Justin Bieber got egged - the start of a new music rebellion?

Seeing Justin Bieber almost pelted with eggs can come with an enormous relief and payback from his fanbases. But had he been pelted then there would be no relief and a certain payback towards the person who threw the eggs at a huge arena.


It's not hard to hate the kid whether you are a huge music lover, one who collects all music from The Beatles or who holds a record so dear they'll listen to it all the way through, or a person whose theory that there is no such thing as bad music brings in the exception to teen pop or pop iteself. Yet it's hard trying to ignore the kid whenever you hold up a conversation with the person bringing him as the subject or whenever the internet feeds you with praise or hate of him.

Where the egging occured was at Acer Arena in Sydney, 30km from where I live. I knew what was going to happen with Bieber when he appeared in Australia especially in Sydney. Remember last April where he appeared in a promotional gig for a morning breakfast show. He appeared where more than a thousand fans went in, scream when seeing his hair. Unfortunately the experience was ruined. The irony? They ruined it by causing a stampede that riot police will remember as "the most bizzare incident they'll ever cover".

The egging I think was pretty much irresponsible given that throwing small stuff at live acts would've ruined it for everyone. Besides I would feel sorry for the performer (Bieber) if someone threw stuff at him but I won't be sorry that the performer was responsible for ruining his own show for the fans.

The teenager who aspires to be a music critic (hint: an Almost Famous copycat) was given provisional bail by a local court. And believe me he and what I presume every music lover is starting not just a war towards Bieber but the whole of mainstream music.

Mainstream music had started to become dumber whenever you turn on a popular radio station that plays what they want you to hear. Acts like Britney Spears (who'll I'll say was responsible for the decline of Music Civilisation), Usher, Ke$ha and Katy Perry are just making us cringe listening to lyrics that insult our intelligence, music that feels like a total rip-off of certain music we love and how satuated the music industry too afraid of hearing the word 'download' and more eager to hear 'sex appeal' than 'big voices'. The only hope I think there is would be ADELE who has such a natural voice with her album 21

So the rebellion began when indie acts like Arcade Fire, The Black Keys and Esperanza Spalding win their first ever Grammys with the former winning Album Of The Year. That is good for them only because it was more on creative and artistic form than popular form. Despite winning, they get a lot of backlash by the mainstream since they've never heard of the orchestrated band before their big win. There starting a Tumblr instead of just searching up their music.

There's no such thing as a music rebellion, but I think its more to do with the anti against music that are runned by fat cats who believes in looks rather than talent. Last week I bought a copy of Is This It? by The Strokes and I wonder if they would've gone mainstream then music would've been saved. If it wasn't for 9/11 , our minds would've forget The Strokes as an excellent band that played on raw emotion and bringing back garage rock.

I wanted the days where music is for everyone, that is not idiotic and does not think who they're aiming at are dumb bitches too sloppy and easy to buy their crap. Music I consider raw and meaningful and what I favour will be in ghettos around alternative and cult radio stations and around alternative websites and the people listening to that kind of music are undeservedly targeted and are labelled 'hipster' which is just hateful and almost as close as calling someone a Nazi.

But then the result will be 'you're a hater' and we should learn that music is subjective as it should be. The truth is that so many radio listeners are on the highest level of lazy and are 'dinosaurs'. So there will be in several occasions that your favourite song whether independent or idiosyncratic could crack the Top 40.

Anyway, about Justin Bieber....

As a person, I should like him because there's a hint of talent in his body. Yes he can sing (but only mediocre) and he can play the drums. His Wikipedia page states that he can also play the trumpet. The problem I have with his music is that it's always the same song and contain repetitive and cliched lyrics (I wonder whether they're lyrics since they're more of a pick up lines.). None of the songs I've heard by him sometimes make me feel good about myself for a guy whose the same age as him (fact: he sings Baby 56x). More so playing the drums by himself occassionally and by himself, it's strange to see him do that when he's not in a band for which I would've grew more respect for him.

To put Bieber in the same sentence with another musical act that are great now and then is insulting in so many levels. Here's are example:

• Justin Bieber and Nine Inch Nails rules Golden Gloves
• Heard of Beatlemania: here's Biebermania
• Justin Bieber is this generation's Bob Dylan

Are you any angrier?

