Music's 3R's 08.09.10: Jack White Yells at Hipsters, Sean Penn Yells at Wyclef, New Eminem and Kanye Music Videos, More

Posted by Aaron Titan on 08.09.2010

From the new Kanye West and Eminem music videos and Jack White yelling at hipsters at a concert to Sean Penn criticizing Wyclef’s bid for the Haitian presidency, Sum-41’s frontman being beaten up in Japan, and more, 411's Aaron Titan breaks down the Right, wRong, and Ridiculous from the week in music!




Greetings: Beep. Click. Beep beep.

Systems functional. Hard drive detected.

Rocking may now commence.


OK, that was a lame intro, but regardless, I'm still Aaron Titan and this is still the Music 3R's.

The column is going to work a little differently this week. It's a little less news-heavy than usual, but that's not my fault! I'm just getting tired of hearing about the same shit in the music headlines lately – Kanye pimping his new album, Amy Winehouse partying with famous people, Lindsay Lohan thinking she's a victim, Katy Perry's boobs still being huge, Lil' Wayne still being in jail – so instead, I thought I'd bring a breath of fresh air to you, the 411Maniacs. What I have for you in the Right section this week is a healthy dose of songs and thoughts about many upcoming fall music releases. Hope you enjoy!

Let's go down south now for your latest Opus of the Week:









Opus of the Week: Zac Brown Band - The Foundation

Yes! Country music!

Honestly, it's hard for me to listen to a lot of contemporary country music, because it's usually another hackneyed presentation of the same basic themes, sounds, and singers who sing in a southern accent even if they're not from the south. Who do you guys think you are, copping accents that aren't native to your own tongue! You're not Matisyahu you know!

Anyways, the Zac Brown Band is pretty fun and I took the time out to finally listen to The Foundation this weekend. There's a lot of different sounds that coalesce on this disc and if you follow my column each week, you know how inclined I am towards eclectic jamborees of genre-melding.

I love the unapologetic, yet downright funness of the lyrics here on the opener "Toes," which is about rolling fatties, drinking, and enjoying the beach and is about as literal as I've heard a party country song get. "Where the Boat Leaves From" is a relaxing diddy that kind of reminds me of Los Lonely Boys' sound. "Mary" is a sped-up, twangy jam that isn't quite Charlie Daniels, but you could still shuffle like a son' bitch in the honky tonk to it. "Highway 20 Ride" is a heartfelt ode to a father missing his child while on the road that stands out on the album for its beauty and sincerity.

Really, I found a way to enjoy each track on this album and think you might too. I'd embed some music from it for you, but in about 30 seconds, you're going to have a barrage of stuff to sift through, so let's just keep truckin.' Check these tracks out later and thank me...later-er.

Titan's Key Tracks: "Toes," "Where the Boat Leaves From," "Mary," "Highway 20 Ride"


Opus of the Week Backlog: Here's some other stuff I'd recommend if you're looking for a few albums to check out that may have escaped you…

08/02/10: Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire
07/26/10: Green Day - Insomniac
07/19/10: Eagles of Death Metal - Heart On
07/12/10: Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
07/05/10: Pantera - The Great Southern Trendkill
06/28/10: Tim Fite - Under the Table Tennis
06/21/10: Every Time I Die - New Junk Aesthetic
06/14/10: Antoine Dufour - Existence
06/07/10: Lupe Fiasco - The Cool
05/31/10: Foo Fighers - Foo Fighters
05/24/10: Van Halen: Best of Both Worlds
05/17/10: Hellyeah: Hellyeah
05/10/10: Limp Bizkit: Significant Other
05/03/10: She & Him: Volume One
04/26/10: My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges
04/19/10: Kanye West: Graduation
04/12/10: Avenged Sevenfold: Avenged Sevenfold
04/05/10: Fall Out Boy: Infinity on High
03/29/10: Dr. Dre: 2001
03/22/10: Cypress Hill: Black Sunday
03/15/10: Maxwell: BLACKsummers'night
03/08/10: Queens of the Stone Age: Songs for the Deaf
03/01/10: Adele: 19
02/22/10: The Ting Tings: We Started Nothing
02/15/10: Nirvana: Bleach
02/08/10: Down: NOLA
02/01/10: Dixie Chicks: Taking the Long Way
01/25/10: Lamb of God: Ashes of the Wake
01/18/10: The Clash: London Calling



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.






