As the success of the Beastie Boys and Sunday morning talk shows, people take an oddly long time to tire of some asshole yelling at them.
Troll!
I mean, I like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They're no Journey, but they're pretty ok.
Seriously, I listen to maybe 15 minutes of the radio per day at most and I always hear a RHCP song.
Admit it, you liked Blood Sugar Sex Magik when it came out.
But the real issue is that people in your demographic are only allowed to listen to NPR, and you thus owe us an explanation for your transgression.
Admit it, you liked Blood Sugar Sex Magik when it came out.
Did not.
Like so many bands, Red Hot Chili Peppers were okay before they quit drugs. Like so many other bands, it's only the gay-ass post-rehab ballads that get airplay. Like several other bands, they get so much airplay it's sickening.
Becks, in other words, gets it exactly right.
Didn't we just do the "Homicidal Thoughts While Driving, Considered" thread?
Like so many other bands, it's only the gay-ass post-rehab ballads that get airplay.
Maybe in Boston. Here we get subjected to "Give It Away" on a regular basis. If they'd just stick to playing "Higher Ground" over and over and over again, though, that'd be fine by me.
7: that's post-rehab, yo. "Higher Ground" and "Knock Me Down" are the only two pre-rehab hits, I believe -- although checking wikipedia they may have been recorded after whatsisface died, so maybe they're immediately post-rehab.
Blood Sugar Sex Magik was their entre into sober complacency.
i don't know i always liked RHCP
though sure anything repeated too many times gets unbearably boring, so i don't listen to the songs i like that often
but when i like a new song i need to listen to it many times, like 20-30 times a day may be more, i never counted, when that phase is over the song becomes one of my faves
10: yo, yo, good point. Ballad and the occasional watered down nod to former okayness, more like.
I liked them just fine, but I'll agree that they do get overplayed.
12: See, B, I agree with you all day long. Let's go for a bike ride.
I think I disliked them post Freaky Styley. I was an annoying teenager.
I think it's hysterical that Flea was in both Fear and PIL and left them for the Chili Peppers. It's like if Pete Best had dropped out of the Beatles and done a brief stint with the Zombies only to settle in for a good long run with Vanilla Fudge.
The Big Lebowski was a better movie than Suburbia, at least.
15.1 is making me do the thing I would write the acronym for if it weren't banned, it's so funny.
Actually, the funny thing about "alternative" stations is that, marketing-wise, they're still defined by grunge, and the pre-history of 80s college radio. But the actual current music they play - Rob Zombie and Staind and all that - are almost nothing like that. So you get this really incongruous playlist that veers from Talking Heads to Nickelback to Primus.* It would be as if mainstream rock radio had retained its devotion to 50s rock n roll alongside 60s psychedelia, 70s hard rock, and Tom Petty. At some point, you have to cut off the past, or admit that you're a nostalgia format that only plays new music that sounds like what you were already playing.
* This is probably exacerbated in Pgh, with its very dumbed-down music radio culture.
17: We have an acronym for making analogies?
Battles isn't getting the stain of "Give It Away" out of my head. I hate you, Becks.
CA and I have Another State of Mind on dvd, but are too afraid to watch it for like the first time in 15 years or so.
The guy who made the movie popped up on the interwebz in the early aughties to tell us that he used to be a liberal, but now he is outraged by Chappaquiddick (as the Angelic Doctor says).
I am listening to bailé funk: all earworms are banished in an apocalyptic favela dance-off.
Oh, hm, now I'm listening to retro psychedelia sung in Khmer. It's eerily similar to the Chili Peppers' later work.
Battles isn't getting the stain of "Give It Away" out of my head
Nor mine. Arrgh.
Oh holy crap: this post just made me remember one of my college roommates from the first time around; I moved into the room somewhat late, and he'd already decorated the place: in addition to that Chili Peppers poster that has them clad in nothing but socks, the walls were literally covered with Joe Boxer ads cut out of magazines. The dude was kind of jock-y and frattish (read a lot of ESPN the Magazine), but given the decor and his chosen nickname ("ducky") he may -- just may -- have been closeted.
RHCP staining your ears? Why not listen to Car Bomb, Opeth, Black Dahlia Murder, Naked City, Khanate, or Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co.?
