I Want My Music Television: 4/4/16

Dangerous Woman – Ariana Grande


Ariana Grande is just cheesy fun but I really do not like it when she tries to be sexy because it just comes across as a middle schooler playing dress up.


Kiss it Better – Rihanna


Now for an actual dangerous woman who does not need to try to be sexy. And for the second video in a row, Rihanna opts for the see-through clothing which actually leaves even less to the imagination than the Work video.


Real People – Ice Cube and Common


Who would have guessed in the early nineties that Ice Cube would be on the same track as Common? And the track would come a quarter century after they both started for a crappy movie, and the song actually does not suck?


I Need Never Get Old – Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats


Aw, studio hijinks from Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats. And since they bring it up, I kind of wish the song actually had cowbell.

Musings from the Back 9: Music Edition XIX

Back in the early days of music, five years after a One Hit Wonder last made the charts they would be teachers, insurance salesmen, or other “real world” jobs. Thanks to the internet it is easy to prolong your fifteen minutes of fame as long as that one hit garnered you enough passionate fans. For those of us that did not become passionate fans, it is fun to give each new single a listen before going, nope; you are staying in One Hit Wonder land (Foster the People are on their seventh post Pumped Up Kicks single). It has been five years since La Roux notched their only hit Bulletproof (to be fair, In for the Kill was a hit in most of Europe) and lost half the group since then and now is essential a one person band, singer Elly Jackson. The result is a more danceable but not as interesting Trouble in Paradise. The album is more sexual with titles like Kiss and Not Tell, Cruel Sexuality, and Sexotheque. This continues on the albums best track Tropical Chaser which sounds like it heavily borrows that weird synth sound from Gorge Michael’s I Want Your Sex. Nothing on Trouble in Paradise makes me think La Roux will graduate to a two hit wonder, but will probably garner enough fans for her to try again on a third album.

Trouble in Paradise gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.


Common has been one of the most respected rappers in his two decade plus career but even when he aims for the pop charts like with his Be album he falls short never landing in the top 40. He is not trying on his tenth album Nobody's Smiling and as you can tell by the album title, this one is dark. This one hits hard, well as hard as an album that features Big Sean on a track. Nobody’s Smiling is reminiscent of the types of albums you would here blaring out of the windows of cars rolling urban areas around the time Common got his start of the game. The album may continue his Top 40 drought but the tenth installment fits nicely into his catalogue, Big Sean guest spot notwithstanding.

Nobody’s Smiling gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.



It is a tale as old as pop culture; indie actress recruits a musician to make an album of indie pop songs. Mary Elizabeth Winstead met producer Dan the Automator (Gorillaz) during the making of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (she was Ramona Flowers, he helped with the score) and decided to start a group Got A Girl. Their debut album I Love You But I Must Drive Off This Cliff Now is heavily by French 60’s pop music which is why it has a very cinematic feel to it. Winstead’s soft and soothing yet unmemorable voice is well suited for the mellow song which would play more on an easy Sunday morning. But the best tracks are when the duo goes more upbeat like on tracks There’s a Revolution. In terms of indie actresses / indie musicians collaborations, Got a Girl falls in between Zooey Deshanel and M. Ward’s She and Him project and the album Scarlett Johansson made with Pete Yorn.

I Love You but I Must Drive Off This Cliff Now gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I Want My Music Television: 6/30/14

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Somethin' Bad - Miranda Lambert with Carrie Underwood


I have long lamented the slow death of rock and roll and a while back I read someone who said rock and roll is not dying, it just moved to Nashville. They had a point because you will see a few lengthy guitar solos if you went to an Eric Church or Keith Urban concert not to mention ZZ Top and Lenny Kravitz opened up the last two CMA Awards. And take the new Miranda Lambert song which sounds like it could have been produced by eighties uber-hair metal producer Mutt Lang if he was listening to We Will Rock You too many times in a row.


Hayloft – Nickel Creek


When I reviewed the latest Nickel Creek album, I pointed out Hayloft because it was a weird danceable country dance song (and I meant that in a good way, not a Cotton Eye Joe kind of way). Now the song gets its own weird animated video to go along with it.


