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Musicians you love, hawking products

Q: What do Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, The Clash, Iggy Pop, Elvis Costello, The Ramones, and Wilco all have in common?

A: They all share a place in my iTunes library, and they all have helped corporate behemoths sell stuff.

It turns out not everyone sings the same tune as Neil Young:

Ain't singin' for Pepsi
Ain't singin' for Coke
I don't sing for nobody
Makes me look like a joke
This note's for you.

Ain't singin' for Miller
Don't sing for Bud
I won't sing for politicians
Ain't singin' for Spuds
This note's for you.

If you ask me, Neil got it right (and, in the process, created perhaps the greatest music video ever).

GREAT MOMENTS IN SELLOUT HISTORY

The Clash selling Jaguars
(Joe Strummer would have undoubtedly pronounced them "JAG-YOU-AREs", a distant cousin to "JAG-OFF" in Pittsburghese)

Wilco selling Volkwagens
- The story
- The video

Elvis Costello selling Lexuses (or is it Lexii???)

- Elvis in '77
- Elvis in '07

Prince - The Artist Formerly Known as an Artist
- Performing live at Macy's (yes, Macy's)
- Selling little red corvettes

Dylan selling...
- Panties
- Lobster (classic)
- iPods

The estate of Nick Drake selling VWs

The Stones selling Budweiser

The Beatles (post-Lennon assassination) selling Nikes

Lou Reed selling the NFL

Iggy Pop selling Royal Caribbean
With lyrics like these, I can see how the execs at Royal Caribbean thought "Lust for Life" would be a good fit with their brand:

Here comes johnny yen again
With the liquor and drugs
And the flesh machine
He's gonna do another strip tease
Hey man, where'd ya get that lotion?
I've been hurting since I've bought the gimmick
About something called love
Yeah, something called love
Well, that's like hypnotizing chickens

The Ramones selling Diet Pepsi

The Buzzcocks selling Toyotas and Nissans

Thoughts on the new Wilco album

Now that we've all had a few weeks to chew on the new Wilco release, "Sky Blue Sky", I thought I'd assemble a few of the more interesting critical reviews and offer up some of my own thoughts on the new album.

Quite simply, "Sky Blue Sky" is very pleasing to the ear - it's light, polished, instantly accessible, sitting-around-a-campfire-at-the-beach fare. Entertainment Weekly may have put it best when they said: "This may be the best Eagles album the Eagles never made."

In the growing pantheon that is Wilco's back catalog, I think "Sky Blue Sky" sits somewhere below "A Ghost Is Born" (pound-for-pound, my personal favorite), "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", and "Being There", and above "A.M." and "Summerteeth".

What it lacks for me is the depth, rawness, inventiveness, and edge of its two immediate predecessors. "A Ghost is Born" was two parts "Tonight's the Night", one part McCartney ballad, one part "Low"-era Bowie, two parts Lennon's vulnerability, and very little polish. The Nels Cline-heavy "Sky Blue Sky" evokes memories of mid-70's Steely Dan (as my good friend Jake pointed out to me), the Grateful Dead, and the Eagles. It's more "Harvest Moon" than "Tonight's the Night".

Don't get me wrong, I'm a guitar player (albeit a pretty lousy one) myself, so I was absolutely blown away by Nels Cline's playing. The guy is unbelievable. It's just not what I'm looking for in a Wilco record.

I much prefer an album that jars me during first listen, reveals 1-2 accessible tracks (I call them the "gateway songs") in the next few listens, and ultimately takes a good 8-12 focused listens before I can really to start to comprehend it. Then, over time, it just continues to get better and better.

I haven't given up on SBS. I'm going to keep listening in hopes that once I'm able to scrape away it's radio-friendly sheen, I'll find something special below the surface.

Here is what others had to say:

- Pitchfork gives it a 5.2 out of 10.0.

- Here's a glowing piece from Crawdaddy.

- Editorial review from Amazon.

- Lots and lots of other reviews are available here.

Best Songs off Bad Albums

Rolling Stone's 25 Greatest Songs Off Bad Albums

1. “Under Pressure” off Queen’s Hot Space
2. “This Is England” off the Clash’s Cut The Crap
3. “Eminence Front” off The Who’s It’s Hard
4. “Brownsville Girl” off Bob Dylan’s Knocked Out Loaded
5. “Hallo Spaceboy” off David Bowie’s Outside
6. “Kill Your Sons” off Lou Reed’s Sally Can’t Dance
7. “2000 Light Years from Home” off the Rolling Stones’ Their Satanic Majesties Request
8. “Goin’ Home” off Neil Young’s Are You Passionate
9. “Song For Guy” off Elton John’s A Single Man
10. “Don’t Look Back” off Boston’s Don’t Look Back
11. “Jammin’ Me” off Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Let Me Up I’ve Had Enough
12. “Shipbuilding” off Elvis Costello’s Punch the Clock
13. “Go Let It Out” off Oasis’s Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
14. “Big Love” off Fleetwood Mac’s Tango In the Night
15. “Tonight” off Elton John’s Blue Moves
16. “Celluloid Heroes” off the Kinks’ Everybody’s in Show-Biz
17. “Country Death Song” off the Violent Femmes’ Hallowed Ground
18. “Busy Doin’ Nothin’” off the Beach Boys’ Friends
19. “Supernova” off Liz Phair’s Whip-Smart
20. “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” off Prince’s The Gold Experience
21. “Human Touch” off Bruce Springsteen’s Human Touch
22. “Learning To Fly” off Pink Floyd’s Momentary Lapse of Reason
23. “I Don’t Want Your Love” off Duran Duran’s Big Thing
24. “Wild Wild Life” off The Talking Heads’ True Stories
25. “My Love” off Wings’ Red Rose Speedway

See it in its original form here.

