Music Press Face-Off: The Stodgy Old Grandfather vs. The Sarcastic, Snarky Teenager

NOTE: The lovely journos from both NME and Rolling Stone did not reply to my e-mails about the bands and methods of writing featured in their respective magazines. If I hear back from any of them within the next few days, especially NME’s editor Conor McNicholas, I’ll make sure to add their comments within the body of the text. Thanks!

Should You Judge a Magazine by Its Cover?

A quick glance at the June 7, 2008 cover of NME (New Musical Express), the premier British rock weekly, published since the 1950s and widely regarded as one of the most vocal champions of new and breaking bands, reveals a look at the two young, stylish members of MGMT, a psychedelic, fun-loving American duo who just released their first album and are preparing for their upcoming tour of the annual British summer festivals. The tagline on the cover, a quote from one of the band members, reads, “Playing gigs naked is strange…but fun”.

On the other hand, the cover of the May 23, 2008 issue of Rolling Stone, the old guard of American music journalism, features the Eagles, one of the ‘70s biggest arena rock bands, famous for their 1976 album Hotel California, as well as for partaking in the worst of the 1970s music industry-related excesses. The band’s grizzled, well-past-middle-aged visages stare out at the reader, not so much imploring the reader to buy the magazine, but instead to take better care of their skin and cut back on his or her drinking. The tagline on this rag reads, “Bitter feud, big comeback”, inspired by the band’s recent resurgence in popularity following the release of a chart-topping new album. If it weren’t for the band’s weathered looks, this exact same cover wouldn’t have looked out of place ten or twenty years ago.

So Long, My Friends…There Must Always Be an End

Following my upcoming second article post on Thursday, this blog will cease to exist. The Spring term has finally come to an end (can I get an Amen?!) and I have other things to concentrate on, like not failing out of school and trying to squeeze as much time out of this summer as I can while also taking 20 credits worth of classes.

I started this blog a long time (er, ten weeks) ago, for lack of a better topic to blog about in Online Journalism class. Though my posts haven’t always been “philosophical” or even “readable” most of the time, I had a good time posting a bunch of random crap and my favorite videos of the moment, and I hope that you, the readers (all…two of you?), had as much fun reading my entries as I did writing them.

In lieu of writing something monumental, just watch Patrick Wolf (if you’re like me, for the millionth time) and think of better things:

If you ever need to get in touch with me, to see what I’m up to or to badger me about something completely unrelated to music, my e-mail address is alissa dot harris at gmail dot com (ooh, can’t write it out normally or I’ll get a bunch of spam) and I’m on Facebook, like every other damn college kid.

New Weezer Video: Now With Added Minor Celebrities!

Oh Weezer, it’s nice to have you back after all of that ‘Make Believe’ nonsense three years ago. Even though you made some dubious choices in terms of cover art and with song titles (“Pork and Beans” sounds more like a Sunday night dinner at the Brady household than a comeback single, but I digress), the video for the aforementioned “Pork and Beans” makes it all better, except I can’t help but wish that Chris Crocker would go away permanently.

Also, Brian Bell, I take back all of my “disgruntled hobo” jokes made in the last Weezer post, now that I’ve seen you can work the whole “homeless millionaire” look on video.

Music Magazines Bring Out the Nerd in Me

Twice a month or so, Stereogum takes a break from its usual programming (slamming records that haven’t even been released yet, constantly fanboying over Death Cab for Cutie, etc.) and runs perhaps the most brilliant feature on a blog today: The Old Stand. They find an old music magazine in a musty basement, dust it off, and post scans and commentary on the vintage articles for the readers’ enjoyment. Maybe it’s just because I’m a archivist-in-waiting, but I can’t help but squeal with glee when a new Old Stand is published. I have at least 2,000 old music magazines sitting around in my own musty basement (a good portion older than I am, but then again, I’ve always sworn I was born too late) and absolutely adore seeing readers’ responses to these little nostalgia nuggets.

If you’re up for a trip down memory lane – or even a first-time stroll in certain time periods, if you’re like me and born way past what you believe to be music’s heydey – make sure to read and savor these posts while you can.

(Source: Stereogum)

Summer Jams: 2008 Edition

Now that Memorial Day has passed and it’s now officially the start of the summer music season (except for those of us who attend Drexel, where summer doesn’t start until mid-June and ends only a week later!), it’s time for all the bloggers to try and figure out what the official “jam of the summer” will be. Last year the only obvious candidate was Rihanna’s “Umbrella” (can you honestly say that you heard a song more last year? The damn thing was inescapable, even in Europe), though I would have chosen Groove Armada’s criminally underrated “Song 4 Mutya (Out of Control)” In 2006, it was either “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley, or “Smile” by Lily Allen, for those of us who spent that summer in a lazy haze of sassy girl pop.

