We Don't Walk Slow

Bands and Songs

Secrets to Success by The Beatles

I’m sorry you guys are catching me in a Beatles phase and that’s what I’m writing about. I’ll do my best to share some insights I take away when reading about the group. The Beatles redefined the 60’s like no other musical group in the history of rock and roll. “The way a band interacts musically – the indefinable, unpredictable alchemy of personalities, styles, habits and tastes – is more important to the sound of a band than virtuosity (technical skill). The Beatles meshed. And the world meshed with them.” Everything the Beatles did during this time span was groundbreaking and yearned for from society. Their music had the simplicity and authenticity that appealed to everyone. The combination of the Beatles look, sound, and personalities were the perfect chemistry to create something that isn’t attainable by a single artist which is proved by their solo careers. Think of the most popular GROUP in 2011. The Black Eyed Peas? Pearl Jam? Linkin Park? The musical landscape has changed and we’ll never see another Beatles in our lifetimes. Comparing Lady Gaga or Katy Perry (arguably the most popular acts of 2011) to the Beatles is a joke. Katy sings about “Last Friday Night” and Gaga about being “Born this Way” (a significantly better message than Katy). The Beatles sing about romance and all the emotions that come along, plus their lyrics are purposeful and their harmony’s perfect. This isn’t saying that everything produced today is complete garbage but the talent of the Beatles extends passed autotune. The Beatles are #1 group of all time and there is not a close 2nd place. Sorry Kesha.

When I think about the stardom these rockers achieved in their early 20’s I know I’m not blessed with the skill set of the Beatles. It’s said that rockers create their best music in their 20’s and after that it’s all downhill. When I was 23 I barely knew how to live on my own. These guys were creating music that was loved by millions of people and basically dominated an entire decade. I still can’t get over the group aspect and how it propelled them past anything any individual could accomplish. These weren’t 4 super humans as individuals but when put together as a group, they became geniuses collectively. If I could choose something to go back in time and witness, it would be the Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1966 at the height of Beatlemania. I don’t think that I’ll ever be as fascinated as much by another group as I am with the Beatles.

Below are a few of my personal favorite songs.

Written and sung by Paul in 1965 about a man trying to convince his girl that it’s not worth fighting over silly arguments. When Paul and John sing together they are speaking the narrators thoughts. Paul solo is just the narrator talking to the girl.

Sam and I know this song from the Juggler Chris Bliss and it’s really one of my favorite songs of all time. I’ve never really paid that close to the lyrics but just the transitioning in and out of the 3 songs together makes it awesome.

A song from Rubber Soul that is just a cool song about someone finding out the truth about their partner.

Get Back, a good song but a great video to watch to understand the transformation of the group. This is 1969 which was close to the end of the group. The attire and look has changed dramatically from the tight knit, black suit group that started back in 1962.

I’d be curious is anyone who read this post actually listened to these few songs and altered their opinion on the Beatles.

By Tom Stortz|2011-09-23T00:40:09-04:00September 23rd, 2011|Music|0 Comments

Matt and Kim Suck!

I wrote earlier that I wasn’t going to pay for insertnamesucks.com anymore so I decided to take some posts and move them over to this site. Mainly the ones that get the best comments which I’ll also transfer. I’ll also update the entry as I feel needed.

Here’s wikipedia’s description of Matt and Kim:
Matt & Kim are a dance punk duo residing in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. The group was formed in 2004 and is composed of Matt Johnson (vocals/keyboards) and Kim Schifino (drums/vocals).

I have news for you, they aren’t good. They have some popular songs being “Daylight”, “Good Ol’ Fashion Nightmare”, “Cameras”, and now “Block after Block”. They all sound similar and are all equally bad. There are moments when you think you like the songs but they are quickly eclipsed with the realization that you’ve just fallen into a trance by their plain, redundant music. The songs sound like synthesized bullshit. Understand that these are their most popular songs so I can’t even being to imagine how bad their other “worse” songs are. I give this band no credit at all and instantly turn off their music when it’s played. Sadly, I’m sure there are millions of people out there who like Matt and Kim. I don’t wish anything bad upon them but I just write to say that all their music sounds the same and it’s not a good sound to start with. The video below is sort of interesting but I found myself focused on the crowd of gawkers and didn’t even notice that there was a song playing. I think this should be reason enough to reason that their music isn’t that worth listening to.

By Tom Stortz|2011-09-22T16:10:36-04:00September 22nd, 2011|Music|7 Comments

The Beatles Experience – Doing it Right

I read my review of the Beatles in this short entry and just smirk a little bit. While the facts are correct, I really knew nothing about the Beatles. I’ve listened to some of their songs but that was the extent. In the past two days I’ve spent hours reading through the history of the Beatles music. The start of the book focuses primarily on the music with the personal, business and everything else secondary. It’s fascinating how much I can enjoy reading about a topic when I’m not forced to do so. Plus in 2011, you can learn in a complete, all encompassing way that wasn’t available a decade ago. I have all of the Beatle’s albums and music on a hard drive. While I read through the years (63-70) of producing albums, I’m simultaneously listening to each album. When the book describes certain songs and what to listen for, I have the ability to hear exactly what they are referring to. Plus the book makes references to other artists (whose music I also have) and I can listen to that as well. I’ve developed such an appreciation for this band that I was starting to develop an emotional attachment. To be alive during this period of time had to be such a spectacle and there are so many stories that come along. The Beatles shaped music to what it is today. No other band will influence music like the Beatles.

