The Oscars are upon us this Sunday, and you know I will be watching what is sure to be the most predictable ceremony in recent memory. With the comedic talents of James Franco and Anne Hathaway, viewers are sure to tune out quicker than usual. I mean, I’m sure they have some singing routines planned or whatever, but it’s certainly going to be more of a back-scratching affair than the always funny-and-interesting, tell-it-like-it-is Ricky Gervais.
Anywho, without looking at any “who will win?” blurbs from the press, and armed with only my knowledge of who won SAG statues and Golden Globes this year (as well as general good sense), I have my predictions below of who I think will win. Let’s see how well I do!
Today I continue my ongoing feature showcasing my personal picks for the best songs of the past decade, posting ten songs at a time.
50. Passion Pit – Sleepyhead
Named my favorite song of 2009, I’ve already explained how much I love this song. Even a casual reader of the blog knows how many times I’ve blared it loudly, as I’m doing right now. It never gets old. The song is littered with hooks – in the singing, in the wordless chorus, in the sampling, in the background synths. It all just works. And Passion Pit will likely never top it.
Today I had a giant to-do list and I was feeling very productive.
It was going to be a good day….so the first thing I wanted to do was do a blog post.
When I entered my site it said I needed to update my version of WordPress, and so I did…..and my entire site fucking crashed.
So instead of getting things done, today has been spent on forums and FTP servers trying to rectify a clerical error in hopes that I didn’t lose EVERYTHING. In other words, one day-long anxiety attack.
Imagine your first-born child getting hit by a bus and you have to wait at the hospital for hours to find out his condition…..okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad, but still…..I had a bad day is all I’m trying to say.
Here’s some songs about it, kinda.
The to-do list will have to wait til tomorrow, because tonight I’m celebrating that you’re able to read this.
This is just too cool. Stereogum posted a discovered archive of two streams that play every US #1 hit from 1956 to 1992 – each track is about 5 seconds long. Whether the archivist, named Hugo Kessing, decided to do this in lieu of Billboard reaching their 1000th #1 song (Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way”) or not is anybody’s guess, but nevertheless, this is an awesome afternoon killer, as it was for me inevitably, and a pretty solid observation of the evolution of popular music over the many years. And if Wikipedia is any indication, this is more or less accurate from the year Elvis had his first #1 to the year grunge took over (though you won’t find any evidence of that here). The first stream is about 45 minutes, the second is about half an hour. Now we just need someone to go from ’93 to the present….
-We can slowly see rock and roll take it all over hit by hit, mostly by Elvis, but slowly by others. Of course, the first rock and roll #1 wasn’t by the King, but by Bill Haley and His Comets in 1955 for “Rock Around the Clock.”
-When the Beatles broke, Elvis all but disappeared. The Fab Four consistently sprang up #1’s every year, but nothing like their debut on American shores at the beginning of 1964. Elvis showed up with a comeback hit in 1968 for “Suspicious Minds,” and then disappeared. The last Beatles #1 was “The Long and Winding Road.” All four Beatles scored solo #1 hits through the 70’s and 80’s, the most of course by Paul McCartney, who cashed in with his band Wings. Ringo even had a few; George scored an surprising #1 with his re-do of “Got My Mind Set On You” in 1987, the last #1 for a Beatle. John Lennon’s last #1, “Just Like Starting Over,” stayed on top from late December 1980 through January of ’81. He was killed on December 8, and never saw this happen.
-The slow build of disco is apparent and all too real by 1976, with the Bee Gees breaking through to the top. By 1978, that’s pretty much all that’s topping the charts, even disco novelty (like “Disco Duck,” the song that made Rick Dees a prominent public figure, destined to ruin weekends on the radio for years to come).
-This should remind you that the 80’s were just really fucking awesome. While the Knack’s “My Sharona” is credited as the song that “killed disco,” it didn’t entirely, though it did a pretty solid job overall when it hit #1 in 1979. Just a few weeks later, the first “new wave” #1 was by M – “Pop Muzik.” We then start to see more new wave groups breaking through, particularly Blondie.
-Among the British Invasion, Motown and Phil Spector’s girl groups also scored many hits throughout the 60’s. Frankie Valli stayed around from before the Beatles with the Four Seasons to the late 70’s, providing the hit theme to Grease.
-Speaking of themes, they are everywhere in the 70’s and 80’s. Chariots of Fire, Flashdance, Footloose, Back to the Future, S.W.A.T., and Miami Vice all reached #1.
-Barbara Streisand and Barry Manilow just like to ruin everything. Consistently. All the time.
-The 70’s were an awesome decade for music, though you wouldn’t know that from observing what made #1 during those years.
-The years 1989-1991 are mostly unbearable. Seriously, especially ’89, where the breakout stars for the year, Milli Vanilli, who had three #1’s, ended up being a couple of lip synching no-talents.
-The first rap #1 was in 1990 by Vanilla Ice (“Ice Ice Baby”). The first REAL rap #1 was in 1991 by PM Dawn (“Set Adrift On Memory Bliss”).