But Bieber is not about his music. he's more of a marketing robot. He would reminds me of Napoleon, the great French emperor. The dude's empire will grow like oil of a ground, revolutions for and against ignite like wildfires, but at some random point he'll fall. The difference between this comparison is the latter. Bieber won't be fallen unless something tears down his squeaky clean image. But he's expanding to his fans selling his new nail polish (go ahead: WTF), made a movie about himself, appearing at the Golden Globes and countless talk shows for nothing.

He cares all about his fans so much that he tries to stretch his niche audience into one big mass by being everywhere and shoving down our throats. That's the biggest flaw about him. It's more of his fanbase and yes fanbases that consists of tweens (Miley Cyrus, Glee, Twilight) are becoming so big and literally crazy. 13 year olds opening their Twitter and naming themselves after Bieber like he's some kind of god. These people are the same girls who threaten to hack our accounts, sent death messages to anyone affected by Bieber and those who cannot give me a huge justification into why they like him.

Another thing that bothers me about his fanbase is how much they worship him and this links to his political views. In a Rolling Stone article, he quotes "rape happens for a reason" and something about how abortion should be illegal. The first quote almost captures everything I would hate about Justin Bieber. He has the same views that are maligment as Sarah Palin and to say rape happens for a reason that would leave so many rapists in the Middle East and everywhere off the hook and are unlikely to get a life sentence. With his political views and so has his religion of 'no sex before marriage' on the hook, his fans would become more conservative as a redneck but it also means that Bieber would use his approaches as an ironic euphemism for sex. That's parallel to the South Park episode about the Jonas Brothers.

Ultimately though, Bieber is apparently a marketing virus who writes songs that are generic as pure milk. Like many teen idols including Aaron Carter, Backstreet Boys and N*SYNC (though Justin Timberlake actually has a proper career), Bieber will not remembered for shaping music or ruining it. He will be remembered for having his 15 minutes of fame quadrupled to an hour of fame. IN ten years time whenever we think about him, we'll just remember his hair.

Quick music - Arcade Fire, Kanye West, Vampire Weekend

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

From literally one of the world's biggest bands, The Suburbs, their latest album is one of the most addictive albums I have listened from a band. Arcade Fire is a new Radiohead for a new generation. Their contemporary lyrics deal with living in a suburban life and dealing with the national id of yourself. It may not have greater like their previous albums Neon Bible or Funeral (which I haven't heard yet) but The Suburbs is their most ambitious yet.

The album is nominated in both Album Of The Year and the indie-restricted category Alternative Album Of The Year. It may win Album Of The Year based on critical analysis but it certainly will win Alternative.

Listen to tracks: The Suburbs, Ready To Start, Sprawl II, Empty Room, Half Light (No Celebration).

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Reading reviews from Pitchfork is boring unless an album recieves a perfect score. (10.0). Kanye West's latest MBDTF is the first album to recieve that score since Wilco and sparked a range of opinions on Twitter. Besides I would have gave The Social Network a 10.0

 But it's right that the record should receive that kind of score because this is literally a work of art from West as it makes hip hop more into a art form. He's inspired by the all lows to create this classic that is metaphorically an abstract portrait of a modern man.

He may be that genre's Radiohead or Thom Yorke. College Dropout or Late Registration is his The Bends, Graduation is his OK Computer, 808s was his Kid A, this record would be his In Rainbows or another OK Computer but like that album more critically acclaimed.

I never heard hip hop with such ambition and really grandiose as this album and it goes within its hype that may have West forgiven.

Listen to tracks: Runaway, Monster, Power, Gorgeous, So Appalled, Lost In The World

Vampire Weekend - Contra

This is one of those albums that I listen when I feel happy. Let's face it. Hipster culture makes me happy. Music, movies and women who are act like hipsters. Vampire Weekend is one of them. And it's one of their catchiest record to date.

