One of the pleasures of having a snarkalicious sixteen year old in the house is exposure to all kinds of odds and ends.
This morning, the boy trawled through the Youtube bin to come up with this for some before-school video entertainment:
It’s kind of scary how well it works (to a certain, well-constrained value of “well”).
Enjoy.
(And yes…the thread. Open, it is.)
PS: I put this in the category “music” and I’m really not sure if the FSM won’t splatter me with campanelle for my blasphemy.
Original Lee
This was pretty good. The kid’s got an ear! Thanks for sharing with us.
Hal
One of my favorite cartoons, I laugh every time I see it.
Cat deception
Tom Levenson
@Hal: ;-)
May have some Tikka pix to share soon.
brendancalling
It’s funny because it’s true.
Also, it’s the exact same session guys on each sample. And the same producers and writers too. That’s how Nashville rolls, and why modern “country” is so awful.
Tom Levenson
@Original Lee: Sorry — I was unclear above. That mash-up isn’t by my boy — he just dug it out of great litter-box of the arts that is the internet. I’ve rewritten that sentence slightly to clean that up a bit.
Major Major Major Major
@Hal: Ha!
I have a hilarious picture of Ruemara and Samwise that I can’t share because I haven’t asked. Maybe some day :)
WereBear
I call it Music Chow. Exactly the same for everyone.
Someone should tell the music business that mass production is not what it is about…
The Moar You Know
I was a working musician for many years. This is normal and expected.
Mk3873
Good news! Clinton is now 1.76M votes ahead of Trump. I think we’re gonna pull this one out! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/133Eb4qQmOxNvtesw2hdVns073R68EZx4SfCnP4IGQf8/htmlview?sle=true#gid=19
Roger Moore
@WereBear:
They have a lot of money that says otherwise. There is demonstrable demand for mass produced culture, be it music, TV, movies, books, etc.
Roger Moore
@efgoldman:
I’ve met her. Or at the very least, that’s what my programming says is the correct response to one of the other bots questioning her existence.
The Moar You Know
@WereBear: Please note the highlighted word. This is precisely what the music business is all about. Standardized product = increased YoY sales. That’s all that matters.
I say this as a formerly signed artist – artists talking about creativity makes great ad copy, but it’s not what the producers, distributors or the customers actually want. I’m much happier these days playing my own weird shit at home, not having to worry about pleasing anyone at all. I still work in the field every now and then, but it really is like going to work at a factory; I know what I’ll be doing before I even get there.
MomSense
The video reminds me of the comedian who riffed about all the songs being variations of Pachelbel’s Canon or the one that compared Cold Play to Pokemon.
Bill E Pilgrim
@The Moar You Know:
I was too, and yep.
I think there’s some truth to the idea that this one reveals a certain homogeneous lack of variety in the music “industry” and it’s an industry and etc etc, but in general music is a lot more like this than people realize, at least within one genre. Jazz musicians “quote” other songs in the middle of a solo, i.e. play snippets of a melody from a standard that’s not the one you’re improvising over, all the time. Or quote two or three or four of them, in one solo, and it seems like a magic trick to some people but it’s easier than they think.
Major Major Major Major
@Roger Moore: And what’s the difference, really?
ETA: @efgoldman: This is true. Did you ever see Twenty Feet From Stardom, by the way?
Raven
@The Moar You Know:
I was a free man in Paris
I felt unfettered and alive
There was nobody calling me up for favors
And no one’s future to decide
You know I’d go back there tomorrow
But for the work I’ve taken on
Stoking the star-maker machinery
Behind the popular song
The Moar You Know
@Bill E Pilgrim: Another veteran! Nice to meet you.
Yeah, I agree. I did a lot of composition back in those days, and it’s actually REALLY FUCKING HARD to come up with material that both is and sounds original. I’m good at it, but I won’t lie, it’s hard work. Doing an album’s worth the first time almost sent me over the edge. Especially with a room of equally talented/experienced professionals questioning your every move. Some of whom have the power to veto anything you do, because you’re signed and they own your ass now, and they’d really like it if you made them some money instead of lose them some money. Fun times.
Bill E Pilgrim
@The Moar You Know: One of the best things I ever heard was a famous producer telling a group of aspiring songwriters in LA “Try to screw up. That’s my advice. Everyone’s trying to write the same thing, to sound like whoever’s hot and influential at the moment, and that means I get demos across my desk that are all like the same damn thing over and over. Try not to do whatever seems “right” at the moment– and that’s vastly harder than you think it is — and come up with anything actually different, and that one will get my attention”.
Paraphrased from memory but that was the gist of it.
The hardest thing in my opinion is coming up with something truly different but also grounded, that is, something good. Weird alone is not enough, was how a friend of mine and I used to put it.
