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.
Nice to see the Foo Fighters back to their quirky way after the more politically charged The Pretender video. It doesn’t seem like a real Foo Fighters video without Dave Grohl in a mustache. And was hallucinating or was there a banner ad at the begging at the video? It’s enough that NBC fill the bottom third of their shows three times an episode for that unwatchable Phenomenon show, but now we get them on YouTube videos? (Scooter Update: It looks like the ads do not embed and only appear when you view the video on the YouTube website.)
It is too bad that The Killers didn’t release this song sooner because it would have been perfect for any Halloween party thanks to the ominous backing track, the gravel of Lou Reed’s voice and the inclusion of the creepy children’s choir. Maybe The Killer won’t be a one-album wonder after all.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again, music videos with “To Be Continued” are lame (well, sans, Richard Marx Hazard trilogy of course). And for some reason I get the feeling you have to see American Gangster for the video to make sense, aside from the gratuitous famous people sighting. But at least the song is better than anything off of the Jay-Z comeback album. But didn’t anyone realize the Kanye West h-h-h-house thing didn’t work. It just brings down the song.
Just in time for Veterans Day, a tribute to the National Guard from 3 Doors Down. Unfortunately today the National Guard is too busy fighting in another country to do what is supposed to be doing, guarding the nation and helping out with national disasters. But anyways.
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’ve never been much of a John Lennon guy, but this Samuel Bayer directed clip of Green Day’s version of Working Class Hero is a must see. The song is featured on Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur, an charity that benefits Amnesty International with money going to stop the violence and disease that has killed over a half a million over the past four years. Although I think it would be best to just grab this song and U2’s Instant Karma on iTunes (where there are ten songs you won’t find on the CD) and donate the rest of the money directly to AI because I’m not sure if anyone really needs to hear Avril Lavigne’s take on Imagine.
Speaking of Avril Lavigne, she a yet another new video out. For those who found the original version of Girlfriend disturbing you may want to avoid this one because it is even more disturbing. This is mostly thanks to Lil’ Mama, most famous for her Lip Gloss song. And if you have never heard it, you are luckier than I.
Four videos deep and The Killers are still holding on to that Spaghetti Western persona. And with each passing single I am warming up to Sam’s Town more and more. Maybe within five years I may actually begin to like the album. (Scooter's Note: his is the first time I attempted AOL's snag feature so hopefully it works. Scooter's Update: Well that failed miserably, back to YouTube.)
This may be the most entertaining thing I have heard in a long time or at the very least since Kanye West remixed Throw Some D’s. You may or may not remember Joe as the guy who implored that he wasn’t a player and had a girl who stuttered. But this is by fair his best work. Gotta love how he flipped the line to, “She’s probably singing some ghetto version of Mariah Careyoke.” Seeing Joe take on Carrie Underwood harkens back to the day when R&B and country artist would mix where Ray Charles would release a country album and Kenny Rogers would show up on the R&B charts. Aw the good ol’ day.
Big News of the Week: ABC.com Finally Goes Full Scene: Well, sort of. ABC.com was easily the worst network that offered streaming of their episodes. Their “Big” screen didn’t live up to its title and even though I on a cable line, it sometimes wouldn’t go Big saying I didn’t have the bandwidth and it was a pain if you wanted to skip to a certain scene. But there was something on Lost that I wanted to re-watch and noticed that they have a brand new player that offers Full Screen. So I disagree with ABC’s definition of Full Screen but it is at least bigger than Big. In addition to streaming some of their shows, there is also an internet only show, Voicemail. I haven’t had time to check it out yet, but you can head over to its Official Site and it even has its own MySpace page. You know what else is still available for streaming, The Knights of Prosperity. If you haven’t done so yet, go over to check out the funniest new show of the season over at ABC.com.
