Music's 3R's 09.21.09: VMAs & Kanye, Metallica's 'Big Four' Tour, Avril's Divorce, Smashing Pumpkins, More
Posted by Aaron Titan on 09.21.2009
From Metallica’s “Big Four” Tour and the VMAs and Kanye West to the Avril-Deryck split, Aerosmith drama, and new music from The Smashing Pumpkins, Atreyu, Vampire Weekend, and The Flaming Lips, 411's Aaron Titan breaks down the Right, wRong, and Ridiculous in the music world in this week’s Music 3R's.
Greetings
Welcome back kiddies to The Music 3'Rs. Lots of exciting music news tidbits this week! The Right section of the column is far heavier than the wRong and Ridiculous which puts me in a good mood and hopefully will do so for you as well.
There's already been a ton of commentary on MTV's Video Music Awards, so as easy as it would be to break down all that was right, wrong, and ridiculous about the show this year, I'll just comment quickly and get to the meat n' potatoes of the week in music.
There were definitely some awesome performances on this show. I thought Lady Gaga was fucking incredible. I really enjoyed the juxtaposition of such a poppy song with pained lyrics, dramatic choreography, and theatrics. The blood effect at the end was really shocking to the audience and just blew me away. I got a copy of her album The Fame and it's not too shabby.
I thought Jay-Z and Alicia Keys were brilliant. I read that Lil' Mama ("Lip Gloss," America's Best Dance Crew judge) jumped onstage at the end of the performance, but I didn't catch it upon my DVR viewing. Here's her excuse for crashing Jay-Z's party at the end of the show:
"He started [rapping], and Alicia Keys is going, 'The big lights will inspire you,' and really, I got emotional. Yeah, New York! Jay! I started to feel him, and I started to feel myself. I just felt the energy, and I got up and started walking to the stage. I was just rooting him on as a champion. Bigging up my borough, bigging up my brother."
Yeah…OK. So like, I saw this toy at the store the other day and I got so excited that I just couldn't help myself and decided I just had to rip open the package right there in the store and play with it and then I stole it. I mean, even though I'm an adult, I shouldn't show restraint, right? Speaking of people acting like Kanye West, how about Kanye West? He was sticking up for Beyonce and even she wasn't into it. The best thing to come out of the whole Kanye-Taylor Swift situation was this:
Damn, even the leader of the free world thinks Kanye West is a dickhead! If that's not a wakeup call, I don't know what is. I'll comment on this whole story a bit later, as it's been dominating the news more than it's worth in my opinion.
Speaking of wakeup calls and awesome transitions, I'm officially turned on to Muse. I downloaded their last 2 albums and will be delving into them quite soon. What a performance and the VMAs! Wale as the house band's MC was also quite nice. He upcoming album should be something special.
And, VMA report over! I just realized I kind of went on longer than I meant to, as there's some really interesting news to get to, but first…
The Column
For those unfamiliar with the 3R's concept, here's the breakdown. I will be reporting and commenting on happenings in the music world and categorizing all the hoopla into three sections: the Right, the wRong, and the Ridiculous. The Right will feature news, albums, and announcements music-related that I'm personally stoked about. The wRong will be the bad versions of all three of the aforementioned. The Ridiculous is the worst of it all, that which makes good ol' Mr. Titan shake his head in perplexing amazement.
The Right
The Big Four: OK, so I really like thrash music. Thrash music – fast-paced, aggressive, dark, heavy metal – really took off in the early/mid 80s with four bands (there were many others that many of you probably hold in just as high or higher esteem, but these four are the most widely recognized so that's what we're going with here): Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax.
In a recent interview, Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo revealed that they are trying to put together a tour in which Metallica would headline with Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax on the bill. If this happens, I vote to call this tour The Metalhead's Wet Dream Tour 2010. How fucking amazing would that show be? I've seen Metallica twice, Slayer 3 times, and I caught Anthrax opening for Rob Zombie a couple years ago (and will see Megadeth this fall). Slayer are extremely entertaining and brutal live and Anthrax was just a bunch of fun (even though I got my glasses broken in the mosh pit). Metallica were even better that both.