Kingdom - Common


I just started playing Watch Dogs (which is your basic Grant Theft Auto knockoff except instead of working for a drug kingpin you play a hacker) set in Chicago and it is interesting to see some of the same sights in the new Common video that I have traveling around virtually. Well at least into the prologue, I have get to travel to the ghetto yet nor I have run into a strip club yet which there are plenty of in Liberty City.


Jungle – X Ambassadors and Jamie n Commons


Tomorrow is the half way point of the year which means we will be inundated with silly half year lists (I have already seen a few). But these got me thinking, where are all the new artists? This point last year we had very good albums, or at the very least EP’s from Lorde, Kacey Musgraves, Haim, Daughter and Chvrches. Broods released a decent EP but that is pretty much it. It is depressing to think Iggy Azalea may get a Best New Artist Grammy nomination by default (granted if Ed Sheeran could get a nomination, then maybe Lorde will get one this year along with four others we would have never thought were eligible). Jungle may be my favorite song of the year so far by a new artist, but it does not really inspire me to check out anything else. Plus I am not entire sure who is most responsible for the song: X Ambassadors or Jamie N Commons (I would be more inclined to check out the dude with the long hair, not the frat boy with the backwards hat). But anyway. The song should be required to be played at every sporting event for the next decade or so (it is about time someone replace Gary Glitter, for more reasons than one) even though there is a World Cup inspired remix with an unnecessary verse from Jay-Z. But that video / advertisement for Beats by Dre does feature Luis Suárez who probably is not listening to Jungle, but instead Maneater by Hall and Oates.

I Want My Music Television - 6/12/12

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

Every Single Night - Fiona Apple



Nothing like an octopus on the head to reintroduce yourself to the general public. Welcome back Fiona Apple and it was nice to see you smile at the end.


Mercy - Kanye West featuring Big Sean, Pusha T, 2 Chainz



The video to Kanye West and his G.O.O.D. Music rappers is so fun to look at I almost forget the song itself is fairly lackluster. But has there ever been rap label crew track that did not suck? Do we have to go all the way back to It's All About the Benjamins to find one?


Favorite Song - Colbie Caillat featuring Common



After he showed up on The Jonas Brothers album, it should not be that surprising when Common (former G.O.O.D. artist) shows up pretty much anywhere, but I still had to do a double take after he popped up in the new Colbie Caillat video. On a side note, when did Colbie start morphing into Raylan Givens’s ex-wife?


"45" - The Gaslight Anthem




A straight forward performance video from The Gaslight Anthem but I wanted to share it just because Handwritten, coming July 24, may be my most anticipated album of the summer and still very high on the list for the second half of 2012.

57 Channels and Only This Is On vol. CXXIII

Tool Academy: Human lie detector? Seriously? What is most disturbing is they said the chick’s testimony holds up in the court of law. I’m fidgety in any situation, whether I am lying or not. Hopefully I am never falsely but in that kind of situation. You can stream recent episodes over at vh1.com. You can also download Tool Academy on iTunes.

Chuck: I cannot express how much I hate when an episode starts in the third act then pulls the “X Amount of Time Earlier” place card. Is it anymore surprising that it was Casey that shot the double agent had we not heard the gun shot a half an hour earlier? Not for me. At least Big Mike mentoring Casey on how to deal in real life was entertaining. Well except for eating after Jeff took a bite out of the sandwich, that was gross. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.

How I Met Your Mother: Do the writers even watch their own show? Or did they just conveniently forget that Barney wasn’t always the suave businessman we know today but was once a tree hugging hippie and certainly had a few bad pictures taken during his soul patch phase, because there is no way to take a good picture when you have a soul patch (um, not that I know from personal experiences or anything). You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: I have been waiting for it for three season and we finally got a drunken Sheldon. Unfortunately Penny is for some reason still with Leonard so we did not get my dream scenario of Sheldon waking up next to her. You can download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

Greek: Arg, how could they break up Laura and Dale the same episode we find out about them? Hopefully Dale comes to his senses and doesn’t mind going back into the (pantry) closet. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.



