RIP Kevin DuBrow

I'm sure that by now most of you have heard the news that Quiet Riot lead singer Kevin DuBrow passed away this past Sunday in Las Vegas due to what at this time are unknown causes. It's easy to speculate just what happened, especially given what kind of industry he worked in, but that's not really the thing to speculate here. It's just crappy news, as while I only know a few Quiet Riot songs, they all kick ass. Cum On Feel The Noize and Bang Your Head (Metal Health) are all time hard rock classics. That's why I was sad to hear of this news. I am pleasantly surprised that news of this death has been so popular. Maybe "pleasantly" isn't the best word to use, but you know what I mean. It seems like there are many closet Quiet Riot fans out there, even if they were "one album wonders".

The song I'm putting up tonight is one from the Metal Health album, but is not the big hits from there. Rather, it's one that is a little more obscure, but still pretty cool. It's Slick Black Cadillac, a newer version of a song they released on an earlier album. It's a typical heavy metal song about having a kick-ass car, but I think it's quite good and you metal fans probably will like it. If nothing else it spotlights another song from a band that for a brief while were big stars and apparently are still remembered fondly by many.

Quiet Riot-Slick Black Cadillac (3.89 MB, 128Kbits/second)

http://www.zshare.net/audio/52414528f6c87e/

I'm pressed for time now so in an hour or two I will have up my second song on my mashups page.

My New Blog Is Open

I know it took a little longer than expected for me to post this, but finally my mashups blog is open. I already made my first post there. By the way, the reason why I'm up at this time is that earlier tonight I saw Beowulf in 3D-an awesome experience and an awesome film-and I haven't been able to fall or stay asleep yet.

I probably won't have a lot of time in the near future to do a lot of writing on either blog, but on Wednesday night I should have the time to made a post on both here and on the mashups blog.

The Announcement

I dozed off earlier than I thought I would but wasn't asleep for long. Then I remembered that I was supposed to mention what the announcement was. I'll make it short and sweet. In a week or so I'll give more details and officially open the page up, but I'm going to start a sister site to this page, also a Blogspot page, but there, I will post various mashups. It's a genre I've neglected to mention on here for far too long and at this time starting up a new blog to discuss those tunes, and either on my computer or on CD's I have a huge collection of songs that I could spotlight. However, whenever I can I'll just point out the page where you can directly download the songs, so you shouldn't run into any problems there.

At least you should check it out when the time arises, as I'm sure you want to know how, to list a few examples, Def Leppard were combined with Mims, how Kelis was combined with Lawrence Welk, or Iron Maiden combined with Frankie Goes to Hollywood! It's a great genre that puts out much better music than a lot of the shit I hear on the radio or in public the past few years, and I'll be happy to spotlight some of the best tunes with this new blog.

Check back in about a week's time.

Start Spreading The News...

In the past I've mentioned that for the most part Real Radio 104.1 down here in Orlando is, in my humble opinion, a crap station, not really in what they play (although they are mainly a talk radio station where the talk is pure horseshit garbage) but rather how amateur the station seems to be run, in terms of format, how they never tell you the songs they play (not even on their website) so you have to try and Google the lyrics in hopes of finding it, and other minute details that probably only irk me but really should irk most people.

But, during the night and during parts of the weekend they play a rather eclectic lineup of music-although even then their mix of songs could be markedly improved-and I've heard some songs that I otherwise would not have heard of before.

For example, tonight's upload. I only found out the title of it by accident recently, when I was downloading a mashup* that featured the song mixed with a Beastie Boys tune. The group is Micro Chip League (or Microchip League or MCL; all three names I've seen used interchangeably) and the song appears to be made in 1988. Really, even in this day and age it's near impossible to find a lot of concrete info on the group, but it's a techno/electro song from the 80's that has an ultra-tough edge to it.

* Real late tomorrow night I'll do an update on this page where I will make an announcement concerning that unique genre of music.

