Its OK To Like Archives
February 13, 2007
It's OK To Like... Unnecessary Solos
Every week, we let down our guard, crawl out of our indie rock bunker, and embrace our guilty pleasures. And man, do we have a lot of 'em. Will you join us in defending the indefensible?
Unnecessary solos: Five reasons to leave no riff behind:
1. Duran Duran - “Rio”
Nothing says "Suck it, Spandeau Ballet" like a nasty sax meltdown. Forty-two seconds of bliss, starting at the 3:02 mark. It was only 1982, but as far as we we're concerned the decade ended the second the last notes fell on this masterpiece. They just don't make 'em like this anymore.
2. Every single Blues Traveler song
The problem with letting a guy with a harmonica into the band is that you have to let him jam out on the harmonica from time to time. Or, in this case, every single time.
3. The The - "Uncertain Smile"
Anybody who tried to listen to the single version of this song after hearing the album cut was invariably disappointed by the missing piano freakout. Three whole minutes they cut! Was it fantastic? Yes. Was it necessary? Not entirely. But we couldn't mope properly without it.
4. Guns N' Roses - “November Rain”
Without Slash's yeoman axe-work (and Axl's bloated ego) this brilliant opus never could have approached the nine-minute mark –- and what fun would that have been? Slash actually rips off three monster solos in the last five minutes (3:58-4:46, 5:07-5:37, and 7:10-8:53 if you're scoring at home), although Axl poops all over the last one.
5. Ron Burgundy plays the "yazz flute"
Hey, Aqualung!
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February 6, 2007
It's Ok To Like... The Grammys
Every week, we encourage you to let your guard down, crawl out of the indie rock bunker, and embrace your guilty pleasures. You're welcome...
The Grammys: Five reasons to skip The Simpsons this weekend:
1. The Best New Artist Category
Yes, we know they fuck this up every year, and yes, we know that no legitimate indie artist will ever get within sniffing distance of a nomination (unless we count Tone Loc), but how can you not love the sheer ridiculousness of a “category” in which Billy Ray Cyrus can go head-to-head with Kriss Kross, Sophie B. Hawkins, and Jon Secada – and still get whupped by Arrested Development?
2. The Gramophone
You can keep your androgynous swordsman, your Christmas-tree-ornament angel, and your crystal football. We’ll take the cool retro turntable every time. If only we'd been a little quicker, we could have had Peabo Bryson's.
3. The Latin Grammys
Like the regular Grammys, with Shakira.
4. The Synthesizer Medley
We liked Elton and Eminem, and we’re looking forward to the Police, but for pure live Grammy awesomeness, nothing can touch this multi-national, multi-hairstyle, machine-man mashup from 1985. Thomas Dolby…accepted!
5. Because Hating The Grammys Is Way Too Easy
Seriously, what did James Blunt ever do to you? Okay, bad question.
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January 30, 2007
It's OK To Like... Sting Solo
Every week, we encourage you to let your guard down, crawl out of the indie rock bunker, and embrace your guilty pleasures. You're welcome...
Sting solo: Five reasons to love the noun, the verb, and the man:
1. Dream Of The Blue Turtles
Too much of Sting’s solo debut was a pretentious jazz-tastrophe, but not even the combination of his overwrought lyrics and Branford Marsalis’ meandering sax could wreck "Fortress Around Your Heart," or lessen the delight we feel when Sting rhymes “little boy” with “Oppenheimer’s deadly toy” (in Russians, one of the top-three Cold War songs of all time).
2. His Friend Raoni
Sting was loving the environment back when most of you were in short pants, so the next time you get up on your Al Gore-lovin’, clean burning, hybrid high horse, remember that Gordon got there first, and he brought this guy with him.
3. The Seven-Hour Tantric Orgasm Thing
Sometimes we wish he weren’t such a dick about it, but hey – that’s just Sting being Sting.
