Bandwagon

It seems like for years artists have been making parody’s of each others work.  Weird Al seemed to make parody’s popular, and now there has been a slightly different bend on parody music. This trend has been steadily growing with radio play the last couple of years. Parody’s of rap and hip hops songs.

The songs that are usually chosen are pretty rough, talking about drugs, sex and money. The people who sing them, however, are the opposite of the these rap artists: white and somewhat nerdy. There are quite a few examples, including Ben Fold’s version of Bitches An’t Shit:

Here is an example of the original:

And here is an example of the parody by Dr. Dre:

What’s interesting about these parody’s are sometimes the parody gets to be more popular than the original — however, I would say that the play of the parody would increase the play of the original. Yet there are examples of parody’s sued for libel. It’s an another interesting example in our society. We enjoy the parody’s because they’re funny, but are they hurtful? Or at the very least, could someone take offense that we don’t take their artist work seriously?

It seems that most people don’t mind, because Saturday Night Live is still as popular as it always was.

More Parody Examples:

Original: Boyz N Tha Hood by Eazy-E
Parody: Boyz N Tha Hood by Dynamite Hack

You’ve probably all had it with the video posts…but I just recently remembered all of these musically based videos people have shown me in the passed and can’t help but show everyone. Although my inclination in music is not towards musicals or anything of this sort as I previously mentioned, I have to admit this is is pretty cool. If I saw people just start enacting a musical in the middle of anywhere, I would be pretty impressed.

This is a little something I’ve been hearing about word-of-mouth lately. I had to investigate and found this…

Happy holidays everyone. If this doesn’t give you a little bit of holiday cheer, I don’t know what will. There are a couple of holidays songs that go along with Silent Night, so take a peek if you are so inclined.

And wonder if anyone else thinks that these kittens sound a little country too…?

This is the most searched phrase in the category of “music.”

I’m not sure if anyone can be surprised by this…music piracy is so common now that law abiding citizens don’t even consider that they are breaking the law when they download full length albums for free. We don’t know we’re breaking the law anymore, and when someone gets penalized for downloading free music, we all are extremely surprised.

Why do we think that once an artist records a song and puts it in the public atmosphere, that it’s ours and we can own it at the artists cost? No we won’t pay for something we passionately love! No, we won’t allow the artist to make a living! It’s strange that we will steal from the artists that we love and then look confused when artists frown on illegal downloads.

If it were up to me to define, I would suggest that we want to cheat huge corporations, not the artists. We think they make too much money. I also think that we’re a selfish generation, and that we want artists to be our own — by stealing from them we may feel like we’re keeping the artist away from becoming mainstream.

But really, who knows? It’s something everyone seems to be doing, and although it’s not right, we keep doing it.

Here’s a video called Ace Enders & a Million different people, with all profits going to the Save the Music Foundation. Apparently artists do care that we’re stealing the music. Ironically? Someone bought this song, and put it on the video below without the artists permission to “share” with all of us — again, stealing? Who knows, the line is a bit grey.

When considering what to post today, I remembered a video I found a couple of months ago that I found strange and fascinating. It was a how-to video on the creation of a piece of broccoli that became a whistle.  Instead of finding this video, I found this site.

flutenveg.com

…and there are no words to describe how very strange this discovery is. It’s a group of people who go around and perform by playing fruit and vegetables! It’s funny and kind of cool at the same time. There’s a clip on the website, under festivals and corporate which a person can click on and hear what musical vegetable sound like. And the strangest part is that it’s actually pretty good!

I do have to admit, however, that these people look a little crazy. They’re wearing fruit of their heads!

I also stumbled upon the Carrot Museum, a website devoted to all the people who have done something musically-cool with carrots. Seriously strange, strangely cool.

Oh, and if you didn’t know…there seems to be a vegetable playing orchestra as well!

And I can’t resist…here’s a video of the orchestra playing.

I thought in light of the recent AMAs that I’d publish a little something about one of the more extreme events that took place that night. I’ve been a fan of Adam Lamberts voice since I fell into the last 3 episodes of American Idol last season, but I wasn’t happy when I found out he decided to play the pop music track vs. the Muse / Queen version I had in my head of his potential genre. I thought his voice was wasted with words he didn’t write, and music made to be catchy and played over the radio.

But that’s where I was wrong — Lambert really did choose the right genre. His personality, which someone interested in his career be clued into after reading his “public coming out” article in Rolling Stone would have been clued onto, is just that. Like his song title, For Your Entertainment, he’s about making a scene, making a point, and doing it with flare. I shouldn’t have just assumed that because he covered such alternative songs during his rise through Idol, that this would be his genre.

When we found out about his public makeout photos flickering around the internet, it should have been a clue that he likes to perform, and publicly at that. Therefore, anything but the pop inspired mainstream music he’s now cranking out just wouldn’t be up to par for him.

So in reaction to the public makeout on the AMAs and the groping of the various parts of his male and female dancers anatomy? No surprise. In fact, I laughed out loud because really, this is what we should learn to expect from Lambert: a show.

And I’m sure it helps that he’s easy on the eyes.

Here are a few tripped out music-themed houses for your entertainment…

Creeping on facebook walls lately has led me to this line of thought:  people really like the show Glee.

While I’m not a big fan of musicals, I find myself watching Glee and enjoying it. Seriously, it surprises me as much as the next person. However, there is something so dynamic about this show. It could be because these kids have wonderful voices and can harmonize so well, or it could be because of growing resurgence for musicals.

If anyone else has noticed, more and more people (at least the ones I’m around) seem to be buying musical based soundtracks, and playing them as they cook, clean and drive. Musicals are becoming much more accepted and loved than I ever realized. Perhaps they’ve always been this popular, but it seems that when mainstream television makes a show based on musicals that there is a huge increase in popularity.

My theory of what’s popular right now: vampires, high class society, alternative music, handwritten movies/advertisements and…. musicals. They’re here, and they’re proud.

…and we’re growing proud to declare our love. Or at the very least, admit a grudging like.

Here’s a song from Glee that people really seem to be enjoying: Lean on Me

For anyone who is not passionate about musicals, here is a musical you actually may actually enjoy: Avenue Q

This is something really cool that I found a little while ago that I really enjoy. I’m going to keep trying to find more interesting music related videos — there are some awesome ones out there that I think people would really enjoy.

What I love the most is the idea: that music links everyone around the world. While we all share different languages, different customs, values, morals, and environments, we still share some things in common. One of them is music. The best part? It transcends everything.

If anyone remembers the old movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), music was the linking factor between the visitors and humans. Communication was only able to occur using the scale of sounds, because words weren’t possible.

It’s cheesy but heartwarming to know that despite any differences, we all have music to link us together. You may like rap and I may like alternative while someone else likes country, but in essence we all understand the love and joy that comes with it.

Just found this, and I must say, while I’m not on the T-Swift fanwagon, I have to respect the girl. She rises fast, and has millions of swooning fans tracking her every move.

It’s nice to see the nice girl make it big, and still get all the guys for a change. And I have to give props to anyone who can one-up Kanye.