My two favourite bands couldn’t be more of a study in contrasts. Led Zeppelin was a hard-rocking, drug-taking, groupie-banging maelstrom of bombastic sound. U2′s music, on the other hand, is infused with spirituality, soaring melodies, and the quest for a connection with a higher power.
And yet I love them both. Perhaps this is the musical representation of the yin and yang of the universe, the tension between darkness and light. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how we all have, within ourselves, the propensity for both. I think that psychic discord often comes about when we try to resist one side or the other too much. It’s all about balance, and embracing both aspects of life.
Which is why I think it’s important to celebrate many different styles of music, from the highly spiritual to the down-and-dirty. And how better to do so than by comparing and contrasting one band of self-professed Christian rockers with another band that was plagued throughout their career by lurid tales of dark arts and devil worship.
Now, I’m not trying to turn this into an epic battle between the forces of Good and Evil…but just for the hell of it, I wonder who would win? Clearly the only way to judge is by employing the objective powers of Science and Math to sort it out.
Therefore, over the next few posts I will be examining each band based on a variety of categories, and totally choosing my favourites utilizing a highly scientifical method that is not at all biased in order to establish the winner in each category. Points from all of the categories will be tabulated at the conclusion of our study to determine the ultimate victor. So without further ado, I present to you our first category:
Lead Singers
Robert Plant:
Robert Plant was an unquestionably amazing singer and front man. His at-times-otherworldly howl was obviously a major contributing factor to Zep’s heavy, rollicking sound. And no matter what the lyrics were, it always seemed like he was really just singing about getting into some girl’s pants. Basic, primal, primordial sex, pretty much. That’s what many of Zep’s songs sound like to me, anyway. Also, I think we must acknowledge Robert Plant’s excellent stage attire, which often involved flowery women’s blouses, no doubt pilfered from the closets of his latest conquests.
I mean come on, how amazing is this?
POINTS AWARDED: 20 for the howl, 10 for the sexin’, and 25 for the women’s shirts. Total = 55 points.
Bono:
I went into this thinking that Bono was going to be the clear winner, but now I’m not so sure. A pretty good case can be made on Robert Plant’s behalf, I think. I may have just talked myself into switching sides. We will have to wait and see how the points tally up. Anyway, here’s what Bono brings to the table: awesome spirit, gregarious personality, and in-your-face enthusiasm. All excellent qualities in a front man. And his voice! So pure, and beautiful. I find U2′s songs so inspirational in a spiritual sense, and much of that has to do with Bono’s ringing tenor.*
*At least, I think he’s a tenor. I really know nothing about voice types and how to label them, so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
When it comes to his look, I was not so much a fan of Joshua Tree-era Bono:
A bit too 'oily bohunk' for my my taste.
But I very much enjoy ’80s new wave Bono:
Adorable!
POINTS AWARDED: 10 for the personality, -10 for the leather vest, and 60 for the voice. Total = 60 points.
Well! It looks as though Bono has the slight edge in the end, on the basis of his awesome pipes. What can I say? You can’t argue with Science.
Join us soon for our next installment in this epic showdown between two of the greatest bands of all time…
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I am a pretty huge fan of ’80s movies in general, and John Hughes flicks in particular. 1986′s ‘Pretty in Pink’ is one of my all-time favourites — I previously wrote about it here and here.
So you can imagine my excitement when my good pal Laird Sapir told me that she was planning a post about a face-off between teen movie uber-villains Hardy Jenns (‘Some Kind of Wonderful’) and Steff McKee (‘Pretty in Pink’) and asked me to argue on Steff’s behalf.
You can read my treatise on Steff’s sleazy awesomeness, and Laird’s excellent rebuttal in favour of Hardy, here: Blazers & Bad Attitudes. Be sure to vote for your favourite rich preppie douchebag!
When I heard that Jane’s Addiction was touring again, and playing Toronto’s Massey Hall (one of my all-time favorite venues), I was totally into it. But then we kind of dropped the ball on getting tickets, so I had resigned myself to the fact that I would miss the chance yet again to see Perry Farrell in action, which was a shame because I have heard many accounts of what an excellent front man he is. Plus I love the band. I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard them. It was the summer after grade 9 and I was in San Francisco visiting family. I met up with a bunch of my high school buddies who were also in town. We were hanging out down at Pier 39 doing the touristy thing, and it was one of those perfect San Fran days where it’s sunny and kind of cool but the air is crisp and the sky is unbelievably blue. My friend Matt turned to me and said “Spencer, check this out,” shoving a pair of earphones into my ears. ‘Been Caught Stealing’. That was my first taste of Jane’s Addiction.
