Justin Bieber: The Nuisance in Everyday Life

Everywhere we go these days, there is some mention of Justin Bieber whether we like him or not. The most recent news of Justin Bieber was that he rocked the pierced ears on sunday at the MTV Movie Awards and has gotten two tattoos. The pierced ears are being described as a “more mature” look for him.  Do we really want to see him? I don’t think so but I will say this: he looks even girlier than before or a butch lesbian.  This isn’t the only thing he has stirred within the past few weeks.

The Billboard Awards were held last Sunday and many were talking about the performance with Britney Spears and Rhianna in which Britney Spears was clearly lip-synching. What a surprise there for Ms. Spears. The biggest news of  the night however, other than the fact that Bieber won six awards for “Top New Artist”, “Top Social Aritst” (whatever that means to you), “Top Streaming Song (Video)”, “Top Streaming Artist”, “Top Digital Media Artist” and “Top Pop Album” was that he finally kissed his “girlfriend” Selena Gomez on the lips. Bieber fans are most likely saying “OMG OMG OMG!!!!! He just kissed her! So cute! ” or “I Will KILL that Selena Gomez for taking away my future husband!”. If you don’t believe me or think it was a publicity stunt look at the clip below:

Does anyone else think he did that just so that everyone can finally shut up about doubts of them as a couple?  Looks like it.

If you notice the six awards he won, four of them are from a result of his prominence, not because of his talent. The Key words are: “Streaming” , “Social” and “Digital Media”. On top of those Bieber lovers seeing and downloading his music 24/7, the Bieber haters see his music videos to mercilessly mock him which adds to the count. I can understand his fans streaming him but the haters? As a Bieber hater, the reason why we stream him is to actually listen to his songs before calling him a talentless child who will end up in rehab by the age of 20. For haters, once is enough and we can’t bear to hear anymore but thanks to smart marketing, we can’t seem to find the end of Justin Bieber.  Billboard realizes that strategy is becoming more important than talent and Bieber is the very embodiment of that.

You can argue that it took Bieber a lot of work to make it to the top and while that can’t be denied, one can’t deny the fact that labels see this kid as a money-making machine, especially in the age where those with less talent than Bieber such as Rebecca Black, Jenna Rose and the Bieber wannabe Devin Fox can easily become famous.  Videos below of Jenna Rose and her stupid jeans and Devin Fox trying to get a girl of you haven’t seen it.

Label: Watch with Caution

 

Justin Bieber is not a legitimately talented person, despite the fact you see him playing the guitar or drums. That’s it, end of story. Bieber fans should really take a step back and realize how annoying they’re being by worshipping this person as he were their god.

Miley Can’t Smell Like Teen Spirit but Which is the Worse Nirvana Cover?

Blog orginally written on May 4, 2011

Last Night, my Facebook feed and every media outlet has been filled with people complaining about Miley Cyrus’s rendition of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. If you want to know how this happened, to give a little bit of background, Miley was performing in Ecuador last Friday where out of nowhere she told her fans that this song inspired her to go into music and she sings this to her little brother who is not with her on tour at the moment and she dedicates it to him. Next thing you know, Miley worshipers go crazy as if they never heard this song before. The unfortunate thing about the younger generation is, they probably haven’t.

I want to make this one thing clear before giving my take on this cover: Miley Cyrus is not a good singer and barley functions as an entertainer and we all know she got her role on Hannah Montana because of who her father is. However, surprisingly, this cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit is NOT the worse cover in the history of music. The Pro is that you can actually understand the lyrics since she aritculates it well. This doesn’t mean she did a good job. She was off key the entire time and her tour mates can’t play a chord to save their lives. To the depise of many, there is an even worse cover of this song and it comes from a band that many people like. Yes, I dare to say it and that band is FLYLEAF!

If you don’t believe that I said this, click on the Link below and then tell me whether you think this is or is not the worse Nirvana  cover the world has experienced.

