Rolling Stone Magazine Loves Chinese Democracy, The Rest Of Us...Not So Much

While scrolling through Rolling Stone's list of "The 50 Best Albums of 2008" I came upon something I found pretty surprising. Chinese Democracy, the first Guns N' Roses album in seventeen(!) years, was rated at number twelve of fifty. Does it really deserve such a high spot?

There's no doubt that Axl Rose tried. He used marketing techniques: he had an exclusive retail agreement with Best Buy for the CD's release, and also contributed the track "Shackler's Revenge" to Rock Band 2. Some of the singles released have done considerably well. "Better," perhaps the most radio-worthy of the bunch, reached eighteenth on the Mainstream Rock Chart.

Other reactions to the album though have been mixed. The disc has sold slowly since it's release, and will not even come close to the sales of previous GN'R work. It has received a sixty-five on Metacritic, meaning most found it good, if a little disappointing. The twelfth best album of the year is a little much. Why not somewhere around twenty-five or thirty? I think that would be more fitting.

The 51st Grammy Awards Are Coming Up...Get Excited People

On February 8th the 51st annual Grammy awards will be broadcast live on CBS. Several artists are scheduled to perform such as Coldplay, Lil' Wayne, Katy Perry, Jennifer Hudson (in one of her first public appearances after the slaying of her family members), Paul McCartney, T.I., and even Radiohead (which according to the Grammy website will be their first televised U.S. performance in 9 years).

Since the Grammy nominees have been announced in their respective categories the web has been abuzz with predictions of the winners. Critics as diverse as Jim DeRogatis and Margeaux Watson have all been weighing in. Although Coldplay and Lil' wayne are expected to pick up many of the awards, it will be interesting to see who comes out on top that night. Here are some of my picks for who SHOULD win in the rock and alternative categories:

Best Solo Rock Vocal-Eddie Vedder (he's up against rock legends like McCartney, Springsteen, and Young, but whereas the others have left their prime, he is just as relevant as he was in 1991)
Best Rock Performance w/ Duo or Group-Kings of Leon ("Rock N Roll Train" by AC/DC should not have even been nominated and Coldplay doesn't need to win everything you know)
Best Hard Rock Performance-Disturbed (The others nominees are either too weird or they're done by Motley Crue)
Best Metal Performance-Slipknot ("Psychosocial" is by far the best song among the five)
Best Rock Instrumental-Nine Inch Nails (My favorite band so...)
Best Rock Song-"I Will Posses Your Heart"
Best Rock Album-The Raconteurs (A tough call between them and Metallica, but when one considers "Salute Your Solution?" The song is simply unbeatable)
Best Alternative Album-Radiohead (Another difficult decision, especially because Beck is such a great musician, but In Rainbows defied too many conventions not to get some notice)

Chicago Is Definitely The Place To Be: Several Big-Name Acts Are Making A Stop This Winter

As a faithful alternative music reporter, it is my duty to spread the word about upcoming concerts and events that are sure to rock our world. I'm excited to tell you that we can look forward to several such acts this winter.

First up on January 26th and 27th is Metallica at the Allstate Arena. This should be a real treat to see considering Metallica has such long breaks between each of their albums and tours (although it would be cool either way, this is Metallica after all.) Just three days later Slipknot and Coheed & Cambria are also playing at the Allstate. Even if they are the oddest combination to ever go touring together, it promises to be exciting. Both bands have reputations for pleasing fans with elaborate stage shows. Speaking from personal experience (a little show called Rockstar Mayhem 08), Slipknot will not disappoint.

In February, Mudvayne and Dropkick Murphys come to town, and tickets are on sale now. On February 27th, Avenged Sevenfold will be playing with Buckcherry. Neither are of the two are my personal cup of tea, but I would highly recommend it to fans.

Heads up! Tickets went on sale this weekend for the Believers Never Die tour, which comes to Chicago May 9th. It will feature Fall Out Boy, Cobra Starship, All Time Low, Metro Station, AND Hey Monday (I know, not enough right?)

If any of these shows sound appealing, more information can be found at q101.com where a partial listing of concerts is available, with links to Ticketmaster. Now go rock on with your bad selves.

U2 Have Released Their New Single, And It's...Well, Different

Irish pop-rock band U2, arguably the biggest band in the world, recently made their new single "Get On Your Boots" available on iTunes. the song is from their upcoming album No Line On The Horizon which is set to be released in the US on March 3rd. The song is also streaming at U2.com, and you can click here to listen to it.

After listening to the song, I am having quite a bit of trouble deciding what to make of it. It's not bad, but I don't love it either. Apparently, other bloggers agree. Even a google sampling of song reviews brought up two radically different opinions on Ventvox.com and Elbows.ws.

Some of U2's famous trademarks are still present, and as always Bono's wonderfully wierd lyrics abound.."free me from this dark dream/candy bars, ice cream/all the kid's are screaming but the ghosts aren't real" and "hey sexy boots, get on your boots"(what was that again?) Overall, however, the song has a distinctly heavier rock sound with electronic elements that more closely resembles the group's 90's work rather than their more recent mix of grand arena rockers ("Elevation," "Vertigo") and soulful ballads ("Walk On," "City of Blinding Lights").

As nice as it is to see Bono & Company continue to rock on after almost three decades, "Get On Your Boots" just isn't a strong enough song for me to get excited about the new album. Oh well, at least we'll always have The Joshua Tree

The Performers Scheduled for the Inauguration Youth Ball Leave This Blogger Wondering If Someone Might Have Missed The Point

This upcoming Tuesday there will be several parties held around Washington to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama (YES! FINALLY!). Many of these parties, known as Balls, will feature performances from several high-profile artists. For the Youth Ball (which, I'm sorry, just sounds awfully patronizing) the festival organizers and MTV will broadcast...live...to all of us American youth...(hold your breath now)...Kanye West, Fall Out Boy, and Kid Rock. This less than impressive lineup leaves me wondering, this is the Youth Ball, right?



Now, I understand why these artists were selected. Kanye and Fall Out Boy both have astronimically high numbers of teen fans, and Kid Rock...well he has some. But couldn't they have picked some artists who are a little more relevent for 2009? As a Youth Ball, shouldn't it feature artists who a large amount of us are listening to now? Here's a few of the reasons why this selection of artists isn't the right fit:



First of all, how did Kid Rock get picked? When one thinks of a Youth band, Kid Rock definitely does not jump to mind. His last album, Rock N Roll Jesus was released all the way back in 2007, with singles such as "So Hott," "Amen," and the incredibly annoying mash up of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Warron Zevon, "All Summer Long." Doesn't it just scream hip and new? Oh wait...



Secondly, where has Fall Out Boy been? Thier latest album Folie a Deux debuted only a month ago at number 8 on the billboard charts, and has now fallen to 25th place. However, only two years ago, Infinity On High came out at number 1 and has since sold over a million copies. Could this be a trend perhaps?



Kanye is also having trouble in that department. 808's and Heartbreak came out in November, and sold over 400 thousand copies. That is impressive, but not when you compare it to Graduation's 900 thousand sales in it's FIRST week. "Love Lockdown" is a fun song, but we all know that it's not the Kanye we're used to.

All in all, this Youth Ball will be rocking this new term with-well not quite a bang I'm afraid.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1602981/20090117/west_kanye.jhtml
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.vnuArtistId=12517&model.vnuAlbumId=1077161
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Albums&model.vnuArtistId=489932&model.vnuAlbumId=1185733
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.8192