Roll On..

Kid Rock – Roll On

Aww, the Kid is all growed up like and sensitive..

Amazing choir performance of Toto’s “Africa”

As much as I loved this song to begin with, I’m not usually into this kinda stuff.. But this performance is downright impressive!

Thunderstruck!

AC/DC – Thunderstruck, Live at Donnington

Hey, yo! Guess what kinda weather we’re having!?

Out of the Blue and Into the Black

Neil Young – My, My, Hey, Hey – Live 1985

I really can’t stop listening to Neil Young these days! Like really.. I think he’s a fantastic artist and has some absolutely classic songs.. This one in particular.. “Rock n Roll Can Never Die!” :]  It’s really quite sad that, in my generation, this song is mostly known for being quoted in Kurt Cobain’s suicide letter.

Whoa!! Jeebus!!

Holy Hell, Batman! I just had the bejeebus scared out of me on my way home from work.. Twice.. Within two minutes!

So, here’s the deal.. In case you hadn’t noticed, I dig music! Like really! So I hardly ever go anywhere without my trusty iPod and my walk to and from work is generally no exception and neither was today. Also, I’ve been kinda metalled out lately, so I’ve been listening to a lot of softer, more mellow and classic stuff. Which is probably why I, on my way home tonight, on a particularly cool and slightly wet summer night, was listening to Pink Floyd’s classic “Wish You Were Here” album. Now, this album, which actually ranks pretty high on my list of favorite albums is rather on the experimental and psychedelic containing only five songs despite being a full length album. One is a pretty, little ballad carrying the same name as the record, the other are longer songs featuring a lot of trippy guitars, synths and quite a large array other sound effects, most of which really take advantage of the stereo music media as to appear to come from only the left or the right speaker or to shift and fade between the two.. It’s really quite a lot more  mesmerizing  than it sounds. Especially if you’re listening to it in headphones or earbuds because the soundscape seems to completely surround you.. And no you don’t need to be on drugs to enjoy it. It can be enjoyed quite nicely and in a very sober manner on an early Tuesday morning on a byroad slightly outside downtown Kolding.

Of course needless to say, such haunting soundscapes take on a totally different feeling when you’re trotting along a dark, dimly lit slightly wet road at 2 AM in the morning.. And even more so when you suddenly look over your shoulder to see a figure clad completely in black approaching you. Not that this is actually what scared me though it did make me a little uneasy. It turned out to be just some random, drunken young man on his way home who, for whatever reasons decided that he needed to converse with me as we were apparently both heading in the same direction. As such, we didn’t really have much to talk about, he made a couple of remarks along the lines of “Good thing it stopped raining, huh?” to which I stuck my hands out and caught a few drops to prove that it was in fact still raining but other than that trying to silently let him know I wasn’t really interested in talking which he seemed to understand. After having made a few more seemingly friendly remarks, he wished me a good evening and turned left down another stretch of road while I walked on, feeling slightly weirded out.. A feeling that suddenly turned to sheer terror as I heard the very same guy’s voice laughing softly in my ear..

Needless to say, I screamed bloody murder and spun around myself like four or five times, heart pounding, dead silence and empty space all around me. It literally took me about five seconds to realize that I was neither going crazy, nor were my ears playing tricks on me, the soft chuckle in my ear had simply been a sample on the song “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” recorded by a member of the band who obviously sounded a lot like the guy I’d just bumped into.. At this point, I couldn’t help but laugh at my own stupidity, but my heart was still racing at a pretty alarming rate as I walked on down the sloped, dark road and bumped heads with a cute, wittle, pwayful kitty!

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I have absolutely nothing against playful little kittens. What I do have something against is playful kittens who pounce on you from the darkness of bushes at 2:05 AM on a dark Tuesday morning when your heart is already racing at about twice the recommended rate.. Needless to say, more spinning and turning and crying of bloody murder ensued as I once again gathered myself and mumbled something along the lines of “Holy shit, kitty, you scared the shit out of me” and walked on, just to nearly stumble over said playful kitty’s playful kitty friend..

Which, incidentally, is about when I decided to get back onto a more brightly lid road and play some less psychedelic and less progressive music. Not that there’s anything wrong with Pink Floyd but it probably should be saved for a day when I could give it my full attention and not having to worry about finding my way in the dark while stumbling between or over drunk strangers and random kittens. A good decision, it turned out, as the remainder of my trip turned out a hell of a lot easier and with far less shock value.. Lesson learned!