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The Pro about Flyleaf’s cover is that the rest of the band can hold its own and is on pace the entire song. I cannot say the same thing for Lacey Mosley. Her vocals make me want to grab the person closest to me and smash their head up against the wall because it’s that horrible. She almost makes me want to listen to Miley’s version and that is really saying something about Lacey. One ability Lacey does have is to scream. The perfect example is “I’m so Sick” where her scream is so good she scares the living hell out of you. Her vocals however makes you wonder at times why is Flyleaf even famous to begin with. The only song where her vocals sound remotely good is “Broken Pieces” and that’s because the engineer who mixed 7th Symphony’s Apocalytica is a competent one.

In hopes of not getting way off topic here, Kurt Cobain must be rolling in his grave right now because all these “Artists” covering the most iconic song Nirvana has. Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic are still alive. Why don’t they say something about this? Everyone has the right to like the song but there should be a limit where artists realize that just because your songs sound “Ok” at best doesn’t mean you can cover other songs and think it’s “ok” just because you’re famous. Leave it to Kurt Cobain who is the only one that can pull off “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. If someone can find a good cover of this song, please, please tell me!

The New Apocalyptic Sensation

Blog originally written on March 16, 2011

There is so much going on in the world such as the catastrophe that occurred in Japan on Friday. An 8.9 magnitude Earthquake and on top of that a Tsunami and now nuclear explosions? I hope Japan can get through this like they got through Hiroshima in 1945 and how Ukraine got through Chernobyl.

In other news, on the same day as the Japan earthquake, a song called “Friday” that has on YouTube since last month suddenly got many views partly thanks to Daniel Tosh and his show, Tosh.0. On the show’s website, “Friday” is labeled under “Songwriting Isn’t for Everyone”. Damn right it isn’t and this is why many people love your show Daniel Tosh. Since then, it has gotten almost 10-million views and has gone under scrutiny from critics. According to an article on Newsday, it may have started with a tweet that said “worst video ever made?” by comedian Michael J. Nelson. Other critics are saying “who is this girl?” and mention the obvious that this is auto tuned.

If you don’t know what this is about, follow if you want to. Rebecca stands outside waiting for the school bus when she sees her friends pulling up in a car. She has to make the life-changing decision of waiting for the bus or go in the car even though there’s no space for her. She goes in the car anticipating for the weekend, wanting to have fun and party and enjoy life. She sings about Thursday and afterwards it’s Friday and after that it’s Saturday and finally Sunday followed by a little rap. Rebecca’s lyrics have depth doesn’t it?

“Friday” wouldn’t be such a bad song if the song’s lyrics were changed, was intended towards children and someone who actually has talent sang it. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday are four consecutive days that come right after another. The song in a way would be beneficial if you’re teaching a child the days of the week. What happened to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday you ask? The beginning of the video shows a calendar with the seven days, hence, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday are included. Honestly, this portion of the song is the only good thing because let’s be honest, we sometimes forget that after Thursday comes Friday or any other day.

Despite the days of the week, it’s sad how this “song” is becoming more and more relevant to the public each day. The label that Rebecca is signed to is called Ark Music Factory. They probably thought when they signed her was “she’s young, she’s cute and she can be the next Justin Bieber”. Justin Bieber, another talentless teenager, at least works hard to maintain his image and unfortunately, he will be around for the long-term unless something (drugs, alcohol, sex, murder, sacrifice to bring back two members of The Beatles and Layne Staley) makes him disappear from the spotlight.

Elaborating on Justin Bieber and his fame, my conspiracy theory is that ever since he came to prominence thanks to “soon to be a has-been Usher”, a chain of events has happened such as: Jonas Brothers not being mentioned (good thing), Kesha, earthquake in Haiti, earthquake in Chile, death of Gary Coleman, the popularity of Jersey Shore, Jennifer Lopez judging on American Idol and most recently, earthquake/tsunami/nuclear explosion in Japan and Rebecca Black. In reality, she’s just a factor of what I call “Biebercopalypse”. This is what Nostradamus was talking about and we are seeing the antichrist unfolding right before our eyes. If we don’t stop this soon, all hope will be gone and if we’re going to die on 12/21/12, let’s die in the most drunken state.

