Today, Axl Rose, the king of wailing, bandanna-wearing hard rock, turns 50 years old. It’s been an eventful five decades for Rose, who’s busted up more cars, relationships, and video shoots than most of us will ever see. We’re resisting the urge to pile on the Guns N’ Roses frontman, who has recently taken a beating in the media for everything from his bizarre statements to his appearance, in favor of celebrating with a list of little known Axl trivia, from his crucifix collection to his favorite books. Rock on.
Forty years ago today, a terrifying dystopian science-fiction film/pitch-black comedy hit American cinemas and changed movies forever. The film was A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick’s ultra-controversial adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel. Though widely acknowledged today as one of the great films of the ‘70s, initial critical response to the picture was mixed; Roger Ebert called it “talky and boring,” as well as “an ideological mess, a paranoid right-wing fantasy masquerading as an Orwellian warning,” while Pauline Kael criticized its “leering, portentous style” and accused its director of “sucking up to the thugs in the audience.” But The New York Times’ Vincent Canby set the tone for most critical responses, writing that Orange “makes real and important the kind of fears simply exploited by other, much lesser films.”
Audiences seemed to agree — the film grossed something like ten times its original budget in the States, its transformation into cult classic here and in England given an extra boost by its lengthy exile from availability in the UK. (Kubrick withdrew the film from circulation himself in the wake of possible copycat crimes.) Moreover, the picture’s iconic imagery and distinctive visual style made it a frequent touchstone for other filmmakers, musicians, and pop culture figures looking to inject a little droog mojo into their projects. After the jump, we’ll take a look at a few of the more memorable Clockwork Orange shout-outs in popular culture.
1. “Industry sources” report that Apple will begin selling 32- and 37-inch television sets next year. Called iTVs, the devices will supposedly draw on an extensive library of on-demand programming and incorporate everyone’s favorite virtual assistant, Siri. [via Digital Spy]
2. Slash says that he’d like to squash his feud with his former Guns N’ Roses band mate Axl Rose. According to the guitarist, the duo’s rift “got built up into this monster that led to a kind of animosity that wasn’t the focus for me.” [via NME]
3. Interesting hiring decision: Robert “Joe” Halderman, the CBS News producer who served six months in jail for attempting to extort David Letterman, has a new gig on Investigation Discovery’s On the Case with Paula Zahn. Insert tawdry “investigation” and/or “discovery” innuendo here. [via NY Daily News]
4. According to UK tabloid Mirror, the one and only Joan Collins is in talks to appear on Downton Abbey as Maggie Smith‘s cousin – but only if the show does a 2012 Christmas special.
5. Fox Latin America had to apologize after running a delightful Christmas poll asking readers whether they thought Jews killed Jesus. Really. [via AP]
1. Alec Baldwin was kicked off a plane at LAX yesterday because he wouldn’t stop playing Words With Friends during the flight’s departure. He later tweeted that American Airlines is “where Catholic school gym teachers from the 1950′s find jobs as flight attendants.” [via NYT]
2. Guns N’ Roses, The Beastie Boys, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are among this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees. The ceremony, which takes place on April 14 in Cleveland, will mark the first time that the Beasties have made a major public appearance since Adam Yauch announced that he had cancer back in 2009. [via Billboard]
3. Rumor is that Kristen Wiig and Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti are dating after they were spotted “all over each other” at a Black Keys album party. [via NYP]
4. Hillary Clinton gave an amazing speech in honor of International Human Rights Day that some people are calling the LGBT community’s “I Have a Dream” moment. Watch it here and decide for yourself.
5. And in case you’re curious, here’s a copy of Adele’s tour rider, which includes Marlboro Lights and “bite-size” candy bars — but absolutely no North American beer.