The ambiguous lyrics can be heard from Cousins and Holiday because of the fast pace and the slow but mellow Diplomat's Son which reminds me of a movie made by Woody Allen. But all for a while Vampire Weekend mixes African beats and reggae with pop. It's what indie rock is all about



Listen to tracks: White Sky, Cousins, Giving Up The Gun, Diplomat's Son 

Top 10 of 2010: Music of 2010

2010 might have been the year where many genres including hip-hop, rock, alternative had gone into underground mode. You have to listen to Linkin Park, Muse, Vampire Weekend, Alicia Keys, etc. in niche radio stations. Because of RnB and stupid electronica in where it is the same cliche in every song. Getting the girl and these songs' never actually contain lyrics. If you listen to Usher's OMG or Cheryl Cole's 3 Words they're just a bunch of pick-up lines piled up to make a song. Not only that, our tastes in music is getting dissed because of one thing... teenagers. THey just want to hear Bieber (and yes boys listen to Bieber to get some pick-up lines from 'Baby') and at times will panic if they hear a guitar riff.

Anyway let's see what is the best songs of 2010. It's really hard to decide but you get the feeling:

10. Gorillaz - On Melacholy Hill





'Up on melacholy hill in a plastic tree/are you here with me?'. Well that's the starting point of Gorillaz, who's concept album Plastic Beach is a wonderful piece to listen. It had been six years since the cartoon band had released some material. But after their success from their song Feel Good Inc., they decide to go experimental with their recent album. If you have bought the album, you'll know the message Gorillaz's trying to deliver. An environmental message about our shores? Close. Beside Melacholy Hill works because of its catchy riff and trippy melodies.

9. LCD Soundsystem - I Can Change





LCD Soundsystem is the survivor of electronica now vague from DJs such as Duck Sauce and Yolanda Be Cool. LCD Soundsystem's album This is Happening might be their very last material they would recored. But their album may have been better. Instead of going into loud beats and one word lyrics, they go into electronic melodies with a deep concept about substance abuse and deep partying. I Can Change is one track I like since it could be darker and deeper with drinking and how its dysfuctions towards relationships.

8. Angus and Julia Stone - Big Jet Plane





Mesmerising and chilly. Two words I wanted to describe about this song. Honestly, Australian music had gone rusty and downgraded. Never had been played on radios since. But this radio-friendly song is almost had us want to ride on a jet plane and want to experience our youth and come back to our home. Gonna take you for a ride on a Big Jet Plane is one lyric way unforgettable and open our imaginations of the skies. Funny and yet weirdly this would have been the song for George Clooney's travel flick Up In The Air.

7. Florence & The Machine - Cosmic Love





The first person I have been fascinated about this year. Florence and The Machine is a powerhouse vocalist adored by the public as the 'next Kate Bush'. Her debut album Lungs was a powerful piece featuring a cover version of "You've got the Love" (was a top 10 hit in Australia) and "Dog Days Are Over". But Cosmic Love is more bellowing with its maleviolent language and issues. If Jeff Buckley had fooled men with lovers, then Florence And The Machine may be it for the girls.

6. My Chemical Romance - Na Na Na Na Na Na 





For My Chemical Romance, emo was a trend that had themselves to blame for the suicides of teenage girls (Well only one person died). In Danger Days (The Lives Of The Killjoys... I think?), Na Na Na Na just goes on as a Green Day-lite anthem that kinda upliftingly worked. One of the prime examples of bands leaving their roots out, Romance's anthem actually tells the background of the Killjoys, the band's persona which was the main concept. If this was their American Idiot, this song may be their... well, American Idiot.

5. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs





The Suburbs is one album of 2010 that I've been addicted to. Arcade Fire had become the biggest bands in the world... literally. Given how there were 6 members in the band. Arcade Fire is an orchestra, would be Canada's answer to Radiohead. The Suburbs is a concept album about the life in the streets (the surburbs) and since it contains great ambition, it makes this a better album that many mainstream fans can access. The title track has a great opening with its dark yet cheerful tone disguised in the track that is so witty.

4. Cee Lo Green - F**k You!





To me, this is the antithesis of many songs from Bruno Mars, Jason Derulo and especially Justin Bieber. If I meet Bieber on the street, I would tell them to f**k himselves. If people tell me that I listen to my music too much, I would tell them to f**k themselves. But if they hate this song, then go f**k yourself as well. This song has wit. It has a story. And like Kanye West's Gold Digger it shows how women are so misleading these days. If you had enough of voice enhanced songs with pick-up lines then this song is for you.

