meandthestereo

I got into work today and was surprised to discover that the hash tag #RATM was a trending topic on twitter.  As anyone who grew up in the 90s knows RATM stands for one of the best bands of that era, the Rock/Rap group Rage Against The Machine.  After doing some quick digging, I found a story that hasn’t really been covered much in the U.S. media because it mostly deals with a strange U.K. tradition.  I think its worthy of coverage, though, because it has given British rock fans one last chance to rage before they go gently into the good night of commercialism that has already overtaken us here in the U.S.

Since the 1970s, the number one spot on the U.K. charts on the Sunday before Christmas (or Christmas day if it falls on Sunday) has been a coveted position for musicians.  Whoever holds that spot will receive a lot of media coverage and records companies stand to make a lot of money.  According to Wikipedia, this started in 1973 when two successful bands released Christmas songs to try and get that spot and it’s now such a big deal that people would place bets on which song gets to number one.  Recently, though, the Christmas number one has regularly gone to whoever wins The X Factor, the British version of American Idol also presided over by the media mogul/TV douchebag, Simon Cowell.

This last fact particularly enraged one British fan who started a Facebook group urging people to buy Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing In The Name” instead. The page says “Fed up with Simon Cowell’s latest karaoke act being Christmas No.1? Me too… So who’s up for a mass-purchase of the track ‘KILLING IN THE NAME’ from December 13th as a protest to the X-Factor monotony?”  They stand in opposition to Simon Cowell and Joe McElderry a clean cut cookie-cutter reality show contestant who is singing a cover of Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb”.  Ugh.

The campaign has spread all over the U.K. and, as of today, the Rage track is beating the other song by 30,000.  And it has led to a resurgence of interest in Rage Against The Machine in the U.K.  They were even interviewed by BBC Radio and asked to perform a radio edit version of “Killing In The Name.”  Rage to their credit obliged the interview and their performance had to be cut short when Zach De La Rocha went into the non-radio friendly chorus of “Fuck You. I won’t do what you tell me!”.

Unfortunately, despite their early lead, the odds stand against Rage and British rock fans as the physical copy of the reality contestant’s track was released yesterday and it looks to have strong sales throughout the week.  But it gives me hope that maybe in America, someday, fans of original music can stage a futile protest of their own so that our silent minority can’t be ignored at least for one day.

Here are the Rage song, the BBC Radio interview and performance, and their opponent’s song.

My admiration and fascination of guitars and guitar playing goes way back. It was just so cool watching these guys rip through leads, playing ultra-fast or just generally causing mayhem with their guitars. Whether watching a good axe-man live or in a recorded concert, there is nothing more electrifying than watching a great guitar player ply his chosen craft. There are many great guitar players, past and present; I’d like to mention a few of my personal favorites.

For sheer impact on the music community as a whole, I have to go with Jimi Hendrix. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to see Hendrix live, but I have seen many recorded concerts. I also have a very extensive collection of bootleg concerts and interviews. He was one of those musicians who, when he was ripping a solo, would go to another level of being; a whole other place. His impact on music and the guitar-playing community is unmistakable. Virtually every great modern guitar player mentions Hendrix as a major influence on their own playing. His innovation on guitar and in the recording studio will live on forever.

For pure virtuosity of playing, I’ll go with Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was a pleasure to witness this man playing guitar…usually with your jaw on the ground. I was fortunate enough to see SRV a couple of times; both times were absolutely remarkable. When he went into a solo, it was impossible to look away. I found myself fixating on his fingers as he climbed around the neck of 1963 Stratocaster. Pure genius! He too seemed to go to some other place when he was shredding. I once heard Eric Clapton refer to SRV as a channel…music just flowed through him and erupted out of his fingers. At times, I felt sorry for the rest of Double Trouble as they tried to keep time and keep up!

For total innovation on the six string, I’m going with Eddie Van Halen. The first time I saw him play with both hands on the neck, I was completely blown away. What was this dude doing? Where is his pick? I’ve seen VH many times and watching Eddie perform his guitar solo is well worth the price of admission. In my opinion, he brought the use of two hands on the neck to rest of the world and into the mainstream. Many modern guitarists added this style to their repertoire, but nobody perfected it, or plays it better, than Eddie.

I could easily go on and on about great guitar players. After all, there are so many phenomenal ones to talk about. From the likes of Django Reinhardt through Les Paul, great guitar players have spanned the generations. Other modern guitarists who easily deserve mention are guys like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Tom Morello, Jeff Beck, Randy Rhoads, Yngwie Malmsteen…somebody stop me! Let’s all enjoy these guitar virtuosos as they shred their six string things.

The source for the awesome Eddie Van Halen photo is here!

Hola! Welcome to the Mog. I am meandthestereo, and this is my music blog.

Here you will find the rantings of someone completely uncertified to rant on music topics. I’ll be reviewing albums (requested and randomly picked), providing breaking news, and linking to upcoming projects.

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