Art Machine
Just another former infatuation junkie

Previous 10 up. Here’s the new 10. If you know the artist and song, post away in the comments.

1. “I’m wired and I’m tired and I’m grinnin’ like a fool.”
2. “One and one make two, two and one make three—it was destiny.”
3. “She never mess with entertainers ‘cause they always leave.”
4. “Thrown like a star in my vast sleep, I open my eyes to take a peep…”
5. “Any jobber got the sack”
6. “The center of the earth is the end of the world – and I could really care less.”
7. “It’s just the beasts under your bed, in your closet and in your head.”
8. “Once I finally find her, I’ll get permission from the wife—”
9. “The burden of pity will show in the people we used to know.”
10. “Maybe you think I look a tramp, or maybe you think I’m round to steal a car.”

Well, maybe not quite popular, but demand. From me. A random 10 – if you know the artist and song, post it in the comments. No Googling allowed.

1. “Midnight blue burning gold. A yellow moon is growing cold.” “Stay” by Reyo Bikkin (Pink Floyd cover)


2. “I won’t be told anymore that I’ve been brought down in this storm” “Madagascar” by Guns ‘n’ Roses


3. “Now all you do is sit and dream of a fay girl green by a mountain stream.” “Teas” by Donovan


4. “Not a single luxury! Like Robinson Crusoe—I watch too much TV….” – “Doin’ Time Under the Lifeguard Stand” by Eddie From Ohio


5. “With your wings, I can learn to fly” “Sweet Young Thing” by The Monkees


6. “Heaven… I’m in Heaven… And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak….” “Cheek to Cheek” by Pat Suzuki (originally by Fred Astaire), guessed by Carl


7. “I could use an angel to guard against the shadows.” “I Could Use a Hero” by Bering Strait


8. “We grow out of the days like a moth-eaten sweater.” “Happily Ever After” by Spin Doctors


9. “You would kill all the sick ones – you would bury them deep in the earth.” “Pretty Pink Ribbon” by Cake


10. “And is her power all in her club sandwich?” “The Waitress” by Tori Amos

It was about half a year ago that KISS said “OI! Screw the fans!” They blasted Radiohead for releasing their latest album so that their fans could get it for free, saying that Radiohead was killing the record industry and they would never do such a thing. Forget for the moment that Radiohead was giving back to the fans who supported them when they had no record label—that kind of gratitude to the fans was not part of Gene Simmons’ vocabulary.

Not only that, but Simmons announced that, “The record industry is dead. It’s six feet underground and unfortunately the fans have done this. They’ve decided to download and file share. There is no record industry around so we’re going to wait until everybody settles down and becomes civilized. As soon as the record industry pops its head up we’ll record new material.”

Ponder for a second the inherent silliness of KISS asking people to settle down and become civilized.

Now as the year draws to a close, KISS may not be recording any new material, but in their quest for relevance they’ve decided to find another reason to shaker their fists and bawl.

“There are disco bands, rap bands, Yiddish folk song bands in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but not Kiss,” the band’s outspoken frontman said during a speech at the Billboard Touring Conference on Thursday. “I believe we have more gold records in America than any other group, but it’s OK.”

That would be Gene “The Demon” Simmons whining and moaning about how his poor, poor band has not been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Y’know, Gene, there are other popular, influential bands in American rock history who have yet to be allowed into the Hall of Fame – some of them, I would dare say, with a greater claim to it than yours. Especially since most bands break up because of creative differences, the changing market, loss of artistic drive, to pursue solo projects… not simply to flip the bird at their fans because they’re downloading the occasional song for free in between paying copious amounts of money to iTunes and Amazon.

I submit that KISS is no longer a rock band, but rather a decrepit old man standing on its porch, shaking its fist, and howling, “All yer kids get off mah damn lawn!” Or maybe that was just an episode of Gene’s reality series.

One of these days, I’ll actually get the Friday Random 10 posted on a Friday.

Answers for the last set have been posted. Now, here’s another ten.

1. Sugarhill Gang, “8th Wonder” – “Gotta rap in the key of R-A-P”


2. Mike Clem, “Doin’ Time Under the Lifeguard Stand” [guessed by Thud] – “And now that I’m allowed, I wear my goggles proud”


3. David Grisman & Jerry Garcia, “Russian Lullaby” – “Where the dreamy Volga flows, there’s a lovely Russian rose”


4. Utada, “Let Me Give You My Love” – “Eastern, Western people get naughty – multilingual”


5. Paul McCartney, “Bluebird” – “We’re living in the trees, and we’re flying in the breeze”


6. Amy Winehouse – “Back to Black” – “We only said good-bye with words – I died a hundred times”


7. Bob Marley, “Buffalo Soldier” – “Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival”


8. The Hives, “Abra Cadaver” – “I was a target of a notion of submission”


9. They Might Be Giants, “Experimental Film” – “It’s the part that makes your face implode”


10. Flight of the Conchords, “It’s Business Time” [guessed by Thud] – “When it’s with me you only need two minutes, ‘cause I’m so intense.”

You know the rules. If you know the artist and title, post it in the comments!