Sounds great, Ben. But where can I find music by these innovative bands?
Right here, my friend!
Battles isn't getting the stain of "Give It Away" out of my head
I'm finding at this very moment that a couple of 5-year-olds blasting the overture to Figaro at top volume over and over again is a pretty effective earworm deterrent.
Actually, the funny thing about "alternative" stations is that, marketing-wise, they're still defined by grunge, and the pre-history of 80s college radio. But the actual current music they play - Rob Zombie and Staind and all that - are almost nothing like that. So you get this really incongruous playlist that veers from Talking Heads to Nickelback to Primus.*
This is, oddly, the first encouraging thing I've heard about terrestrial radio in ages, because it demonstrates that radio hasn't become completely homogenized across the country. There's no station here that plays Talking Heads *and* Nickelback *and* Primus; the first two get play on the "World Class Rock" station, whose demographic seems to start out about 40, and nobody plays Primus anymore. (Which is particularly sad when you consider they're local.) The "alternative" station has been given over almost entirely to pop-punk and post-emo bands.
On the plus side, it's been years since I've been subjected to Staind.
(And yes, the sad sad state of Bay Area radio is a large part of the reason we listen to what moira dubbed "the gayest station on the planet".)
* This is probably exacerbated in Pgh, with its very dumbed-down music radio culture.
Living in Pittsburgh and State College in the mid-'90s blew a hole in my musical knowledge I'm still digging out of. "Who is this "Tricky" person of whom you speak?"
Most RHCP is good. Some RHCP is bad. Much RHCP is overplayed, especially (unfortunately) the bad RHCP.
Also: Comus playing on live on a boat, this very year!
given the decor and his chosen nickname ("ducky")
He wasn't albino, was he?
All commercially viable radio is nostalgia. Alt defines an age group that's starting to make a little money.
I remember back before you people were born (about 1984) when I happened to be listening to Portland's lame punk / post-punk station and an ad came on for cleaning supplies or some other product that new mothers would buy. The End.
The weirdest rock station ad sequence I remember was a bit before then when the sixties-rock station (KGON, no black artists) successively advertised diabetic needles and The Mormon Church. I guess the Mormons were doing a junky outreach.
By "no black artists" I mean: a bunch of Hendrix, one song by B. B. King, one by the Chambers Brothers, and 900-plus by white artists. (They published their 900+ playlist once.)
32: he... no?
I'm trying to think of anywhere that has good radio. Boston has a couple good college stations with iffy range, San Diego has a hilariously and inexplicably good old-school station, LA has a public radio station that plays excellent, influential new music but is honestly fairly insufferable.
I was trying to find a Go-Go station when I was in DC, but no dice.
LA has a public radio station that plays excellent, influential new music but is honestly fairly insufferable.
This blog is officially opposed to Nic Harcourt.
he... no?
I knew an albino guy named "Ducky" in high school, is why I ask. Hadn't heard what happened to him in years, and then reading someone's LiveJournal they mentioned meeting this albino dude named "Ducky".
35: I was also going to argue that radio most everywhere sucks. KCRW (the LA station you mention) is quite good at times. I like Jason Bentley's program. Morning Becomes Eclectic is O.K., but Harcourt plays a few to many kitschy folksy covers of old stuff for my taste.
The Current in Minneapolis, however, is a fantastic station. MPR bought the St. Olaf College classical station and announced that they would change its format (which led to much hue and cry, given that they were in effect eliminating the competition for their classical station, which was always considered by connoisseurs like my dad to be inferior), but they in fact turned it into something awesome.
I've been listening to WRUW from Case Western, and like it a lot.
They play a fuckload of metal, and I'm beginning to get an ear for it.
Teacher Tweety, most DC hip hop stations will mix in some go-go, but you don't get full stations devoted to it. I don't think anyone has been able to take more that 15 minutes of that beat continuously since 1985.
I'm trying to think of anywhere that has good radio. Boston has a couple good college stations with iffy range
See, this is proof it's all what you're used to. When I was there, I was driving around going "Goddamn! I can't believe there's *more than one* station that doesn't make me want to claw at my ears!"
Yeah, both I Vote Yes KYS and WPGC have DJs who play a fair amount of go-go, but not any actual shows.
