Great picture, Sean Murphy!

Hey NERDS!

Good news! Our favorite band that still houses their homepage on mySpace, WEEZER, has just plopped (thanks, Doug Benson) their new video for their latest single, Memories. I originally began this post believing I would be posting a CATS-cover but after listening to the below clip, realized that I was mistaken.

Nevertheless, the song is quite good. There has been speculation that Green Day has become the new U2 (with American Idiot being their course-changing Joshua Tree), but if that holds true, what is Weezer? I lean towards R.E.M. They will always be there and always put out great music and their fans will find and love them, but there love for the mainstream has waned.

Oh yeah, and they both put characters from LOST on their album covers and the guys from Jackass in their videos. And Michael Stipe sings back up for rappers. The comparisons are endless.

Prince covering “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”

vs.

Eddie Van Halen…who just plain simply knows how to shred

I was up way too late watching VH1 Classic last night and they started showing the Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band: Live in New York concert. And I watched it.

They closed with this. I may have been tired, really full of baked ziti or still trying to find peace with the out-of-left-field ending on Law & Order: SVU, but I was moved very emotionally. Even when the terrifying saxophones unpursed his lips to melodically croon, I was not swayed from my emotional heights. Kinda sad they didn’t incorporate Max Weinberg into the singing circle, but they probably knew something about his singing chops that I do not.

Anyway, a great performance of a great song deserved placement on this GREAT BLOG!!!

Editors Note: DUUH!! I understand that you each have better ideas for songs that should have been put in place to support your favorite Beatle, but these are what you have to chose from today. Oh, did you prefer “My Sweet Lord” over “I’ve Got My Mind?” Well, WHO DOESN’T! And yet, I didn’t make that on an option, DID I?!?!? Enjoy. Jerks.

Good Morning friends!

I love you all and wanted to start the week taking a look and letting you all vote on which of the below four Beatle-member solo-projects you freaking flip out over the most. OK, OK, in reality this whole post was created so that I could so the recockulous “I’ve Got My Mind (Set On You)” George Harrison video without feeling guilty about just posting videos all the time. So vote. Or Diddy will kill you/

John Lennon - Mind Games

Paul McCartney - My Brave Face

George Harrison - I’ve Got My Mind (Set On You)

Ringo Starr - It Don’t Come Easy

Leave your votes/words of appreciation in the comments section!

OK Go has a new video out for their song “This Too Shall Pass.” We can’t put the YouTube video here on Rockworms.com. In a beautifully written open letter to the people of earth, Damien Kulash gives a full explanation of why record labels prohibit YouTube from embedding videos on other websites - because they loose controll of the ads that are shown on those sites:

This means our label doesn’t get their hard-won share of the pie if our video is played on your blog, so (surprise, surprise) they won’t let us be on your blog. And, voilá: four years after we posted our first homemade videos to YouTube and they spread across the globe faster than swine flu, making our bassist’s glasses recognizable to 70-year-olds in Wichita and 5-year-olds in Seoul and eventually turning a tidy little profit for EMI, we’re – unbelievably – stuck in the position of arguing with our own label about the merits of having our videos be easily shared. It’s like the world has gone backwards.

Backwards indeed. A couple years ago we asked you what you thought about the music industry’s feudal failure, and you voted (both of you) that the future of music doesn’t have big record labels. Damian thinks you might be right:

…if music is going to be more than a hobby, someone, literally, has to pay the piper. So we’ve got this ridiculous situation where the machinery of the old system is frantically trying to contort and reshape and rewire itself to run without actually selling music. It’s like a car trying to figure out how to run without gas, or a fish trying to learn to breath air.

The video, by the way, is beautiful, simple, surprising and everything you might expect from the kings of Viral. So far it’s racked up half-a-million views on YouTube.  Ironically, the label does not prohibit Vimeo from allowing embed of the band’s videos. Even though Damian says they have a soft spot in their hearts for YouTube, he gives the embed code for Vimeo at the end of his letter. Thanks Damian. You’re a champ.

