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Who's Next For The Super Bowl?

February 7th 2010 09:04

With Super Bowl Sunday nearly upon us, you really can't help but marvel at just how far the halftime show has come these past ten years or so. When the Who open for the Colts (as well as that other team) on Sunday, they'll follow in the footsteps of a who's who of superstar rock acts which in recent years has included no less than Springsteen, McCartney, Petty, Prince, U2 and the Stones. It's definitely become a prestige gig.

It's easy to forget that the halftime tradition actually began way back when with the cheery, whitebread pablum of Up With People. Back in those days, halftime meant either time to make a beer run, a potty run, or at the very least time to switch the channel over to the Lingerie Bowl.

At the same time, the NFL's decision to book mostly big-deal, classic rock acts in the wake of Janet Jackson's infamous "Nipplegate" appearance several years ago speaks volumes about just how safe rock has really become.

The Stones may have once danced with Mr. D and sang about starfuckers and cocksuckers, but these days they are as about as threatening as an old rerun of Leave It To Beaver, and inspire at least double the nostalgia value. Much as I hate to admit it, acts like these are in many ways a sort of Up With People for the new millennium. Even sacred cows like Springsteen and U2 have to admit that playing for the NFL is about as corporate as corporate rock gets.

With Led Zeppelin unavailable for bookings at the moment, the Who was the most obvious next-best choice for this year's big show. The perennial number three of the big sixties rock triumvirate along with the Beatles and the Stones, it was simply their turn. Well at least as long as a certain golden god of rock was busy playing bluegrass with Alison Krauss anyway...

Following Springsteen's halftime show last year won't be easy for Townshend and Daltrey either. The Boss pulled off the amazing feat of basically condensing his three hour rock and roll marathon and rock and roll revival meeting into the NFL's slotted fifteen minutes.

I don't expect the Who to suck. We're gonna get "Pinball Wizard" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" just as we got "Born To Run" and "Glory Days" last year. Townshend will probably throw a few windmills up in there too.

But I also don't expect it to be great.

Unlike Springsteen, the Who have definitely shown their age in recent years. Daltrey is still a powerful frontman as he demonstrated on his solo tour last fall, but his voice hasn't aged well. Don't expect to hear that famous closing scream during "Won't Get Fooled Again." Townshend's hearing has become so damaged from all those years performing with the Guinness World record holders for loudest band in the world, that he often performs with acoustic guitars rather than electric these days. So I expect the Who's performance will be Tom Petty decent, but not quite Prince or Springsteen great.

Which brings us to next year. The betting line forms here for who you think may follow Townshend and company for the big game in 2011. Here are some possibilities to ponder before you lay your money down:

AC/DC: If I were a betting man, this is who I'd be putting my money on. The Aussie bad boys won't be the NFL's first choice, but I'm betting the Eagles turn them down again. AC/DC is the perfect alternative. They are classic rock icons, and their simple, chunky riffing fits the smashmouth mentality of football like a glove. Nothing says jockspeak quite like a song like "Big Balls" does (although they probably won't be allowed to play that one). Besides, there hasn't really been a bonafide hard rock act at the Superbowl since Kiss, right? If AC/DC is good enough for Walmart, they are good enough for football. Odds: Dead-even

The Eagles: Although I'm relatively certain the Eagles will turn them down again, I include them here on the off chance they'll actually say yes this year. After all, Springsteen finally did, right? What makes the Eagles such a no-brainer is the way they walk such a fine line between rock and country. You can't really go wrong with a safe bet like this. Everybody's happy, and by the time the first down of the third quarter is played, no one will remember what they just heard. Take it easy, indeed. Odds: 5-1

Kenny Chesney: Of course, if you want to go country, why not go all the way? Country music is still as American as apple pie, and well, the NFL itself, and Chesney's brand of twang plays more like a countrified version of big stadium rock anyway. The chicks dig him, all those guys who drive Ford pick-ups secretly want to be him, and as long as he stays as hot as he is, there's definitely going to be a Super Bowl in his future at some point. It probably won't be next year though. Odds: 15-1

John Mellencamp: The former Johnny Cougar would certainly play well with the football crowd — especially if he stuck with the hits like "Rockin' In The USA," "Pink Houses," and the rest. Mellencamp's always been the sort of guy who plays well with conservatives who really want to like Springsteen, but can't get past his pinko politics (even though Mellencamp's blue stripes aren't too far removed from Bruce's). Like Petty was a few years ago, Mellencamp is the sort of the journeyman rocker who is a natural choice for the tailgating crowd. Odds: 10-1

Coldplay: Their music is big like U2, anthemic like Springsteen, and ever since they started wearing military style jackets in concert, they've even started to seem a bit more masculine than they used to. Love em' or hate em', they are also one of the biggest bands in the world and should have a new album ready to pimp by next year. The downside here of course is Chris Martin's still rather feminine falsetto, and some would say sometimes whiny sounding lyrics. Not exactly AC/DC tough, but don't count em' out either. Odds: 20-1

