// Category Archive for: Music

Top Five Reasons I Love The Junos

By Nicole V.

We all know music award shows are boring. They’re too long and too formal, and even though the awards most people don’t care about are presented in the non-televised portion, it still feels like a lot of filler. Still, I always watch portions of both the Grammys and the Canadian version, the Junos, every year.
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WASTED! The Top Five Most Inebriated Performances/Tours (In No Particular Order)

By Emily Carney

1. Jefferson Airplane, two nights in Germany, 1978

“Give me head.”

Grace Slick earned the sobriquet “the Liz Taylor of rock” during the 1970s due as much to her propensity for Liz-like excess as her attractive appearance. Her heights of Babylonian overindulgence climaxed with two wacky nights in Germany in 1978, during which Ms. Slick single-handedly managed to alienate an entire European nation and change the lyrics to much of her band’s back catalogue, both tasks equally momentous in scope. Some “highlights” of the performances: Grace, who appeared to be completely wasted and was drinking throughout the show from a Dixie cup, changed the lyrics of “White Rabbit” from “Feed your head” to, inexplicably, “Give more head.” It probably didn’t matter what she sang, given her throat sounded completely mangled anyway; she had probably also smoked about 100 Kools that day.
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The Beach Boys: Concert Abstinence is Not the Answer

By Christian Lipski

It seems odd now, considering my current obsession with music, that my first concert would be a band I didn’t know very well. I wasn’t very heavily into music In 1983 when my mom asked if I’d like to go see the Beach Boys at the Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey. I will say that as a kid I really took to the surf/car songs I heard on K-Tel TV commercials, and my first LP was Jan & Dean (a re-release, in case you think I am 75 years old), but it never really became a habit. As a result, my reaction was a mild assent.
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From Assault Rifles to Guns ‘N’ Roses: A Conversation with Mike Small of The Meligrove Band

By Megashaun

My introduction to The Meligrove Band came on September 28, 2000. Some friends and I decided to catch a Sloan show and they were the opening act. Unfortunately I arrived late and only caught the last two songs of their set: a rousing rendition of Elvis Costello’s “Pump it Up” and their own mini-epic rock anthem show closer (which they still play), “The Victory.”
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I Am Curious (Giallo): Q & A with Giallos Flame

By Eric Weber

One of my favorite things to do is put on my iPod and listen to some menacing or ominous horror movie soundtrack while walking to my car after work. I love to play tracks from Halloween II and pretend I’m a character in a horror film. Someone like Jamie Lee Curtis or Jessica Harper in Suspiria. As I stroll through the dark and desolate parking deck, I’ll imagine that I’m being pursued by some shadowy figure in a dark trench coat. I’ll stop and look around cautiously, peering around the corner to see if someone (or something) is behind me. If I’m feeling particularly brave (and sure that no one is around), I’ll break out into a run towards my car, imagining the killer is close behind me. I’ll drop the keys (on purpose) and fumble with the lock before quickly jumping into the car. Whew. Another murder attempt diverted. You see, I’m completely obsessed with horror movie soundtracks.
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Thriller: My Introduction to Pop Culture

By Laura L.

It’s hard to believe it’s been twenty-five years since the release of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. It’s even harder to believe it’s been almost as long since I listened to it for the very first time. I don’t remember exactly how old I was, and I don’t even remember whether it was the very first tape my dad bought me, but I know it was one of the very first. To go with this gift was my older cousin’s brown, hand-me-down cassette case, featuring some hand-me-down tapes. Thriller fit right in the collection.
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Q & A with Fatal Farm

Interviewed by Less Lee Moore

If you frequently troll YouTube for weird videos or subscribe to WFMU’s Beware of the Blog, you may have already heard of Lasagna Cat, video mashups of well-known songs with three-panel Garfield comics.

If you haven’t, then you should probably watch one immediately.
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Duran Duran’s Seven and the Ragged Tiger

By Less Lee Moore

In the eighties, I became a Duranie. I grew fascinated with them after seeing the “Planet Earth” video on MTV. My friend later played Rio for me and I couldn’t get enough of it so I scrounged up allowance money and bought my own copy. Previously I’d been obsessed with Adam Ant, but since I didn’t think Strip was up to the standard he set with his previous albums, my interest began to wane. Enter the Fab Five.
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The Expert

By Christian Lipski

A while back, my wife and I went to see Enuff Z’Nuff at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano. That sounds like an strange and exotic location to see a band, but it’s actually just a 250-person-capacity bar in a small town in Orange County. Appearances can be deceiving.
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Is It A Guilty Pleasure If You Don’t Feel Guilty?

By Christian Lipski

These two don’t look
like they feel guilty at all.

The “pleasure” part of a guilty pleasure is easy enough to pin down—you’re doing something that pleases you. That doesn’t mean that it makes you feel happy, as sad things can be pleasurable; it’s just that you enjoy the experience. The “guilty” aspect is harder to define, as the guilt involved is subjective. In general, a guilty pleasure can be thought of as habitual indulgence in something that you feel has no redeeming qualities but still pleases you. I include “habitual” because there seems to be a need for the person to return to the experience more often than would be assumed based on the “value” of the object. For example, chocolate has little nutritional value, but it tastes good. Having chocolate once in a while as dessert wouldn’t necessarily represent a guilty pleasure, but having a candy bar or two every day from a secret stash might.
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