Five bands, one strange man

So sometimes I kill time (or waste time, depending on whether there is something I'm actively neglecting at a given moment) by placing myself in ridiculous hypothetical scenarios. The latest: if I was to limited to the music of 5 artists / bands for the rest of my life, which 5 would I choose? This is an interesting one because it's not as simple as "Who are your 5 favorite bands of all time?" since bands with extensive offerings are obviously given preference. That and you need to take into account any potential future output. So many considerations ... well, here we go:

1) Radiohead. No doubter here. Favorite band since freshman year of college. And they keep offering albums that blow my mind.

2) Bob Dylan. Does anyone in the history of popular music have as deep or strong a catalogue? I think not.

3) The Beatles. When Darcy heard this one she rolled her eyes, groaned and said "Come on, that's something everyone would say." My response: "There's a reason for that, baby."

4) Iron and Wine. Best artist I've found in recent years.

5) The final spot is a bit of a problem. There are three dogs in this race: Ben Harper, Bright Eyes, and Josh Ritter. Any one might be my choice on a given day. I liken it to an election ... Bright Eyes is the well-known incumbent candidate (I've listened to them the longest) and Ben Harper is the strong challenger. Josh Ritter is the well-financed independent candidate who might just swoop in and steal it on election day. I'd say today my choice is Bright Eyes. Tomorrow it might be different.

Darcy's: Billy Joel, Over the Rhine, The Swell Season, Bright Eyes, and Rosie Thomas. Not bad, but some of these surprised me. Runners up: Sufjan Stevens, The Weepies, and The White Stripes.

Anyone else?

These kids nowadays

I was busy figuring out the area of office, lobby, and hallway space for Fuller's Office of Development and Alumni/ae and Church Relations this morning based on 1/96 scale plans (1 inch = 8 ft) for the purpose of estimating the expense of carpet replacement - which, incidentally, made me feel bad for all the horrible things I used to say about high school geometry, but that's something for another post - when I started thinking about Nine Inch Nails.

"Odd," one might think, and one would not be far from the truth. At any given moment in my mind multiple thoughts are engaged in an all-out, free-for-all, no-holds-barred struggle, battling and wrestling for the dominance necessary to earn the right to rise to the top and gain admittance into the realm of my consciousness. So anyway, I was thinking about NIN which just released an album on the new Radiohead model: independent from any label, internet exclusive, and free. And that got me thinking about heavier music and I realized it kind of sucks now.

When I was in high school and one wanted to rebel against authority of various kinds there was a whole slew of musical options: Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, Limp Bizkit, Korn, Rage Against the Machine, Pantera, The Deftones, even Metallica was coming out with new stuff, and that's not even counting all the imitators out there (I'm looking at you, Nickelback). Now those bands are broken up, on hiatus, or repackaging stale retreads of their once revolutionary sound to cash in one last time before obscurity descends and envelops them in a dark suffocating blanket of mediocrity. Even the once unassailable punk band has been co-opted by the man and transformed into some faux pop-punk crap.

What do the kids do these days when they need some good old fashioned angry music? I suppose they could turn to rap to piss of the parents, but even that genre has been tired and predictable for the better part of a decade. If anyone out there has a finger on the pulse of America's youth please clue me in so I don't feel quite so old and out of touch. Thanks a bunch.

In Rainbows

Lately I've been pretty obsessed with Radiohead's new song Videotape. If you happen to have seen me at any given moment over the past two weeks, there's a strong chance that I was thinking about the song right then. It's quite beautiful in a very Radiohead sort of way, which is to say unspeakably melancholy. I'll admit that I was predisposed to like the new release after my favorite band gave a big "screw you" to the recording industry (whom I despise) and released an album for whatever one feels like paying (which I appreciate). But I still wasn't prepared for the sublime experience of listening to track 10 for the first time. I also wasn't prepared for the backlash from Darcy for the increased ipod use. She likes conversation. With me.

I'm going to attempt to explain my affinity for the song, fully aware that I will very likely end up babbling like an idiot for a dozen lines before any vestige of apparent sanity that I once had will disappear and I'll be left muttering "... you just have to listen to it ... you just have to listen to it ..." while rocking back and forth like Dustin Hoffman in his Oscar winning performance as Raymond Babbitt. Nevertheless, let's start with the title. In 2007 is there a more antiquated notion than videotape? You might as well name your song "Harpsichord Playing on a Victrola." That didn't stop Thom. Then there's the sad love song aspect, which I adore. The world does not need another song about loving your boyfriend almost as much as puppies and cotton candy. The world does need more songs where the narrator inexplicably walks away from the relationship at the end. Lyrically, Thom name drops Mephistopheles. Do you really need to know more about the lyrics than that? I thought not. And then there's the musical aspects: piano, muted bass, and almost negligible percussion. Typical Radiohead use of dissonance to build suspense. Exceedingly simple yet catchy melody. Lack of guitars from the band that made its name with its three-guitar attack on The Bends. No back-up vocals. Unfortunately, that's the extent of my musical knowledge. Oh wait, EveryGoodBirdDoesFly. Now that really is the extent of my musical knowledge ... it's just an all-around good song, though.

At any rate, I get the sense from myself that this obsession is going to run its course over the next few weeks, but please be patient with me until then. Especially you, Darcy.