Neil Young: His songwriting pedigree is undeniable, and his classic rock credentials are impeccable — particularly if he packs up Crazy Horse for the ride. However, his unpredictability poses a problem. A crowd expecting "Rockin In The Free World" is just as likely to get something from Fork In The Road or an impromptu set of unreleased folkabilly tunes. Despite Neil's recent embrace of capitalism with 30-disc box sets and sky-high ticket prices, Neil would also likely shy away from anything as overtly corporate as the NFL. Springsteen got away with it only because the Boss is nothing if not a populist. Odds: 50-1

Bob Dylan: Dylan on the other hand doesn't seem to have much of a problem with appearing too corporate these days, what with the ads for Victoria Secret and all. Dylan's songs are also known and loved by pretty much everybody who has ever turned on a radio or sang at a karaoke bar. However, even if he played stuff like "Like A Rolling Stone," I just don't see the croak translating to a stadium full of rowdy football fans or a national television audience. Odds: 100-1

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Posted By: Glen Boyd - Category: No Category

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The Case For Latter Day Bowie On A Reality Tour

January 23rd 2010 12:02

Although David Bowie has been pretty quiet for the last several years, his enduring influence is something which continues to permeate virtually every aspect of pop music today.

From the electronic excursions of bands like Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead — whose Kid A, Amnesiac, and In Rainbows make up a trilogy not at all unlike Bowie's seventies "Berlin" albums with Brian Eno — to the work of modern bands like Arcade Fire (who Bowie himself has enthusiastically and publicly endorsed), Bowie's stamp remains everywhere, even if the artist himself has been mostly silent in recent years.

So here's the thing.

David Bowie's status as an innovator is pretty much beyond reproach. He's never sold records in quite the same numbers as such contemporaries as the Rolling Stones — outside of the early eighties Let's Dance period anyway. But save for maybe Neil Young (which is another discussion entirely), there simply isn't another artist from the same time period whose influence remains so pervasive in pop music today.

From the textures of electronica to the immediacy of punk (and its nineties bastard child grunge/alternative), most of it can be traced to Bowie's groundbreaking albums in the seventies. But this is also where the rub comes in...

Ask most Bowie fans, and they will tell you that his once-bright, creative spark began to dim back in the eighties shortly after Lets Dance. And for awhile — especially during the latter half of that decade — that argument was largely a legitimate one. While albums like Tonight and Never Let Me Down as well as his brief small-rock-band experiments with Tin Machine had their moments, they were also largely hit-and-miss affairs.

What few people realize, though, is that Bowie had a very nice creative resurgence beginning in the nineties, and continuing well into the past decade. Though his star may have long since dimmed, and game-changing albums like Ziggy Stardust, Diamond Dogs, and Heroes were long behind him, such didn't stop Bowie from following his artistic muse. There would be no Rolling Stones-styled Bridges To Babylon embarrassments.

With nothing left to prove, Bowie instead soldiered on with a series of recordings that catered to no one's expectations other than his own. Nobody is going to mistake albums like 2002's Heathen and 2003's Reality for a groundbreaking work like The Man Who Sold The World. But there is no doubt that with these latter-day albums, Bowie had settled into a very nice place. And perhaps for the first time in his career, he wasn't playing a series of roles, but rather simply being himself.

And that is what the new Bowie 2CD concert set, A Reality Tour, is really all about.

Recorded on the road in support of his then-current Reality album, A Reality Tour was first released as a DVD concert film in 2004. To coincide with its long overdue audio release this coming Tuesday, the Fuse network will be running the original concert in its world-broadcast premiere.

As anyone who has followed Bowie over the years already knows, his career has been as much about performance and its theatrical aspects as it has been about his musical innovations (which are no less significant, though they have been overshadowed at times).

Make no mistake. On A Reality Tour, Bowie remains ever the showman and the crowd pleaser. The difference here is that this is a far more mature Bowie. Finally comfortable in his own skin, Bowie leaves the greasepaint and big productions of years past behind for the most part to concentrate on delivering a more-direct performance.

Even so, he is not at all beyond putting a fresh spin on time-tested favorites ranging from Ziggy period chestnuts like "Hang On To Yourself" and "All The Young Dudes" to his more experimental Berlin-era material like "Heroes" and "Breaking Glass" (one of three very cool, previously unheard extras on these new audio discs).

The common thread through it all is how Bowie makes these songs sound like new creations, while delivering them in newly immediate and personal ways. There are no alter-egos to be found here. No Ziggy. No Thin White Duke. No Plastic Soul Revue. What you see is what you get, and it is a Bowie which owes as much to the time-tested performance tradition of Sinatra and Presley as it does the avant-mime artiste pretensions of personas past.