I never would have pegged w-lfs-n for a secret Cannibal Corpse fan, but clearly he has two things in common with Jim Carrey.
Deev.
No, that'd be if I was reading someone's tribe.net page.
I've never heard any Cannibal Corpse, so there.
Didn't KCRW fire Joe Frank? Yes, they did. KCRW can rot in hell.
I believe that anyone who has ever lived in Chicago is at this point obligated to say: XRT used to be good.
First they came for Ferris Bueller fans, but I did not protest, for I was not a Ferris Bueller fan. Then they came for the American Idol fans, but I did not protest, for I am not an American Idol fan. Then they came for the Camille Paglia fans, but I did not protest, for I am not a Camille Paglia fan. And when they finally came for the Red Hot Chili Peppers fans, there was no one left to protest.
36: did you know Jason Bentley uses effects to make his radio voice sound better? It might be true!
All the DJs are irritating except maybe Liza Richardson.
San Diego has a hilariously and inexplicably good old-school station
Is 91X still around/any good?
The Current in Minneapolis, however, is a fantastic station.
Agreed. So is the Seattle station, KEXP. And there's one in Atlanta, but I forget the call sign.
14: I think I disliked them post Freaky Styley. I was an annoying teenager.
Huh. Yeah, me too. I haven't a clue what that has to do with being an annoying teenager, not that I cop to that in the first place.
36: did you know Jason Bentley uses effects to make his radio voice sound better? It might be true!
No, but I have heard that Joe Frank artificially deepened his voice on the air, Cornfed Pig style.
I saw red hot chili peppers on the Freaky Styley tour at the 8x10 in Baltimore. It could be something too brag about if they didn't kind of suck.
51: Just the generic, "Man, their first album was so much better" trope.
53: Man, I haven't been to the 8x10 for a while now. Last people I saw there was/were King Missile, I think.
kind of suck now I meant. They were pretty good live.
plus (audio warning)
17-Year Locusts Can't Believe Red Hot Chili Peppers Are Still Around
49: that's the one. They have a midday old-school show that owns.
52: that's what we thought Jason Bentley did, but I asked him point-blank and he denied it, so now my theory is he uses eq and a lot of compression and kind of murmurs.
Oh man. It feels like a betrayal of high school Heebie, and her passion and angst, to admit that RHCP are kind of a repetitive one-trick pony.
I'm listening to Nada Surf right now, "The Inside of Love", and getting all emo. I'm so lame!
There's an Out Hud track, "Put It Away, Put It Away, Put It Away, Put It Away Dad" which I can only assume was intended to make RHCP feel bad.
The Triangle has ridiculous amounts of good college radio, but I've fallen completely out of the habit of listening to the radio.
I'm surprised college radio is still a going concern.
There's always willing DJs, and the rise of music-stealing has actually produced a renaissance of sorts.
There's still a lot of college radio around here; some of the best stuff around, though that's unfortunately not saying a lot by comparison.
the rise of music-stealing has actually produced a renaissance of sorts
Mm, whatcha mean?
More students have access to more music by more labels. Their shows are the better for it.
Okay; I figured the stations were still accountable for being above-board. But maybe not.
Accountable to who? The labels send promos anyhow; as long as the kids don't play leaked advance releases who's to know?
I guess that's true. I was thinking that state schools, anyway, might have an interest in covering their asses, but you're right. Who's to know.
In that case I demand more better music from my local college radio stations.
How artists (heh) get paid is determined by the station's playlists, not by their library, so it doesn't really matter, from that perspective, where the DJs get their tracks.
The one thing I know about RHCP.
The one thing I know about RHCP.
That is a pretty awesome thing to know about them, though.
99.1 WHFS Annapolis, RIP. Of course, they sold out to Clear Channel between when I left the area and when they totally folded as a "modern rock" station, but I still have fond memories.
(also, annoyance that I could *read* this thread on my Palm, but not comment on it. Blasted out-of-date browser technology)
75: what browser? Ben will happily make an exception to the javascript requirement for your browser of choice.
Or you could get an iPhone, weirdo.
76: Is that why I get 403 errors when I try to comment from my phone? Javascript?
