You’ve probably already noticed that we’ve elected rock-legends-in-waiting The Stone Foxes as our Artist Of The Month. We’ve got all sorts of great Stony Foxy stuff heading your way – starting with this great playlist of the band’s favorite songs. Enjoy!
The phrase ‘Big in Japan’ has always been a bit condescending. Being successful there is supposed to be easy, because of the island’s famed love for anything different and western. The stock description has also been used to imply the artist in question just isn’t very good. But we hear it less and less, as the so-called borderless internet makes it impossible for stars to moonlight as rubber duck pedlars and credible musicians (check the two shameful examples below).
Are the musicians who only become successful abroad actually less cool? Is it just harder to get a successful career off the ground in the diminished pop markets of the US and the UK? And does it even matter anymore where you’re successful, when the music industry is in such a fragile state?
Many a fight breaks out in the BAMM.tv office when it comes to the ‘who gets to ride the segway on their lunch break’ debate. Not the most blistering of confrontations, sure, but such arguments can’t help but make us think about some of the more epic feuds in the scrap-happy world of rock and roll. Here’s a look at five of the ‘best’ …
5. Jarvis Cocker vs Michael Jackson
Possibly the last time anything even remotely exciting happened at annual blandfest The Brit Awards – in 1996, Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker grew tired of Michael Jackson’s messianic posturing during a performance of ‘Earth Song’, and proceeded to mimic the time-honored tradition of ‘farting in his general direction.’ Arrest and subsequent media frenzy ensued.
4. Jay Z vs Noel Gallagher
Noel Gallagher is not impressed with the fact that hip-hop megastar Jay-Z has been booked for (traditionally guitar-led) UK festival Glastonbury. Gallagher states this on several high-profile occasions. Jay-Z responds by emerging onstage to a sneering version of Gallagher’s ballad ‘Wonderwall’, thereby stepping the rivalry up a notch.
3. Courtney Love vs Dave Grohl
Where to start? Walking issue-magnet Courtney Love has long voiced her disdain for the ex-bandmate of her late husband Kurt Cobain, claiming – among other things – that Grohl has no legal stake in any of Nirvana’s creative output. Grohl maintained his image as the ‘nicest guy in rock’ by staying silent in public, commenting only via songs like ‘Let It Die’ (above).
2. Dandy Warhols vs Anton Newcombe
A rivalry so lengthy and intense it fuelled ‘Dig’, an entire documentary feature. While the Dandy Warhols are not known for being shrinking violets, their number one competitor Anton Newcombe (whose group The Brian Jonestown Massacre were tipped as being as big as the Dandies) is a full-on whirlwind of animosity and drama-queen tantrum.
1. Megadeth vs Metallica
After being kicked out of Metallica, Dave Mustaine went on to form Megadeth – one of the biggest, most successful, iconic metal bands in the world. It’s very telling that – despite this achievement – his resentment towards his former bandmates simmered nicely for the best part of two decades …
Hope you’re enjoying our season of cool stuff from our Artist Of The Month Thao & The Get Down Stay Down – and we really hope you’ll keep your beady eyes on BAMM.tv towards the end of this week, when we’ll be unveiling an exclusive competition to win some personalised merchandise from the band themselves!
In the meantime, we’ve got something else very cool to share – we asked lead singer Thao Nyugen to pick her five favorite performances from the sprawling (and awesome, and amazing, and exclusive, and numerous other descriptive terms) BAMM.tv archives. Here are her choices:
Will Sprott – A Dog Will Love You When Nobody Else Will
A dog will indeed love you when no-one else will. Unless of course they’re those hell hounds from the end of Ghostbusters. You want to avoid those.
Tambores Julio Remelexo – Go Down
Ironically you won’t be feeling down after chilling out to this …
Forro Brazuca- Salsa De Reboco
Time to swing the night (or afternoon) away with these salsa shenanigans.
Lulacruza- Rio Contento
Enjoy the multi-layered melodies of this dynamic duo.
Great Lake Swimmers – Still
A memorable and moving song from their legendary performance at the 2011 BAMM.tv showcase at the SXSW festival.
The eagle-eyed among you (well, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration – we’ll just settle for ‘those among you who have taken a look at our blog this past week’) will know that alt-folk-rock stars Thao & The Get Down Stay Down have taken the throne as our coveted Artist Of The Month.
As usual, then, we want to find out which tunes are tickling their earbuds right now. So we asked frontwoman Thao Nyugen to spill the beans. Here’s her top five …
Aha- “Take On Me’
Classic 80s pop with one of the best videos ever made.
Some bands are just too good to actually exist – should their awesomeness manifest itself in the real world, chances are the very fabric of reality could collapse in on itself. Maybe. Probably. Look, we haven’t researched the scientific logistics of the whole thing. We’re not Stephen Hawking, you know.
Take our hand (come on, its still not summer yet, you could use the body warmth) and join us for a rundown of the Top 5 Greatest Fictional Bands in history …
(Note: we decided not to include Spinal Tap in this list, because that would possibly be the most obvious thing ever, and we’re nothing if not contrary).