Music Videos!!!: Remember when the premiere of a music video was actually a big deal on MTV? Like, you would tune in to TRL or a specific time MTV announced before or after a show to see the new Britney Spears or Limp Bizkit music video and then talk about it on the playground at school the next day?

Well, MTV actually had the gusto to do a music video event last Thursday evening. They announced times for the official premieres of Eminem and Rihanna's new video for "Love the Way You Lie." Also, they debuted Kanye West's video for "Power" – immediately following their bread-and-butter show Jersey Shore of course.

Can I just say that I've never seen an episode of that show by the way. I hear there are people on it named Snooki and The Situation. That just feels indicative of herpes to me. If I want to watch stuff about people from Jersey, I'll put on a Kevin Smith movie or watch the show Cake Boss

Anyways, you can view the new Eminem video below. I can't find an ‘embed' code for Kanye's video anywhere, so click HERE to watch it.





"Love the Way You Lie" is a cool video, but like, it's not as shocking as it tries to make itself out to be. Maybe it's because I easily recognize the main actress in the video and it takes me out of the moment a little bit. I mean, she's supposed to be portraying the female character the song speaks of – a battered girl addicted to the pain of an abusive relationship - but when I see her, I just can't help but think about Transformers or that 90210 guy she married.

Kanye's video is pretty awesome though. I haven't quite seen a music video like that before, though the budget was clearly not enough to produce a video for the full song. I think the actual track is over three minutes long, but the video falls shy of two minutes in length. Not sure why, but this video – which Kanye is calling a visual "portrait" – is pretty damn fun. The girls in the video remind me of the oracle from The 300.

Oh, and Kanye now says his album will be out "sometime in November," a change from the rumored September release date. In about two weeks, we'll have a follow-up single for "Power," and he's debating between two cuts: "Lost in the World" and "All of the Lights."



New Fall Music!!!: You know what's always refreshing?

NEW MUSIC! I'm not one of those music journalists that's going to sit here and bitch about how great the old days used to be and how nothing good comes out anymore. I can usually find something to appreciate about a lot of new stuff. Heck, as a very minimal country music listener, having the Zac Brown Band in the Opus of the Week feature this week is sort of a milestone for good ol' Mr. Titan.

The fall is one of the big new music release times of the year – September in particular seems to always be the month everybody shoots for. Here's some new songs you may or may not have heard before, equipped with my thoughts about them. Not every track may be your cup o' tea, so just kind of pick and choose as you wish.

Lil' Wayne f/ Drake – "Right Above It"


This song's alright. I like the beat a lot more than I like Weezy's bars. It's got a futuristic, synth, dance thing going on with that classic Dirty South percussion drum fill and in the end, it works well enough. The track comes off Wayne's I'm Not a Human Being EP that he's releasing from behind bars on September 27th.

John Legend and The Roots – "Our Generation"


Yes, yes, YES! John Legend and The Roots team up for a covers disc called Wake Up! and this Ernie Hines cover is very smooth. We're quite lucky two get to discs of material from The Roots this year. I like the soulfulness of this song and while The Roots crew can pretty much do it all, this is stuff they were meant to jam out. The disc drops September 21st. Click HERE for the complete tracklisting.

Linkin Park – "The Catalyst"


This was the first time I'd heard the official, mixed version of this track and now we seem to have a little guitar sound in there, an aspect I criticized the demo version for.