75: Opera Mini should work on the Palm, and commenting from it's no problem.
77: I get 403 errors from my desktop/laptop, so it's probably not the Javascript.
DC Go-go
KYS either Friday or Saturday night.
KEXP is good. Unfortunately, the timing of their shows is unfortunate with respect to when I'm normally in the car. Adam Carolla's morning show is slightly less annoying than Stern, which means I can stand it for about 1.5 minutes. And the Friday evening and Saturday morning shows are 50's Rock and Roll and Reggae, respectively, for 3 hours each. I can take about 2 songs' worth.
The Aerosmithization of the RCHP has been disappointing to watch, but I wouldn't really say they suck.
Whoops. Looks like I mixed up The End with KEXP, morning show-wise. KEXP's morning show has more music than most.
I'm still waiting for SCMT to show up and offer a defense of Red Hot Chili Peppers, likely involving the word "gawd".
Aerosmithization
The band that it's name I dare not speak.
I actually think they are exactly the model for RHCP. The trajectory is nigh-identical.
Dani California: objectively catchy.
"Web Pro", version 1.0. Which was current in 2002 when I got this PDA (Tungsten T). Opera Mini wants a JVM which Palm claims I can't get anymore.
Yeah, yeah, iPhone. It's no good to me until it can run my obsessive PDA finance-tracking software.
87: ahh, yeah. I hear about this "tracking" of "finances", sometimes.
I prefer my finances wild and free, like the mighty elk.
I actually think [Aerosmith is] exactly the model for RHCP. The trajectory is nigh-identical
I reckon I don't have any cool cred to damage around here, so I can go ahead and admit that I *loved* the song "Kings and Queens" from the Draw the Line album. I also loved "Dream On" and "Walk this Way" in their own way, but I never recited them in front of my 7th grade English class when I was required to memorize a piece of verse of my own choosing.
The band that it's name I dare not speak.
Romanes eunt domus?
"The Bachelor" tonight is a very dramatic episode -- the black girl, who has advanced further than any African-American in the history of the show, just revealed herself to be kind of a crazy bitch. Very dramatic.
Also, there's the first really intelligent bachelor, he has a sense of irony (British!) and is a superb manipulator. He's enjoying his harem.
OK, I'm banned!
Yeah, yeah, iPhone. It's no good to me until it can run my obsessive PDA finance-tracking software.
Ignore the siren song of OS X "Mobile" and go with Symbian S60. That way you can install what you want. Plus, you get a real keyboard.
As a British guy, he seems to have neatly sidestepped the weird American hypocrisy where everyone pretends to take the ridiculous setup sincerely and seriously. You can see how gleeful he is, but at the same time he gives fluent lip service to the premises of the show.
WHOSE DREAM OF MARRYING AN ENGLISH GENTLEMAN WILL END...TONIGHT!
Damn, my enjoyment of this show might be the most gross confession everyone has ever made on this blog.
92: I have it set up to control my iTunes now. I walk in the house, I flick my fingers here and there, and the world fills with music!
I prefer my finances wild and free, like the mighty elk.
So you don't want your finances to be caged and canned, and possibly shot in the face by the likes of Dick Cheney? Fair enough.
95: exactly the thing. If I don't know anything about my finances, I can't reveal anything under torture.
the most gross confession everyone has ever made on this blog
No, I think that was the stuff about sucking snot out of whoever's kid's nose.
Last words of the African-American woman after being rejected by the Bachelor:
"I'm still fabulous, I'm still amazing, and Brooklyn...I'm coming home to you!"
Next week: on the home visit, one of the remaining women's mothers fondles the Bachelor! On camera!
It's appointment television, I tell you.
98: God, Reality TV makes me want to crawl under a rock, or maybe hide in a cave, and not come out until after the Armageddon, if ever again.
94: Are you shitting me?
I assume it's a jailbreak thing.
Hm, the Xiino browser gets me a straight up "Access forbidden". I wonder what it was trying to do.
104: Wow. I've been wanting to go Airport Express with my Mini as music library, but was unhappy at the idea of needing to have the Mini in the LR with a screen. This would resolve that problem beautifully. Now I just need the wherewithal to replace the Mini as a CAD station, so it can move on to bigger, better things.