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass from OK Go on Vimeo

Still looking California; not feeling as much like Minnesota.

Hot dog is 2010 off to a big start!

Chris Cornell posted on his Twitter that the much-beloved grunge-era centerpiece SOUNDGARDEN will be reuniting.

“The 12 year break is over & school is back in session. Sign up now. Knights of the Soundtable ride again! www.soundgardenworld.com ” was the manner in which the Eurporia Mourner broke the news.

Our close and personal study-buddies over at Billboard have the whole scoop, in a much easier to read manner than we could ever attempt to plagiarize, although dammit, we sure did try!

This is the first truly great news to come out of 2010 thus far.  Let us all take the time to celebrate with our own interpretive dance versions of “Slaves and Bulldozers,” just like grandma liked to do.

Our old friends the Bamboo Shoots cover the Black Eyed Peas “I Gotta Feeling.”

I’ll be honest - I watched this only because I wanted to hear how they handled Fergie’s “L’Chaim” line.

I wasn’t let down. Special props for the little bit of trickery after “We’ll shut it down” at 2:10.

WOW!

Its only been 4 years since I worked daily in college radio, but I totally forgot that CMJ was happening right now right here in Manhattan! Am I going to attend? NO! But I did pick up a free pamphlet that told me all about the festival and let me tell you all something: I don’t recognize anybody! Even the headliner of the fest (Atlas Sound) means nothing to me! What has happened? Have I lost touched with my indie roots? Have I gotten too caught up on the endless cycle of the shuffle button on my iPod that I have forgotten about the necessary need to reload the machine with new bands and songs? Yes! And more stuff like that too!

But the festival does look pretty nice. Judging from the L Magazine, Brooklyn’s own “The Grooms” are going to be a major attraction at this years fest. Also “the XX” (which the Romans dubbed simply as “twenty”) are expected to make a substantial apperance. Also the old trustworthy’s Ted Leo, Cold Cave, and Surf City.

But my favorite part of the fesitval is going through the directory and picking out my favorite unknown band names. Criteria for picking out bands as “favs” comes from a few sources: most originality, best obscure pop culture references and most importantly, how foolish a hipster would look if he attempted to brag about seeing them while keeping a straight face.

Below are my favorites from CMJ 2009:

-Tiger! Shit! Tiger! Tiger!
-Philip Seymour Hoffman
-Paper or Plastic?
-Rumspringa
-Steve Shiffman and the Land of No
-Silly Kissers
-Die! Die! Die!
-Freelance Whales
-Surprise guest (might not actually be the name of a band as much as an announcement, but if that ISN’T a real name, I would totally use it)
-You, You’re Awesome
-Das Racist
-Moondoggies
-Casino vs. Japan
-Unicycle Loves You

Hope everyone had a good time at the festival! Feel free to tell my editors you saw me there, feverishly scribbling notes in chunky black framed glasses while wearing New Balance sneakers and drinking fair-trade decaf espresso!

Kick Ass.

He’s dead.

When Seattle’s Capitol Hill Block Party, one of the Emerald City’s most heralded music festivals announced in April that the New York rock outlet SONIC YOUTH was going to be appearing at the street fest, it was the first time that a major band with origins outside of the Northwest had been invited and accepted to perform at the weekend-long gig.

As anticipation built for the show, reality set in that one of the most respected and well-liked groups of the last decade was going to be gracing the plywood make-shift stage in the intersection of Capitol Hill. And now with the show happening the weekend, the city has been whooped up into a frenzy.

This show, is going to be HOT!

As appearing at the festival is Deer Hunter, Gossip Beth Ditto, Black Lips, The Thermals and more.

I love this song. The end.

Check out the album:

Is the new album as good as American Idiot? What do you think of the video (leave comments please!)?