Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Blog's new feature: Obscure Bands/Artists of the Week
this week: Johnny Hates Jazz
next up: Breathe, Matt Bianco, Danny Wilson, Keno (lol)
posted by uging |
9:34 PM
Sunday, March 21, 2004
As expected, I copped an abuse for putting in 'Like A Virgin' as my most-hated song ever. So as a truce (I hope you're reading this), I'm going to change that to Salt N Pepa's 'Push It'. I don't hate Madonna. I reckon she's brilliant. I know all her songs & I even own three CDs (well, one cassette) of her: Madonna, True Blue & Immaculate Collection. I even have that 'You Can Dance' EP. I remember during the 80s when my gay cousin would pop in that EP of 'Everybody' at full blast & his 'amigas' next door, most of them college girls would dash to our place virtually turning our living room into a 'Whereelse' or 'Music Machine' (whatever you call those disco places) with matching strobe lights. I grew up listening to Madonna but I was never a fan. Like what Mr Blue in 'Reservoir Dogs' said, 'when she all got into these Papa Dont Preach stuff, i tuned out'. I tuned out earlier than that. But there were some cool hits like 'Open Your Heart', 'Rain' & 'Dont Tell Me'.
As a tribute, I'm putting in my Top 10 favorite Madonna songs of all time.
posted by uging |
8:11 PM
Monday, March 15, 2004
taken from nin's thread:
1. What is ur favorite song EVER?
I Cant Go For That - Hall & Oates
2. What is your most hated song EVER?
Like A Virgin
3. Name one song that you think only you had heard of and really really like.
I Found Heaven - Rippingtons feat. Howard Hewett
4. Perfect song for sex.
Sadness Part 1 - Enigma
5. If you were to join a singing contest, what song would you sing?
Yellow - Coldplay
6. What song would you want to be played in your
funeral?
Alive & Kicking - Simple Minds
7. What song would really, really make you cry?
ang potangnang 'Hindi Kita Malilimutan'
8. What song brightens up your day before goin to school?
Top of the World - Carpenters
9. First tape/CD you bought?
Voltes V soundtrack ata
10. Latest tape/CD you bought
Best of Duran Duran
11. What is your ultimate song about hope/triumph?
Youre Only Human - Billy Joel
12. What is the most painful song you've ever heard?
You Oughta Know - Alanis Morisette
13. What is your favorite gospel song?
Lift Up Your Hands - Basil Valdez
14. What song do you want to be played on your wedding day?
Release Me - Engelbert Humperdinck *lol*
15. What song would best describe your life right now?
Im Bored - Iggy Pop
16. Whats your song for yourself right now?
Im Bored - Iggy Pop
17. What is your favorite party/groove song?
September - Earth Wind & Fire
18. What song did you use to sing all the time as a child?
weird but 'Emotions' by Samantha Sang
19. What song makes you sleep?
any James Taylor ballad
20. What song would you like to sing to your loved one?
Closer - Nine Inch Nails *lol*
posted by uging |
7:38 PM
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Last Saturday was the most embarassing karaoke finals I've been in. Though I'm not really American Idol material, I was decent enough to be chosen as a finalist but that night, I sang so badly it'll make William Hung sound like Josh Groban. What's ironic was that it was 'Superman', my 'signature song' that did me in. I never wanted to do it in the first place coz I'm sick of it (plus the fact that it reminds me of Piolo Pascual for some reason) but I was so nervous that night that out of the 3000+ songs in the list, I ended up choosing that freakin song, no thanks to some people who insisted that I do it. So there, out of 22 finalists, I drew third. Dunno why I was nervy when I've already done this so many times. Maybe it was the packed crowd or maybe the fact that I haven't had a drink yet. Finalists actually had to sing twice so for my 2nd song, I picked 'I Got You Under My Skin' coz I noticed a lot of oldies in the crowd as well. I quickly dashed to the bar & grabbed a beer. I thought this will settle me down a bit but it didn't. So I was singing, blah blah & when I got to that 'im more than a bird, im more than a plane' bit, I stuffed out. It was a mess. I saw one of the judges cringe & I thought 'ahh shit, there goes my chances'. Not that I really had a chance anyway coz the girl that sang before me sang like Kelly Clarkson. Finally, the torment was over. At least the audience tried to listen and were appreciative enough to applaud. Went back to our table & tried to relax. 19 more people to end the first round. Second round was in reverse order so I was the 3rd last singer. It was such a long wait that me & my friends decided to go elsewhere and do something 'more interesting'. Came back around 11 & the place got even busier. There were a lot more younger people. I dont think these people dig Sinatra so I went to the DJ & changed my song. Bad move. Powderfinger's 'My Happiness' was so popular that everyone started singing with me that I can even barely hear myself. I was also in an 'interesting state' when I sang so I was like overzealous & feeling like Bernard Fanning. It scored with the audience but not with the judges. But fuckit, I went there to have a good time. The only problem was the following morning, I realized the mess I did, singing & performance-wise & thought what the fuck was that all about.