Realistically, this Rebecca Black Fandom will die soon enough. Like many other YouTube “sensations”, her 15 minutes of fame will be over and she’ll revert back to the nobody she once was. The song however, will live in infamy.

Emo Yoko Is No More. Possible FOB Reunion?

Blog originally written on Feburary 9, 2011

If any of you are fans of Fall Out Boy, you may or may not know that Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson-Wentz are filing for divorce. The common reason for many celebrity marriages ending is irreconciable differences. They are no exception to this reason. The icing on the cake is that there was no pre-nup signed before the marriage. It seems that Ashlee would get half since Pete was the one who was making more money during his time with FOB. Despite this, let the celebration commence if you are one of those people that thought Ashlee was the new Yoko Ono.

I admit, there are some similarities between Ashlee and Yoko in the sense that a year after both couples got married The Beatles and Fall Out Boy broke up and each respective couple had a boy. What separates the Yoko from Ashlee is the influence both had on their respective partner. For years, Pete Wentz acknowledged the fact that he had a crush on Ashlee and would gush about her in interviews and somehow, Ashlee felt the same way. It is understandable that they would end up together. They weren’t that hideous a couple. Yoko, on the other hand clawed her way into John Lennon’s heart while he was still married to Cynthia Lennon, eventually influencing John’s life before his death and the music that was produced post-Beatles. One could argue that it was the band’s ego that came out to be their demise and while that’s true, one cannot deny the fact that Yoko was a nuisance, I mean, indirect contributor for The Beatles while they were recording “The White Album”, “Abbey Road” and “Let It Be”. Ashlee never got in the way of Fall Out Boy’s music. The real reason the band went on hiatus is because of Pete’s inflated ego. Because he was considered the face of FOB, he thought he could do whatever he wanted and he quit the band. Now some three years later, the Emo Yoko is no more.

Since Ashlee and Pete are divorcing, does that mean there would be a FOB reunion in the future? If all four members are willing to then yes, there will be a reunion but if there ever will be a FOB again it’s not going to be because they want to. Patrick Stump and Pete are embarking on solo careers, with both releasing albums this year while Andy Hurley and Joe Trohman joined forces with Scott Ian(Anthrax) and members from Every Time I Die to form the super group “The Damned Things”. The bands single, “We’ve Got A Situation Here” is actually a pretty good song that’s slowly heating up the charts. With the success of The Damned Things I doubt Joe and Andy want to rejoin FOB. Pete may manage on his own playing with different bands but I feel that Patrick won’t have the success as a solo artist because let’s be honest, one can take so much of that voice. He’s no John Lennon and no Paul McCartney. Heck, he’s even no Dave Grohl. The only benefit from the FOB breakup is that Andy and Joe finally shine on their own without Pete Wentz taking the spotlight for himself. I know Scott Ian is nice enough to share it with those two. Another upside is that they both seem more comfortable with the hard rock/heavy metal lifestyle than the Emo, Pop-Punk lifestyle both were accustomed to.

It seems that I hate FOB but I don’t hate this band. They have been a part of my life since I was 14 and have gotten me through some rough times but the fact is I outgrew them. Folie a Deux is the reason why. Part of me wants them to get back together but when you see it from a more objective angle, you realize they are not who you think they are. That’s the way music and life works out sometimes. It’s both predictable and unpredictable.

Super Bowl Half-Time Madness

Blog originally written on Feburary 7, 2011

I assume many saw the half-time show yesterday. After all, isn’t that the reason why people watch the super bowl anyway? I am not too happy with the fact that the Steelers lost but it’s not going to hurt me as much as baseball season will. This isn’t a sports critique is it? On to music, The Black Eyed Peas performed yesterday along with: Slash and Usher. When it comes to Slash, I can see why he was there only because Fergie(whom I will talk about later) collaborated before. My question and maybe every one’s question is Why was Usher there?