Hold me closer, Tony Danza

2 videos worth checking out:

- Dave Grohl - Tiny Dancer (live acoustic on the Craig Kilborn Show)

- R.E.M. - E-Bow the Letter (live, featuring Thom Yorke), Tibetan Freedom Concert, 1998

My New Guitar

Here she is. A '72 Fender Telecaster Thinline reissue.

You're all invited (all 6 of you)

I'm compiling a list of the greatest albums of all time, as determined by you, my circle of music-loving friends.

Want to be a part of it? Email me your Top 20.

Rules:
- Albums from all genres acceptable
- Live albums acceptable
- No box sets
- Including multiple albums by the same artist is fine
- Completely optional: 1-2 sentences describing what's so special about each entry

I've got 10 people participating so far.

Favorite Studio Albums: 2000-2006

Off the top of my head, here are my favorite studio albums so far from the current century. Wow - what a bleak period of creativity for hip-hop. And yes, I considered Eminem but ultimately decided he wasn't worthy of inclusion on this list.

In no particular order...

Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
I prefer this to its more-heralded (and more polished) predecessor, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Tweedy's guitar work pushes it over the top.

Radiohead - Kid A
I've spent more time with this album than any other on this list. The Rhodes and Ondes Martenot work would make Jack White proud.

Gordon Downie - Coke Machine Glow
Contains a few weak tracks, but it's moments of brilliance earn it a place on the list.

Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Had this double-album been slimmed down to its 15 best tracks, it would have been a potential classic.

Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake It's Morning
Majestic lyrics and powerful delivery. What a storyteller...

Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun
Spacious. Restrained beauty.

White Stripes - Elephant
Spans about 8 musical genres in 10 tracks.

The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
It's got a black belt in karate.

Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
Another great storyteller. Prolific. Pens songs on the spot that would take most songwriters days and weeks to write. This album's full of them.

Son Volt - Okemah and the Melody of Riot
Jay Farrar channels Crazy Horse.

Beck - Sea Change
What isn't this guy capable of?

Brian Wilson - Smile
Next time you're on a long flight, get a window seat, put this on, and look out the window. Lovely, soaring.

...and three radio-friendly albums I think are brilliant:

- Coldplay - Rush of Blood to the Head
- David Gray - White Ladder
- Norah Jones - Feels Like Home

Now tell me yers.

Morning Wood

I love my iPod. That's right, you heard me - I love it (and not the way Brick loves lamp in Anchorman). I really love the thing. Like most people, and unlike most inanimate objects, my iPod has good days and bad days. When its good, it's like having my own personal DJ - capable of shuffling Pete's Beats like my grandmother has been known to shuffle Uno cards after a few Rolling Rock ponies.

So anyway, one night (ironically enough) a few months ago, I'm nearing the tail-end of a 3-hour drive home with two friends following a weekend roadtrip. They're exhausted and silent. I'm exhausted and silent. iPod's exhausted but far from silent. I mean it's cranking... Not only is it playing song after song by my favorite artists, it's flowing smoothly from genre to genre and seemingly planning segues between songs. Got the picture?

Ok, so now it's raining, the wipers are going, and I'm starting to suffer. Then - it happens. iPod busts out I'm Wide Awake It's Morning by Bright Eyes. Starting to wake up. Next comes Morning Bell by Radiohead. "Cool," I think to myself... two songs in a row with "Morning" in the title. Then, the unthinkable. iPod takes me to the South Side of Chicago with Reap What You Sow (from Mourning in the Morning) by the great Otis Rush. It's official: Ich habe morgenholz.

If you're still reading at this point, you probably (a) love your iPod, (b) think I'm a tool, or (c) answered "yes" to both.

With that, the greatest morning songs of all-time (err, at least the greatest that reside among the songs on my beloved iPod):

- Velvet Underground - Sunday Morning
- Otis Rush - Reap What You Sow (from Mourning in the Morning)
- Radiohead - Morning Bell (Kid A version)
- Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake It's Morning
- Muddy Waters - Good Morning Little School Girl
- Dexter Gordon - Three O'Clock In The Morning
- Neil Young - 'Till the Morning Comes
- Black Crowes - My Morning Song
- Bob Dylan - New Morning
- Radiohead - Morning Mi' Lord

Favorite Studio Albums of the 90's - Revisited

It struck me that my earlier list was way too long. I've made some tough cuts to get my list down to 12. Here goes...

- Radiohead - OK Computer
- Jeff Buckley - Grace
- A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
- DJ Shadow - Endtroducing...
- Bob Dylan - Time Out of Mind
- Radiohead - The Bends
- The Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
- U2 - Achtung Baby
- Digable Planets - Blowout Comb
- Beck - Odelay
- Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hot
- Nirvana - Nevermind

What do you think? Add your own comments.

Favorite Studio Albums of the 90's

These are my favorites, in no particular order - well, except that I listed my favorite album from the 90's first...

- Radiohead - OK Computer
- Jeff Buckley - Grace
- Digable Planets - Blowout Comb
- Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hot
- The Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
- G. Love & Special Sauce - G. Love & Special Sauce
- Bob Dylan - Time Out of Mind
- A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
- Nirvana - Nevermind
- Radiohead - The Bends
- Beck - Odelay
- U2 - Achtung Baby
- Neil Young - Sleeps with Angels
- Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
- Fiona Apple - Tidal

I also considered these ones but ultimately gave them the boot...

- DJ Shadow - Endtroducing...
- Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club
- Wilco - Being There
- Jane's Addiction - Ritual De Lo Habitual
- The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange
- Nirvana - In Utero
- The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
- Portishead - Portishead

Anyone want to chime in with their own picks? Anyone? Anyone... [chirp, chirp]