Beatles

“The reason the Beatles are selling is not because of nostalgia, but because their music is so fucking good!
People want the singles today, because they're all that's worth listening to.  The Beatles gave up imaging forty years ago, they released an album with a white cover.  They gave up singles years before that, with "Rubber Soul".  It's almost like we're going in reverse, like Mark Mothersbaugh and Devo were seers.  Instead of exploring and growing, we're stripping away absolutely everything to get the lowest common denominator that appeals to the mass. Whereas the mass used to come to you, now the product has been homogenized not to offend, to grab you right away.  But this milk shake ultimately makes you sick, and once you've recovered, you've forgotten it, you've moved on.  Whereas we still want the Beatles today.
They sang well, they wrote songs with hooks and they even took chances.  Is it any wonder they're the biggest band of all time?”

Kings of Leon

“Sad thing is we used to have a bunch of Kings Of Leon.  Developing acts that ground it out on the road, who were not about image, but music.  Alas, today no one wants to work that hard.  Hell, the label's been bitching to me for almost a decade that it's unfair that KOL were not yet stars.  But they hung in there long enough to find their moment.  And isn't it interesting they broke in the U.K. first.  In the U.K. they're still excited about music, adventurous, here we're more concerned with our mobile phones.” Reason why I would like to go to UK and see V Festival, Glasto, Reading & Leeds…

U2

“U2 "No Line On The Horizon"
Sales this week: 5,833
Weeks on: 28
Percentage change: +20
Cume: 997,255
It's not even platinum!
This could not have been handled any worse.  Expectations were through the stratosphere, then the band went on every awards show known to man trying to convince us "Get On Your Boots" was cool.  It wasn't.  It sucked.  Who wanted the album after that?
This is what happens when you lose touch with your audience.
U2 was playing to the media.  Their hard core fans were gonna buy a ticket, the rest of the country just didn't care.  Hit singles can make them care.  But if that's what they were after, they should have worked with Timbaland.
No one in U2's camp could sense the change in the weather.  U2's only hope was to position itself as being underground.  It had to be cool to get their record, word had to spread organically.  I like the album, it's better than the previous two, but I can't bring it up in conversation, "No Line On The Horizon" has got a huge stink upon it.
Time for U2 to stunt.  Release a whole live concert free on the Net.  Don't appear on SNL, do a live show on YouTube.  Do something first, that will get people's heads to turn.  Stop being desperate, and start being innovative.
Play a house concert in every town where you do a stadium gig.  Show up with acoustic instruments and implore all in attendance to record it and upload it to the Web.
Show up unannounced and open for Kenny Chesney.  Or the aforementioned DMB.  Or even the Jonas Brothers.  Be irreverent.  Blow our minds.  Make us care once again.”

Cobra Starship

“Cobra Starship "Hot Mess"
Sales this week: 4,519
Weeks on: 5
Percentage change: -22
Cume: 73,656
What a laugh.  They sell 1,158,148 singles, but no one wants the album.
Then again, the single featured Leighton Meester.  Don't know who that is?  Don't worry, she'll be forgotten soon.
Stunting into oblivion.
Good stunts make us pay attention to something worthwhile.
Bad stunts give us a bit of candy that we consume and then forget.” LOL. I might agree with him in time to come. Too bad he doesn’t know that their best songs aren’t the hits.

Rock and Roll

“Rock and roll is a religion.  The records constitute a Bible, which provides a roadmap for living.  Illuminating what has come before, and delineating how one should proceed in the future.
This is not the rock and roll of corporations, bastardizing tracks to tell tales of consumerism.  This is the rock and roll of the bedroom, played in isolation, as one gains just enough insight, just enough power, to get through.  And there's magic in sound, "Back In Black" can make you feel powerful when you've been oppressed, but it's the lyrics that deliver the code, that point the way.

Just like the religious nuts, we rock and roll believers also take words out of context.  This is the paean of the drug dealer.  But to listeners, it's a restatement of the sixties ethos, however many years later.  In a world of supposed winners, what to do with the alternative thinker, the person willing to take a stand for what's right, not what's expedient, not what everybody else believes.”-Lefsetz (Yes, its Bob Lefsetz again, can’t help it, I agree with him)

Sometimes I think that Bob Lefsetz is a tad too optimistic, in that he still believes the music industry is about the music. But other times, he’s very grounded and knows that corporations and big labels are not getting into the music when they should be. Hmm. Just a thought.

Today’s Bio Paper 2 and History Paper 2 went very well, I must say. Really thank God. I only studied 30mins of Bio at 4am in the morning. And I sat for the Hist paper with only Stalin, Hitler, WW1 and WW2 in my head. And everything was doable. Not just doable, but I did it well (in my opinion). It’s a good day.

Rain + Mika + Muse + America’s Next Top Model + Green Tea + Muscle relaxant (my writing arm is hurting like mad, hopefully my tendon isn’t inflamed again) + medicine = Bliss. =)

For the first time in a long while, I’m happy.