Jethro Tull: Grizzly, British, Heavy Metal Award Winning...

...Family Men?

This amazing picture is from the Living in the Past album. The range of expressions is almost as fun as the presence of the baby.

Awful Songs by Good Bands

I was going to make a numbered list on this subject, but realized that it'll work better as an ongoing project. Every band has at least one song that is awful, so why not give myself to explore the subject at my leisure? Just because I'm only including one song from a band, don't believe that I don't recognize there may be more. The songs I'm selecting are just the worst. Feel free to add your own in the comments and I'll feel free to agree or to remind you that that band was never any good.

Neil Young -- Sample and Hold
Neil Young is known for shaking things up musically. His catalogue is littered with experiments, not all of which panned out. Here, he discovered computers! Upon re-listening to Sample and Hold, I almost reconsidered its position. It's oddly hypnotic. Then I remember it's eight minutes long and immediately want to bail. The song also sounds more like Electric Light Orchestra than Neil Young to me.


Coldplay -- In My Place
This song is the reason I say "Good Bands" in the title of the post and not "Great Bands." I haven't listened to the last two Coldplay albums at all and have barely listened to X&Y, but I believe that A Rush of Blood to the Head is legitimately great. Except for In My Place. How it became the lead single from the record blows my mind and is an exemplar of why I don't purchase greatest hits albums. You miss a world of great music for what the record company wants you to hear. On the other hand, it's been in my head ever since I decided to include it, so what do I know?


The Beatles -- The Long and Winding Road
Before including this, I listened to the Let It Be... Naked version of The Long and Winding Road just to make sure it belonged. The Phil Spector-(over-)produced original version drips with emotional manipulation (it feels like a really bad film score from the 40's).While the Naked version is indeed better, it still comes off as cloying and, ultimately, dull.


Bon Iver -- Woods
Woods is from the Blood Bank EP and while Justin Vernon has done amazing, non-irritating things with the vocoder, this isn't one of them. There's an ethereal beauty to some of it, but it winds up feeling like an experiment that got too complicated and went on for too long in the end.


Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds -- Death Is Not the End
I was going to put Green Eyes in this place (accidentally name dropped two Coldplay songs in one sentence fragment), but remembered how much of a drag Death Is Not the End is. Murder Ballads is one of my favorite albums of all time (and damn the person who borrowed it and never gave it back!). It's full of energy and sadism and great imagery. Just a masterclass on how to be badass (seriously, Stagger Lee sounds like it belongs in Deadwood) yet maintain one's soft side. Then it ends on the dreadfully dull Death Is Not the End. I don't know how a song that features multiple vocalists and actual verses, a chorus, and a bridge can feel more repetitive and longer than a 14-minute ramble on the same album. It's an awful way to go out on an amazing album. While the original doesn't feel quite so bad, it's not very good, either. But we'll get to Bob Dylan some other time...

Bands Whose Appeal I Don't Understand

This isn't a list of bands I hate. I've covered that before. This is a list (and just a list, so no dull paragraphs explaining why) of bands who I don't get why people love them. You'll find many, if not all, on lists of greatest bands/artists of all-time. I'll leave it up to you to explain why I'm wrong and should embrace your act of choice. In particular order:

Prince

Bob Marley

Steely Dan

Beastie Boys

The Eagles (OK... so this one is a band I hate)

Joni Mitchell

John Mellencamp

LCD Soundsystem

The Smiths/Morrissey

Weezer

Sleepover Shows

Some of my friends from Boston University are up to something. While it seems like many of us are still trying to find our little niche in life, waiting to fall into something big (or actively searching for it and meeting nothing but rejection), Kelly, Rob, and Aviv are well on there way somewhere. Even they don't know the destination, but it's still early in the trip. It's one thing to have big ideas but an entirely different thing to act on them (a battle I'm constantly facing).

It does my heart good to see my friends working on something that is theirs. Something they conceived and are creating. Something that is connecting with people. And that's what I want it to do. I want their work to connect with you. It's the reason for this post.

I know most of you love music and you love discovering new and interesting music. My friends over at Sleepover Shows are doing this for you! Here's what they're all about:

Sleepover Shows are three song sets of acoustic or stripped down versions performed by bands that we love as they make their way through Boston. Though it started as something we did when bands needed a place to crash on the night of their shows, we now mostly film the sessions before or after a show and let the bands find their own ways home (though the offer still stands).

Basically, we try and use our spaces as creatively as we can. We've filmed in the backseats of cars, on top of playground equipment, in doorways and alleys, in bathtubs and stairwells. We try our best to get the bands to take their music outside of the confines of the studio and have some fun.

And that's the point: to capture some great music that maybe isn't always as polished, but shows these artists having a good time doing what they love. We're doing what we love too, and hope you enjoy the videos!

To make matters sweeter, for all of my Oregon friends, Kelly grew up here and went to the University of Oregon. For all of my Pennsylvania friends, Aviv is from Philly. So it's like you're supporting local talent! Rob is from New York, but we don't hold that against him. Check it out and love it like you love hot cocoa by a fire on a cold day.