In case you weren’t aware, Friday was National Metal Day, and what a day it was. Black Sabbath announced (after much teasing) that they would be reuniting to headline the Download Festival with Metallica, followed by a worldwide tour. Next, VH1 Classic’s That Metal Show conducted an extensive interview with Guns ‘N Roses frontman and all-around legend Axl Rose — his first interview of any kind in 5 years, and his first televised one in over a decade. We’ve been worried about Axl for a while now, but he sounds much more lucid than we had imagined he might. Click through to watch as he talks about his pre-tour rituals, starting shows late (we heard he was 15 hours late even to this interview), violent fans, and trying to put the Challenger explosion on an album cover, among other things. Read More »
Last week the Guardian ran an interesting piece about “band collapse syndrome,” the disconcerting phenomenon whereby a band’s hitherto loyal fanbase abandons it in droves. They cited a number of UK acts whose record sales have decline precipitously of late — Glasvegas, Kaiser Chiefs, and Duffy, amongst others. This seems to be something you see more and more these days, which we guess makes sense when you consider it in the context of a general decline in album sales and a public who seem to have a shorter collective attention span than ever. But it’s not a new phenomenon — there have been some pretty spectacular crash-and-burn albums over the years. Some of these have been genuinely terrible, others hamstrung by inter-band wrangling or emotional breakdowns, and others just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We’ve collected 10 of ‘em after the jump.
There’s something to be said about dying young and leaving a pretty corpse. While we certainly wouldn’t wish that fate upon anyone, there are some people whose legacies would be a lot better off if they did heed the cliched rock and roll slogan. Take, for example Axl Rose in the following video. We’ve heard karaoke singers that sound more like the real Axl Rose. Between being out of key and completely out of breath, this might be the worst version of “Welcome to the Jungle” that we’ve ever heard. Even the botched guitar solo sounds better than this empty husk of the snake-dancing man of lore. By the time the audio cuts out halfway through the video, you’re actually thankful there is no more risk your ears will start to bleed.
In the spirit of our recent look at the fact that some of the ’90s TV shows we remember so fondly weren’t actually all that great, we also got to thinking about similarly overrated music videos. These are the videos that seem to enjoy continuing goodwill from the public and music critics alike, despite the fact that when you look at them on their own merits, they’re actually, y’know, not very good. At all. The ’80s were full of these, but there’s been a reasonable amount from recent years, too. We’ve pulled together a list of 10 — what did we miss?
Last night, morbid curiosity compelled us to check out the debut episode of Platinum Hit, a song that has Jewel and Kara DioGuardi searching for America’s next top songwriter. Allow us to save you some time: it’s terrible. We’re not sure whether the problem is the hyper-styled yet uninspired contestants or the show’s tight time constraints, but we feel confident in saying that it’s no Top Chef. The first challenge had the musicians composing odes to Los Angeles — and, despite being New Yorkers, the songs were so nauseating that we couldn’t help but feel for our friends to the west. That has inspired us to help heal their pain by rounding up ten of our favorite songs about L.A. They aren’t all happy, but at least they’re listenable.
Even if you’re a huge fan of music writing, it’s hard to get jazzed about the state of music criticism these days. The smart, carefully crafted album reviews and “Eureka!”-inducing behind the music pieces are too often drowned in a deluge of blurbs, highly-calibrated ratings charts, and shouting Amazon commenters. But Continuum’s 33 1/3 series of satisfyingly-sized mini-books, each devoted to a single critical consideration of a favorite album, is something to get excited about. Each installation offers a nuanced look at an album from the popular (or unpopular) canon through everything from memoir to history to fiction.
This week, Radiohead scholar and Tiny Mix Tapes editor-in-chief Marvin Lin releases his contribution to the series, on Kid A. It begins with a confession: ”I FELL ASLEEP TWICE DURING MY FIRST LISTEN TO KID A.” Lin moves on to consider the making and critical reception of the album, focusing on music’s relationship with time and the politics behind listening. It’s a fantastic addition to a great collection of books. Below, a reading list of even more essential 33 1/3 offerings to date.
