Music's 3R’s 05.05.12: Abstract Poetry About German Bohemians
Posted by Nick Krenn on 05.05.2012
From Kanye West responding to domestic abuse allegations and Lars Ulrich’s recent comments on Lulu to The Wanted feuding with Britney Spears, Courtney Love losing publicity rights to Kurt Cobain and more, 411's Nick Krenn breaks down the Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous from the week in music!
Hello, I'm Nick Krenn, and I'm bringing you the newest edition of the most impolite 411mania column, Music 3R's, where I examine the Right, wRong, and Ridiculous in music. Before we start, here are some things I suggest you read.
The Love/Hate News Report written by John Downey. It's like the high brow Music 3R's, and you can't go wrong with his music picks.
411Mania Ten Deep written by Chris Bell. The guy reminds us why 1970 was a good year for music, and you gotta love all the fan support in the comments section.
Major Bands, Minor Labels written by me. Read if you're curious about discovering new music, or if you're in between Korn albums at the moment.
Earbuddy.net, a music site that I run outside of 411mania featuring both John Downey and Chris Bell from the aforementioned columns.
Let's look at some R's!
How Do You Not LOVE This?
A story came out this week that Courtney Love no longer controls Nirvana's or Kurt Cobain's music. Also, Love hasn't had rights to Kurt Cobain's image since 2010. The person in charge of Cobain's likeness, name, and appearance is Cobain and Love's daughter Frances Bean Cobain while Primary Wave CEO Larry Mestel has the rights to Cobain's and Nirvana's music.
The reason that Courtney Love lost the rights is because she borrowed a $2.75 million loan from France's trust fund. When she did so, she stepped down as the acting manager from the business behind Cobain's publicity rights. If Love ever repays the $2.75 million loan, she'll regain custody of the publicity rights. But does anyone actually believe that will ever happen.
Love previously said that she was going to sue the makers of Guitar Hero 5 for using Kurt Cobain's image for singing some less than flattering non-Nirvana songs. However, Love had signed off on the developers' ability to use his image for however they pleased.
What's the driving point in this whole story? Courtney Love apparently needs money, but she's not going to be able to leach off her husband's talent anymore for an easy payday. I'm sure the Nirvana fans that believe Love killed Cobain are smiling a little at this news.
Metallica Support Indie Music
A recent interview that Lars Ulrich did with Spin Magazine turned out pretty interesting. One thing to come out of the interview was Ulrich's appreciation of indie throwback band, Best Coast that's fronted by Bethany Cosentino. Best Coast is the only female-fronted band at Metallica's Orion Festival.
We don't go, "There have to be x slots for girl-fronted bands, and there has to be somebody from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and we have to find a band where the bass player's a twin." We don't have demographic requirements. [Best Coast] write incredibly well-crafted songs.
Chock up more praise for Best Coast from an unexpected place. Mark Hoppus of Blink 182 has also shown love to the group in the past. However, Best Coast is not the only indie band on the ticket for the Orion Fest. While spectators will get an expected rock/metal lineup that includes: Suicidal Tendencies, Sepultura, Torche, Red Fang, Kyng, Landmine Marathon, Black Tusk, and Thy Will Be Done, they'll also have the chance to check out indie bands like Arctic Monkeys, Modest Mouse, The Gaslight Anthem, Fucked Up, Titus Andronicus, The Black Angels, and A Place to Bury Strangers. Technically, Modest Mouse are no longer an indie band (they signed to Sony), but they're still considered part of the community. I appreciate Metallica giving some variety at their festival. However, the price tag is a little steep at $150 each. Lars said the following about the ticket prices.
We're not being paid to play Orion. It costs close to $10 million to put it together. That's gotta come from somewhere other than, 'Metallica's gonna write a check'.
Shouldn't Metallica have enough money to do so after shutting down Napster? Did file sharing really hurt them that much? Well, Lars addressed the Napster stuff as well.
It's 12 years later and [Metallica's battle with Napster] doesn't consume my waking hours. I've heard a thousand times: "How greedy can Lars Ulrich be?" I got enough money. It was about choice. Do you want to give your music away? Sell it for Twinkies? It should be your choice.
Okay, fair enough (though some readers will argue otherwise), but what about demanding names for the people that downloaded Metallica's music? Well, Lars had something to say about that too.
We didn't ask for names. People said to us, "We don't know who's downloading this stuff." We said, "We don't believe that," and hired a company who supplied us with those names in half an hour. But [Napster] was brilliant at publicity. We had always been the good guys and all of a sudden we were greedy Luddites. The whole thing was bizarre.
Bizarre indeed, Mr. Ulrich. I can't say that I'll make it to the Orion Festival. Even though it's far from my home state, I don't think I'd pay a $150 price tag either. Sorry, I can listen to the Black Album in the privacy of my own home and hear it in better quality and without drunken people vomiting beside me. Still, aside from Lars' comments regarding not being greedy, I have to give him props for putting some lesser known bands on display, even though it will probably cause confusion among the more rock-oriented crowd.