This brings us to the hot topic of the moment then: what’s shaping up to be the indisputable song of Summer 2008?

My personal choice for the song of the summer is Sam Sparro’s dark electro jam “Black and Gold”, a blue-eyed soul masterpiece from the openly gay British star-in-waiting. It’s not all sunshine and light, but then again, neither was “Umbrella”, and we all know what happened there.

Post your own suggestions for “hottest jam” in the comments!

(Source: Idolator)

Lou Perlman Jailed, And Not Just for Signing Aaron Carter!

Infamous boy band manager Lou Perlman, former manager of teen pop behemoths ‘N Sync and Backstreet Boys, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for “four federal charges: two counts of conspiracy, and one each of money laundering and using false statements in a bankruptcy proceeding” However, the judge was willing to be lenient on Perlman if he’s able to pay up: for every $1 million Pearlman returns to investors, the judge will cut the sentence by one month.

We can finally cue up all of those “bye bye bye” to freedom jokes we’ve all been waiting for, yes!

(Source: City News Canada)

PS: Oh noes, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are disbanding for a year. Frat boys and fans of ‘mind-melting’ drum solos are crying into their herbal tea right now.

Pete Wentz & Ashlee Simpson: A Match Made in Flat Iron Heaven

Much to the disappointment of mall punks and 13 year old Bop readers alike, Fall Out Boy bassist (and unlikely tabloid figure) Pete Wentz married “singer” Ashlee Simpson over the weekend. As much as I laugh at how ego-centric Wentz has become since hitting the big time (and let’s not even get started on his pioneering of ‘guy-liner’) and at how Ashlee’s career is pretty much beyond repair, I have to admit that I like them as a couple. They both look genuinely happy together, they look eerily similar in photos (I’d bet that Pete takes more time in the bathroom getting ready though!), and now there’s even a baby on the way!

I know I promised that this wouldn’t turn into one of those countless gossip blogs, but this is at least somewhat music-oriented, and let’s just say that – besides American Idol – it’s been a rather slow news week thus far.

(Source: MTV News)

Nick Cave Releases New Video, World Stops Spinning

I don’t even need to describe this video further, all you need to know is that (a) this is the best song off of ‘Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!’, (b) Nick’s fly porno mustache is in full display and it goes nicely with ironic tourist t-shirts, and (c) it’s a goddamn Nick Cave video, therefore you should stop whatever the hell you’re doing and watch it.

Also, if you’re a cool kid, you’re already attending The Bad Seeds’ October 4th show at the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden (I know I am!) as it’s sure to be a religious experience.

The Plight of the No Hit Wonder

I’ll be the first to admit that, at the impressionable age of fifteen, I fell in love with that whole ‘New Rock Revolution’ peddled by all the music magazines. Bands like the Strokes, the Hives, and the Vines were what I listened to the entire summer of 2002, feeling a sense of superiority to my Nelly-listening peers. However, come that autumn, once everyone and their mother seemed to get into these bands, their novelty had worn off (except for the Strokes, a band I’d continue to be obsessed with for about two more years, sadly)

Yet whenever I put my iPod on shuffle, it always seems to find one of the three songs I have by the Vines, and I get to thinking: Whatever happened to the band? I know they had follow-up albums that absolutely bombed, but are they still a band? Do they still have fans? Well, it seems like the fine folks at the Guardian seemed to have been thinking about the exact same thing I did. This weekend, the paper published a piece called ‘Next Big Heroes to Nigh-On Zeros‘ charting the rise and fall of bands like the Vines, wondering if the incessant hype that greeted the band upon its inception played a part in their eventual downfall. It makes for interesting reading, even if you don’t follow the hype machine built up around bands. It’s also fun to try and predict what overhyped bands of today will be forgotten in five years’ time. My bets are on MGMT and Vampire Weekend!

(Source: Idolator)

Words Cannot Truly Convey My Horror

Pictured above is a screencap from “Idhi Oka Idi Le”, a duet from classic Tollywood stars Radha and Chiranjeevi. I’ve seen a lot of so-bizarre-they’re-scary music videos in my time, but this takes eccentricity to a whole new level. I’m not a drug-taker, but while watching this, I feel like I’ve taken the worst possible acid and now I’m seeing mounted animals dance. Please, if you have four minutes to spare, watch this video and have your mind blown.

(Source: Coilhouse)