The song? Believe it or not, a REALLY loose remake of the song New York New York! Yes, the theme from the movie of the same name that's best known for being one of Frank Sinatra's best-known ditties. Talk about strange, but the song is one of a kind, at least Micro Chip League's take on it.

Micro Chip League-New York (128Kbits/second)

http://www.zshare.net/audio/4914532fc80b03/

Like I said I'll be back late tomorrow night with an announcement.

Simon Says... I Like This Song

Yep, I'm doing this a little later than I had planned, but yesterday for me was just uber-bizarre. Read all about it on my MySpace blog. Really now, Beauty & The Geek!

At the wrestling show, sure I heard the theme song to Muppet Babies along with some good old tunes from the 80's, but I want to spotlight a song that was used by a guy named Simon Sezz; it was formerly the theme music to Simon Diamond in ECW, for you hardcore wrestling fanatics. The song also reminds me of my college days at Illinois State University (long story).

The band was the Swedish metal (and all female at that) band Drain S.T.H. The song is Simon Says, which is why both Simon's have used it. I haven't heard any other tunes from the band and I don't know much about them aside from the fact that the song is from 1999 and it was produced by Max Martin. Yes, the same guy who worked with Britney & The Backstreet Boys! No matter that, the song is pretty awesome.

Drain S.T.H.-Simon Says (4.76 MB, 160 Kbits/second)

http://www.zshare.net/audio/4846739cafd262/

I'll be back Wednesday night, and not so damned late either.

Surf's Up

Here is a rather obscure song from what is probably now an obscure movie, but it's a pretty kick-ass remake of a 60's surf song. The song is Pipeline, originally done by The Chantays but covered by many different people since then. The version I'm putting up was done by a great guitar combo: Dick Dale and Stevie Ray Vaughn, two guys recognized as among the best guitarists of all time.

Dick Dale is best known for being a surf rock guitarist, and his most famous song is obviously his version of the Greek song Miserlou; it's so awesome that even its usage in a Black Eyed Peas song made the BEP sound not so terrible! Needless to say, I prefer Dick's version to how it was used by the BEP.

Meanwhile, Stevie is primarily a blues guitarist whose songs are frequently on classic rock stations, and who died way too young due to a helicopter accident after a concert at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in Wisconsin; living right by Rockford, Illinois* until I moved to Florida, plugs for shows at the venue were common. Teaming these two together was a stroke of genius.

* Home of Cheap Trick and… ahem, porn star Ginger Lynn Allen.

It is from the 1987 movie Back To The Beach, a film that I'm sure is forgotten by most these days but way back when my two younger sisters and my mom used to watch it often, so that's how I saw it. It's a spoof of 60's "beach party" movies (with quite the incredible cast), something that I had no knowledge of at the time as I had never even heard of a "beach party" film, so if I saw it today, after I've seen those 60's films, then I'd rate it differently than I did back then. That said, I hardly remember the film aside from the fact that it was entertaining enough, and both Dale and Vaughn appear in it to perform the song. There was even a music video made for it. Dick's hair looks scary, but hey it was the 80's...

Dick Dale-Stevie Ray Vaughn-Pipeline (4.14 MB, 192Kbits/second)

http://www.zshare.net/audio/4765765b1d1f95/

I'll be back Sunday night.

Good N Plenty

This weekend has been an interesting one. Just look through my blog to see what I mean. I don't feel like being wordy tonight as I'm dead tired. So, I decided to upload a song I heard on the radio recently that has been sampled a few times, including Juicy by The Notorious B.I.G. and right now on the urban stations, the popular song Let It Go by Keyshia Cole.

That's right, i'm talking about Juicy Fruit by Mtume, from the album of the same name. All of you who have played Grand Theft Auto: Vice City should recognize it as one of the plethora of songs in the game. It's something different from what I usually put up, plus it's a memorable song that is well-remembered by many due to how often it's been sampled and how it's currently being used in a hit song... a good reason for me to upload it.

Mtume-Juicy Fruit (5.45 MB, 128Kbits/second)

http://www.zshare.net/audio/46790454e3efe4/

I'll be back Thursday afternoon.