3. Muse - Exogenesis: Symphony











How I could I hate Muse? It's impossible I wouldn't (yes, I would forgive them for making the theme song for Twilight). What I like about them is that they takes risks like Radiohead. Exogenesis: Symphony to me is like the first song to act as a true orchestra and Bellamy's vocals had turned this into a real concerto. It's like the soundtrack to a grand science fiction epic. The massive highlight from their album The Resistance, it's likely that these rockers would topple U2 and become one of the biggest bands in the world now.

2. Kanye West - Runaway





West would have us speechless with this song. To everyone this might be the true apology for interrupting Taylor Swift's moment. Runaway begins with a chilling piano riff that has West looking down to himself of his behaviour and to people who are the same as him. It is a very progressive song and yet very moving.

Runaway was accompanied with a 35 minute video that may get a chance for the Oscar for Best Short Film. Beautifully directed by Kanye West himself this song is one of the main highlights of his latest masterpiece My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Runaway is almost a mixture of Late Registration at the beginning and at the end it's 808s & Heartbreak. The song has a story. A persona had expressed regret for destroying a relationship because of his antics. It is self-critical because the lyrics expressed remorse of West's antics at the MTV Awards. Runaway is a blueprint and more importantly it makes hip hop turned into an art form.

To say that Kanye West is a genius would be an exagerration. But we know that he moved on from the incident and his latest album Twisted Fantasy would let us focus on only his music. IF you wouldn't forgive him, here's a line: Let's have a toast to the douche bags/let's have a toast for the assholes
  
1. Vampire Weekend - Cousins





2010 started off with Vampire Weekend's second album Contra. Released on January 11th, it started off with Cousins, a song so catchy over two minutes and fast paced, it had hipsters dancing... before Bieber crashed. Cousins feels like a song worth celebrating with its continuous guitar riff and drum solo.

Contra feels and kinda looked like an audio equivalent of a Woody Allen film (more specifically Vicky Cristina Barcelona). I can tell. But Cousins has lyrics so smart, so catchy and energetic, it is more catchier than a Black Eyed Peas song. The song deals with being a hipster. Weekend would assume them as cousins. The persona is greatly defined. From Interest in colours I'd discovered myself/ If your art life is gritty you'll be toasting my health to You can turn your bitter back on the bitter world.

If you have a revolt with hipsters, think again. Believe me. Hipsters have brought us the greater things that make us feel good. Movies like (500) Days Of Summer put a smile on my face and this is one of those indie songs that gives us great energy and had us back to our youth. I feel happy when hipsters are around. If Vampire Weekend makes you angry you might have had a hangover.

If these songs are appropriate to you, it doesn't matter. These are my favourite songs and most of these songs have in common. And this is my theory. Since we're all tired from Bieber and such, these kinds of music are the rebellion against the meaninglessness of our self-obssessed, ignorant society. 


But what is your favourite music of 2010. Let's discuss


PS- you might not know this people

Kanye West: The 21st Century Pariah

A lot of rappers had never made controversy these days, in their lifetimes. We see Eminem releasing Recovery which had him back to the very top people think they deserved. But we never seen Drake arrested in an average drug bust. But Lil Wayne and T.I. are both rappers who are currently serving their time in prison. Yet Wayne still makes a lot of money with his latest album 'I am Not a Human Being' whilst serving an eight-month sentence for illegal weapon possession... oh I found that he had served his time out. But T.I. is still in prison and unlike Wayne had never given us new material.

But these rappers never made a lot of fuss. Because the media doesn't care thankfully. And yet I never cared about any of their music. I liked Eminem but his old stuff was greater than his recent material which Eminem basically complain about everything in his life. His kids is overly alluded so was his ex-wife and these totally untrue stories about domestic violence ('Love The Way You Lie"). He's sounding like a whiny b#@ch.

 But what do people cared was Kanye West. His latest album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy had just arrived in stores and believe it or not, it's possible that West's career would be certain for a revival... unless he'd say anything stupid.

The latest from West was that he broke his silence about Taylor Swift commenting on how he used that MTV Awards incident to boost his career (it is also rumored that Swift had used famous people she would date with to grab fame). He said that he never been defended by her in every interview she is in and said that he is incidently responsible for her own good. Chances would be very slim.

