January Jones, upcoming CD's

This is the incomparable January Jones, in a scene from "Mad Men". A very attractive lady in a very good show. By the way themusicaddict thinks smoking is a disgusting habit, but this is the best picture I could find. The other pictures I saw of Jones were a lot less appropriate. A bit of trivia in this show set in the 60's. The cigarettes they are smoking are herbal cigarettes. (Thanks to the AMC network and the excellent "Mad Men" show.)

Upcoming CD news. Remember all dates listed are tentative. Morrissey has completed work on a new CD, "Years of Refusal". It contains 12 tracks including the first single "I Am Throwing My Arms Around Paris". I am not sure if this song is about the person or the city :). It should be released on February 9th. The new CD should be out on February 16th. Rumors are circulating that there will be a lengthy US tour. I would love to see Morrissey in concert. (Thanks to lloydsoldout.com.)


Other new CD news, the name of U2's new CD is "No Line on the Horizon". It will be released on March 3rd in 5 different versions. (Thanks to billboard.com) Also the original "American Idol" winner, Kelly Clarkson is back. Her new single is going to be released on January 19th, 2009. (The day before we finally get a new President, whoo-hoo!) The name of that song is "My Life Would Suck Without You". Yes that really is the name of the song. And unconfirmed reports say that the song is dedicated to me. Thanks, Kelly. Her new and so far untitled CD should be out on March 19th. I look very much forward to all those new releases.

For Christmas I received a bunch of money, most of it went to bills. However some of the money I used to buy new music at iTunes music store. One of the cool things I like about the iTunes music store is the Complete My Album feature. Now there are a lot of these "incomplete" CD's I only bought one or two songs off of them for a reason. But there are some CD's that you actually want the whole thing. For instance, I completed the album on Brad Paisley's "Time Well Wasted" using the Complete My Album feature. Again CDs you would want to use this feature on are few and far between, but it is really cool when it works out.

A website I want to give you a heads up on is grabb.it/tv. This is a site that has collected all the videos that were in the MTV Top 20 Countdown for the years of 1980-1998. Now this isn't the Top 20 countdowns themselves, these are just the collected videos for each countdown. I have enjoyed some classic videos from the early 80's. They include "Funky Town"- Lipps Inc., Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)", Boz Skaggs' "Breakdown Dead Ahead", Christopher Cross' "Ride Like The Wind", Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" and Gary Numan's "Cars". Now this is a great site but it does have three main problems. One, grabb.it/tv is a very slow loading site. Two, a lot of the videos aren't actual videos. When you go to the site you will see what I mean. Three, a lot of the videos aren't posted due to legal reasons. In spite of those three things it is a very cool site.

Quickly here are some great songs I would reccomend you download: The Passenger's "Night Vision Binoculars", Meiko's "Girls With Boyfriends", Whitney Houston's "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and the very funny Stephen Colbert song, "Another Christmas Song".

Finally songs rockin' my iPod 1) "Welcome To The Jungle (Live)" 2) "Nine Below Zero"- Muddy Waters 3) "No One Else"- Weezer 4) "Glory of Love"- Peter Cetera 5 & 6) "Omaha" and "The Rain King" by The Counting Crows 7) "Crazy For This Girl"- Evan and Jaron 8) "Strangelove"- Depeche Mode 9) "Fergalicious"- Fergie featuring Will.i.am 10) "The Piano Man"- Billy Joel 11) "Going To California (Live)"- The Mighty Zepp 12) "Babysitter"- Morningwood 13) "This Love"- Maroon 5 14) "Borderline"- Madonna 15) "Rusty Cage"- Soundgarden 16) "Freewill"- Rush 17) "Cherry Bomb"- John Mellencamp 18) "Rock Me Amadeus"- Falco 19) "Turn The Beat Around"- Vicki Sue Robinson 20) "Long Goodbye"- Brooks and Dunn and 21) "The Last Day of Our Acquaintance"- Sinead O'Connor A great, biting break up song.

This is a new blog, but I am also going to be working more on yesterday's blog. I am not sure when I will be back next. Happy New Year from themusicaddict

Whitney Houston, "American Idol"

(This blog entry is a work in progress, I will be working more on it Sunday.)
The following link is suppose to be a new song this joker, the incredibly lame R. Kelly, wrote for Whitney Houston. (Video courtesy of youtube.com, picture courtesy of rs.com.) youtube.com also has a song from Whitney Houston and akon if you are interested. Houston supposedly was going to have a new CD released in November, obviously it was never released.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb1Gb0LWOS0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32pKUftFBu8

The last release by the incredibly talented Whitney Houston was the greatest hits collection "The Ultimate Collection". That CD was released on December 11th, 2007. In doing research for this blog, this is the first time I have heard of this CD. This was a poorly promoted CD released at the last second to capitalize on the 2007 Christmas season. (Attention record companies when you release CDs you should promote them and then you can get more sales.)

So it looks like there is hope for a new Whitney Houston release, I certainly would welcome her back. She has one of the greatest voices of all-time. Unfortunately along with the great voice and being very attractive, she also has had her share of problems. Also Whitney don't wait 14 years between releases. Her last non-greatest hits, non-Christmas CD was released in 2002. That CD is titled "Just Whitney". You remember that CD don't you, of course not. If you can even name one song off that CD you are a much bigger Whitney fan than I am.

Here is just some of her many great songs: "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?", her stirring, live rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner", "You Give Good Love", "Saving All My Love For You", "The Greatest Love of All", "Didn't We Almost Have It All?", "How Will I Know?", "I Wanna Dance With Somebody Who Loves Me", "One Moment In Time" and the uptempo version of "My Love Is Your Love". (I am purposely leaving out that one song that is her most overplayed song.)

Sticking with the Whitney Houston theme for videos of the day. Some of her videos are pretty lame, but I really like the videos for the following songs: "The Greatest Love Of All", "How Will I Know", "My Name Is Not Susan" and "Try It On My Own". (That last song, video I had never heard of before.)

