Category Archives: Music

Music Links for Today: Alice Cooper, Weezer, Oscar the Grouch, and What Makes Metalheads and Classical Fans the Same?

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In the largest such study ever taken, research carried out by Professor Adrian North of Heriot-Watt University has identified the personality types behind fans of different genres.

Take aways: Indie music fans are pricks. Metal and Classical music fans are very, very similar.

theherald.co.uk: Why heavy metal and classical fans make sweet music together

BBC: Music tastes link to personality

Wired: Study: Country Fans Work Hard, Metal Fans Are Gentle

O’Reilly Radar: I Am Trying To Believe (that Rock Stars aren’t Dead):

When it comes to income, I don’t think there will be another Rolling Stones any more than I think there will be another Microsoft. Reznor’s creative partner Rob Sheridan hints at the same thing in his amazing piece on the state of the music business written last year. He does a masterful job of parsing all the deck chair rearranging going on in the industry today but what he is unable to do is offer a meaningful business model to replace it.

Everyone is fishing for the answer (see item #1) but more and more I think it’s just not there. After all “sell records” was not some complex business model come down from on high. I can’t help but think that if there was an equally effective replacement someone would have thought of it by now.

That’s not to say I don’t think new and better music distribution and monetization models won’t be invented, I just don’t think they will capture and concentrate as much value as the one that is dying before our eyes did. I suspect the balance between linear (touring) and leverage (selling stuff while you sit at home) has simply and irrevocably shifted toward the linear.

Weezer: “How To Play Troublemaker (8/21 video – hootenanny lesson)”

Weezer: “Keep Fishing” (Emma loves this!)

Wired: Metallica: Master of YouTube? – Metallica opens a spot on YouTube to highlight fan cover videos. Nice move and nod to the fans.

YouTube: Alice Cooper: Elected:

YouTube: Classic Sesame Street – James Taylor sings to Oscar:

Metallica releases first video of new album – does anyone care?

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The band sounds terrific – the guitars are awesome (solos (some harmony!), standard tuning, crunch!!!) the song… I don’t know… but it is growing on me. Can I get over the ‘Bob Rock’-produced years? That’s the big question.

See the video at Metallica.com.

Not using YouTube or some other more popular video site. Hmf.

And I repeat – Bob Rock is Satan (and for metalheads – I mean that not in the cool sense – kay?).

Nikki Sixx on National Recovery Month

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“Here we are a year later and [I’m thinking], ‘What can I talk about, what can I say that will make people that are in recovery want to stand up and support Recovery Month?'” he says. “A friend of mine said, ‘You know, the fact that you did a really honest book and it changed people’s lives, that’s something to talk about.’ It’s a year later and the book is still selling, and it’s still changing people’s lives.”

Discussing the wisdom he’s gleaned from his own recovery efforts, Sixx he’s noticed preaching to addicts that they need to stop usually doesn’t help. The “Diaries” song “Accidents Can Happen” relates to how relapse is part of recovery.

“What I used to be told [was], ‘What the f*ck’s wrong with you? Why can’t you do like everybody else? Why can’t you stop? Why can’t you act right?'” he recalls, saying “Accidents Can Happen” attempts to convey that “We all fall off the wagon. It’s only one day, it’s not the rest of your life. Pick yourself up and go again. And I think if someone had told me that at times in my life, it would have been a lot better than being ripped apart.

The purpose of “Diaries” was to deliver a message to the masses. When it comes to his personal life, Sixx tries to show by example that sobriety is cool.

Source: sleezrox.com: Nikki Sixx on Nation Recover Month.

BTW – “Accidents Can Happen” is a terrific, terrific song. Better than anything Motley Crue has released in years. Downright powerful.

Neil Diamond in the New York Times

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Mom loved Neil Diamond and on some level, his music remains a part of my life.

NYTimes: Backstage With Neil Diamond, the Marathon Man of Pop

“I never expected that I would be doing this for as long as I’ve been doing it,” he said after his sold-out show at the XL Center here on Thursday, having changed out of his black silk stage costume and into jeans and a loose-fitting cotton shirt, his eyes hidden behind small round glasses.

“So looking back and seeing that it’s been over 40 years since the first hits makes you think, ‘Is there a time that you stop?’ ” he continued. “But I don’t think I’m ever going to stop. It’s the only challenge I have left in my life.”