Favorite Music Friday: Beastie Boys

A much-delayed tribute to Adam Yauch. Thanks for all the great music, MCA... and thanks to Nathanial Hörnblowér for the excellent videos.

Music from my D&D years

A special Thursday edition of Favorite Music Friday: embedded below are videos for a few songs I remember on the radio or on MTV while playing Dungeons & Dragons -- or reading the rulebooks, or flipping though issues of Dragon -- during my high school years. I distinctly remember hearing the last song in this list on the radio during the first (and so far only) time I played the AD&D Battlesystem mass combat rules.











Ratt - Round and Round (this one can't be embedded) http://youtu.be/0u8teXR8VE4

Different cover art for Destroy All Monsters

Why does Mothra get top billing?

An interesting story about the cover art for Media Blasters' DVD and Blu-ray re-issue of Destroy All Monsters can be found at Sci-Fi Japan. The cover that was released for distributors -- and is still in use on Amazon -- is a temp cover. The actual cover is the original 1968 Japanese poster art. Good news! For comparison, the US poster from AIP is at the left.

The original soundtrack CD is out November 8th.

Happy 80th Birthday, Leonard Nimoy!

Following on from Shatner's 80th this week, Leonard Nimoy turns 80 today. Although he was portrayed poorly with regards to a raise and increased creative influence on the Original Series, I've always liked Nimoy and I'm not alone in that. He projects professionalism in whatever project he is working on, and he's always been good to the fans; a real gentleman. One of my favorite non-Trek projects of his was the 1970s paranormal investigation TV show In Search Of... The credits music used to creep me out. Scary!

In the spirit of birthday wishes and good humor, take a little trip to the Shire for "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins"...

Keyboards for Rock Band 3

After the teasing hint at the end of the Green Day Rock Band demo, there has been wild speculation about the possibility of a keyboard added to Rock Band 3. Now with the story (video) in USA Today this morning, it's official.

This is great, exciting news. The new gameplay elements are neat, but the keyboard opens up the possibility for songs by The Doors ("Break on Through" is in the demo video), Journey, Boston, Billy Preston, Howard Jones, Thomas Dolby (OK, maybe I'm dreaming here) and other synthesizer/organ/piano-heavy rock. How about Emerson, Lake and Palmer's "Karn Evil 9: 3rd Impression"? Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets"? Van Halen's "Jump"? (a song that could do for RB3 what "You Really Got Me" did for Guitar Hero)

Eventually, Harmonix needs to review some past content and update it for the keyboard controller, such as Boston's "Foreplay/Long Time" from RB1.

In the meantime, I'm dreaming of 80's synth-pop like this:

Favorite Music Friday: "Every Breath You Take"

In this edition of "Favorite Music Friday", I want to spotlight one of the great songs of the '80s. This is a song that I wanted to talk about eventually, but the subject came up recently. Two weeks ago, in fact, when we were talking about The Police before the LV game.

I have many favorites, whether it's music, or books, or movies, but I haven't made the conscious decision to list any of them in order, as a "top ten" or "best of", or sort them out in that way. There are usually so many greats to choose from that it's difficult for me to narrow it down. At some point I'll post about my favorite movie, The Maltese Falcon, but that list gets scattered after #1.

One that I'm sure of: "Every Breath You Take" is my choice for the Best Pop Song of All Time.

I know, it's a song about a stalker. Sting himself has said that it's "very sinister and ugly". I understand that. However, musically, it's beautiful. The video is elegant in its simplicity.

Having said that, I actually like my runner-up choice better: "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic". The only reason "Every Breath You Take" edges it out is because it was a bigger commercial hit.

As a film buff, I love that it's obviously shot using film. There's speckles and pops, and a film tear at 0:15 seconds into the video:

At the first listen, it's deceptively simple. In the video the band does a silly dance in the recording studio. But when you really listen (headphones, not earbuds), there's a great deal going on in the song -- the layers, the changes. What I mentioned before, about the music telling a story, is found here. It really brings up a host of emotions for me.

I wanted to include the "official" MTV versions of these videos, but their player is very jerky and stops to re-buffer. Here are the links; you may have better luck:

http://www.mtv.com/videos/the-police/18169/every-breath-you-take.jhtml#artist=1143

http://www.mtv.com/videos/the-police/9671/every-little-thing-she-does-is-magic.jhtml#artist=1143

Favorite Music Friday: "Come Dancing"

This is a special Sunday edition of "Favorite Music Friday." I had planned to spotlight this song eventually, but I was reminded of it last night.

