Dept. of Guitar Geekery

Here’s the widely linked video of an employee of the Chicago Music Exchange playing 100 rock riffs chronologically in one take, which is entertaining in its own right, but real music nerds will notice that the truly impressive bit is that he retunes on the fly a couple times.

Anyway, enjoy.

This is hilarious.

Unhappy with their ex-label, it appears that Def Leppard are re-recording their biggest hits to release electronically instead of agreeing to let Universal release the originals.

Think about that for a minute.

TechDirt’s post ends with this probing question: “Makes you wonder if there are any acts who feel they weren’t screwed over by their major label…” My guess is “no.”

Oh, Iggy.

From this NYT interview:

Has your relationship with your penis changed?

I would characterize it sort of like a powerful interest group within a political party at this point. It used to be the entire political party.

I’m curious how your tour is going. You have a new album, “Aprés,” and you’re out there with the Stooges. You resolved in 2010 that you wouldn’t stage-dive anymore after you had a mishap.

I said that after doing a concert for Tibet at Carnegie Hall, which I did because Philip Glass asked me to. [Emph. added — Heathen] But yeah, I am a little impulsive, and Lenny Kaye was playing “I Want to Be Your Dog” too damned slow, and I just ran out of ideas and I thought, Well, let’s just stage-dive. Nobody caught me, because it was the Carnegie Hall-Tibetan-whatever audience. I was a little miffed. We’ve done two gigs this year, and I haven’t done one yet. Stages are getting higher and higher, and I’m getting older and older.

Yet more reasons to love Miles Davis

From this Guardian piece, pointed out to us by BoingBoing:

In 1987, he was invited to a White House dinner by Ronald Reagan. Few of the guests appeared to know who he was. During dinner, Nancy Reagan turned to him and asked what he’d done with his life to merit an invitation. Straight-faced, Davis replied: “Well, I’ve changed the course of music five or six times. What have you done except fuck the president?”

One last Beastie post

Two bits:

  • From Chuck D:

Last night, I took a 14 hour flight to Sydney, Australia from LA, embarking on PE’s 80th tour in 25 years. I just landed to 65 texts with the news. Adam and the Boys put us on out first tour 25 years and 79 tours ago. They were essential to our beginning, middle and today. Adam especially was unbelievable in our support from then ’til now, even allowing me to induct them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I consider myself a strong man and my father says be prepared to lose many in your post-50 path of life. Still, I’m a bit teary-eyed leaving this plane.

It bears noting that, when Public Enemy and the Beasties first toured together, PE was the opening act.

  • We watched the most recent, and now much more poignant, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction (fro April 14) on Saturday night. Chuck D was joined by LL Cool J for the Beastie introduction, and LL noted something I didn’t know: It was the Beasties who played his demo for Rick Rubin and launched his career. (BTW, Chuck D and LL’s full remarks are here.)

They may have been initially perceived as a joke or novelty act based on the frat-rock antics of “Fight for Your Right,” and if you tuned out or never paid any attention to real hip-hop, you might be forgiven for not realizing just how deeply important the Beasties were to the development of an entire genre of music.

In Which Mysteries Are Solved

If you, as we at Heathen Central, are baffled by how the band LMFAO — they of “Sexy and I Know It” — got a record contract, well, wonder no more:

LMFAO is an American electro pop duo consisting of rappers, singer-songwriters, producers, dancers and DJs Redfoo (Stefan Kendal Gordy, born September 3, 1975, age 37) and his nephew SkyBlu (Skyler Austen Gordy, born August 23, 1986, age 25).The group formed in 2006 in Los Angeles, California. Redfoo’s father, music mogul Berry Gordy, is SkyBlu’s grandfather.

In the event you are too lazy to click: the elder Mr Gordy is the founder of Motown Records.

Dear RIAA Members

What Amanda Palmer has just done with her Kickstarter campaign should make you very, very nervous.

She sought $100,000 in a 30 day campaign. With 29 days to go, she has raised (at this writing) $368,711 from 6,615 backers.

That sound? It’s the balls of a thousand greedy exploitative middlemen shrinking into their abdomens.

Levon

This morning, I found this video by The Band on one of my “coffee sites.” I didn’t realize is that this 1976 performance — from their Last Waltz farewell film — was the last time Levon Helm played “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” but that’s the sort of thing you learn when you see a random video you enjoy, and start a little wandering on Wikipedia.

Sadly, I also discovered a bit of news that is almost certainly the reason the video was on Merlin’s Tumblr in the first place.

Yesterday, this was posted on Helm’s site:

Dear Friends,

Levon is in the final stages of his battle with cancer. Please send your prayers and love to him as he makes his way through this part of his journey.

Thank you fans and music lovers who have made his life so filled with joy and celebration… he has loved nothing more than to play, to fill the room up with music, lay down the back beat, and make the people dance! He did it every time he took the stage…

We appreciate all the love and support and concern.
From his daughter Amy, and wife Sandy

Godspeed, Levon.

A very, very long way from Deadwood

From The Awl we get the altogether bizarre information that, in 1992, Ian McShane recording an album of mellow covers called “From Both Sides Now.” Included are such hits as “Really Love To See You Tonight” and, freakishly, “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” from Genesis.

Even worse, apparently at no point does the record include the word “cocksucker.” My head hurts now.

(Do I really need to tell you a link on the word “cocksucker” isn’t safe for work?)

Alan Parsons on Audiophiles

This is pretty great, but the best part may be the ref to a Slashdot commenter, who said:

Audiophiles don’t use their equipment to listen to your music. Audiophiles use your music to listen to their equipment.

In Which A 19 Year Old Mystery Is Unraveled

At some heretofore unknown time in the early 90s, Mr O’Shea Jackson — known to you, no doubt, as Ice Cube — experienced something known colloquially as A Good Day. And yet despite the many notable events — no smog, no gunplay, public endorsements by airborne advertising — scholars have been unable to determine the exact day to which Mr Cube refers.

Until now. It’s sad to realize we missed its 20th anniversary just 10 days ago.

Dept. of Intensely Smoking Covers

Fiona Apple completely owns Elvis Costello’s “I Want You” in this clip; on guitar, of course, is Declan himself:

I wish I knew what this was from, and where I could get an audio copy (i.e., other than a youtube rip). It’s apparently from the VH1 Decades concert series back in 2006, whose concept was “classic artists and new artists together.” Hard to believe any combination was more successful than this one. More clips from the Costello edition are here.