Music's 3R's 03.08.10: Mariah Boo’ed, Jay-Z and Beyonce Visit White House, American Idol Underwhelms, Drake’s New Single, More

Posted by Aaron Titan on 03.08.2010

From Mariah Carey being boo’ed in Las Vegas for being an late to her own show to Jay-Z and fam visiting the White House, Drake’s new bangin’ single “Over,” American Idol disappointing thus far, and a look at Queens of the Stone Age’s Songs for the Deaf, 411's Aaron Titan brings you all the Right, wRong, and Ridiculous in the music world in this week’s Music 3R’s.



Greetings:

Well hey, welcome back people! This is Aaron Titan and this is the Music 3R's. As I write this, I'm on my second cup of coffee and my girlfriend (here at the coffee shoppe) just made a latte that someone ended up not needing so by the time this is all done, I'll be hopped up on all sorts of caffeine. I don't drink much caffeine and have pretty much cut all soda out of my diet, so I should be tweaking until dinnertime. YAY! I THINK I'LL BE ABLE TO PULL OFF ANIMAL DRUM SOLOS TONIGHT BABY!







Special thanks to the reader who goes by the guest web handle "Parallax" for the Interpol recommendation (Turn on the Bright Lights). I started with Antics this week at work and will get to your suggestion at work next week (a good friend told me Antics ruled just before I read your suggestion). To those unaware, I'm going to see U2 this summer and Interpol is opening the show. I'd never listened to them much before so I was taking suggestions from readers for which album I should start with.

Well, let's get this started, shall we? It was another slow week of music news, so I did the best I could with what I had. Tried to paint those few lemons life gave me gold, or at least silver, you know?

And now, here's your Opus of the Week…



Opus of the Week: Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf

Call me crazy, but I like this collaboration involving Josh Homme and Dave Grohl a little more than Them Crooked Vultures; not that the Vultures record isn't good because I think it really is, but I love how heavy yet cooky Songs for the Deaf is. This is one of my favorite bands to listen to while driving on the interstate, which is exactly where I listened to the album this past weekend. I kind of got inspired to throw this on after hearing the song "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar but I Feel Like a Millionaire" a bunch of times in this video game commercial they kept playing during Monday Night RAW last week.

Basically, the album is pretty heavy most of the way through while remaining quite catchy, a deadly delightful combination for this listener. I also like how they find a ton of addictive groove riffs that they just ride on for a while without being completely overkill, the double-time riff at the end of "Song for the Dead" being my favorite on the album (you should hear how fast they play it live!). And while Josh Homme does a bit of screaming on the album, he sticks mainly to his trademark crooning, which I appreciate a little more having been on a more melodic style music kick over the past year or so.

You've also got the best Queens drumming of their discography from Mr. David Grohl here. Lots of symbol crashing, drum fills, and stop-starts to get you through any long drive. Fuckin' cruise control set at 70 combined with this album is just a good time. Try it out and let me know how it works for ya'!

Titan's Key Tracks: "Go With the Flow," "No One Knows," "A Song for the Dead," "Do It Again"









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



Mariah Carey Boo'ed at Her Own Gig: Check this shit! You may have already read about it, but I still get a kick out of it, especially Mariah's excuse, not that I take joy in other people being ill…the bad kind of ill, not the good kind that the Beastie Boys have communication for. Rambling, aren't I?

Last week, Mariah Carey took the stage for the final date of her Angels and Advocates Tour – what the fuck does that tour name even mean? – over an hour late. Apparently, she was boo'ed pretty substantially, even after giving this excuse (not sure if this was Tweeted or actually quoted from her verbally at the show, but the news beat I read made it seem like a live quote):

"I'd like to apologize for my tardiness. You probably won't believe me, and they'll probably make a big thing of it, 'oh Mariah had to get her doctor in', but I got sick yet again because it's winter, I didn't think I could come out here tonight. But I was very grateful I could get some sleep and we could pull it together. It's not so glam at 6.30 in the morning when you're coughing and sounding like a frog."

