OK, so Journey is one of my all-time favorite bands. And a few of their songs are probably some of the most covered songs in music history.... "Don't Stop Believing," in particular.
Ordinarily, I don't really care too much for covers. I know people like to pay tribute to and recognize the original artists by performing their music and keeping it in rotation for younger generations to hear. Bt I like to hear the original, not some half-ass karaoke attempt. Call me a purist if you will, that's fine.
And I've heard a lot of covers of this song. It's really an infectious song. At least to me anyway. It's one of those 80s songs that I have loved since the first day I heard it.
They say sometimes you associate a song with a particular memory. For some reason, this is one of those songs that I associate with being at the YMCA for swim lessons. They always had the local Top 40 station on the speakers throughout the building. There's probably at least a half-dozen songs that the first thing I think of when I hear them is the YMCA of my youth. Weird, I know... but that's neither here nor there and not really relevant to this clip.
"Don't Stop Believing" was recently included on the premiere of FOX's new show "Glee" which is on the schedule for this fall, centering around, guess what, a high school glee club. We watched the premiere. It wasn't too bad...
But when they started this song off acapella, I thought "Oh, no. Here someone else goes again ruining this song."
Keep in mind, this is 'supposedly' a bunch of high school glee club members singing this- and a well done job of lip synching was not the case.
BUT... and that it the operative word here.... I really liked the arrangement. It gave the song a different flavor. And to have the girl singing lead on it really brought something new to it. She's no Steve Perry, Steve Augeri or Arnel Pineda. But..... in the end, I actually found myself liking it.
And I think we're going to check 'Glee' out a little further this fall. But in the meantime.....
*Drumroll*
Bring on the cheese:
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
12 June 2009
27 July 2008
Turning Up the Radio
I've got a habit, call it bad, call it good, call it what you will, that my wife can't stand.
I like to listen to loud music in the car -- not just loud, really loud. I have to make sure that after I get done driving her car alone that I turn the volume back down to zero, or she is not a happy camper after she gets in the car.
Other than with my wife, I've only ever gotten in trouble for my loud music was one time in high school at an after- football-game-gathering at the local baptist church when some friends and I were in my car listening to probably something like Guns -n- Roses, at full blast, and a police officer came over to me and told me to turn it down.
My other bad habit when I drive is speeding... which is something I try not to do when people are in the car with me. I've gotten into my share of trouble with that over the years. But that's not really relevant to this post.
Recently, after running across the video for Cinderella's "Shake Me", from their Night Songs album, on YouTube, I've gotten back into my 80s metal music. So much that I've burned myself three CDs worth of my favorite metal songs from the 80s and early 90s and have had them on constant rotation in the car for the last month or so, at full blast.
They range from the aforementioned Cinderella song, to RATT, Great White, Lita Ford, Ozzy, Winger (hey Kip's actually a pretty good singer and Reb plays some kick-ass guitar), Firehouse, Guns, the Crue, Quiet Riot, Firehouse, and Fiona, to name a few.
I don't know what it is about this genre of music for me, but everytime I go awhile between periods of listening to it, I fall in love with it even more.It's like a fine wine - it just gets better with age. The screaming guitar riffs, the high-pitched vocals.... it just takes me back.
Metal took a lot of hits and crap throughout the 90s and early 2000s. They took Headbanger's Ball away.... Van Halen couldn't keep a lead singer; Axl went nuts (although he made an awesome comeback on Sebastian's latest CD "Angel Down"); Jani Lane and Vince Neil both got fat; Brett Michaels became a judge on Nashville Star... WTF?
Thankfully, metal and 80s style hard rock are making a comeback in a big way. In the last year, White Lion, Dokken, Whitesnake, Sebastian Bach, Night Ranger, Loverboy, the Crue, Asia, Def Leppard, Journey, Foreigner, and a host of others, have released screaming hot new CDs.
A little off track again... getting back to the main story here....
So I had to make a late-night Wal-Mart run tonight about 10:30. I popped one of my new homemade discs in, cranked the radio, and, since it was nice outside, rolled the window down. I was jamming the whole way to Wally World.
As I was about to make the turn from Wade Hampton Boulevard to go into the parking lot of our local Nasty Mart, I turned the music down to about a quarter of the way up on the volume dial. I was still having a good time jamming to the music as I hunted down a parking spot. Pulled in, listened to the remaining 30 seconds of the song, shut the radio off, rolled up the windows, powered down the car, and got out.
Then this dude unlocking the door of the car next to me says, "Hey, was that Danger Danger?"
I just started laughing.
"Uh.... yeah," I just sort of said, dumbfounded. Danger Danger was one of those metal bands that hit kind of late (their first album was released in 1989) and had to try to stay above water while grunge and alternative took over the airwaves. They're one of the lesser known metal bands, but still absolutely awesome. They're supposed to be releasing a new album this year.