Other news Shaquille O'Neal missed his 5000th free throw on Christmas Day. He gave a gift to all the Shaq haters, of which there is many. Other music news, have you seen the picture of David Cook on the cover of his new CD? He has been prettied up as much as possible. That picture doesn't represent who he is as a person or an artist. (That opinion is based on watching him on "American Idol".) They make him look like a pretty boy, like he is a member of a boy band. Yes, I say that with great disdain. The terrible management at 19 Entertainment strikes again. A review of this CD is forthcoming.

More "American Idol" news, as you know by now the new season starts January 13th. I am very excited about that, I am also very excited about the new season of "Idolatry". "Idolatry" begins on January 16th at ew.com. For those of you who don't know what that is, that is Michael Slezak and guests offering snarky commentary about "American Idol". Slezak is Entertainment Weekly's resident guru on all things "AI". Speaking of which ew.com has Michael Slezak's list of the Top Ten Worst "AI" performances with the offending evidence (videos) attached. Surprisingly Sanjaya didn't "win" this competition, he only came in second. One more "AI" note. Kristy Lee Cook has been dropped from her record label, Arista Nashville, again. This is the second time she has been dropped from the same label! That is in spite of having a song all over country radio which is a Top 30 song. Also there is a video of that same song on CMT. That song being "15 Minutes of Shame". This is not a bad song.

Well that is it for now, hopefully I will be back some more I have some other videos I want to add. Have a great weekend.

Ivanka Trump

Hello,

First of all I would like to say "Merry Christmas". This is my favorite time of the year for many reasons. It is just a fun time with all the people celebrating and enjoying the festive season. Also please be patient with me as I am working on adding hyperlinks and hopefully uploading videos to my blog.

I was trying to figure out how to upload a video from youtube.com of Andy Dick getting kicked off the Jimmy Kimmel show. He was kicked off for touching Ivanka Trump. Check it out it is pretty funny. (Thanks to koodoos.com for the picture of Miss Trump.) Smart, beautiful and rich, what a combination.

Now on to the music, okay wait a bit. I first want to congratulate Shaquille O'Neal for about to miss his 5000th free throw in his career. As of this writing he has missed 4,995 free throws. His career free throw percentage is 52.5%. Congratulations to the Big Brick!

I apologize I have been so busy lately that I have not been able to blog as much as I would like. So I am going to give you multiple videos of the day. These are all certified as themusicaddict classics, not necessarily for quality. First of all an example of horrible lip syncing: Tears For Fears singing "Shout" live on a MTV show. Tears For Fears are so bad at it that they shouldn't have even tried. Here are three more 80's classic videos: 1) "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel 2) "Like A Virgin"- Madonna and 3) "What Have You Done For Me Lately"- Janet Jackson. That was back when she was at her peak. I realize my video picks tend to mainly go back to the 80's. I will mix it up more in the future though I promise. Also someday I will figure out how to include the links to these videos, so you can just click and go.

One thing I like about Christmas is I always get money from my brother and sister-in-law. (Thank you J & L.) Most of the money goes to bills. However I am able to buy some good music as well. No exception this year. I thought I would give you a list of some of the songs I have bought from iTunes. 1) First of all my current favorite country song, Josh Turner's "Firecracker". 2) "Song of the South"- Alabama 3) "Steal My Kisses"- Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals 4&5) "Blue Christmas" and "Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)- Elvis Presley 6) "Tyrone" (Extended)- Erykah Badu A great and funny song. 7) "Iris"- The Goo Goo Dolls 8) "Flood"- Jars Of Clay 9) "White Rabbit"- Jefferson Airplane One of the greatest songs of all-time. 10) "Cheater, Cheater"- Joey + Rory This is a pretty funny video with Naomi Judd making a guest appearance. 11) "Centerfield"- John Fogerty This is probably the best baseball song. 12) "Secret Agent Man"- Johnny Rivers 13) "Kiss Me Deadly"- Lita Ford 14) "Pop Goes The World"- Men Without Hats 15) "Night Vision Binoculars"- Passenger An unknown but a great, great song. 16&17) "Macho Man" and "Y.M.C.A."- The Village People

Well that is all the time I have for now, I hope to be back on Friday. Again have a great Christmas, the day we celebrate our Savior's birth. Keep Christ in Christmas! Thanks for reading, themusicaddict

"Gran Torino" Trailer, mtvmusic.com rules

Hello,

My blog is now 10% better featuring pictures and I am using spell check. Two days in a row can you believe it? I still can't get over how stunning Jennifer Aniston looks. Her picture alone improved my blog by about 100% yesterday.

I am watching mtvmusic.com right now as I write this. This is such a great, great site. I am wondering why it took so long for them to put it on-line. Although I have discovered there are several videos that are not on the site. For instance, Loverboy only has one video available. I am currently enjoying videos by Rihanna, she is fantastic. mtvmusic.com is basically a social networking site with videos. You can add friends, rate videos, add videos to your profile and be in contact with other members etc. It can be your own little MTV station, like back in the day for those that remembered when it use to be good, except no commercials, no annoying promos and no jabbering VJ's.

Also Rihanna has become one of my favorite singers, even more because of mtvmusic.com. She chooses great songs. She can do everything from ballads "Take A Bow", "P.S. (I'm Still Not Over You" ), "A Million Miles Away" and "Unfaithful". She is also great at mid-tempo songs: "Umbrella" and "Good Girls Gone Bad". She also excels on very energetic songs like "Shut Up and Drive", "Don't Stop The Music"and "Breaking Dishes". She has a great voice and is gorgeous. If I could afford it I would definitely go see her in concert.

Other news: in no surprise Barack Obama, or as I like to call him President Obama, has been named Time Magazine's Person of the Year. Is anyone surprised by this, I mean who else would it be? George Bush? Uh, no! Dick Cheney, Karl Rove or any of his other staff. No, hell no and no. I mean who else would it be? Also Rolling Stone has a special commemorative issue out now devoted to Barack Obama. It has highlights from his being a senator to winning the Presidential election. I am so excited for the Obama Presidency to begin. Although Bush is doing as much damage as possible before he leaves office. He will definitely go down as one of the worst Presidents of all-time.

