Weighing in on the Prince/Radiohead Clusterf--k

News of Prince's cover of Radiohead's "Creep" from Coachella this year has traveled far and wide, but somehow the controversy around it has only just now kicked up. The basic facts: Prince is ridiculously stingy about the amount footage from his concerts and his overall image on the internet (he shut down his website and declared war on eBay and YouTube over his material). Prince covered Radiohead's breakout hit. Video of said performance hit the web, as a reasonable person might expect would happen. Prince's label has squashed nearly every video of the show, citing a copyright violation.

Problem is, Prince doesn't own the rights to the song. Thom Yorke does. Based on Radiohead's attitudes toward digital content, a reasonable person would suggest that Radiohead wouldn't mind the video's existence. Thom Yorke recently said so in an interview. And yet, footage of the video is still getting stomped on by NPG. That said...



I post the video on the following grounds:
1) Prince doesn't own the rights to "Creep". Thom Yorke has more or less given the video his blessing
2) This material was filmed by a fan in attendance at the concert. Again, Prince has no grounds here.
3) It is true that Prince owns the right to his image, and if he really wants to be a dick about it, he can impose a draconian code on how that image is transmitted. But if you can watch the video above and positively identify that the man on stage is Prince and not just a guy in a bright white suit singing (the wrong lyrics to) Radiohead's "Creep", then maybe there's grounds. In my view, no video I've found gets a good enough look to tell Prince from Michael Jackson circa 1981.

(Wait...you mean people at the concert couldn't make that distinction either? Oh...)

This is a very interesting situation for all the reasons above, but there's one fatal flaw: save for the mildly interesting-but-too-long guitar solo, Prince's version sucks. It's just a subpar performance of a song that Radiohead has all but disavowed. I don't know what Prince was trying to accomplish in covering the track, but what he's done is piss off the general internet-saavy, music-enjoying public. Smooth.

If you REALLY want it, here's the MP3.

Prince - Radiohead (Live @ Coachella)

==TJ==

PS If the video goes away (as it probably will sooner or later), just search 'Prince Creep' on YouTube and another video will inevitably surface.

Covering the Bases...

After seeing Pretty Much Amazing put up a positively stellar covers post, I decided to follow suit. I present you with 20 of my favorite covers. Original artists in parenthesis.

30 Seconds to Mars - Stronger (Kanye West)
AFI - Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie)
Alanis Morrissette - My Humps (Black Eyed Peas)
Ben Folds - Lost in the Supermarket (The Clash)
Chris Cornell - Billie Jean (Michael Jackson)
Dashboard Confessional - In A Big Country (Big Country)
Dashboard Confessional - El Scorcho (Weezer)
Dashboard Confessional - Better (Regina Spektor)
Foo Fighters - Born on the Bayou (CCR)
The Fray - Have You Ever Seen the Rain? (CCR)
Jack's Mannequin - American Girl (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers)
The Killers - Shadowplay (Joy Division)
Korn - Another Brick in the Wall (Pink Floyd)
Lostprophets - Cry Me A River (Justin Timberlake)
Michelle Branch - Heart-Shaped Box (Nirvana)
Panic! At The Disco - Maneater (Nelly Furtado)
Pearl Jam - Baba O'Riley (The Who)
Ryan Adams - Wonderwall (Oasis)
Snow Patrol - Crazy In Love (Beyonce)
Stone Temple Pilots - Revolution (The Beatles)

And even though this isn't a cover per se, I came across this while perusing the blogs, and it's just too awesome to let slip away:

The Police vs Snow Patrol - Every Car You Chase

OK, that's all for now. Back later today/tomorrow with some other goodies

==TJ==

Does this make Radiohead and NIN the Tom Glavine and Mariano Rivera of Music?

Thanks to anyone who listened on Tuesday. It was sort of a disorganized show, seeings how I was training people in the midst of doing a show. A few mixups and glitches (sorry to anyone listening during the nasty feedback), and of course the ongoing technical issues were a pain, but hopefully by next week a large majority of that will be settled.

I also ended up sitting in on the Alex, Helen, and Amanda show after they had some trouble, and let's just say, if you aren't listening to their show...you should be. Even if you aren't a fan of Top 40 stuff, just listen in for the ridiculous antics. Alex, Helen, and Amanda are on Tuesdays from 7-9 at radio.arcadia.edu. I'm admittedly not a fan of all of their stuff, but just being in the studio with them is a trip in and of itself. MP3s of some stuff they play is below.