Traveling album to album and listening to the development of their music is really something that I’ve enjoyed thoroughly. How the simplicity of the lyrics on Please Please Me and With The Beatles compared to their later works on Revolver and Abbey Road is truly worth experiencing. Plus understanding how their first few albums were put together in a matter of weeks compared to as long as they wanted once they achieved success. It all plays into their sound that they were producing at that time. Learning about the greatest group that ever lived seems like something that I’ll be able to hold with me for the rest of my life. It actually makes me want to learn about other historic groups like, Bob Dylan, the Stones and Led Zeppelin. One of the funniest things that I took away was that their name “the Beatles” is a pun with the word beat that I was just completely overlooking. I feel much more satisfaction from learning about the Beatles than I do watching the entire Soprano’s season. It makes listening to current day artists hard to appreciate. The Beatles are the creme de la creme and no one else comes close.

By Tom Stortz|2011-09-22T01:03:00-04:00September 22nd, 2011|Music|1 Comment

Power of Partnership

I’m reading a book about the Beatles and I’m probably going to reference to it quite a bit in these next coming weeks. As I read the book I have their songs playing in the background and will usually listen to whatever song is being described. Anyway, this post is being created by an important concept that may help to explain why the Beatles are as great as they are. Plus it doesn’t just pertain to the Beatles but any group work.

Lennon/McCartney was as much pact as fact, and it was a good pact, for whatever the assumptions and motivation in their young heads when early in the Beatles’ career they decided on this joint credit no matter what the respective contribution, they were laying the foundation of the strength of the partnership. If each was to receive fifty per cent remuneration and public credit regardless, there was no reason not to help the other as best they could, rather than hold back good riffs, hooks and ideas for their own work.

This just strikes me as so awesome because I feel like people in today’s society are strictly out for personal gain. Selflessness is a lost attribute in 2011. I have no doubt this is probably why the Beatles were such a great band because they had such a great partnership and realtionship. Being talented and good looking didn’t hurt.

By Tom Stortz|2011-09-19T21:37:15-04:00September 19th, 2011|Music|1 Comment

Dare I say it…

I love music from the 80’s. The 80’s are a period of time which isn’t exactly thought of as the best music. The introduction of electronic music and synthesizers tend to move away from the “Rock and Roll” that was popular in the 70’s. This isn’t saying that that 80’s didn’t produce great music from the likes of Michael Jackson, Police, Bon Jovi, REM, Metallica and plenty of others. I particularly like the alternative / new wave / electronica music. Some examples are Oingo Boingo, Squeeze, Depeche Mode, English Beat, Talking Heads, OMD, XTC, New Order, Yaz and the Thompson Twins. I promise you that people who are music critics don’t label this as top notch music. For some reason I think this is close to my favorite type of music. When I go into turntable.fm rooms I’m always either in “I love the 80’s” or “80 alt/new wave”. No real point to this post other than giving my taste on music. I still think groups like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Bruce and all the other legends are better than these 80’s groups but for some reason this type of music is just fun to listen to for me. Below is a song I particularly like.

By Tom Stortz|2011-09-19T17:15:40-04:00September 19th, 2011|Music|0 Comments

Your Song

No this has nothing to do with Elton John however this will be a music post. One of the funniest things that happens to people is that they think they own a song that they “discovered”. For some reason there is a sense of pride being the first of your group to find a song or classify a song as popular. It’s like you are looking for the acceptance that you are the guru behind knowing what songs are going to be popular before they are really popular. Now this doesn’t really make any sense because if the radio is playing them, the song has already been deemed as worthy to be played on the radio. I think the truly humorous part is that the person feels like they take possession of the song, that it’s their song. How dare you listen to their song without recognizing that they discovered it. Things really get crazy when two people discover the same song and then it becomes a duel of epic proportions. Myself, I have understood that the only person who owns the song is the person who writes and sings it. Sharing a song with people is perfectly acceptable under the pretense that everyone is allowed to enjoy it without giving you credit for the song. Here is a song by Snow Patrol called Calling out in the Dark that is relatively new and I discovered it before Snow Patrol even wrote it. Enjoy.

By Tom Stortz|2011-09-14T16:11:30-04:00September 14th, 2011|Music|3 Comments

Songs on the Radio

Here are a few songs that have been playing on the radio recently that I think are pretty good.

DeadMau5 – Raise Your Weapon

Maroon 5 feat Christina Aguilera – Moves Lke Jagger
I see this is #3 on billboard.

