But...several other things happened in the music scene.
Now Rise for the singing of the National Anthem
First, the national anthem. Well, before that, some girl from Glee sang America the Beautiful....now, I've had enough of the NFL always selecting people (mainly "good-looking" females) from music pop shows to do the national anthems and patriotic songs. And really, this rendition of America the Beautiful, uninspired. Seriously, this needs to stop now.
But the real issue was Christina Aguilera's rendition of the national anthem. Yes, she missed a line. Stop making a big deal like you're a fucking stupid pretenious Radiohead fan always making a big deal of a dumb stupid fucking radio edit for the song
Now without the mess-up, it still was a below average rendition of the National Anthem. And once again, we must wonder why of all people, she was selected to sing the national anthem. Honestly, someone from the Dallas area should have been the one singing the national anthem. The first super bowl in Dallas (neoliberals will call this the corporate greed bowl). But Christina Aguilera looked like a goddess after the Halftime show.
Halftime Debuckle
In the last journal entry, I mentioned how people were not thrilled about the selection of the Black Eyed Peas. The last halftime show featuring The Who took in very mixed reviews. The selection of another dad rock band didn't work out well, especially when the band was past their prime. So what does the NFL do? They decided to select a modern act while remaining "safe". But as the halftime show commenced...
It was terrible. One song after another....
And the last one of the night, this time, it was fans of Dirty Dancing who put their hand on their forehead once they heard Fergie and will.i.am got out in
I expected the show to be not good. But I didn't expect it to be a failure of massive proportions. Some claimed the sound mixing was not good, but really, we go from the OK The Who to a colossial failure that the Black Eyes Peas showed us on Sunday. I had to listen to the original and only good version Sweet Child O' Mine several times. One must wonder why Slash even decided to play guitar for something that spelled disaster from the start. I still respect him as one of the best guitarists of all-time, but his cameo is something better not remembered of him.
Once again, on the message board for the NFL on my home site, everyone began dropping names of acts that should have been...from the way too extreme Lamb of God, to the way too hipster Animal Collective. From Daft Punk to Depeche Mode. One person felt that because there was no wardrobe malfunction, it was now safe to allow Rihanna into the halftime show. Others say enough is enough and it's time for rappers like Kanye West and Eminem to finally take the stage. And of course, some are now calling for Lady Gaga to come out (in a meat dress of course) and save "pop".
Bottom line is...the NFL failed again. They seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. They looked too far back for acts, and too modern for acts. They looked in the wrong places. Why even bother with a halftime show if trapped between these 2 choices. But what about the late 80s and 90s. What about Metallica, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. All bands with mainstream appeal, yet none of them are too old, or too young. What about Rush, an actual old band that's still ripping it out and releasing new stuff? Even Iron Maiden sells out arenas worldwide, even in North America. Why not them? And AC/DC is still a major name. Easily appeal to both youngsters and old rockers.
And no, don't bother with Justin Bieber. At this point, the announcement of him in a halftime show would almost lead to a massive firestorm to the point that the show would be cancelled within days.
I'll be honest. It's gonna take days to get these images out of my head. But aside from the show, there were a few other things to look at. Two commercials involving musicians:
JUSTIN BIEBER HAS JUST TROLL'D YOU
Speaking of Justin Bieber, he was actually in a commercial with the Prince of Darkness. What? You mean Ozzy Osbourne? Why yes. A commercial for Best Buy involving one of their services. Apparently, Bieber did not impress Ozzy. But a employee working on the set lets Ozzy know that he thinks Bieber sounds like a girl.
Suddenly, millions exploded in laughter as Justin Bieber was insulted. Victory...
Actually, no. It was actually Bieber playing a double-role on you, disguised as that beared employee, insulting...himself. Yeah, that's right. You got troll'd by the guy you hate the most. How does it feel now?
Another reminder, please don't go and tell everyone to invade Bieber's videos to express your hate on youtube. If you didn't know, Bieber gets paid for every view of his video, as well as your comments. You're only making him reacher, and it's not a good idea.
EMINEM AND DETROIT RISES
The other noteworthy commericial last night was...well, let's be honest first...once again, most of the commercials were not good. Some relied on old ideas, others were a waste of space (seriously, tell GoDaddy to stop...waste of money). The beer commercials were weaker than usual too. And some like the Bridgestone Reply All and the Doritos finger lick....really...stupid and not funny.
There was one commercial that stood out for me...it was not a funny commercial. It was a serious one with Chrysler introducing a new luxury car. But the way it was done was a tribute to a city that suffered hard times. And the man driving the car, none other than rapper Eminem (which was actually his second commercial). The 2 minute ad was well done and brought a chill down my spine. (no different, I'm up in Buffalo and we have several companies here that make key parts for car companies, so it's just as important for us). To me, it was the best of the night, not the slapstick humor ads that appeal to Family Guy fans.
Oh, the NFL fans ad was good too. To erase the poor pop performance of the night, I can rely on this to remove the dark spots.
AND HOLY CRAP, NEW RELEASES AHEAD
Finally, let me discuss some new releases that I'm anticipating:
*First, Rise Against is going ahead with an Endgame. It won't be released for a few months, but the single "Help Is On The Way" is out. It's not a high-tier song IMO, but it give me more than enough hype for the album for me.
*Also out with a new single is rapper Lupe Fiasco...that's right, Lasersis coming out in March...and how about a new single...[track artist=Lupe Fiasco]Words I Never Said (feat. Skylar Grey). Kick ass, and is heavily political. The managers wanted a poppy song with rhymes about girls and cars. If girls and cars equated to politics, Gaza, Glenn Beck, and the state of the world, then I guess he won.
*The Foo Fighters said their new album was going to be heavy...and the 2 teasers for their yet named 7th studio album, speak true. I believe this album will be much sick, and may outclass their work from the 2000s.
*Apparently, Cake released a new album last month. Haven't really listened to it enough as I'm still diving through their discography, but I will touch it later. It actually charted at #1 on the billboards despite selling like crap. I heard reviews are mixed. But then again, I won't let others decide my music taste.
*There are several more big releases set of this year. I expect Incubus and Red Hot Chili Peppers to also release some stuff. Possibly The Offspring as well.
But didn't Radiohead say something about a new album they were working on last year? All it takes is final mixing and the next thing you know, it'll be released and this site....you know what's next.
Last but not least, I need to clarify one thing regarding hipsters. I do not like hipsters as people. Especially the ones that reek of elitism, think they have supreme taste, get their attitudes from pitchfork, etc. It does not mean I hate their music. There are some stuff I'll enjoy that's popular among the indie-cred hipsters, but there's also a lot of trash too. This goes for all scenes and all time periods (I'm looking at you, dad rockers).
That's pretty much it for now. Here to another February.

