Ask 411 Music 05.11.09: Cassie, Rihanna, and Elvis

Posted by Joshua George on 05.11.2009

What's the big deal about being naked once in a while? Can you consider The Beatles to be among "The Kings of Music"? How much do you love Pirate Metal? Read inside for more!

Reader questions, videos, rant and/or top 5: Who KNOWS what you'll find if you stick with me. Read through this before you continue your day for a healthy dose of music for your Monday. If you want to have your questions answered or your reader mail published in the column, all you have to do is SEND THEM IN NOW!

Here come the...

Ask 411 Music Reader Questions

From Andy Pleeze,

Hey pal, was hoping you could answer one for me. I am curious about the often ridiculed "pirate metal" genre. I am familiar with Running Wild, Swashbuckle, and the lyrical content of Senses Fail. I was hoping you could clue me in on any other "Pirate Metal" bands or songs.

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Hey Andy,

You guys are really giving me a run for my money on shit that I don't normally know. I'm all about doing a little research though so this'll be good. Andy, one of the bands that you can look for that apparently runs along the "Pirate Metal" genre is Verbal Deception. They're technically categorized as a Heavy Metal band that does some dabbling in Melodic Death Metal but they are also widely accepted in the Pirate Metal genre. For those of you wondering wtf Pirate Metal is, it's basically German Metal, Speed Metal, and Heavy Metal combined into one group and including either pirate attire or pirate melodies and chants. It's kind of interesting. Verbal Deception has two albums out, the second of which shows their true "colors" with the title Aurum Aetus Piraticus. Make sure you check them out for a bit of a fix.

Secondly you could look for a band called Alestorm. These guys consider themselves to be "True Scottish Pirate Metal" according to their Wiki and with albums titled Captain Morgan's Revenge and Black Sails at Midnight, an EP titled Terror on the High Seas, and a single titled "Heavy Metal Pirates" I don't think you can question their "Pirate Metal" status.

Here are some other bands you can consider. Some of them are Pirate Metal, while others are more of a "Viking Metal" or a "Folk Metal" sound. All-in-all they're fairly similar in sound so it might be something you can find yourself interested in: Spellblast, Heidevolk, Korpiklaani, and Swashbuckle which is a Pirate Metal band out of Jersey that apparently has a member named Captain Neobeard who wears a stuffed parrot pinned to his shirt. Amon Amarth is another Viking Metal band and more that you can look for are: Ghosts of Atlantis, Crack Jenny's Teacup which you can check their MySpace here, Primordial, Finntrol (these guys are Finnish), Skyforger, and Them's Fightin' Words. I thinks that's the best I can do for you Andy. Let me know how that works out for you!

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From jlajrc,

It seems to me like everytime I see a "Best of/Most Important" music list, it is topped by either Elvis Presley or The Beatles. I know they are extremely important to music, but do you think anyone has come along since them that can rival them? Or do you think anyone will eventually come along to rival them? Does the fact that I keep seeing those two mean that there have been no improvements since them, and they are the "Kings of Music?"


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To be honest, I think we all know how I feel about The Beatles and I do think that Elvis Presley made a rather huge impact on the music world. Now you ask if I think anyone has come along or will come along that will rival them? I have to say honestly that I'm not sure. Since this is a pure opinion piece, I can feel good in telling you that I don't honestly know but we can talk it out a little bit.

I think every genre has their own "Kings". I don't think you can accurately declare anyone to be a "King of Music" in general because then you're comparing the biggest apples to the biggest oranges. The other question you have to consider is how time has passed and musical tastes of people change. If we were to delcare a "King or Queen" of music, would we operate on total copies sold (and how would we account for inflation over the last century?), or would we go by total dollars made during entire careers? If we did that, we'd have to take into account inflation, the fact that big concerts and music festivals weren't as big in the 1920s as they were post Woodstock. Also, we'd have to take into consideration the people whose careers are "over" but haven't died yet, so they're likely still making revenue on old royalties and/or merchandise. There are just too many variables for us to be able to consider one's "King or Queen" status in the music world.

The big thing here to remember is that The Beatles and Elvis have CONTRIBUTED so much to the music world that they're considered the "most important" or the "best of" in the music world. When you help to make certain genres what they are, or if you give so much to the music industry, you can be considered one fo the most important people in the music world. Consider other artists that I would consider to be the most important or best of: Louis Armstrong, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, and many others. These people really laid down a groundwork for something much bigger than just themselves. Sure they were great in their particular genres, but they all added a little something to other genres. Some would argue that you could include The Doors, The Eagles, Eric Clapton, and Carlos Santana would all be names that you could include in the rock genre and then of course you have Grandmaster Flash, The Sugar Hill Gang, 2Pac, and Notorious B.I.G. to contend with in the rap and hip-hop world. You might even be able to say that in the rap industry there are people every day that could be the next "king" of their genre. Someone's always pushing the envelope so there's always a chance that people can be bigger and better. Let's also not forget the "King of Pop", Michael Jackson.

So really yes, I think that eventually while the names of The Beatles and Elvis will still be mentioned, someone else will come along to be in that same category I'm sure. When will this happen, and who will it be? Your guesses are as good as mine because who I think has made an incredible impact on music may not be the same as who you think. Oddly enough, these are two groups that a majority of people can agree on, but you'll note that there's even some unrest in the idea that THESE two are as important as we make them out to be. Who knows who the next "Kings or Queens" of music will be, but I can assure you there will be more.

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From Eric Whitesides,

When MTV first came out, it played music videos. Why do you think that MTV moved away from the all music format? I think it is for "drive by" ratings. I think it should play music again all day, every day, or change the name of the station.

