And I didn't even know how kool their videos were til I made this post!
Misled--awesome video because:
1. Good moral message (stay away from white girls)
2. Old Indiana gets the beats for stealing other country's treasures
3. Kool's gang dances, even when they're just getting out of a car
Song: "Fresh"
Someone in this band had to be a sci fi geek.
I read recently that the going-sans-trousers (à la Lady Gaga) came from the 80s (Solid Gold) and they're right! We didn't even wear bottoms at balls in the 80s. Way to get the Prince to notice you.
The other videos kinda pale after that. But still great songs to make sophisticated mamas wanna get their backs up off the wall and dance.
Victory
Ladies Night
Get Down On It
Monday, February 1, 2010
a wee bit of Grammy musing
* I didn't watch the Grammies this year, so I'm checking out the winners. Looks like "Use Somebody" got a few awards, which I approve--fantastic song, and the whole album is great.
* Jay-Z did well too, which I think is deserved. He's one of those guys who's been around for awhile, but hasn't tapped out his potential yet.
* Don't know why Taylor Swift won so much, but I'm not a country expert.
* Oh look--one of the old Am Idolers got a gospel album nomination (Mandisa.)
* Wow, I didn't know there were so many Mexican/Latin categories.
* ...Hawaiian music. Cool.
* Native American music... this is a weird category because compare this guy who won, and one of the runners-up. It's... Buffy Ste. Marie meets Zamfir.
* Best Album Notes. ...Now there's an art form that iTunes is kind of killing.
* Too bad Beast didn't win for the "Mr Hurricane" video--they're Montreal based, and it's a cool song and video. The chorus is fun to sing. (Here's an article on how they made the video, and their one hope that if they won the Grammy, Kanye would come onstage and tell them they didn't deserve it.)
* But I don't get Beyoncé's "Ring On It" win for best female R&B vocal performance. I'm in for it winning best R&B song, but not for vocal perf. Anyone could have sung this song. It's not a vocalist's song. It's not the song you're going to sing on American Idol if you want to show that you're better than the competition, unlike Alicia Keys' "Fallin'" which they actually had to ban from Am Idol auditions. It's both hard to sing, and requires the ability to emote--which I would expect in an R&B performance, and which "Single Ladies" doesn't really provide.
If there were no other strong contenders this year, then I'd shrug away the Beyoncé win, cause she does sing well. But I LOVED two of the other nominees, and listened to them way more than I listened to B. this year --> Jazmine Sullivan, and Melanie Fiona. Here are the songs they were nominated for, but they prove their vocal-interesting-ness on lots of other songs.
Sullivan
(And here's her "Bust Your Windows" which they covered on Glee. Sullivan gives it a great emotional build-up, from "angry but cooool" to "fuck you I'm HURT! (sobs uncontrollably)"
And here's Fiona. This isn't my fave song, but the one nominated.
I love this one (I love the way she sing "I'm on a rESperAAAterr! whenever he leaves")
And this one (where she cheerfully sings: "I'm gonna make it hell in your liiife...")
Though I'll give her credit for that low note on "Halo" I'd be more likely to listen to her new album while doing something already-pleasant, like reading a book. It's tune-out music. Whereas I'd pull out Sullivan or Fiona for doing the dishes.
Anyway, lots of great women performers this year.
* Jay-Z did well too, which I think is deserved. He's one of those guys who's been around for awhile, but hasn't tapped out his potential yet.
* Don't know why Taylor Swift won so much, but I'm not a country expert.
* Oh look--one of the old Am Idolers got a gospel album nomination (Mandisa.)
* Wow, I didn't know there were so many Mexican/Latin categories.
* ...Hawaiian music. Cool.
* Native American music... this is a weird category because compare this guy who won, and one of the runners-up. It's... Buffy Ste. Marie meets Zamfir.
* Best Album Notes. ...Now there's an art form that iTunes is kind of killing.
* Too bad Beast didn't win for the "Mr Hurricane" video--they're Montreal based, and it's a cool song and video. The chorus is fun to sing. (Here's an article on how they made the video, and their one hope that if they won the Grammy, Kanye would come onstage and tell them they didn't deserve it.)
* But I don't get Beyoncé's "Ring On It" win for best female R&B vocal performance. I'm in for it winning best R&B song, but not for vocal perf. Anyone could have sung this song. It's not a vocalist's song. It's not the song you're going to sing on American Idol if you want to show that you're better than the competition, unlike Alicia Keys' "Fallin'" which they actually had to ban from Am Idol auditions. It's both hard to sing, and requires the ability to emote--which I would expect in an R&B performance, and which "Single Ladies" doesn't really provide.
If there were no other strong contenders this year, then I'd shrug away the Beyoncé win, cause she does sing well. But I LOVED two of the other nominees, and listened to them way more than I listened to B. this year --> Jazmine Sullivan, and Melanie Fiona. Here are the songs they were nominated for, but they prove their vocal-interesting-ness on lots of other songs.
Sullivan
(And here's her "Bust Your Windows" which they covered on Glee. Sullivan gives it a great emotional build-up, from "angry but cooool" to "fuck you I'm HURT! (sobs uncontrollably)"
And here's Fiona. This isn't my fave song, but the one nominated.
I love this one (I love the way she sing "I'm on a rESperAAAterr! whenever he leaves")
And this one (where she cheerfully sings: "I'm gonna make it hell in your liiife...")
Though I'll give her credit for that low note on "Halo" I'd be more likely to listen to her new album while doing something already-pleasant, like reading a book. It's tune-out music. Whereas I'd pull out Sullivan or Fiona for doing the dishes.
Anyway, lots of great women performers this year.
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