Blender's worst

Crazy house of music lists at Blender's, including a list of the 50 worst bands. Most picks are all too deserving of their entries, though a few are more hype let downs than truly awful or boring music acts. A few protestations:

#37 - The Doors

Hard to argue with this assessment:

While in college, many young men still choose to immerse themselves in such ill-advised subjects as Nietzsche, black magic and Native American folklore. Most get over it; Jim Morrison, unfortunately, inflicted his terminally adolescent views on the wider world. The consequences included overblown screeds of nonsense such as "The End" and "The Crystal Ship," plus, effectively, the invention of goth. Then he got fat and died.

However true, the Doors were a great band. They were unique instrumentalists and no one ever said rock lyrics always had to make perfect sense. No band with a stable of songs like "Break on Through," "Light My Fire," "Love Me Two Times," "People Are Strange," and "Riders on the Storm" should be anywhere near a worst 50 of all time list.

#21 The Alan Parsons Project

Ok, so "The Raven" was a little over the top.

Having conquered the Dark Side of the Moon, EMI Records’ beardy staff engineer Alan Parsons decided that what the universe really needed was a prog-rock concept album based on the work of nineteenth-century horror novelist Edgar Allan Poe, narrated by Orson Welles. It didn’t, of course, but an undeterred Parsons soldiered on, swapping prog-rock for vapid AOR in the ’80s.

Half the top ten of this list is comprised of arena and/or prog-rock, so it seems a given these guys were gonna get dumped on. Placing 21st is a little harsh as "Eye in the Sky," "Don't Answer Me," and "Time" were terrific pop songs.

#12 Tin Machine

(Tin Machine) found Bowie voluntarily subsuming his genius beneath chorus-free tunes and guitarist Reeves Gabrels’s habit of playing his instrument with a vibrator.

Another superband with too much talent coming on too strong. No pun intended on the name, but the band was too rigid and mechanical, in both image and sound. Though they were a letdown by Bowie standards, they weren't this bad. Their music was simply unnoticeable.

Incidentally, the worst band according to the list is Insane Clown Posse.




The 50 worst songs list is near perfect. Number one would probably be a more agreed upon pick than the worst band:

#1 Starship "We Built This City (1985)

The truly horrible sound of a band taking the corporate dollar while sneering at those who take the corporate dollar.

... who spend the song carrying on as if they invented rock & roll rebellion, while churning out music that encapsulates all that was wrong with rock in the ’80s: Sexless and corporate, it sounds less like a song than something built in a lab by a team of record-company executives.

More big media woes

Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit and Robert McChesney of Free Press have an interesting back and forth in the L.A. Times on the state of big media. I tend to favor Reynolds' views on media as I have read about, as listened to, them for years on his site. He doesn't argue for the entire dissolution of big media, but he is quick to point out its current transformation into a more integrated and collective news delivery system. Money quote from Reynolds:

Hard-news reporting—actual facts, not opinion—remains the "killer app" for Big Media. But they're not making proper use of their structural advantages there, and those advantages are likely to weaken over time. Already, as I've mentioned, journalists like Michael Yon and Michael Totten are reporting from Iraq with interviews, photos, and video that in many ways surpass the work of virtually all big media reporters. Likewise, local-news websites are starting to challenge local newspapers, taking advantage of drastic cuts in hard-news reporting budgets there.

Right now, traditional media organizations are still in a much better position overall to cover actual news than citizen journalists. They've got the infrastructure, the training, and the experience. But those advantages are eroding daily as technology shifts in favor of smaller operations, and as citizen journalists gain experience and audience. Will Big Media change in time? They will if they're smart—which is to say, probably not.

Jazzy math

I came across an interesting experiment in sound art that I had once imagined, but never with this kind of clarity. Using different notes to represent numbers 0-9, artist Tom Dulkich sonifies mathematical constants with some incredible results. This one is a piano playing the first hundred digits of pi, complete with a display of the numerical sequence. By adding a bass and a flute to accompany the piano, a much more jazzy feeling is evoked. The piano plays all numbers (except the zero, which serves as the musical rest), the bass plays the low numbers, and the flute the high ones. It sounds like jazz fusion with highly chromatic melodies and almost discernible rhythms. It's a similar experience listening to river rapids. Listen long enough and the chorus of sounds will lead you to believe that a familiar rhythm is about to emerge just as it collapses back into the the noisy chaos. For a more samba feel, try Euler's five constants (1, 0, π, e, i) played simultaneously with a circus of instruments - bass, piano, trumpet, sax, mallets, whistle, and the cuica.

Wikipedia Timelapse - Virginia Tech Massacre

A fascinating video showing the first twelve hours of the Wikipedia entry on the Virginia Tech massacre.



More than simply a community encyclopedia, Wikipedia is emerging as an information databank. Whether or not the site's factual accuracy matches our traditional encyclopedias (from the studies I've read, it does), more important is the collectivist role it now plays in our society.

