mondojohnson

Both the song and the animation are sheer genius. What dorky ecstasy: this and the return of Futurama in the same week. *Sigh*

Nirvana Baby, Spencer Elden from Barry O Donnell on Vimeo.

Odd that this little revelation came about just now…. A couple days ago I was tasked with visually representing certain years in recent history for a professor’s presentation. Most of the dates were easy: 1948: “Dewey Defeats Truman”. 1959: An Edsel. 1974: Leisure suited, feminized man.

But I got stuck on 1991: Gulf War? Paul Tsongas? Bill Clinton?

Eventually, the cover of Nirvana’s “Nevermind” came to mind, and if worked perfectly, of course. Fascinating to see that iconic little baby all grown up.

I have learned via gawker.com and TMZ that Axl Rose remains a touchy überpriss all these years after Appetite for Destruction rocked our worlds.

At a recent Guns ‘n Roses show in Canada, Axl (or his people) instructed security personnel to forbid audience members from wearing Slash-related gear. Fans were told to remove offending baseball caps, and to turn their Slash t-shirts inside out. TMZ reported that a few conscientious metalheads called “bullshit” and went home.

The witty folks at gawker.com managed to sum up my feelings exactly:

I don’t know, but Slash was an essential component of Axl Rose, and until they reunite, nobody’s going to give a shit about Guns N’ Roses, and Slash is already doing quite fine on his own, so Axl Rose: suck an egg. TEAM SLASH. Related: Paradise City is still the best song EVAH. Eveh? EVAH!

Related to Gawker‘s “Related” item: In my salad days, on the brink of rock stardom, I was privileged to hang out backstage at the Giants Stadium concert at which much of the Paradise City video was filmed. GNR were just exploding — they were the opener at an amazing triple bill with Deep Purple and Aerosmith. I witnessed one of Axl’s legendary hissy fits first-hand; the newbie rockstar had to be whisked away like a Chinese emperor.

Me in my salad days.

Slash, on the other hand, hung around like a regular earthling. He chilled out next to me on a side-stage scaffolding to watch Deep Purple, still dripping with sweat from the GNR set. He was focused intently on the music, and he never once pulled any rockstar attitude. He was more interested in rocking out to a great band than in basking in the considerable ass-kissery that was swirling around. He treated me like just another musician.

TEAM SLASH, indeed. I’ve made it my slogan for the website this week.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Slash turned down millions to reunite with Guns N’ Roses (guardian.co.uk)
• Let’s Make Fun of Axl Rose Some More (metalsucks.net)

As a former wanna-be rockstar, I hesitate to heap scorn on other musicians (unless I am among close friends — then I’m unstoppable). But I must concur with the Village Voice’s choice for the worst record of the decade that is now coming to a close.

The VV appropriately chose the cover of Big Yellow Taxi inflicted on us by Counting Crows and Vanessa Carlton. It was such a mistake, a pointless anachronism performed by two acts that were skating on thin ice with me to begin with. I had alternated between loving and loathing the self-absorbed whining of Counting Crows (e.g. Mr. Jones and Long December); and I was willing to let Vanessa Carlton live despite her awful pre-teen girly music. Hey, at least she provided material for the one funny scene in White Chicks.

But let me pass the mic to the Village Voice, who said it best:

…”Big Yellow Taxi” … was pre-lubed and yearning for a nation whose nostalgia muscles were so atrophied they couldn’t comprehend much more than the “hey, this pop culture reference exists”-style comedy of Scary Movie 2….[It] exists because the same nation that re-elected President Bush and demanded a sequel to Beverly Hills Chihuahua practically pisses their sweatpants at the idea of a modicum of change. “Big Yellow Taxi” is a song that didn’t need to be remade the first seven times, but Counting Crows figured it was easier to record it than rob a bank. It’s Alvin & The Chimpmunks without CGI and shit-eating–except in the case of “Big Yellow Taxi,” the CGI is the glossy purr of Vanessa Carlton, and the shit-eating happens whenever we have to hear this song at the dentist or at Walgreens or inside a dingy Guantanamo Bay cell.

Yep.

[Source: Village Voice, The 50 Worst Songs of the '00s]

Del the Funky Homosapien is trying out a very cool “pay your own price” concept for his latest album, Automatik Statik.

From “The Funk Chronicles” newsletter:

…you pay $3 or $300, the choice is yours! If you spend $30 or more, you will get a limited edition set of Skullcandy “Funkman” Icons, be able to participate in Del’s conference calls with fans and become a member of Del’s “Hierollers Club.” Hierollers will have access to benefits such as guest list at shows, limited products unrleased to the public and more.

Cut Del some slack on the spelling errors and go support this awesome artist and novel pricing structure…. Get your copy of AUTOMATIK STATIK… I know I’m going to. (Though I’m stuck in the $3 category, I’d pay more if I could.)