It’s not like Usher needs the publicity or anything. He can carry a show all by himself, well, at least in his glory days he could. Last night, all he did was lip-sync to his hit OMG. I’m personally not an Usher fan but at least I could say that he once meant something to the music industry. He would do his own thing but now he’s just a mere shadow of his former self.

I didn’t hate the Black Eyed Peas performance but I didn’t fell in love with it like most of the people I know. They sang some of their old and recent songs which took me back to a place where I used to love this group. Soon after, reality hits when I realized that Fergie can’t sing live. She sounds like something I can’t even describe because it’s that bad. She proved this when she sang a portion of Guns N Roses Sweet Child O’ Mine along with Slash on guitar. I’m not very fond of Axl Rose but give the song it’s due. There are many people that worship this band and now want to see you dead for killing it. I feel bad for Slash because he was the best thing on there though he was brief and also for having to hear Fergie’s voice. At least she’s cute.

Like I mentioned previously, it could have been worse. Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Kesha, Nicki Minaj, a drunk Steven Tyler and Lil Wayne could’ve performed. Actually, I think I prefer Lil’ Wayne and drunk Steven Tyler at this point than BEP. At least we know how they are live.

Here’s the video to the Half-Time show thanks to YouTube

The Beatles are Finally on itunes. Who cares?

Blog originally written on November 16, 2010

If any of you went onto Apple’s site yesterday, you would have noticed the itunes tab saying something that something amazing was going to be revealed Tuesday. Well, Today is Tuesday and what they have revealed is that The Beatles are finally going to be available on itunes. Not to discredit the band or anything but who cares really? With or without itunes, they are still going to be considered the most popular band in all of rock history and in music in general. It’s not like these people up until now could not get the songs without buying the album. P2P sharing anyone? That’s a popular one if you catch my drift. In my opinion, there’s only one advantage of having the beatles on itunes and that is to preview entire albums before deciding which ones I truly want on my ipod. For free if I may add.

The only band that remains not on itunes is AC/DC. Ironically, you can however, download the AC/DC tribute bands which honestly, isn’t the same as hearing the original. According to one of the band members, the reason why the band refuses to put its music on itunes is because they don’t want the fans to purchase only one or two songs. Furthermore, the band stated that fans should purchase the entire album basically because they go together. Think of Green Day’s “American Idiot” or even, yes I will utter it, “21st Century Breakdown” where you can’t have one song without the other. Even if one day AC/DC finally decides to sell their music on itunes, people are still going to be doing what they have been doing the last decade or so. Preview and then download for free.

With that, I will leave you with a quote from a Beatle himself, John Lennon who may he R.I.P.: “Music is every body’s possession. It’s only publishers who think that people own it”.

Ain’t that the truth?

One more thing, I died a little inside when I heard Angelina “The Dirty Little Hamster Staten Island Ferry” “rap”. It was the most traumatizing experience and I hope never to suffer such tortue again.

Big Time Rush A Big Time Hit

Blog orginally written on October 18, 2010

Hey guys. I haven’t written here in a month so that must mean either I’ve been lazy or I’ve must had a lot on my plate. It’s both. I normally do not like writing anything positive about anything pop but this one here is an exception.

Have you ever seen a show on Nickelodeon about 4 guys from Minnesota that make it big in L.A.? If you know something about it, I’m talking about Big Time Rush. If you watch an episode, you will laugh at the antics they pull. Kendall’s sister on the show is the breakout star. Anyway, as everyone already know, they are also a real-life band. Originally, I thought that only the show was good but the album would suck because they’re not real singers. Kendall, James, Carlos and Logan proved me wrong.

From the start of their album, BTR with their song “Til I forget about” you until the end “Stuck”, they bring out a surprisingly fresh mix of rock, pop, synth and hip-hop that really makes you want to root for these guys. How can one not root for them with the song that marked the territory for them: Big Time Rush? It’s not completely fresh as they bring 80′s nostalgia from New Kids On the Block but a 10 year old wouldn’t care. Two years ago we had the Jonas Brothers (yuck) from the Disney Company. Now, we finally have Nick’s Product that is already wiping out with Disney’s Jonas.

