Thursday, March 01, 2007

3 Music-Related Tidbits And The Seed Of More!

Yesterday when I was driving in the car, I had the radio tuned to CJSR, the U of A community radio station. I used to dream of having my own show on CJSR when I was younger; an afternoon show when people were driving home, or (even better) a late night show where I would have a thermos full of coffee or soup, and I could pull out cds and lps from the archives and just go crazy with musical experimentation. Then, I realized that to put on that kind of show I'd need to be more eclectic and more knowledgeable, so I just let the CJSR djs do the musical mixing for me.

Anyhow, listening to CJSR, specifically one of my favourite shows, '68 Comeback Special, and I heard a song that absolutely floored me. Julie Andrews singing My Favorite Things, except...something had gone terribly wrong. Terribly, wonderfully wrong. As I really don't care for The Sound of Music, I was enthralled and mesmerized. Through a little Googling, I found out that it was a remix that was done by Negativland, from their album No Business. It is amazingly wonderful, and if you are interested in laughing and laughing and LAUGHING, you should click here and listen to it.

* * * * *

I know Brian Posehn best as the big "hey, it's that guy from Mr. Show!" guy. However, he's a standup comedian and is very funny in his own right. At the Oscars the other night, I overheard that he had a metal song out, and I did a search on YouTube to find out more about it, (oh, Captain America would be so disappointed in me). The song is called Metal By Numbers, and it's actually pretty good, a nice skewering of bands who misuse the 'metal' label. Plus it features Scott Ian of Anthrax, which is pretty hot!

Disclaimer: In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that I am not a big metal fan (although I am big). I am not even a medium-sized metal fan. However, I know what I like, and I like this. Funny and good musically to boot. Check it out at your leisure.

* * * * *


Fall Out Boy is not a band you would normally catch me listening to. I find them extremely tiresome and their songs are rarely anything to write home about (except, of course for their fabulous song titles: Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner; I've Got A Dark Alley And A Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth; and the champion, Champagne For My Real Friends and Real Pain For My Sham Friends). However, that being said, I do have a soft spot for one of their songs. Check that, one small part of one of their songs. I really like the chorus of This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race. The rest of the song leaves me cold, but there's something about the hook on the chorus that gets me singing along and tapping the steering wheel.

I've noticed, though, that on the "radio-friendly" edit of this song, the bridge sounds like this:

This ain't a scene, it's a --- damn arms race
This ain't a scene, it's a --- damn arms race
This ain't a scene, it's a --- damn arms race
This ain't a scene, it's a --- damn arms race

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're going to bleep something in a song it's because it's something you find objectionable, right? So, who out there has a problem with the word "god" in a song and not the word "damn"? Shouldn't BOTH of those words be bleeped, if you're worried enough about the bad language to censor it? And furthermore, by not bleeping "damn", aren't you just implying the other 'objectionable' word? What are we worried about here, the intention behind the word or the word itself? This is something that's bugged me for a while now, and there's probably (read: definitely) another rant in it, but I just don't understand the kind of logic that leads to that kind of decision.

5 comments:

Foofa said...

Brian Posehn is my absolutely favorite thing about The Sarah Silverman Program. Yeaterday he was brilliant as he became obsessed with TAB and almost ruined his life to get his point about the soda across. Why did Mr. show have to leave?

Anonymous said...

Haha your last comment about bleeping the words out is spot on. I completely agree with you!

Jago said...

It's using the Lord's name in vain that people object to, not the word 'damn' itself. If you take out God, it can still be used as a curse, but it's become less of a sacred taboo, which is what I think people are going for.

Also, how weird would it be if you heard "It's a God arms race?"

Anonymous said...

Also funny because they're talking about "weapons in the form of words" and then censoring them!

The Doc said...

Natalie, I hear mixed reviews of The Sarah Silverman Program (and, truth be told, I found Jesus Is Magic merely okay). But Mr. Show was the cat's pajamas; I watch it all the time - I have the dvds and it was one of the best purchases I've ever made.

Mack, yeah, I'm seriously thinking of expanding those thoughts into another rant. We'll see when I get the time.

Jago, don't misunderstand me. I understand that the whole "Lord's name in vain" thing is the big problem. But isn't "damn" pretty bad as well? That's a pretty strong curse, if I recall my churchin' correctly. Wouldn't it be 'better' (and I use the term very loosely) to have the bridge be "This ain't a scene, it's a --- ---- arms race"?

Gina, I had honestly not thought about that! Gave me a giggle.