Friday Night Lights: After teasing all season with conversations that lasted about a word we finally got a bunch of great Tyra and Landry scenes. It may be time to do one of those extremely lame name mash-ups: Tandry? Landra? Okay, maybe not. But when it comes down to it, this episodes wasn’t just one of the best episodes of Friday Night Lights, it was easily one of the top five best episodes of any show this season. And to be honest the reason why Friday Night Lights didn’t get the coveted Quote of the Week was because I couldn’t decide which my favorite was this week. Really anything between Tyra and Landry, Matt talking about Landry’s “date” or the Taylor’s in the cow pasture would have been worthy. In the action department there was just something extremely jarring (in a good television kind of way) of the juxtaposition of the final moments of the game and the attempted rape. And as an added bonus to an already great episode we get Lyla handling a gun, you really can’t get hotter than that.
I was a little disappointed that Lyla going demolition derby on her dad’s showroom last week wasn’t mentioned at all. You got to imagine there should have been some major fallout from that. Maybe it will be picked up later. And having them playing Voodoo in the state finals sets up a lose-lose situation for the season finale. If the team loses then there is the disappointment that the chump Voodoo gets a ring. And if the Panthers win, then there will be nothing to strive for in a second season. Although I wonder where the second season will start off (I refuse to think there won’t be a second season), will it focus on the football off-season or will it fast forward to the start of the next season? Or could we be following Coach Taylor to college?
Lost: What better way to make up for an episode so inane that saying it jump the shark would be too nice than to start of an episode featuring a nominally hot chick wearing very little clothes on a fake show about strippers that fight crime that features Billy Dee Williams. This episode could easily be the most entertaining episode of the last two seasons. Well in a so bad it’s good kind of way as the episode had a very B-movie feel to it. And the island flash backs had a Saturday Night Live skit with throwing characters we know weren’t there but drops them in there thanks to some blue screening.
Yeah, the episode sputtered at the end especially with the completely useless Not-Henry/Juliet sighting. They seriously trekked across the island just to watch the monitor for less than a minute and they just happen to leave their walkie-talkie. And despite overhearing their intentions to kidnap Jack, Sawyer, and Kate, Paulo didn’t bother to warn them. But it was good to see Arnst and the token hot chick back again. Although I wonder what was with the absence of Michael and Walt? Did the writers just completely leave them out or did one or both of the actors turned down returning?
And I was surprised that everyone is assuming that Nikki and Paulo are dead. Nikki said that the paralysis would wear off in eight hours about eight hours before they were buried and we saw Nikki open her eyes at the end. Really, would them clawing themselves out of their graves be any less plausible than Locke surviving being pushed out a eight story window onto concrete? And it was Locke who said earlier in the episode that things don’t stay buried on the island. Check out the latest episode over at ABC.com.
Survivor: Is it wrong that I was disappointed that no one almost set themselves on fire like Brandon back in Africa? More importantly, is it wrong that I still remember something that happened way back in the Africa season? And it looks like they are going to have the tree person finale again as Jeff mentioned that Rocky was the first member of the jury. I was really hoping they wouldn't do that again. Maybe the worst idea in Survivor history. Check out the latest episode on Innertube.
Promo of the Week: Tomorrow marks one month until we finally get a new Veronica Mars episode on May 1st so below is the promo for that episode. Seriously, what is better than Ronnie handling a paintball gun? And don’t forget to vote for Veronica Mars at the SOS Poll, there is only one week until the voting period ends.
Pick of the Week: Friday Night Lights, Wednesday, 8:00, NBC: After a five star episode hopefully next week’s episode can continue that tradition as we will hopefully see more Tyra and Landry interaction with the fallout over the attempted rape, see the boys start preparing for the state championship, and it looks like Coach Taylor has made a decision on if he is going to accept the college job offer. And maybe we will finally see the fallout at the Garrity house over Lyla’s bumper car incident.
Download the latest episodes on Amazon Unbox which you can watch on your Tivo DVR's:
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.