Other tidbits, you definitely need to go to youtube.com and check out the movie trailer for "Gran Torino". This is Clint Eastwood's latest movie, out this December. He says this may be his last acting role, Eastwood is 78 years old. This movie looks like it is going to be great. Eastwood is one of my favorite actors and directors currently working. His directing and acting of "Million Dollar Baby" is fantastic. Hillary Swank is absolutely incredible in that movie as well, that is some of the best acting I have ever seen. Also still out is "The Changeling", the movie he directed starring Angelina Jolie.

Also in the recent Rolling Stone, with Brad Pitt on the cover, there is an article on real life superheroes. Although these people seem earnest, they still seem to be a little ridiculous. How can you take someone seriously who wears pajamas in public? On one hand I don't want to ridicule these people, but on the other hand this is a pretty funny article.

Also story of the day is the 1981 case of the murdered Adam Walsh has been solved. Adam Walsh would have been 33 years old today if still alive. That is still such a sad story. I admire the Walsh's though, they made the best of a bad situation. Their outrage prompted them to help start "America's Most Wanted". A show that has found some of the worst criminals, saving who knows how many lives. I think all parents owe a debt of gratitude to the Walshs. Thanks John and Keve.

Miscellaneous: Christina Aguilera's "Genie In A Bottle" is such a great song. I am talking about the old school version. She has such an amazing voice which leads me to the video of the day. Christina Aguilera's "Candyman" is a great video and a great song. David Archuleta has filmed a video for his new song. The song is called "A Little Too Not Over You". Again David Archuleta has a pretty good song, no one is more surprised than me. The video has him in it so obviously the video can't be good. I also had to laugh votefortheworst.com calls Archuleta "Gaspy". In "The Biggest Loser" news, oh wait a minute I don't care.

Steve Jobs has cancelled his speech at this year's Macworld. That usually would be big news but this year it is especially big news. Coming 3 weeks before Macworld, this appears to not be very good timing. Of course what many people are concerned with is that Steve Jobs has had a recurrence of his cancer. Apple has no published succession plan and Jobs is so vital to Apple that this is a frightening development in the Apple world. Best wishes Steve.

Last but not least, songs rockin' my iPod: 1) "Finish What Ya' Started" (Live)- Van Halen 2) "Rain King"- The Counting Crows I think this song and "A Long December" are their two best songs. 3) "But It's Better If You Do"- Panic! At The Disco 4) "The Shortest Straw"- Metallica 5) "Black Sheep"- John Anderson 6) "What Can You Do For Me?"- The Utah Saints No not a religious song. 7) "Picture To Burn"- The fantastic Taylor Swift 8) "Venus"- Bananarama 9) "My Old Yellow Car"- Dan Seals 10) "Physical"-Olivia Newton-John 11) "Rikki Don't Lose That Number"- Steely Dan and 12) "Sadie"- Grattitude. If you haven't ever heard this song you need to find it and check it out. It is a great song from a great CD. I am going to try and link it to this blog.

That is it for now, hopefully I will be back Friday. If you haven't started your Christmas shopping you may want to now. Christmas is a week from tomorrow. themusicaddict

Jennifer Aniston, "Wolverine" trailer

You will have to forgive me I am working on adding pictures to my blog.

A picture of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima in World War Two. An amazing picture on what was a brutal battlefield. Check out the excellent Clint Eastwood directed film "Flags of Our Fathers" to get more of an understanding.

Hello,

Just a quick blog today. Back in the 80's there was a singer/comedian by the name of Julie Brown (not to be confused with the much lamer Downtown Julie Brown). Anyway she had a song, and I am fairly certain there was a video as well, for the song called "Homecoming Queen Has A Gun". I went to mtvmusic.com the other day to watch it. Unfortunately it is not there yet. I was disappointed by that as that was going to be one of my videos of the day. So as sort of a consolation prize, today's videos of the day are her two videos available. The first and the best of the two is "Girl Fight Tonight". It is both a much better song and video than "Trapped In The Body Of A White Girl (Version 2)". (By the way MTV I am still waiting for Camper Van Beethoven's "Pictures of Matchstick Men" to appear on mtvmusic.com.)

A band you should check out is the Pipettes. They have a 50's/60's girl group sort of vibe with a modern sheen. They are very good although they have gone through some membership changes recently. Check out their latest CD, "We Are The Pipettes". On this CD, the best song is "ABC". They join the recent wave of updated but vintage stylings of artists like Amy Winehouse and the Detroit Cobras. And to a lesser degree Green Day's garage rock band side as the Foxboro Hottubs.

Other news I am sure you have seen the above picture of Jennifer Aniston. She is forty and still amazingly gorgeous! (Thanks to gq.com) Although I was never a big fan of "Friends" she was great in "Office Space". Also her new movie is debuting Christmas Day, it is titled "Marley and Me". This is a movie about a young couple taking on the task of having a wild out of control puppy. The movie is based on the book of the same name. It's a fantastic book, a definite must read. Why am I writing about this in a music blog. 1) She's Jennifer Aniston and absolutely gorgeous. 2) There are also two musical connections with her., however tenuous. First the dog Marley is named after the great reggae singer Bob Marley. Also she currently is dating John Meyer. He must have something going for him. I am not sure what it is but it is not his music, most of his music sucks.

Also if you go to ew.com you can link to the new "Wolverine" trailer. "Wolverine" is played by Hugh Jackman. For those of you who don't know, Wolverine is one of the main characters in the "X-Men" series. This particular movie is an origin story. This trailer is fantastic and gives me hope of a great movie. (Not all trailers are made equal though. The best trailer/ worst movie combination I have seen is Sly Stallone's "Cliffhanger". After seeing that preview I could not wait to see the movie. Other than the first few minutes that was one of the worst movies I have ever seen.)