That said, it sounds like something from an old school Street Fighter or Streets of Rage game, and not necessarily in a good way. Having listened to it like, three times now, I can say that this definitely impresses me a little more than the demo did – there's a reason I shouldn't go judging demos – but this isn't too reminiscent of Linkin Park to me. Like, I think this would be incredibly awkward to see at a concert, unless they jazzed it up with a heavier rock version. You've got staples like "What I've Become," "One Step Closer," "Crawling," and "In the End" in the setlist, and then a song like "The Catalyst," which is borderline dancey music? Basically, I dig it, but that's more of me as a guy who dabbles in all genres than as a Linkin Park fan. Maybe the Rick Rubin co-produced effort, A Thousand Suns (September 14th), will make this song make more sense in the grand scheme of the album.

Iron Maiden – "El Dorado"


Now granted, I'm an incredibly casual Iron Maiden fan and mainly stick to the greatest hits portion of their work, but I'm just not feeling this song. Bruce Dickinson is one of the most entertaining frontmen I've ever seen live, but he just sounds like crap on this song. The song just kind of sounds old, tired, and I'll be damned if that opening bass diddy doesn't sound an awful like like the beginning of Heart's "Barracuda." "El Dorado" comes off of Maiden's upcoming studio album The Final Frontier, due August 17th.

Brandon Flowers – "Crossfire"


Meh.

If you did dig this song though, The Killers' frontman's solo debut Flamingo drops September 14.

Taylor Swift – "Mine"
Taylor Swift - 'Mine' - Celebrity BugUploaded by celebritybug

Catchy as always, though it's no "You Belong With Me." Good enough for me though. I can only imagine how well her new album, Speak Now (due in October), is going to sell.

Interpol – "Lights"


So back when I was going to see Interpol open for U2 in Chicago before the tour was postponed into 2011, I tried getting into Interpol's music and was unsuccessful. The mood and sound didn't do it for me and on the whole, each track kind of sounded the same to me. For some reason though, I find myself enjoying this track a lot. It's kind of got a western saloon showdown feel to it, don't you think? This title track comes off of Interpol's new disc, due September 7th.

Stone Sour – "Mission Statement"


Ummm, fuck yeah! This is a great song from what I expect to be a great album. I'm officially going to the Rockstar Uproar Tour and have a photo pass coming my way at the show, so I'll be providing full coverage of the day here on 411Mania in about two weeks. Stone Sour are on the main stage, and I've no doubt they'll play this track, one that's been floating around for a while now.

It rocks hard like other past lead singles "30/30-150" and "Get Inside" but it doesn't sound formulaic or too similar to either of those songs. The solo is some of the hottest playing Jim Root has ever done! The track comes off of Audio Secrecy, due September 7th.

Good Charlotte – "Like It's Her Birthday"


I know these guys used to be more straight punk-based when they started out, but most of what I've heard from them in the last decade has been contrived attempts to be like contemporary Fall Out Boy. You've gotta' get that thumping bass drum in there guys! It's just not dancey enough, and I would put this song on par with the teen pop songs that Disney and Nickelodeon stars keep hashing out.

However, if you're a fan, go grab your eyeliner and head out to your local record store – or the Internet – and cop GC's Cardiology on October 26th.

Katy Perry – "Teenage Dream"


I can admit that "California Gurls" is a really catchy song and is at least a little deserving of its popularity this summer. The lyrics are pretty silly and aren't going to change the world, but it's a tongue in cheek song anyways, so it works just fine. Now with this title track to Perry's new album – due August 24th – it's supposed to be kind of a serious song and love and feelings and junk, and it's just kind of flat, even for pop standards. I suppose if that kind of music is your bread and butter, you could find a way to get INSPIRED by this song, if Katy Perry is capable of doing that for you that is. I just think it's is a little lackluster, though really, is there anything that could've properly followed "California Gurls" as a second single?


