#22764: — 04/22  at  07:37 PM
I'm confused... why are you apologizing for Iron Butterfly and Sugarloaf? Those are two great tunes- I hope it's the long version of ina gadda da vidda (It's my ring tone on my cell phone). Your right about Meatloaf, the man can belt out a tune - anyone else would pass out due to lack of oxygen half way through the song.

#22765: PZ Myers — 04/22  at  07:40 PM
I'm not apologizing, I'm explaining.

#22768: Orac — 04/22  at  07:58 PM
No need to explain. Iron Butterfly rules. Meat Loaf, on the other hand, is too hit-or-miss for me.

#22769: Ken Cope — 04/22  at  09:03 PM
I just turned fifty last Sunday. I think that goes part way toward explaining why the very first concert I attended was at the Anaheim Convention Center in early 1969, where Taj Mahal and The Byrds were opening acts for Iron Butterfly. The drummer's solo was climaxed by a staged collapse, carried offstage on a stretcher to make way for Organ Leroy, at his organ again. There was some clumsy electrical fire and smudge pot damage in there too. I am not a musician, but as an early adopter, was sufficiently stoned, knowing that it wasn't polite to bogart. Isn't all youth misspent?

#22771: Philip Brooks — 04/22  at  09:58 PM
There is something inexplicably cute about Shonen Knife covers. I like their version of "Daydream Believer," myself.

#22772: Ken Cope — 04/22  at  10:05 PM
I like Shonen Knife's Teen Titans theme on Sat AM's Kid's WB. But one of my faves is their cover of Goosestep Mama on Rutles Highway Revisited.

#22776: — 04/22  at  11:23 PM
Ken, Sorry to disappoint, but the Teen Titans theme is performed by a band called Puffy Amiyumi. I'd highly advise that you pick up some of their stuff. They are suprisingly good.

Having been a punk in the eighties, I find it hard to put up with Meatloaf, but I've gotta support the Gainsbourg. I'd also recommend Luna who do the best possible cover of his "Bonnie and Clyde" (I have an obsessive love of covers).

#22780: Ken Cope — 04/22  at  11:32 PM
Thanks, spousal unit corrected me right away on SK and TT.

As for Syd "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" Barrett, I have the CD Octopus (can't imagine why that would appeal to PZ), but could never manage to track it through an entire song.

Perhaps Gentle Giant's Octopus would be more apropos for PZ.

#22781: — 04/22  at  11:43 PM
I'd recommend one of my favorite elasmobranch tunes. The Pixies did a great track called "Manta Ray". Sadly. both elasmos and cephalopods are criminally under represented in popular music.

#22784: — 04/23  at  12:49 AM
Well, call me weird, or backward, or whatever, but I simply cannot listen to any of those. Lately I've been listening to Louis Armstrong/Ella Fitzgerald duets, along with Tal Farlow, Herb Ellis, Ruby Braff/George Barnes, and David Grisman. I was in high school and college in the 60s, but I never learned to like rock, in any form.

#22785: — 04/23  at  01:53 AM
The fact that you like NIN makes you the coolest professor, ever.

#22789: — 04/23  at  05:44 AM
Nah, it just means he likes the video where men play with laboratory instruments and naked women.

#22791: jmorrison — 04/23  at  06:45 AM
"You really need to fry your brain to get into Syd."

that may in fact be exactly the case. though the condition seems reversible. i used to listen to syd very happily... baby lemonade, wined & dined, gigolo aunt... complimented the endless cycle of king crimson records that was usually playing in my then smoggy room. of course that was back in art school. now, though mr. fripp and his cronies will still make the occasional appearance, syd is nowhere to be heard.

#22792: Mutant Cat — 04/23  at  06:56 AM
Wow PZ, you're almost way cooler than I thought you were. All your alternative rock/punk etc isn't enough to redeem Metloaf however.

#22793: — 04/23  at  07:51 AM
Hey, now, Meatloaf was in Fight Club. He can't be all bad.

#22794: Mutant Cat — 04/23  at  08:05 AM
Ok, he was in Rocky Horror too, I can give him that.

#22796: dread pirate roberts — 04/23  at  09:26 AM
if you have an antique record player and iron butterfly on vinyl play "ina
gadda da vida" at 16 rpm. take your meds first. it plays for 15-20 minutes at 33 1/3 rpm so let's see,,,,,,oh yeah, as much as 30 minutes of slow drum solo.

or....play it at 45rpm if you like the hurry-up meds.

we were oh so adventurous back in the day.

#22798: Ken Cope — 04/23  at  10:18 AM
DPR-- if you take The Supremes 45 "You Keep Me Hanging On" and slow it down to 33 1/3, it goes from number 8 on the charts to the number 1 hit by Vanilla Fudge; the VF version chipmunks up like the Supremes pretty well too.

#22802: — 04/23  at  11:34 AM
'Green-eyed Lady.' All right!

I had a green-eyed girlfriend then, too.
Married her.

#22804: Republic of Palau — 04/23  at  11:51 AM
I saw a concert poster here in Amsterdam the other day, the lineup featured Lenny Kravitz (bleh) Keane (who?) Queens Of The Stone Age (yay!) Nine Inch Nails (ditto!)on the same bill with..... Jamie Cullen. Whu?

I have this aural vision of Jamie Cullen doing NIN covers now. Shudder.

#22806: charlie wagner — 04/23  at  12:31 PM
A lot of blogs do a Friday Random Ten.
You're supposed to write down the first ten songs selected at random from your Ipod. I've learned a lot from this. Mostly that a lot of people have really crappy taste in music.
One problem for me is that I don't have an Ipod and I don't intend to get one. When I'm home, I listen to music from my computer pumped through my awesome stereo system. When I'm driving in the car, I listen to the radio. All other times, when I should be paying attention to what I'm doing, there's no music. And no cell phone. It distracts me from the really important work of thinking and daydreaming.

Anyway, here's my Saturday Random Ten, culled from my computer playlist:

Land of Hope and Dreams- Bruce Springsteen
A Face In The Crowd- Tom Petty
I Walk The Line- Johnny Cash
Tumbling Dice- Rolling Stones
Chimes of Freedom- The Byrds
Wonderful Tonight- Eric Clapton
Thrasher- Neil Young
Lilac Wine- Nina Simone
Sing, Sing, Sing- Benny Goodman
Lonely Boy- Paul Anka
Nation of Shopkeepers- Graham Parker

OK, Random Eleven....
Read more at:
http://enigma.charliewagner.com

#22808: — 04/23  at  12:53 PM
Republic of Palau, that is a rather odd mixture of bands (for your info, Keane is one of the new British bands - won some awards recently. Not similar to the other bands at all).

Haven't got a clue who Jamie Cullen is.

#22809: Lauren — 04/23  at  01:21 PM
PZ, you're way cooler than I thought. Serge Gainsbourg is a fav in my house too.

#22810: — 04/23  at  01:46 PM
I guess this makes me the old "anticool". I don't have anything written after 1879.

#22811: Gregory — 04/23  at  01:56 PM
Sheesh, I'm *still* in my jpop phase. ^_^ I would also recommend both Puffy AmiYumi and Shonen Knife, although my nominee for favorite cover of theirs would be either "Boys" or "Top of the World."