We’re pretty unabashed fans of Decibel, the extreme-metal monthly with some of the sharpest and funniest writing to be found in any music mag around. (You can read it online, too.) The mag’s first foray into TV advertising, written by Decibel managing editor Andrew Bonazelli and starring its sales rep, Mark Evans, has plenty to enjoy as well–we especially like the file cabinet’s labels (“Troo” and “False”), the hesher bobblehead, and the “surprise” ending. See for yourself:
The great thing about Bob Dylan over the past decade is how lustily he’s embraced being an old, old man, whether doomy (as on 1997’s Time Out of Mind), jaunty (2001’s “Love and Theft”), or a little of each (2006’s Modern Times). So imagine our surprise when a tipster forwarded us a questionnaire from an organization calling itself the Intelligence Group/Youth Intelligence, the point of which, apparently, was to gauge the interest of youngsters in, you guessed it, Bob Dylan.
Sam Sifton, the New York Times‘ culture editor, seems like a good guy, and not just because he responds to the queries in this week’s reader-reply survey in cool-teacher mode. (Reader John J. Condon: “What is your explanation for the downgrading of dance coverage by The New York Times? Is the paper dumbing it down?” Sifton’s reply: “Your letter bums me out, Mr. Condon.”) Among the topics discussed so far: Is classical coverage declining? (No way, dude! Classical is as relevant as ever!) Why is Paris Hilton covered in Arts and Leisure? (The people can’t get enough of her!) And our favorite, from none other than New Jersey assistant D.A. Peter G. O’Malley: You guys cover rap. What’s up with that?!?
We’re suspicious of the claim made in this article in the webzine Smith: The piece’s compiler, Rich Knight (can’t really call it “authorship,” can you?), says that he “scour[ed] approximately 4.2 billion” karaoke videos to come up with the 21 doozies offered up for delectation and favorite-voting. More »
As part of Idolator’s continuing effort to geekily analyze every music chart known to man, we present a new edition of Project X, in which Jackin’ Pop editor Michaelangelo Matos breaks down rankings from every genre imaginable. After the click-through, he sits down with his family and a recent Billboard Hot 100:
If you’ve been paying any attention at all, you don’t need the Associated Press to tell you that album sales are tanking as individual-track tallies continue to climb. (Nothing against AP, of course.) More »
Of all the golden-age R&B vocal groups, the longest-lasting was the Drifters. That’s partly because the group underwent a number of personnel changes: as detailed in a 1972 piece by Robert Christgau, the group began as the showcase for Clyde McPhatter, one of the most copied vocalists of his era, and in 1959 the original quintet was fired, with a new group hired and renamed, with the second group Ben E. King’s launching pad. Of the original quintet, only one member remained: Bill Pinkney, the group’s bass singer, who died yesterday in Daytona Beach.
Good morning. I’m Matos, and I’ve been here before. Last night I caught easily the most impressive fireworks I’ve seen, over Seattle’s Lake Union, and from distant windows I heard radio songs presumably meant to sync up with the display. More »
The last time Prince played one of his (cough) “surprise” shows at First Avenue, the downtown Minneapolis nightclub where Purple Rain was filmed, he was previewing his new double-LP, Sign ‘O’ the Times. More »
Leonard Cohen is on the cover of the current issue of The Word, and inside he discusses songwriting:
Cohen: When young songwriters ask me if I have any advice, this is the only advice I give them. It is: if you stick with a song long enough it will yield. But long enough is way beyond any reasonable duration. It’s not a week or two. It’s not a month or two. It’s not necessarily a year or two. If a song is to yield, you may have to stay with it for years and years.
Interviewer: That’s fascinating. What’s the longest gestation period for one of your songs?
Cohen: “Hallelujah” was at least five years. I have about 80 verses for it.
Even non-songwriters can feel Cohen on this point–this post alone took at least six months to cook up. But there are endless numbers of songs that took at least as long to gestate. For example:
