Showing posts with label Prince. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prince. Show all posts

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Song Saturday: Chris Cornell Tribute Block

How's it going my gumdrops? Wow! Like many other fans of Grunge Rock, I was in complete shock and disbelief about Chris Cornell's death. Right now, I am still reeling. Honestly, I did NOT see his death coming. 

The death of a talented Grunge Rock vocalist like Chris Cornell was something TOO unexpected and sudden.

Most Gen Xers, who were familiar with Grunge Rock, during the early to mid-1990's already knew that Chris Cornell was the frontman of Soundgarden. Not only was Cornell the lead singer of Soundgarden, but also the frontman for Temple Of The Dog and Audioslave.

Temple Of The Dog, which formed in 1990, was a Grunge Rock Supergroup, in tribute to his dead friend, Andrew Wood. Wood was the frontman of Mother Love Bone, who died from a heroin overdose.

Temple Of The Dog consisted of Soundgarden's Chris Cornell, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam's Mike McCready, Matt Cameron, and Mother Love Bone's Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament.

Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam's frontman) was also featured as the background vocalist on the song, "Hunger Strike."

Meanwhile, Audioslave formed in 2001, which was shortly after Rage Against The Machine (a politically divisive band I STILL hate over 2 decades later) disbanded. 

Audioslave was a Hard Rock Supergroup comprised of Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello, Brad Wilk, Tim Commerford, and Soundgarden's Chris Cornell.

On Thursday, MTV Classic aired a tribute block of the late Chris Cornell's music videos. It's very strange that he is NOW having tributes done for him.

Cornell was the frontman, who usually performed tributes, after singers ranging from Pop to Rock died. He did Whitney Houston, Scott Weiland, and Prince tributes soon after they died.

Now, the situation is unexpectedly reversed. I may have never been a diehard fan of Chris Cornell's, however it is shocking as well as heartbreaking learning, that another talented Rock singer has suddenly died.

Cornell is another talented lead singer from the Grunge Era, who is now dead. There are NOT  very many of those frontmen left, when it comes to Grunge. 

Candlebox's Kevin Martin and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder are most likely the final 2 vocalists, that are still alive from Seattle, WA's Grunge era.

Most Millennials 30 years old and younger never had the chance to experience growing up, saving an allowance to buy their favorite singers or groups' songs on vinyl, tape, and CD's. That's not including having to rush to hear their favorite songs being played on the radio.

Younger Millennials and Generation Z especially don't have the experience of watching music centric channels that genuinely care about airing music videos 24/7. 

Generally speaking, if you do NOT  have a cable or satellite provider, you are definitely unable to watch music videos 24/7 on MTV Classic.

Like the way I grew up watching MTV during the 1980's and '90s, I am spending MORE time offline watching MTV Classic as an escape from the Internet, Reality TV Shows, and politics.

Sometimes retreating to my old ways of enjoying music television makes me feel a little depressed. Because I am older now, I am watching blocks of old music videos with a hefty portion of dead celebrities within those music blocks.

MTV Classic will do a block of music videos of dead Pop and R&B singers, Rappers, Rock Stars, etc. I cannot speak for others watching, although it does make me say:

"There goes another talented singer, who is dead or has a dead member from the group."

This Song Saturday, some of you will be in for a grim treat. I am sharing a few music videos featuring Chris Cornell in Soundgarden and Temple Of The Dog. 

Some of you should really enjoy a more recent Soundgarden music video ("Black Rain").

The music video for Soundgarden's "Black Rain" was directed by the creator of Metalocalypse's Brendon Small. 

In addition, the animated Death Metal band, Dethklok was featured in this Soundgarden music video.

Watching some of these Soundgarden music videos feels nostalgic. This can especially be said about "Black Hole Sun." Listening to the song instantly makes me think about an old high school crush/secret admirer. 

Anyway, let's all set aside a moment to remember another talented Grunge Rock lead singer for today's Song Saturday.

1) Soundgarden "Loud Love" Louder Than Love (1989)

2) Soundgarden "Jesus Christ Pose" Badmotorfinger (1991)

3) Temple Of The Dog "Say Hello 2 Heaven" Temple Of The Dog (1991)
4) Soundgarden "Black Hole Sun" Superunknown (1994)

5) Soundgarden "Spoonman" Superunknown (1994)
6) Soundgarden "Blow Up The Outside World" Down On The Upside (1996)
7) Soundgarden "Black Rain" Telephantasm (2010) 
 
[BONUS: Chris Cornell's Prince & Whitney Houston Tributes]

1) Chris Cornell [Prince Cover] "Nothing Compares 2 U" Sirius XM Live (2010)

2) Chris Cornell [Dolly Parton/Whitney Houston Cover] "I Will Always Love You" Live (2012)

Do you have a favorite song(s) by the late great Chris Cornell?

Friday, December 30, 2016

Let's Take A Somewhat Grim Look Back, Then Say Goobye To 2016!

So, how was your YuleChristmaHanukkah? Hanukkah's still being celebrated (if memory serves me right), in addition to Christmas. 

Don't forget that Orthodox Christians don't celebrate Christmas Day, until January 7th.

The Orthodox Christians are somewhat lucky because all their presents will be on clearance! 

You may be wondering, "Anna, what did you get for Christmas?"

Shoes, candy, clothes, jewelry, a snow suit and rain boots like I wanted for having to shovel up all our snow, 4 pairs of ear buds and head phones, an Abstract Art painting by Kersten Hackney (college best friend of nearly 15 years), glycerin bar soaps, another cordless mouse for my other laptop, and another winter coat for this Christmas.

Hopefully, you were able to enjoy the holidays despite all the tragedies we keep learning about in the news. 

Lately, I dread turning on my TV and laptops because it feels like there is a celebrity death toll almost everyday.

This most definitely applies to legendary actors, actresses, and talented music icons.

I am sure many of you will probably roll your eyes at me for continuously mentioning Stone Temple Pilots' Scott Weiland. 

Even though Scott died last December, I believe his demise triggered a domino effect because mostly iconic musicians died, throughout this year.

Speaking of dead music icons and legends, the death of Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister on December 28, 2015 was a brutal segue into this year. 

At the very beginning of 2016, we all lost David Bowie, who was mostly a HUGE musical influence on the late Scott Weiland and so many others.

Very much like Lemmy Kilmister died 4 days after his birthday from Prostate Cancer, Congestive Heart Failure, and Cardiac Arrhythmia, David Bowie privately died from Liver Cancer 2 days after his birthday.

Then, the day after Valentine's Day, Prince's protegee Vanity died from Renal Failure. Literally 2 months later, HE died!

Everyone knows that people die everyday by the seconds. However, I have NEVER in all my life ever heard about so many LEGENDARY entertainers dropping like flies literally by the nano second the way they have in 2016.

2016 has been a really cruel and shitty year for so many of us, that we can't wait for it to be over. Without a doubt, 2016 EXCEEDED my expectations of being a horrible year. 

So many lives have been taken, during this year. Lately, I have even cried about it.

Whether it was just the average man, woman, child, or an iconic celebrity, loved ones have been in mourning. 

All these deaths will surely make grief counselors and funeral homes richer, if not already.

Let's all hope and pray that we can survive 2017 without there being so many deaths in general. 

To end this year, I was going to publish 1 Song Saturday and 1 Cartoon Sunday blog but I changed my mind. These last 2 weeks have been extremely exhausting. If I have ENOUGH time and energy, I will publish more blogs at the start of 2017. 

With that being said, RIP George Michael, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, and to all those who lost their lives in 2016! 

I wish EVERYONE a very happy, safe, and more prosperous new year!

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Song Saturday: Siouxsie And The Banshees [REVISITED]

How's it going my gumdrops? Sorry about not publishing any blogs last weekend or earlier this week. These last 2 weeks have been rough with sudden changes both on and offline.

In case you did NOT get the last e-mail notification, Horror-Punks.com has now been changed to Horror-Punks.net. Even though I mostly publish blogs here on It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns, there were several blogs I published on Horror-Punks as well. Therefore, I will be transferring my better blogs from Horror-Punks.com to Blogger.

Meanwhile, I was forced to postpone Song Saturday, Cartoon Sunday, and 1 of my Q&A blogs on It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns. 

Last Friday, I was in the middle of going to 1 of my 2 doctor's appointments and my mother had to be rushed to the ER. She is feeling better, now. 

However, my mother has been to the hospital at least several times, since September 9th. 

Over these last 2 weeks, I almost had to cancel 2  of my appointments because there is ALWAYS something wrong. Hopefully, today and the rest of this next week will be much better.

Aside from those issues, today is not only Song Saturday, but also Batman Day. 

Batman Day is this Saturday, September 17

I won't sit here and act like I am a HUGE Batman fan, but I did enjoy watching the original TV series based on the comic book superhero. 

This makes me wonder how many people know, that the original actor, who plays Mayor West on Family Guy is voiced by Batman's Adam West. If you did not already know this, you know now.

While growing up during the late 1980's and 1990's, it seemed like Batman became more popular than it was during the 1960's and earlier. Tim Burton directed the first 2 Batman films.

After Tim Burton directed Batman in 1989, there was a ton of Batman merchandise. The Batman bank and earrings, that I got as a little girl are somewhere. That same year was the year when Prince did the entire soundtrack for the movie. 

You may recall, that I mentioned this in my Prince Tribute blog this past spring.

Growing up, I was entertained watching Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns. Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever was the LAST Batman film I had watched.

In fact, I went to see Batman Forever at the theater with a middle school friend for my 13th birthday and it was the last Batman film I liked watching. George Clooney replacing his predecessors (Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer) was reason enough to make me NOT want to go see Batman & Robin.

I REFUSED to watch the other movies because I despise George Clooney with the passion and the reboots seemed too serious. I had no problem watching Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne/Batman because I like both actors. 

Both Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer played quirky and eccentric roles in other films outside of the Batman franchise.

Batman, Batman Returns, and Batman Forever had campy yet brooding tones. The first 2 Burton movies were campy much like the original TV series from the mid-60's. That was what Michael Keaton appreciated about Batman and Batman Returns.

After Warner Bros forced Tim Burton as the film director to step down for Batman Forever, Michael Keaton chose to leave the franchise.  

Then, Burton chose Joel Schumacher as his replacement for directing it.

I remember the original being an R-rated film. Batman Returns was rated PG-13 yet parents complained about it not being "family friendly."

Michael Keaton declined and left the Batman franchise because he felt that the script for Batman Forever was too lighthearted in tone. When you watch the first 3 movies, you can tell the differences in tone. Batman Forever was not a terrible movie. I have yet to see the Batman reboots, which are dramatized origin stories about Bruce Wayne/Batman.

The thought of Christian Bale playing Bruce Wayne/Batman frightens me. Watching Bale play Patrick Bateman in American Psycho made me shudder. 

I still say the man played the role of a misogynistic psychopath/serial killer a LITTLE too well.

Yes, I know Patrick Bateman was only a character in a novel and movie. The fact that there are actually men like Patrick Bateman existing in the real world makes it more terrifying.

Since this is mostly about the Batman franchise and today is Song Saturday, it would be fitting to revisit Siouxsie And The Banshees. A little over 2 years ago, I published a Song Saturday blog featuring this kooky Goth Rock band.

Song Saturday: Siouxsie And The Banshees

Rereading that blog, reminds me of how much I have gone through over these last 3 years with toxic and indifferent people. Don't forget that September 23rd is the 3rd anniversary of It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns. I will be publishing my Q&A blog.

As I was saying, I published a Song Saturday blog featuring Siouxsie And The Banshees over 2 years ago. 

I also forgot to mention that they were featured on the Batman Returns Soundtrack in 1992. Siouxsie And The Banshees' "Face To Face" was featured in the film as well.

Their song played while Bruce Wayne (Batman) and Selina Kyle (Catwoman) danced, during the masquerade ball scene.

Batman Returns "Batman & Catwoman Come Face To Face" Scene (1992)

 
Anyway, here is Siouxsie And The Banshees' "Face To Face" for today's mostly Batman themed Song Saturday.

Siouxsie And The Banshees "Face To Face" Batman Returns Soundtrack (1992)

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Song Saturday: Vanity's Nature Boy [Cover]

            RIP VANITY!!!
 
How's it going my gumdrops? Wow! This is shocking and sad news. Literally 1 day after Valentine's Day, Denise Katrina Matthews, (a.k.a. Prince's former protege, "Vanity") just died from Renal Failure at age 57. 
 
This is not only surprising, but also tragic. It appears that more entertainers have been dying again, including this past week. Vanity recently celebrated her 57th birthday, last month on January 4th. It is 1 month later. NOW, she's dead.

I don't know about anyone else, but it seems like the year of 2016 will be worse than the last several years. I really dread what this year has in store for everyone. 
 
2016 already got off to a brutal start with famous people, most specifically musicians dropping like flies.

As I was saying, Prince's former protege, Vanity died from Renal Failure on February 15, 2016. It's a good thing Prince hasn't died yet. Chances are great that my uncle would go postal over him. Prince has always been more of an idol to him than Jimi Hendrix. The man loves them both, although he seems to favor Prince over Hendrix.
 
Growing up during the 1980's and '90s, I was never a Prince or Vanity zealot. However, my youngest aunt and I both had our own parakeets named Prince and Vanity. She had a blue parakeet, named Prince and mine was a purple parakeet named, Vanity.

More than 30 years later, I still feel that having a purple parakeet named Vanity is strange. I mean, c'mon! 
 
Everybody knows that Prince is about purple. He has an album called Purple Rain and purple is his signature color.

When my youngest aunt and I had our 2 parakeets, I was a preschooler. She claims that my parakeet, Vanity literally pecked hers (Prince) to death. Supposedly, Vanity pecked out all Prince's feathers and gave him a disease. Talk about a vicious bird.

Other than owning 2 parakeets named after Prince and Vanity, I was NOT  a zealot of theirs. Don't get me wrong by any means. I DID like some of Prince and Vanity's songs growing up, during the '80s, but I listened to more Pop Music and Glam Metal. 
 
Even though my mother FORBADE me to listen Rap, I still listened to it. Regardless, I always listened to whatever I wanted to growing up and still do today as an adult.

Earlier this week, I learned some interesting tidbits about Vanity. For example, I had NO idea that Vanity and Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue were engaged in 1986!
 
On YouTube, I stumbled upon an old interview with Arsenio Hall interviewing Vanity.
 
Arsenio Hall Interviews Vanity (1986)  
Watching the way that man salivated over Vanity repulsed me to no end. Growing up, my grandmother always ranted about how much she could NOT  stand Arsenio and normally referred to him as a "lowlife." 
 
After watching his interview with Vanity as a 33 going on 34-year-old woman, I have to agree with her. Arsenio Hall reminds me of the sleazy, lowlife creeps from the street.

Meanwhile, I was annoyed watching Vanity act like a bimbo on stage. Not to speak ill of the dead, but she was literally a bimbo on crack or a "crack whore." Vanity used so much crack throughout the 1980's, that she and Nikki Sixx broke off their engagement in 1987.  
 
The Howard Stern Show: "Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx Explains Why He & Vanity Broke Up" (2007)
By 1994, Vanity overdosed on crack and nearly died from Renal Failure. Because of the large amounts of cocaine she used throughout the decades, she started having kidney problems and had to go through a Peritoneal Dialysis 5 times a day.

After surviving her cocaine overdose in '94, she chose to become a "Born Again Christian" and went into Evangelism. 
 
In 1995, there was a 1980's special on MTV, which was reflecting on music videos and groups from the '80s. It also shared updates about musicians from that decade.

Vanity explained in an MTV interview about her drug addiction and how she became a "saved" evangelist. In addition, she began blaming Prince for her cocaine problems. 
 
As a 13-year-old girl at the time, I could not help rolling my eyes at Vanity's interview. 
 
Unless Prince physically FORCED  Vanity to the ground and made her use cocaine, or slipped it inside her food and beverages, he is not at fault. 
 
She chose to become a drug addict. I think it's wonderful that Vanity quit abusing drugs and changed her life for the better.

All the while, Vanity acting like a self-righteous victim and blaming Prince for being a crack whore was and continues to be bullshit. 
 
I completely empathize with Vanity wanting to change her life for the better and leaving her scandalous past behind. In spite of the past, she really needed to take ownership for her dumb choices. Hopefully, the woman did before dying.

Before I forget, I learned something else about Vanity that I found to be interesting. Like a few other singers in the past including the late David Bowie, Vanity did a cover of the old Nat King Cole song, "Nature Boy."

In 1989, Vanity made a cameo appearance on Friday The 13th: The Series as a Pop singer named, Angelica. It was on Season 2: Episode 20 titled, "The Secret Agenda of Mesmer's Bauble." In that same episode, it featured Vanity's cover of Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy."

You may be assuming that I'm half-assing today's blog. I really hope this is NOT  the case. This has been quite a rough week and I almost didn't publish ANY  Song Saturday blog for today. 
 
Rather than doing an entire music block of Vanity songs, I thought I would share this extremely rare cover of Vanity singing "Nature Boy" for today's Song Saturday. 
 
Vanity "Nature Boy" [Cover] Friday The 13th: The Series (1989)

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Song Saturday: Before The MTV VMA's & Music Completely Died

This blog was originally published on Blogster August 24, 2013.



How's it going my hybrid Blogsterians? I have been taking it easy on my end compared to last week. I don't know how many of you know this but tomorrow night, MTV will be airing their VMA's

Now, if you are as old as I am (if not older), you remember when MTV aired music videos 24/7. Over the last 4-9 years, MTV has become a major shell of itself. The network is saturated with Reality TV Shows about bratty teenage sluts, who don't know how to use birth control, down our throats. What's worse is MTV loves glorifying teen pregnancy, no thanks to the current management of the network. It's amazing how they can still keep the name "MTV," when they barely show MUSIC TELEVISION anymore.

Last year, the MTV VMA's were a joke. Anytime the artists, who were nominated, barely knew each other, you know the network has gone downhill. These last 2-4 years, I've had to literally YouTube artists and groups, who were nominated for each category. 

If I didn't know any better, I would swear the MTV VMA's have become the next Teen Choice Awards, where you barely know, who the entertainers are. The last time there was a good VMA was in 2003. 

2003 was the year before everyone in Hollywood became pretentious, self-righteous, wannabe political activists just like Rage Against The Machine by condemning our last president in almost every album they released. 

The last 4-9 years have also been swarming with mostly tone deaf, talentless hacks like Rihanna and Katy Perry, to only name 2 examples.

1999 ended the '90s and the 20th Century with historic MTV VMA performances. The 1999 MTV VMA's had a decent variety of Pop, Rock, Hip-Hop, Rap, and R&B.   

Music as a whole was still fairly decent in 2003. Soon, music and entertainment in general took HUGE nosedives by 2004. With that being said, I decided to make this Song Saturday blog an MTV VMA Special, before MTV and music overall completely died. These were the performances I enjoyed during 1999 and 2003:

1) I used to really like Kid Rock, during my teenage years. That was until he ruined Metallica's "Sad But True" and turned it into "American Bad Ass." I also lost respect for Kid Rock the moment he broke Guy Code. He stole a skanky, porn star/former groupie like Pamela Anderson away from Tommy Lee. Considering that those 2 were friends and collaborated together on songs, that was just low.

Kid Rock [Featuring Run D.M.C. & Aerosmith] "Bawitdaba"/"Walk This Way" 1999 MTV VMA's

2) I really enjoyed the 1999 MTV VMA's. At that time, Rock Music still had a place on the network. Old School KoRn won their very first Moon Man and those of us in high school during 1999 had a chance to watch Johnny Depp present Nine Inch Nails' performance of "The Fragile", which made it even better. For some of us, that was like hitting The Jackpot. Watching both Johnny Depp AND  Trent Reznor on stage together at once definitely had me squealing like a schoolgirl on the inside. 

Nine Inch Nails "The Fragile" 1999 MTV VMA's

3) TLC performing their song, "No Scrubs" was another favorite. The trio was in a sense, forced to lip-synch most of their performance because it is difficult trying to do major dancing, while singing. Talk about being winded. The best part of TLC's performance was at the end. 

The soon to be late Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, took the center of the stage and began rapping. The audience went INSANE once they started playing a sample of 2 Live Crew's "Too Much Booty In Da Pants." I'd like to see that stupid, spoiled brat, Miley Cyrus try twerking her scrawny ass to some 2 Live Crew.

Prince Introduces TLC "No Scrubs/Too Much Booty Medly" 1999 MTV VMA's

 
For some reason, this performance is suddenly muted in the YouTube video above. Below is the unmuted version of TLC's performance. 
 
The Unmuted Performance

The 2000 and 2001 MTV VMA's had some decent performances as well. Meanwhile, I barely even watched it in 2002 because it mostly sucked. 2003 slightly redeemed the MTV VMA's.

4) The 2003 MTV VMA's is highly remembered for Madonna, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Missy Elliott's opening performance. 

The moment their performance began, there was a lot of tension, that RADIATED from the audience. The camera crew made SURE to zoom in on Eminem, 50 Cent, Avril Lavigne, Kelly Osbourne, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg a.k.a. "Snoop Lion," and of course, Justin Timberlake. Literally a handful of those celebutards always HATED Britney and Christina. 

It was not until 2002, that Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake broke up. Years later, he remained bitter about the way his relationship with Britney ended. 

Let be know that Eminem, Avril Lavigne, and Kelly Osbourne always hated Britney without a valid reason. That's unless cattiness counts?

It's highly visible, that a handful of them had a major problem with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera performing Madonna's "Like A Virgin." 

Madonna sensually kissing Britney and Christina was the most controversial moment from the 2003 MTV VMA performance. Of course the media LOVES ignoring the fact, that Madonna also kissed Christina. 

The media placed a major emphasis on the kiss because Britney Spears had recently broken up with Justin Timberlake in 2002. 

Supposedly, she cheated on Justin with their former dance choreographer, Wade Robson. That soon led to Justin throwing Britney under the bus for LYING about her virginity. 

Meanwhile, Christina Aguilera performed twice in the same night at the 2003 MTV VMA's. However, her 2nd performance was with Redman and Dave Navarro. 

I vaguely remember their performance and barely saw it the first time around. I was in the middle of doing last minute packing because my 2nd college 10 years ago, made fucked up, last minute changes to my housing arrangements, BEFORE college started again.

As I was saying, Madonna kissing Britney Spears the night of the 2003 MTV VMA's was the biggest slap in the face to Justin Timberlake. Those working at MTV laughed about it on TV.

5) Madonna [Featuring] Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, & Missy Elliot "Like A Virgin/Hollywood/ Work It Medley" 2003 MTV VMA's


Welp, this concludes my Song Saturday for this weekend. Let me know what you think!