Castle: Oh snap. Certainly they didn’t actually kill off Beckett (I hope) but that doesn’t make the ending any less shocking. Should be interesting how next week plays out. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Castle on iTunes. Also be sure to check out my chat with Stana Katic.

Lost: Much like a We Are the World remake, I thought a Richard Alpert centric episode would be fool proof, but leave it to Lost (and Lil Wayne’s auto-tune) to make me look like a fool for thinking that. To make things worse, we finally get the big reveal of what is up with the island (I think) and I still left the episode disappointed. First we get all of two minutes in present day. Then for the flashback, instead of a full two hundred(ish) years of Alpert’s existence we only get a less than a year in the life of Richard. What about how Richard recruited all the Others like Whitmore, Eloise Hawking, Zeke et. al. There was some much they could have done with this hour and I left feeling cheated. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.



Justified: Whereas most procedurals seem to deal with criminal masterminds, it looks like Justified will be dealing with the criminals on the short end of the gene pool which I am all for. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Justified on iTunes.

Parenthood: Note to self: if I ever find myself having to talk to a kid who spends too much time in the show, do not, under any circumstance, start quoting Woody Allen. But I wonder if showing this episode would work instead. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Parenthood on iTunes.

Mercy: I was wondering when the insurance company would come for Sonia for killing the old lady a couple weeks ago. I really didn’t think that it would just go away as easily as they planned it. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Mercy on iTunes.

Modern Family: A pretty flat episode with little to laugh at this week aside from some of the Cameron/Gloria scenes. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.



Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains: It is time to add someone else into the pantheon of Dumb Survivor Moves. In fact the only two dumber movies in Survivor history that Tyson letting Russell convince him to vote for Parvati would be Erik giving up the Immunity Necklace to be promptly voted out and James getting voted out with two Immunity Idols in his pocket.

But Russell showed this week why he shouldn’t even be in the discussion for Greatest Survivor History and that is because he plays the dumbest social game. I bet one of the biggest reasons he didn’t win was because at the last tribal to play it, he whipped out the Immunity Necklace and didn’t even bother to play it. And this week, instead of simply giving his Idol to Parvati before Tribal, he had to make this grand douchebag pronouncement before doing so. He is lucky the other tribe didn’t get to sit in for it. You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.



Community: Annie as a bad cop? Yes please. But Glendale should be happy that April Fools Day got banned because it is the most worthless holiday. Pranks are not at all funny when they are expected. That is why I pull all of mine on March 31st when people least expect it. You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Community on iTunes.

I Want My Music Television vol. LVIII

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Make Her Say – Kid Cudi featuring Kanye West and Common



Lady Gaga may be everything that is wrong with music these days, but I cannot get enough of this Kid Cudi track which flips the otherwise unlistenable Poker Face just by saying “I” before it. And it is nice to hear Kanye West back to rapping. Hopefully he got his auto-tune singing out of system and never does that again.


I’ll Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight - U2



If I am not mistaken, this is the first video U2 has ever made that didn’t actually feature the band. The closest being All I Want Is You that just had a quick cameo by Bono and the boys walking around the beach. Even their last foray into animation, Love Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me even had animated version of the band.


Strawberry Swing – Coldplay



Also getting into the animation realm is Coldplay in the stop-animation form. But Chris Martin does get featured as a superhero battling a, um, giant squirrel. The band thought so much of the video you may even see it when you head out to your local movie theater in front of the feature film you go to see.


On Vacation – Aimee Allen



While talking about her cover of Sublime’s Santeria (see Toss Up: Brooke White vs. Aimee Allen), I mentioned you download a song of Aimee Allen for free over at Amazon MP3, and here is the video for On Vacation complete with a whistling lobster. Because music videos could use more whistling lobsters these days.