The thing about this is that I just can't see all 4 bands coexisting on the same bill. Even moreso, I can't see all four bands agreeing on who would play when on the bill, how long the sets would be, who would get how much pyro, etc… These are all things that play into the ego of a band and each of these bands has at some point in time trashed the others in the press (with the exception of Anthrax as far as I'm aware). Trujillo said in the interview that if the tour happened, Metallica would be headlining. If I had to pick the order of the bands, Metallica would no doubt close out the show, as they're clearly the biggest out of these four bands, selling well over 90 million albums worldwide and becoming one of the biggest, highest-grossing touring acts of all time.
I mean, you have Kerry King who ran down Megadeth's Dave Mustaine in the press this spring before the Slayer/Megadeth tour this fall up north. Also, Mustaine hasn't quite gotten along with Metallica since they kicked him out of the band and brought Kirk Hammett into the fold.
Many casual Metallica fans probably aren't aware that Mustaine has writing credits on 4 songs off of Metallica debut album, Kill Em' All. With the ego-factor alone, I say this tour would at the very least, be a godlike feat to organize. If it happens, oh you best believe my ass is there rocking the fuck out. However, I'm skeptical…
44 Days of Pumpkins: Big news on The Smashing Pumpkins front. There's a new album – well, a new inundation of songs with a collective title – coming soon called Teargarden by Kaleidyscope. Billy Corgan announced that the album will be released song by song online completely free. There's no strings attached or limits on the amount of times you download. No email submission or signing up for anything. The thing about this album is that it will have 44 songs by the time it's all said and done.
Corgan says they will start releasing songs every couple days beginning around Halloween. Fans can purchase the 11 limited edition 4-song EPs containing equal chunks of the album (details forthcoming). The album will also be made into a box set for release sometime after all the songs have been made available online.
Corgan comments:
"The story of the album is based on 'The Fool's Journey', as signified in the progress of the Tarot. It is my intention to approach this by breaking down the journey of our life here into four phases as made by these different characters; the Child, the Fool, the Skeptic, and the Mystic."
"The music of 'Teargarden by Kaleidyscope' harkens back to the original psychedelic roots of the SMASHING PUMPKINS: atmospheric, melodic, heavy, and pretty. "
"I already have 53 songs written for the record, so I am quite confident that I already have much of the material that I would need to undertake such an extensive project. I am very committed to seeing this album through to its completion and very, very excited about the prospect of delivering new SMASHING PUMPKINS music to you in a unique and exciting way."
Honestly, this sounds like a really fun idea. I know I said a few weeks ago that I felt Billy Corgan should consider retiring the Pumpkins band name, but that doesn't mean I'll pass on this album, especially considering the price. What really trips my trigger about this project is that you get to follow it for an extended period of time and collect the songs over a couple months. The gradual process will be fun to debate, as in whether yesterday's song is better than today's or the one last week. I could see other bands doing something similar in the future since the record business is going down the shitter even further each year. I for one look forward to following the gradual release of Teargarden by Kaleidyscope. It ain't gonna' be Gish or Siamese Dream (most likely), but Zeitgeist didn't suck – neither did the tour – so I don't expect this to either.
New Flaming Lips: Last week, The Flaming Lips appeared on The Colbert Report and performed a new song, "Convinced of the Hex," from their upcoming October 13 release, Embryonic. Check out the performance below:
It sounds pretty cool to me. It feels a bit darker than The Flaming Lips tunes I'm accustomed to, being somewhat of a casual fan and having only seen them play live once (Lollapalooza 2006). I dig it though. Stephen Colbert's website, Colbert Nation, has the entire album available for streaming as of the time of this writing, though it may not be up when I go to press, so my apologies for the teaser if they took it down since then.
I'm about 2 or 3 songs into it so far and I really dig the album as well. Wayne Coyne isn't straining to hit high notes he isn't exactly capable and while he's quirky and we love him for it, his vocal work on the album comes off really well. He's more mellow and singers mainly at a lower key and it fits with the placid, jammy mood of the album.