Once again, a meme. From Fred.

1. 1. In iTunes, select View Options under the View menu.
2. 2. Turn off everything but “Artist.”
3. 3. Select all and copy.
4. 4. Search and Replace the word “track” with nothing.
5. 5. Paste the results into the Wordle.net Create page.

Fred over at Occasional Fish snagged this meme, and thinking it was a pretty interesting experiment I decided to run with it. Here are the rules.

Go here and see what was on the top of the charts on the day you were born and every birthday thereafter. Learn just how astrologically-musically lame your life has been. If you want, add in your own favorite Hot 100 hit single of that year, wishing that your birthday had been cool enough to have that song be #1.

All right. I’ll bite. Of course, a lot of my answers wound up being the same as Fred’s – which is how I learned Fred and I were born somewhere around the same date a few years apart. So – show me how astrologically-musically lame my life has been.

• 1980: “Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)” by Pink Floyd
  Favorite: “Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)” by Pink Floyd


• 1981: “Rapture” by Blondie
  Favorite: “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield


• 1982: “I Love Rock n’ Roll” by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
  Favorite: Um, “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor, I guess.


• 1983: “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson
  Favorite: “Down Under” by Men At Work.


• 1984: “Jump” by Van Halen
  Favorite: Oh, Come on. “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr.


• 1985: “One More Night” by Phil Collins
  Favorite: “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears For Fears


• 1986: “Rock Me Amadeus” by Falco
  Favorite: “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel


• 1987: “Lean on Me” by Club Nouveau
  Favorite: “With Or Without You” by U2 (which has the same chord structure as “Numb” off of Zooropa. I always wanted to mash those two up)


• 1988: “Man in the Mirror” by Michael Jackson
  Favorite: “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns n’ Roses


• 1989: “The Living Years” by Mike + The Mechanics
  Favorite: “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Bill Joel


• 1990: “Black Velvet” by Alannah Myles
  Favorite: “Black Cat” by Janet Jackson


• 1991: “Coming Out of the Dark” by Gloria Estefan
  Favorite: “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss” by PM Dawn


• 1992: “Save the Best for Last” by Vanessa Williams
  Favorite: I don’t think I can possibly answer anything but “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-a-Lot


• 1993: “Informer” by Snow
  Favorite: “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by UB40


• 1994: “The Sign” by Ace of Base
  Favorite: “Stay (I Missed You)” by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories


• 1995: “Take A Bow” by Madonna
  Favorite: “Kiss From a Rose” by Seal


• 1996: “Because You Loved Me” by Celine Dion (yeek!)
  Favorite: “How Do U Want It/California Love” by 2Pac and a whole buncha other folks


• 1997: “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down” by Puff Daddy feat. Mase
  Favorite: Oy. Slim pickings that year. Ummm… I have to say… “Mmmbop” by Hanson.


• 1998: “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit’ It” by Will Smith
  Favorite: “One Week” by Barenaked Ladies


• 1999: “Believe” by Cher
  Favorite: “Smooth” by Santana feat. Rob Thomas


• 2000: “Say My Name” by Destiny’s Child
  Favorite: “Maria Maria” by Santana feat. The Product G&B


• 2001: “Butterfly” by Crazy Town
  Favorite: “Ms. Jackson” by Outkast (“Forevah. Forevah-evah? Forevah-evah.”)


• 2002: “Ain’t It Funny” by Jennifer Lopez feat. Ja Rule
  Favorite: “Lose Yourself” by Eminem


• 2003: “In Da Club” by 50 Cent
  Favorite: “Hey Ya!” by Outkast (horrible Grammy night performance notwithstanding)


• 2004: “Yeah!” by Usher feat. Lil John and Ludacris
  Favorite: Geez. Talk about slim years. So it’s “Hey Ya!” for a second year in a row.


• 2005: “Candy Shop” by 50 Cent feat. Olivia
  Favorite: “Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani


• 2006: “So Sick” by Ne-Yo
  Favorite: Ehhh… “Hips Don’t Lie” by Shakira


• 2007: “Glamorous” by Fergie feat. Ludacris
  Favorite: No. I categorically refuse to pick one from this year. None of these songs are worth the headache.


• 2008: “Love in This Club” by Usher feat. Young Jeezy
  Favorite: “I Kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry – and even then, I’m disappointed that it’s not Jill Sobule’s song.

Here’s what I notice. The pickings get slimmer and slimmer as time goes on, and I honestly don’t think it has anything to do with my taste – but rather with the fact that it was unusual in the 80’s for a song to last more than 2-3 weeks at the top of the charts, while by the late 90’s you’re having whole years with practically 4 songs each on the charts. Hey, radio – variety is the spice o’ life, donchaknow?

“You can’t own a song, maaan. It’s like, one of God’s creatures, y’dig?” – somebody, possibly me

Hey! Anybody out there use the Yahoo! Music Store? Anybody? Um… anybody?

