After seeing Neil Young’s fantastic performance of ‘Long May You Run’ during the closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics, I thought the ‘Time Machine’ should return to basics and end a four-week-long rant of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s injustices. This week’s pick is “After the Gold Rush,” a 1970 classic by two-time Hall of Famer Neil Young.
Rolling Stone Magazine once claimed that Neil Young fans would be ‘desperately trying to convince themselves that After the Gold Rush’ is good music, but they would be kidding themselves.’ A mere five years later, Rolling Stone called ‘Gold Rush’ a masterpiece.
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As March begins, wrestling fans around the world eagerly begin the trek on the ‘road to WrestleMania.’ This year’s offering from World Wrestling Entertainment’s sports-entertainment extravaganza on March 28 includes match-ups that are new and fresh, pulling away from the rather stale we’ve-seen-this-before feeling of seeing the same matches every week on Raw or Smackdown.
This year’s Super-Bowl-of-professional-wrestling boasts not one but four main events. Fresh off a Royal Rumble victory in January, Edge challenges former tag-team partner Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship, Smackdown’s main event title.
Edge and Jericho with the Unified Tag Team Titles in 2009 before Edge's injury.
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Flair would have been better paired with Robert Roode.
According to Hulk Hogan, AJ Styles ‘needed character,’ and I don’t disagree. I do however disagree with the choice to pair Styles with Ric Flair, rehashing the ‘Nature Boy’ gimmick and essentially passing the torch.
The program has been great so far, but I think someone else could have benefited from it more greatly than Styles, and Styles should have gone in a different direction.
Let’s face it, Styles is rather bland as a babyface, and while he may be over with the IWC and the smarks at the Impact Zone, he never had a chance at becoming a household name without intervention.
Something just isn’t right about Styles adopting the Ric Flair persona. For starters, he’s married. Second, no one can pull off a ‘Wooo’ quite like Flair himself. Styles doesn’t have the right type of charisma needed for that role, and the aftereffect is that it sometimes comes off as comedic, rather than the serious style that the Horsemen used to present.
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Bob Holly's career could be rejuvenated if chosen as a mentor for season two of NXT.
I’m in the middle of re-watching the June 26 2006 episode of ECW on SciFi, which featured an Extreme Rules match between Rob Van Dam and Bob ‘Hardcore’ Holly. This was the match that earned Holly a boat-load of respect, as he received a nasty gash across his match in a table spot near the midpoint of the match.
With blood gushing from the visibly deep wound, Holly showed fans just how ‘Hardcore’ he truly was, working the rest of the match, and becoming one of the few ‘WWE guys’ to truly do the modern ECW banner justice.
While I’m not advocating a bloodbath every week on Tuesday nights in order to earn respect, I think he did deserve some recognition for the small part he played in the short-lived run of ECW’s second time around.
Bob Holly was released from WWE in January 2009, and ECW was finally laid to rest last month, with the new pseudo-reality show “NXT” taking its place. NXT teams up 8 rookies with 8 ‘pros’ in an innovative effort to build eight stars at once. Some of the pros chosen are a little questionable, but they provide a spot for WWE stars that don’t really have anything else going for them. Read the rest of this entry »
Mark Farner, Grand Funk Railroad lead guitarist and singer.
To continue to voice the disappointment over our fallen heroes (even Hall & Oates) here are yet again ten more Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ‘should-bes.’
10. Weird Al Yankovic
While it may be absolutely crazy to suggest that the ‘Weird One’ be enshrined laong the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Clapton, consider this: Alfred Yankovic is the BEST at what he does. Despite not having too many peers in the polka-infused parody genre, Yankovic was the best, selling over 12 million albums and earning three Grammy Awards.
While some artists are not receptive to the idea of having their ‘art’ parodied, some artists feel honored by the concept, and in some cases it gives their original songs even more exposure.
Rapper Chamillionaire liked Yankovic’s “White & Nerdy” (a parody of “Ridin’”) so much that he even put it on his own Myspace profile. The rapper gave credit to Yankovic for his own Grammy Award win, saying that his own song’s popularity increased due to the popularity of the parody. “White & Nerdy” was Yankovic’s first career top 10 hit. Read the rest of this entry »
Rumor has it that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is considering shortening their eligibility timeframe from twenty-five years to twenty. According to a source from the Hollywood Reporter, the Hall of Fame wants to shorten the wait for being able to induct upcoming elible stars. While this hasn’t been confirmed, it is being taken into consideration.
It looks like the Hall of Fame is desperately seeking a new demographic by inducting more recently popular acts like Guns N’ Roses, Green Day, or Nirvana. Afterall, no one would tune in to see Ozzy Osbourne, Kiss, Bon Jovi, or Stevie Ray Vaughan’s inductions, right?
It’s hard to believe the interest has lagged through ratings and revenue with all of the recent acts that have been inducted. Metallica, Madonna, Van Halen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, U2, the Police, and AC/DC are among relatively recent inductees who should have generated massive interest in the ceremony. If not, it’s probably not the fault of the performers; it’s the fault of the Hall of Fame.
Assuming the Hall of Fame discards this terrible idea akin to changing the Super Bowl to a pick-up basketball game, here are ten more picks for artists that reach the twenty-five-year eligibility criteria.
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It seems like just days ago I would climb aboard a school bus to reach my education destination. Before the days where iPods were so common, I toted around a big CD wallet with a collection of tunes unmatched by anyone else I knew. One album that got frequent play in my walkman was Rob Zombie’s “Sinister Urge.” While not an album of the year candidate, it was definitely part of the soundtrack of my early high school years.
When I read that Mr. Zombie had recorded and released a sequel to his very successful “Hellbilly Deluxe” album, my nostalgia kicked in and I was eager to give it a listen. His previous album, “Educated Horses,” provided an education on only one topic: how to disappoint your fans. As hooked on “Sinister Urge” as I was, I hoped for a bit too much out of “Educated Horses.” Little did I know, “Hellbilly Deluxe 2″ would disappoint more. Read the rest of this entry »
Last week I went over ten more-than-deserving bands who should easily be included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After realizing I had forgotten many more bands, a second part was in order. Read the rest of this entry »
The 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony is right around the corner, and this year’s class of rock royalties include The Stooges, Genesis, The Hollies, Jimmy Cliff, and Abba. Yes, the folks who brought “Dancing Queen” to the masses and could possibly be blamed for “Mamma Mia” are receiving recognition as rock and roll legends.
While some critics may go as far as calling the museum a “piss stain,” like 2006 inductees The Sex Pistols, millions still will tune in to see the live ceremony on Fuse on March 15. However, the criticism is well warranted as year-after-year many deserving bands are snubbed from the nomination process. Here are ten bands that I feel should be a shoe-in for the Hall. Read the rest of this entry »
Many have heard the sound before, but not all might be able to name the guitar effect technique made famous by Peter Frampton on his 1976 live double album “Frampton Comes Alive!” “Frampton Comes Alive!” is the fourth best-selling live album of all-time, under Garth Brooks, Bruce Springsteen, and The Eagles, respectively.
The technique consists of a piece of tubing that runs from a floor pedal to the microphone, and the opening is usually fastened under the microphone. The guitar tones pass through the tube and are modified by ‘lip syncing’ into the tube. Changing the shape of the mouth will change the harmonics of the guitar sound, resulting in a ‘talking’ effect.
If this description doesn’t do it for you, seek out the songs on this top ten list: Read the rest of this entry »
After seeing Neil Young’s fantastic performance of ‘Long May You Run’ during the closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics, I thought the ‘Time Machine’ should return to basics and end a four-week-long rant of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s injustices. This week’s pick is “After the Gold Rush,” a 1970 classic by two-time Hall of Famer Neil Young.
