The song was removed at Natalie Merchant’s behest, in the aftermath of the Salman Rushdie incident.
When Rushdie published his book “The Satanic Verses” in 1988, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomein pronounced a death sentence on him.
When asked about the pronouncement, Cat Stevens (who had by then converted to Islam, and adopted the Muslim name of Yusuf Islam) remarked that the will of Ayatollah must always be respected. This comment was then placed out of context and/or edited, and soon people believed that Stevens did actually support the death sentence pronounced on Rushdie.
In the wake of this incident, “Peace Train” was removed from all American copies of “In My Tribe”. It is, however, found on international copies of the album (the one I have from Germany has it), and more recently it was included among the rarities featured on the compilation “Campfire Songs: The Popular, Obscure and Unknown Recordings” (2004).
The social media world is getting its very own awards show.
Dermot McCormack (MTV’s executive vice president of digital media) has just announced the creation of a new awards show that will focus on digital content and social media alone. While its name is yet to be announced, we already know that it will take place in Spring of 2011, and that audience participation will be its defining elemen.
As opposed to the music and movie awards we all have grown to know, this new show will take place entirely online. Social conversation will keep the whole thing together, and the audience itself will be responsible for picking the winners for each category.
MTV has yet to announce the exact awards that will be doled out, but it is not much of a stretch to think of categories such as “Best Music Applications” and “Best Music-related Moments In Social Media” (such as this one) being included.
Record labels as we have always known them are on their way to extinction. Well, that is what the team behind this startup seems to be screaming at the top of its voice.
Crowdbands is a collaborative platform that to all intents and purposes resembles a record label whose decisions are taken by the public. Which songs will be recorded by which band, when will any of the bands on the roster go on tour, what the artwork of albums and singles will look like, which late shows they should play… These are the kind of decisions that users of Crowdbands are allowed to take. We are talking about one of the clearest examples of crowdsourcing yet applied to the music industry.
The one and only drawback something like this has, now, is that it effectively puts an end to songs like the Sex Pistols’ “EMI” or XTC’s “I Bought Myself A Liarbird”. As Johnny Rotten himself once commented, lousy record companies make (and have always made) for terrific compositions since the dawn of time. Well, I guess composers now will have to do without one of the most devilish sources of inspiration ever. We’ll see if the tradeoff (IE, the sense of communion) will suffice. And say what you wish, but I think we are losing a certain dose of malice that has always kept the scene entertaining to begin with.
It is interesting to mention that one of these albums (“Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy”) was actually the first album to ever enter the American charts at number 1.
The potential a song has for catharsis only goes so far. It all becomes limp after a while. That is, “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” can’t be your break-up song for ever. Notwithstanding how excellent any song is, if you listen to it for ages it just stops gelling.
I’m sure you agree with that. And I’m also sure you wonder just where to go in order to find fresh songs to fill the air with. Well, this new site might just provide you with all you need to reach the height of ecstasy, or hit the deepest recesses of pathos.
DAOmusic is a website where you can create playlists reflecting your every mood, and share them with friends and strangers alike.
These are some examples of playlists currently found on the site: “I’m under my guilt”, “I’m walking in the garden leisurely”, “Super Mario Bros Forever!”… Songs for just every occasion can be found here.
This site is usable for free, and if you have a Google, Facebook or Twitter account then you already have a DAOmusic account.
Oh, and if you see a playlist named “The 10 Who songs that make me play air drums maniacally every time” then you needn’t ask who has created it…
“Lola Vs. The Powerman And The Moneygoround” Was Issued In 1970. The Title Track Made The Kinks Fashionable All Over Again.
Who could blame Ray Davies for lashing out at the industry after the reception that “The Village Green Preservation Society” and “Arthur” were given? Both albums are now deemed as the absolute peak of The Kinks’ career. And at the time of their release, they were virtual non-entities. Something was clearly wrong with the picture. And (by then) you could count the bands that had been screwed as much as The Kinks on the one hand. Well, for their next album Ray was to try and put a spoke on the wheels of the moneygoround, and show the powermen that some things are essentially meant to remain unbound.
The true moment of genesis of the whole album was a delectably convoluted one. The Kinks had released a song named “Lola” in early 1970, and it quickly became their highest charting single in years. The song dealt with a man’s drunken encounter with a transvestite, and while it was no fluff under any concept its release was clearly a derisory move. Of course, the fact that the song did become a transatlantic hit proved how right Ray was on his appraisal of the whole industry.
That set the ball rolling for him, and he began working on “Lola Vs. The Powerman and The Moneygoround”, a concept record in which just everybody came under fire. Music publishers, the press, unions, accountants, yes-men… Nobody came out of it in one piece.
The music on the album was evenly split between ballads and harder-sounding numbers, and (personally) I tend to like the ballads best. “A Long Way From Home” was one of Ray’s better elegies in a period characterized by them, and “Strangers” in particular will always be remembered as one of Dave Davies’ most substantial contributions to their repertoire (for my money, it’’s up there with “Susannah’s Still Alive”).