For the record, it was an Indonesian lady who came first. Katrina didn't sing that well but she came 2nd only because the DJ's got the hots for her & Mike, my miserable ex-flatmate got third only because he did Eminem's 'Lose Yourself' minus the on-screen lyrics. And if there's any consolation, the Kelly Clarkson sound-alike didn't even run a place.
posted by uging |
3:43 PM
|
|
|
| archives |
|
|
|
|
| Band of Bloggers |
|
curves ahead
girl with the indigo eyes
the princess
she likes to watch
moka java
true companion
north star
stories of the painted desert
dream of the sirens
bella luna
|
|
| bookmarked |
|
best jazz band in the world
Soccer madness
Pinoyexchange
NBA
online quizzes
weird stuff
fun & games
|
|
| Weekly Top 10: Fave George Benson & Al Jarreau tracks |
|
10.Lady Love Me One More Time
9.Feel Like Makin Love
8.20/20
7.This Masquerade
6.Love Times Love
5.Turn Your Love Around
4.Were In This Love Together
3.Boogie Down
2.Mornin`
1.Breakin Away
|
|
| Musical heroes: Def Leppard |
|
Def Leppard, in many ways, was the definitive hard rock band of the '80s. There were many bands that rocked harder, and were more dangerous, than the Sheffield quintet, but few others captured the spirit of the times quite as well. Emerging in the late '70s as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, the group actually owed more to the glam-rock and metal of the early '70s — their sound was equal parts T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, Queen and Led Zeppelin. By toning down their heavy riffs and emphasizing melody, Def Leppard were poised for crossover success by 1983's Pyromania, but skillfully used the fledgling MTV network to their advantage. The group was already blessed with photogenic good looks, but they also crafted a series of innovative, exciting videos, which made them into stars. They intended to follow Pyromania quickly, but were derailed when their drummer lost an arm in a car accident, the first of many problems that plagued the group's career. Def Leppard managed to pull through such tragedies and they even expanded their large audience with 1987's blockbuster Hysteria. As the '90s began, mainstream hard rock shifted away from Leppard's signature pop-metal and towards edgier, louder bands, yet the group maintained a sizable audience into the late '90s and were one of only a handful of '80s metal groups to survive the decade more or less intact.
Def Leppard had its origins in a Sheffield-based group Rick Savage (bass) and Pete Willis (guitar) formed in their late teens in 1977. A few months later, vocalist Joe Elliott, a fanatic follower of Mott the Hoople and T. Rex, joined the band, bringing the name Deaf Leopard. After a spelling change, the trio, augmented by a now-forgotten drummer, began playing local Sheffield pubs, and within a year they had added guitarist Steve Clark, as well as a new drummer. Later in 1978, the recorded their debut EP Getcha Rocks Off and released it on their own label, Bludgeon Riffola. The EP became a word-of-mouth success, earning airplay on the BBC. The group members were still in their teens.
Following the release of Getcha Rocks Off, Rick Allen was added as the band's permanent drummer, and Def Leppard quickly became the subject of the British music weeklies. Soon, they signed with AC/DC's manager Petter Mensch, who helped them secure a contract with Mercury. On Through the Night, the band's full-length debut, was released in 1980 and instantly became a hit in the U.K., also earning significant airplay in the U.S., where it reached number 51 on the charts. Over the course of the year, Def Leppard relentlessly toured Britain and America, including opening slots for Ozzy Osbourne, Sammy Hagar and Judas Priest. High N' Dry followed in 1981, and it became the group's first platinum album in the U.S., thanks to MTV's strong rotation of "Bringin' on the Heartbreak." MTV would be vital to the band's success in the '80s.
