Jack White, Wanda Jackson, & Third Man Records

One of the first bands that I found myself to really get into was The White Stripes, Jack White's blues/garage rock duo with his sister/wife Meg. I loved what he was doing then, and I absolutely love what Jack's doing now.

In March 2009, Jack White opened Third Man Records & Novelties, a building in downtown Nashville that houses a record shop, label offices, photo studio, and venue. With this label, Jack set out to create for his fans something tangible, something other record companies seemed to ignore or put on the backburner. Most releases on Third Man are either related to Jack's several bands (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather...), or they are 7" singles of bands that Jack has found and enjoyed, ranging from Transit- a band made of members of the Nashville Transit Authority- to Dungen- a psychedelic quartet from Sweden. Everything is released first on vinyl, and most of the singles are released digitally on iTunes as well.

Third Man's latest release, though, is none other than rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson's new LP "The Party Ain't Over." Honestly, I was not too excited about this release until I heard her roaring cover of Bob Dylan's "Thunder On The Mountain," at which point I immediately ordered the record. Wanda rips through originals like "Funnel of Love," but also pulls out wonderful covers, including Amy Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good," sounding better than ever even though she's 73 years old.

I read a pretty fantastic article over at The Huffington Post today that brings up a very good point- Wanda was the pioneer of women in music, influencing everyone from Debbie Harry to Lady GaGa. She toured with- and dated- Elvis. So why had I never heard of Wanda Jackson before Jack White brought her back into the limelight? It's kind of frightening to think that the people who have had the most influence in the music industry have gone almost unnoticed. Honestly, if Jack wasn't doing all he is to promote this album (limited Fuschia colored vinyl, performing shows with her in L.A., New York, and Nashville, as well as Conan and Letterman), it would probably be a near flop. But this guy knows how to work the business and get stuff out there (plus, he's a great guy. Watching him play with Wanda and then in the interview afterwards on Conan last night made me smile).

The fact of the matter is, we need more people like Jack White in the record business.

And the Oscar goes to.....

So, the Academy Award Nominations were released today, and none other than Trent Reznor is nominated for "Best Original Score" for his work on "The Social Network." I really hope he wins. Mr. Reznor has been one of my most influential musicians, and his score was truly brilliant.

Reznor's band Nine Inch Nails (NIN) was a ground-breaking band throughout the late 80s, the 90s, and most of the noughties (which, I just recently found out, is what the decade of 2000-2009 is called). Reznor released the iconic album "Pretty Hate Machine" in 1989, which features thick, prominent synths, drum machines, effected vocals and heavy bass, perfectly splicing together the synthy style of the 80s as well as the grungy guitars that were beginning to emerge in the late 80s and early 90s. Songs like "Head Like a Hole" and "Terrible Lie" have become classics, as have songs like "Closer" and "The Hand that Feeds," from the albums "The Downward Spiral" and "With Teeth," respectively. Reznor's lyrics are often commentary against authority and the political state of the United States, even going so far as to call out George W. Bush in the song "Capital G."

The last thing I have to say about this: I really hope that the man who once sang "I want to fuck you like an animal" gets the Oscar for Best Original Score this year, he deserves it.

The Risin' of the Moon

So last week in class we listened to Sinead O'Connor's rendition of "The Foggy Dew," an Irish folk song about the 1916 Easter Rising. It's kind of funny that that was on of our examples, because Ireland is now going through quite a bit of political turmoil.

The Easter Rising was a failed insurrection during Easter Week 1916 by the Irish Republicans who wished to put an end to British rule in Ireland, and was the largest uprising since the rebellion of 1798. The Irish Republicans' citizen army unfortunately failed to take back Dublin Castle, the center of British government in Ireland. Throughout the week the Irish citizens were unable to push back against the returning British forces due to ammunition that never arrived and hundreds of casualties. After several days, the leaders of the rebellion were forced to surrender after continuous shelling to their headquarters caused a collapse.

Ireland has once again fallen victim to political turmoil. The government has accepted a $113 billion dollar bailout plan from the EU, as the country is near bankrupt. Prime minister Cowen stepped down over the weekend as head of his party, Fianna Fail, but has said he will stay on as prime minister until the elections on March 11 (which may be moved to February 25th). Recently, six government ministers resigned within 24 hours of each other. Many Irish politicians are under the impression that Cowen's party will fall apart, and even the head of Sinn Fein, the political power in charge of Northern Ireland, is planning on entering himself into this issue in Ireland.