You be Smokey, I’ll be the Bear

In a story I broke earlier, music under the Obama administration is gonna suck. The latest case in point, Obama’s Chicago brethren, Common, who managed to make an even cheesier pro-bama song than will.i.am’s two silly diatribes with Changes. And Common’s is actually scary because he forces a child to spout lines about the future president. That is right out of Third-Reich playbook of propaganda using children to make something seem alright for political gain. With that said: Anh Cao 2012!

Thankfully that was Common’s only politically charged song on Universal Mind Control. Unfortunately like his other Chicago brethren, Kanye West (who shows up on the uninspired Punch Drunk Love, but at least 'Ye does not sing), Common seems to have been listening to too much of one genre. Where 808’s & Heartbreak relied too much on emo and auto tune, Universal Mind Control has set up shop in the Zulu Nation with an overabundance of techno beats throughout the album.

It is set up well with the title track opener with Common spitting a few decent rhymes over The Neptunes production but the schick gets old quick leaving you wanting something different by the third track. As luck would have it, Cee-Lo shows up on that third track, Make My Day, which would have fit nicely on a Gnarls Barkley album even without the Danger Mouse production.

The real downside is Common spends way too much time only the album trying to act like he is the king of the booty rap with lines like, “You be Smoky, I’ll be the bear.” (Sex 4 Suga) Seriously, what does that even mean? He even claims that stripper always choose his songs to do their job too. Even though I can’t say I have ever patroned a strip club, I doubt any Common song ranks high on their playlist.

But the worst lyric comes in the other wise solid Gladiator, which intertwines lines from the Russell Crowe epic with A Tribe Called Quest references, but is bogged down by suggesting to get Michael Vick out of jail. I am certainly not on PETA’s Christmas card list, but even I can agree dude needed to spend some time behind bars. Hopefully by the next album, Common doesn’t suggest O.J. Simpson got a raw deal and he drops the techno.

Song to Download - Make My Day

Universal Mind Control gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

100 Best Songs of 2007

This being the Most Mediocre Year Ever, there is no band that sums that up better than Paramore. The bad got a big push from MTV and their record label thanks to being one of the first bands to sign a 360 degree deal. Yet with all the marketing muscle behind their three singles this year, the band wasn’t good enough to show up on this list nor were bad enough to land of the Worst Songs of 2007 list. So congratulations Paramore, with all the mediocre music put out by bland artists such as OneRepublic, Lifehouse, and Sean Kingston, you managed to be the most mediocre of them all. Although the problem with the most mediocre of them all, even though this is the Most Mediocre Year Ever, you will most likely be forgotten by 2009. Sorry.

Onto the songs that did make the list, the reason this is the Most Mediocre Year Ever is the great songs were really thin at the top this year. Most of these songs wouldn’t have cracked the top ten in other years. With that said, even though there was a lacking of great songs, there was an overabundance of good songs this year to the point that there were ten to twenty songs this year that deserved to make the top one hundred when most years ninety through one hundred are an afterthought most years. But here are the ones that made the cut for this, the last post of 2007. Hopefully I will see you all back here in 2008.