"Come Dancing" is among my favorite songs of the 80s, and my favorite song by The Kinks.

Even though there is a touch of sad nostalgia in it, which could be read as a corresponding "loss of innocence", I don't see it as sad and melancholy. Overall there's a feeling of optimism in the song; looking back at past good times, but also a celebration of those days and the present, from the organ notes at the beginning to the brass section that cranks up near the end. I love the sound of an organ and brass instruments in rock songs.

Being a fan of all things British, too, I love this look at a slice of post-war life in England. The song takes on added meaning when you find out that there was a ballroom dancing competition show on the BBC named "Come Dancing" -- I didn't know until now.

When Mrs. Kaiju and I were at Borders yesterday, I flipped though an new book by the Onion A/V Club titled Inventory, a book of pop-culture lists. I was pleased to see that they recognized "Come Dancing" in their list of "Songs That Work As Short Stories". This will be a topic I come back to, but I love songs that tell a story, whether that's literally through the lyrics, or sonically when the actual music takes you on a journey.

This is a fantastic album, man...turn it up!

Here is a special "Favorite Music Friday" post, Sunday Night Edition. Last night after SNL, I watched a Time-Life infomercial for their new '70s soul music collection. TL has put out some great collections in recent years. I bought Mrs. Kaiju their "Sounds of the Eighties" set a few years ago, and I have my eye on the Classic Soft Rock set (I have weakness for '70s soft rock...Shhh, don't tell anyone).

The infomercial last night had clips from groups such as The Chi-Lites and The Stylistics. It sparked a memory of another music compilation from years ago. Anyone who watched late-night TV in the mid-eighties should remember this. I remembered the tag line since we used it very often back then, but I had forgotten the album title. But with a little Google-Fu, I found it:



And as long as we're going back to the days of TV-offer-only compilation albums, I have to include this for Edige:



There's a shorter version here with the track list. This one has the production company's lead-in.

I need to look through my dozens of off-air recorded VHS tapes. I'm sure I have some gems like these that should be posted on the interwebs for posterity...and laughs.

Happy Halloween!

I'll have pictures of our costumes tomorrow, but before the end of the day I wanted to post a link to this article about Halloween music at Wired. Good stuff on the list, but there's a great playlist posted in the comments section.

I think I like KC and the Sunshine Band's original version of "I'm Your Boogie Man" more than White Zombie's version. Isn't that strange? The video is terrific, though.

Rock Band/Star Trek cross-promotion

Only 35 days until the movie opens...

Paramount has been pulling out all the stops on promoting the movie and the ST franchise in a big way, but here's one of the oddest:

Paramount and MTV Games announced a promotional partnership for the new Star Trek movie and the popular rockin’ videogame Rock Band. The promotion kicks off today and will include music track giveaways, an in-game Star Trek themed battle of the bands and a futuristic avatar contest. You can even win your own personal screening of Star Trek.

I feel that the more promoting they do -- and in many different directions -- the better it is for the movie and creating a bigger fanbase. Get all the details at the official Rock Band Star Trek site, or the summary at Trekmovie.com.

Goodbye, Circuit City

I'm really disappointed to see the end of Circuit City. It was always nice to know that there was another large electronics retailer out there, for competition and for an alternative. Sometimes they would have a good sale price on an item. We got our TV from CC, and I've purchased computer memory on sale there (Kingston Value RAM that constantly crashes our machines...).

I went to the local CC for the liquidation sale about four weeks ago. Deals were scarce but items were still on most of the shelves. They still had a ton of video games, a decent selection of DVDs and many of their CDs were left. I picked up two '80s CDs for Mrs. Kaiju. It's sad but the sale prices were still a bit steep. That might be a reason why they're going out.

I went again this past Saturday. Now that the discount prices are actually discounts, the shelves are bare. Surprisingly at 50% off, I found a nice collection of DVDs. The video games were wiped out except the strategic stockpile of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock w/ included guitar for XBox 36o.

One thing I was looking for was an HDMI cable. Many of their cables were still left and 60% off list price. Even so, it's very difficult for me to see paying $56 for a store brand HDMI cable. The only worthwhile item I found on this trip was The Dirty Dozen on Blu-ray for $12.

Target had GE branded HDMI cables on sale last week but when I got there, they were sold out. It's OK, the store was substituting a sale price on a 50-foot coax cable instead. A perfect replacement! I went over to Menards and got a six-foot cable for $15.

It's easy to find a cheap price on the internets, but there are some moments when you need an item that day, and that's getting a little more difficult.

