Presidential Candidates Aren’t Allowed To Have Guilty Pleasures On Their iPodsA "What's on Barack Obama's iPod" article? Come onnnnn, something embarrassing... Bob Dylan. Yo-Yo Ma. Sheryl Crow. Jay-Z. These aren't musical acts in a summer concert series: They're artists featured on Barack Obama's iPod. "I have pretty eclectic tastes," the Democratic presidential contender said in an interview to be published in Friday's issue of Rolling Stone. Growing up in the '70s, Obama said, he listened to the Rolling Stones, Elton John and Earth, Wind & Fire. Stevie Wonder is his musical hero from the era. The Stones' "Gimme Shelter" tops his favorites from the band. Aw come on, dude -- Rolling Stones, Dylan, and Stevie Wonder? Where's the token guilty pleasure admission?? And not some fake "oh my God I'm sooo embarrassed" guilty pleasure like Journey or The Cars or the song "Since U Been Gone" or something everyone likes, I mean a real, soul-revealing, humanizing, clinch-the-music-nerd-vote-with-your-honesty guilty pleasure. Could you imagine if Obama was like, "I enjoy Earth Wind & Fire, Jay-Z, and you know what? I really feel like Billy Joel's River of Dreams album got a bad rap. I don't know, I just really kind of enjoy it." Or, "I've been listening 'Gimmie Shelter' a lot lately, but I've also been hooked on 'Long Way Down' by the Goo Goo Dolls, it came on my Shuffle last week and I was like 'whaaaat?' but it really took me back, I don't know, I kinda like it." I guess if we've learned anything from this article, we now know that Shuffling Toward the Weekend has disqualified all of us from running for president.
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Published: 2008-06-25
Provider: Best Week Ever
Keywords: Entertainment
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The Who Achieve Elite Sellout Status With New Mineral Water CommercialI have a habit of swearing and throwing crap at the tv screen when I'm watching football games (a very rare attribute amongst football fans), but this Sunday, my angriest moment actually came during a commercial break, when I witnessed a new commercial for mineral water which featured the Who song "Sparks," one of the instrumentals from Tommy. Now, I'm not one to misguidedly deem every band that licenses its songs to commercials a "Sellout," but that being said, when a band licenses EVERY SINGLE ONE OF ITS SONGS to commercials, occasionally two and three times over, it's pretty hard not to immediately reach for the S-word. It's time we admitted it to ourselves: The Who -- the motherf***ing WHO -- are now basically on the level of sellout punchlines like U2 and Aerosmith, although given their original uber-legitimacy and youthful railing against the establishment, I would argue that their fall into commercial royalty oblivion is far more despicable than those other two much maligned iPod-cover-inspirers. Consider: "Bargain" was featured in a commercial for Nissan Pathfinder. Because the Nissan Pathfinder is a bargain. "Happy Jack" was featured in a commercial for Hummer. Because Jack is happy when he gets into his own mini Hummer and drives straight down a hill, thus winning that bizarre "Billy Elliot" kiddie race. "Pinball Wizard" was featured in a commercial for Saab. Because Saab cars handle so well, you can drive them even if you are deaf, dumb and blind, and you don't even need to possess otherworldly, destractionless pinball-playing proficiency. "Baba O'Reilly" was featured in commercials for Hewlett-Packard and Cisco. Because The Who clearly do not give the slightest sh*t about anything anymore. "I Can See For Miles," a track from the once sardonically titled The Who Sell Out, was featured in a commercial for Sylvania headlights. That's right, headlights. Because headlights allow you to literally see for miles and miles, which is what they say in the song, "I
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Published: 2008-01-21
Provider: Best Week Ever
Keywords: Entertainment
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