I don’t usually go in for the “list” meme stuff, but both Phil Ulrich and that guy who got fired for taking G5 pictures at Microsoft have done posts answering LISTblog’s call for lists of “five songs you hate to admit you like,” and, as a closet pop music fan, I can’t resist holding forth on my own favorite guilty pleasures. So, here they are:
Ever wonder what would have happened if the remaining members of beloved post-punk outfit Joy Division had responded to the tragic death of singer Ian Curtis by becoming Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot’s backing band instead of forming an obscure disco act called New Order? I know this tantalizing “alternate history” scenario has kept me awake many a night, and now, thanks to a link via my distinguished colleague Ammon Skidmore (who really needs a weblog of his own), I no longer have to wonder!
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Dsico’s brilliant “Love Will Freak Us!”
(Update: When I originally wrote this, I was afraid that my attempt at Tony Wilson-esque dry humor might be misinterpreted, and it looks like I was probably right. Just for the record, I absolutely love New Order—probably more than Joy Division. I guess one thing I should have kept in mind is that people might not realize you’re joking if you call a hugely popular UK band “an obscure disco act” in a country where they are, in fact, somewhat obscure!)
Tim Shey has written a truly excellent response to Sahar Akhtar’s criticism of the iTunes Music Store (and, by proxy, the very concept of music downloads) in Salon. I particularly enjoyed Tim’s essay because it makes an argument that has always been very near and dear to my heart: namely, that the current, radio-centered, album-oriented approach to music promotion and distribution is not the only (or even the best) system possible. As Tim says:
Akhtar argues that sales of LPs are currently driven by a hit commercial single with radio airplay, which artists are encouraged to make to appeal to a large audience and which are usually “catchy and forgettable,” and that artists take their true flights of fancy on other LP tracks. This seems to me a gross oversimplification of the way musicians create music, and a potentially insulting one to both artists and the people who listen to them.
I couldn’t agree more. In my opinion, anyone who argues, as Akhtar does, that “the musical creativity and risk-taking associated with the album format will decline” as download services begin to dominate, has obviously never owned a copy of the Beatles’ Past Masters collection—two discs of songs originally released exclusively as singles. Included are “Day Tripper,” “We Can Work It Out,” “Paperback Writer,” “Rain” and “I Feel Fine”. These are some of the best (and, often, the most innovative) songs in the Beatles catalog, and none of them ever appeared on a proper album!
The next time someone tries to convince me that the album format has been a force for quality in pop music, I will point to the latest Billboard charts and remind them of Phil Spector’s famous definition of the word “album”: “two hit singles and eight pieces of shit!”
Sam Jones’s gorgeously photographed Wilco documentary, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, is one the best DVD values I believe I have ever seen. For around $30, the hardcore fan gets the movie itself—which tells the now famous story of how the band came to release one of the albums of the decade—as well as a second disc containing literally hours of outtakes.
Now, I’ve never been one to be taken in by DVD “extras”—the recycled Discovery channel documentaries and endless, narcissistic directorial commentaries almost always leave me cold. But the extras contained on the I Am Trying To Break Your Heart DVD are a very different story—assuming you like Wilco, you will actually want to watch them. The big draw? A number of inspired, uncut, live recordings (including a rocking “Pot Kettle Black” and a bunch of Jeff Tweedy’s highly accomplished solo acoustic performances).
My only real complaint about all of these goodies is that they’re on a DVD, and not on my iPod. Fortunately, the naughty developers at Rogue Amoeba (with a little bit of help from Unsanity) have come to my rescue with the wonder that is Audio Hijack. Using the $30 pro version of this software, I have been able to grab a number of songs from the film and encode them as high quality MP3 files. The result is something akin to getting a brand new Wilco live album (can you tell how much I’m itching to get my hands on the new EP they’re supposed to be releasing?)!
(Update: Apparently the aforementioned EP is
forthcoming! How lame!)
Now if I could only figure out a way to mute Jay Bennett’s omnipresent voice over the songs…