Radley Balko has a lovely entry in his Five-Star Fridays series this week. Mrs Heathen has been quite pleased with those folks since seeing them on the webcast of Newport Folk earlier in the year.

Joan Jett and the Foo Fighters did “Bad Reputation” on Letterman this week, reprising a surprise cameo from the Foos’ Madison Square Garden show on Sunday.

Letterman’s enthusiasm at the end is genuine. Recall he once introduced the Foos as “my favorite band playing my favorite song” on his first show after surgery in 2000.

Sinead O’Connor performing Troy, live at the Dominion Theater, London, 1988, alone with an acoustic guitar. She is all of 21 years old here.

Related and long-meant-to-blog: Isn’t Sinead O’Connor Overdue A Massive Groveling Apology From Absolutely Everybody?

(Via MeFi.)

The “Police Academy” sound effects guy has apparently been honing his craft all these years. This is just bananas. Seriously.

There are some great Robert Ellis covers of Paul Simon songs over at Aquarium Drunkard, and you should check them out.

It has come to our attention that there is a new documentary about Big Star.

Sadly, the web site seems to be completely devoid of information regarding screenings, or streaming opportunities, or even a mailing list. Awesome.

(For the uninitiated, the wikipedia entries on the band and its most famous member are useful; you almost certainly know at least one of their songs already, as a truncated version of “In the Street” was used as the theme song for “That ’70s Show.”)

In the “unusual covers” department, here’s R.E.M. doing “Wichita Lineman.” Enjoy.

R.E.M. have called it a day after 31 years, 15 albums (and “Chronic Town”!), and uncountable influence on popular music.

This makes us at Heathen HQ a little sad, but only in a nostalgic way. R.E.M. for ME is the sound of my teen years, rich with twang and jangle and pop, and full of joy, starting the moment I popped a cassette of Lifes Rich Pageant into a boom box in 1986. Twenty-five years later, I’m playing that album in my office as I write this, and some part of my soul is still 16.

While for most of my life, I wouldn’t have hesitated to list the Athens band as one of my all time favorites, in truth my devoted fandom extends only to the mid-90s; Monster is the last record I really and truly enjoyed, and it’s only the first five records that still have a hold on my heart. (I could, for example, never hear “Shining Happy People” again and be perfectly content.)

Consequently, Bill Berry‘s retirement in 1997 was sad to me, but also mostly irrelevant — I bought a couple of the post-Berry “R.E.M. as a trio” records, but never really connected with them in the way I did with other, earlier records.

Here’s five R.E.M. memories, in no particular order, from my own 25 years of fandom:

1. In late 1986, the aforementioned copy of “Pageant,” my Walkman, and the discovery of something I’d keep for a long, long time.

2. A fall afternoon in Houston in the late 90s, picking up longtime Heathen and un-indicted co-conspirator Eric from Pizzeria Uno on Kirby; as he gets in the car, the first bars of Murmur bubble out of the CD changer, and he comments that it’s like cool water. That’s still true.

3. January, 2009, I run into Mike Mills at Washington National Airport as we’re returning home from the Inauguration. Erin says I shouldn’t, but I approach him anyway to quietly thank him for making the music that’s been such a big part of my life. He doesn’t seem to mind.

4. September 15, 1995, at the Woodlands; Eric and I and many others we know see the band on the Monster tour. It is insanely hot and muggy and miserable, but somehow they transcend it and play a great show (the opener was a little band called Radiohead. Then we all pile back into our cars to catch a now-defunct act at a now-defunct bar. Ah, being 25.

5. Back when MTV used to play music videos, they’d sometimes hype a premier. On a fall afternoon in 1987, Eric and I rushed back to his parents’ house to catch the first showing of the clip for The One I Love, the first single from Document. Hilariously, I notice now that the director of photography was a pre-culinary-obsession Alton Brown, which makes geographic sense.

Good thing I work at home. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a loud, jangly, Athensy afternoon here at Heathen HQ. If’n you’d like some video nostalgia of your own, I note that the R.E.M. site has a full video catalog.

For more see the AV Club’s coverage. I love that there’s already a Thank You R.E.M. tumblr. There is of course a long and rewarding thread at MeFi.

On the strength of the last post, I’m listening to their studio work this afternoon, and I’m having the same experience I usually do with their catalog: why don’t I listen to this more often? There’s a lot more to this band’s 7-record catalog than most people remember.

Frankly, they’ve been gone so long that it makes it easy to forget how huge they were; to think about Van Halen is also to recall the tragic private plane crash 24 years ago last month that claimed the lives of Sammy, Eddie, Alex, and Michael — plus, ironically, David Lee Roth, who happened to be camping in the otherwise deserted stretch of California wilderness where the Lear went down.

At the top of their game after the successes of both the last Roth record and the first Hagar record, we’re left wondering what magic they might have created if only for the critical instrument failures. At night, far from populated areas, Eddie — a new pilot, with far too few instrument hours for the flight, truth be told — was likely unaware of the danger until the final moments, which I suppose is a mercy.