1. Drivin' Me Wild - Common featuring Lily Allen

2. Dreaming With a Broken Heart - John Mayer

3. Can't Tell Me Nothing - Kanye West

4. Rehab - Amy Winehouse

5. Two - Ryan Adams

6. Stronger - Kanye West

7. Tennessee - The Wreckers

8. Oh My God - Mark Ronson featuring Lily Allen

9. Read My Mind - The Killers

10. No One - Alicia Keys

11. Radio Nowhere - Bruce Springsteen

12. Alfie - Lily Allen

13. Our Song - Taylor Swift

14. The Underdog - Spoon

15. The Game - Common

16. Brianstorm - Arctic Monkeys

17. Look After You - The Fray

18. LDN - Lily Allen

19. Love Song - Sara Bareilles

20. Dumb It Down - Lupe Fiasco featuring GemStones & Graham Burris

21. Everybody Knows - Ryan Adams

22. Rockstar - Nickelback

23. Trouble Sleeping - Corinne Bailey Rae

24. Like You'll Never See Me Again - Alicia Keys

25. 1234 - Feist

26. Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys

27. Extraordinary - Mandy Moore

28. Sober - Kelly Clarkson

29. You Know I'm No Good - Amy Winehouse

30. Young Folks - Peter Bjorn and John featuring Victoria Bergsman

31. Bleed It Out - Linkin Park

32. Bubbly - Colbie Caillat

33. Say - John Mayer

34. Shut Up and Drive - Rihanna

35. Open Your Eyes - Snow Patrol

36. Believe - The Bravery

37. Ah Mary - Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

38. Smiley Faces - Gnarls Barkley

39. Umbrella - Rihanna featuring Jay-Z

40. Big Casino - Jimmy Eat World

41. Tranquilize - The Killers featuring Lou Reed

42. Halloweenhead - Ryan Adams

43. Hang Me Up to Dry - Cold War Kids

44. Can You Believe - Robin Thicke

45. Hate That I Love You - Rihanna and NeYo

46. If You're Gonna Leave - Emerson Hart

47. Harder Than You Think - Public Enemy

48. Roc Boys - Jay-Z

49. Other Side of the World - KT Tunstall

50. Tears Dry On Their Own - Amy Winehouse

51. All Good Things (Come to an End) - Nelly Furtado

52. Makes Me Wonder - Maroon 5

53. Throw Some D’s (Remix) - Kanye West

54. Listen!!! - Talib Kweli

55. 100 Days, 100 Nights - Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

56. The Pretender - Foo Fighters

57. Conquest - The White Stripes

58. What Goes Around.../...Comes Around Interlude - Justin Timberlake

59. Won't Go Home Without You - Maroon 5

60. Window In the Skies - U2

61. What I've Done - Linkin Park

62. Ever Ever After - Carrie Underwood

63. Nolita Fairytale - Vanessa Carlton

64. The People - Common

65. Never Again - Kelly Clarkson

66. Littlest Things - Lily Allen

67. Wasted - Carrie Underwood

68. Wake Up Call - Maroon 5

69. Icky Thump - The White Stripes

70. Her Eyes - Pat Monahan

71. Dance Tonight - Paul McCartney

72. Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been) - KRS-One, Kanye West, Nas & Rakim

73. Hot In Herre - Jenny Owen Youngs

74. Ain't Nothing Wrong With That - Robert Randolph and the Family Band

75. New Shoes - Paolo Nutini

76. Stop Me - Mark Ronson featuring Daniel Merriweather

77. Tarantula - Smashing Pumpkins

78. Shut Your Eyes - Snow Patrol

79. The Way I Am - Ingrid Michaelson

80. Teardrops On My Guitar - Taylor Swift

81. Hey There Delilah - Plain White T’s

82. B.U.D.D.Y. - Musiq Soulchild

83. Australia - The Shins

84. You're All I Have - Snow Patrol

85. Guitar - Prince

86. Gravity - John Mayer

87. Good Life - Kanye West featuring T-Pain

88. Say Ok - Vanessa Hudgens

89. Gotta Work - Amerie

90. Follow the Lights - Ryan Adams

91. You Give Me Something - James Morrison

92. Valerie - Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse

93. Saving My Face - KT Tunstall

94. So Small - Carrie Underwood

95. Do It - Nelly Furtado

96. Candyman - Christina Aguilera

97. Thinking About You - Norah Jones

98. Undeniable - Mat Kearney

99. Tick Tick Boom - The Hives

100. This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race - Fall Out Boy

To listen to snipits of most of the songs above or to buy them DRM-free, check out the widget below:

25 Best Music Videos of 2007

It is really hard to complain about MTV and VH1 no longer showing videos anymore because who these days wants to wade through videos that they hand pick when you have almost every video ever made at your disposal whenever you want on sites like YouTube? And here are the best of the best of from the past twelve months. I have embedded the first couple videos, the rest you can click the link to follow to YouTube and if you are interested in buying the videos, click the iTunes links. Now I should mention some of these videos are not safe for work but really nothing on YouTube is all the safe for work because I’m sure you boss wouldn’t be thrilled even if your watching a video of a cat playing with a ball of yarn. But anyways:


1. Can't Tell Me Nothing - Kanye West



2. Trapped in the Closet Chapter 1-12 Recap - R. Kelly



3. Rockstar - Nickelback



4. Throw Some D's - Kanye West



5. Drivin’ Me Wild - Common featuring Lily Allen




6. Windows in the Skies (Modernista Version) - U2

7. Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys

8. Smiley Faces - Gnarls Barkley

9. 1234 - Feist

10. Halloweenhead - Ryan Adams

11. Alfie - Lily Allen

12. Conquest - The White Stripes

13. Read My Mind - The Killers

14. Hot in Herre - Jenny Owen Youngs

15. Oh My God - Mark Ronson featuring Lily Allen

16. Hang Me Up to Dry - Cold War Kids

17. Young Folks - Peter Bjorn and John featuring Victoria Bergsman

18. Stronger - Kanye West

19. Sinkin’ Soon - Norah Jones

20. What I've Done - Linkin Park

21. Ever Ever After - Carrie Underwood

22. Love Song - Sara Bareilles

23. LDN - Lily Allen

24. Sensual Seduction - Snoop Dogg

25. Long Road to Ruin - Foo Fighters

25 Best Live Performances of 2007

While watching Live Earth earlier this year with all the great music, it crossed my mind to come up with the greatest live performances of the past twelve month. And with the Grammy’s, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the thousands of other pat themselves on the back events that the music business throws for themselves, it wasn’t hard to populate a list. I did throw out the talk show performances because 99% of them are just boring rehashes of their album versions. But here are the best of the best of 2007 with links to YouTube where available (and if you have the mp3 of any of them shout me a holla because there are a couple I would like that I haven’t hunted down yet):


1. Gimme Shelter - Keith Urban and Alicia Keys (Live Earth)



2. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley (49th Annual Grammy Awards)



3. Check the Rhyme/Award Tour - A Tribe Called Quest (2007 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors)

4. Like a Star/Coming Home/Gravity - Corrine Bailey Rae, John Legend and John Mayer (49th Annual Grammy Awards)



5. Darling Nikki - Cee-Lo and Foo Fighters (2007 MTV Video Music Awards)



6. Big Bottom - Spinal Tap and an Army of Bassists (Live Earth)

7. Bonita Applebum/Electric Relaxation/Scenario - Common, Pharrell, Lupe Fiasco and Busta Rhymes (2007 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors)

8. Man on the Moon - R.E.M. and Eddie Vedder (2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony)

9. No One/Freedom ’90 - Alicia Keys (2007 MTV Video Music Awards)

10. Not Ready to Make Nice - The Dixie Chicks (49th Annual Grammy Awards)

11. Roxanne - The Police (49th Annual Grammy Awards)

12. Sabotage - Beastie Boys (Live Earth)

13. Go Your Own Way - Carrie Underwood and Lindsay Buckingham (Fashion Rocks)

14. That’s the Thing about Love - Alicia Keys (Live Earth)

15. Message in a Bottle - The Police, John Mayer and Kanye West (Live Earth)

16. Shut Up and Drive - Rihanna and Fall Out Boy (2007 MTV Video Music Awards)

17. Mercy Mercy Me - Corrine Bailey Rae and John Legend (Live Earth)

18. White Lines/Good Times/The Message - Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony)

19. Drummers - SOS All Stars (Live Earth)

20. For the Love of Money/Living for the City/Mercy Mercy Me - Alicia Keys (Live Earth)

21. Waiting on the World to Change - John Mayer (Live Earth)

22. Bleed it Out - Linkin Park (2007 MTV Video Music Awards)

23. Rehab - Amy Winehouse (2007 MTV Movie Awards)

24. Babylon - David Gray and Damien Rice (Live Earth)

25. Heart of Glass - Blondie and Lily Allen (The Today Show)

I Want My Music Television vol. VIII

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form so here they are courtesy of YouTube. I advise you to watch them before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available, if not the link goes to YouTube where you can watch the video in full screen). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


I Want You - Common



For a video that features a title sequence and actual actors like Kerry Washington, I except a little more. And what exactly is Kanye West bringing to the whole mini movie thing? It just seems like there was supposed to be an extended cut to this. But you really can’t hate on Common too much if the video was just an excuse to make a fake sex tap with Alicia Keys. I can be down with that.