Do we really need a nine minute epic from Justin Timberlake? Probably not. But at least when he did, he went all out leading to the highest of high comedy (well the unintentional kind). The hallway scene could be the funniest scene in a video that isn’t meant to be since Pat Benatar confronted her pimp in Love is a Battlefield (see on YouTube). And why does JT chase after she storms out when he catches her cheating? Why doesn’t he do what normal people do when they catch a boy/girlfriend cheating, go home and listen to Cry Me a River on repeat?
I’m not sure how filming a video in Japan falls into The Killers recent Spaghetti Western look that they have been sporting for this album, but their look against a Japanese backdrop may be the least odd thing about the video filled with a Japanese Elvis and the hint of dude on puppet love.
We Americans may just be discovering the greatness of Lily Allen, but most of the rest of the world are already on her fourth single, the ode to her lazy brother, Alfie. As a little brother myself I probably should like the song and video, but how can you resist the best puppet porn since the creators of South Park last made a movie?
Here’s one for all of you celebrating Valentine’s Day tomorrow. I know John Legend will get plenty of play around the McGavin household. Although there won’t be any PDA in the park because it seems we have gotten about a foot a snow per hour here today. And for everyone who will refer tomorrow as just Wednesday, I have a Lyrics Quiz just for you coming Thursday so be sure to check back then.
Some last thoughts and list of 2006. First looking back at this blog, here are the top five post of the past year by page views (a big thanks to MTV for rerunning the first two seasons of Beauty and the Geek that brought in about 100 searchers for each marathon it ran) :
One cool addition to iTunes this year was the ability to add your reviews to each album. Unfortunately there isn’t a minimum amount of word you must write as many reviews on the site are less than a sentence. But then there are people like me who write lengthy reviews for others to read and I copied the ones I do for this site can add them on iTunes. Here are the top five most helpful reviews I put there (click the review title to read it on my site or click the album title to go to its iTunes page where you can buy it or just give me another helpful vote if you like):
As for the artist that made the most impact in the last year here are the ones that showed up most on my Best of lists (for those lists, click on the Best of 2006 label at the bottom of this post):
1. KT Tunstall (Best Songs - 11, 31, 97; Best Albums - 2, 28; Readers Poll - 11) - Tunstall started the year garnishing a rare [Extreme] rating on my Terror Alert Scale and even through in an acoustic album late in the year to boot. Yeah her music has been co-opted by some crappy television shows but that in no way takes away the fact that she produced one of the best pop albums in years.
2. Johnny Cash (Best Songs - 2, 52; Best Albums - 7; Best Videos - 1; Best Mash Ups - 1, 8; Reader’s Poll - 15) - As a long time fan, A Hundred Highways was a great swan song (although Rick Rubin says there may be one more after it) giving a song that not only stands up with any song from the American Recording era, but with anything his back catalog with God’s Gonna Cut You Done.
3. The Killers (Best Songs - 10, 94; Best Albums - 48; Best Videos - 6, 12; Reader’s Poll - 4) - I gave the guys a lot of crap this year on not living up to their own hype, but they did give us the best rock song of the year and two iconic videos.
4. Rhymefest (Best Songs - 25, 68; Best Albums - 10) In a year that wasn’t kind to hip hop (maybe Nas is right) with the failed comeback of Jay-Z and Lupe Fiasco not living up to the hype, this MC, who helped Kanye West write Jesus Walk, just may be the one to resurrect hip hop, well that’s if people start listening to him.
5. Gnarls Barkley (Best Songs - 1; Best Videos - 3, 19; Best Mash Ups - 4, 14, 23; Reader’s Poll - 1) No one has done so much with just one song, a song that is inching closer and closer to the top of the One Hit Wonder pantheon.
Since 1996 I have made a CD of my favorite music from the past year and here is the CD I have made from this past year but I like to put songs in reverse order as so they are counting down to the best song. This CD clocks in at 78:07 (for links to the songs and the full top 100 check out: The 100 Best Songs of 2006).
