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Shuttin’ John Rich Down

Posted by John on April 8, 2009
Posted in: commentary, singles, videos. Tagged: . 4 Comments

Uh oh…John’s venturing back into Country territory again.

John Rich CDOne of the most talked-about songs at Country radio right now is John Rich’s “Shuttin’ Down Detroit”, which tells a tale of the fat cats in the Motor City driving off with the livelihood of the folks who work in their factories. You know, noble idea to document a real-life situation in real time. However, Rich decides to wrap himself in some pretty lame cliches, and the result is an overblown, lowest common denominator track that misses any sense of balance whatsoever. But if you think that sounds lame, try watching the video.

Did you watch it? If you didn’t, good for you. It’s crap. On the same day that the guy with 32 years seniority at an auto plant gets laid off (like that’s gonna happen with unions), he also gets a foreclosure notice. Sorry…sledgehammers have slightly more subtle delivery methods than this self-important video. So the guy who wrote an ode to John McCain and compared gay marriage to incest gets a buzz track. Good for him. But karma’s a bitch…his “hit” stalled at #12 for a few weeks, and is now losing airplay. Songs that get that high on the country chart almost ALWAYS make the Top 10.

Good and Bad

Posted by John on March 15, 2009
Posted in: charts, commentary, concerts, new releases, upcoming. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 5 Comments

ting03Good – The Ting Tings appear to be getting that long-promised breakthrough, as “That’s Not My Name” breaks into the pop radio Top 40 (#39 at the moment). “Shut Up and Let Me Go” also made the Top 40, although just barely. Let’s hope “Name” has a little more momentum to make it happen. If all goes well, I will be seeing them live at the beginning of April here in Denver.

Bad – The slow start of The Script breaking in the U.S. How this group has so far been ignored is beyond me. You would think that this was custom-made for American consumption. The physical release of the CD is this Tuesday, but it was released months ago on iTunes. I blame the industry for this (along with anything else that goes wrong).

Good – Neko Case’s “Middle Cyclone” debuts at #3 on the Billboard Top Albums chart. Srsly?

Bad – The Neko Case CD only sold 44,000 units to land at #3. Srsly?

Good – Kelly Clarkson’s CD “All I Ever Wanted” appears ready to debut at #1, with sales around 200,000 units.

Bad – “My December”, which was considered a failure, sold 291,000 units when it debuted.

depeche_mode_soundsGood – I’m looking forward to upcoming new releases from the Pet Shop Boys (just pre-ordered the double disc at CD-Wow), Depeche Mode (released on the same day in the U.S. as PSB), and Lady Sovereign.

–Bad – Sadly, there is also new music on the horizon from Kid Rock and John Rich. (More on John Rich tomorrow)