Surprising no one, Jay-Z and Kanye West debut at the top of Billboard’s album charts this week with Watch The Throne. The highly anticipated wap cowabbowation (sorry, that was my RZA voice) scores 2011’s second-biggest first week, after Lady GaGa’s Born This Way (which is still holding on at #18). Unlike GaGa, Jay and ‘Ye didn’t benefit from special pricing at a digital account. Actually, it could be argued that Throne was a limited release. It was available for half […]
Posts tagged "Michael Jackson"
bLISTerd: Happy Anniversary, MTV!:The Best Videos of the Eighties (20-11)
20. “Every Breath You Take” The Police (1983) Simplicity, ladies and gentlemen. Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers went straight for the heart with “Every Breath You Take”, their biggest hit single (and the #1 song of 1983, according to Billboard magazine). The greatness of this video is all in the incidentals-the shadows moving from one side of Sting’s face to the other, his standup bass, the way the video seemed to fit seamlessly with the quiet intensity of the […]
Blerd Appreciation: Toto
A couple of weeks ago, in between listening to “Human Nature” and playing my copy of Boz Scaggs’ Silk Degrees, it came to me. Toto doesn’t get near enough props. People talk about Toto as if they were the representation of everything wrong with the music industry in the early Eighties. Too slick, too processed, no soul. Boring yacht rock. Instead of “slick”, I’d call them “talented”. Boring yacht rock? Yeah, that was their M.O. on occasion (and way more […]
Why the Hell Should I Like… post-’Thriller’ Michael Jackson? (The Rebuttal)
“Why the hell should I like… ?” is an experiment of sorts between Popblerd and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit . What we’re going to attempt to do is to pick 10 songs from our favorite artists — one for which the other has professed dislike or disinterest — and show them why they’re wrong. I can’t say exactly why I have never sat down and listened to much of Michael Jackson’s post-Thriller music. It’s not as if he released a ton of records in […]
Moonlighting: Michaels on Michael (Popdose Podcast Extra)
Get four supreme music nerds to do a podcast, and how long do you think they’re gonna talk? Well, when I, fellow PBs Mike Duquette and Dr. Gonzo (Zack Stiegler) got together with Popdose’s Michael Parr for an in-depth discussion about the life and music of Michael Jackson, we emerged dazed and sweaty over three hours later. My condition would be exacerbated by a case of food poisoning just a couple short hours after the podcast wrapped, but that’s another story. Our delightful conversation touched on […]
bLISTerd: The 20 Best Michael Jackson Songs (Part Two)
Make sure you check out the first part of our list here . I’ll admit that this is where you’ll find the more “no-brainer” Michael songs, but I think that speaks less to predictability and more to a general consensus of his genius. There are certain things that make a great pop single-captivating lyrics, hooks that won’t leave your head, unique vocal performances. These ten songs have all those qualities and more. If your iPod only had room for 10 Michael […]
The Blerd & Gonzo Cover Convo: “Girlfriend” (MJ Edition)
Gonzo: So last time, you alluded to your selections for our next cover convo, and I’ve been waiting with curious anticipation ever since. Blerd: Well, we just finished up a lengthy conversation that was primarily about the King of Pop, so we’re gonna continue in that vein. Although neither version of this song is ESPECIALLY well-known, we’re gonna go with the reasonably popular version first-which, in this case, is the cover. G: Ah yes. B: one of the more incidental […]
bLISTerd: The 20 Best Michael Jackson Songs (Part 1)
With today being the second anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death, our next bLISTerd column was a no-brainer. Initially, we gathered the troops to put together a list of the ten best MJ songs, but after some internal discussion, we increased the size of the list from 10 songs to 20, and even THAT didn’t feel like enough. Since we bumped the list up to 20, we’re giving it to you in two parts. Look for part two tomorrow. Ultimately, the […]
Moonlighting: Why the Hell Should I Like…Michael Jackson (Post-“Thriller”)
Today marks the second anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death. It’s only right that we turn the site over to an appreciation of the King of Pop today. Michael Jackson is the single most important entertainment figure to emerge in my lifetime, and while his death was certainly a tragic event, lone fortunate thing you can take away from it is that it once again focused people’s attention on his talent and not his eccentricities. There are quite a few people […]