Read more at:
Kanye West launches into ANOTHER tirade about Taylor Swift and ...

This was one of the controversies he had caused this year. The last thing he did was to cancel a Today Show Interview because of what's mentioned above.

West now has PR issues. No matter what he says, the media would use his comments as an interpretation of his arrogant behaviour. But I still have faith on this guy because I feel sorry for him that he had to be treated by a totally biased media and society. To me he's like Mark Zuckerberg from The Social Network. He has similar qualities as him and most of all he's a stingy zeigeist where like him we are the narcissists of the public. (and about Taylor Swift, she gets too much attention. Sorry)

But an album that was getting rave reviews (some of the reviews considered this his best album yet) would likely to ressurect him back from the dead. Listening to West's latest material is like a form of art. West's album had turned hip hop into a portrait of ourselves.

It's interesting to say that nobody would allow West to have his opinion on anything in life. You can actually follow his opinions on Twitter which the site had made him so resilient. Opinions that Taylor Swift is not a great singer is almost uncalled for and even saying how good Kanye West is in the music universe is almost blasphemy.

West would have never made these comments if his mother never died. This was one of those myths about Kanye. Everything that turned him into a Sid Vicious was because of his mother Donna who died from cosmetic surgery implications. West would have honoured her mother if he had raised awareness about the dangers of plastic surgery.

The best thing about West and his controversies was that he got the balls to stand up and say how bewildered you are and how shocking it is. I mean no matter what he say about an issue whether it was about an American President, which music video was the best of all time, whether he should win an award, it's his own opinion. Believe it or not, I actually support his views. Beyonce would've won Best Female Video for Single Ladies because it was so clever while Swift's video of You Belong WIth Me is almost predictable as it is. Girl sees boy, boy get stuck with skank and girl and boy fall in love.

I actually thought that when Kanye said that George Bush doesn't care about black people during America's effort for Hurricane Katrina victims, he's reffering to Bush not working enough for Katrina not refering to Bush as a racist. But Kanye also refers to the majority of New Orleans is African American. So what's the big fuss. it's just an euphemism West had made to comment about Bush's worst moment in his presidency. Five years later, Bush had admit that it was the worst moment he'd experienced during his time.

I'm a huge fan of this guy. Every album he had recorded (College Dropout, Late Registration and even My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy) are masterpieces. It shows and deliver really abstract emotion. But despite this, the albums are also considered to be the killers of hip hop. You got to be serious. You can still hear hip hop even though there are no baggy pants or iradical lyrics about the gangster lifestyle. Why do you think rapping is dead. But what makes rapping almost dead was the autotuning. Jay Z's song DOA (Death Of Autotune) try to spread the message across but never worked. However I don't think that hip hop is extinct. It's just like saying rock music is dead.

As for me, West's mistakes and personality had reflected on who I am. West's barraging on the stage and saying what he thinks is like how I think about the world's music today. His spirit shows that when you have caused a scene, it still makes you sane.

For whatever complaints there is about Kanye West, the good thing about him now is that he could have been the columnist of a music magazine if the pressure is too much for him. But West may have scored a comeback and learned his mistakes and try to move on. But the media couldn't give a damn about it and even if he tries to recover from being a social outcast, they still going to remind him about that incident because Taylor Swift is more popular than she was in her 'Fearless' years.

West should be known to make the proverb 'Ignorance is Bliss' greater. But he's more prone to making that quote into the portrait of ourselves

The life of Kid A

First of all, one of my favourite bands is Radiohead. A group of 5 people from Ablington School in Oxford in England who meets together to form some of the best music in this modern era of music where grunge turns dead and makes itself look country, Britney Spears and many Disney label artists took over and brainwash our filthy minds and make them so messier. Today our mind was not yet cleaned when a 16 year old idiot squashed our rage with his song reffering to an infant and girls get swooned by them

Anyway, back to Radiohead one of the greatest bands never listened to by the mainstream because of the first paragraph mentioned and in this article we say..

Happy Birthday to Kid A.

