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?
When Spinal Tap was released in 1984, it signaled the end of a golden age in rock music. We did not realize it at the time because we were too busy enjoying it.
Around the corner, Hip hop was a baby and quickly growing and “file sharing” was ready to pounce and dismantle the whole industry. Like the dinosaurs who once wondered what those weird soft squishy things underfoot called mammals were all about.
And what are the chances of a meteor hitting the earth?
Rock music was about to be unceremoniously dethroned.
“Why not just make 10 louder and keep that the biggest number?”
“These go to 11”
And
“That is pretty, a real departure from your other stuff”
Thanks, it’s in the sad key of D-minor, I call it “Lick my Love Pump”
Maybe the funniest thing was the bit about books on tape, which was the most perfect joke since it actually happened.
I am not saying “rock is dead” and I am not saying that there is not great music out there today.
I AM NOT EVEN SAYING THAT MUSIC IN MY TIME WAS SOMETHING AND ALL ELSE IS NOTHING.
What I am saying is that once it ruled the earth as the dominant species and that did not last forever. Once we waited in line all night to get tickets to shows, because if we didn’t –we would not get a ticket. There was no V.I.P experience that could be bought by anyone with enough money. There were no rock fantasy camps! Rock music was not a video game where you got to match colors with buttons on a little plastic guitar!!! Guitars were both worshipped and smashed (a fate that has befallen false deities, rambunctious gods and statues of fanatical leaders since the beginning of time!)
“Stonehenge was in danger of being trampled by dwarfs!”
Believe it or not kids-Once we were in a hurry to see stars before they ODed so we could say that we saw them instead of rushing to see them now before they go of natural causes.
“The Puppet Show gets higher billing than us! We are opening for a puppet show”
I am good with YouTube to allow access to any music of any genre at any time. I am good with bringing music with me and listening to anything I want without upsetting anyone else. If I want to crank up Lemmy and the boys doing “Ace of Spades” while mowing the lawn- in this day and age…no one can stop me.
I am also good with Pandora picking music that I don’t like based on music I like. And who can hate being able to make perfect copies of music tracks to enjoy responsibly? I am glad that we are in a different place and have no desire to return to the old days.
We can always learn to sell hats or maybe get reborn with a tour of Japan.
That was the Rock n’ Roll Dream of Spinal Tap
Instead of playing rehashed hits with one or two original members in an obsessive gluttony of nostalgia in front of fans that wish they still could be as stupid as they once were.
“We now begin a new stage in our music development- Enjoy Spinal Tap mach 2! A jazz odyssey”
We all have to grow up and looking back at yourself and having a good laugh is a good place to start.
Thank you to Nigel, Derek, David and a spontaneously combusting drummer for showing us that.
Monday song time and we find some miners in Australia fired from their jobs for doing a little underground Harlem Shake… O.K, this isn’t exactly like the Pussy Riot deal in Russia, but then again Australia is not exactly like anywhere else- it is “a land down under where women glow and men plunder”
So really going underground and digging a relic out of the cave this week. I saw this band play live once and they were incredible!!! All conviction and piss and vinegar—amazing band and sorry they are done.
A ‘geek’ rubber duck – side view (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I don’t think of myself as a geek-but I do watch the science channel and history channel more than the others and if they ever come out with a Stephen Hawking action figure; I may be tempted to add it to my collection. The cold hard fact is that when I think of any scenario and how a geek would act compared to a regular well-adjusted person…….aaahhhhhhh….I would take the geek way—Ergo I must be a geek. So here is music about my people for my people… Forgive me this is difficult….kind of like when Luke finds out Darth Vader is his Dad…aaaahhhh…I did it again.
Note: Most of this is written from outside the geek world as I have just “come out” and have not be officially welcomed by other geeks as one of their own. I mean no disrespect to my new brethren. This is still new to me. Enjoy!
5. Gwar
For the militant geek..You know that guy…if someone takes his seat in math class -he will laugh about it and then not let it go. This guy is in serious need of an outlet. A show by this band is just what the doctor ordered to let him have a bit of fun-(while getting sprayed with all manner of fake bodily fluids) and get all that rage out. Shock Rock dressed like game characters that rail against the evil system sounds like militant geek to me…think of them as a more unlikeable Kiss…I know… did not think it was possible to be more unlikeable than Gene Simmons? It is!!..Rage on geeks…rage on.
He has taken the art of parody and turned it into science. He is the no-one that becomes everyone. Awkward at first glance- brilliant under the surface. The frog that says to the princess that tries to kiss him…”Whatever sweetie…got look for someone else to smooch…I am weird Al and I will rain my fury upon the entire music industry” White and Nerdy is geek brilliance shining so bright, it is almost cool.
I once found myself at the acclaimed bastion of geekness called R.P.I in order to find the room that these guys were playing in. Two guys that make a lot of noise in order to elevate the words of wonder that spill out from them as they preach to the converted followers of quirkiness. I love a band that relentlessly follows their vision through the hits and misses. You don’t have to suffer from full blown nerdness to enjoy them, but you do require some part of that disease running through your veins.
2.Devo
These guys started the revolution. They gave all geeks, nerds and social rejects a place to rally to. You can like computers and learn more than a few opening moves of chess(you never know when a surprise chess smack-down can happen) and still be O.K. It is alright to come out of the closet and admit that making your brain do some work might be some benefit to you and the world around you. And these dudes with the red plastic hats are laying down some funky beats…we can dance geeks…we can dance! Oh the joy and celebration! You think the iPhone would have been invented without the surge that these guys gave to the geek community? No way!
1.Weezer
The hard days of the geek revolution are in the past. Technology runs the world and those that control and maintain this technology are living on the good side of the good towns. Basically…the geeks are running the world. So here is the emerged butterfly band of geekness flapping its wings in the bright sunshine of this new age. Put some of this music on as you lean back in the soft recliner and kick off those expensive slippers and bask in the delight that you have created. Take a drink of whatever you guys drink and enjoy it. We all call you Sir Geeks now!
Cave of Fame 