And Dave also came up with the noisy and dirty “Rats”, a song which is not really a standout but which has a riff to kill for. It always reminds me of John Entwistle’s “Success Story” – not in terms of melody or structure, but rather in terms of accuracy. It fits the whole album so well that Dave could only have written it after having listened to Ray’s demos in order, one after the other. Just like one feels John’s did for penning his sole contribution to The Who’s “By Numbers“.
Still, the most memorable cut on the album is Ray’s “This Time Tomorrow”, a song about life on the road carried by a sublime melody that just can’t get any higher, and great hooks from back to front. And the song has a banjo that almost single-handedly gives the “Muswell Hillbillies” contingent a run for its money in terms of Americanism. Oh, and I’m sure many of you heard it on the movie “The Darjeeling Limited” (which also put “Strangers” and “Powerman” to excellent use). Continue reading →
(Hagan click aquí para leer este artículo en español)
This is the dissertation Uruguayan poet Javier Etchemendi delighted us with when “Ten” was officially released (Friday 19th of November, 2010).
Numbers Also Go To Heaven
A closed universe vibrates in the writing of Emilio Pérez. A place that we can only stare at from the sidelines, knowing that there is an important part of him that will always remain out of reach.
The reader might ask himself, what good is a universe like that for? And that would be tantamount to asking what good is mystery for. The answer is obvious: for losing yourself in it, and coming out modified and strange, knowing something did happen and that such a something attracts us like danger and love do, in an unconscious way.
A mystery is not there to be elucidated. By its mere nature, a mystery is no longer a mystery when we fathom it out, when it becomes a certainty within a safe place. If the veil separating what we know from what we want to know becomes broken, then the mystery itself is broken for good.
A book is a door. I know that very well, for I am a guarder of the gates to the other world. And every once in a while, I let words pass from one side to the other. And since I know about words, I can honestly tell you that in “Ten” the author matters very little. Rather, it begins to matter very little once the door has been opened. Some might say, “But it is a book written in English”. And I can reply: do kisses, tears, desperation and redemption have a language? Emilio sets down his titles like glowing stones that we can follow to the other shore, where the golden pot can be found. “Nobody Feels All The Time”, “The Dark Side Of The Road”, “Broken”, “Cry”, “After The Fire The Fire”. Continue reading →
Esta es la brillante disertación que nos obsequió Javier Etchemendi en la presentación de “Ten”, el viernes 19 de noviembre de 2010.
Los Números También Van Al Cielo
En la escritura de Emilio Pérez Miguel vibra un universo clausurado. Un lugar que sólo podemos atisbar subrepticios, sabedores, además, que una parte importante de él quedará permanentemente fuera de nuestro alcance.
El lector podrá preguntarse ¿para qué sirve un universo así? Y sería lo mismo que preguntar para qué sirve el Misterio. Y la respuesta no se hace esperar: para frecuentarlo y salir de él modificados, raros, seguros de que algo pasó y que ese algo nos atrae como nos atrae el peligro o el amor, de una manera inconciente.
El misterio no existe para ser develado, su naturaleza se rompe apenas lo intuimos, entonces deviene en certeza, en seguridad y en lugar conocido y se habrá roto el velo que nos separa de aquello que ciertamente no deseamos saber.
Un libro es una puerta, yo lo sé bien pues soy portero del trasmundo y dejo pasar cada tanto palabras de un lado para el otro. Y como sé de palabras estoy en condiciones de decirles que aquí el autor casi no importa, o que dejará de importar una vez que la puerta sea abierta. Alguien podrá decir “pero si es un libro escrito en inglés” y yo puedo contestar ¿acaso los besos, las lágrimas, la desesperación y la redención tienen idioma? Emilio dispone sus títulos como piedras incandescentes que podemos seguir como trashumantes hacia la olla con el oro detrás del arco iris: nadie siente todo el tiempo, el lado oscuro del camino, quebrado, llorar, después del fuego el fuego. Continue reading →
Facebook went from 500 million to 600 million users in the blink of an eye. And the parodies show no sign of growing slack. If anything, they are getting better by the day.
Just check this one by a youtuber named Lynnea Malley. Nobody could fail to recognize more than a few home truths in the lyrics.
Launched Its Emerging Artists Program To Foster And Nurture New Talent. The First Artists To Be Picked Up Is British Singer/Songwriter Jessie J.
Presented by Vevo, the Emerging Artists Program is an initiative that aims to jumpstart new talent. The featured artists are all chosen by Vevo, and they are mostly people who have worked with established artists before.
For example, the first to have been chosen is a singer/songwriter named Jessie J. Hailing from the UK, this girl has penned songs for Miley Cyrus, no less.
Users will be able to watch interviews, tweet the featured artists, have access to behind-the-scene footage and (obviously-enough) watch live performances.
And not-so-obviously-enough, users will also be allowed to listen to standalone audio tracks. That is a first for a video site, actually. YouTube (which has a partner program of its own) does not offer such a option.
Besides, users who promote any emerging artist on Facebook will get a chance to win tickets and merchandise.
I don’t know what you think, but it looks to me as if the Justin Bieber army were about to swell ranks…