Best Music of 2012 So Far
My Earbuddy cohorts and I picked our favorite music of the year so far. Did we pick the music that you found to be especially good? The only way you can find out is by clicking the link below.
Lars Ulrich also spoke about the Lulu album in his recent interview with Spin Magazine. I never actually listened to the album, but I heard from many that 411's 10 out of 10 score could have been unjustified. I did read John Downey's special edition of Own It or Disown It: Lulu where he said, "Reed sounds like an emaciated windbag throughout the album, shouting out vague talk of violence and titties that fails to be shocking, startling, or in any way compelling." Below is what Lars had to say about the reaction to the album.
It was more spiteful than anyone was prepared for. Especially against Lou. He is such a sweet man. But when Metallica do impulsive riffing and Lou Reed is reciting abstract poetry about German bohemians from 150 years ago, it can be difficult to embrace.
Yeah, that might be a little difficult for your demographic of listeners. I'm not sure some long-haired headbanger decked out in black is going to particularly care about abstract poetry or German bohemians. Were Metallica attempting to introduce some culture to their listeners? And by culture, I mean a fungus.
Lars had the following to say about some of the album's questionable lyrics, like "I swallow your sharpest cutter / Like a colored man's dick": I understand that to some 13-year-old in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, it can all seem a little cringe-worthy, but to someone raised in an art community in Copenhagen in the late '60s, that was expected.
Is that a cheap pop from Cape Girardeau, Missouri I hear? Congratulations; Lars knows that you exist. Based on his comment, everyone should have expected these kinds of lyrics. And really, who is going to step up to Lou Reed anyway? It certainly wouldn't be Lars.
One time I had to point something out to him about how things were functioning in the outside world and he got hot and bothered. He challenged me to a street fight, which is a pretty daunting proposition because he's an expert in martial arts and is never too far from a sword. The good thing about me is I can do the 100-meter dash faster than most other 48-year-old musicians.
Oh, Lars, you should give Jim Breuer the night off at the Orion Festival. You're such a stitch. So what does everyone think? Was the Lulu backlash justified, or is this album better than what most thought?
Kanye West Denies Hitting Women
Kanye showing his vagina.
Perez Hilton, a victim of assault himself, reported that Kanye West's ex-fiancé had accused him being abusive during their relationship. West vehemently denies the allegations in the only fashion that rappers know how to respond via a new single. In the remix of Chief Keef's "I Don't Like", Kanye raps, A girl will run her mouth only out of spite, but I'll never hit a woman in my life. "Unless she's not my wife" was the follow-up line that West's lawyers advised him to drop.
Personally, I can't see West punching a woman without getting his ass handed to him. He's the least scary rapper on the face of the planet. Next to him is the pillowy Fat Joe. If he took a shot at you, it'd be like getting punched by the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man. To be fair, I bet Kanye has one hell of a slap. The guy is the alpha-male of the fashion world, but that's the lowest form of alpha for anything MAN related. Sorry, Kanye.
So I'm not buying his ex-fiancé's allegations. If she had accused Nic Cage of doing such, I might tend to believe it based on the following clip.
The UnWanted
Industry created pop rock band The Wanted have gotten backlash from some of the biggest female pop stars. After doing an episode of The Voice recently, they called Christina Aguilera a "bitch" because she was not nice to them. They must have gotten to the buffet before her. The Wanted also received some less than cordial behavior from Britney Spears when they opened for the singer.
The Wanted claim that they were told by security to not look at Spears as she walked by when Siva Kaneswaran and the band's tour manager were looking at a laptop. Kaneswaran told radio station Fresh 102.7/New York, "We faced the wall for about 10 seconds until she got really far away." However, band member Jay McGuiness says, "When we actually met her person to person she was so down-to-earth." Spears even tweeted a picture with the band with the caption, "Love them!"
The radio station interview from The UnWanted didn't go unheard, and Spears' representatives responded to the band's comments. Below is what Spears' representative had to say.
What's even more interesting than the false allegations they made is the fact that they have claimed to be picked on by two female pop stars in just a few days. Look out Lady Gaga—there are still three days left this week.
Of course, Spears' rep is referring to the Aguilera name calling. Considering that The Wanted are fairly new to the game and were given their exposure by their record label, they may want to chill on their personal comments, or they'll be ousted quite fast. Not that I'm complaining. I'll do anything to get away from this song.
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And that does it for this week. If you want to chat about the stories I covered here, follow me on Twitter @earbuddy or leave me some comments below. Let me know where this column falls under the 3R's – meaning for you to rate it as Right, wRong, or Ridiculous. I promise to change nothing. Be sure to check out Earbuddy for great indie music reviews. Thank you for reading the Music 3R's.