So after much publicity and blogging, Radiohead's In Rainbows made its way onto the hard drives of fans all over the world today. I'm listening through it as I type this, and it's more or less what I expected. Weird, borderline trippy music with schizophrenic (and sometimes nonexistent) melodies that ultimately makes for OK ambient noise. A final rating to come later, but even though I'm not thrilled with it after one listen, I know I'm gonna end up playing through it a few more times. Most of what I've read about it so far seems pretty split; longtime fans seem to love the album, casual fans and others are rather indifferent. I'll let you know where I stand later.

In other stick-it-to-the-man news, Nine Inch Nails posted a message on their website in which Trent Reznor joyfully declares himself a free agent in the music world:

"Hello everyone. I've waited a LONG time to be able to make the
following announcement: as of right now Nine Inch Nails is a totally
free agent, free of any recording contract with any label. I have
been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the
business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very
different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a
direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate.
Look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008.
Exciting times, indeed."

Before we all get ornery and get ready to mark the time of death of the record label as we know it, let's remember that Radiohead and NIN have never been known for being the darlings of the recording industry. Anyone else remember the conniption that the RIAA had prior to the release of Year Zero? When bands like Fall Out Boy or Kelly Clarkson go free agent, then I'll call it.

One more thing; Dashboard Confessional frontman Chris Carrabba has been passing the time on his solo tour by blogging about his experiences on the road. Blog topics range from stories of fans he meets (good to know I'm not the only over-18 male who loves Dashboard) to lists of things he loves and hates at the moment (apparently Chris is a fan of Heroes and Battlestar Galactica). The blog is on his myspace page, and will probably go for the length of his solo tour. On another note, I ruckused The Shade of Poison Trees and made it through The Wire Tapes, the covers album I mentioned earlier. I didn't know too many of the originals, but Dashboard redoes tracks like "El Scorcho" and Regina Spektor's "Better" incredibly well. More in-depth reviews later, and definitely expect this stuff to be on the radio show next week.

That's all for now. Enjoy the MP3s, and I'll be back soon.

Timbaland - The Way I Are (As heard on Alex, Helen, and Amanda)
Fall Out Boy - The Take Over, The Break's Over (As heard on Alex, Helen, and Amanda)
Kanye West- Stronger (As heard on Alex, Helen, and Amanda)
Nine Inch Nails - Capital G
Dashboard Confessional - Better (Regina Spektor cover)

Buying music may be good karma, but Thom Yorke and Trent Reznor don't care so much...the choice is yours.

==TJ==

Discount Rack: Jumping Doesn't Always Mean Moshpits

In the new section Discount Rack, Viva la Mainstream offers up a song or artist that would otherwise be forgotten by everyone except those still collecting royalties from it.

The "Punk Goes..." collections have been successful at if nothing else providing some cheap comedy in the days before mp3s of Marilyn Manson covering Justin Timberlake controlled the music blogs. Most of the covers were pretty forgettable or downright awful (see: Gym Class Heroes bastardizing RHCP's "Under the Bridge). But that same "Punk Goes '90s" compilation yielded something that's not only a good listen, but actually...not a joke??



I'm sure we all remember Third Eye Blind's four-and-a-half minute antisuicide PSA, "Jumper", one of those songs that was pretty good for the first 999 times you heard it on the radio, and then just sorta faded into the background. This cover is by the equally undistinctive BEDlight for blueEYES, complete with its emolicious piano and wailing that conveys more than the '90s-era whining of Stephan Jenkins. BEDlight has done nothing of note since then and probably won't anytime soon, but a track like this will be iTunes fodder for all the cover fanatics to feast upon.

Punk Goes '90s on iTunes

BEDlight for BlueEYES - Jumper (Third Eye Blind Cover)

==TJ==

When Will the Madness Stop?

First, there was Alanis Morrisette and her piano ballad rendition of "My Humps". Then we caught wind of Chris Cornell giving "Billie Jean" the Soundgarden treatment. And now Whudahexup has released a new track from Panic! At the Disco...which just so happens to be a cover of Nelly Furtado's "Maneater". I don't know what's behind all this, but I'm going on record with my request to hear someone do a rocked up cover of "Smack That". Can we get someone on this already please?

Panic! At the Disco - Maneater (Nelly Furtado Cover) (Courtesy of Whudahexup)

==TJ==

It's Really Good To Hear Your Voice...