Still, you wonder what amazing music they might’ve made had they lived. I mean, with the band freshly sober and firing on all cylinders, it seems unlikely that they’d have wasted the decades of musical opportunity that would’ve followed with petty infighting and substance abuse problems, like so many bands we could name.

Right?

Right?

Now, the Heathen Top Ten:

10. “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love,” Van Halen, 1978. It’s like a distillation of the whole band, full of swagger from Dave and Eddie over solid rhythm from Mike and Alex. Also, perhaps a near-singularity of apostrophe use in a song title.

9. “Romeo Delight,” Women and Children First, 1980. It’s like the first record, but tighter and more concentrated. Use with caution.

8. “Running with the Devil,” Van Halen, 1978. The first track off the first side of the first record. You know the thumping. You know what’s coming.

7. “And the Cradle Will Rock…”, Women and Children First, 1980. Have you seen Junior’s grades?

6. “Dance The Night Away,” Van Halen II, 1979. Them Dutch Boys beat the sophmore jinx. The second record isn’t the lightning bolt the first one was, but it remains a solid rock-and-roll record. The interlude at about 2 minutes in is worth the cost of admission.

5. “Cathedral,” from Diver Down, 1982. “He’s doing that with his volume knob? Are you shitting me?” Also, the song in which it’s easiest to tell Eddie was raised by a classical musician.

4. (Twofer): “Sunday Afternoon In The Park” into “One Foot Out The Door,” Fair Warning, 1981. This record is just criminally underrated; the whole thing is awesome, especially side two (see what I did there?). It smokes, and nobody listens to it.

3. “Get Up,” 5150, 1986. I remember buying only two tapes on day of release when I was in high school; this was one (I’ve written about the other one before). Warning: do not listen while driving, lest you run afoul of the local constabulary. Also, dig Alex’s drums.

2. “Mean Streets,” Fair Warning, 1981. Honest to God it’s hard not to list this whole album, but “Mean Streets” opens the record, and has for my money Eddie’s best solo.

1. “Eruption,” Van Halen, 1978. Oh, come on. You knew this would be the top track. It’s the sine qua non of both the band and the guitarist.

This is probably one of the earliest interviews done with Eddie Van Halen. The author, Jas Obrecht, was actually at the venue to interview Pat Travers instead, but Travers blew him off. Travers’ opening acts that night were Van Halen and AC/DC, which is hilarious in hindsight.

The 23-year-old wunderkind suggested he be the subject instead. “Nobody has ever wanted to interview me.”

New Waits record coming 25 October. Check out his private listening preview.

Bonus: the same site has video from Tom’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. enjoy.

Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel has announced a vinyl-only box set full of rarities, b-sides, etc., in addition to repressings of the studio albums. It ships in November, but is available for pre-order now.

It’s spendy ($88), but completely awesome.

In the Houston Press’ Rocks Off music blog, there’s an entry from a few days ago about “10 semi-obscure Led Zeppelin facts,” presumably run to coincide with Bonham the Younger’s band being in town. Said entry includes this bit:

At the beginning of “Immigrant Song,” the weird series of clipped noises are the sounds of the count in and the tapes beginning to record the tracks for the song. We always thought it was a bad rip when we first heard it online when we were young.

Emphasis added. I submit that the notion that there exists someone writing about music for a living who first encountered Zep not on scratchy vinyl or warped cassettes, but in pirated online rips may well be enough to put 99% of Heathen Nation into a full-blown, “You Kids Get Offa My Lawn” conniption fit.

Frances Bean Cobain is almost nineteen years old.

The Killers are playing at the VMWare convention. I reckon that’s what we expect from Mormon rock stars.

I’m not ordinarily one for Klosterman, but his moment-by-moment appreciation of Edgar Winter‘s instrumental Frankenstein as performed (in an empty studio) on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1973 is well worth the 9:19 of your time it’ll take to absorb.

By the way, I’m not sure if this post is more pointed at Millah or Mantlah. Heathen Nation: Decide!

Onion: “Parents’ Record Collection Deemed Hilarious:”

The teens accidentally stumbled across the record collection while searching for a long-rumored bottle of brandy in the Schnell family den. The collection proved a treasure trove of comic fodder, featuring such artists as The New Christy Minstrels, The Fifth Dimension, Helen Reddy, Tony Orlando & Dawn, Jo Ann Castle, The Carpenters, Glen Campbell, Arthur Fiedler & The Boston Pops, John Denver, Boots Randolph, and Ferrante & Teicher.

Music and pop-culture experts agree that the Schnell record collection is one of the most hilarious in the country today.

“At turns atrocious, tasteless, tepid, and self-parodying, the Schnell discography is a perfect encapsulation of the listening tastes of the American bourgeoisie in the mid- to late 20th century, as well as a knee-slappingly hilarious compendium of misguided trends in popular music,” said Lydia Dreifort, director of the Alan Lomax Center For American Ethnomusicology in Oxford, MS. “Can you believe they actually own Neil Diamond’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull?”

