just when you think you are starting to 'get' music

I am always amazed and usually stupefied every time I scratch the surface of music knowledge.
recently, while doing a bit of research on wikipedia, I ran across these mind blowing topics: (which link to many more brain bending topics!)
Just Intonation
Pythagorean Tuning
Close Harmony
Beat (acoustics)
Mathematics of Musical Scales

So, now post any cool little tips or musical phenomena that you have known that you found amazing in your previous experiences.

Which band or artist jumped the shark?

The other day I was scanning radio stations in the car trying to find a decent song (actually any song at that point because there were commercials on all the stations) and I paused at 98.9 for a moment. I paused in much the same way that a person would pause as they pass a horrific car accident. It's terrible but you can't look away. Similarly, this song was terrible and yet I couldn't change the station. The name of the song was...actually I don't know and don't want to know. The band was Metallica. I'm assuming the song was off of a new cd? Are people still buying their cds? I don't know. Anyway, the song sounded like all the band members were dead and the studio assembled some outtakes and made a song out it. (which is ironic because they have been dead to me since the black album...I think the black album should retrospectivelly be called "Metallica is dead, because we're going to sell out and suck really bad after this black album and that's why we made it black and with no album title because we died ") Kind of like after Elvis was dead and they kept "finding" lost songs or when they did a song with dead Elvis and his daughter Lisa Marie. Hetfield's singing...well I can only relate it to Velvetta. Velvetta is so processed that they can't even call it cheese...it's cheese product. Yes, James Hetfield Highly Processed Singing Product or JHHPSP for short. The guitar, bass and drums sounded terrible in every way imaginable...like a bad Guitar Hero version. Which brings me to the icing on the cake of disappointment. A kind of jumping the shark of the music business. Metallica endorsed Guitar Hero?!?! Somewhere on the west coast there is a very very happy and at peace Dave Mustaine who is no longer angry that he got kicked out of Metallica. He's so very very happy as he watches the Metallica Guitar Hero commercial, that he is not a part of that band!


Is there a band or artist that you feel jumped the shark? Did they lip sync at the superbowl? Did they guest judge on American Idol? Did they try to replace a frontman through a tv show called Rockstar? Did they make 5 albums past their prime? Did they play Pierre's recently? :-D What are your thoughts?

most annoying frontman ever?

(edit: I found this list of annoying rockstars with some pretty funny comments)
comment to place your vote for the most annoying frontman (singer) ever.
multiple suggestions are welcome, and reasons backed by evidence (specific songs or audio/video clips) would be nice =)

the 51st grammy awards

this years grammy awards: what did you think about this years show, winners, and performances?

we are being had (again)

I need to rant about this just a bit and then i'll be ok...

so I actually went to buy a CD today and was appalled at the price, and so i left the store to do a little research.  now in truth  it's been awhile since i bought a new CD from a store and i think the last one was at Best Buy on the release date so it was only $8.99 that day... everything else i've bought was used off ebay except for one album recently that was $5 for a whole 256kps mp3 album from amazon. 

so maybe i'm a bit of a jaded consumer but doesn't it seems like we are being totally ripped off when it comes to buying music?

i'll use the most recent counting crows CD as an example:

$10 amazon.com 256kbs mp3 download with no art/lyrics, etc

$14 + $3 shipping amazon.com for new CD with reduced packaging (read: no case)

$15 at Best Buy for CD with reduced packaging

$18 in B&N store for CD with cardboard sleeve (ahem: reduced package blah blah)

ok, artists really only get paid based on the amount of music they sell, right, so basic production and recording of albums is fairly consistient between artists and then marketing and pressing of the CD's i'm sure is not super cheap, but $15-$20 for a CD when I can buy 50 blank CD's for under $20?  given the benefit of doubt that it really does cost that much to make an album from start to finish where do they get off charging $10 for a download!?!?  and it would be $14 if I purchased it one track at a time on iTunes!??  wha?

if i remember, a download is an inferior quality version that contains no physical attributes, no case, no artwork, no lyrics.  I don't neccessarily want all that for every album i buy but i think we are getting ripped both ways now.  at least with a CD i can tell myself that i am getting the highest quality sound possible (a CD is 1400kbps while a mp3 is 128-256kbps) and at least with a CD i have an archival-quality, physical copy of something i bought and it will still be there if my hard drive/mp3 player craps out or comes down with a nasty virus.  but $20!?!? when we know it only costs them 25 cents for the CD, 25 cents for the liners, and 25 cents for the case.

somehow we have been convinced that despite massive increases in technology, a single song of lesser quality is worth $1 each on iTunes... that a physical copy of songs we purchased are not neccessary, and that it costs an artist $20 to produce an album.

/sigh... looks like i will be watching for more $3 deals on used CD's on ebay for all my future music purchases... sorry musicians

...and don't even get me started on what netflix and blockbuster are charging for less-than-DVD-quality movies for download... are we just that gullible these days or does quality not matter anymore in this throw-away world?

does rock make you ugly?

or is it that rock just allows the ugly to succeed? (see possible evidence in pic below)
although i'm not sure if eddie van halen was even decent-looking in his prime, i can easily say that he is far from it now if this pic from 2006 is allowed into evidence!
fortunately, more recent pics show a bit of improvement from his 'meth-mouth' look of 2006. i especially enjoyed some of the defensive comments from people on the blog.... wow those are some die-hard fans!