Tag Archives: parental advisory labels

06/06/2016 · 2:56 pm

Pure Evel

I don’t know why people are sad about the Great Deathwave of 2016. It’s a remarkable opportunity to make a stranger’s life all about yourself.

Muhammad Ali, The Greatest, 1942-2016. A multifarious and complex personality that's tough to categorize, not a prop for your opinions.

Muhammad Ali, The Greatest, 1942-2016. A multifarious and complex personality that’s tough to categorize (especially for a pugilist), not a prop for your opinions.

When a celebrity dies, you now own them. You can take the life’s work of someone you never encountered and reduce it to a personal inspiration. You can interpret their efforts as empowerment for your own agendas. Oh, and you can cherry-pick the qualities of their persona that you agree with, and ignore everything else. A corpse will never call your bluff. Continue reading →

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Filed under Bad Influences, Faint Signals, Idiot's Delight, Nostalgic Obsessions, Saturday Movie Matinee, Worst Of All

Tagged as 1960s, 1970s, 1971, 1977, 1985, 1990s, 1992, 20th Century Fox, Bill Cosby, censorship, corporate crap, Crash Test Dummies (toys), daredevils, Elvis Presley, Evel Knievel, Futurama, George Hamilton, He-Man, John Goodman, John Milius, Michael Jackson, Muhammad Ali, New Jersey, parental advisory labels, PMRC, political correctness, Prince, Shelly Saltman, Spike Lee, Spike TV, Stan Freberg, television, The Fonz, Tipper Gore, toys, Wally Wood

05/23/2016 · 1:48 pm

The Glory Of GWAR

Gwar, often styled as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia, United States, in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. [Wikipedia]

After seeing GWAR in 1991, my freshman buddy Chris ran into the cafeteria to meet us the following morning. He bugged out his eyes with a grin, making a hard side-glance to push his contact lenses slightly off his irises. They were stained bright red, from GWAR blood.
I met GWAR’s manager, Sleazy P. Martini, at a DragonCon in the late 90s. I timidly asked him, “Gee Sleazy, do you really know GWAR?” He laughed and replied “Yeah, I know GWAR. I’m their FUCKIN’ MANAGER.”

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Filed under Bad Influences, Comix Classic & Current, Faint Signals, Girls of BIUL, Idiot's Delight, Magazine Rack, Nostalgic Obsessions, Robot Toy Fetish, Saturday Movie Matinee, Thousand Listen Club, Unfairly Maligned

Tagged as #fbf, 1990, 1990s, 1991, alternative music, Beefcake the Mighty, Cardinal Syn, comedy, comix, Cory Smoot, Danyell Stampe, Dave Brockie, DragonCon, Gor-Gor, Gwar, Heavy Metal, Jizmak Da Gusha, laughter, Metal Blade, movies, Mr. Bungle, music, Nipples Erectus, Oderus Urungus, parental advisory labels, Richmond Virginia, Sexecutioner, Slave Pit Inc., Sleazy P. Martini, Slymenstra Hymen, underground, VHS, Ween

03/17/2016 · 12:00 am

Tool

Check it out, I wrote my very own Tool song:

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Filed under Bad Influences, Comix Classic & Current, Don't Know Don't Care, Faint Signals

Tagged as #tbt, 1990s, 1993, 1996, Alex Grey, alternative music, Aperfectcircle, Bands I Useta Like, Bill Hicks, comic, depression, despair, industrial, Maynard James Keenan, metal, Mr. Show, music, parental advisory labels, posers, Puscifer, suicide, Throwback Thursday, Tool, Transformers

01/04/2016 · 12:29 am

Michelle Shocked

Michelle Shocked is an American alternative folk singer/songwriter from Dallas, Texas. Her 1988 debut album, Short Sharp Shocked, featured a cover photo taken by Chris Hardy, for the San Francisco Examiner in 1984. Shocked had been protesting during the Democratic National Convention.

Mercury Records issue

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Filed under Don't Know Don't Care, Girls of BIUL, Idiot's Delight, Nostalgic Obsessions, Worst Of All

Tagged as 1980s, 1988, 1990s, alternative folk, alternative music, depression, despair, folk music, folk-rock, homophobia, jail, Michelle Shocked, Mormons, music, Nailbomb, Occupy, parental advisory labels, political correctness, punk, Rage Against The Machine, rap-metal, sellouts, Thích Quảng Đức, Vietnam

01/03/2016 · 12:00 am

The Ur-Sample

Sampling in hip-hop is important because it can send you backward in time, when it’s done well. It’s crate-digging shared on wax. The best samples offer a window into the mind of the producer, and a peek at the most obscure records in their vault. Since legally all sources must be credited, you can check the liners and draw up a shopping list. The torch of the turntable is carried on.

And oftentimes, forgotten geniuses of the past get their due.

There’s an unspoken rule in hip-hop culture; it’s based in appropriation, so it’s all about forging something fresh out of a juxtaposition of elements. A sample is looped over a beat by a DJ, before the MC begins to rap. The right samples are crucial; they provide the hook of tonal immortality.

The handsome gent in the photo above is David McCallum. He is the most widely-heard yet unknown dude in rap music.

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Filed under Comix Classic & Current, Faint Signals, Nostalgic Obsessions, Thousand Listen Club

Tagged as #tbt, 1960s, 1968, 1969, 1970s, 1980s, 1987, 3 6 Mafia, Above The Law, Beastie Boys, Cold 187um, crate-digging, David Axelrod, David McCallum, DJ Shadow, Dr. Dre, Eric B. & Rakim, glitch, hip hop, jail, parental advisory labels, Prefuse 73, rap, RjD2, sampling, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Willie Hutch, xenochrony

12/30/2015 · 1:19 am

They’re All Gonna Laugh At You!

I seldom forget a good paroxysm of laughter. For example, one of the best memories of my time working at the mall record store involves an album played after closing, one night in 1993. Myself and two other employees were doubled over, purple-faced, unable to breathe from laughing so hard. It felt like the skin at the base of my skull was going to split.

The album was They’re All Gonna Laugh At You!, and the man responsible was Adam Sandler.

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