My Poproks

It’s been said that the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Inductions are…well, lame. On the one hand, they surely have sponsors breathing down their necks to pick the biggest names for induction. They’ve reportedly passed up many acts, but I suppose a rumour is only that. It may also explain why acts like Lynyrd Skynyrd and AC/DC have seen inductions before…say….Yes. Not that I’m a huge fan of Yes, but you see where I’m going with this.

On the other hand, you have the entire music community (most of which is displeased with every facet of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) criticizing pretty much everything about the museum, the nomination process, and the ceremony. The Hall of Fame gets criticized for not inducting enough acts, for inducting too many acts, for snubbing artists for too many years, for nominating artists their first year of eligibility, etc. You can’t ever please everyone. Surely, Metallica fans would sooner die than see Madonna inducted. We may actually have a mass suicide on our hands very soon.

The nominees for the 2008 Hall of Fame inductions were announced yesterday, and are they ever odd, and arguably Rock and Roll-less. First, you have The Dave Clark Five. Jann Wenner (founder) was accused of using the excuse of a technicality to induct Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five over The Dave Clark Five this year after a hiphopless 2006. Madonna and The Beastie Boys are the most eye-catching on the list this year, making it easy for a backlash that mostly revolves around the meaning of the term “Rock and Roll.” Other nominees include Leonard Cohen, Afrika Bambaataa, John Mellencamp, The Ventures, Donna Summer and Chic (yup…Chic).

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BlinkYourEyes

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…This is the first contact Radiohead has made from their home planet in some time. Actually, their first contact was “Yes WeAreStill Alive.” Well, it’s a good thing they told us. Otherwise, we would have absolutely no way of knowing. We realize Thom Yorke had to do the solo album thing and Radiohead isn’t really on the clock right now, but seriously…what is taking so long? What kind of announcement is this?

Radiohead, what does it all mean? (more…)

I know. Britney Spears is an easy target at this point. I think she has officially entered Mariah Carey territory, and as we’ve all learned from that, there is absolutely no turning back (I mean, sort of). Though her undeniable white-trashey-ness has been exposed recently in a very short amount of time (including two marriages, one annulment, one divorce, and two kids), she is attempting to make a real come-back. Her new single “Gimme More” is a good start, and kicks off with the sounds of her distorted vocals giving it to us raw….”It’s Britney, Bitch!” Yeah, we know. Hate to admit this, but I kind of love the song. It’s kind of awesome. Britney used to be pretty awesome, and she can still pull it off on record. She failed at her goal of becoming the next Madonna, but so has everyone else.

Of course, it’s extremely hard to go wrong when you have a line-up of the best producers in pop giving you the best tracks they have. However, Britney still somehow managed to ruin it. Perhaps her last chance to regain some shred of dignity was this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, who reluctantly gave her the opening number for the show (a decision which I’m sure they more than regret now). Britney failed miserably. So miserably, in fact, I actually question whether her painfully obvious lackluster performance was a publicity stunt within itself. Everyone wants to know if she was nervous…or if she was on something. What better way to sell records? I can’t figure it out and I want to know more. More!

Besides her whining about looking like a fat pig on stage (we should all be such fat pigs), Britney didn’t really seem to give a flying fuck about the performance. Like…at all. The excuse of being nervous is laughable for someone who’s toured the world and played every award show there is. Besides dancing like she had stuck her head in a microwave before the show, Britney barely even bothered to lip sync the song. I’m also pretty convinced that she was reading the words off of a teleprompter. Is this really the same girl that belly danced with a snake around her neck?

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Have you ever wondered what your opinion would be on the Top 10 Best Albums Ever if you spent absolutely no time at all to think about it? I recently joined the Facebook group Top 10 Albums. I literally joined, scrolled through some of the votes, and posted my picks within 5 minutes. I wanted to know what would happen if I just tossed out the first 10 great albums that came to mind. Of course, they’re not in order. That would have taken another hour. Looking back at the list, some of the choices are really interesting. I could almost stand by this list as if I spent hours on it; days even. (more…)