Favorite Music Friday

Welcome to the first of what will hopefully be an ongoing regular feature here at Kaijuville. Partially to keep track of these things, partially because of feeling nostalgic recently, and inspired by VM's New Wave Saturday posts, I thought I'd offer up a few of my favorite songs along with some commentary about them and what they mean to me. It might be the song itself, or maybe an association with something else at the time. Our opening act is Pat Benatar from 1982:



Great song, but I also like the World War II "commando raid behind enemy lines" storyline. I can't resist any story about sneaking into Nazi castles (see also Where Eagles Dare or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). Bonus movie trivia: look for Judge Reinhold at 0:58.

The other thing going on here is something that I'll elaborate on further later, but for now I'll just mention the idea of seeing what people were nostalgic about at that time. I remember a general vibe of '40s and '50s nostalgia in the early '80s, probably started by American Graffiti and Happy Days in the 1970s.

Harvey Korman and others, R.I.P.

"Now, go do that voodoo that you do so well!"

Thursday evening, the news broke that the great multi-talented comedic actor Harvey Korman passed away at the age of 81.

We used to watch "The Carol Burnett Show" and the spin-off "Mama's Family" all the time when I was a kid, and he'll probably (and justifiably so) be remembered for his work on those shows. We shouldn't forget about his guest appearances on so many other TV shows, including "The Muppet Show" and "The Star Wars Holiday Special", and his movies with Tim Conway.

I'll remember him most for his brilliant turn as villain Hedley Lamarr in Blazing Saddles.

We've lost too many talented people from the entertainment industry in the past week or so: director/actor/producer Sydney Pollack; actor/director Joseph Pevney; the friendly half of Rowan and Martin, Dick Martin; composer Earle Hagen; and the composer of eight of the most famous notes in entertainment history, Alexander Courage.

Why not a Queen rock opera/musical?

Earlier this week, I heard two Queen songs on the radio in the same day, then the next day I saw two commercials in a row that used Queen music. The idea popped into my head:

"Why hasn't there been a musical -- or "rock opera" -- using Queen's music?"

Their music was huge in scope, and Freddie Mercury was a big fan of opera, anyway. It's a natural. If they could make a musical out of Abba songs (which was good, by the way), or Billy Joel (blah...), then where's the love for Queen?

Well, someone else already had my bright idea. Evidently there has been a musical produced and performed all over the world. It played in Vegas in 2006 and ran in Chicago in April-May of '07. I had no idea.

But I suppose I can pat myself on the back because they used my idea for "Bohemian Rhapsody" as the finale. What else?

Speaking of Queen, about ten years ago I heard that (soon-to-be-Dr.)Brian May was a big Warhammer 40,000 fan. He'd play with his kids. Same with Robin Williams, too -- he had an Eldar army at that time. Looks like he's switched to online gaming.

Stephen King's 24 Greatest Rock Songs Ever

Stephen King writes a column for Entertainment Weekly in which he gives his opinion on all things media-related -- movies, books, TV, music, whatever. In this article/photo gallery, King counts down the best rock songs of all time.

I can't fault him on some of his choices. I'd rate "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida" higher, and "Ain't No Fun (Waiting Round to be a Millionaire)" is a solid choice for the obligatory AC/DC list entry. As much as I like Elvis, I'm not sure a list like this needs three of his songs, squeezing out many other worthy entries. Where's "Turn Up the Radio"?

King qualifies his list by mentioning his criteria at the beginning. By including purely "rock" songs only, many of the songs I'd include would be disqualified for being in a different category, such as the "power ballad".

Oh, and of course see the comments on the list.

Mars Caves Revealed in Images

This might be where the spiders from Mars are hiding.

Heavy Metal Fantasy D & D

At the last goober pizza night, I spent some time talking to Derek about present and possible future campaigns, and somehow we got on this topic. He mentioned how he'd want to run a campaign like this, and we discovered that we had both read the same thread on Rpg.net.

What am I talking about? Read a bit of that thread linked to above for more, but basically it would be a outlandish, gonzo, heavy metal rock fantasy game -- much more over-the-top than the wildest Conan comic or pastiche, more like Wagner's Kane stories or Lin Carter's Thongor. Imagine having adventures in the worlds depicted on rock album covers by artists like Roger Dean or even Frazetta -- shaking the pillars of Heaven and knocking down the very gates of Hell itself. The kind of campaign you wanted to play in when you were 12. Now you understand...

Update: Rodney Matthews' art, too!

And on a related note, for Derek (and the rest of you dear readers), I present The Ronnie James Dio Lyric Generator (scroll past the server errors).