All I know babe, is that if I purchase a ticket to see you perform at a concert, that's kind of a paid gig for you, isn't it? I buy the ticket which lists an agreed upon time that the show will begin, right? Your job is to show up at the agreed upon time and entertain me. There's a reason the people who purchased tickets to your show are your fans and not your friends: You don't pay your friends to entertain you. So hey, we're not your friends. You are a commodity whether you or I would admit that to each other face-to-face or not. So yeah…

And you know what Mariah? If I bought a ticket to your show and your voice was going to sound like shit, then let me know. We'll schedule a rain out date and I'll understand. I'll come back, you honor the original ticket I bought from you, and we'll be cool, OK? Don't make excuses if like, you weren't fucking loaded enough – which you are babe, you're married to Nick Cannon right, and according to Dave Chappelle, Nick Cannon is hilarious - to find a doctor within a reasonable time frame before the show to deal with a voice that's been coming and going on you for years now.

Yeah, it's not so "glam" to wake up sick at 6:30 am when you're feeling like shit, but guess what, I did the same thing for the last few weeks now. Get over it. Inject yourself with some Vitamin C, B12, and shit like that, and power through. If it ain't gonna' work, reschedule, but don't make excuses. Axl Rose is badass enough to pull off the whole showing up late thing and get away with it. Just because you have big hooters doesn't mean you can as well. Kudos to people who like you enough to buy tickets to your concert for booing you, because you deserved it. Sorry!

NEXT!

Wait…hold on…



OK, now NEXT!



Drake Drops New Single: Well fuck man, it's been a while since I had any good hip-hop news up in this bitch. This past week, Drake dropped the new single, "Over," from his highly-anticipated album Thank Me Later. Check it out here:





You know, the dude's got a pretty hot single here. I guess the only qualm I have – and this is me nitpicking here – is that his flow style here is extremely similar to that on "Forever," a song I was obsessed with this past fall. Really though, he's young and flow variances will come when he spends even more time in the studio that he already has.

When I first took this column over at the end of last summer, I was pretty critical of Drake. In a nutshell, I said that he didn't deserve the red carpet treatment he'd been receiving just because he had a mixtape out and seemed to be on the same tip as guys like Jay-Z, Wayne, and Kanye. Now granted, there are times when I question which MCs are getting treated like kings in general, and know many of you probably feel the same way about guys like Lil' Wayne, but yeah, Drake is seen as hot shit. To be honest, I have his So Far Gone mixtape on my computer, but the only Drake I ever really play is the "Forever" track he did with Em, Wayne, and Kanye. I'll listen to "Best I Ever Had" right now actually. Wait…there we go. But yeah, I just don't want to jump on the hype train quite yet.

Really, Drake better make this shit count when he finally releases So Far Gone in May, because he's had more hype than any MC I can ever recall. I'd say that "Over" is a step in the right direction as far as winning everybody over permanently as opposed to being looked back upon as a flavor of the week.

I will say this about the guy: He's got some witty rhymes and the fact that he can croon – yeah, he's of the auto-tune persuasion but I can look past that for the time being – so he's got that cross-genre appeal going on. That makes him more capable, since he comes across as legitimate at both the singing thing and the rapping thing (in general). He's also got some credibility. I mean, I like Hov's music, so the fact that he says Drake is the real deal makes me perk my ears a little more. Also, he's about my age, so he's got the peer appeal from me to an extent.

Then again though, can the guy be this good this fast. Yeah, Nas pulled it off with Illmatic, but can a guy's debut be as classic as Thank Me Later is already being billed as, having not even been released yet? We'll see. I'm going to call dibs on reviewing that shit for the site with Mitch sooner than later so I can get my final verdict out on it come May. Stay tuned…

Oh, and the album will feature spots from Lil' Wayne (they already shot the video since Wayne's getting locked up sometime soon), Jay-Z, and Kanye. Just read that and now you know too.

The wRong



Jay-Z and Beyonce Visit Obama: So President Obama has been trying to get Jay-Z and the fam to come over for a visit to the crib on Pennsylvania Avenue for a while now, and last week, it finally went down. If music news wasn't so hard to come by this week, I probably wouldn't even give this story a bat of the eyelash, but it kind of made me want to make a point about something: I want my entertainers to be my entertainers…to a degree.