“I greatly look forward to having the chance to examine it firsthand,” Dreifort said of the collection, which not only features Hooked On Classics, but Hooked On Swing and Hooked On Broadway. “The exquisite squareness of the music is truly something to behold.”

What your favorite 80s band says about you, from McSweeney’s.

(It was close, but in point of fact I have never used a hamster ball that way.)

In case you somehow missed it, I call your attention to the fact that the two-piece band known as Gillian Welch have released their first record in eight years.

Go buy it from your favorite local record store.

The National do Pretty in Pink. Free download. Enjoy. Happy 4th.

Bob Mould wrote a book, and now looks like this.

Here’s an interview with Miles Davis by Alex Haley, from the September 1962 issue of Playboy. Somewhat long, but worth your time.

(The URL is playboy.co.uk, so potentially NSFW.)

Oliver Hencsey’s video for the Foo Fighters’ new single Walk is a direct homage to the 1993 Michael Douglas film Falling Down. Enjoy.

Three years ago today, Elias Otha Bates shuffled off this mortal coil at the age of 79. You knew him as Bo Diddley, and he helped invent rock and roll.

Here.

You’re welcome.

He, apparently, plans to stay in bed all day.

And the answer is, unequivocally, no NONE. NONE MORE HEAVY:

From this MeFi post with several other worthwhile links.

Observations gleaned from various comment threads on this:

First, amazingly, “War Pigs” is only eleven years after Buddy Holly.

Second, N.B. what a tiny drum kit Bill Ward plays compared to modern metal drummers. It does not seem to slow him down.

Finally, how the hell did Mrs Heathen and I not know this was happening at the 9:30 club that night?

Some smart folks have created tunable Tesla coils, and are busy playing music with them – including Lady Gaga covers. Yes, there’s video.

VEGAN BLACK METAL CHEF would like to show you how to make pad thai.

(There may be more updates later, if you enjoy this sort of thing.)

If anything, the Houston Press understates how awesome the Arcade Fire show was. Whoa.

Radley Balko found a video of the Oak Ridge Boys performing a cover of 7 Nation Army.

And now: Unnecessary Goth Covers.

• One, counterintuitive and oddly charming; and
• Two, of such a character that somewhere, Eldritch is having a migraine.

No such list is complete without the source material, from an era when there actually WERE music videos. I don’t care what you people say about her actual musical contributions to the Sisters; Patricia Morrison is absolutely the best thing about this video.

In the event you think that vid’s overproduced, well, I can only offer this one, from the same band and the same era.

(Amusing note: Morrison is now somebody’s parent, with Damned founder Dave Vanian.)

If you’ve forgotten the brilliant pairing of DJ Format and Abdominal, allow me to remind you, starting with “We Know Something You Don’t Know“:

From the same record, there’s also “Vicious Battle Raps” the video for which is one long shot:

Ke$ha. Don’t believe me? Go watch her new video.

Ok. It’s not really Ke$ha. It’s video director Chris Marrs Piliero, who not-coincidentally did the Black Keys clip with Tricia “6” Helfer a few weeks back. His collected output is probably worth your time. Spike Jonze has competition.

The Decemberists and Gillian Welch played “Down by the Water” on Conan the other night.

Enjoy.

“Everybody Skype? Everybody Post?” Jesus fucking CHRIST, Lou, really? For fucking HP, of all things? You’re fucking killing me, man.

Sigh. That right there is plenty enough to avoid the almost certainly doomed hail-mary tablet from what used to be Hewlett Packard, which ate what used to be Palm. Fuck ’em both.

The Black Keys’ action-movie-spoof video is fanTAStic, even if it is hosted on IO9’s failtastic new site.

Radiohead cover Joy Division rather well, I think.

Acoustic Bizarre Love Triangle:

Sofa. King. Perfect.

See Also, for comparison.

Are you 30 to 40 and an aspiring musician, or were you when you were 20? Did you lust after those cassette-based 4-track recorders? Are you sure kids today have no idea how good they’ve got it?

Well, if you’ve got an iPad, I’ve got some good news for you.

Go here.

Bohemian Rhapsody by Jake Shimabukuro.

Not for nothing, but one takeaway lesson from this post might be that “No Depression has a great set of videos you may have missed.”

This is the best damn cover of Smooth Criminal EVAR.

And on it, she points out that the Beastie Boys are aging gracefully.

For the record:

• Mike D: b. 1965
• King Ad-Rock: b. 1966
• MCA: b. 1964

Deal’s tumblr also has a really nice, poignant Christmas post.

Time was, Double Nickels on the Dime got played an awful lot in proto-Heathen’s Walkman.

D. Boon was 27 when he was killed in a van accident 25 years ago today.

It’s that time again: Bing meets Bowie.

(Oh, wait, you were expecting maybe this one?)

I didn’t give a shit then, either.

Really, just go watch this.

Pretty Hate Machine has been re-released in remastered form. Proceed accordingly.