"I haven't heard 'Bang, Bang' in years. Thanks man. The little bit I heard was a trip," he replies, laughing.
We chatted for a few minutes about the genre, who are favorites are, how its making a comeback. It was a really fun, 10-minute conversation.
There's a metal concert series each summer called Rocklahoma. They just had the 2008 concert. It's a week-long event. There were a ton of rockin' metal bands that just played there. I'd love to go to the 2009 concert. Doubt that will happen though --- but in the meantime, I'll just keep my metal CDs in rotation and the volume turned up.
I like to listen to loud music in the car -- not just loud, really loud. I have to make sure that after I get done driving her car alone that I turn the volume back down to zero, or she is not a happy camper after she gets in the car.
Other than with my wife, I've only ever gotten in trouble for my loud music was one time in high school at an after- football-game-gathering at the local baptist church when some friends and I were in my car listening to probably something like Guns -n- Roses, at full blast, and a police officer came over to me and told me to turn it down.
My other bad habit when I drive is speeding... which is something I try not to do when people are in the car with me. I've gotten into my share of trouble with that over the years. But that's not really relevant to this post.
Recently, after running across the video for Cinderella's "Shake Me", from their Night Songs album, on YouTube, I've gotten back into my 80s metal music. So much that I've burned myself three CDs worth of my favorite metal songs from the 80s and early 90s and have had them on constant rotation in the car for the last month or so, at full blast.
They range from the aforementioned Cinderella song, to RATT, Great White, Lita Ford, Ozzy, Winger (hey Kip's actually a pretty good singer and Reb plays some kick-ass guitar), Firehouse, Guns, the Crue, Quiet Riot, Firehouse, and Fiona, to name a few.
I don't know what it is about this genre of music for me, but everytime I go awhile between periods of listening to it, I fall in love with it even more.It's like a fine wine - it just gets better with age. The screaming guitar riffs, the high-pitched vocals.... it just takes me back.
Metal took a lot of hits and crap throughout the 90s and early 2000s. They took Headbanger's Ball away.... Van Halen couldn't keep a lead singer; Axl went nuts (although he made an awesome comeback on Sebastian's latest CD "Angel Down"); Jani Lane and Vince Neil both got fat; Brett Michaels became a judge on Nashville Star... WTF?
Thankfully, metal and 80s style hard rock are making a comeback in a big way. In the last year, White Lion, Dokken, Whitesnake, Sebastian Bach, Night Ranger, Loverboy, the Crue, Asia, Def Leppard, Journey, Foreigner, and a host of others, have released screaming hot new CDs.
A little off track again... getting back to the main story here....
So I had to make a late-night Wal-Mart run tonight about 10:30. I popped one of my new homemade discs in, cranked the radio, and, since it was nice outside, rolled the window down. I was jamming the whole way to Wally World.
As I was about to make the turn from Wade Hampton Boulevard to go into the parking lot of our local Nasty Mart, I turned the music down to about a quarter of the way up on the volume dial. I was still having a good time jamming to the music as I hunted down a parking spot. Pulled in, listened to the remaining 30 seconds of the song, shut the radio off, rolled up the windows, powered down the car, and got out.
Then this dude unlocking the door of the car next to me says, "Hey, was that Danger Danger?"
I just started laughing.
"Uh.... yeah," I just sort of said, dumbfounded. Danger Danger was one of those metal bands that hit kind of late (their first album was released in 1989) and had to try to stay above water while grunge and alternative took over the airwaves. They're one of the lesser known metal bands, but still absolutely awesome. They're supposed to be releasing a new album this year.
"I haven't heard 'Bang, Bang' in years. Thanks man. The little bit I heard was a trip," he replies, laughing.
We chatted for a few minutes about the genre, who are favorites are, how its making a comeback. It was a really fun, 10-minute conversation.
There's a metal concert series each summer called Rocklahoma. They just had the 2008 concert. It's a week-long event. There were a ton of rockin' metal bands that just played there. I'd love to go to the 2009 concert. Doubt that will happen though --- but in the meantime, I'll just keep my metal CDs in rotation and the volume turned up.
22 May 2008
Idol Watch: The Finale
David Cook all the way, baby
Back at week one, I was predicting Chikeze, Brooke, and David Archuleta as the final three, one of whom to become American Idol. Other than Archie making it to the final three, I got that one really wrong.
But I truly think the best contestant won. Archie is a talented singer, he's just not a performer. And I don't think he will sell nearly as many albums as David Cook.
America needed this win. Die-hard rockers needed this win. We've been listening to crap on the radio for the past 18 years. (This is the point where this post could really diverge into a discussion on what a wasteland the music industry and the airwaves have become, but....)
I'll definitely buy any album David Cook puts out. Congratulations David, you deserve this!
