star filled album (including the requisite Clapton spot), Jam frontman Paul Weller is putting something out, and for those of you who want to relive 1976, Led Zeppelin‘s “The Song Remains the Same” is being re-released on vinyl. Yep, you can still separate your sticks from your seeds in the gatefold sleeve.

    A full list of this week’s releases can be found here.

  • New Releases 4/8/08: Leona Lewis, Nine Inch Nails & More

    Hey Folks,
    Another Tuesday is upon us, with more new music. Here are some of the highlights.
    Leona Lewis: “Spirit”: So, um yeah, Leona won some talent contest in her native U.K. that was created by Simon Cowell. Cowell brought her over to these shores, where she was signed to J Records by Clive Davis, and…if you can think of a smoother entry into the U.S. market, I’d like to hear one. First single “Bleeding Love” has already zoomed to the #1 spot on the American singles chart (after blowing up all over Britain), and this album features production and songwriting contributions by everyone from Akon to the Kenny-G looking dude in Color Me Badd (Sam Watters).
    If you haven’t heard the song yet or checked out the video, here you go: http://youtube.com/watch?v=5-ctIC65PV0
    She’s no Amy Winehouse (or Adele or Duffy or Kate Nash), but if you ever wondered what Mariah would sound like if she were British…
    Nine Inch Nails: “Ghosts I-IV”: Trent Reznor and crew released this 36-track instrumental set over the Internet a month or so ago (actually, closer to two months ago), and it finally receives its commercial release today. While I’m sure NIN fans have already gobbled this up, more hesitant types might want to pick this up. While some tracks are familiar sounding to those who have been listening to NIN for the past twenty years, some songs are downright purty. Does Trent have a future in film scoring ahead (and why does something tell me he’s done so already…did he do the music for “Lost Highway?)??
    P.O.D. “When Angels & Serpents Dance”: I won’t be as obnoxious as I originally intended to be…but for those of you who may still actually give a shit, guitarist Marcos Curiel is back with the band after a one (mmm..maybe two-) album absence, and the band finds themselves on a new label (Columbia). Personally, I was on board for “Alive” and “Youth of the Nation” and promptly found myself right back off of the P.O.D. train.
    Ray J. “All I Feel”: I would say that Ray J. is the highest-charting porn actor in history, but then I’d be forgetting about this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=6wP_kUzaRlY (and yes, she really was a porn star…I’ve seen her in action). At any rate, who’d have thought that an album by Brandy’s negligibly talented little brother would be more anticipated than a Brandy album? Me either. But while Bran defends herself against several legal woes, Ray J. has a Top Ten hit (“Sexy Can I”, an album with guest shots from The Game & Snoop Dogg, AND he bagged Kim Kardashian *and* Whitney Houston. Hats off, dude.
    Other than that, the pickings are a little slim. Was (Not Was), one of the most bizarre funk/pop bands of the Eighties return with “Boo!”, which is their first album in nearly two decades, or since Don Was became the producer in demand for everyone from Bonnie Raitt to The Stones. All you hipsters will be grooving to new albums from indie faves Cut Copy and Tapes ‘n Tapes, and if you still believe in “Girl Power!”, you might wanna check out Spice Girl Melanie C.’s latest solo album entitled “This Time”.
    Happy shopping!