Top Five Hilarious American Commercials (As Of RIGHT NOW!)

By Julie Finley

I hate most commercials. Probably 99 percent of them! I especially hate commercials with those goddamned whining wuss-bags playing an acoustic guitar, or a whispery girl with a ukulele. Fuck that bullshit!

In the midst of having to suffer through that torture, I noticed a few diamonds in the roughage. . . and let me just say these are brilliant, and whoever came up with these advertising concepts has my unyielding respect for going against the current shitty trends in commercialism.
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Hungry For Love, Part Two: Ten More Obscure Yet Hilarious Videos

By Jim R. Clark

This is Part Two in our series on bizarre videos you may have forgotten about or never seen.

To read Part One, go here.
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Download The New Single From UK Band Peggy Sue: “Watchman”

By J Howell

Here’s something that might appeal to fans of artists like Eleni Mandell or even Tom Waits. Smart, stinging lyrics delivered in harrowing harmonies backed by clanging percussion, Peggy Sue’s “Watchman” has left me eager to hear more.

This Brighton, UK band—comprised of Katy Young, Rosa Slade, and Olly Joyce—is now on the fine Yep Roc label stateside, and on tour in the US through June. The video for “Watchman” is interesting too, featuring animation by Betsy Dadd. Easily one of the most impressive tracks to cross my path recently, “Watchman” has put Peggy Sue on my short list of bands to keep an eye on. Brilliant.

Listen/download “Watchman” here.
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New Music + Video From Thomas Dolby: “Love Is A Loaded Pistol”

By Jemiah Jefferson

“Love Is a Loaded Pistol,” the first new track from Thomas Dolby since approximately 2007, might come as a surprise to listeners who never knew anything more than “She Blinded Me With Science,” but the steampunk maestro has left his electronic roots well behind, interested now in a quieter, more personal, but no less intense approach to writing and performance.

“Loaded Pistol” soars on a combination of thoughtful strings and supper-club piano, with Dolby’s voice traversing from a husky near-whisper to a passionate, braying bell and a dozen emotional points between. Between the noir-styled story-song lyrics and the piano, you’d think he’d been possessed by the Blue Valentine-era Tom Waits, but the reality is a lot more clear and delicate.
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Top Five Funniest Evil Mad Scientists

By Lisa Anderson

The Evil Mad Scientist is a familiar figure in popular culture, and is found most often in science fiction, horror, or superhero tales. Evil Mad Scientists are not to be confused with their more benevolent counterparts, like Emmett Brown of Back to the Future. While the Evil Mad Scientist can be a figure of great terror, when this archetype is used for comic effect the results can be hilarious. Following are five of the best examples.
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Hungry For Love & Hard Boiled Eggs: Eleven Obscure Yet Hilarious Videos

By Jim R. Clark

“Can you just turn the thermostat down, please?!”

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We’re Still Watching: Pierre Trudeau in the 1970s

By Emily C.

When I was a kid, we had these volumes and volumes of World Book Encyclopedia “Year Books” in the house; they came as subscription updates with our set, and were a summation of the events of the previous year (this was obviously way before the Internet).

In my house, we had the entire set from the 1970s, and when I was bored (which was often) I would make my way through these books. I kept noticing that a guy named Pierre Trudeau would frequently pop up, especially in the “Canada” section, usually looking glamorous, distinguished, yet slightly disheveled, and frequently with his gorgeous wife Margaret. They looked exactly like film stars, but weren’t. Being American, I had no clue who Trudeau was, so I assumed he was simply just some nameless, faceless personality from the 1970s who didn’t make much of a dent here in the US or internationally.

Damn, how wrong I was!
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Turn On The Video: Cheap Trick On YouTube

By Less Lee Moore

When I initially became a YouTube addict, Cheap Trick was one of the first bands I searched for there. As fellow addicts know all too well by now, it was quite frustrating being unable to find some of the videos I wanted, and it became more frustrating when the ones I did find disappeared the next day.

But Cheap Trick is one smart band.
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These Are My Salad Days: Spandau Ballet On YouTube

By Less Lee Moore

You can’t step twice into the same YouTube river. The channel has undergone enormous transformations since its debut. In just the last few years, there have been heated disputes over copyright in the US and the UK, embarrassing incidents of corporate confusion, and irate fans who rejoice in finding long-loved-and-lost videos only to be crushed when those videos are removed for various reasons.

Thankfully, many bands have stepped up (with apparent legal muscle as well as capital) and created their own Official YouTube channels. This issue we’ll be profiling the Official Spandau Ballet YouTube channel.
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Top Five Ideas For Life After The Swineflu Apocalypse (As Gleaned From ’80s Music Videos)

By Hanna

1. In the future, David Bowie will flirt with black men and we will do experimental dance. ALL DAY.

David Bowie, “Time Will Crawl” (1987)

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