Well, if you do, you’re royally screwed. Yahoo! is getting out of the music business, and they’re taking the keys to your music with them. (Link via Boing Boing)

Once the Yahoo store goes down and the key servers go offline, existing tracks cannot be authorized to play on new computers. Instead, Yahoo recommends the old, lame, and lossy workaround of burning the files to CD, then reripping them onto the computer. Sure, you’ll lose a bunch of blank CDs, sound quality, and all the metadata, but that’s a small price to pay for the privilege of being able to listen to that music you lawfully acquired. Good thing you didn’t download it illegally or just buy it on CD!

No matter how you slice it or how many times the RIAA or MPAA try to tell you DRM is for your own good or that it allows the customer “to enjoy their music in the best possible way,” it’s just a bad idea. It destroys your ability to choose, and in some cases it also destroys your ability to own. No consumer asked for this. As Cory Doctorow told Microsoft, “No Sony customer woke up one morning and said, ‘Damn, I wish Sony would devote some expensive engineering effort in order that I may do less with my music.’”

Ars Technica points out that this same thing happened recently with MSN who, after public outcry, agreed to keep their DRM servers running until 2011 – so you get a full three years more to enjoy your music! Yay!

Of course, nobody seems to be remembering that DRM-encoded Google Videos got deactivated when they got out of selling content, or that the MLB has used its DRM scheme to turn off purchased (not rented) digital downloads of their games. Because, after all, those are video and not audio, and apparently the exploitation of DRM by greedy corporations who already have their money aren’t worth noting if they weren’t in your particular media.

Here’s the simple truth. MSN, Yahoo! Music, Google Video Store, and the MLB all demonstrate one simple fact. If you are a customer of a DRM encoding store for any kind of media, then you are not purchasing your content – you’re renting it. No matter what they tell you about how you just purchased your music free and clear, they all reserve the right to just turn your music/video/ebooks off and leave you with gigabytes of worthless data.

It seems like every day, the fight over copyright and piracy gets a little more ridiculous. The last two Warner Bros. DVD’s I’ve picked up have had anti-piracy ads on them. These weren’t your usual anti-piracy ads, however. No, these were ads that made their point by re-editing classic film scenes with cheesy-font title cards to make them scenes about film piracy. Thanks to the efforts of Warner Bros., I might as well throw out my legitimately purchased copy of Casablanca, since the image of a hurt and sullen Rick finally telling Ilsa how he feels will now forever be remembered as the scene where Rick scolds Ilsa for pirating DVD’s. And I might as well never purchase any of the umpteen-billion special editons of The Wizard of Oz, since now I’ll know that the Great and Powerful Oz isn’t blustering to hide his lack of any true power, but is genuinely angry that Dorothy and her friends are considering pirating a DVD.

Given how ridiculous it’s getting, it’s hard to satirize the argument any more. So when it’s suggested that musicians are owed royalties when their music is used to torture (excuse me, “freedom tickle”) detainees, I’m disturbed to report that my initial response was, “Well, why not? They demand royalties for every other possible use.”

Leaving aside the legal niceties about whose law if any applies in that dreadful place, one can only wonder if ASCAP might not want a piece of the action. After all, it went after the Girl Guides not so long ago. And if it could try to make a buck off Girl Guides, who are nice people, why not alleged terrorists? Why should terrorists enjoy free music?

Link via Boing Boing.

As an artist whose music appears on Napster, you would think that somebody, somewhere, would have mentioned this to me. (Link via boing boing) Somebody, like, say, the company I pay to put my music on Napster. The same one that recently notified me that I may, in fact, have had my royalties collected without permission by SoundExchange, and that it was a good thing.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Napster Inc. begins selling MP3s Tuesday, a move the online music service hopes will lure iPod users and turn around Napster’s sliding fortunes.

The company is the latest to make the switch to the unrestricted file format, which makes it music tracks compatible with virtually any music player or other device.

Of course, I think it’s a great thing that Napster now sells my tracks DRM-free. I think DRM-free is the only way to go in digital downloads.

Still, don’cha think it would have been nice to be, y’know, notified?

I’m registered with a website that publishes my music to different digital distribution sites. Today I got an e-mail from them in partnership with, well, I’m just going to have to assume Satan.

It’s the law: If your music sells over non-terrestrial radio (Internet radio stations, XM/Sirius webcasters, Internet Radio and digital cable/satellite television music services like Music Choice and Muzak), you are owed money, and they have to pay. The money is held for you at a government-sanctioned non-profit company called SoundExchange (find them at www.soundexchange.com). But you can’t get your money if you don’t register with them!

If the name sounds familiar, it’s because I’ve written about SoundExchange before. Once about how they helped to kill webcasting, and once about how they collect money for artists who don’t even like them—and get to keep the money collected for artists who don’t register with them.

And now one of the people I depend on to distribute my music is sending out messages on their behalf. Yay.

And I love how SoundExchange has gone from being an non-incorporated subsidiary of the RIAA to being a “government-sanctioned non-profit company.” Hey! Maybe that means they’re playing fair, now. Let me check that e-mail again…

Time is of the essence—if recording artists or their heirs do not come forward and register with SoundExchange soon, they may forfeit their rights to all or a portion of their royalties.

YES. Consistency can be gloriously painful.