In case you didn't read the news yesterday, CeeLo Green has some...unconventional opinions about what constitutes 'rape'. The tweets have been deleted now, but thanks to this Buzzfeed article, we still know what they said.
The general public have taken the tweets to mean that CeeLo doesn't consider it 'rape' if the victim is unconscious. That's a pretty controversial line to take, and if that genuinely is what Mr Green believes, it's going to be difficult to view him in the same light from now on.
Happy September everybody! Today's blog seems very appropriate for the end of summer - Joshua Price, a.k.a. SCRIBER, has very kindly listed a few of his favourite sad songs. What better way to kick off the cold months?
Hi. My name is Josh and I write and perform in a band called SCRIBER. As he may have previously mentioned, Joel plays drums for us. He's very good. [Aw, shucks! - J]
The music we play is pretty sad and quite bleak. I have a song called Hopeless Lost; some of my songs have made people cry at gigs. After seeing me perform for the first time, my girlfriend asked, "Are you okay?"
As a person, I'm relatively happy and chirpy, but the music I listen to could certainly be shoehorned into the boxes marked 'Depressing' and 'Sad'. So, here are ten of the best sad songs I could think of:
The Spirit Was Gone by Antony and the Johnsons
Antony's voice truly is one of the most upsetting things to listen to. I mean that in a good way, kind of. He really resonates a kind of unique pain that I hope I never feel.
Remember my friend JR, the one who bought me Metallica's S&M? Well, I bought him a CD in return - Attack of the Grey Lantern by Mansun.
Now, AotGL is one of my top ten albums of all time, and so I must confess that I was slightly saddened when JR posted a less-than-glowing review of the album on his own blog, Curios Mundane. Here's an excerpt:
"It's all very light, easy listening...I've had it on in the background for the past two weeks, and that's where it stays. The album has never jumped out from behind me and said, 'Hey you pay attention to me listen to how great I am!'"
Though he tries his best to cover it up ("That in no way means it's bad..."), it's clear that JR isn't mad about Grey Lantern. And this has me questioning my own opinions - why do I like the album? Do I 'get' it on a level that JR simply cannot? Does he just need to spend a little more time with it, to allow that gapless mesh of songs to gain a little more clarity?
Last night, Kate Bush played her first live show in three and a half decades. A lot of people were very excited for this 'comeback concert', and their ecstatic reactions - first to the gig announcement, and now to the performance itself - show just how important Ms Bush and her music are.
And yet it occurred to me this morning that I've never really listened to Kate Bush. I feel like I know a lot of her songs, but on reflection, I realise that I only know them because so many other people have covered them. These are the ones that sprang to mind:
Hounds of Love (Covered by The Futureheads)
I doubt I'm the only person who heard this version before I heard KB's original. The Futureheads' take on Hounds of Love was inescapable on MTV2 for a time, and it pretty much became the band's signature song; I didn't even realise it was a cover until quite a bit later.
How's your bank holiday weekend been thus far? I've spent a fair chunk of mine on Cardiff's legendary Womanby Street, where the 2014 Hub Festival was in full swing until a few hours ago. It's been a hoot, although with three sets of my own to play (two as Shiny Tiger, one on the drums for Scriber), I must admit that I didn't see as many bands as I might have liked to.
Still, I did catch a few crackers - here are five of the best, listed in the order in which I saw them:
(One-sentence descriptions only, sorry. I'm tired, and it's Bank Holiday Monday!)