I'm not talking about a kid who is named after the first letter of the alphabet. I'm talking about the fourth album made by Radiohead that was recorded at the beginning of the millenieum and really divided fans of the band. So, it's been ten years since this album was released and we still think Kid A is a classic in the alternative rock genre. IT has been named Album of the Decade (the 00s) by Rolling Stone Magazine, Pitchfork beating out other classics such as The Strokes' Is This It, The White Stripes' Elephant and Jay Z's The Blueprint.

What's interesting is that it's been a year since I've bought it and it's only for $9.99 when I first started liking Radiohead. Most of the teachers in my school liked this band while kids are just morons to know about them.

Pre Kid A


Radiohead in the 90s was much difficult to hear. Their debut single 'Creep' became an instant hit unexpectedly in 1993 while Nirvana and Pearl Jam were must listen bands. These bands form grunge and it's bringing alternative rock to the mainstream where the lyrics and tone much range around angst and adolescence.

'Creep' was a radio hit in Israel and despite this success, Radiohead was shocked to learn about that and suprisingly for any music artist they were angry because that single had gave them too much pressure into recording.

When grunge turns itself into the grave, the band recorded their second album 'The Bends' and again they were stuck in the middle of a breakthrough genre in England called Britpop with popular bands such as Oasis, Blur, Primal Scream and Pulp. The Bends proved to be a success that spawned hit singles like 'High and Dry', 'Fake Plastic Trees and Street Spirit. It was critically acclaimed because of Thom Yorke's (the lead singer) falsetto voice.

But much success came with OK Computer, their follow up of The Bends. It was an album that like a best selling novel spawned many allegories. There were many themes towards angst, consumerism, social isolation that were inside each song. It might also comment on the politics of England when Tony Blair was elected Prime Minister of UK. OK Computer is still considered one of the greatest albums of all time.

The birth of Kid A


Recently Linkin Park an album called A Thousand Suns where it was Farewell Nu Metal and changes their music completely. Kid A was like that. It was a complete change in style for the band in which Radiohead mostly preffered that option. Whilst recording, Yorke suffered from writer's block and attempts to fill ideas to songs recorded in the studio.


Kid A was influenced by many genres outside of rock. Jazz, electronica and classical were the main influences. And during the initial release, Radiohead had avoided traditions of each musician. The band didn't release a single, the lyrics were so abstract and 'amazingly' these principles actually work because of unique marketing that involved animated 'blips' shown here.


The album was neither a concept album nor a pop album. It looks like an album with audio filled with abstract paintings that will question itself into what each song would mean. It might be an arthouse album and even though Radiohead never had said about its imagery, it was an album that would divide many listeners of music and many of the band's fans.


Kid A was then released to critical acclaim with Pitchfork Media rated this album 10.0/10, a rare rating for the publication who never done this before to any album reviewed to the site. The album went Platinum (+70000 units) in Australia and was a best seller.







Review of Kid A


Rating: 5/5


Kid A may have been a sudden change for Radiohead, but when I was starting out to like Radiohead, Kid A is almost a beautiful album. It sounds like a soundtrack or a score of a really eerie movie and it's almost visceral to say Radiohead is working towards being one of the greatest bands of all time. Radiohead nails the music with influences from jazz, techno and krautrock that creates such a head trip to the album without a touch of Jonny Greenwood's guitar. 'Everything In Its Right Place' and 'How to Disappear Completely' shows off its true angst, while 'The National Anthem' make itself look epic. Not everything's changed in the album. Thom Yorke's falsetto vocals is still intact despite the distortion of his vocals in the title track. Kid A proves to be a state-of-the-art classic by saying to itself 'I can make my own music' without pulling to the finger to the mainstream society...still listening to dopey artists.


Best tracks:

• Kid A
• The National Anthem
• How To Disappear Completely
• In Limbo
• Idioteque

Post-Kid A

Since Kid A, Radiohead had been recording albums by this style. Their follow up Amnesiac is the follow up to Kid A and had still been successful with their experimental use of music. Later, they released Hail To The Thief where it was influenced by politics. But these two albums still divide fans on whether this style of recording would work for them.

But Radiohead returned back to their roots with their recent album In Rainbows where it was independently recorded. It can sell for any price to download on their website even for free. It was critically acclaimed for being so chilled and at the same time, its lyrics were so seductive.

Radiohead will likely to release a new album any time soon,