Mnemosyne
@The Moar You Know:
When G really wants to annoy me, he taunts me that Lin-Manuel Miranda only wrote 6 songs for Hamilton and then repeated them over and over for two hours.
He knows that it gets my goat because it’s true (for some values of “true” — try writing a piece of musical theater or opera that doesn’t use call-backs and motifs and see how satisfying the audience finds it to be.)
Note: I have virtually no ear for music, but I do like musicals and opera.
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne: My husband really like Les Miz and I constantly remind him that it only has “like, three songs”.
Bill E Pilgrim
I was a free man in Paris
just to watch him die
– Johnny Cash sings Joni Mitchell
or maybe it’s the other way around….
Tom Levenson
@Bill E Pilgrim: Well played.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Tom Levenson: It’s funny because it’s true
Roger Moore
@The Moar You Know:
Yep. I know it more from a fan’s perspective, but I’m sure it’s true for the others, if only because they know they have to please the fans in the long run to stay profitable. We say we want something new, but only until our favorite band decides they’re getting stale and wants to try doing something different. Suddenly, they’re the worst thing ever for deviating from their established style.
Droppy
I don’t know anything about music but only have the amateur’s impression that most pop music sounds really derivative and that all country music sounds exactly the same; so I’m glad to have that scientifically proven.
WereBear
@Roger Moore: Yes, but not that it is all the SAME.
They don’t want genres, or anything new, or fusion this with that. They want ONE SONG they can sell to EVERYONE.
Roger Moore
@Droppy:
Pop music- and mass produced culture in general- isn’t just derivative; it’s reverse engineered. They take the really interesting, creative stuff that’s successful without them and try to see what makes it tick. After going through a few similar examples, they have a nice set of templates that they can use to stamp out more of it in bulk. If the formula works well enough, they can keep following it indefinitely.
Schlemazel
@WereBear:
They will show you their receipts & ask why they should try harder. McDonald’s is not worth billions by selling quality food
EBT
@The Moar You Know: The story behind NiN’s Starfucker Inc, is basically a long time ago Trent Reznor had an artistic hard on for Marilyn Manson, but felt that he had in later years sold out. So he wrote a song about an artist being a sellout for money, and hired his hero-cum-personal disgrace to play said artist-whore in the music video.
BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: I believe I’ve seen a likeness of you ef. I’ve posted pics that contain me in the pic, but I’ve been mistaken for a homeless person.
Patricia Kayden
@Werebear: Just watched the movie you recommended, Conspiracy. Chilling. They sat around discussing the murder of millions of Jews as if they were discussing fumigating cockroaches. I was disappointed that some of those monsters got away scot-free and lived to ripe old age. Interesting that at least two of the attendees did not agree with the “elimination” of Jews but were forced to play along.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Roger Moore: Your programming is very lifelike, Roger. Hell, it’s much better than Mitt Romney’s, and think about how much his cost.
Roger Moore
@WereBear:
You can’t get into real mass production without taking a few shortcuts. And bear in mind that what Sir Mashalot is doing here is cheating in its own way; he’s showing you only the parts that are most similar while leaving out anything that’s actually distinctive.
Major Major Major Major
@Patricia Kayden: Mm, wasn’t me that recommended it.
EDIT: There ya go.
EBT
@Roger Moore: On the other hand Nickleback just reuses the same songs with different lyrics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs4tNeGyTyI
Roger Moore
@Schlemazel:
I remember saying something similar to this to my mother once, only to have her tell me how wrong I was. She said you don’t appreciate how good McDonald’s is because you never ate at any of the really awful places there used to be until the big chains put them out of business. The mass produced stuff isn’t great, but it effectively puts a floor on how bad everyone else can be. Mom and pop can’t compete with McDonald’s on price, so the only way they can stay in business is by charging more for better quality.
There’s something similar with the music business. A small-time act can’t compete with the big pop acts by promoting themselves better or having better production values; they can only compete by being better musicians and writers. Actually, that’s not quite true; they can also compete by charging less, playing in smaller venues, etc. Your local coffee shop/bar/tiny night club probably has some local musicians trying to work their way up that way. Some of them may be better than the mass produced stuff, but you can sure as hell find a lot worse there, too.
Raven Onthill
Groan. My filker friends are going to love it!
K488
@efgoldman: Sounds like Harvard back in the day…
lethargytartare
@MomSense:
That comedian (Rob Paravonian) is form my home town! Used to be in a local band that was quite good, but never quite hit on the sound of the times…
christ, that was like 30 years ago. now I feel old.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
On my way back from neurologist. Dad’s not getting released yet, but he’s getting close. He’s a bit disappointed, but understands that a longer stay is needed. In the meantime, getting ramps, showers, etc. at the house. Lots done, lots left to do.