Also amazon.com has an amazing 34 free MP3's today. Including one from former American Idol Jason Castro. He sings the Christmas classic "White Christmas". Although the accompany photo of Castro in a Santa hat just does not work for him. (That is not a picture I wanted on my blog.) I would reccomend you sign up for the amazon.com weekly MP3 music newsletter. They have quite a few great songs available for free, but usually only for a limited time. I have discovered a lot of great songs that I would not have heard any other way. (I know iTunes music store does the same thing, but they usually only have two to four free songs available weekly.)

As of this morning, on ew.com, is a feature where you can pick what you think is the greatest performance on "American Idol" so far. Some of the songs they picked are incredibly lame, David Archuletta's "Imagine" please, but some of them are quite good. They include Carrie Underwood's "Alone", Jordin Sparks' "I (Who Have Nothing) and Kelly Clarkson's "Stuff Like That There". However out of them the one I picked as the best is Jason Castro's transcendent "Hallelujah". Although I thought Castro should have been kicked off sooner, this performance was absolutely amazing. Remember for more "American Idol" rumors check out the great website votefortheworst.com. They love to spoil as many of "Idol's" secrets as they can.

That is it for now, but I should be back tomorrow. I would like to congratulate my wife on joining the blogging world. If you have the urge to join the blogging world, it is very easy. All you have to do is go to blogspot.com and they do most of the heavy lifting for you. Even on blogs where few people read them, like mine, it is still very satisfying to write a blog. Have a good day and enjoy the Christmas season. themusicaddict.

Stop Smoking!, No Bailout for the Big Three, Aquabats & Other Happy Music (Updated July 18th, 2013)

Hello,

Sort of a slow time in the music world right now. I don't want be too much of a downer, however I discovered an amazing fact while reading the other day. In the September 29, 2008 issue of Newsweek I read an amazing fact. These stats come from an article written by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. About 14,000 people each day die due to smoking tobacco. (No that's not a misprint.) 14,000 people! Dead! Each day! From smoking tobacco! In the same article Bloomberg states that "If we do nothing, tobacco may kill 1 billion people by the end of this century." (Again that's not a misprint.) A final stat: tobacco use kills more people than tuberculosis, AIDS and Malaria combined. Not only that but tobacco executives are some of the slimiest people in business.

Thankfully "U.S. Senators killed an effort to rescue Detroit automakers Thursday night after a last-ditch attempt to renegotiate the deal died. The bill failed in the Senate by a vote of 52-35.The package was doomed on a 52-35 procedural vote, well short of the 60 votes needed to bring the bill to the floor for passage."

"To all those within the sound of my voice: We have tried very, very hard to legislate for the automobile industry," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said on the Senate floor before the vote. "I am very sorry we have not been able to find a conclusion." (Thanks to abcnews.go.com)

I'm glad this happened, if these idiots can't keep their business strong why should the government help them. It's about time they accept responsibility for their bad choices and stupidity. I'm sure the government will come through with some sort of a bailout for them. No wonder America has so many problems, no one has to take responsibility for their actions. The government is already saying they might step in. Aargh! Thanks I feel better now.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blog:

Don't worry though themusicaddict is here to bring some happiness to your soul. I don't just have one video of the day, I have four videos of the day. These are 80's dance classics. As always check them out at mtvmusic.com.

1) "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" by C + C Music Factory. Great song, great video but it's unfortunate they featured a model in the place of the singer who sings the amazing chorus:



2) "Now That We Found Love" by Heavy D and the Boyz:



3) "U Can't Touch This" by M.C. Hammer. Parachute pants rule! This is one of those songs that as soon as it starts playing, you feel an urge to turn up the volume. I hope you follow that urge as even in 2013, this is still one of the funkiest songs ever:



In 2009 I couldn't find a video for Young M.C.'s "Bust A Move". However I was able to find a video for it in 2013.



A happy band for you is The Aquabats. They are a great and fun band. They don't have any "hits"per se, but they have a lot of great songs. I did a little research on them and it looks like they are currently unsigned to a record label. However I know they're still together, because they were in concert in SLC on December 6th. It seems their last CD was released June 7th, 2005, the appropriately titled "Charge". Easily their best CD is 1997's "The Fury of the Aquabats". Great melodies and also really infectious & great dance music. If this CD doesn't lift your spirits, you must be dead. My favorite Aquabats song is "Martian Girl" which is on "The Fury of the Aquabats".

"Martian Girl":



Here's the full CD for "The Fury Of The Aquabats", a must have CD for anyone who loves music.



Songs rockin' my iPod. 1) "Hunger Strike"- Temple of the Dog 2) "Bring Me To Life"- Evenescence 3) "The Shortest Straw"- Metallica 4) "Set It Off"- Audioslave This is probably their best song, the language will offend some. 5) "Load Out/Stay"- Jackson Browne:



 6) "Bent"- Matchbox Twenty 7) "Einstein On A Beach (For An Eggman)"- Counting Crows 8) "Supermodel"- Jill Sobule 9) "On The Beat"- Electrocute 10) "Just A Girl"- No Doubt 11) "Open Letter (To A Landlord)"- Living Color 12) "Do It Again"- Steely Dan 13) Sentimettal"- Moderato 14) "Hey Jealously"- The Gin Blossoms Whatever happened to them. 15) "Une Annee Sans Lumiere"-The Arcade Fire It's from one of the Top 500 CD's of all-time, "Funeral". 16) "Holiday"-Green Day

Well that's it for today. I have to work 14 hours tomorrow and I hope to be back Monday or Tuesday. I hope you have a better weekend that I am going to. Remember to always enjoy great music!

themusicaddict

"Chinese Democracy" review

Hello,

Here is my review of Guns n' Roses long delayed 6th CD "Chinese Democracy". I am going to review track by track. I have listened to this CD about 7 or 8 times at least in my car as I am driving around. I also am listening to it now as I write this.

1) "Chinese Democracy" (4:43) This was the first single off the CD. The first song on the CD is this mysterious song that talks about the Falun Gong among other things. After 1:25 of music here comes Axl Rose's classic screech. I have no idea what this song is talking about. But it's great rock and roll so who cares? It does not have to make sense. I like this song quite a bit, one of the more solid tracks on the CD.

