In a thoughtful eulogy for Michael Jackson, country crooner Robbie Fulks explains the origins of his fascination with the King of Pop:
In 1999, Peter McDowell at the Chicago Cultural Center had me put together a performance in honor of Michael's birthday. That was the beginning of my long "tribute CD" odyssey, and it got me to thinking a little about him, because I hadn't, much. I hadn't theretofore bought his records, or learned any of his songs to perform, or considered myself a fan beyond the J5. Yet I found that I knew lots of his songs just from constant ambient reiteration, and, when I listened to them more purposefully, found them exquisitely assembled and compelling in some hard-to-define way. In other words, I discovered the basic and obvious qualities that had long ago endeared this music to everyone else around the world. At that time it occurred to me that Michael was my generation's Elvis. He was our common musical denominator, originator of the template, pointer of the path, the central guy that we all grew up with and of whom nobody could live in ignorance. In fact the only reason I wouldn't overplay the comparison is that I think he was better than Elvis artistically. Better dancer, better singer, better song guy; and he stayed better at it all longer (even outliving him, a little). Let the squabbling begin...
I never really considered the fact that Michael Jackson was pretty on top of his game, as Fulks points out, from about 1970 to 1990. That's twenty years! Can you think of any other artist who was that solid for that long? With no periods of crapiness? If you can think of anybody, be sure to give the date range you're talking about. Twenty years! I can't think of many with a perfect ten year streak...
Once a month we look back on the stuff we wrote that got the most attention. We don't do any special weighting for items that appeared later in the month, or anything fancy like that. These are simply the things that received the most views last month, according to our stats.
Since we spent a great deal of energy this week whining about how Billboard splits their "catalog" releases apart from their main chart, we've decided it would be hypocritical for us not to present our own comprehensive chart. So here it is, the GLONO 20.
"How do you play the devil?," muses Waits of his second pairing with the filmmaker. "How do you play an archetype that large, that deep in history? I finally realized that I was just going to have to play it myself — it's my devil. It's the way I play the devil."
Should be good. You know there ain't no devil, there's just God when he's drunk...
To nobody's surprise, Michael Jackson has broken Billboard records in the week after his death. More than anything, this week's sales data once again points out the anachronistic stupidity of the way Billboard separates "catalog" albums from "current" albums in its chart system. The Billboard 200 excludes anything that is more than two years old and that has fallen below position 100 on the Billboard 200. Why? Who knows?
Back in February of 2008, when the 25 anniversary reissue of Thriller would have placed at #2 had it been included in the Billboard 200, Billboard's "Sr. Director of Charts" Geoff Mayfield told Undercover News that "Sony-BMG stated a strong case and we did consider it... I took to heart their comments and then I took it to retail. The response I got overwhelmingly is that it is a catalogue album and belongs on the catalogue chart."
That doesn't really clear it up. Labels want reissues included in the main chart, but retailers don't? Why would retailers care? The whole thing seems stupid to me. Billboard has a Top Comprehensive Albums list, but nobody ever sees it. It's not published in the magazine and can only be viewed online with a paid subscription.
It's just stupid to exclude older titles to the "catalog" ghetto, especially in this era of the long tail. The #1 album this week (Black Eyed Peas' "The E.N.D.") only sold 88,000: that's 13,000 less than the third-best selling Michael Jackson album this week. Insane.
See the top ten of the Billboard Catalog chart after the jump...
Heart at Riverside Casino & Golf Resort Riverside, Iowa, June 26, 2009
Never underestimate the draw of a band, even the ones that you think are well past the apex of their appeal.
My wife and I came up fast on the exit to the Riverside Casino & Golf Resort. After speeding on interstate 380 and getting close to the exit about an hour before showtime, the right lane abruptly shifts from cruising speed to a crawl. I tell my wife that there must be an accident ahead before she corrects me and explains that its the line to see Heart.
My taste in music normally doesn't intertwine with my wife's, but on Heart we share somewhat of a mutual admiration, with notable generational differences. I'm a fan of the band's late '70s work—the original line-up with Roger Fisher on guitar—while my wife was only familiar with Heart 2.0, the late '80s comeback material ("Alone," "These Dreams," etc.) which is right around the point where I stopped caring about them.
I never listened to Arab Strap, and this is only the third or fourth song I've ever heard by this guy, but I've liked them all. If you like your delicately melancholy pop songs delivered with a thick Scots accent, this will be right up your piss-soaked alley.
Twenty years after the release of their debut album and the Stone Roses are still killing us. Find out where the obsession all began and how we're dealing with it as old men.
Todd catches The Church at the House of Blues and simultaneously laments and celebrates the fact that they're out there working it like the youngsters.
Inspired, in part, by the fact that today (as in the day this is being written) is the quintessential American holiday, I went out and bought (as shopping is one of our civic virtues) a copy of a disc that...