Why is Jay-Z at the White House? Because Obama likes his music and works out to The Blueprint? I guess that's cool, you know. If I had the power to meet some of the artists whose work I enjoy, I'd probably take advantage of that as well. But really, this whole official meeting with photographers and class A suits and shit? What could they have possible talked about that warranted all the hoopla, you know? I mean, the President will be followed by the press constantly, so the photos you see here would've been taken regardless of who he was meeting with, but it's more of a general wonderment on my part. Why not just wear some Rocawear gear and get a custom ROC jacket with the Presidential seal made for Obama?

I guess I just want my musicians to write music and perform music, not tell me who to vote for and shit. Jay-Z's not doing that here, but it's just something that kind of came to mind when I saw this story. It reminds me of Green Day in their American Idiot phase. I really like that album and all, but the political shit was bit overkill in the end, wasn't it? Yeah, Bush sucked. We get it. Move on now. He's out of office, so what's with going back to the same well with 21st Century Breakdown - to a degree - anyways? Remember when Green Day used to be really awesome (if you're a Green Day fan, that is, otherwise that comment doesn't really apply to you, right?)? I'm sure I'll catch some flack from Green Day fans for this, but what happened to just being Green Day rather than an attempted second-coming of an activism-influenced band like Rage or some shit? It's just not my bag.

And really, songs can be political and not be annoying, especially if there's a message of activism and making things right. Rage pulled that off so well! For example, "Bulls on Parade" brings issues to light about government arms manufacturers encouraging us to enter wars for their own profits. Another good example is a newer Lamb of God single, "Contractor," which is a song Randy Blythe wrote from the point of view of a government contracted killer, a business I didn't realize was as profitable and corporate as I do now having read a little more about it. See? Lamb of God taught me something just by writing a song. How quaint, eh?








I guess I'm going to look a little hypocritical when I go see U2 this summer, considering their lead singer is Bono, right? Really, we're all hypocrites, it's just that some of us are a little more up front about it than others. Plus, I fully expect this section of the column to make people pissed off and write Comments below. Please do, as I don't mind being told I'm wrong as long as it's done with reasonable respect and with valid explanation.

Oh, that reminds me! My apologies to the Guest user who set me straight on the issues of the Black Sabbath lawsuit that I'd had confused a bit last week. Reading the gist of the articles I'd read, I saw that Ozzy was looking for 50 percent of the profits from the name, so that to me sounds like he's in it for himself. I should have done more research and I stand corrected. You can check out last week's column in the 411Mania archives if you're really interested in reading more about that, but hey, that was last week's news and this is this week's so let's keep truckin', shall we?

The Ridiculous



American Idol Plods On: …And I mean that title literally. I've made it my mission to tune in for the whole current season of American Idol since I write a music column on a pop culture site now. Gotta' keep informed to an extent. Really, though, I'm skeptical of the show producing an actual star this season. Let me explain.

Here's a list of the contest's winners from past to present:

Season 1: Kelly Clarkson
Season 2: Ruben Studdard
Season 3: Fantasia Barrino
Season 4: Carrie Underwood
Season 5: Taylor Hicks
Season 6: Jordin Sparks
Season 7: David Cook
Season 8: Kris Allen

OK, so Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood are still pretty relevant in music today, and by that, I mean that they still sell. Kris Allen is just gaining steam, but I don't think his new album has done shit from what I can tell thus far. I mean, maybe it's gaining steam on iTunes or whatever, but I can say that it hasn't permeated the pop culture enough for me to have heard him sing anything besides the Beatles cover he did on Idol last week. All I see of him on TV are those car commercials he's in.