5. Wyld Stallyns – ‘Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure’
Okay, so they can’t actually play (despite a plot device in which their future songwriting skills help unite the planet in peace) but we’ll be damned if an evening at a Bill and Ted gig wouldn’t be the best party this side of 1988.
4. The Soggy Bottom Boys – ‘O Brother Where Art Thou?’
George Clooney gets in touch with his bluesgrass side – with remarkable singalong results – in The Coen Brothers’ 2000 comedy masterwork.
3. Three Times One Minus One – ‘Mr Show’
Hilariously bad spoof act from comic geniuses David Cross and Bob Odenkirk (whose TV comeback in recent years has seen him killing it in ‘Breaking Bad’). If these guys actually existed, there’s no doubt that even whistling one of their tunes would get you laid in a heartbeat.
2. Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem – ‘The Muppet Show’
Our furry friends rock out to the utmost.
1. The Commitments – ‘The Commitments’
Often regarded as the best Irish film of all time, it’s very telling that the producers placed musical ability at the top of their casting wish-list. They wished, and they most certainly got it.
Following the remarkable recent team-up between indie darlings Vampire Weekend and buggy-eyed acting legend Steve Buscemi, we couldn’t help but ruminate on the topic of strange musical collaborations, and thought we’d take you on a baffling trip down memory lane. So: let’s have a peek at five of the weirdest get-togethers of all time.
5. The KLF and Tammy Wynette
Woah, woah, woah – we never said that ‘weird’ meant ‘bad’. There are few stranger combinations than British electro-anarchists the KLF and old dame of country Tammy Wynette, but when they unleashed ‘Justified And Ancient’ in 1991, they produced the catchiest tune of the year.
4. Gwyneth Paltrow And Huey Lewis
Whereas this? Yep, this is bad. Vey bad.
3. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony And Phil Collins
For those of you (and I’m assuming there must be many) whose abiding memory of Phil Collins is that ‘No Jacket Required’ was the only cassette in your parents’ car, watching him bust some moves alongside the Bone Thugs is somewhat disconcerting.
2. Eminem and Elton John
Marshall tries to stave off accusations of homophobia by performing a live Grammy duet with Elton John. Then spends the next few years trying to stave off accusations of awful, awful ideas for collaborations.
1. Buzz Aldrin and Snoop Dogg
Yes, you read that right. Buzz Aldrin and Snoop Dogg.
It happens to even the most musically literate of us: you know a song from somewhere (in the case of a tune that’s doing the rounds on the advertising circuit, everywhere) but you don’t know what it’s called. Scientists have a name for this – they call it ‘what the hell is that song? Seriously, it’s driving me mad. Just someone, please, throw me a f**king bone here.’
Anyway, because we’re big acolytes of the whole ‘public service’ thing, we’ve decided to enlighten you this Friday with a quick rundown of those songs you know but don’t really know. If you know what we mean. Y’know.
‘Clubbed To Death’ – Rob Dougan
You say: ‘oh, you know the one. It’s in The Matrix. And it’s always featured on inspirational stuff, like sporting montages or energy drink commercials. And it goes ‘bff-ttt-bff-ttt-bff-ttt-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa’.’
You mean: Clubbed To Death by Rob Dougan. It dates from 1995, which means that if it was a person, it would soon be thinking about going to college. Not to make you feel old or anything.
No matter how visually exciting a band or artist may be, sometimes sticking to the ‘real world’ can put something of a limit on creative imagination. Sculpting a whole new universe from scratch has always been one of the imperatives for any good animator: be they the 1920s pioneers who knocked together those first flickering Disney cartoons, or the computer whiz-kids who sculpt the next Pixar masterpiece.
What happens when this animated wonderland is combined with the world of music? Great, great things – as our rundown of the five best animated music videos will attest …
5. The White Stripes – ‘Fell In Love With A Girl’
Superstar director Michel Gondry combines two of the greatest inventions of the latter half of the 20th century – lego and rock ‘n’ roll – into this whirlwind high-octane blast.
The photo-op has long been an established part of musical success. Want your band to get noticed? Then get ready to do whatever the nice people in the art department say. The thing is: sometimes what seems like a good idea can just turn out to a little bit … weird. Let’s take a look at some of the craziest examples of this breed.
5. Paul McCartney And Michael Jackson
PAUL: Hey, Michael, how does this dishwashing thing work again?
MICHAEL: I don’t know. I’m so rich I usually have an army of butlers do it for me.
PAUL: Me too.
BOTH: LOL
4. Iggy Pop
Iggy takes to the red carpet and does his best impression of a bag of Cheetos exposed to high G-force.
3. David Bowie
An accidental shot rather than a staged opportunity, this pic of David Bowie being assaulted via a lollipop-eye interface still remains of the strangest in rock history.
2. Louis Armstrong
Louis takes on the Egyptian Gods and presumably wins.
1. Freddie Mercury
Actually, we’re not sure if this picture classifies as ‘crazy’, or ‘the greatest moment since the invention of photography’.