Big Casino - Jimmy Eat World



Jimmy Eat World for some reason has been lumped into the horrible emo scene of the last couple years but they released one of the great rock songs of the decade in Pain and their break out hit The Middle isn’t the wo is me depressing songs of the genre. Yeah the video is pretty boring but Big Casino is up there as one of the best rock songs of the year.


Shadow of the Day - Linkin Park



Not entirely sure what Linkin Park is trying to get across with this video, but the melodic tune of Shadow of the Day is a nice diversion from their hard rock and rap of their other songs. Unfortunately it was covered up by all the riot sounds.


Love Song - Sara Bareliies

More Videos

Sara Bareilles released her album right around the time Colbie Caillat dropped hers and it is a good thing I am not a betting man because I would have put my money on Bareilles as being more likely to break out of the two. Oh well. At least the video for Love Song is quirky fun.

Drivin' Herself Crazy Like the Astronaut Lady

A very rare two post day (so if you have not already be sure to scroll down to see my exclusive clip of Reaper)...



...but if there were a reason to have a special post it would be because of a video that includes Lily Allen (in an astronaut suit!), production from Kanye West, Jeremy Piven (of PCU fame), a rare Dame Dash sighting, an OK Go shout out, dissing dudes who appear half naked on their MySpace page, a reference to the greatest show on television Pardon the Interruption (heads on sticks!) and the hottest token hot chick in a hip-hop video ever. Oh, and I think Common is in there somewhere. And how cute is Lily in the scene with the cut out heads (hear that music folk, it's time for a little Role Play, I'll give and you will receive). Seriously, is it too late to write into the Justice Department to get her visa issues resolved in time for the Video Music Awards?

Download Drivin' Me Wild Here.

Can’t Leave Rap Alone the Streets Need Me

For years Common was regarded as the greatest MC that no one was listening to. Then fellow Chicagoan Kanye West hit it big as a rapper and producer, signed Common to his GOOD Music record label an produced the majority of the 2005 Be which went on to be the best selling album in the rappers decade plus career netted him a Grammy for Rap Album of the Year. The formula is pretty much the same on the follow-up Finding Forever finds Common rapping about the streets, politics, and girls over radio friendly beats courtesy mostly by Kanye.

Like the last album, unlike almost every other rapper today, Common keeps songs with the “Featuring” songs to a minimum with West as the only guest rapper on the ode to Chicago Southside. The song is decent aside from the ill advised chorus and Common lets Kanye steal the show with his Back to the Future themed verse. But Common doesn’t let the most entertaining new artist in recent memory, Lily Allen, do the same on Drivin’ Me Wild thanks to Common being able to mention OK Go’s treadmill video and astronaut lady” in the same verse. The track continues Kanye’s embrace of more eclectic music (see his latest mixtape which features samples of Daft Punk, Tom York and Peter Bjorn and John) with Allen’s voice and a snare drum as the main instruments.

West also brought his A-game, and DJ Premier, for the old school standout track The Game where Common excels on the mike calling out the most obnoxious people on television today, those that appear on My Super Sweet Sixteen and later namedrops an actual achiever Akeelah. Here is a song that should be played in basement parties from years to come.

Much like the previous album, Finding Forever missteps when Common brings in Bilal and pulls D’Angelo from obscurity for his odes to women. And I’m not entirely sure if the Nina Simone sample on Misunderstood works or not. What did work was the drums from 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover on the album closer Forever Begins. But in the ends, as long as Kanye West is behind the boards, Common may be the first rapper that can still make credible music into his forties.

Song to Download - Drivin’ Me Wild (featuring Lily Allen)

Finding Forever gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.