I’m not one to promote sex but aren’t the members of BTR hot? Don’t they look hot enough to be approachable? Isn’t Carlos and Kendall the cutest guys ever? That was my girly OMG moment.

If they want to bring the boy bands back, BTR is a very good start to that path. I look to hear nothing but success for them.

Disturbed/Linkin Park

Blog originally written on September 2, 2010

Linkin Park was a band who once successfully mixed metal and rap to their advantage. Mike Shinoda was a decent rapper and Chester was OK at best but it was the sound they created that made Linkin Park the people they are today. A Thousand Suns disproves that greatness. It’s been long established that Linkin Park no longer want to be seen as a nu-metal band. Fine. Minutes to Midnight showed that they just want to rock out in their own way by using anything not metal. If you people thought that MTM wasn’t their best, you’re all wrong. ATS proves that. Now all of a sudden, there is a greater emphasis on the synth and Shinoda’s rapping, which in this case could not save this album. I honestly had the temptation of not hearing this album anymore but I had to, just to make sure that it sucks. When it was finally over, I put on some of the hardest Chimaira songs I have just to not even think of the atrocity. In short, I knew it was going to be crap and they are officially dead to me.

Now on to Disturbed’s new album, Asylum, it’s actually all not that bad. While the same sound is heard throughout this album, it’s not unsustainable like Avenged Sevenfold and Linkin Park. Disturbed has always been a band who is not the greatest but has time and time again left their mark in the metal scene. The best song in this album is Warrior and for me, that says something. Out of all the albums released this year, other than 7th Symphony by Apocalytica, this one is one of the better ones.

I have nothing left to say and that’s really a shame.

Is Rock and Metal Dying?

Blog originally written on August 10, 2010

It’s been a few months since I’ve actually written a blog entry on here. Part of the reason why is that I don’t know what direction I want Taser to go in. As you know, Taser Records is, well, was a mock record label I created for my multimedia class. It even has a MySpace (not that well developed) and a Facebook I never really got the chance to develop. The Taser Rocks Out! blog was created to promote Taser Records and to talk about my hopes and dreams for this label and about music obviously. In the midst of doing this I fell into a deep music slump which as of right now I’m still battling. For a while, I felt that I no longer had any knowledge of bands and I couldn’t seem to defend certain bands I enjoy. Even going to Barnes and Noble or Best Buy and checking out the music section made me sad. After some analyzing, I think I know why I am in this slump.

First of all, I think I’ve been around too many people who are such rock elitists that for a while, I started to think just like that. I couldn’t listen to certain bands just because they’re not metal enough or too emo or too poppy. I guess you could say that I was conforming to what other people like. What I used to like about myself was that I used to listen to every rock genre and not really discriminate against different sub genres. For example, I really love listening to Three Days Grace yet I love listening to Chimaira. They’re two different bands from opposite sides of the spectrum. Now, I feel like I have to listen to one without the other. The second reason why I think I’m also in this slump is because of Lifehouse’s new album, Smoke and Mirrors. The first time I heard I thought to myself: “What happened to them? They were so good and now they come out with crap like this.” I described it as “Daughtry and OneRepublic getting together and giving birth to Smoke and Mirrors”. Daughtry and OneRepublic are decent bands everyone likes, even me but sometimes their songs get way too much airplay and one might literally throw up if one has to listen “September” one more time. In avoidance of getting way off topic, in summation, one could say that I lost faith in Lifehouse after this new album but deep, deep down, I’m hoping that their sixth album would be better like I hoped for Linkin Park. I will get more in depth about them in a minute.

As I’m writing this entry, I feel like I’m taking a baby step towards getting out of my slump and actually make this blog better than it was before. To show the small change, I changed the background of my blog. The new background is a picture of a band in concert. Of course one can’t see it much because of the inner white background. Still, it’s an improvement from the plain dark background. I’ll write more about this next entry.