1. Over My Head (Cable Car) - The Fray 2. Save Room - John Legend 3. The Saints Are Coming - U2 & Green Day 4. Nothing Left to Lose - Mat Kearney 5. Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol 6. Smile - Lily Allen 7. Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks 8. Hips Don’t Lie - Shakira & Wyclef Jean 9. Fidelity - Regina Spektor 10. Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield 11. Black Horse and the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall 12. When You Were Young - The Killers 13. I Will Follow You into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie 14. Hurt - Christina Aguilera 15. Leave the Pieces - The Wreckers 16. One - Mary J. Blige & U2 17. How to Save a Life - The Fray 18. Boston - Augustana 19. Waiting on the World to Change - John Mayer 20. God’s Gonna Cut You Down - Johnny Cash 21. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
Looking ahead 2007, I'm predicting Lily Allen to be the break out star of next year. Her first single Smile has gotten some buzz behind it so look out for the release of her album stateside later this month. Just remember when she is huge, you heard it her first. Although keep in mind I haven't correctly predicted the next big thing since Hootie and the Blowfish.
My other prediction is the demise of American Karaoke as it will get thrashed in the ratings by Let's Rob Mick Jagger (be sure to check out my contest and watch the show tonight at 9:00 on ABC). Okay maybe wishful thinking but before the latest crop of karaokers hit the stage I had a chance to her a couple of Katharine McPhee's new songs and, well, I'm less than impressed. She's trying to be Mariah Carey but the only problem is that Mariah Carey is still around and does a much better job at being Mariah Carey. There was one decent song out of the bunch, Love Story and you can take a listen for it yourself below.
Since 1996, long before I had a blog, I have made of my favorite songs from that year once it concluded. Sometimes songs near the top of those list haven’t stood the test of time while some songs near the bottom have over the years have become some of my favorites. This year I took a list of 162 songs that caught my ear the past twelve months and came back with my top 100 using a complex racking system that makes the BCS look like Middle School algebra. So here are the songs that you should have been listening to this past year:
Now it is time to unveil the 2006 9th Green’s Readers Top 25 and if you disagree with the list, you only have yourself to blame. For the most part I was pleased with this list because only one song from my Worst Songs of 2006 made the list and a few songs that I hyped here on the 9th Green but didn’t really catch on in the mainstream mad the list. Hopefully this means some of you have taken my advice thought the year. As for the list, Gnarls Barkley blew everyone away to take first out of the over sixty songs that were submitted. If I were to nit-pick I would say that Weird Al's parody out shined Chamillionaire's version and if I were to include a song by The Fray it would have been How to Save a Life. But anyways. Now unto the list, thanks to everyone who participated and be sure to check back out tomorrow to see where, or if, any of these songs show up on my Top 100 of the year.
For today’s end of the year spectacular I will be counting down the best music videos of the year. And thanks to YouTube we saw a return to the art form and more videos may be getting viewed that the heyday of MTV when they actually showed them. Unfortynately some record labels are not fond of the idea of free advertisement so some videos have been take off the site yet they always seem to find their way back on the site. I have embedded the top five videos, after that you can click on the title to go to YouTube and view it if available. Also if you are interested in buying the video (or the song) click the iTunes tag, again if available.
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.
A couple days ago I wrote about The Killers holiday song that benefits the Red Foundation and here’s a video. Yeah the boys are from Vegas and may have never witnessed a white Christmas but could it hurt them to break out a snow machine for the outdoor short. Although maybe it’s some artistic statement considering the Red Foundation works with AIDS in Africa and a wise man once said, “There won’t snow in Africa this Christmas time.” (So tonight thank God it’s them instead of you.)
Not necessarily a Christmas song but the video is very wintry, and the song itself shouldn’t be confused with the Nirvana song, instead it is Evanescence’s My Immortal for this album (but not as good). Of course this video only builds on Amy Lee’s Hottest Goth Ever title. I don't think there is even a second place.