Oh wait…I just got to a high-pitched Wayne Coyne song. Oh well, it's still good ol' Flaming Lips. This song I'm listening to – no song titles are listed as you stream the album – evokes The Soft Bulletin with less symphonic influence. Man, I can't believe I only just heard about this album. It leaves me less than a month to officially anticipate it. Stream this shit now if you're a Lips fan. If you haven't checked them out yet, do so. I had a blast seeing them at Lolla 3 years ago. Tons of props, effects, costumes, and theatrics in addition to good songs!
Vampire Weekend's Contra: Breakout band Vampire Weekend announced last week that they will drop their sophomore album Contra on January 10, 2010 (that's 01/10/10 for those keeping score). The album is going to be 10 tracks heavy (again, fitting with the whole 1s and 0s date thing) and will see the band using different instruments and sounds to make an album not too similarly sounding compared to their self-titled debut. I recently started listening to this band after digging on their song "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" for about a year or so. It's simple, fun rock with interesting instrumental integration – fuck yeah for alliteration – in most songs. If you haven't heard of this band yet, you just did and here's one of their more popular songs.
The wrong
New Atreyu Songs: I consider myself a pretty big Atreyu fan. I own the discography and have held them in high esteem since discovering them on Ozzfest 2004's second stage. I fucking love The Curse and A Death Grip on Yesterday, and Lead Sails Paper Anchor was pretty solid.
Well this past week, Atreyu dropped 2 new tracks on their Myspace page and to be perfect honest, I'm just not feeling it. I mean, the album will still probably be worth a listen, but I just really hope "Storm to Pass" and "Stop! Before It's Too Late" aren't the ‘A' pluses on Congregation of the Damned (due October 27) or Atreyu fans like myself will be in for quite a disappointment. It's just really uninspired and is like, exactly what you'd expect a token Atreyu cut to sound like, but the last 3 albums have been more surprising and evolved than this new shit.
Avril and the Sum 41 Guy Split: So yeah, Avril Lavigne is back on the market looking for a new skater boy after she and Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley called it quits after 3 years of marriage. Reportedly, Avril said see you l8r boy and wanted to move on. I don't know. Doesn't really affect me personally, but yeah. Celebrities marrying other celebrities more often then not, ends in divorce. That's why I'm waiting to become famous after I get married!
But there is some good to come out of this. I get the opportunity to remember the greatness that was the 90s and listen to the song "Fat Lip" again…
Aerosmith Spat: Last week, Aerosmith's Joe Perry lashed out in the press at recently injured band frontman, Stephen Tyler. To give you a little background, Aerosmith had to cancel an entire tour's worth of dates due to Tyler falling off the stage at the group's early August performance in Sturgis, SD. He broke his left shoulder and split his head open for a grand total of 20 stitches, derailing the entire remainder of the tour. The group also had to cancel several other dates prior to this because Tyler has suffered a leg injury. Perry was quoted as saying the following:
"I haven't talked to him in over five weeks. I don't know what's going on with him. I hear he's getting better, but I don't know. I really don't know what's going on with him."
"All I know is, he's got to get his act together. I mean, he and I haven't written a song together alone in the same room in over 10 years, so there's been some changes in paradigm of what Aerosmith is."
Granted, Joe Perry has a solo record coming out next month so maybe he's looking for some press, but it sounds like he has his shit together and still has a passion for getting out there and playing shows. Stephen Tyler, 61, on the other hand appears to be showing his age and/or doesn't have his collective shit together.
Touring is a physical business and you need to take reasonable care of your body. I mean, as a relatively fit 22-year-old, I traveled to San Francisco and northern California for a week this summer and was physically exhausted at the end of it all. Time zone changes, unexpected weather patterns, drinking, overeating, merriment, etc… I can't even imagine what traveling and playing rock n' roll shows for several weeks on end would be like.
Perhaps retirement is the word. I mean, I haven't found Aerosmith relevant at all in the last decade or more. Take the legacy you have created while it's still relatively in tact and call it a day. Next!