I was in a car earlier this week and while the radio was on I heard that song by Hinder, "Lips of An Angel". Normally this is where I rant about the fact that this song became a radio hit a year after the album's release and 10 months before Matt Nolan and I predicted its success. But no, there's a bigger issue here. The version of the song I heard was not done by Hinder, but rather it was a country cover done by Jack Ingram.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying there shouldn't be a cover of this song and I'm not necessarily saying a country artist shouldn't be doing the cover. My issue is in the fact that Ingram didn't even take the time to let the song drop off the Billboard Charts before trying to capitalize off its success (Hinder's version is currently #26 on Billboard's Hot 100). The song has been a hit for only 4 months and the likelihood of future success for Hinder is pretty high. Jack Ingram's success over the past few years has been marginal at best. For the record, Ingram's version isn't outright bad; its basically the same song without the electric guitar and Blower's raw, scratchy voice. Not a terrible cover, but lacking the originality I expect in a good cover (See: The Used and MCR's rendition of "Under Pressure"). My biggest problem here is the fact that a mostly established country artist is piggybacking on the success of an up-and-coming rock band that deserves a fair chance.

Anyway, the Grammys are this weekend, and quite frankly, I don't care. They've become predictable of late. While I'm happy to see the streak of posthumous recordings getting gratuitous praise, does anyone think that someone NOT named John Mayer, Jack White, or Corinne Bailey Rae has a chance? And where the hell are the noms for Pearl Jam's album? That thing was genius, and a hell of a lot better than The Raconteurs. It's official; I should be running the Grammy Association from now on. Someone get me the papers, please?

==TJ==

Can You Cover Up These Eyes?

Apologies on the 48 hours without updating. But this is a good one, I promise.

So AOL's music branch has started a project where they bring in current rock bands and have them do stripped-down covers of songs/artists that influenced them. It's actually a pretty good idea. The best example by far is AFI doing David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust":



(Video may not work on Firefox. If so, here's the link. I'm gonna try to upload an mp3 of it in the near future)

They have other covers from bands like Hellogoodbye (Frank Sinatra), 30 Seconds to Mars (The Police), and Rise Against (Buffalo Springfield). So that got me wondering about other bands and what covers I'd like to see them do. Here are 5 of my picks.

Bright Eyes - Like A Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan): A lot of people say artists like Dylan or The Beatles are untouchable and that their work is so perfect it shouldn't be redone by anyone. I disagree. No artist has reached such an echelon. As proof of how a cover can be done right, go youtube Jay-Z, Linkin Park and Paul McCartney's performance of "Numb/Encore/Yesterday" from the 2006 Grammys. Conor Oberst has already drawn Dylan comparisons, and the thought of him hearing him wail on the chorus to one of the greatest songs of the '60s makes me giddy. Odds of this one happening are slim, but it's still one a great musical fantasy of mine.

The Killers - Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney/Wings): I don't know if its The Killers' '80s revival sound, or the fact that the opening lyrics are "When You Were Young..." (also the name of a Killers hit), but I think this song is in Brandon Flowers's wheelhouse. It's got a perfect mix of bravado and campiness, and its totally not impossible to see The Killers try to pull it off in the near future. I'm dead serious here. Can I please get someone at Island Records on this?

Foo Fighters - Carry On Wayward Son (Kansas): Dave Grohl and co. are already known to do this one live from time to time. Since Grohl has already said that the chances of covering anything from Nirvana are slim, perhaps they could do a studio version of this one just for kicks. Ignoring the Foo's lack of a keyboardist, I think this one has some real potential. Foo Fighters have proven they can do the big arena rock-style tracks, I want to see them go all the way with it.

Godsmack - Nothing Else Matters (Metallica): We all know Godsmack can do the 3-minute, balls-to-the-wall rock, but the closest they've come to expanding was "Serenity", which was a solid track to end the Faceless album, and The Other Side EP, which had little to offer since they ignored it after that. Sully Erna has the voice to pull off the soft end of the Metallica hit, and I think trying to expand on the softer edge of their range might yield something pretty cool.

Go Your Own Way (Fleetwood Mac): I haven't come up with who I want doing this one, but there are a couple candidates, and this is definitely one that could turn into a hit for someone if done right. I can see The Fray doing this one (they've got the vocal harmony to do it), or even the Barenaked Ladies (though it might be too serious for them nowadays), or perhaps give it to 30 Seconds to Mars (for a much angstier take on it). But I think The Fray have the best shot of a hit with this one.

That's my list. If you read this blog, please comment and let me know. It'll make me feel better and give my ego that tiny little boost.

==TJ==