Scouring the last twelve month’s rap releases you don’t need one of the greatest MC’s to tell you that Hip Hop is dead. Even the high profile Jay-Z album was a let down. Hopefully the truly saved the best for last as the album by the same name will be released at the end of the month and will most likely be my last album review of 2006. As for the song, forget the Iron Butterfly sample, the song is at its best when Nas is rapping over the “hip hop” chant.
Okay so the song isn’t as catchy as 1 Thing but the latest outing from Amerie should keep you warm over the winter months. As for the video, I’m not entirely sure what exactly is going on; something about a senator and a photoshoot that are somehow connected? Not that I really care about the plot because she is purty looking.
- Usually after November the music industry stops releasing their big name albums because they want all their potential hits on the shelves by Black Friday. But there are a few things that landed in iTunes yesterday that are worth mentioning. First up, The Killers released their first try at making a Christmas song with A Great Big Sled. The song sounds pretty much like an outtake from Sam’s Town but with lyrics about snow. Portions of the proceeds from sales of the song go to the (Red) Campaign.
- Now for those that like Christmas songs but feel 99 cents is a little steep for you than check out the Free Single of the Week with James Taylor’s take on the classic Jingle Bells (click graphic at right, if it's not James Taylor, you're too late).
- More free stuff over in the television. For those that watch any show on NBC you surely know by now of its new Thursday comedy block and that Scrubs will be airing a musical episode soon. Well if you want to check out on of the musical numbers from the upcoming show you can do so for free.
- Also in the television section, The CW has finally jumped on the iTunes bandwagon. Although it looks like they are taking baby steps as the only show currently available is Supernatural and so far only the current season is available. And it's so new my iTunes link maker doesn't even have links up for it yet so you'll have to check it out on your on.
- While you are there you can always catch the latest episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Ever episode you can expect at least one great monologue and The Christmas Show was no exception with Ed Asner refusing to accept Jack’s resignation nor back down to the FCC. I’ve even seen many people say it’s the best episode of the year, personally I’d go with The Wrap Party where Chandler tries to pick up both of the Calico Girls, Jack’s drunken tirade about the UN show, and the blacklisted writer.
- Another great episode this week (although not on iTunes but you can stream at NBC.com) was Friday Night Lights mostly because of my second favorite new character this year (next to Parker on Veronica Mars), Landry. First coach Taylor gets his name wrong and then convinces Matt to buy a Member’s Only jacket for his date. Coach’s reaction to the jacket was priceless too.
- Ever want to be as cool as me and talk to Kristen Bell, if yes head over to eBay where you can bid for a ten minute Skype call with Ronnie herself. Oh and as I write this the current bid is $730. She is currently has the highest bid of all the celebrities you can win a call, three of which are video calls) with that also includes Rob Lowe, cast members from The Office and The OC as well of the Fonz who is a steal at $152.50. I feel bad for the cast of Zoey 101 (whatever that is) which only reached $25 so far. Oh and 100% of the final sale goes to Young Storytellers Foundation.
- Now for some horrible television news. It will soon be announced that Lost will move to 10:00 when it returns in February. This is a bad idea to end all bad ideas. I rarely watch anything that late in fact just three shows ever (Rescue Me, Love Monkey, Studio 60). So there is a chance that I’ll be cutting that show loose soon. ABC is moving the show so it won’t have to compete with that karaoke show. Even worth, with Lost moving, ABC is placed my second most anticipated show of the new season The Knights of Prosperity (or as I like to call it Let’s Rob Mick Jagger) up against American Karaoke which says to me that ABC wants the show canceled. It’s times like these where I swear that the networks are conspiring against me.
- I’ve mentioned it before, and surely I will again, but I am hoping to put together a 9th Green Reader’s Poll of your favorite songs of year for my Best of 2006 spectacular. So please e-mail me (ScooterKSU@aol.com) your top 10 favorite songs of the past year, in order, sometime before Christmas Eve and if I get enough responses I will post the results the day after Christmas.