2) "Shackler's Revenge" (3:37) The song that was introduced in "Guitar Hero 3", before the release of "Chinese Democracy". Axl Rose is in great voice on this song and he is pissed off. This is a great kiss off song to a former significant other. He sings "I don't believe you" over and over again.

3) "Better" (4:59) This is probably my favorite track on the whole CD. Another song appropriate for a former significant other. He sings this song like he means. "Now I know you better, you know I know better". This is just a great pop/rock song.

4) "Street of Dreams" (4:47) A great, great song. This is one of those heavy metal ballad songs. This has sort of a "November Rain" feel to it.

5) "If The World" (4:54) The song shown over the end credits of "Body Of Lies". This is probably the highlight of the movie. No I haven't seen it, but the previews made the movie look like a suckfest. Another heavy ballad song and another good song. So far his 14 years of work on this CD has paid off. These first 5 these songs are excellent. Rose's relationship problems have turned into great music.

6) "There Was A Time" (6:41) The third straight ballad and another great song.

7) "Catcher In The Rye" (5:53) A mid-tempo rocker and another great song.

8) "Scraped" (3:31) "Don't try to stop us now" leads off this song. Later Rose sings "Don't try to stop us now, because I just won't let you". Another mellow rocker. Another great song, so far I have liked all 8 songs.

9) "Riad N' The Beduoins" (4:10) Back to the truly rocking songs. Another vicious and angry song.

10) "Sorry" (6:15) Back to the angry ballads. Axl sings "You think it's me and not you" and"I'm not sorry for you, not sorry for me". This is a very angry song on a very angry CD.

11) "I.R.S." (4:29) Another angry rock song.

12) "Madagascar" (5:38) Another rocking ballad. This song is more sad than angry as Axl sings "I can't find my way back anymore."

13) "This I Love" (5:34) "There is a special light, still shining bright". The sweetest and most romantic song on this CD. It sounds like a song to a long lost love.

14) "Prostitute" "6:16" Another angry mid-tempo rocker.

So overall on a scale of 5 Stars I have this CD 4 stars overall. Is it "Appetite For Destruction"? No! But is it "The Spaghetti Incident"? Thank goodness no! I would put this CD in the same quality level as the "Use Your Illusion" CD's. That being very, very good but probably not classics. Obviously it will take a few more years to determine if this CD is a classic.

It is not "Appetite For Destruction", but I don't know if a CD that good will ever be made again. "Destruction" was almost an instant classic. Some of the greatest songs ever written are on that CD, with one of the all-time best songs, "Mr. Brownstone". (In fact writing this blog, made me go and listen to it again. I also immeadiately added it to my iPod.) I definitely would reccomend you buy this CD. Even in this terrible economy it is worthy of your hard earned money. (One disclaimer, admittedly I am a huge Guns n' Roses fan, no matter who is in the band.)

Also the musicianship of this CD is fantastic. There is a lot of great guitar playing and Axl's voice is in tip top shape. Also the backup vocals are a great addition in many songs.

Just a few other notes. Video of the Day. Not so much a music video, but a clip of System of A Down's Serj Tankian saying that Rihanna's "Umbrella" is a guilty pleasure. I find that very amusing. A book to avoid, Bobby Brown had a new biography released a couple of days ago. Skip it at all costs. Let's let this piece of crap fade into his rightful obscurity. Brad Pitt is the cover boy of the year end issue of Rolling Stone. Also included in that issue is Rolling Stone's Top 100 singles and Top 50 albums.

Pearl Jam is going to release to release a "massive reissue of 'Ten'". (Thanks to Rolling Stone.) There are going to be four different packages, all of them will include two copies of "Ten". One CD will be the original mix of "Ten" and one CD will be "remixed by longtime PJ producer Brendan O'Brien". This will be coming out in March, so start saving your money now.

Last not least while surfing one of my new favorite websites, mtvmusic.com, the other day I stumbled across the video for They Might Be Giants' "Birdhouse In Your Soul". I was reminded how great of a song this is. Also the CD this song comes from, "Flood", is one of the best CD's of the 90's.

Songs that are rockin' my iPod. 1) "Losing Me"- Diego A great song I discovered through the weekly iTunes free songs. 2) "I Believe In A Thing"- The Darkness 3) "All Night Long (All Night)"- Lionel Richie 4) "Vogue"- Madonna I was listening to this song in the cooler at my job last night and the song starts off "What are you looking at?" and that startled me a bit. 5) "Over The Hills and Far Away"- The Mighty Zepp 6) "Simply Irrestible"- Robert Palmer 7) "I Won't Hold You Back"- Toto One of the truly great songs from the 80's. 8) "Changes"- 3 Doors Down 9) "Ramble On"- The all powerful Led Zeppelin 10) "Lies"- The Thompson Twins 11) "Dangerous"- Katherine McPhee When I was listening to this last night, at first I thought it was a Rihanna song. That is a great compliment as I love Rihanna. 12) "Tangerine"- The Greatest Band Ever 13) "Long View"- Green Day 14) "Hell or High Water"- Tinsley Ellis 15) "Love Is A Contact Sport"- The great Whitney Houston 16) "Xanadu"- Olivia Newton-John and ELO I am almost a little embarrassed I listen to this song, but it is a great song. 17) "Number One Camera"- Nina Gordon 18) "Ur So Gay"- Katy Perry 19) "Daisy"- Halfway To Hazard One of the best country songs of this milennium. 20) "Suzie"- Boy Kill Boy

One final personal note, themusicaddict does not have a great job now. If any of you know of good jobs in the Salt Lake Valley, I would appreciate a heads up. We are so poor we are looking into bankruptcy now. Please just keep your eyes open.

On that down note, have a great weekend. I should be back tomorrow, themusicaddict

Rolling Stone Top 100 Singers Part Two, Voice of a generation?