The best part of the night was watching him rock out with ZZ Top. These guys have not changed at all in 25+ years and still kick ass. They were one of my favorite rock acts when I was growing up.
I could have done without Donna Summer last night. Man she's looking old.
Bryan Adams was awesome as always --- for a guy who's 48 and has been in the business for 30 years, he's still got it and he still looks young. I've been waiting for seven years to hear some Adams on Idol and they brought it on last night.
It was a nice touch to have Graham Nash on last night also. His and Brooke's duet was awesome -- a very nice addition to the show. I could have done without George Michael though.
Anyway.- it was a great end to a very competitive season. Until next year....
Back at week one, I was predicting Chikeze, Brooke, and David Archuleta as the final three, one of whom to become American Idol. Other than Archie making it to the final three, I got that one really wrong.
But I truly think the best contestant won. Archie is a talented singer, he's just not a performer. And I don't think he will sell nearly as many albums as David Cook.
America needed this win. Die-hard rockers needed this win. We've been listening to crap on the radio for the past 18 years. (This is the point where this post could really diverge into a discussion on what a wasteland the music industry and the airwaves have become, but....)
I'll definitely buy any album David Cook puts out. Congratulations David, you deserve this!
The best part of the night was watching him rock out with ZZ Top. These guys have not changed at all in 25+ years and still kick ass. They were one of my favorite rock acts when I was growing up.
I could have done without Donna Summer last night. Man she's looking old.
Bryan Adams was awesome as always --- for a guy who's 48 and has been in the business for 30 years, he's still got it and he still looks young. I've been waiting for seven years to hear some Adams on Idol and they brought it on last night.
It was a nice touch to have Graham Nash on last night also. His and Brooke's duet was awesome -- a very nice addition to the show. I could have done without George Michael though.
Anyway.- it was a great end to a very competitive season. Until next year....
23 March 2008
A Fantastic End To A Really Lousy Week
(Editor's Note: This post is a few days ovedue, but this is the first chance I've had to sit down at the computer for any length of time since then)
Several months ago, my wife and found out that on March 21, one of our favorite bands -- Casting Crowns -- would be at our local entertainment venue, the Bi-Lo Center. Yet, we also knew that we had other things that the $70 cost of the tickets could better go toward. So everytime for the past couple months we heard mention of the concert we just kind of sighed and turned the station. "Nope, don't want to hear about it. We're not going, no sense in hearing about it."
Fast forward to the day of the concert....
My wife and are at the local Crossway store right down the road from our place, looking for a birthday gift for her sister. We made our way back to the CD section where I start listening to some new CDs that had recently come out. She walks up to me and starts talking. Then suddenly we hear, "Sorry man, I haven't been able to find anyone to take those Casting Crowns tickets off your hands." Huh? We both look up quizzically.
So we go over and talk to the sales associate that we had just overhead. Turns out some friends of his are about to head in to the Bi-Lo Center with two unused (the couple who were going to use them had to bail because of lack of a babysitter) tickets. "How much do they want," I ask. "They're free. They just want someone to use them," he responds. "SWEET!", I think.
This is at 6:55 we find this out. The show starts at 7. So we tear down to the Bi-Lo Center, park near the top of the parking deck, make our way over to will-call, get our tickets, and find our seats. We miss the first act in the process... and sit down about three songs into the second act.
We were jazzed. This was just the best thing to cap off a really lousy week of sneezing, coughing, stuffy head, headaches, and sore throats for both of us, along with a missed day of work for me because I had been feeling so horrible. God knew that we needed some lifting up.
The concert ended up one of the best I've ever seen from an entertainment standpoint. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone whose seen probably more than 30 concerts over the last two decades -- starting off with a rain-soaked NKOTB-Tiffany concert to Van Halen to Travis Tritt to Metallica to MercyMe.
The best show I've ever seen from an entertainment standpoint and a worship standpoint was a Rebecca St. James - Barlow Girl show at the new Gaffney High School three years ago in their gym. It was phenomenal.
I think that in itself says alot about what I'm listening to these days and my outlook and spirituality now versus years ago. Years ago, I would go hang with my college friends at a Metallica concert just to have our eardrums blasted out. As much as I might leave the dial on a Metallica song just to turn it up in the car now, I think I'd turn down one of their concerts. Some of my good ol' 80s music -- REO, Night Ranger, Journey -- yeah, I'd go to the concert. For the pure entertainment value.
Now I'm listening to contemporary christian music as my primary music souce (and have five stations to choose from on the local dial).
Getting back to the Casting Crowns show, what really makes a show like theirs stand out is that they do things that I haven't seen any other artists do. They had the words to their songs up on the screen. They had a local artist doing hand paintings of images and words to go along with the music. They would take time between songs to talk about the scripture relating to the song, what inspired them to write it, how God talked to them at the time and what he is saying to us through their music. They prayed after every couple of songs, encouraged the audience to sing along with them, and truly connected with the audience on a very spiritual level. It was a very, very powerful worship experience, as well as a very entertaining one.