Credit is also due to Bowie's band on this tour, which includes such longstanding hands as guitarist Earl Slick and keyboardist Mike Garson (both of whom date at least as far back as seventies Bowie tours behind albums like Station To Station).

Anyway, Bowie pleases the crowd here with the hits while making it all sound fresh and new. They are all here too — from "Life On Mars?" to "Fame" to "Ashes To Ashes" to "China Girl" (another of the audio bonus tracks).

The real revelation, however, springs from the more recent (at least relatively speaking) material. Selected songs from his then two current albums — 2002's Heathen and 2003's Reality — more than stand up here to classics from the seventies and eighties, even if they are nowhere near as celebrated. I have to admit that although I never paid them much attention at the time, songs like "New Killer Star" and "Bring Me The Disco King" sound pretty damn good here.

So what does this all mean? Even though the live recordings on A Reality Tour are now about six years old, they demonstrate foremost that even now David Bowie remains a pervasive influence on contemporary music even in what is hopefully a temporary state of absentia. More than that though, they prove that Bowie remains a vibrant artistic force who is nowhere near ready for the rock and roll retirement home that is the oldies circuit.

Don't count Bowie out yet. Because I suspect we are far from hearing the last of him.

The remastered 2CD set of A Reality Tour will be in stores Tuesday.

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The Rockologist: Pants On The Ground

January 17th 2010 05:56

Repeat after me, kids:

Pants on the ground pants on the ground
Lookin' like a fool with your pants on the ground
with the gold in your mouth, hat turned sideways, pants hit the ground,
call yourself a cool cat
lookin' like a fool
Walking downtown with your pants on the ground
Get it up!
Hey, get your pants off the ground!
Lookin' like a fool,
Walkin, talkin' with ya pants on the ground
Get it up!
Hey, get your pants off the ground!
Lookin' like a fool with your pants on the ground
Gold in the mouth, hat turned sideways
pants hit the ground,
call yourself a cool cat, Hey, get your pants off the ground!
Lookin' like a fool with your pants on the ground
Gold in the mouth, hat turned sideways
pants hit the ground
lookin' like a fool,
walkin', talkin' with ya pants on the ground
Boom, yea pants on the ground
lookin' like a fool with your pants on the ground!
with ya gold in your mouth, hat turned sideways
pants hit the ground, call yourself a cool cat...

Learn it, know it, live it. Because I've got this really odd feeling that General Larry Platt and his "Pants On The Ground" is going to be with us for a good long little while.

Has it really come to this?

I don't know about you, but I sure hope so.

I'm normally not a big fan of American Idol, but I try never to miss the early episodes in order to see all the really bad singers during the initial audition stages. For sheer entertainment value, the William Hungs and the Bikini Girls of the world rarely disappoint.

But I also have to admit that even the whole bad-singer shtick has started to wear a bit thin in recent years. At best, it's grown tiresome, and at its worst it's just downright cruel, such as when Cowell and his cronies have ridiculed some of the more mentally challenged contestants in recent years. Remember when Simon called that one poor kid a monkey?

When Idol debuted its new season this past week, I feared more of the same, and it looked like that was what I was going to get. You had your token William Hung in that Korean kid who whispered his broken English through "All By Myself." Yuk, Yuk, Yuk.

The freaks were equally represented by some goth-ghoul who looked like a cross between Marilyn Manson and Latoya Jackson. The righteously indignant rejects had their man for the season in the guy who stormed off screaming "Mary J. Blige can't sing a damn lick," middle fingers flying proudly for all of America to see.

Business as usual, right? But then along came 62 year old General Larry Platt with his "Pants on The Ground."

All Rights to American Idol And FOX Television

Basically you can look at the whole "Pants On The Ground" phenomenon in a number of ways. You can see it as the short-term viral joke that it most likely is. You can also view it as a hopeful sign that the whole American Idol circus act may finally be close to having run its course, and that there may yet be hope for the pop music landscape it essentially ruined by reducing it to a game of survival of the fittest karaoke singer.

Personally though, I prefer to see General Larry Platt and his "Pants On The Ground" as a major artistic breakthrough. If we ever needed a Bob Dylan for the new millennium, we need it now. I submit to you that General Larry Platt may be that man. Hell, "Pants On The Ground" even has a ring to it not at all unlike "Like A Rolling Stone."

When you break down the lyrics, Platt also has a message that is every bit as relevant and socially conscious as anything by Dylan, Springsteen, or Neil Young. In fact, when Jimmy Fallon did the song the other night under the guise of Young on his late night TV show, he turned it into a beautiful and haunting plea to the inner-city youth of America. Judge for yourself:

All Rights To Jimmy Fallon and NBC/Universal

If this version is ever released on CD, I'll be the first to buy it. Neil's just more my speed. But beyond that, the timely message of finding inner-strength and taking pride in who you are is clear in the lyrics "Hey, get your pants off the ground/ Lookin' like a fool with your pants on the ground/ Gold in the mouth, hat turned sideways/ Pants hit the ground."