And that's all I've got for you on the new music front. I tried to hunt down the new Weezer single, but apparently, it's just not out there quite yet. Their new album is called Hurley and has a 60s pop-rock vibe to it from what I read in Rolling Stone's latest issue. The disc is due September 14th.

If I missed a fall release that you wanted to see included, just post the name of the band, song title, and YouTube link in the Comments section so we can all enjoy it together. Sharing is caring…except file-sharing. That's illegal!

Moving along…






Jack White Makes the Wrong Section: Yes folks, I never thought I'd see the day! I've always been a proponent of Jack White, tooting his horn across town to anyone who would listen. I became a fan when the White Blood Cells album got big and backtracked through the White Stripes' catalog before moving forward with Elephant a couple years later, an album that didn't leave my car 6-disc changer for six months. I dug The Raconteurs too and think Consolers of the Lonely is a beautiful album. Got to see them at Lollapalooza a couple times too.

Then there's The Dead Weather, who happened to be playing a secret show last Wednesday for the reopening of Don Hill's in New York. The crowd was star-studded that night. Among what turned out to be a small sea of hipsters were Liv Tyler, Shaun White, Sean Lennon, and Mary-Kate Olsen.

So apparently, the crowd was a little apathetic and didn't show the band a lot of energy during most of their set. Jack White got mad and screamed at the audience, "F- you, you hip motherf-ers! Why don't you rock the f- out?! Maybe I should go grab those free drinks and shove them down your throats, you hip motherf-ers!"

Then, he stops the show and has a guy in the front row thrown out for taking photos.

Yeah…

At the end of the show, he apologized to the audience for his outburst and thanked everyone for coming out.

I mean, there's two ways to go about it when you're not getting the reaction you want at a concert. First, you could pump the crowd up with your words rather than yell at them in a negative way. Rappers have figured that one out and it's worked pretty well in concert settings for years and years. This is what I'm talking about:





Now, if that doesn't work, you could always try playing some more energetic music. I mean, I suppose I liked The Dead Weather's debut album, Horehound, but I couldn't really get into Sea of Cowards. Part of that is probably that I associate this band with an estranged ex of mine, but I'm just not huge on their sound either. I find Alison Mosshart's vocals to be kind of lazy and annoying. I hear she can be pretty intense live, but when you've got Jack White – one of the most well-liked guys in rock n' roll – yelling at the crowd to rock out harder because you, the frontwoman, aren't getting it done, it sounds like something's wrong to me there.

Reports said that when White yelled the first time, Mary-Kate Olsen rolled her eyes. If the band was indeed rocking that hard, Michelle Tanner would've been dancing like she did when Jesse and The Rippers were in their prime and felt compelled enough to yell out, "YOU GOT IT DUDE!" to Jack White's request for more crowd participation.

Maybe this is the genesis of the anti-hipster movement. I read a magazine article about The Arcade Fire recently, and they were talking about the same kind of problems with too-cool-for-school indie kids.



Sum-41's Deryck Whibley Attacked: Taking a sojourn from their stint on this summer's Warped Tour, Sum-41 found themselves in a bar late last Thursday. While there, three individuals attacked frontman Deryck Whibley and messed him up pretty badly. Last I heard, he was being treated for injuries in a Japanese hospital. This news comes immediately after the announcement that the band canceling three Warped Tour dates after Whibley was diagnosed with bronchitis.

Two things strike me as funny here. First off, what the fuck did Deryck Whibley do to get attacked by three Japanese dudes? Did he go and piss the Yakuza off or something? I just don't understand why someone would attack the man who gave us "In Too Deep" and "Fat Lip." Not cool you three Japanese culprits!

Really though, I shouldn't make light of this situation. It's pretty fucked up that he got beat up and I do wish him a speedy recovery.