Huh, interesting topic in that I just tried to make a new Time Capsule thingy my music library, and my computer *completely* shat its pants. (I'm here only because of a bootable backup on an external drive, thank goodness)
And to all of those who, at this late point, can still find creative new ways to make me ache with covetousness for an iPhone, I would ask that you show a little fucking mercy.
You know, the Onion news videos are the funniest sketch comedy around these days. They're all good, but I like this one in particular.I like this one in particular.
I have made a stunning musical discovery: The Strokes copied the basic sound of "Last Nite" from Merril Bainbridge's "Mouth". Really, check it out.
I saw RHCP back in their Uplift Mofo Party Plan days, when they were still ending gigs with the socks on cocks thing. I loved them then, and was horrified when they started doing the ballad-y stuff. My kids liked Californication though.
I always get confused between the RHCP and the RCMP, who are also a shadow of what they once were.
Frusciante is a fantastic guitar player, but, most of the RHCP stuff is poor. They've also been recycling the same two ideas for the best part of two decades.
I always get confused between the RHCP and the RCMP, who are also a shadow of what they once were.
Not to mention the RCYB.
The first RHCP album is pretty good. But it's kind of a pale shadow of the first Faith No More album.
aren't we all still nursing a grudge about how RHCP scored the fame and money that in a juster world would have accrued to bad brains? aren't we??!!
re: 115
Nah, I'm thinking more that Gang of Four should have accrued it all about 10 years earlier. Bad Brains are over-rated.
Is there a trick to refreshing a long Unfogged thread on an iPhone? If I want to read the latest comments on a 800 comment thread, I end up scrolling for a good minute or two.
107: Those Onion videos do indeed kick ass on, say Saturday Night Live. I always liked this one . It seems to sum up the current state of American politics and morality pretty well.
What the fuck, why didn't the link appear?
and again, why can I never make HTML links work? Damnit.
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/in_the_know_how_can_we_make_the
Oh, I didn't put the link in quotes. This thread is now all about my incompetence.
Is there a trick to refreshing a long Unfogged thread on an iPhone?
Yes: get a computer.
121: PGD doesn't even know how to make toast, for christ's sake.
Also, I haven't done my taxes and just discovered I lost both my W-2s. It's extension time.
I have a computer. It refuses to help me with my scrolling.
Get a job, then. And some human rights.
Also, I haven't done my taxes
This was the first year I did my taxes using Turbo Tax, and it's swank. The computer walks you through the whole thing, submits it electronically (both state and federal), and then the respective revenue agencies deposit your refund directly into your bank account. By far the easiest tax filing I've had since I started having to itemize.
"Ease of scrolling" is a human right? I'm getting shafted with these eggplant rights.
"Ease of scrolling" is a human right?
Definitely.* If I ever have to use a mouse without a scroll wheel I chain myself to it in protest.
* I got distracted and don't know why I put that asterisk there.
I'm with ttaM in 116. Possibly adding Mission of Burma.
But if Mission of Burma had gotten famous early, we might never have had Birdsongs of the Mesozoic!
Hm....
132: Baaaastahn's naht that Baaastahn's naht that fah!
134: What? What's wrong with Birdsongs of the Mesozoic? I only have, or had, 2 albums and they were some time ago, but I saw them perform (again some time ago) and it was pretty cool. I chatted with them afterwards.
But wait. Did I misread that?
I've only heard their recent albums (though not the collaboration with Oral Moses), and they were entirely underwhelming—I think by that time, though, the guy who'd been in Mission of Burma had left.
Ben's timeline is reversed, but I think he was making a funny.
I did see Volcano Suns at Maxwells in like 84 or 85, though.
Indeed. In fact they've had a bit of a turbulent history. I should maybe look into their earlier stuff, maybe.
Reversed? MoB predates Birdsongs.
Faultline (1989) is, I think, the album I got when I saw them. But there was an earlier one -- not showing up on the discographies I'm seeing -- that attracted me to them. (Both of those things were made off with by an ex, so I haven't heard them for quite a while.)
I'm a little confused by this; the discographies don't show much before 1988 except under other names, one supposes.
Huh. You are right. Wikipedia (well) says 1979 for MoB and 1980 for Birdsongs.