Once again, the Random iTunes Fairy has proved to have a bias toward popular hits. Of the 52 John Hiatt songs I own, the algorithm somehow landed on his most famous, ‘Have a Little Faith in Me.’
That also happens to be the only one of those 52 songs that I know. My John Hiatt albums come courtesy of my wife, who has always had a soft spot for heartland rockers.
I was singing my youngest daughter to sleep tonight, treating her to my usual lineup of ‘Blackbird,’ ‘In My Life’ and ‘It’s a Small World,’ when I decided to throw in a special bonus track — The Beatles’ ‘If I Fell.’
This is a song so good that even my tuneless croak made it sound something close to beautiful. Halfway through I decided I had to get it on the blog this week, in some form, knowing I’d already posted the original.
Eminem returns next month with his first album since 2010’s comeback record Recovery. The new album is titled The Marshall Mathers LP 2, calling back to his sophomore release, the one that really put him on the cultural map.
Today’s SOTD, ‘Berzerk,’ is the first single from the new album, and it’s a riotous throwback to the old-school rap of the original white rappers, The Beastie Boys. Produced by Rick Rubin (like The Beasties’ debut record it samples), the song is bursting with fun, inventive touches.
My knee-jerk reaction to sampling was negative. Back when Puff Daddy was lifting the music of ‘Every Breath You Take’ and simply rapping over it, I was incredulous that such a practice could pass as artistry.
I still feel that way about sampling as egregious as that. Recently, Pit Bull and Christina Aguilera lifted the glorious introduction of A-Ha’s ‘Take On Me’ for their otherwise bland track ‘Feel This Moment‘ and it reeks of laziness.
(On a side note, has Pitbull ever released a song that didn’t feature some other artist?)
These kids today with their viral videos.
The latest “gotta see it” clip I’ve seen circulating is this video by a woman who quit her job at a video news site via a YouTube clip of her dancing to a Kanye West song.
Apparently she didn’t like the fact that her boss (whom she describes as a brilliant, great guy) valued clicks over clever content.