Save our chocolate

It appears that one of our most beloved foods has recently come under siege. The FDA is considering lowering the bar for what it classifies as 'chocolate.' All those crappy holiday knock-offs and cheap foreign candies that don that shiny, waxy coating (often referred to as chocolate flavored, chocolaty, or cocoalicious) may soon enjoy the same legal status as chocolate. No child reared in the Western world would ever confuse the two. One is chocolate, the other 'cheap-chocolate' - and we all know the difference.

Cybele May, who authors one of my favorite blogs in the Candy Blog, has been lobbying against this for some time. She has a terrific article in the LA Times explaining this gustatory affront:

It may be cocoa powder that gives chocolate its taste, but it is the cocoa butter that gives it that inimitable texture. It is one of the rare, naturally occurring vegetable fats that is solid at room temperature and melts as it hits body temperature — that is to say, it melts in your mouth. Cocoa butter also protects the antioxidant properties of the cocoa solids and gives well-made chocolate its excellent shelf life.

Because it's already perfectly legal to sell choco-products made with cheaper oils and fats, what the groups are asking the FDA for is permission to call these waxy impostors "chocolate." Because we "haven't formed any expectations."

I'd say we've already demonstrated our preference for true chocolate. That's why real chocolate outsells fake chocolate. Nine of the 10 bestselling U.S. chocolate candies are made with the real stuff. M&Ms, Hershey Bars, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups — all real chocolate. Butterfinger is the outlier.

PC Wold's most hated tech products

PC World has just released its list of the 20 most annoying tech products of all time. The list looks quite similar to last year's 25 worst tech products of all time, but it looks like this list was based on reader votes. Whether it's the ubiquitous internet startup discs, or the service itself, readers and editors both concur that the worst and most annoying tech product remains AOL: "the online service for people who don't know any better."



Careful not to strain your neck as you perpetually nod in agreement to the entries on these lists.

Top selling albums of all time

Keeping track of worldwide sales of albums (technically 'titles,' which would primarily include albums, cassettes, and cd's) has always been a haphazard task. You're likely to see phrases such as 'is believed to have sold' or 'has likely reached' to describe worldwide sales. I found a few different examples in a Wikipedia entry, a short list from Retrodawg, and an highly ambitious and detailed posting from UKMIX forum member Edu.

For a more precise reading (and more relevant to North Americans), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) keeps a fairly up to date list of U.S. sales. This is a reliable list for people to refer to if ever in a bet:

(million units sold)

(29) Eagles - Greatest Hits, 1971–1975
(27) Michael Jackson - Thriller
(23) Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin (IV)
(23) Pink Floyd - The Wall
(21) Billy Joel - Greatest Hits volumes I & II
(21) AC/DC - Back in Black
(20) Garth Brooks - Double Live
(20) Shania Twain - Come On Over
(19) The Beatles - The Beatles
(19) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Here's the top 100.

In the new age of music proliferation, it's becoming harder to track, and sell, what is soon to be the anachronistic concept of 'albums.' Aside from a little place hopping, I don't see this list changing much. Double Live and Come on Over are both about ten years old, and everything else on the list is at least twenty. Based on the drastic changes in technology and the producer-consumer relationship of the past ten years, the concept of albums (or cd's) will soon fade from the common public, rendering best seller lists like these the equivalent of statistics from a nearly defunct sport.

Library update

I've updated the sciences page of my library with some terrific finds courtesy of Google video and Cosmos studios. Carl Sagan's Cosmos series, with the exception of three episodes, is up and ready for viewing. There are ten of thirteen posted, each an hour long (plus an excerpt from one of the episodes where Sagan explains the Drake equation - posted below). Interesting that despite the series being nearly thirty years old, the episodes still contains a wealth of very usable knowledge.




A little newer, here's the Black Holes and Beyond episode from Stephen Hawking's 1997 PBS series. Fifth of six episodes, it's the only one I've found so far.

A word from a few cognitive scientists

The American Scientist has a couple of pieces featuring Douglas Hofstader, author of the 1980 Pulitzer prize winning Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid, and a leading thinker in the cognitive sciences. The first is a review by Margaret Boden of his latest book I Am a Strange Loop. This strange loop is a metaphor for how he sees the mind as an emergent property of the brain. Rather than attribute intentionality and consciousness to the composition of neurochemicals, Hofstader focuses on the the unique activity and interaction of these chemicals (as well as ourselves) that gives rise to what we clumsily refer to as 'minds.' He also elucidates, in a tragic example from his own life, how the mind is formed by loops, or interactivity, that suggests it is far more complicated than the image of mere psychological imprints we think of when pondering the functionality of our minds.

The second piece is an interview with Greg Ross on his new book, his old book, and his views on the latest in the cognitive science community. Though he makes a point of not wading into the popular science fiction depths that is certain on the the idea of biology and technology soon merging into a singularity, he does keep a lighthearted eye on it.

Ray Kurzweil says 2029 is the year that a computer will pass the Turing test (converse well enough to pass as human), and he has a big bet on it for $1,000 with (Lotus Software founder Mitch Kapor), who says it won't pass. Kurzweil is committed to this viewpoint, but that's only the beginning. He says within 10 or 15 years after that, a thousand dollars will buy you computational power that will be equivalent to all of humanity. What does it mean to talk about $1,000 when humanity has been superseded and the whole idea of humans is already down the drain?