EBT
@Roger Moore: Sure that may have been true at one point, but now fast food is only pennies cheaper than mom and pop places at best. (The local taqueria is actually cheaper than taco bell AND doesn’t source it’s meat from Barnum & Bailies)
MomSense
@lethargytartare:
He’s very funny, too.
Schlemazel
@Roger Moore:
Consistency does not equal quality. While I certainly am familiar with the good old days and how bad things could get I can tell you that when offered the choice of the local diner & McAwfuls I will pick the diner. I have had some mediocre meals and I have paid more than $5 but I have had many fabulous, surprisingly good meals too. Its an adventure.
@EBT:
This too. Local foods have really stepped up in the last 10-20 years. Particularly the local mom-n-pop ethnic stuff. There have been a lot fewer disappointments in the last decade even at the ‘traditional’ American diners.
Baud
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): Best of luck with everything.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Patricia Kayden: The BBC did one on Auschwitz that just mind numbing. Goes from the upper level planning to the history of the camp. Basically, running a really efficient death camp was a good job for a fast tracker in the SS and if you were a guard, well you weren’t freezing in the mud on the Russian front, plus Jewish girl friends.
The assholes didn’t even believe in the awful thing they were doing.
Ridnik Chrome
@Mk3873: For some perspective, that’s more than three times the margin by which Gore beat Bush in 2000.
GrandJury
..and if you play it backwards your dog comes back, your girl is no longer cheating on you, and your pickup truck starts working again.
lethargytartare
@MomSense:
he was back then too – his lyrics always had a wry turn on traditional “love gone bad” pop, and singing comedy was probably his true calling all along.
His “who charted” bits on Youtube (not the earwolf thing) crack me up as a some-time hanger-on with actual musicians.
BillinGlendaleCA
@GrandJury: I thought it said “turn me on dead man” and “Paul is dead” when played backwards.
Roger Moore
@GrandJury:
And you stop drinking.
J.
That video reminds me of the second episode of “Soundbreakers.” EXCELLENT series, btw.
Amaranthine RBG
@Roger Moore:
I agree with your mom.
You can still get a sampling of how bad it used to be if you find yourself in a little town with only one or two restaurants. I pulled into this place once that looked okay, kind of charming really, and I ordered the “lightly battered cod fillets” and walked past the kitchen just as they were dumping those out of the Mrs. Paul’s box from the freezer.
You can, from time to time just happen on a place that was started by CIA graduate who got tired of working the line in NYC and moved back to the country, but that is pretty damn rare.
EBT
@Schlemazel: I don’t think you can even spend less than five dollars for a meal at fast food any more. Every place nuked their dollar menus a few years back.
Major Major Major Major
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
The Nazis weren’t even particularly competent, either.
Paul in KY
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): Best wishes on your dad getting the best care he can & to you as well, Ben.
PhoenixRising
Open thread: Can anyone direct to a link explaining the whys and whats (rules and deadlines) re recounting states that were really close? Or appeared to be? I saw some conflicting ideas about who would have to ask for WI to be audited/canvassed, and by when.
The question this leaves open is, Don’t the people of WI have an interest in an accurate count of their votes? I mean by this that a county that reported more votes for Trump than were cast total in that county…has some ‘splainin to do.
Roger Moore
And because nobody else said it:
Take a break
Run away with us for the summer
Let’s go upstate!
Schlemazel
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
The marvelous BBC series, “The World At War” did a 4 episode set on the final solution. The Nazi’s gave a lot of thought to how to move beyond the mass shootings done in the early days and applied a very industrial efficiency to the whole nightmare. I have no idea who they could do that so coolly and calmly.
The other surprising bit was that they used an SS Lance Corporal’s remembrances for a lot of the first person commentary (along with survivors). At the end of the last episode the credits included something like: “We wish to gratefully acknowledge the assistance of SS Lc Corp Hans Schmitt (I forget his name) who steadfastly refused to participate in the activities at Auschwitz and was exonerated at the Nuremberg hearings.” THAT is a story I would like to have heard as an addendum to the killings. It would be proof the killers did so voluntarily.
Schlemazel
@EBT:
Agreed, it was shorthand for paying more than at the burger joint.
Shana
@Major Major Major Major: And The Wrecking Crew. Very cool and I learned a lot.
Original Lee
@Tom Levenson: I was unclear, then. The kid has a good enough ear to pick out a good mash-up.
K488
@efgoldman: Ah! Gotcha.
J R in WV
@Roger Moore:
There’s a tiny bar in town called the Empty Glass, and Derek Trucks used to be through there a couple of times a year, 20 years back before they got the current Tedeschi Trucks band together. Personally I think Susan Tedeschi out-cooks Derek, but they’re good together.
I’ve seen lots of bands that made it big in small bars in small towns. Jimmy Buffet used to play Key West for drinks and tips, after all. But that really was another world and time.