Arts and Entertainment

Cave Olympics – Pop

~ Cave_Guy ~ 6 Comments

cave-medal-salute-5

The Bronze:

A truly great pop song will weave itself into the fabric of society.

Sir Elton John.Rocket Man

Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote some great pop songs-this is my favorite. Their collaboration represents a high-water mark for Top 40 radio and raised all boats to a new level of  quality.

This man was not knighted because of Knomio and Juliet or that Circle of Life thing in Lion King.

Not only do we have a fantastic song by Captain Fantastic-We also have this sequel to Bowie’s Space Oddity and a Ray Bradbury Sci-Fi vibe going on. It was like realizing that the space age is not something that should freak us out anymore-this is where we live now.

He brought the whole thing down to earth so that we could all go on the trip and get back home safely.

The best art always takes you on a journey and lets you return to solid ground.

It makes me think of this video which is worth a look because it brings this thing full circle.

http://www.space.com/19907-astronaut-plays-peter-gabriel-for-peter-gabriel-video.html

Like the song says-Being a rock star or an astronaut is a job- getting up and putting on the flashy suit to punch the clock and do the best you can for the day. You do not always have to like it and you don’t always have to be completely swept up in the emotion of the experience us mere mortals take as living like a god. In fact, if you approach it the right way- you just might stay on top and have people care for a “long , long time”.

The Silver:

Lady GaGa.Bad Romance

“I’m a free bitch, baby”

This line makes me laugh when I hear it yelled in the background-it also evokes strength and power when it returns later in the song as a cold statement of fact.

I love Lady Gaga- She always knocks over the big milk cans of society and does not care who gets splashed. She is bigger than life; riding a wave of controversy with flair and artistry. She just goes for it every single time.

She has been accused of being everything bad in this world-she has even been labeled as being a man?

This man thing kind of confuses me- It is a weird kind of redneck feminist fear about her being too powerful to be a woman. That same fear would turn into a life-threatening blood rush of excitement if she posed in one of her costumes with a bow and stood over the carcass of a fresh killed 8 point buck.

We live in strange times and she is our hero.

I am not a little monster but we created this phenomenon known as Lady Gaga.

And she says more about us than we do about her.

The Gold:

Micheal Jackson.Billie Jean

“Billie Jean is not my lover, she’s just the girl who claims that I am the one”

A  good ol’paternity lawsuit will give you a little street cred, especially when you are trying to break through and become the “King of Pop”.

Or a song about it is close enough to send Michael Jackson into the stratosphere of musical stardom; he would not find his way back to earth.

Bob Dylan once said that everyone had a copy of the “Thriller” album. The record was a big deal-it broke the color barrier on MTV….who would have guessed that MTV would break the stupid barrier a few years after this and never look back?

This was 1982 when MTV and vinyl records still ruled the earth…I know…it does seem possible, almost as relevant as dinosaurs to a generation today-but it did happen.

Just like with Lady Gaga- Michael Jackson gives us all these weird dichotomies- Woman or man “He is trying to look like Elizabeth Taylor” Black or White “He is getting skin lightning treatments”-  Kid or  Adult…I don’t know where to start with this one.

And that is just a hint of the circus that followed “His One-Glovedness” around.

This song is as good as pop music gets and we have a moon walk on top of the podium.

Next –we take on Progressive—and as always-Cheers from the cave!

I am a Music Blogger-I love Music-I am a Criminal

~ Cave_Guy ~ 7 Comments
English: Criminal silhouette to the right
English: Criminal silhouette to the right (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am a music blogger-I love Music- I am a criminal

Every time I feature a YouTube video with no permission-I risk committing a criminal act. The artists and/or other companies that have rights to this video must allow me to post their stuff or I am walking that “breaking bad” line.

Does it matter that every human being with access to the web will hit up YouTube to check music they have interest in but do not own?

Do 8,000,000 views and a label of “official” mean anything?

I am seriously asking the question.

I do not want to look at my cell mate of the near future and tell him I am doing 5 to 10 because Robert Plant had taken issue with the 7 like buttons on my “Stairway to Heaven” post. “Yeah, I posted it and did not even flinch when I hit that publish button, I am one bad-ass blogger!”

I need more, it is an addiction.

I love to feature music and then talk about it and possibly even argue about it in that polite WordPress way with three or four smiley faces. And I don’t make any “big faces” doing this. It is done simply for the love of music.

So I ask again-Are us music bloggers all criminals?

The Clash.The Card Cheat

~ Cave_Guy ~ 4 Comments

My favorite Clash song

Brooding and direct

It works on you on many levels

This band at their best

Honest and rambles down the road of your soul like a rusty car of truth that cannot be stopped

It does not lose or gain power over the years- it revolves around and quietly orbits the music universe waiting a glance in the right direction

That is what all great music does

So enjoy —and I encourage you to buy this song and go search out more of the greatest band to walk this earth

And if legal representatives want me to remove this post or threaten to put me in jail or fine me because the 7 or 8 people that might click on this bother them- then I will remove it

But I don’t do this to steal music- I do this to share my love of great music

Thanks for dropping by the cave

A little androgyny goes a long way.

~ Cave_Guy ~ 7 Comments
New York Dolls (album)
New York Dolls (album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am almost ready to do a Top 5 of Gender Blender Rock songs -but letting the years of music run through my brain, I hit a little stumble block.

As a fan, it is easy for me to go back to David Bowie and Spiders from Mars as the start of the androgyny soul train. I consider that record  the first popular push for the male/female alter ego.

Immediately- I hear that voice in my head going… “All the music critics will say  The New York Dolls were the first androgynous rock band“. In fact the critics will say that the New York Dolls were the first… (Hang on to your seats, here we go!), the first glam band, the first glitter band, the first metal band and even the first proto-punk band. Proto-punk?? They also invented stage diving when David Johansen (NY Dolls lead singer- I have heard some of his stuff) lost his wig and jumped in the crowd to retrieve it….and …and  a guy who played  triangle on their second record invented the Wham-O Frisbee!!

Music I never heard is supposed to be so influential? I have nothing against these guys but you would think that something of them would be played somewhere I listened at some time if they did in fact, start everything.  I am going to admit that I have never knowingly heard a song from this infamous N.Y.C band. I was not hip enough to be in to them at anytime and I am not going to Google my way around them now and take a crash course. I am not a music critic; I am just a fan of Rock music. That is not an excuse, it is just a fact- So get ready for the Androgyny Top 5 coming to the Cave soon…and No New York Dolls will be harmed (or referenced in any other way) in the making of this list.