I can’t believe that it wasn’t until twenty years later that I finally saw them live. I was sitting at work yesterday afternoon when a friend called out of the blue to say that a buddy of his had extra tickets and did I want them? I didn’t hesitate, and I have to say that getting the opportunity to catch their performance at Massey Hall was a pretty unique and amazing experience. As you can probably tell from the photos, our seats were excellent, and I spent most of the show right up in the front row. There’s something I love about being that close to the band – you get to see all the movements, the facial expressions, the things that ‘humanize’ people, if you will. When you see famous bands in huge venues they’re often beamed up on a giant screen above your head, larger than life, and as a result you tend to forget that rock stars are ultimately just people too, and that running around on stage playing their instruments takes the same amount of effort (give or take) for them as it would for lesser-known performers. When you’re up close, you get to see the little details – the sweat, the concentration, the timing – that reveal this effort. Perry Farrell has been famous for so many years that he had become sort of a caricature in my head, so it was kind of crazy and mind-blowing to be watching him from such a short a distance. Awesome, but in a totally disconcerting way…like, “dude…Perry Farrell is jumping around mere inches from my face”.* Surreal.
*Well, okay, more like 3 or 4 feet…but still…that’s fucking close.
As to whether or not he is an excellent front man…in a word, yes. A thousand times yes. I had heard it said before but I didn’t really understand it until I experienced it firsthand. You just can’t keep your eyes off of him. In pictures, I had never found him particularly attractive or unattractive, one way or another — he always seemed kind pale and skinny, if anything – but in person he exudes charisma, vitality, and, yes, sex appeal. Plus, check out his outfit:
Obviously I am all over the vest, the gloves, and the black-on-black stripes. Understated (particularly for him), yet awesome.
The rest of the band members were solid, and then some. Say what you will about Dave Navarro — the man knows how to strut onstage, and has the chops to back it up. I saw him super up close as well and he was wearing a rather amazing amount of makeup but it wasn’t out of place, it just looked theatrical. Stephen Perkins broke out the steel drums for a slowed-down version of ‘Jane Says,’ which many critics thus far along the tour have deemed lackluster, but I will just point out that hearing the entire audience singing along to every word was pretty awesome.
Of course, being a Jane’s Addiction show, there was no shortage of imagery on display intended to shock and disturb. ‘Twisted Tales,’ most notably, featured a man in a white tuxedo tailcoat whose head was wrapped in bandages, abusing plastic dolls in a variety of violent ways for the duration of the song before finally hanging himself as it reached its’ conclusion. Slightly tamer was the lesbian-and-bondage-style live performance of two women (including Farrell’s wife, Etty Lau), which included canes, leather bustiers, and spankings.
The highlights of the show for me included a high-energy performance of ‘Mountain Song,’ the sinister menace of ‘Ted, Just Admit It…,’ a pretty, stripped-down version of ‘Classic Girl’ (one of my faves), and the hauntingly sublime ‘Three Days’.
A humbling question for any self-avowed music fetishist to ask, but there was no denying it – I had lost touch with today’s music. Foster the People? All over it – but so is anyone who watches Conan O’Brien. I have an opinion not only on Lana Del Ray, but her SNL appearance too (positive, thank you). And while I can sing Party Rock Anthem from memory, find me a housewife in Kansas who can’t.
Every music fan knows there is no sweeter joy than being ‘the first’ to direct their friends towards an awesome new album, song or artist, and I can claim ‘Slanted and Enchanted’, ‘Since I Left You’ and ‘The Soft Bulletin’ as my ‘discoveries’. Problem is, none of these are from the last 10 years. Hard swallow.
At one time, knee-deep in Spin magazine and hosting my own campus Radio Show at Western (‘The Fever’) I could go toe-to-toe with anyone on music and emerge relatively unscathed. These days, however, I have to admit I have exhausted nearly all of my avenues into new music – the stuff just below the surface – stuff you probably won’t hear on radio, see on TV, or maybe even read about in magazines.
So, cue the cuz. Trevor Burns, aka T-Rev, music freak, accomplished pianist, and host of his own show at Cornell called Throwdown Thursdays. I asked him to assemble a playlist of the furthest-forward music he knew. Not weird shit nobody likes that’s purposefully obtuse, but good shit. Stuff that — sigh — the kids are listening to.
Cornell is not South Central, so there’s an economic, cultural and sociological bias to the selections – as there would be if I were to ask someone from South Central. And I’m fine with that because frankly, after 20 miserable years of rap dominating popular music, I can go the rest of my life without needing to be told to ‘throw my hands in the air, and wave them like I just don’t care’.