It's been very interesting for me to keep up with all of this. Though I have never been to Ireland, I have wanted to go for a very long time and I very much so enjoy keeping up with what's going on over there. Every few months or so you hear about another bombing in Belfast or another problem within the government, and I often think about how Ireland has never really been peaceful. Looking back at its history, Ireland has almost always been controlled by another nation (usually the Brits), and when they're not under empirical control, they're battling with each other over who should be in power. The idea of almost eternal political unrest is absolutely baffling to me, and I know that I personally would not be able to live under conditions like that.

I've been interested in Irish music since my brother started playing fiddle with the Irish Arts of St. Louis, getting lessons at folk music shop near my house back at home, but it wasn't until last year when I took an Irish Literature class that I realized a very large majority of Irish music is in protest. For example, "The Rising of the Moon" is about the rebellion against the Brits in 1798.

here's a portion of the lyrics:

There beside the singing river that dark mass of men were seen
Far above their shining weapons on their own immortal ring.

Death to every fallen traitor forward strike the marchin' tune
And hurrah my boys, for freedom! Tis the rising of the moon.

How well they fought for poor old Ireland, and full bitter, was their fate
Oh what glorious pride and sorrow fills the name of ninety-eight.

Yet thank God while hearts are beating, each man bears a burning wound
We will follow in their footsteps, at the rising of the moon.

immediate satisfaction

while i was at work today i was reading this article over at NME. starting next month, all acts who release music through universal or sony will have singles available for purchase on the same day that they are released for radio. major artists that are on universal and sony inclued the likes of foo fighters, arcade fire, kasabian, green day, glasvegas, and snow patrol. universal's UK CEO david joseph had this to say:

"For a lot of our younger fans and consumers the word 'wait' is no longer in the vocabulary. You hear something and want it and then you search it. And if you search for it then you’ve got to make sure there is a legal site for that appetite."

sony's UK CEO ged doherty had something similar to say:

"We live in an age of immediacy – release windows are a thing of the past."

my only thought was why this hasn't happened before, especially if the only real reason the labels are doing this is to combat piracy. i know that if some single drops but is unavailable at the time, i'll search it online and usually find a pretty high-quality copy of it almost immediately (i.e. the new britney single [don't judge, it's catchy as hell.]). you would think that somebody at one of these huge corporations would have thought of that before...

a continuation of my post about fender/gibson...

so i did a bit of research today (research meaning something along the lines of this) and i found out some more info about the whole tom morello/south korea/guitar factories thing thanks to this website. here's a quote from morello about the whole situation:

"Guitars should be a means to liberation, not exploitation. I fully support the Korean workers' demands for justice in the workplace. All American guitar manufacturers and the people that play them should hold Cort accountable for the awful way they have treated their workers. Without us, they go out of business. Simple as that. No one should have their job taken away because they stand up for their rights."

serj tankian, of system of a down fame, is also getting behind these factory workers. here's what he had to say:

"As musicians, our axes are not immune to the global race to the bottom techniques incorporated by multi-nationals escaping responsibility to workers and the environment. As consumers and rockers we have to be very careful that everything we touch and use are created and handled with ethics and equity in practice."

it's kind of funny, though- i was reading some of the comments on the article, and many of the commenters are being mildly rude about the whole thing, saying that he should get behind a cause that actually matters, like the ongoing issues in haiti or the floods in australia (on a side note, check out these before/after aerial shots of the floods in brisbane. pretty crazy).

why can't a celebrity get behind something like this and not be criticized? sure, it's not really that big of an issue, but still. people are losing their jobs in an industry that mr. morello, as a guitarist, is obviously involved in. so yes, he cares about that industry and is protesting something that is completely unfair to these factory workers. what's the big deal? i'm on his side.

what is wrong with you people?

since i'm a musician i like to keep up with what's going on at the NAMM conference each year, and this website usually does a really good job. so whist reading the various news postings, i found this insane article. apparently, several contestants on the popular show "american idol" (more affectionately known in my household as "american asshole") have never heard a song by the beatles.

i have no words.