The making of a fan-boy..

This may sound odd to a lot of people, especially for those from other countries, but I come from a time when Denmark had exactly one (count them.. ONE!) public TV channel.. State owned, to boot!

So, the whole fall of the Soviet bloc aside (which is really another post), one of the most revolutionary memories from my childhood was getting another public TV channel (appropriately named TV2) in 1988. Another is watching said new TV-station airing the piece of footage below:

Long story short, what happened is that Bruce Springsteen happened to be in town to perform a show and he happened to be walking down the main shopping street in Copenhagen, our capital, only to hear a street singer performing a few covers of his. Since Bruce happened to be carrying a guitar of his own and since this was all within his working class spirit, he thought.. “why not give this performer the time of his life?” .. And, in doing so, he shaped a lot of other lives.. I first became a fan those 20 years ago (at age 8, mind you), and have been a fan ever since! Such behavior shows a kind of affection towards your fans that you hardly ever saw back then and that you barely ever see now..

EDIT: And for the record, this remains my favorite Bruce Springsteen song to date.. And I most certainly hope I’ll get to see it in concert some day!

Blitzkrieg Bop.. On Ukulele?

I’m a pretty big fan of The Ramones.. And this is just awesome on SO many levels!

Death Is Not The End (my gripe with Bob Dylan)

Nick Cave – Death Is Not The End

Quick question: I’ve heard of a lot of great singer-songwriters.. I like quite a few of them.. But is it possible to love a singer-songwriter for his songwriting, but not his singing? If so, I’d like to enlist myself as a fan of Bob Dylan’s..

Thing is, I like a lot of his songs: I dig “Knocking On Heaven’s Door” as performed by Guns N Roses, I love “All Along The Watchtower” as covered by Jimi Hendrix in his prime.. And I absolutely fucking adore Nick Cave’s version of “Death Is Not The End” with Kylie Minogue, Shane McGowan and others.. These are three of my favorite songs.. I just plain don’t like Bob Dylan. What gives? I’ll listen to a song of Dylan’s and go “Meh?”, eventually I’ll find a cover by someone else and go “Hey, this is a great song!”

Am I really the only one who feels that way?

Either way, the song above is a great cover that everybody should listen to.. And how f’ing drunk is Shane in this vid?

I *swore* it wouldn’t happen!

Okay, okay, I admit it.. A long time ago, I swore I’d never dig another power ballad.. Not quite such a long time ago, I swore I’d probably never live to see the day that Slipknot released a power ballad..

Apparently I’m not very good at the whole swearing business.. Slipknot has indeed released a power ballad, and for whatever reasons I happen to really dig it.. Eek, I kinda felt dirty saying that, but really. It’s a beautiful song.

Slipknot – Snuff

Bury all your secrets in my skin
Come away with innocence, and leave me with my sins
The air around me still feels like a cage
And love is just a camouflage for what resembles rage again…

So if you love me, let me go. And run away before I know.
My heart is just too dark to care. I can’t destroy what isn’t there.
Deliver me into my Fate – If I’m alone I cannot hate
I don’t deserve to have you…
My smile was taken long ago / If I can change I hope I never know

I still press your letters to my lips
And cherish them in parts of me that savor every kiss
I couldn’t face a life without your light
But all of that was ripped apart… when you refused to fight

So save your breath, I will not hear. I think I made it very clear.
You couldn’t hate enough to love. Is that supposed to be enough?
I only wish you weren’t my friend. Then I could hurt you in the end.
I never claimed to be a Saint…
My own was banished long ago / It took the Death of Hope to let you go

So Break Yourself Against My Stones
And Spit Your Pity In My Soul
You Never Needed Any Help
You Sold Me Out To Save Yourself
And I Won’t Listen To Your Shame
You Ran Away – You’re All The Same
Angels Lie To Keep Control…
My Love Was Punished Long Ago
If You Still Care, Don’t Ever Let Me Know
If you still care, don’t ever let me know…

The Day The (Pop) Music Died

Michael Jackson, the famed, eccentric, celebrated, hated and hugely talented “King of Pop” is no more.. And I feel strangely moved and gutted by this fact.

I never was a huge fan, but every genre has its heroes, its icons and its huge influences. For pop music, Michael Jackson definitely personified all of the above, and there’s no denying the influence and quality of his work.

So this metalhead raises his glass to you, mr King of Pop. Godspeed and thank you for all your contributions. May you rest in peace!