So yeah, considering this is one of my longer articles, I still really had to look a lot harder than usual for music news to comment on this week. Fuckin' every single news website is still reporting on Kanye West's stupid stunt, crashing Taylor Swift's award acceptance at the VMAs last week. Yeah, it was shitty of him to do. Taylor Swift was having her moment, it was terrible…
YADDA YADDA YADDA!
Cool, thanks Elaine Benes! Those muffin tops look delicious by the way.
I've just kind of flabbergasted over how big of a deal this has become. Like, I think it's awesome that President Obama commented on it (seemingly off the record, though when are you truly off the record as President of the United States when talking with the media?), but is this really such a fucking big moment that it's being made out to be? I don't know…
Part of me thinks MTV put Kanye up to it. I mean, think about it. You've got a big room full of people and famous celebrities and there's going to be important people who usually have bodyguards onstage all night. Eminem was smart and brought his out with him when accepting his award. Why the fuck was Kanye able to just get onstage like that? Same with Lil' Mama? Doesn't really make sense does it? I don't remember seeing shit like this happen at the Grammys before; however, this isn't the first time a celebrity bumrushed the stage and made a scene. Remember that awesome moment at the 2000 VMAs when Rage Against the Machine's Tim Commerford climbed the big stage apparatus and rocked back and forth on it when Limp Bizkit were accepting their award?
I think the best course of action for us, the public, is to ignore Kanye West's antics. He's doing this for the attention, much like a child. That dude has gotten so much press over the last week it isn't even funny. People who didn't know who he was before definitely do now. My dad, totally not a hip-hop fan at all, fucking knows who Kanye West is now. No press is bad press deep down. Fuck, I'm even giving him press right now!
If we ignore him, he won't have the fuel for the fire anymore and maybe he'll finally settle down and his head will shrink a few sizes smaller in Suessian Grinch-like fashion. Then he can come to grips with his true identity: a muh-fuckin' gay fish!
Hasta Luego
Love it? Hate it? Let me know below as I always welcome commentary. I wrote this week's column before my encounter with Rock Band: Beatles and Guitar Hero 5, so I'll touch on those whiskey-fueled experiences next week. It was a fucked up week at work and I just couldn't write the column as close to press time as I had originally intended. As always, see you here same time next week with another edition of The Music 3'Rs. Cheers!
The fans of Slayer and Anthrax are notoriously more diehard and hardcore than the fans of Metallica and Megadeth. ESPECIALLY diehard Slayer fans. You don't hear of people carving "METALLICA" into their forearms with razorblades, do you? If Slayer were to go on too early, it could be to the detriment of the 12-year-old kids whose introduction to Metallica is Death Magnetic.
Posted By: AndrewCrow (Guest) on September 20, 2009 at 11:52 PM
And is there anything wrong if 12 year old kids listened to Death Magnetic first...i mean it's not there best album by any means but atleast there listenign to better music than rap and r&b...i mean you have to start somewhere...
Posted By: Charles (Guest) on September 21, 2009 at 12:34 AM
Dude, metallica is the best! I cant wait to see them again in 2 weeks, going to see 3 shows in 5 days!!!!! If they did do this tour I will probably do my usual routine and miss the opening acts. I had a slayer album and there are a couple of megadeth songs but I heard them on tour with 0zzy in 98, they were OK. I would like to see anthrax live, persistence of time, what? I stay geeked up but I'm not a retard. Yeah!
Posted By: St.Anger_561_678 (Guest) on September 21, 2009 at 04:15 AM
Ol Dirty Bastard interrupted Shawn Colvin's acceptance speech at the Grammys back in 1998 however that was more hilarious than Kanye being a dick
Posted By: Patrick Robinson (Registered) on September 21, 2009 at 06:28 AM
Steven Tyler looks like someone's retarded grandmother bred with a rabbit.
Posted By: Guest#9691 (Guest) on September 21, 2009 at 08:54 AM
I must obsessively-compulsively point out that "Fat Lip" was not from the nineties, but in fact from 2001.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Lip
Posted By: Guest#2999 (Guest) on September 21, 2009 at 09:11 AM
Good find, though doesn't it feel like it should've come out in the 90s?
Posted By: Aaron Titan (Guest) on September 21, 2009 at 12:05 PM
