Rattle and Gum

Found a couple of interesting items over at one of my favorite music blogs, Stereogum.

FIRST, links to Quicktime and ASX streaming versions of the latest Flaming Lips song, "The W.A.N.D.," from their upcoming At War With the Mystics album. As with the last few new Flaming Lips songs, their track from the Spongebob Squarepants soundtrack (yeah, I know...), their track from the Wedding Crashers soundtrack, "The W.A.N.D." blows.

I mean, seriously blows. It's awful. Annoying, chaotic, lacking in anything even approaching a hook, or even a chorus, really. It sounds like a really bad high schol garage band trying to reimagine Soft Bulletin. Man oh man, I hope the entire album isn't this sucky. There's already a pretty solid Flaming Lips backlash going, mainly because of their shameless self-promotion and overexposure in the wake of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. (I mean, the freaking Wedding Crashers soundtrack? Who do they think they are...Simple Plan?) If the next album doesn't deliver...Coyne & Co. will lose their last remaining shred of credibility. Do bands jump the shark?
SECOND, apparently, Axl Rose hasn't yet figured out that we've all stopped caring about him. He's come out of hiding to announce that the new GNR record, Chinese Democracy, will "drop" (as the kids say) some time in 2006. Unfortunately, Axl then saw his shadow, which means six more weeks of staying indoors and shooting heroin between his toes.

He's not really looking so good these days...Axl...Wanna see?



Oh, dude, the hair...cut that shit out...In fact, just go away...Please...I can't believe it has taken this stupid bastard so long to do another record. He's even missed the entire first wave of Guns n' Roses nostalgia (which hit when I was still in college, in the late 90's). I think he's gonna have to give it at least another 10 years or so until people look upon his silly band with hazy fondness again.

THIRD, a little post about all the indie rock popping up on TV shows and in commercials these days. This is the sort of thing that doesn't bother me all the time - I'm not disturbed every time I know a song that's in a commercial, like some people - but that does really irritate me in some, specific cases. I have trouble listening to "Gravity Rides Everything" from Modest Mouse's brilliant The Moon & Antarctica in the wake of that cheesy minivan commercial.

(I should note that, hypocritically, I used to like it when they'd use cool songs I knew in "Six Feet Under"...The first time I've ever heard a Built to Spill song on television, maybe ever, was when Claire bumped "You Were Wrong.")

In this particular instance, the article talks about Arcade Fire getting a mention in some sitcom I've never heard of called "Four Kings." This sort of thing isn't terribly surprising...a lot of nerdy LA writer types are going to listen to Arcade Fire, one of the year's most trendy indie bands, so when they need a band name for a line of dialogue, they'll throw on something from their own CD collection.

Anyway, I don't think there's anything wrong with bringing up a trendy but lesser-known band in a sitcom, if it's just to add a dash of naturalism or reality to the proceedings or what have you. It kind of highlights an odd facet of the entertainment industry - that the people making the mainstream entertainment themselves prefer the lesser-known commodities that don't ever make it to Total Request Live. (I recall seeing Elijah Wood on TRL once, and when asked his favorite bands by a young audience member, he had to admit that she wouldn't have heard of any of them, and proceeded to rattle off a list of DJ's and indie bands that would make any Pitchfork staffer proud. Hilarious!)

What bothers me is when a show's writers repeatedly fall back on "hip" pop culture references to grant them cred, to reflect indie cool on to their defiantly uncool products. Obviously, I've discussed this phenomenon in terms of Garden State before, but it permeates entertainment. Think of a show like "Gilmore Girls," which has managed to convince critics that it's "smart" by dropping references to XTC or Sugarplastic or the Arctic Monkeys, or whatever crap they're mentioning these days. (I've only seen the show's first season).

So, in summation, for those of you keeping score...

AIR songs on "Veronica Mars" = acceptable
Johnny Greenwood and Jarvis Cocker in Harry Potter 4 = cool
Death Cab for Cutie on "The O.C." = who gives a shit they suck anyway
Pavement's "Major Leagues" on that new sitcom with Doogie Howser = LAME