Jack’s Mannequin – My Racing Thoughts

By Tom Stortz|2011-08-19T10:05:31-04:00August 19th, 2011|Music|0 Comments

Why current pop music is not good

I sometimes point out how today’s pop music isn’t very good and I want to give a reasonable explanation at why. Let’s take a song that’s been extremely popular recently, “Give me Everything” by Pitbull and Ne-yo , and dissect what’s wrong with it. One line in particular by Pitbull is awful “I got it locked up like Lindsay Lohan.” Using a Lindsay Lohan reference should immediately tarnish your song. Yes, he is using her most well known character trait of being constantly jailed, but I just couldn’t sit down and write a lyric like that and think I’m creating an amazing piece of work. Another obscure lyric in the song is “Gettin’ money like Seacrest.” He’s #44 on Forbes Celebrity power list making 51 million dollars this year. I’m not going to argue he isn’t making money but seriously? It’s Ryan fucking Seacrest and he’s getting references in the most played song out right now. It just shows the lyrics have nothing to do with the popularity. My thoughts are people probably like the lyrics and how dumbed down an “witty” they are. If it sounds good and people are hypnotized by it, it’s a winner.

I’m creating a new paragraph to give the real reason why today’s pop music sucks and it far surpasses the boneheaded lyrics. People like today’s music because songs can have a hook that is catchy which lures them in and this is easy for current record producers to create. The real reason these songs suck is because anyone in the industry can come up with “Give me Everything.” If you substitute Chris Brown for Ne-Yo and Flo-Rida for Pitbull, they can make the same song. Try substituting the Beatles for any Bruce Springsteen song. Or The Rolling Stones for Led Zeppelin. It’s just not the same. The best bands have their own identities and play their own music. Song’s today are just factory churned pieces of garbage. I’m also not saying everything being created today is terrible. I heard an interview with Lady Gaga on Howard Stern and she was amazing singing and playing the piano. Plus, she explained the lyrics to her songs and they actually have meaning. Being talented, having your own identity and creating lyrics with meaning = good music. So consider this when you hear a song and think it’s good because if it’s only the hook that makes it good, it’s not.

By Tom Stortz|2011-07-27T08:30:36-04:00July 27th, 2011|Music|2 Comments

Foster the People – Torches

You’ll notice that my first two songs of the day were by Foster the People. I recently bought the CD which was an experience in itself. I haven’t bought a CD in ages but I had a best buy gift card and had some money to blow. There was exactly one copy of Foster the People’s CD left. I found it very unusual what Best Buy was doing to try to trick customers into thinking CD’s still sold. They had a shelf of the most popular artists and there would only be 2 or 3 copies of the CD on the shelf to give the illusion that the CD was selling. I found this to be a unique, underhanded way of marketing but let me discuss this CD for a minute.

Mark Foster is pretty much the band from what I understand. There are 2 other members but he seems to do everything (vocals, synthesizer, keyboards, guitar, programming). Torches is only 10 tracks but the CD only cost 10 bucks so I only felt slightly slighted. The 3 known songs, Pumped Up Kicks, Houdini, and Helena Beat are all overplayed at this point in my mind but still quality if they are new to you. I found two gems though in Wasted and Warrant. The other 5 songs all fall somewhere in the mediocre category but still worth listening to. Considering I don’t by many CD’s, I’ve found this one to be on the positive side. I also bought a CD by Best Coast, it was supposed to be one of Mark Hoppus and Hailey Williams favorite new bands, and I thought it was completely atrocious. I’ll stick with Foster the People. Their sound is just very unique and fun to listen to.

By Tom Stortz|2011-07-31T11:27:08-04:00July 12th, 2011|Music|0 Comments

Who sings that? – The originals

I think it’s funny when people say things like “I love that song by so and so” and it turns out that the song they love is really just a cover of the original. Here is my list of ten songs that I think you might be surprised to know were covers. I’m going to embed the original and I’ll just have a link to the version that you probably are more familiar with. No particular order either.

10. Respect – Otis Redding

Aretha’s version

9. Love Rollercoaster – Ohio Players

RHCP version would be my guess of who people think sing the song.

8. Tainted Love – Gloria Jones

Fairly obvious Soft Cell version.

7. All Along the Watchtower – Bob Dylan

Jimi’s version would be what I suspect most people think.

6. The Man Who Sold the World – David Bowie

Undoubtedly people would think Nirvana created this.

5. Last Kiss – J Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers

I have a feeling most people think Pearl Jam owned the original.

4. Big Yellow Taxi – Joni Mitchell

Here’s the Counting Crows version

3. Istanbul – The Four Lads

Most people would know the They Might be Giants cover.

2. Twist and Shout – Isley Brothers

The Beatles cover is infinitely more popular.

1. Take me to the River – Al Green

The Talking Heads did not create this song.

I hope this list educated some of my readers so they don’t have to look foolish thinking that some songs are the originals when, most likely, they are just covers that were done better than the original. I hope some of you found this interesting.

By Tom Stortz|2011-07-10T23:04:09-04:00July 10th, 2011|Music, Top 25 Best Bands|0 Comments