Category Archives: Rants

Happy birthday to us!

As you probably read in the post below this one, today is our birthday. Our first birthday, to be exact.

Yes, exactly one year ago we bought this domain and decided to make fools of ourselves by trying to ‘write’ a blog. 12 months later, we’re still going for it at a pretty reasonable pace (an average of 5 posts per day). We’ve also written about over 1,000 bands or artists. That’s pretty good, ain’t it?

Let’s hope there are many more years to come, because we really enjoy doing this.

Some cool giveaways are coming your way soon, it’s just Saturday and I’m too lazy to post about them. Sorry.

GET DRUNK AND CELEBRATE!

P.S. = Holy shit, this is our 2,001th post. Tomorrow marks 10 years since the 2001 attacks. ARE WE THE FUCKING ILLUMINATI? OMFG OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When filmmakers who like Metallica aren’t rich

I stumbled across this short film recently… I’m not gonna lie, it’s not exactly Citizen Kane, but what I found fascinating was the intro music. It was weird and offbeat, yet very familiar. It took me a while to realize it’s a ‘lawsuit-safe’ version of Metallica‘s ‘The Thing That Should Not Be.’

Then I noticed the character’s Metallica shirt, which means it’s not accidental. In fact, at one point in the film you can hear the original track being played on that CD player, which means they wrote/made the film with the song in mind, even used it, but then probably had to switch it for legal reasons.

Here, have a listen:

Fans of Conan may know the bit he does where his band plays a famous song differently, to ‘avoid legal action.’ That is, of course, meant to be a joke. But it actually does happen, even on major TV shows… When you don’t have the rights (or the money to buy the rights) of a certain song, you either find a band who will cover it for you using slightly different notes, or if the song is famous enough, you might actually find that ‘lawsuit-proof’ cover already, you just have to buy it. Soundtrack sites list these songs as “In the style of Metallica” or something similar.

But this does raise an interesting point… Why don’t labels allow their music to be used in non-profit work? I understand that a movie or a TV show makes a lot of money, thus it’s only fair to pay for the music. I also understand your song is your property, so I’m not saying everyone should just distribute their music for free… I’m just saying, if I was in a band, I’d have no problem with student films or YouTube clips using my music. As long as it’s not making a profit, who cares? If anything, fans of that short film might actually check out more of my music.

I understand trying to fight piracy, but I don’t understand discouraging people from using your music if they’re doing it just for the sake of the art. Back to the short film above, I’m willing to bet the filmmaker had Metallica’s song in mind the whole time, but had to change it for festivals and other events. It’s a bit sad when the song that inspires you can’t be used unless you can fork out the big bucks.

Silly me, trying to understand labels and their greed.

The Weekly Playlist: Better the devil you know

This week the UK has suffered some of the worst riots in recent history. Opportunist thuggery, or the lashing out of a group of people, excluded from society as a result of political and societal elitism. After all, it was Thatcher that taught us that society does not exist. Now is the time people turn to answers for why this happened, and it’s not something I can honestly condemn. Dismissing the last days as mindless violence is futile and will never get us to the root of the problem. Is it a lack of God in today’s Britain (fuck off), a breakdown of family unity, or the reaction to what is essentially a continuous swap between two parties that are nothing but different shades of shit, both of which support the same agenda?

I can’t pretend I have the answers, but what I do have is some honest reviews of some new music. So if you are sick of hearing about riots, sick of hearing from quasi-intelligent individuals discussing the alleged problems and answers to the world’s problems, why don’t we unite in listening to some kick ass Metal? And if that isn’t enough, we can also mock the shit out of some crappy ass music too.

Tom Morello comments on UK riots

You just knew someone in Rage Against The Machine would comment on the UK riots. Here we go, folks. Prepare to witness yet another world-famous musician pretending to understand and relate to poor people.

“When people have the opportunity to look forward to a bright future with educational opportunities, safety, security and a positive economic outlook they do not take to the streets and riot. When people are standing at the lip of the abyss, looking into a future of poverty, deprivation and crime, that is when the powder-keg is set to be lit.“

Very poetic, only these rioters have no purpose or goals, they just vandalize and loot. They’re destroying their own cities and stealing from mom and pop stores, how is that helping their cause? They’re basically attacking themselves.

“In the midst of these austerity measures you know that the UK’s billionaires are not turning their yachts in but the people in communities across the UK find themselves living in desperate economic conditions with no future to look forward to. On the one hand I’m concerned for safety but at the same time I understand. “

You’re selling out arenas all over the globe, are you turning in your profits? Or does this not apply to you, just the ‘really rich’ people?

“Something’s got to give and I would not exempt what’s happening in the UK from the rest of the world. The circumstances are different in each place but the overarching desire of humanity to stand against tyranny and want a decent life for themselves and their family in universal.“

Again, this would all be very poetic if these people would not be burning cars, houses and stores that belong to people just like them. There’s a viral video of some people stealing from an injured kid. These people are not standing against tyranny, they ARE the tyranny. How can you justify throwing a Molotov cocktail into a store? They’re not doing anything but creating more problems for people, thus making life even harder for people who ‘don’t own yachts.’ When you burn down a Starbucks store, it’s not the CEOs that will suffer, but the poor fucks working the counter who will have no job afterwards.

I can understand protesting in front of the government or the big companies, but what these people are doing is simply chaotic destruction, and half of them are just jumping on the bandwagon. They have absolutely no reason, other than “Let’s smash some windows and steal some Blu-Rays!!!”

I always thought Tom Morello was a smart guy, but if he truly doesn’t see the hypocrisy in these riots, then maybe I was wrong about him.

Full article here.

[ Photo credit: Bobzilla ]

The weekly playlist: Shit done got stained

If your memory is a wee bit shit, fear not, we have these fancy things called links. Check it out. Aren’t I amazing?

So, last week I decided to write a short playlist article, where I reviewed some new songs. I’m back again, with a silly title (and no, I really don’t know what it means), but it’s more or less the same principle. We’ve had some new (well newish) songs released this week, Guido has introduced me to some new tracks, and well, I’m still as self-indulgent and egotistical as ever, so yes make that jump for this week’s song reviews.