Happyblox

Thanks YouTube!

Tonight, after reassembling the HAPPYBOX YouTube in it's infinite wisdom decided that it would recommend a video for me that doesn't suck. In fact, it's quite good. In fact I believe it is the best in many categories only some of which would be best song from 1977 with 3 guitar solos, best live performance by a grown man in a school boy get up and it is most certainly high up there on the best live performance by any band I have ever seen. Since I was 4 at the time and my ears would have definitely bled I appreciate the rock archive being established on YouTube. I could spend hours.

Thank YouTube for a little AC/DC at midnight.

Acoustic Tuesday: 4 Less Than Likely Unplugged Goodies.

I like the rock & roll. I like it so much I spend hours sometimes searching through the Youtubes for cool versions of songs or something rare. Lately I have been finding some good acoustic numbers, some from bands you may not even think owned an acoustic guitar.

The first is Megadeth. Not a band one would initially associate with anything distortion-less even though Dave Mustain is well known as a world renowned musician. "Dred" is an interesting choice for an acoustic version too because it is slightly more "bluesy" at its core than some of their other songs.

The next is a classic unplugged song "Lake Of Fire" from Nirvana. This song kind of haunts me. It is a great example of no matter how much you strip down a good song it remains a good song.

Steve Miller is a classic Rock & Roll fixture, not to mention the best driving music ever, so an acoustic version of "The Joker" was a find I played over and over for several hours. You don't have to do that though. You can watch it once like a normal person.

Now to me The Cure was never a band that I would figure as having trouble acoustisizing anything as they use massive amounts of acoustic guitar on their albums and even throw in strings more often than not. Though they may be out a  keyboard most of the time the point remains. Never the less, I was impressed by the sound of the whole band playing acoustically and Robert Smith's voice with absolutely nothing on it sounds wonderful and rich. Check it here.

***BONUS BRAIN BALANCING VIDEO***
Since 4 music videos with no distortion or real screaming have had their say let us not forget why in fact those videos are so intriguing. It's because of the raw beauty of things like this: Bad Religion live in 1984.

Thriller Acapella Will Thrill Ya.

What can I say? Genius. Thanks glumbert and whoever this guy is!

glumbert - Thriller Acapella

"Shaft" butchered Almost Beyond Recognition.

Ladies and gentleman my hat goes off to the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain for not only covering a song I am surprised anyone over there even knows about, but for now holding the record for turning the blackest thing ever into the whitest thing ever. You may think that is easy to do, but you would be wrong. Sure, you can simply replace one stereotype with another and call it whatever you want but that's called good old fashion racism. I am talking about TRUE manipulation, handy work that in most cases is created by such fans of whatever they are "spoofing", no matter how different their version may be, or how bad in this case, it comes from a place of admiration and appreciation. Any putz can take a 50's looking white guy with a tie and give him a mic and have him rap something or alternatively have a black guy in a club get on stage and yodel. My point is no black people you know rap and no white people you know yodel... wait, is that my point? Irrelevant because I wanted to show you this clip. I think what makes it great is they have achieved the said "blackest thing ever" to said "whitest thing ever" without my feeling that it came from a negative place. Only something this honest could be this bad. You decide.

glumbert - Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Shaft

Electric Guitar & Video, Perfect Together.

My friend Yale's friend Ben has a company called Visionary Instruments. Check out his site here. Here is a little concoction they developed called the video guitar. The possibilities are pretty much endless.

Who Called The Latvian Ghost Busters?

Here is a cover song you may remember, this time from a Latvian band called Intars Busulis. God I love other countries as long as they are covering American culture.

Joe Frank Ascends... Something.

Joe Frank is a well known Peabody winner who you may know from "All Things Considered" on National Public Radio. I heard him on WNYC (820 AM) today and he made me listen to the radio so intently the last time I remember doing so was as a child sneaking my fathers portable AM radio under my pillow to listen to Islander games. It was a 5 or so minute monologue called Work In Progress which I have not been able to find yet. It was a disturbing monologue describing the thoughts of a pessimistic, sadomasochistic man and his thoughts, stream of consciousness style. Maybe a soon to be or already practicing mass murder. It was so clearly written and described that you almost understood his train of thought. I found myself thinking that despite my optimistic point of view most of the time, I related to this character some how. It brought out the emo in me, the emo all of us have but that's like comparing slayer to your high school band. This was real. This was only partly fiction. These were carefully worded bunches of violence and decay. Of astute yet sinister observations and the authors negative renderings of every situation he encounters. So I go to his site (joefrank.com) and I click on this story: Ascent to K2 from his CD Mountain Rain. Even better. This is an almost 20 minute monologue describing the insane trip to the infamous K2 mountain. Don't expect a harrowing tale of fast moving storms and stranded climbers dangling between glaciers. Think more on the lines of Fear and Loading in Las Vegas. Here is Joe Frank's radio schedule. Check him out and ascend something yourself, the way you want to.

What's Up With Me? ...What's Up With You?

So take Eddie Murphy in the early 90's and put a dangly earing on him and dress him in a Whitesnake belt and a wife beater. Oh hell, throw on a big 'ol gay mustache too. Then take an equally disturbing fellow, Michael Jackson duded out in his typical "space stewardess" meets "the Nazi fashion gestapo" look. Then have them sing a duet, WAY too close to each other while small children in private school uniforms dance around them. How could this not be a bad idea? Okay, in retrospect maybe it is a little creepy... no, no I'm pretty sure it was creepy back then too. This is the thank god experimental duet "What's Up With You?" Enjoy! (Dig the Salvidor Dali, Fellini wanna be first 10 seconds.... was that a naked Murphy holding a dove? Dear god!)

Emo Kermit and the Birds & The Bees On An Apple: A double Shot From YouVert.

Via Youvert and affiliate otglu.com. What can I say? Sam is on today! BRAVO! Double shot of goodness.

If You Open Your Mind Too Much Your Brain Will Fall Out.

From the brilliant mind of Tim Minchin is a song called "If You Open Your Mind Too Much Your Brain Will Fall Out" and it is truly on the HAPPYBOX wavelength.