As the band recorded the follow-up to High N' Dry with producer Mutt Lange, Pete Willis was fired from the band for alcoholism, and Phil Collen, a former guitarist for Girl, was hired to replace him. The resulting album, 1983's Pyromania, became an unexpected blockbuster, due not only to Def Leppard's skillful, melodic metal, but also to MTV's relentless airing of "Photograph" and "Rock of Ages." Pyromania went on to sell 10 million copies, establishing Def Leppard as one of the most popular bands in the world. Despite their success, the band was about to enter a trying time for their career. Following an extensive international tour, the group re-entered the studio to record the follow-up, but producer Lange was unavailable, so they began sessions with Jim Steinman, the man responsible for Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell. The pairing turned out to be ill-advised, so the group turned to its former engineer, Nigel Green. One month into recording, Rick Allen lost his left arm in a New Year's Eve car accident. The arm was reattached, but it had to be amputated once an infection set in.
Without a drummer, Def Leppard's future looked cloudy, but by the spring of 1985 — just a few months after his accident — Allen began learning to play a custom-made electronic kit assembled for him by Simmons. Soon, the band resumed recording, and within a few months Lange was back on board, but once he joined the team, he judged the existing tapes inferior and had the band begin work all over again. The recording continued throughout 1986, and that summer, the group returned to the stage for the European Monsters of Rock tour. Def Leppard finally completed its fourth album, now titled Hysteria, early in 1987, releasing it that spring to lukewarm reviews; many critics felt that the album compromised Leppard's metal roots for sweet pop flourishes. The record was slow out of the starting gates — "Women," the first single, failed to really take hold. But with the second single, "Animal," Hysteria began to take off. It became the group's first Top 40 hit in the U.K., but more importantly, it began a string of six straight Top 20 hits in the U.S., which also included "Hysteria," "Pour Some Sugar On Me," "Love Bites," "Armageddon It" and "Rocket," the latter of which arrived in 1989, a full two years after the release of Hysteria. During those two years, Def Leppard was unavoidable — they were the kings of high school metal, ruling the pop charts and MTV, and teenagers and bands alike replicated their teased hair and ripped jeans, even when the grimy hard rock of Guns N' Roses took hold in 1988.
Hysteria proved to be the peak of Leppard's popularity, yet their follow-up remained eagerly awaited in the early '90s as the band set to work on the record. During the recording, Steve Clark died from an overdose of alcohol and drugs. Clark had long had a problem with alcohol, and following the Hysteria heyday, the band forced him to take a sabbatical; he did enter rehab, but to no apparent effect. In fact, his abuse was so crippling that Collen had to play the majority of the guitar leads on Hysteria. Following Clark's death, Def Leppard resolved to finish its forthcoming album as a quartet, releasing Adrenalize in the spring of 1992. Adrenalize was greeted with mixed reviews, and even though the album debuted at number one and contained several hit singles, including "Let's Get Rocked," "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad" and "Make Love Like a Man," the record was a commercial disappointment in the wake of Pyromania and Hysteria. After the release of Adrenalize, the group added former Whitesnake guitarist Vivian Campbell.
In 1993, Def Leppard released the rarities collection Retro Active, featuring a new single, "Miss You in a Heartbeat," which scraped the lower reaches of the Top 40. Two years later, the group released the greatest hits collection Vault while preparing their sixth album. Slang arrived in the spring of 1996, and while it was more adventurous than its predecessor, it was greeted with indifference, proving that Leppard's heyday had passed, and they were now simply a very popular cult band.
Undaunted, Leppard soldiered on, returning to its patented pop-metal sound for Euphoria, which was released in June of 1999.
|
|
| "must listen" |
|
|
|
|
DISCLAIMER: The title URBAN WANDERER as well as the link titles to other blogs are song titles from a jazz band. I used these titles as a gesture of appreciation & gain no financial benefits from this & in no way used to promote my blog. For the real deal, visit their website.
|
|
|
|
|