One of the things that really impressed me is the fact that they allow local high school strings program participants to play with them on stage at each venue at which they perform. These kids are so talented. I can't imagine how and what they felt being able to help bring the messages of those songs to the people at the concert. At one point the camerman had focused in on one of the violinists, during a song in which they were not playing, and she was singing the words along. That was awesome.
The feeling of joy in that arena was palpable during the entire show. Everyone was singing. Cellphones were up in the air (so bizarre is that fact when I look back at the Van Halen or Def Leppard concerts of high school and college when lighters in the air was the thing to do). My wife and I both left the show amazed by the performance and the message that Casting Crowns had brought.
It turned out to be an amazing night that we basically lucked into (I know that God knew that we needed it) and one that we are very thankful for. I tried to give the guy who left the tickets for us at will call some money for the tickets, but he wouldn't take any.
Several months ago, my wife and found out that on March 21, one of our favorite bands -- Casting Crowns -- would be at our local entertainment venue, the Bi-Lo Center. Yet, we also knew that we had other things that the $70 cost of the tickets could better go toward. So everytime for the past couple months we heard mention of the concert we just kind of sighed and turned the station. "Nope, don't want to hear about it. We're not going, no sense in hearing about it."
Fast forward to the day of the concert....
My wife and are at the local Crossway store right down the road from our place, looking for a birthday gift for her sister. We made our way back to the CD section where I start listening to some new CDs that had recently come out. She walks up to me and starts talking. Then suddenly we hear, "Sorry man, I haven't been able to find anyone to take those Casting Crowns tickets off your hands." Huh? We both look up quizzically.
So we go over and talk to the sales associate that we had just overhead. Turns out some friends of his are about to head in to the Bi-Lo Center with two unused (the couple who were going to use them had to bail because of lack of a babysitter) tickets. "How much do they want," I ask. "They're free. They just want someone to use them," he responds. "SWEET!", I think.
This is at 6:55 we find this out. The show starts at 7. So we tear down to the Bi-Lo Center, park near the top of the parking deck, make our way over to will-call, get our tickets, and find our seats. We miss the first act in the process... and sit down about three songs into the second act.
We were jazzed. This was just the best thing to cap off a really lousy week of sneezing, coughing, stuffy head, headaches, and sore throats for both of us, along with a missed day of work for me because I had been feeling so horrible. God knew that we needed some lifting up.
The concert ended up one of the best I've ever seen from an entertainment standpoint. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone whose seen probably more than 30 concerts over the last two decades -- starting off with a rain-soaked NKOTB-Tiffany concert to Van Halen to Travis Tritt to Metallica to MercyMe.
The best show I've ever seen from an entertainment standpoint and a worship standpoint was a Rebecca St. James - Barlow Girl show at the new Gaffney High School three years ago in their gym. It was phenomenal.
I think that in itself says alot about what I'm listening to these days and my outlook and spirituality now versus years ago. Years ago, I would go hang with my college friends at a Metallica concert just to have our eardrums blasted out. As much as I might leave the dial on a Metallica song just to turn it up in the car now, I think I'd turn down one of their concerts. Some of my good ol' 80s music -- REO, Night Ranger, Journey -- yeah, I'd go to the concert. For the pure entertainment value.
Now I'm listening to contemporary christian music as my primary music souce (and have five stations to choose from on the local dial).
Getting back to the Casting Crowns show, what really makes a show like theirs stand out is that they do things that I haven't seen any other artists do. They had the words to their songs up on the screen. They had a local artist doing hand paintings of images and words to go along with the music. They would take time between songs to talk about the scripture relating to the song, what inspired them to write it, how God talked to them at the time and what he is saying to us through their music. They prayed after every couple of songs, encouraged the audience to sing along with them, and truly connected with the audience on a very spiritual level. It was a very, very powerful worship experience, as well as a very entertaining one.
One of the things that really impressed me is the fact that they allow local high school strings program participants to play with them on stage at each venue at which they perform. These kids are so talented. I can't imagine how and what they felt being able to help bring the messages of those songs to the people at the concert. At one point the camerman had focused in on one of the violinists, during a song in which they were not playing, and she was singing the words along. That was awesome.
The feeling of joy in that arena was palpable during the entire show. Everyone was singing. Cellphones were up in the air (so bizarre is that fact when I look back at the Van Halen or Def Leppard concerts of high school and college when lighters in the air was the thing to do). My wife and I both left the show amazed by the performance and the message that Casting Crowns had brought.
It turned out to be an amazing night that we basically lucked into (I know that God knew that we needed it) and one that we are very thankful for. I tried to give the guy who left the tickets for us at will call some money for the tickets, but he wouldn't take any.
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