This man is a major new discovery who might just be the poet that a new generation has been crying out for. General Platt isn't just a visionary songwriter - he's a true role model for the youth of America.

Besides all of that, the song itself has a hook that is simply unstoppable. Given a choice between Platt's soulful funk and the non-stop parade of faceless singers and irritating-all-over-the-place vocals that Idol dishes up year after year, I'll take Platt and his "Pants" any day.

Like Dylan and his ever-present croak, Platt also clearly understands the art of phrasing and control. A focus on a single turn of phrase for emphasis says more than cramming as many as octaves as is humanly possible into a single line ever will. General Larry Platt knows this.

Put this guy in a studio with someone like Timbaland, and for my money the possibilities are endless, as the numerous amateur remixes already out there clearly demonstrate (one of my favorites of which is featured in the video below). Even without the studio gimmickry, though, the acapella performance from Idol is catchier than anything on the last several Kanye West albums. And Platt doesn't even need autotune.

Personally I still like Fallon's dead-on, close-your-eyes-and-you'd-swe ar-it-was-him Neil Young version the best - even if it isn't actually by Neil Young. But those crazy kids today will probably demand something a bit more contemporary and upbeat. Whatever it takes is what I say.

Pop music has never needed a new savior more than it does right now, and America could do a whole lot worse than General Larry Platt. With the heart of a poet and the soul of a bluesman, he is the total package. He even has a damn catchy name with that "General" moniker of his. Record industry take note, 'cause this is the answer to all of your prayers these past ten years or so.

Think I'm kidding? Think again. And if it seems like I may be a few days late in coming to the party, I respectfully disagree. The party in Platt's pants is just getting started.

Repeat after me:

Pants on the ground pants on the ground
Lookin' like a fool with your pants on the ground
with the gold in your mouth, hat turned sideways, pants hit the ground,
call yourself a cool cat
lookin' like a fool
Walking downtown with your pants on the ground..

Has it really come to this? One can only hope.

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Posted By: Glen Boyd - Category: No Category

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End Of Decade Wrapup Part 3: Favorite Albums Of The Decade

December 13th 2009 07:39

To conclude my three-part wrap-up of the year and the decade, we come to the part of this exercise that was the most fun for your Rockologist.

This is where I got to go back and relive a lot of memories from the past ten years by listening to my favorite albums from that same period. Not all of those memories were good ones mind you, but even during the bad times these were the records that helped get me through them

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End Of Year, End Of Decade Wrapup Part 2: Who Were The Decade's Most Influential Artists?

December 13th 2009 02:23

So who exactly were the most influential musical artists of the past decade? Springsteen? Radiohead? Clay Aiken?

Well okay, two out of three ain't bad, right? But as we draw ever closer to the dawning of 2010, perhaps the more important question is why should we care? Fear not my friends, because your Rockologist has answers

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The Rockologist's End Of Year, End Of Decade Wrapup Part 1: Best Albums Of '09

December 11th 2009 06:46

2009 mostly sucked. Okay there, I said it.

Don't even get me started on Obama. After spending my first full year as one of America's newly massive underclass of unemployed professionals, you can count me as one of the millions still waiting for all that hope and change we voted for based on the promises of his 2008 candidacy. But anyway, back to music

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The Thought, The Thump, And The Poetry

November 8th 2009 01:32

It's a funny thing about rock stars.

You'd think that so many of them have the world on a string, the tiger by the tail, or whatever you'd otherwise choose to call it

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Will Blog For Promos: Making Sense Of The New Blogola

October 8th 2009 01:38

Whether you are a person who frequents blog sites on the internet, you own a personal blog, or you even write articles on websites like this one, you've probably heard about the FTC's intention to more closely regulate such things by now.

Established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act to promote consumer protection and combat anti-competitive practices, the Federal Trade Commission is the government agency charged with making sure all is fair in love and trade as relates to the American consumer

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Beatles Remasters: Snap, Crackle, Pop

September 19th 2009 09:44

Okay, so here's the deal.

I'm as excited about The Beatles Remasters boxed set as anybody. Unfortunately, living on the salary of a starving music editor pretty much precludes me from purchasing the whole damn thing right now...which sucks, because I've been salivating for it like the die-hard Beatles nut I am since last week

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The Beatles And What A Drag It Is Getting Old

September 10th 2009 23:19

What a drag it is getting old.

Okay, so it was actually the Stones who wrote that line. Regardless, it was still the Beatles who actually changed my own life, for better or for worse

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February 2010

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January 2010

2 Posts

December 2009

3 Posts