Hello,

"You made the classic mistake of assuming that "Greatest" singer has anything to do with vocal quality. You have to look at:

* Impact on Society
* Political Viewpoint
* Marketability
* OK, maybe voice quality here

Of course Dylan has a lousy voice, but that doesn't matter since he was the voice of his generation."

This is part of a comment I received about my last blog when I was discussing Rolling Stone's Top 100 greatest singers. I would like to reply to it. While I understand what the commenter's point is, I disagree. I think more what the commenter is describing is an artist. I agree you would include all those criteria on deciding what an artist is. However I am narrowing down the criteria for a singer.

I would also like to talk about the commenter's "voice of a generation" idea. I agree that Dylan was the voice of some of his generation. However I think a lot of people disagreed with his politics. Since I have a boring job where I can turn my mind off I thought a lot about this "voice of a generation" idea last night. I am a member of Genration X, so who would be the voice of my generation? I think a lot of people would say Kurt Cobain. However he is not my voice of my generation. He is a flash in the pan artist who had one big song in my opinion. (I know I will get a lot of criticism for that, but I think Nirvana and Cobain are vastly overrated.) He does not represent me in any way, shape or form. That makes me think that a lot of people of Dylan's generation thought the same about him. I think that actually there are several singers who are the "voice of their generation".

In the 60's I think this would include The Who, John Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Starship etc. For Generation X I think this would include Eddie Vedder- actually I can't think of anyone else. I would list hundreds of people ahead of Cobain though. Cobain proves the point to make it big, you only have to have one hit. You then can live on that hit forever. Or that one hit can drive you crazy, like it did Cobain.

However I am just rating singers, where impact on society etc doesn't matter as much. I stand by my rankings of the Top 15 singers. Robert Plant probably will always be my #1 singer. As an artist I would have him much lower. His impact on society is neglible, unless you consider all the great artists who grew up listening to the mighty Zepp. I don't even know his political viewpoint and frankly don't care. However in marketability and voice quality I think he is without peer. He can sing all different kinds of genres, with all kinds of different people. He still can do it now, even though he is closing in on his 60th birthday.

I do appreciate all comments though. Speaking of which I have a facebook.com account under my name Craig Meads. If you would like to be themusicaddict's friend send me a request explaining that you read my blog.

Now some other things on my mind. Here is today's music video of the day. It is from one of my new favorite websites, mtvmusic.com. Today's video is "Umbrella" by Rihanna. I know this song is "so last year", but it was an instant classic. First of all the song is absolutely fantastic. Also Rihanna is absolutely gorgeous and has a great voice. She is one of the most gorgoeous pop stars of all-time. You cannot do better than that combination. Also check out mtvmusic.com, like me you can relive many childhood memories there.

Okay it is now rant time. Darius Rucker, former lead singer of Hootie and the Blowhards. (I know that is not their real name, but it is appropriate because they sucked so much.) Anyway he has a fairly decent song out as a country artist. It is called "Don't Think I Don't Think About That". I saw this video on Country Music Television (CMT) the other day. If you don't know Rucker is a black man, but the couple that appear in his video is a white couple. They show his occaisonally singing in a field, almost like they are ashamed of him. I found that a little aggravating. Hasn't country music progressed enough to show black people. If you can welcome Jessica Simpson or Jewel, why not people of color. (Jessica Simpson for hell's sake.) Out of all genres of music, Country music is by far the whitest. Nashville it is now time to join the new millenium. In a contrast, Sugarland has a vidoe for the song called "All I Wanna Do". For their actors, they don't confine themselves to white actors only. That is good to see.

While I am ranting. Why is the government using 15 billion dollars to bail out the automakers. The Big Three have had an inferior product for years, thus they have lost the battle in the marketplace. The Big Three have done little or nothing to improve on their product. Plus they have a home country advantage. I see no reason to bail out these idiots. I am getting sick of the bailouts, especially of big, greedy and incompetent entities. If the government really wants to bail out someone, bail out poor people like myself. People like me who have a mortgage, a family and a less than a great job. People who are doing everything they can with limited resources. (Don't worry this will never become a political blog, some things just irritate me.)

Finally speaking of big, greedy and incompetent entities, the BCS reared it's ugly head this past Sunday. This is an organization that knows how to make money at least. They may not be ethical but at least they won't be needing a bailout anytime soon. Anyway the BCS deemed Oklahoma and Florida worthy to play in the National Championship game. That should be a great and high scoring game. Watch that game just to see Oklahoma's offense in action. They have truly one of the most exciting offenses I have ever seen. This team has scored the most points in one season in NCAA college football history. Oklahoma and Florida will battle it out on January 8.

Other games to watch include Penn State-USC. USC is a pretty exciting team as well. That game will be on January 1st. Then in a non-BCS game that should be a great match up 11-2 TCU vs. 12-0 Boise State in the Poinsettia Bowl. TCU has only lost twice to Oklahoma and Utah. That game is going to be an early Christmas present, played on December 23rd in lovely San Diego. But out of all the games, the one I am looking forward to most is the Utah-Alabama game on January 2nd. This game will be in New Orleans. A lot of people don't know much about Utah, but don't count them out against Alabama. They have a terrific defense and their offense is just good enough. This should be a terrific game and I am picking Utah in an upset. Of course the fact that I am Utah alumni has a little to do with that. And of course as lifelong BYU fan, I will be cheering on the Cougars in the Las Vegas Bowl on December 20th.

I know, I know I keep on promising the "Chinese Democracy" review. I am hoping to be back tomorrow, that will be my main blog item. As always keep up with the comments, I love them. Have a great day, themusicaddict

"American Idol", Rolling Stone's Top 100 Singers

Hello,

I am back as promised. There's a lot going on. Season 8 of "American Idol" is starting in a little over a month and as always I am very excited. Michael Slezak has some interesting rumors on ew.com. He is Entertainment Weekly's main writer on all things "Idol". He also films the videos where they review some of the highlights from previous shows. They had some very funny pieces last season. I am not going to tell you all the rumors, but I will tell you where you can go. One website is fellow blogger, mjsbigblog.com. There is also the old stand by, votefortheworst.com, who are releasing details from Hollywood week. That apparantally is going on now. One little thing an Osmond tried out but apparantally he is not going to make it through Hollywood week. That's good because the Osmond family has brought enough grief to Utah already :) Apparantally "CSI" parodied votefortheworst.com last night. Go to their site to see it.