But as things develop, who knows? Ray Kurzweil and others are predicting that there's a tidal wave coming. But they say it's bliss—it's not bad, it's good, at least if you're surfing it in the right way. If you own the right kind of surfboard, it'll be fun.

Author of The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker has a terrific piece on our history with violence. I remember reading some time ago that despite our wars and homicides, humans' interspecies killing rate fared remarkably well next to other animals. According to the numbers, we are remarkably gentle toward each other. Though common opinion appears to suggest the exact opposite, a quick glance at our evolutionary history, with a greater scrutiny of our preceding centuries, decades, and years, indicates human morality would look like the same kind of hockey stick bar graph we see when looking at things like our rapid population growth. Pinker expands on the possible reasons behind this misperception:

The decline of killing and cruelty poses several challenges to our ability to make sense of the world. To begin with, how could so many people be so wrong about something so important? Partly, it's because of a cognitive illusion: We estimate the probability of an event from how easy it is to recall examples. Scenes of carnage are more likely to be relayed to our living rooms and burned into our memories than footage of people dying of old age. Partly, it's an intellectual culture that is loath to admit that there could be anything good about the institutions of civilization and Western society. Partly, it's the incentive structure of the activism and opinion markets: No one ever attracted followers and donations by announcing that things keep getting better. And part of the explanation lies in the phenomenon itself. The decline of violent behavior has been paralleled by a decline in attitudes that tolerate or glorify violence, and often the attitudes are in the lead. As deplorable as they are, the abuses at Abu Ghraib and the lethal injections of a few murderers in Texas are mild by the standards of atrocities in human history. But, from a contemporary vantage point, we see them as signs of how low our behavior can sink, not of how high our standards have risen.

* In a related piece, law professor Ilya Somin at the Volokh Conspiracy looks at our future morality in his post Assessing our Moral Beliefs in Light of Predicted Future Moral "Progress." As always with the Volokh Conspiracy, the best learnin' can be found in the comments where various law professors and other really smart people duke it out.


From Ola Endre Reitstøen's multimedia archive, i found several week's worth of audio files from Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker, and my favorite cognitive scientist, Daniel Dennett. Thanks Ola!

I'll be back in a month.

Friday Night Videos

In a pink Cadillac

As much an image as a genre of music, rockabilly will be forever linked with the sounds and styles of 1950's rock and roll. With it's slight country twang and lively beats, it has enjoyed occasional revivals and permanent influence. It remains one of pop music's most reliable sub-genres.

It all starts with the King. "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Jailhouse Rock."





Elvis' 1968 comeback special featuring one of rock and roll's most influential songs, "That's All Right," with Scottie Moore on guitar and D.J. Fontana drumming a guitar case.




With his distinct rock and roll sound sound (and showmanship), Chuck Berry remains the most influential guitarist of all time. Here's "Johnny B. Goode" and "Roll Over Beethoven."






The piano, then as symbolic to rock and roll as the guitar, served a much bigger role in the 50's than it does today. Here's Jerry Lee Lewis with "Great Balls of Fire."




A two in one from Carl Perkins, "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Your True Love."




Gene Vincent with "Be-Bop-a-Lula"




Two from my favorite performer of the era, Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day" and "Oh Boy."






Love them or hate them, they kept the rockabilly image from fading. Taking a shot at the hippies, Sha Na Na with "Rock and Roll is here to Stay."



And hey, if it wasn't for them, we might not have had this:




Though the legacy of rockabilly was greatly admired and emulated during the punk years, it seemed to return more to its original sound during the late 70's alongside the new wave scene. Despite being an American invention, it's revival was popular on both sides of the ocean. Here's Britain's Shakin' Stevens with "Green Door" and Rockpile with "Girl's Talk" and "Crackin' Up"








Having worked with guitarists Link Wray, Chris Spedding, and Danny Gatton, no one did neo-rockabilly better than 1970's New York City punk veteran Robert Gordon. Here's a cool live version of "Worryin' Kind."




Even Neil Young got in on the act with "cry, Cry, Cry" and "Wonderin."






So did Queen with "Crazy Little thing Called Love."




The most popular and commercially successful of the new wave of rockabilly bands, the Stray Cats had to get noticed in the U.K. by Rockpile to catch a break. You gotta like a band that can get away with mentioning their name in a song without sounding cheap. "Stray Cat Strut" and the equally cool "I Won't Stand in Your Way."






Strong in the 90's, Chris Isaak with "Wicked Game" (the Wild at Heart version) "Blue Hotel," and the live "Devil In Disguise" with LeAnn Rimes.








The rockabilly sound still showing up, sometimes in weird places. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion with "Bellbottoms" and Mr. Bungle live with "Pink Cigarette."






Still the rockabilly king, Stray Cat Brian Setzer and his big band with "This Cats On A Hot Tin Roof."



And a little rockabilly guitar.