Randy Jackson, much like the other two American Idol judges, has become a caricature of himself. All three were fairly accomplished in the music business long before Idol, but since joining it they have become cartoon characters. Even outside of the show now they seem more like personas than actual people.
In fairness, music stars wearing masks is nothing new, but it somehow seems a little dirtier the way these three manage to pull it off. Perhaps it’s because two of them were somewhat former rock stars who have left their glory days behind. The audience assumes they’re into their Behind the Music years, when in their minds nothing could be further from the truth. So, reading an interview where Jackson speaks like he does on the show has a jarring disconnect. Wait, you mean it isn’t all an act? This really is Randy Jackson?
Mariah Carey is one of those artists that somehow sticks around although no one you know still listens to her. How does she manage it? Just one of life’s great mysteries. Beyond that, though, her new video is a true enigma. Mariah Carey has gone geek? Kenneth from 30 Rock is her costar? She’s asking for faster Internet and crooning about YouTube? Has the whole world gone nuts? The short answer is, of course, yes.
It’s been a while since the famous seizures caused by Pokemon cartoons, or Mary hart’s voice on Entertainment Tonight, but neither incident has been forgotten. MTV has banned Gnarls Barkley’s new video “Run” because of the potential danger of it causing seizures. The video is set around a fictional 1990s talk show and uses strobe light effects quite a bit. MTV and the band are currently working out a solution, but for now online is the only place you will find it.
Blind Canadian rocker Jeff Healey has passed away. He died of a rare cancer in Toronto on Sunday, the same month as his new album was to be released. Healey is best known to many for his unique guitar playing style, which involved lying the guitar in his lap. His most well-known hit was the ballad “Angel Eyes” from the “See the Light” album. Film audiences may know him best as the band leader in the film Roadhouse. He will be missed by all who enjoyed his blend of rock and blues music.
CD sales are dying. No, really dying. In 2007 48% of teenagers bought no physical CDs at all. That’s up from 38% the year before. What does this say about the future of music? Well, it is definitely moving more and more to a singles driven economy. The concept of, well, a concept album just isn’t hip anymore. Kids want the hits and only the hits. There’s, of course, some logic to such thinking. Who wants to pay retail for a CD with only one good song when you can pay for only that one song via download? It saves you as the consumer money, plus it doesn’t weigh down your music collection with a lot of unwanted filler tracks.
Except, those filler tracks sometimes have a way of revealing themselves to be much more. Usually track 11 isn’t going to be much to write home about, but there are those times. Sometimes an artist’s biggest hit is the song they never wanted to include on an album, and it can often be discovered first by fans and not record executives deciding what to release as a single next. This new economy of music doesn’t rule out such discoveries, but it certainly makes them all the more difficult. Is that really what the music industry needs?
Here’s a surreal bit to see. Jonathan Coulton is the very talented music god to geeks. His fame has exploded as of late due to the song Still Alive featured in the closing credits of the game Portal. While Coulton doesn’t actually sing the song in the game, here he is with other preforming the song live on stage. So what’s the weird part? He sings it while playing the game Rock Band, and actually receives a score for his performance from the game. First, it is slightly odd that game music is now being sold to consumers by other games. Second, how bizarre is it to see Coulton pretend rock through a video game to his own song? It isn’t technically ironic, but it’s certainly bizarre.
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