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Ben’s 10 Volume LXXII: Albums for Sleeping
Are you having trouble sleeping? Any of the following recordings will soothe and ease your mind into a restful state. Carcass – Heartwork Deicide – Once Upon the Cross Morbid Angel – Covenant Satyricon – Nemesis Divina Cannibal Corpse – The Bleeding Emperor – In the Nightside Eclipse Immortal – Battles in the North Mayhem – De Mysteriis Dom …
Read More »Ben’s 10 Volume LXXI : Rock Album Narcotic Pairings
Heroin: Iggy Pop Kill City The only true way to relate to where Iggy was in his life and career in 1977 is to listen to Kill City. Pop had just been released from a mental hospital for heroin addiction and didn’t do well with recovery. It was not uncommon for him to be found literally lying in the gutter …
Read More »Tortoise – The Catastrophist
Tortoise is a funky find if you’re looking for music to make ransom notes, like the kind a psycho would make with cut-out letters. The genre is classified as “post-rock,” but I tend to think of it as awesome video game music. No lyrics needed to get the point across with these guys. Their new album The Catastrophist has …
Read More »Live Show Preview: Tigerbomb’s Final Performance
Tigerbomb!, the beloved eighteen-year-old Guided By Voices tribute band with origins in Humboldt, will be playing their final show this weekend. The band’s performance will take place Saturday, May 28th at The Shanty in Eureka and they will be accompanied by three local bands. The concept of Tigerbomb! originated with vocalist Jensen Rufe. While attending HSU in 1997, Rufe wrote …
Read More »Ben’s 10 Volume LXX: Musician Plan B Careers
Ben Allen, music editor Sammy Hagar – NASCAR driver Jerry Garcia – Santa Claus Ronnie Jame Dio – Santa’s Elf Ozzy Osbourne – Elementary School Teacher Eric Clapton – Investment Banker David Lee Roth – Paramedic Scott Stapp – Trailer Park Manager Don Henley – Mortician Ric Ocasek – Model Brian May – Astrophysicist
Read More »Ben’s 10 Volume LXIX: Ten Amazing Facts About Christmas in the Stars
By the early ‘80s, the consistently increasing popularity of the Star Wars saga warranted the production of all types of merchandise, even a holiday-themed recording. Christmas in the Stars was released in November of 1980 and was largely sung and narrated by Anthony Daniels, the guy who played C-3PO in the films. After the initial pressing of 150,000, RSO Records …
Read More »The Messiah: Kurt Cobain
“What the fuck is wrong with popular music these days?” I exclaim as the local alternative radio station plays yet another vanilla, uninspired excuse for a song. In rock & roll’s 60-plus-year existence there have consistently been artists who drastically alter the state of popular music. On occasion a musician emerges whose songwriting and voice is so original and pure …
Read More »Bands Possibly Named After Genitalia
Whitesnake Tool The Meat Puppets Toad the Wet Sprocket Hole The Flaming Lips Jack Johnson Hootie and the Blowfish Red Red Meat The Slits Swollen Members Limp Bizkit Faster Pussycat Fishbone They Might Be Giants
Read More »Ben’s 10 Volume LXVIII: Musicians and Their Meat Sticks
I know our readership spends a great deal of time thinking, “I am sure curious about Rick Allen’s penis.” What follows is some fascinating insight into the very “private parts” of rock and roll royalty. Ted Nugent “The Nuge” is a mentally challenged, buck-toothed hillbilly and fittingly his ding-dong is half an inch long, but four inches wide, resembling a …
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