If you can hear Van Morrison’s ‘Blue Money’ in the Sesame Street theme song, and can hear the Sesame Street theme song in Wilco’s ‘Outta Mind/Outta Sight’, we might have something in common. So herewith, forthwith, the best of ‘What the Kids are Listening to Today’, + 2 stinkers for the curmudgeons and misanthropes out there.
You Do You – Bear in Heaven
Start with an easy one. Addictive and brilliant. A restless, Philip Glass-style synth pulse sits on the bottom, overlaid by a slow-mo Maggie May drum style. The lyrics are insistent, repetitive, echoey, lonely and harmonized – an ongoing, unanswered call into the abyss. Kind of like love. I don’t have a clue what he’s talking about but it sounds dark and swirling, not quite nightmarish, and shot through with brilliant, sparkling, boops and beeps in all the right places.
Norway – Beach House
What starts as a key held on a Yamaha Portasound soon crests and gives way to a lush combo of chants and guitar noodling. We’re greeted by a plaintive speak-song, accompanied by warbling, warped tones shimmering beside the voice. Out of tune guitar? The chorus soars without forgetting the melancholy mood and just gets more beautiful from there. Subtle, skilled, sad and moving, this song is powered by a simple Indian tom-tom beat and is practically painted on the ethereal air of the singing. The exhortations of ‘NOR-WAY-AY-AY-AY-AY’ are to be believed, if not understood.
Low Shoulder – Toro Y Moi
Squelchy, rounded, bass womps, simple disco hand-clap percussion, and the most addictive little electronic melody squirt anyone’s heard on a synthesizer since The Gap Band. Damn, by the three minute mark there must be 10 layers of sounds cooking in this pot – all complimentary, all designed please you, promising surprise and delight. The singing is lovely and swaying, sounding only slightly bored but in a good way, as though he’s been to every party worth going to, twice, and is now taking you on an aural travelogue of his sonic adventures in the post-disco underground, attitude-free.
Breathe – Telepopmusik
Is this Portishead? For those of us still stuck on Dummy this sounds like a kinder, gentler return to those days. She is singing from the other end of the phone, then from the other room, and she is definitely on this planet but in a different world. A hi-hat counts the seconds off like a sentient metronome and everything is rounded, no right angles – yes, that is exactly what I’m saying – if Antoni Gaudi were alive today and making pop musik, this is what it would sound like. Or rather what he would believe his girlfriend was hearing during the sweetest stretch of her absinthe high. And once again, those glorious, expertly placed boops and beeps bubbling up from everywhere like little coloured Easter Eggs, dropping into your ear. Could it be called Breathe because we’re underwater?
Painter in Your Pocket – Destroyer
Why can some people sing so bad, and sound so good? Television’s Tom Verlaine perfected that strangled, urban squawk which should sound like nails on a chalkboard but actually brings tears to your eyes through its honesty and hurt anxiety. Destroyer’s lead singer is not nearly so-bad-it’s-good but it’s a creaky croak which shouldn’t work but does. Heartfelt, wounded, authentic and moving, it starts the song and carries the emotional narrative until it all goes quiet and yields to the prettiest and most delicate little guitar melody I may ever have heard. Yes, it is that good. It’s humbling. As in, what am I doing with my life while someone else begat this beautiful little music love child, wrapped in bars of simple sunshine? When the drums finally kick in, meaning we move from the rumbly toms to the ride cymbal and snare drum, just give up. You’re now in the hands of simple masters. Unforgettable.
You – Gold Panda
Now we’re getting weird. We start with what sounds like someone fumbling with a tape deck – a nice post-modern touch – then slip into a pop confection too sugary sweet for even a Barbie commercial. This sound is as plastic and hermetically sealed from reality as a frame of Pixar film. Picture two computers – actually, don’t. Computers are logical. This is just silly nonsense. But the insistence that somehow this might be good, that this is somehow fun, pleasing, or worth listening to comes from the sheer collective novelty and abundance of random sound effects pretending to be a song. Eventually a beat creeps in and threatens to rain on the lollipop parade, but we never truly doubt the protagonist’s escape from the tiny universe of this song. There is tone, colour, some shape and texture but not much else. Disposable.
The Bay – Metronomy
Precise, quiet ABBA drumming with perfectly placed off-beat clangs on the cymbal, moving urgently forward, propelled by an electric piano reminiscent of Supertramp’s ‘Fool’s Overture’. The singing is polite, British and poppy. Not quite Pet Shop Boys – less bombast – but late 80′s in style. Slightly frantic in an invigorating way. A catchy, fun melody, and knowing lyrics you can almost catch on the first pass. This song will bury itself in your brain so be warned.
