Grantland's
Steven Hyden writes the winner's history of rock and roll, in four parts (so far), and charts the death of rock music as a major pop-cultural force in the 21st century by looking at some (not necessarily well-loved) bands that helped to transform it into a Big Business:
Led Zeppelin,
Kiss,
Bon Jovi,
Aerosmith (and coming up in the next installment, Metallica).
Rock isn't dead, by any means. But for better or worse, it ain't what it used to be.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken
on Jan 31, 2013 -
82 comments
"Before playing
he explained the story behind the song, which was a journey – it was in 1993 as a 12 year old that he was able to return to Beirut alone for the first time (his parents having fled to Paris during the war) and he wandered the streets with his walkman, earphones plugged but playing no music, instead composing music in his mind and looking at the bullet marks in the walls of homes which had been rebuilt so many times over during the war that not much of the devastation was actually visible.. but after walking for a while, he sat and rested for some time.. and then suddenly when he got up again he noticed a street in front of him completely devastated and abandoned – something that he had actually been looking to see – but in that moment he was listening to (having just discovered) Led Zepplin and the combination of seeing the devastation and the music actually scared him and he ran away. And so this song tells that journey." The song is
Beirut, and he is
Ibrahim Maalouf.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Nov 22, 2012 -
14 comments
There's a whole lotta Mefiers interested in the upcoming
Led Zeppelin reunion, and it got me to thinking, let's pay a little visit to the Poet Laureate of the blues,
Mr. Willie Dixon. After all, without him, there wouldn't have been a
Whole Lotta Love, or a
Bring It On Home, or... hell, there might not have been any Zep
at all... His music has been
interpreted and
reinterpreted by an
astonishing number of
musicians. The man wrote a
whole lotta songs. Oh, and, he played a little bit of
bass, too. He was a whole lotta
great.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Sep 13, 2007 -
28 comments
Songs You Didn't Know Were Cover Versions: Good Lovin',
Mambo No. 5,
The City of New Orleans,
Fernando,
The First Cut Is the Deepest,
I Love Rock 'n' Roll,
Just A Gigolo,
Without You,
Don't Turn Around,
Let's Live for Today,
Dazed and Confused,
Seasons in the Sun,
Pass the Dutchie,
There's Always Something There to Remind Me,
Gloria,
Respect,
Turn Turn Turn,
When the Levee Breaks,
Do You Wanna Touch Me,
Cum on Feel the Noize,
Hanging on the Telephone,
I Go Blind,
I Will Always Love You,
Take Me to the River,
Louie Louie,
The Twist etc. etc.
posted by jonp72
on Jul 13, 2007 -
111 comments
What do you call two thereminists in a room together? A convention. Well, about 50 thereminists
gathered for the Ether Music 2005 Convention last week in Asheville, NC. But what’s a
theremin, you ask? You can
meet a theremin,
marvel at it’s award-winning beauty (scroll down),
hear one
live, enjoy some theremin
humor, buy a
vintage theremin, or if that’s too pricey,
build one or even enter to
win your very own.
(previously discussed here, here and here)
posted by grateful
on Aug 12, 2005 -
22 comments
Ceci Nes't Pas Une Satanic Message • "Years ago someone told me that if you played Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven song backwards that you could make out 'satanic messages'. It is not my opinion that Led Zeppelin and the other artists here were given some kind of evil power to make these backwards sounds have a satanic message. And, no, I did not create this to show the evils of Rock and Roll. Instead I made this flash piece for two reasons: 1. I was new to Flash and wanted to be better at it and 2. The reverse files sound cool. "
posted by dhoyt
on Oct 8, 2004 -
15 comments