Also in my last blog I wondered why Jason Castro had finished ahead of Carly Smithson in "AI" Season Seven. A reader sent me a youtube.com video of Jason Castro singing "Hallelujah" last season and said "that's why". I have to admit that was an incredible performance, but that is when he peaked. Consistently week to week Smithson was much better. She has a much better and bigger voice. That woman can really sing. I also have to admit I had never heard of "Hallelujah" until Castro sang it. I downloaded his version as soon as I could. I listened to it a couple of times today.

As you have probably figured out I don't have many readers. So if you make a comment on one of my blog entries I am probably going to respond. Please don't let that discourage you. We may disagree but I will never attack you. In fact I love comments and would love to open a dialogue with other music lovers. I would love to hear what music you are listening to and hear your reccomendations. I am always interested in hearing about great bands and great songs that I have missed.

Here is the list of Rolling Stone Top 10 singers and my opinion.
1) Aretha Franklin Definitely a great singer, but I think #1 is a little high. Her version of "Respect" really kicks butt, I think that is what propels her so high.
2) Ray Charles: I think he is too high as well.
3) Elvis Presley: I would agree with his place. He certainly could sing.
4) Sam Cooke: He is too obscure.
5) John Lennon: He is an okay singer, but I think he is way too high. Also I am not a big Beatles fan.
6) Marvin Gaye: He had his moments but again way too high.
7) Bob Dylan: He wouldn't even make my top 1000 list. I know he is much loved, but the man can't sing. He has been living on his reputation for too long.
8) Otis Redding" He does have a very good voice, and "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" is easily one of the best songs of all-time. However he is too high as well.
9) Stevie Wonder: A great singer, songwriter and performer. I would say he is a little high, but pretty close to where he should be. See my list below.
10) James Brown: The King of Soul, what else needs to be said. I would probably move him up as well. Who can hear "I Feel Good" and not be amazed.

Here are some singers who did not get their proper due. #15 Robert Plant: In my opinion easily the greatest singer of all-time. What a powerful voice. He can sing any genre of music. He can sing the hardest rocking song, a slow grinding blues song and the most delicate ballad. Check out his work with Led Zeppelin, Allison Krauss and The Honeydrippers. He should be #1. #17 Tina Turner: She should also be higher. Another excellent singer and performer. She made "Proud Mary" the true classic it deserves to be. #18 Freddie Mercury should probably at least be in the Top Ten. I would like to see Dylan or Lennon come close to doing justice to "Bohemian Rhapsody". No way. #19 Bob Marley: I just love Marley, he is the complete package. Check out "Iron, Lion, Zion" and "I Shot The Sheriff". I wish he would have lived longer. #21 Johnny Cash: he should also be much higher. Check out his San Quention performances. Also check out "Ring of Fire", "Sunday Morning Coming Down" and "The Man Comes Around".

#34 Whitney Houston: Are you kidding me, she has that beautiful and powerful voice. Who can forget her stirring singing of the National Anthem at the Super Bowl several years ago? Check out "The Greatest Love", "Saving All My Love For You" and "My Name is Not Susan". Other singers rated too low: Jim Morrison (The End" and "Light My Fire", Muddy Waters (almost any of his songs), Christina Aguilera ("Genie in a Bottle"), James Taylor ("Copperline" and "Fire and Rain"), Merle Haggard ("Mama Tried" and "I Think I Will Just Stay Here and Drink") , B.B. King (again almost anything) and Stevie Nicks ("Leather and Lace" and "Edge of Seventeen". Her voice is so warm and homey.)

Here's my Top 16.
1) Robert Plant 2) Elvis Presley 3) Freddie Mercury 4) Whitney Houston 5) Aretha Franklin 6) Tina Turner 7) Jim Morrison 8) Bob Marley 9) Christina Aguilera 10) Muddy Waters 11) B.B. King 12) Stevie Nicks 13) Johnny Cash 14) Stevie Wonder 15) Merle Haggard and 16) James Taylor.

Some other notes of interest. Congratulations to Jordin Sparks. She has been nominated for a Grammy for "No Air" that she sang with Chris Brown. Also she has parted ways with 19 Entertainment. They seem to be very ineffective at promoting these hot artists fresh off "American Idol" success. David Archuletta very smartly didn't sign with them.

Video of the Day is the very cheesy, 80's video "Venus" by Bananarama. It is such an 80's video. Also back in the early 80's there was a band named The Producers. They are a band I liked very much, but I could not find any videos for them. Supposedly this site has every video that MTV ever showed, but they only have two videos for Bananarama? I seem to remember a video for "Cruel, Cruel Summer". I am going to have a second video of the day, since I missed this in my last entry. Again a band that has only two videos, but there must be more. That would be the Knack and "My Sharona". This video is interspliced with scenes from "Reality Bites". Not sure why.

Also the Black Eyed Peas are currently working on their next CD. It is called "The End" and is due in March. I am not a big hip-hop fan but I do love me some Black Eyed Peas. According to Billboard, Guns n' Roses didn't sale the most CD's in "Chinese Democracy" opening week. It was edged out by Kanye West's "808s and Heartbreak", who sold 450,000 copies. Also Taylor Swift's "Fearless" also sold more copies, 267,000. Guns n' Roses "Chinese Democracy" came in at #3 with 261,000 copies sold. It just barely edged out Beyonce's "I Am...Sasha Fierce", which sold 257,000 copies.

That is is for now, I will be back next time with questions why Darius Rucker needs to have a white couple in his video for "Don't Think I Don't Think About That". Also coming soon a review of "Chinese Democracy". I am leaning towards a mixed review now.