You’re a Jerk – New Boyz
Torture. A plodding, numbing ‘beat’. The most insipid Tourette’s sample – ‘You’re a jerk’ – I’ve ever had the displeasure of hearing. It at times threatens to take off thanks to a John Carpenter’s Halloween sort of menace in the background but meaningless, indulgent pauses in the action just grind your face in the shit sandwich that is this song. A phlegmatic hawk and spit on the ground. Drivel.
Mouthful of Diamonds – Phantogram
Wicked bass-buzz throughout; machine-like drumming, but with warmth; nice LP crackle floating in the background; harmonies a la Heart; languorous pauses where almost everything disappears then comes back with head bobbing syncopation, accompanied by a warm, dappling guitar. What is not to love about this song? Plus a mockingbird call that is surprisingly welcome, adding some tent poles to the heavy sonic tarp which otherwise threatens to smother us.
Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites – Skrillex
Tone, timbre, texture and an alarming swing between a melody you can whistle and a robot in the throes of a nightmare. At various points someone screams ‘Oh my God!’ At other times it is as though an Otis Redding chorus has arrived via fax, and it sounds about as clear as a faxed document looks. Other than the sheer novelty of it, which is appealing, it’s hard to picture Skrillex having a Greatest Hits compilation in 10 years. Then again, that is probably the furthest thing from his mind right now. I get the sense his music, and this song, is best heard at the moment of creation; surrounded by a few hundred of your friends, 3 o’clock in the morning, getting machine-gunned by strobe lights, and high on life. At that time, in that place, I’d be begging for this song.
To hear these tunes for yourself, check out the vids above — or listen to ‘em all here on LTEV’s handy playlist:
Good morning dear readers, and welcome to the Most Romantic Day of the Year! Can you feel the love? I sure hope so. Hallmark Industries needs your support, you know. Those cards don’t just write themselves. Every dollar you spend goes directly towards raises for their copywriters. I mean, that’s where the profit goes, right? Right? Of course it does.
Anyway, we marked Valentine’s Day last year by celebrating famous musical couples throughout the ages. This year, we decided to throw together a playlist of our favorite love songs for your enjoyment. Songs about love tend to be rather sappy and maudlin by nature, but we feel that these selections have the cheese factor dialed back (as much as possible, anyway) and the music level set to awesome.
Everyday – Buddy Holly
This is such a sweet, innocent love song that seems to me to hearken back to a simpler time. I always wondered why it had never been used in a movie soundtrack, and then it showed up in Big Fish. Which was pretty perfect.
Let My Love Open the Door (E.Cola Mix) – Pete Townshend
I think this might just be my favorite tune on this list. It is basically ‘Baba O’Riley’ – a.k.a. one of the greatest songs of all time – rewritten as a love song. Amazing.
I Want You to Want Me – Cheap Trick
“I want you to want me / I need you to need me / I’d love you to love me…”
I mean, that’s pretty much what it all comes down to, right?
Fresh Feeling – Eels
A song about being next to someone who makes you feel that life is full of possibilities.
Maybe I’m Amazed – Paul McCartney
I always thought Paul had the best voice, and I love the way he sings this song.
Here — Pavement
Okay, so maybe this isn’t technically a love song, but it’s probably as close as Pavement ever got to writing a romantic(ish) ballad. Plus I love it, so it makes sense to me to include it here.
I Won’t Share You – The Smiths
Johnny Marr’s guitar playing on this track kills me. It is just so pretty.
Time After Time – Cyndi Lauper
A beautiful song, full of longing.
Everywhere – Fleetwood Mac
I generally prefer Stevie Nicks’ voice over Christine McVie’s, but this song is AMAZING.
Show Me Heaven – Maria McKee
I had to throw one cheesy song selection in here.* It’s Valentine’s Day, y’all!
*No, ‘Everywhere’ doesn’t count. There is nothing cheesy about Tango In the Night-era Fleetwood Mac. Nothing.
Plus, this song was featured in Days of Thunder, obviously one of the most romantic movies of all time…
Tom + Nicole Forever
We’ve also compiled our picks onto a handy little playlist for you here:
Please enjoy yourselves tonight, kids, and be safe. Let us know your favorite songs about L-O-V-E.
Spencer
donkeysuit
Christian
DamnYouSkylon
Finn
whyskeletonwhy