4. His Mastery Of Thespianism
You know all about the terrible, and the execrable, so we’ll focus on the not-so-bad, including his turn as Billy Idol on the Sinatra Group (SNL, 1990), where Phil Hartman (as Sinatra) gets him with one of our all-time favorite one-liners “You don’t scare me! I’ve got chunks of guys like you in my stool!” We also liked him as the crusty bar owner who sells out his son in Guy Ritchie’s pre-“I’m Guy Ritchie” classic Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
5.He Finally Patched Things Up With Stewart Copeland
Let’s be clear: in no way does the upcoming Police reunion tour make up for Desert Rose, but at least it’s a start.
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Tags: Sting, The Police
Comments (34) [most recent by shmoopatties]
January 24, 2007
It's OK To Like... Ska
Every week, we encourage you to let your guard down, crawl out of the indie rock bunker, and embrace your guilty pleasures. You're welcome...
Ska Music: Five reasons to love Toots AND the Maytals:
1. Horns!
A liability, you say? We say: thank you ska, for making it easy to tell when we are listening to ska. We might not be too clear about the difference between Skavoovie and the Dance Hall Crashers, but when those horns kick in we know it’s time to stop with the indie rock head nodding and skank out, whatever that means.
2. Dickie Barrett
Leader of the unfortunately-named Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Dickie B growled like Morrissey after a six-day organic gin bender. His hobbies included wearing plaid, drinking, and smoking a pack of cigarettes at the same time.
3. Rudy
We thought Rudy was the hobbit who talked his way into Notre Dame, but apparently it’s short for "rude boy," a ska-term that seems to apply to, well, everybody, as far as we can tell. Still, "A Message to You, Rudy" and "Rudy Can’t Fail" kick ass.
4. Reel Big Fish
Nothing gets us smiling like a good ska cover, and Reel Big Fish were masters of the form. The weren’t all that good at writing their own songs, but give ‘em a bit of Duran Duran, Pixies, or even Rogers and Hammerstein and they always came up with something playlist worthy.
5. High School Ska Bands
Mark's brother Steve was all, can I be in the band, and we were like Steve, Jimmy Eat World doesn’t have horns, and he was all but I’ve been playing the trombone since like fifth grade, and we were like, no way dude, and he was all, I’ll let you play my Playstation 3 and so finally we were like fine, dude, you can be in the band.
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January 16, 2007
It's OK To Like... Phil Collins
Every week, we encourage you to let your guard down, crawl out of the indie rock bunker, and embrace your guilty pleasures. You're welcome...
Phil Collins: Five reasons why he seems to have that invisible touch.
1. "In the Air Tonight"
Do you re-MEMBA? Twenty-five years on, Phil’s voice has become a parody of itself, but this is still a pretty badass song. And that’s before the drums kick in. If you haven’t seen the original Miami Vice pilot, we suggest you check out the sequence that features this song. Then go ahead and sneak it back onto your iPod where it belongs.
2. The Sinead O’Connor Awards
SNL sketch (1991) in which Sinead O’Connor presents Phil Collins with “The Award for Embodying Everything I Despise About Material Success.” Such a classic, it’s not even available on YouTube.
3. "Land Of Confusion"
Take the beat from “People Are People,” a bit of paranoid, Reagan-era nuclear angst, add some puppet dinosaurs, and you get one of the best videos of all time. And while Little Richard (or is it Prince?) eating his own tongue like a hot dog remains one of the most disturbing things we had forgotten we ever saw, it’s puppet Phil who makes the whole thing go. Watch the band sequences – he is carrying puppet Mike Rutherford’s ass!
4. Drummers Who Also Sing
Oh, and who’s your choice? Ringo Starr?
5. He Cares About Stuff
For most artists, being in the original Band Aid would have been enough. But not Phil Collins. He’s written songs raising awareness of homelessness (“Another Day In Paradise”), chorophobia (“I Can’t Dance”), and immigration reform (“Illegal Alien”). It is not much fun being an illegal alien. You are goddamn right Phil, you are goddamn right.
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