Every Saturday, I post a 15-20 minute podcast featuring some tracks I’ve been jamming the previous week, as well as some commentary and random musings from yours truly. Enjoy!
Playlist:
tUnE-yArDs – Bizness
PS I Love You/Diamond Rings – Leftovers
Radiohead – Lotus Flower
The Hood Internet – Dutty Disagreements (Sean Kingston and Nicki Minaj vs. Stewrat)
This go-around is a very special Paragraph Reviews from my dear Hollywood-intern sister Emily, who exclusively screened and reviewed three documentaries for Culture Greyhound.
Burning Down The House: The Story of CBGB
A documentary on the life of CBGB, this film speaks also of the culture at the time and the passion people have for music of their generation. Like most musical documentaries, the impact is not as strong unless you are familiar with the music. However, everyone can relate to what a father figure the club owner, Hilly Krystal, was, and how he impacted the lives of teens in New York for over thirty years. The film itself is well organized, with plenty of footage. Band performances, interviews with New York citizens, and band interviews all help piece together the history of the club. Interviews with the employees and Hilly himself tell the story of exactly what the club was about and what it went through to try and stay open. By the end, I had goose bumps watching Patti Smith start crying at the end of her set the last night CBGB was open. It is a real-life underdog story, and it represents one of the most important times in music history.
Grade: A-
We are now a month and a half into 2011, so it’s safe to say all the best-of lists and wrapping up 2010 is done and over with. I had my own recap, as I am wont to do every year, but, as is usual, whilst going through other lists, I happened upon some albums I missed out on. Here are fifteen great albums I overlooked, and, if you did too, you should check them out.
Back in the 70’s, there was only Johnny Carson. But since the retirement of the undisputed King of Late Night in 1992, there has been a plethora of new shows pop up, each with the same basic formula, but unique in their own way. After reading Bill Carter’s The War For Late Night, I have become addicted to late-night television all over again. So I am starting a new series of posts dedicated to the many hosts out there currently making us laugh after prime time, analyzing one at a time.
The same night Jay Leno had his fifth anniversary special, whatever night that was, sometime in 1997 or 1998 I think, I stayed up and watched Late Night with Conan O’Brien for the first time. I don’t know why I was watching late night TV, I imagine being bored had a lot to do with it. Needless to say, even at age 11, I found Conan immensely funnier/smarter than Jay, and I became a member of Team Coco long before the term existed.
For the rest of these posts, with the exception of Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert, I am going to have to do some research i.e. I am going to make myself sit through a week of late night shows I otherwise would never watch. Leno is one of them, as is Carson Daly, Chelsea Handler, and Conan’s current follow-up, George Lopez. But I am already an avid Conan watcher and have been for many years, before his move to the Tonight Show, the shakeup resulting from that move, and his transfer to TBS.
Over the years, Conan’s entire show has made a gradual transformation from shy funnyman telling jokes and gags behind a desk to a bearded lanky veteran interacting with his audience and being sharper in his improvisation. Of course, mainly because of his stature and appearance, the physical comedy has always been there, something you either love or hate. His trademark “string dance” has become synonymous with the image of Conan, as has the red pompadour on his head and now, that shaggy beard he grew and kept after being fired from NBC.
Conan has a writing background, so the rehearsed bits are his strong suit, while the ad-lib banter with hit-or-miss sidekick Andy Richter (who has lost his luster since departing from Late Night and then returning for the Tonight Show) is usually spotty. The interviews are often pretty awkward, he is not as comfortable with his guests as other hosts on the tube, such as Ferguson and Fallon, who are more conversational.
On Late Night, Conan was fresh and in his element, delivering a very weird brand of humor to a dedicated fan base, who has never really left. His Tonight Show, admittedly, was fairly unwatchable, minus the final two weeks, where he not-so-subtly gave NBC the finger on their own network. Conan’s transformation to 11:35 changed his brand of comedy, and he is not as sharp as we was a few years ago. Still, with creative control of his show and no network execs telling him to “broaden” his show for a wider audience (now he is on cable performing for his true fans every night), Conan is free to roam, and roam he does. He and executive producer Jeff Ross have found new ways to deliver comedy with a limited budget; Conan spends more time poking fun at his studio audience and breaking the fourth wall in rehearsed sketches.
Also, Conan’s reach spreads to the Web, where his production company is in full charge of the content of his show, and Conan is in command of his Twitter account. O’Brien, who continues to be a top player in the key demographic for TV (ages 18-49), continues even on cable to be a worthy 21st century late night competitor with a very passionate following, and he shows no signs of stopping.
The Oscars are upon us this Sunday, and you know I will be watching what is sure to be the most predictable ceremony in recent memory. With the comedic talents of James Franco and Anne Hathaway, viewers are sure to tune out quicker than usual. I mean, I’m sure they have some singing routines planned or whatever, but it’s certainly going to be more of a back-scratching affair than the always funny-and-interesting, tell-it-like-it-is Ricky Gervais.