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Eric -- as usual glad to hear from you. I have often wondered myself why they moved away from the all-music format. I do believe that you're at least partially right about the "drive by" ratings concept, but I think it's more than that too. I think when they started moving away from the all-music format in order to be pioneers and find something that everyone wanted to watch. I don't think you can argue with the fact that they did that when they started the Road Rules and The Real World franchises. Little did they know that seventeen years later they'd not only still be producing The Real World but they would also be able to capitalize on the "Challenge" show concept and make even more money and get even more viewers.

Other than those two shows, the real reason I can think they would've moved away would be to keep viewers. Consider that if you're not providing some kind of programming that keeps people tuning in on a regular basis, they're not likely to go to an all-music channel. How about this example: I have Time Warner Cable and it comes with a whole section of music channels. Any genre (practically) that you can want has its own channel and there are even uncensored channels so you don't have to listen to half of your favorite rap song. Ask me how many times I've tuned to those channels... three times. So, I think ultimately it's not just "drive by" ratings, but ratings in general. There's a whole list of things that they would have to do to be able to stay successful, and the fact that they're still around almost 28 years after their initial launch should tell you that they've apparently made the right decisions.

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Let's get some more questions from you, the readers. I like to have reader mail and things to post, so all you have to do is SEND YOUR QUESTIONS IN NOW!

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It's time for...


Joshua's Rant of the Week

So there have been some n00dz released to the internet this week. I'm sure you've all see that R&B singer Cassie has had some naked pictures leaked to the internet and so has Rhianna *ALLEGEDLY*. There are many people who are claiming that the Rhianna pictures are fakes, but they look pretty real to me. The topless pics of Cassie are CLEARLY NSFW so don't go there if you're at work. She's pretty sexy and then, of course, you get a much better picture of Cassie completely nude which is also NSFW. Then of course, you can be the judge of the Rhianna pictures and I'm pretty sure you'll find that they're pretty real. Here's the problem...

Why is everyone making such a big deal about this stuff? People send naked pictures of themselves to people all the time, but you don't find anyone making a huge deal out of it, do you? So why would celebrities be any different. Other than WoW players, who in this world hasn't seen a real titty before? Cassie said this exact thing when she found out that the pictures of her were on the net. She said, "IT SEEMS THAT SOMEONE HAS HACKED INTO MY COMPUTER...THAT'S REAL FOUL AND EVIL. NOW STOP ACTING LIKE YOU HAVEN'T SEEN A TITTY BEFORE." God DAMN she's absolutely right. The thing that really kills me, aside from celebrities' constant use of caps lock like rules don't apply to them, is that people feel the need to put them up on a pedestal where they aren't allowed to act like normal human beings. If you were Cassie's boyfriend wouldn't you want to get those pics? Why should she have to censor her life just because there are people snooping EVERYWHERE around her? Come on now. When it comes to Rhianna, you have to really ask yourself how much stuff is going to happen in her career right now? I mean the whole issue with Chris Brown which he is still pleading not guilty to, and now this?!?! What's next? I'm sure if you're Rhianna, you're not willing to ask that question for fear that something else worse WILL happen. I'm interested in seeing where her career goes now, but I still stand firm on the fact that the media needs to just leave this shit alone. Why the hell can't celebrities just live a life where they can send naked pictures to the people they wanna be naked with? I'd never send a naked picture of myself to anyone for their own sake (to keep their eyes from bleeding mostly), but if I did, I wouldn't expect people to make a big fucking deal over it. We all just need to take a fucking chill pill. If you want to look at the naked pictures and fap away in the corner, that's up to you, but don't cause a big ruckus just because someone sent some naked pictures to someone else. The best part is, it's the same people that are so quick to condemn these girls that were the first ones to right-click save image as. People are killing me these days...


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Who wants to hear something new???


Things You Should Hear

With Eminem's new album being released, I think we should include a couple of the singles this week, but let's see what else I've got!

1. This is Eminem - "3 AM" and this video is seriously fucked up:


2. I figure I should give you guys something since I left out Weird Al last week and this is still Eminem themed, so here's "Couch Potato" with the lego video:


3. Here's a pretty good a cappella arrangement of Duke's Men of Yale singing "Umbrella":


4. Pretty sure we've all seen this, but I feel like if you haven't, you need to. Here's The Lonely Island - "Jizz in My Pants":


5. This one is for our very own grumpy88. She claims this is her favorite song of ALL TIME and since we can't help but love her, I gotta put this in for her. I can't post the official video because the embedding is disabled, and I take no responsibility for the accuracy or lack thereof of the lyrics. Here's Alicia Keys - "Fallin":


6. I suppose I should include some Pirate Metal for Andy while I'm here. Let's check out Verbal Deception singing "The Temptress":



If you'd like me to post your band or a band that you particularly love, all you have to do is Send me the YouTube link NOW! I'd like to start including some of your personal bands clips, or other bands that you think people should be hearing.

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So who wants to get pimped? If you have a website that your band hosts, or something that you think the general public would enjoy checking out, please send me a link and a SHORT description and I may include it in the pimping section of next week's column!

The StumbleUpon Link of the Week is 101 Undiscovered Freebies and it is SFW.

Make sure you check out my reviews. You can see my profile with my blog and all of my reviews/columns here.

Also I'm a co-host and co-founder of a professional wrestling podcast. My friend and I have been running this show and our website for a little over three years now, and we'd love to have more listeners and since I get my own column now, I feel good about pimping it out. If you want to listen to the most recent show, you can usually find it (along with the most recent news which we get from a variety of other sites MOST NOTABLY the amazing 411Mania Wrestling News Section) at www.pinfallrecall.com. If you'd like to spend your days on our forums talking about how this might be one of the most ridiculous and boring Wrestlemanias of all time, like all of us, you can do that on The Pinfall Recall Forums.

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Peace!