Side note: The song Danny Gokey (3rd place guy from last season) sang on Idol on the elimination episode of Idol last week was apparently the fifth most downloaded song on iTunes for the week. I thought the dude sounded awful live! Very positive message in the song from what appears to be a very likable guy, but he sounded like shit. Just saying…

And yeah, you can say that some of the people who didn't end up winning their respective American Idol season went on to be stars, so by proxy, the show created stars that way. Jennifer Hudson is a big deal, after all, and has been very successful doing singing and acting. Her husband is a pro wrestler to boot (David Otunga on WWE's NXT show), so I give her respect just as a wrestling fan. You've got Chris Daughtry tearing up the pop rock charts too, and honestly, I heard the dude's stuff at sporting events and on the radio before even knowing he was on American Idol. Fuck though, take a look at the list:

The only Ruben Studdard song I remember was that "Sorry 2004" song he put out, and I only remember it because the lyric "Girl this is my sorry for…2004" is like…well, awful doesn't quite describe it, but it's close enough for my purposes here.

Fantasia? Besides being named after a Disney movie people like to get high and watch, all I know about her is that she is or was illiterate.

Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, and David Cook? I couldn't tell you the name of one of their songs.

And like I said, Kris Allen hasn't had the time to make that splash yet, but the guy he beat out to win the competition last year, Adam Lambert, is already a way bigger deal than him and has carved his own little niche audience fairly successfully. Granted, he is naturally provocative and garners a lot of attention through that more than his music, but nevertheless, he didn't have to win the competition to be successful. He just used it as a platform (though he was the runner-up last year).

All that said, my point is basically that the show, after eight years and currently in its ninth, hasn't produced as many stars as people tend to act like it has. The show can be your big break, but not necessarily, and I think that may prove especially true for this season. There's a lot of younger kids this year with no stage presence and all they do is try to please the judges. Now that makes sense since you're in a competition, but it doesn't endear you to me to see that you have next to no artistic integrity on national TV. You'll just do whatever people tell you to do, you know? This is what niche you fit into. This is the artist you are. That may feel good, but people will never buy it. Do this instead. And yeah, you can say that most popular musicians fall into that category, but at least they don't put out that side of their business on national television, you know?

If I had to predict, I'd say Michael Lynche and Crystal Bowersox are coming across as the most convincing performers this season, but even then, I don't find myself really rooting for anyone on the show yet, and the show's been on for over a month now. I remember watching the season Carrie Underwood won and was rooting for Bo Bice at this stage of the game already. The only part of the show I find more consistent than the true dearth of IT factor is how Simon just doesn't give a fuck anymore and is kind of dicking around and being super cruel to just about everyone before he leaves Idol after the season's conclusion to start his own show here in the States.

And for the record, I think all the rumors about Simon and Ellen not getting along are completely fabricated by FOX and the producers of the show in order to make the judging moments more dramatic and interesting. I know I've been more interested with the reality TV moments of the show more so than like, 98 percent of the performances. But hey, I'll continue watching and so will about 30 million others. It gives us all something to chat about around the water cooler, right?

Hasta Luego: That's it for me this week kids. Gonna' go try and come down from my caffeine buzz which now has my heart pumping faster than the BPM on a [INSERT YOUR OWN THRASH SONG/DRUMMER] song (you can make the recommendation for the end of that sentence in the Comments section if you want; that could be fun!). With the Music 3R's, this has been Aaron Titan! Cheers!


Soundtrack to the 3R's this week was played by the following artists…
Them Crooked Vultures – "Elephants"
Drake – "Over"
Ozzy Osbourne – "Road to Nowhere"
Drake – "Best I Ever Had"
Gorillaz (f/ De La Soul and Gruff Rhys) – "Superfast Jellyfish"
Wale – "The Freestyle (Roc Boys)"
Lupe Fiasco – "The National Anthem"
The Notorious B.I.G. – "Juicy"
Oasis – "Roll With It"
Primus – "Shake Hands With Beef"
Black Sabbath – "Neon Knights"
Bob Dylan – "Highway 61 Revisited"
Radiohead – "Bodysnatchers"
Lamb of God – "Black Label"
The Rolling Stones – "Street Fighting Man"
Suicide Silence – "Wake Up"
Queens of the Stone Age – "Do It Again"
Nine Inch Nails – "Meet Your Master"
Rush – "Fly By Night"
Down – "Three Suns and One Star"
Judas Priest – "Turbo Lover"
Judas Priest – "Never Satisfied"
Johnny Cash – "Folsom Prison Blues"