Dienstag, 14. Feb 2012, 0:50
A month has passed since my last entry. Still working on the similar artists formula, but the program I'm running to test the formula has slowed down, so I'm gonna make some changes to the code and re-look at the formula. That will be discussed later. But let me discuss what is on my mind.
SUPER BOWL DEJA VU
Yeah, last week, was the Super Bowl…and another halftime guest that basically combined the flaws from the last 2 Super Bowls together (outdated The Who and the top 40-friendly Black Eyed Peas). It was Madonna, but to be honest, it wasn't really a disaster like last year. Not bad, but we need to start getting Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Muse and other 90s-2000s rock bands now.
But the main think I want to vent about were…the commercials. Usually the best part of the Super Bowl…this year, they all came out flat. Sad TBH. The beer commercials are usually the funniest ads…none of them were funny. And some ad campaigns just need to stop…godaddy, Etrade, you get the point.
LAMB OF GOD > YOU
That's right, Lamb of God just release a badass album to start 2012 up with some quality groove metal (ignore the naysayers/neckbeard). First album in a longtime that I cranked up non-stop. To be quick to the point, Resolution sees a return back to the metalcore-influenced (but not 100% metalcore) sound seen on Ashes of the Wake and Sacrament. A lot of standouts and unique songs…the one that grabbed my attention was new territory for LoG…known as Insurrection, where Randy Blythe actually utilize clean singing vocals on the first verse…pretty cool sound.
The intro/track 2 combination of Straight For the Sun / Desolation also delivers (just like Wrath's The Passing / In Your Words). Still 2012's got a long way to go, and anything can dethrone Resolution as my favorite album of 2012 (screw the naysayers and neckbeards).
If you're a fan of the David Lee Roth era of Van Halen, be sure to check out VH's new album A Different Kind of Truth, which feels like stuff straight from the DLR era in the early 80s. Many of the songs on ADKoT were taken from some early VH work before the Ran with the Devil and hit it big. Eddie Van Halen provides a ton of awesome guitar riffs and solo'ing too. I'm probably gonna give several more listens of this album though. Even if it's not another Van Halen or 1984 or Fair Warning, fans of VH will enjoy it.
WAIT, why did I watch the grammies again
Yeah, I was trying to boycott these grammies, but unfortunately, everyone at home wanted to watch it…with nothing else to do Sunday night, I had no choice but to watch a show that didn't really care about music.
There were only two things I cared about and both did their jobs…Foo Fighters swept the rock awards as expected, in the process winning for best hard rock / metal performance…pissing off the snobby prog-head fanbase known as Dream Theater. The award said Hard Rock / Metal…not Metal only. And the song that won that award…none other than White Limo. Sorry DT fans, but even if the award was split as metal and hard rock separately, you still wouldn't win…the Grammies love to choose the old geezer established act…Megadeth would have taken best metal performance…and forget 2013 as long as Metallica releases an album. BTW, the cheapo/silly music video for White Limo features Lemmy of Motorhead driving a white limo with the band members hopping on for some cheesy and hillarious shit.
But I'll be honest, Wasting Light by the Foo Fighters had so much things going. To me, it was a celebration of rock music…recorded in a garage in analog. No computers. The recording process lasted several weeks with a song focused one at a time. While Nickelback relied on pro tools and FL studio for the infamous Dark Horse, the Foos recorded their album old fashion. This is what separates them from every single modern post-grunge band out there today.
And how bout Dave Grohl wearing that Slayer t-shirt…he's really a metalhead, you know that…right? I was hoping for the Foos to topple Adele…but they didn't come any close.
The other album was Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy…the album that pretty much signals a turning point for Kanye after interupting our buddy Taylor Swift and promoting Beyonce's NWO illuminati..ahem…music video. Sorry bout that. It was a great album (though I still like Late Registration better…now barely by a hair though). What more do you want, great sampling, some awesome guests (Raekwon's verse rocked), and the perfect choice of a single to get this album platinum. And critics loved it…the hipster gathering site known as pitchfork gave this a 10/10…but I already dug Kanye West before those guys gave a 10/10.
Mass critical praise, great sales, took home 3 Grammies in the hip-hop category, shutting down the Young Money express. In addition, Kanye West and Jay-Z also won for best hip-hop performance with Otis. Great night for Kanye overall…4 awards. And possibly AOTY right?
If you read my entry on the Grammies…you know the rest.
Snubbed….what many believe could be an influential album to music in the future…snubbed. In it's place were two albums by Bruno Mars and Rihanna that had no reason occupying those slots. Two pop albums that weren't fully well recieved…at least not compared to Kanye. How could anyone snub Kanye like this? And guess what…both Hova and Yeezy didn't show up for the grammies. Hova's got to be with Beyonce and their new satani…I mean, baby. Fatherhood's here for Jigga. Gotta care about him.
But Kanye…I think it's obvious why he didn't show up. He'll probably deny it, but…yeah…why even show respect to a show that fails to respect your art…and hip-hop as a whole. Hip-hop has never been recognized by the show…only two hip-hop albums won album of the year…and both aren't pure hip-hop albums (Lauryn Hill's is more R&B alligned while Outkast's second half of their AOTY was more funk/R&B based.
As for the performances, well, we know Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney would dominate their performances. As did the Foo Fighters (rumors indicated that Chris Brown and Lil Wayne would join in with the Foos for a performance…that was misred though as the Foos performed instead with Deadmau5).
As for Nicki Minaj…I'm just going to say "WTF" and move on. And there was Adele eating every single award in her path…the media's going to go crazy over her.
But yeah, that's the grammys for you. They're in a bad hole now and even though the Foos and Kanye won big, everything else is a blur…hip-hop is invisible to the grammies.
(BTW, before you complain about the hard rock/metal performance, note that Metallica, Slayer, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Tool, Rage Against the Machine, AC/DC have won either Hard Rock or Metal performances at the grammies at least once. They know these bands exist at least. Oh…Nickelback still doesn't have a grammy :P
But, one of the reasons that people watched the grammies was not about the award, but another music icon passing away. Whiteny Houston died on Friday with news becoming official the next day. It's a tragic story of how someone with a magnificient voice could sucummb to drug use and have her career ruined later. Now, I never listened to her…though my mother did back in the 80s, so she wanted to watch the Grammies to see what tribute they would do. Whitney sang the national anthem in Super Bowl 25…which is widely considered to be one of the best renditions of the anthem…probably the only thing from that Super Bowl I want to remember (Bills fan here :( ). It's tough though. A lot of artists I listen to have suffered band members dying of drug overdose/addiction. The Rev from Avenged Sevenfold, Mike Starr from Alice in Chains. It's tough to get sober from drug addiction, and sometimes the drugs take you right back in.
Even though I wasn't a big listener of her, R.I.P. Whitey Houston.
Final words, lot of new albums coming out this year, and I'm hoping they'll be awesome. Jesse Leach is back with Killswitch Engage now…hoping their new album makes up for the flawed s/t album in 2009. Soundgarden should be finally ready to release some awesome shit. Perhaps Tool will release their long overdue record.
That's all.