Secondly though, what are you doing in a bar when you have bronchitis? I've made this mistake before and the consequences were pretty awful. The night I was turning 21 in college, I wasn't feeling super great. I had shit draining into my chest and was just going to call it an early night and go out a few days later when I was feeling better.

A few of my friends wouldn't accept that though, and I found myself in a bar until 1am shooting tequila and whiskey. The next morning was spent at the hospital clinic being diagnosed with mild bronchitis, so I spent my birthday in bed and drove back home the next day to recover for the weekend.

So yeah, it sucks Whibley got beat up, but he really shouldn't have been in a bar in the first place if you ask me.





Sean Penn Defames Wyclef's Bid: Here's a good example of celebrities thinking their shit smells very rose-like…

If you hadn't heard, Haitian musician and honorary ambassador to the U.S. Wyclef Jean made his candidacy for the upcoming fall Haitian presidential election official last week. I kind of covered a lot of the details and my own opinions of his presidential bid in Haiti in the R's last week, so click HERE if you missed it.

Someone else who's throwing their opinion out there about Wyclef is actor Sean Penn. He commented on the rumors of Jean mishandling funds his Yéle Haiti charity raised for the earthquake disaster. He also commented on the singer's presence in Haiti lately to continue the work he helped start.

On Larry King Live last Thursday, Pen said, "This is somebody who's going to receive an enormous amount of support from the United States, and I have to say I'm very suspicious of it."

"I'm not accusing Wyclef Jean of being an opportunist; I don't know the man. One of the reasons I don't know very much about Wyclef Jean is that I haven't seen or heard anything of him in these last six months that I've been in Haiti." Penn has been leading a 55,000-person tent camp in Haiti as part of the J/P Haitian Relief Organization he started.

Wyclef refuted Penn's comments the next day, saying, "What I want Sean Penn to know is, if I was not in Haiti after [former president] Jean-Bertrand Aristide left, if I did not create [my charity] Yéle Haiti to start stopping the violence, even him coming to Haiti would not have been possible today,"

Jean also addressed the larger picture of the Haitian economy: ""I would like to tell Sean Penn I do not act on emotions when it comes to the Haitian people. Sean Penn must understand that besides what he sees in Haiti, there are 4 million diasporas living outside of Haiti that is actually the commerce … that's bringing $2 billion per year [for the country]. And guess what, I am part of that community also."

I mean, yeah, I doubted Wyclef Jean's legitimacy as a candidate, and I still do based solely on his lack of political experience; however, fuck Sean Penn.

Just because Sean Penn has gotten to the point in his career where he's financially set and doesn't have family commitments to attend to and can just run off and do full-time relief work in Haiti doesn't make him a fucking saint. It's noble and admirable, but c'mon dude! Wyclef has been doing work for Haiti for years, so just because you jumped on the relief bandwagon like the rest of us when the earthquakes hit – as great as your efforts surely are, because a 55,000-person camp for dispersed citizens is a great thing – doesn't mean you need to criticize others' commitment to the cause. Do what you do. The best charity is the kind that isn't done for recognition.


Titan's Final Remarks: Well guys, that's all for me this week. Leave comments and of course, those new fall music suggestions below, and I'll see you here next week.

Soundtrack to the 3R's this week was played by the following artists…
Zac Brown Band's The Foundation
Michael Buble – "Haven't Met You Yet"
Michael Jackson - "Dirty Diana"
Outkast - "Gasoline Dreams"
Drake f/ Jay-Z - "Light Up"
Taylor Swift - "Breathe"
Helmet - "Unsung"
Styx - "Too Much Time on My Hands"
Primus - "Mama Didn't Raise No Fool"
Mudvayne - "Do What You Do"
Metallica - "That Was Just Your Life (live)"
Deftones f/ Maynard James Keenan - "Passenger"
Radiohead - "Everything in its Right Place"
Nickelback - "S.E.X."
Blink-182 - "Adam's Song"
Judas Priest - "Sinner"
Nas - "Hip Hop is Dead"