Have a great weekend and enjoy some excellent college football this weekend. Definitely catch the Oklahoma-Missouri game. Oklahoma is going to kill them but they are very fun to watch, especially on the offensive side of the ball. BCS Selection Sunday is this Sunday. themusicaddict, like Barack Obama, supports a college football playoff.

Marie Digby, Led Zeppelin good music for bad times

Hello,

It is good to be back. After President Obama named Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates to his cabinet, it made me very optimistic. I am so excited for our new President. I am hoping good times are right around the corner, although it does look like 2009 will be bleak.

Well for the bad times, there is always good music. That is what I am here to point out. First off I am going to start off with a music reccomendation. Her name is Marie Digby and I am not sure why she hasn't got any attention. Her CD came out on April 8th, 2008. The name of the CD is "Unfold". She is similar to Katy Perry, but hasn't launched into the stratosphere yet. I would reccomend you go out and get this CD. This CD has a lot of great songs. If you get the CD through amazon.com digital music website, you get an additional song as well. She has a great voice. Also this CD contains her cover of Rihanna's "Umbrella".

Some of the best songs on this CD include, "Better Off Alone", "Fool", "Beauty In Walking Away", "Spell", "Girlfriend" and "Stupid For You".

Also here is one fan's explanation about the greatness of Led Zeppelin 3. There are 10 songs on this CD and 7 of those songs are 5 star songs. There are all sort of songs from hard rockers to mellow music. Here are the songs that makes this CD so good. I am also giving each song my rating. Overall I give this CD 5 stars.

1) "Immigrant Song"(5 stars)- This is probably the most classic song from the CD. It starts off with that immortal Robert Plant howl. (I couldn't think of a better word.) One of the all-time great songs.
2) "Friends" (4 stars) just a great ballad.
3) "Celebration Day" (5 stars), a great rock song.
4) "Since I've Been Loving You"- This is a great blues/ rock song. This song has both Jimmy Page's guitar and Robert Plant's singing prowess on full display. (Robert Plant as only the # 15 singer on Rolling Stone magazines 100 Greatest Singer of All Time. Please!) This song grabs you and makes you pay attention. I love the lyrics as well. Where "Immigrant Song" may be the most popular song on this CD, this is the best song. I also love the slow guitar intro that starts this song.
5) "Out on the Tiles" (5 stars) This is the song that says, "All I need from you is all of your love. All you got to give me all your love".
6) "Gallows Pole" (5 stars) A song that makes me pay attention every time. A great song that starts out slowly, builds up and ends as a full fledged rock song. I also really like the emotion in Plant's voice.
7) "Tangerine" (5 stars) This song proves that Led Zeppelin can both rock and also have great ballads. Although it isn't until Led Zeppelin 4, or ZOSO, that their best ballad makes it's debut. That song being "Going To California".
8) "That's The Way" (4 stars) The ballad that starts off with "I don't know how I''m going to tell you I can't play with you no more." This song starts out as a gentle ballad before rocking near the end of the song. A familiar Zeppelin formula.
9) "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" (5 stars) A rocking stomper.
10) "Hats Off To (Roy) Harper". (2 stars) This is sort of a throwaway song, every artist is allowed to have a few of those.

Some other quick notes. Was anyone surprised that Alex Rodriguez and Madonna were having a fling? Does anyone care? Happy 27th Birthday Britney Spears. Her new CD is also out today, isn't that special. She is on the cover of the current Rolling Stone magazine and she is not looking as good as she use to. And that song "Womanizer" sucks. Although I do like the video :). Also she will be going on tour soon with the The Pussycat Dolls opening. The early reports is that "Chinese Democracy" sold between 250,000 to 260,000 copies in it's first week. Obviously not the sales that was expected. To add to the shame, "Chinese Democracy" was outsold in England by the Killers new CD. I guess the lesson is 14 years between CDs is too long, no matter how good previous CDs are. Green Day seem to be taking a bit long to make their follow up to "American Idiot". In the meantime they did release that Foxboro Hot Tubs CD though.

According to billboard.com Creed is in the process of finalizing details to go on a reunion tour. From what I remember they had a pretty acrimonious split. Both Scott Stapp and the band members said bad things about the other. Stapp's solo career was almost non-existent and the other three members became Alter Bridge. Not that they did any better as Alter Bridge. What does this mean about Alter Bridge's lead singer possibly singing for the reunited Led Zeppelin? I don't know but I wish I did. Seriously though, especially in these tough economic times, is anyone really longing for a Creed reunion?

Songs rocking my iPod: 1) "Oops I Did It Again"- Britney Spears I don't know why but I really like this song. This is one of very few Spears songs I'll allow on my iTunes music library. 2) "U + Ur Hand"- Pink A great, great song that I hope I am never on the wrong end of. 3) "Ex-Girlfriend" Evidence that No Doubt is better than Gwen Stefani's solo career. I really love this song. 4) "Banquet" (Dance Mix) a great song from a great band that has gone a little under the radar a bit. 5) "It's A Hit"- Rilo Kiley 6) "Rock N Roll Band"- Boston An underappreciated Boston classic. 7) "Hunger Strike"- Temple of the Dog Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell singing together. 8) "Five To One"- The Doors 9) "Take Me With U"- Prince One of the many great songs from the best soundtrack of all-time, "Purple Rain". 10) "Soulfire"- 12 Stones. Where have they gone, their first CD is fantastic. 11) "Crazy On You"- Carly Smithson sung this on American Idol. Again why didn't she finish higher than 6th place for Season 7? Brooke White, Jason Castro and David Archuletta all did better than her? Really? Damn those pre-teens. 12) "Black Diamond" Pearl Jam with Ace Frehley This song can be found on the Madison Square Garden Bootleg #2 that can be purchased at pearljam.com. 13) "Rumors In The Air"- Night Ranger. Another underappreciated rocker. 14) "I Just Shot John Lennon"- Cranberries A band that should reunite. 15) "I Heard A Rumor"- Bananarama One of the 80's best songs. 16) "But It's Better If You Do"- Panic At The Disco. From their first CD, "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out". One of the best CD's of this milennium so far.

I should be back Friday, themusicaddict