Monday, April 25, 2011

Something To Stay Awake For

Remakes can go one of two ways; GO! or NO!

There are no in-betweens. You can take a song and make it fly or sink. There are many songs that have pleasantly surprised me. Then there are the songs that they were either bad before and improvements are simply impossible, or the original song was good but the new version stank.

Limahl made a very good song in 1984, though quite frankly, when I first heard it, I thought it was sung by a woman, but a good sounding woman at that.

Although I like Limahl's music, I can't say much about his appearance. He looks okay, but what he might think is a sexy and dreamy look with his eyes half-closed, only worried me that he could not stay awake through his own video. One blink and we could lose him to a coma.

However, he made some cool stuff, and The NeverEnding Story (Written for a film with the same name) is one of my favorites.



Most people who know me know that I don't think very highly about most music made after 1990. I think there is a lot of wasted talent and waste that is considered talent.

But, of course, there are some notable exceptions.

The Birthday Massacre, formed in 1999, is a synthrock band from Canada. They made their own version of The NeverEnding Story and I am rather impressed. They added their modern sound without taking the 80s feeling out of it.

They also manage to look like they could stay awake for a production.

What they have is talent and largely underrated talent at that.



Sunday, April 17, 2011

A Song by Any Other Name

I have never much cared for my name. Julie is boring. It's about as plain as a highway is gray.

But...

Take that name and mix it into a pop song immortalized by the stardusted voice of David Bowie and it becomes as glamorous as Michael Jackson's sequined glove.



Monday, April 4, 2011

Mind on the Road

Some of the best artists can have some of the most freaking insane pieces of art. The Talking Heads did well in this area. Their songs were rich and full of meaning, though sometimes it can take an altered state of mind to identify any meaning.

It can be strange to think of pop artists to be shy and introverted, but many of them are and they get some of their best ideas from withdrawing from the world to find that inner part of themselves where the insane genius lies.

In 1980, David Bowie was asked about his experience with meeting David Bryne, lead singer of Talking Heads. Bowie described Bryne as a polite but very shy man who looked at the floor a lot. When the interviewer pointed out that, on stage, Bryne was always staring at the ceiling, Bowie quick replied that during a stage performance, the floor is full of people so at those times Bryne looks up instead of down.

So, here is a shy, but brilliant lead singer put to work in a video in which one would need an altered state of mind to even hope to follow...