Earlier, I brought up Linkin Park. I mentioned that I had high hopes for their new album, called A thousand suns that will come out next month. They released their new single, The Catalyst last week. When I heard the song in its entirety, I wanted to do the following things to the band. I want to hunt them down and kick their ass for releasing music that doesn’t sound like the Linkin Park many people know and love or what might happen soon, loved. Many people criticized Minutes to Midnight for not sounding like Hybrid Theory and Meteora but The Catalyst is the worst song ever created. While the lyrics are not bad, (yes, they sound political), the synthesizer is. No drums, no bass, no guitar, just some pre-recorded material. The most ironic thing from this is that I actually got the vibe that this is the type of music that Linkin Park feels most comfortable doing. If this is what the rest of the album will sound like, I will say that this is the end of the good Linkin Park era. R.I.P. 2000-2010, not 2000-2007 like most people did when MTM came out. MTM isn’t even a bad album. It’s not their best but at least the rock is there somehow. The only positive thing I can say about LP is that the lyrical content has improve from album to album.

Linkin Park isn’t the only band that has disappointed me recently. In a previous entry, I’ve mentioned that Avenged Sevenfold’s Nightmare single wasn’t their best song. Not surprisingly, the album itself leaves much to desire. The album from start to finish sounds like a crappy imitation of their last album, which is one of their better ones. A7X has mentioned that the album was going to be epic. Where’s the epic? Where’s the nightmare I’m supposed to imagine when I’m listening to nightmare? The only song that sounds half good is God Hates Us but it still doesn’t convince me to love Nightmare. I’ve always said that A7X has been heavily influenced by two bands: Pantera and Guns and Roses but mainly Pantera. Pantera with the lyrics and Guns and Roses with the crazy guitar playing except that Zacky V and Syn Gates play it in minor. On top of that, they bring Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater to fill in as drums. I know he was The Rev’s idol and all but come on, Portnoy, although temporarily playing for the band doesn’t bring that presence the Rev used to bring when he was drumming.

What gets me riled up the most is that most critics overwhelmingly gave positive reviews to Nightmare, just because The Rev died. If he were still alive, would you still give that great of a review to Nightmare, knowing it sounds like their self-titled? I don’t want to offend The Rev, since he was my favorite but if I were him, I would be rolling in my grave. If a very die-hard fan of A7X were to read this, my review would sound more of a nightmare than the whole Nightmare album.

All of this leads to the title of my blog entry: Is rock and metal dying? Nothing spectacular has been coming from these bands lately. The pulse is there barely beating on us. Have we finally gotten to the boiling point with our favorite bands or do we just have to adjust to the new sound from these bands?

Another One Bites The Dust

Blog originally written on May 24, 2010

A second death in the metal world has occur ed. For people more my age, it hurts more since it was Paul Gray aka #2 from Slipknot that died today. All we know for now is that he was found dead at a hotel room in Iowa. I may be a little biased here but he really was a pretty good bassist. I always used to like how the bass line was slightly different, you know, from deep to distorted. As I am writing this, there are probably thousands of fans listening to Slipknot songs in honor of him. I know I’ll do this pretty soon.

In awareness of his death, there could be a potential debate whether a band will be unchanged with the death of a not lead singer. There are some that argue since it was not the lead singer that died, it’s really not going to affect their sound. However, some argue that just because the bassist or the guitarist or whomever died doesn’t mean that they will still be the same as they were prior to the persons death. The conclusion is obvious: when a member of a band dies, it takes away a portion of the band’s personality. Replacements can bring a different energy into the band but it’s not going to bring back the old one is it? At that point, it is up to the band whether they are ready to move on and continue to rock out. Slipknot will keep on rocking of course but every time we’ll hear the bass, it will no longer be from Gray. May he RIP.

I’ll leave you with this quote from Plato: “Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul”