Songs To Wrestle To – WWE, The Music
I can’t call myself a fan of the rasslin’, but my buddy Charlie sure is. It’s time for Charlie to spread the good word of the WWE… – Pete
Professional wrestling is a lot more than big, sweaty men throwing each other around in tights. True to their name, the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) truly tries to entertain their fans. Music plays a huge role in wrestling today. Back in the early 80’s wrestlers started playing music to accompany their walk to the ring. Wrestlers would use popular rock songs when this practice first started. Welcome to the future. Now, most of the songs used for entrance themes are all original.
It is a very exhilarating feeling when you’re sitting in a crowded arena and the music of your favorite wrestler blasts across the sound system. People start cheering or booing after the first seconds of the songs. Only sick, demented wrestling fans like myself would understand that feeling. The WWE just released WWE: The Music, Volume 8, the latest installment in the company’s top selling series. There are 14 tracks on the CD, and you’ll find a heavy rock influence to most of the songs. My favorite is the song “Break The Walls Down”. It’s the entrance theme for a guy named Chris Jericho. You might recognize him because he was the lead singer for a group called, Fozzy. The music matches his persona in the ring perfectly.
Check out this cd and the next time the WWE has a live event in your town, buy a ticket and go be entertained for a couple of hours. It beats reality!EndeverafteR – No More Words [mp3] (Jeff Hardy Theme)
Music and Ads: Let Me Sleep On It
By no means do I think it’s a great idea for respected musicians to shill products on TV. But once in a while, as hard as it may be to stomach, I can’t help but be entertained. Case in point, the use of Meatloaf and “Paradise By the Dashboard Light” in a new AT&T “GoPhone” commercial. Oh, and that’s 80’s teen queen Tiffany playing Mom.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5YMVO7-8ns 336 278]
Another recent surprise is the appearance of Grandaddy’s music in the advertising world. “A.M. 180” shows up in the new Dodge Journey ads…
Grandaddy – A.M. 180 (mp3)
[audio:grandaddyam180.mp3]This one comes from Under the Western Freeway…
Ickmusic’s Friday Five: April 11, 2008
“I spend too much time raiding windmills… “- Toad the Wet SprocketToday is a vacation day for me and in lieu of leaving the faithful fivers without an outlet to share what’s getting them through the day (or night as it may be) may I present the cliff notes version of today’s Friday Five. Here’s what came up in my shuffle before signing off today…
Onto the shuffle!
Here are this week’s tracks:
1. Kiss – Love Gun (from Double Platinum)
Classic guilty pleasure.
2. Michael Jackson – Man in the Mirror (from The Essential Michael Jackson)
How did no one cover this song during this week’s American Idol? Speaking of, how about that Jason Castro?
3. Toad the Wet Sprocket – I Will Not Take These Things for Granted (MP3) (from Fear)
I usually write the summary for the Friday Five before Friday (to ensure that I can get it done before the end of the day) and I swear it’s a great irony that a Toad track would come up in the shuffle today. This is a brilliant song from one of my favorite bands.
4. Chet Atkins & Tommy Emmanuel – Road To Gundaghi/Waltzing Matilda (MP3) (from The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World)
Continuing the tradition he started with his classic Chester & Lester records with Les Paul, this is the sound of two masters of the guitar doing what they do best.
5. A Perfect Circle – Judith (from Mer de Noms)
A heavy (in every sense of the word) track to close out the five.
So what’s coming up in your shuffle today?
Ickmusic.com: The Unavailable Weeks
Question for the regulars. Have you had problems over the last few weeks with my web site timing out, or being unavailable? Has it happened more than once for you? And most importantly, is it getting to the point where it’s a nuisance for you?
I’ve been on a new host, Hostmonster, since mid March. While their customer service is great, I’m having trouble with my web site staying up 24×7. I wanted to get some feedback from you all to find out if it’s noticeable.
Bear with me, I’ll get everything going full time. If I have to jump to another host, so be it.
UPDATE (4/14): Okay, I moved back to my old host (IPOWER) – Hostmonster’s customer service was great, but the site would be down multiple times every day. iPower’s customer service isn’t stellar, but at least they keep my site up.
Townes Van Zandt in Heartworn Highways
I just watched Heartworn Highways
last night. It’s a great music film, a snapshot of the mid-70’s Nashville and Austin outlaw music scene. It features Rodney Crowell, Guy Clark, David Allan Coe, Steve Young, a very young Steve Earle, and Townes Van Zandt (among a lot of others). In this clip, Townes has just got done listening to Seymour Washington talk about his life. Seymour is an old timer, 79 years old at the time this was filmed in 1975. He talks about his life on the farm, of shoeing horses, of the importance of good whiskey. This clip picks up right before Townes plays “Waiting Around to Die”. You’ll see Seymour in the background – an emotional moment, as you’ll see…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTGKzWDakK8]
Drive By Truckers – a new record and a stop on E Street
For Ickmusic’s Springsteen fans:
Patterson Hood Guest DJs on E Street Radio (Sirius)
Fri 4/11 4:00 pm ET
Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers gets to share his love of all things Springsteen with an hour as guest DJ. You’ll hear how he tricked his parents and snuck out to see his first Bruce show – a small act of teenage defiance that changed his entire life.Rebroadcast: Sat., Apr. 12th @ 12 am & 8 am ET.
Drive-by Truckers (DBT) are mostly known for their great live shows and categorized in the ‘southern rock’ genre. Over the past few years, though, they haven’t exactly acted like your standard ‘southern rock’ band.
Last year they backed blues woman Bettye Lavette on her Scene of the Crime
album, which was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Contemporary Blues Album category (the award went to Eric Clapton). This year, Brighter Than Creation’s Dark (New West, 2008) received 4 stars, and much praise, from Rolling Stone, amongst many others, but is also featured on CMT. Their previous album, A Blessing and a Curse (2006), had elements of early 70s rock, showing influences like Faces & the Rolling Stones.
Top Ten Moments: The Boss in Anaheim
A couple of quality show reviews have already been posted on Backstreets and by Mr. Malchus at Popdose, so let me convey my Monday night Boss experience the following way….
picture courtesy of Backstreets.comTop Ten Moments from Monday, April 7th
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
The Honda Center, Anaheim, CaliforniaWednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day!
Is it merely coincidence that today is also the day that was selected to announce that His Royal Badness will be joining the (frankly) lackluster line up of this year’s Coachella Festival? Don’t get me wrong, I’d be stoked to spend a day baking in the middle of the desert but I don’t see shelling out the coin to travel across the country. That said, when will Prince finally put aside his hatred of the East Coast long enough to return for a show or two?
In Anaheim with the Ghost of Tom Joad
Before I jump on a plane and head back to Arizona, let me share the highlight of last night’s Boss show at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine) joined Bruce and the band for “The Ghost of Tom Joad”, and – oh – basically brought the house down. My GAWD – Morello did an amazing job of trading verses with Bruce, and harmonizing on the chorus – but the true jaw=dropping madness began when he launched into a blistering, effects-laden guitar solo for the song finale. I have a new found respect for Tom #%^@# Morello.
Here’s the vid…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJT1EdKRF2g]
Ickmusic’s Friday Five: April 4, 2008
Face down in the gutter won’t admit defeat though his clothes are soiled and black, he’s a big, strong man with a child’s mind, don’t you take his booze away!
Is it April already? The first quarter of the year flew by and as a full time bean counter I’ve spent the last week up to my eyeballs in said beans so I’m ready for a fix (or five). We returned last week to a full house… Colin, Joe, Frank, the Tap! We had a few regulars and a few new faces in the fivers club. Membership is easy (and has its privileges); just follow my lead. Hit shuffle on the music player of your liking and share with the rest of the world!
That’s it, now onto the shuffle!
Here are this week’s tracks:
1. Erykah Badu – Stay (from Live)
One listen to Ms. Badu’s version of Chaka Khan’s brilliant “Stay” will make a true believer out of the most steadfast critic. And for those who have not picked up her latest realease New Amerykah, Part One (4th World War), click that link and remedy that situation now.
2. Sarah McLachlan – Shelter (violin mix) (MP3) (from Rarities, B-Sides, and Other Stuff)
Another vocal powerhouse, this is a sparse and hauntingly beautiful version of a track from her sophomore record Solace.
3. Sisters of Mercy – This Corrosion (from A Slight Case of Overbombing: Greatest Hits, Volume One)
Industrial, Goth, Electronica… there are a slew of labels that all somehow apply to the Sisters. If I had to pick one for this track it would be Grandeur. The pairing of Andrew Eldritch’s eloquence and view of the world and Jim Steinman’s over the top orchestration worked perfectly in this tune that can only be described as epic.
4. Madonna – Like a Prayer (from The Immaculate Collection)
Before the faux British accent and reliance on vocal enhancement software Madge had the ability to drop some shock and awe on the public conscious. Looking back it was all rather passé, but at the time shit was deep (burning crosses and making out with an African-American)! Truth be told, I prefer this model to her latest incarnation. I’m sure I’m not alone.
5. Guns N’ Roses – Paradise City (MP3) (from Appetite for Destruction)
It’s a damned shame that Axl Rose has allowed (some may say caused) the deterioration of the band’s reputation over the years. To me this still stands as one of the finest rock records ever committed to tape. I’ve burned out more than half a dozen copies of this album over the years and even 21 years later it sounds as vital and aggressive as it originally did.
So now it’s your turn, what’s closing your day?