look, the beatles defined music how it is now- there is no doubt about that. they did EVERYTHING. i mean, jesus! look at their catalog, and you've got everything from 12 bar blues to early metal (helter skelter, anyone?). how can someone have never heard one of their songs? or even a cover of one of their songs? and with movies like "across the universe" which are based around their music and "nowhere boy," the upcoming movie about john lennon- the beatles are everywhere. it just doesn't make sense to me how somebody could have gone 17 or 18 years without listening to them.

and i haven't even gotten to talking about the show.

the people who have come out of american idol (asshole?) are some of the worst excuses for a music "idol" you can ask for. granted, there are a few exceptions. carrie underwood has garnered quite a bit of success, as has kelly clarkson and chris daughtry (who didn't even win!). but who remembers ruben studdard? fantasia barrino? christ, who even won last year?
this show was designed to help find the next big recording artist, but it's turned into nothing but a popularity contest for who's more attractive.

but isn't that what everything is in life? that's a bit off topic, i suppose.

i love this website for what they're doing. these guys successfully sabotage the machine that is american idol (seriously. they've gotten people into the top three before). remember scott savol? taylor hicks- who actually won his year- was the vote for the worst candidate. isn't that awesome?

-gsm

fender and gibson and unemployment! oh my!

i was reading this article last night and just thought to post about it now.

a lot of major guitar companies like fender, gibson, and ibanez have factories in south korea, as well as other countries in asia, because it's cheaper to make their instruments over there. my fender mustang, for example, is a CIJ model- "crafted in japan." in 2007, fender and gibson both laid off several hundred of their factory employees who manufactured parts for their guitars at the cort and cor-tek factories in south korea. but they didn't just lay them off: apparently, these factory employees were "padlocked out of their factories" and "forced to sign resignation papers" after they tried to form a union back in 2007. tom morello, guitarist from rage against the machine, has met with these workers and will most likely be present at a press conference that's happening today at the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) conference in California, where workers will be present to help explain the situation. If their story is true, then what these companies have done violates south korea's national labor relations commission, citing "illegal dismissal." Workers have also said that these companies used "intimidation and violence to secure forced resignations from the workers to deny them unemployment benefits and to retaliate against the union through hired thugs".

the whole thing infuriates me. what, were these factories not making your instruments cheaply enough, fender? were you not making enough money off of your ridiculously over priced guitars, gibson? granted, i've never liked gibson much, so i'm on the koreans' side. but i always thought fender was the "good brand." i mean, sure, they use cheap labor in asia to make their instruments, but gibson gets into some trouble. just more than a year ago, gibson was being investigated by the US police for using illegal wood from south america in their guitars.

good luck to you, tom morello. if i can find info of what happens at that press conference today, i'll post a link here.

-gsm

i see what you did there.

well good afternoon, everybody. welcome to stereo putrid, my blog for my class "protest and pop music" that i'm taking this semester. let's get to know each other, shall we?

i'm sam, and music is what i do. i've been in several bands, varying from an acoustic duo to a blues-rock trio to my current venture, cute machines, a dance punk band i've formed here at loyola with my twin brother, collin, and my roommate, pat testa. i care a lot about how things sound- i'm the one in the band who tells everybody to stop when one thing is just a little bit off- slightly out of tune, the synth arpeggiator is off tempo, or the drum track (ah, the joys of a drum machine...) just doesn't sound how it's supposed to. i play guitar, and my setup consists of a lot of shitty gear that, for some reason, sounds amazing when put together in the sequence i use it in. go figure?

for christmas this year, i got a new crosley record player, which excites me quite a bit. not to sound like a hipster or anything (although you could probably argue that i'm quite the hipster), but i love vinyl. the idea of music being consumed only digitally in the future bothers me- i rarely just download music, because i love the idea of having a physical, tangible copy of it. i don't know why, but that's how i feel about it.

i'll listen to almost anything, but my favorites (right now, anyway) are beck, the white stripes, the black keys, the dead weather, eagles of death metal, the raconteurs, the kills, spoon, muse, metric, the greenhornes, and the kooks.

politically speaking, i don't really know where i am- i'm pretty moderate. i find myself to be pretty liberal with some issues, but also fairly conservative about other topics. i enjoy a good argument, even though most of my friends say i always lose.

i'm really looking forward to posting here this semester.

-gsm