I’m posting this for the sole purpose of making sure my roomate Dave is never more than an internet connection away from hearing this song. He’s been known to get cranky when he can’t. It’s from Blind Melon’s second record, released just months before frontman Shannon Hoon’s fatal cocaine overdose.

I never felt that Blind Melon got a fair shake because they will forever be known only as the band that sings that “No Rain” song. Dave thinks about it like “No Rain” is a song from the radio. The stuff on Soup is actually Blind Melon. It’s the same way I think of “Creep.” It’s a song that’s generally associated with Radiohead, but real Radiohead is stuff like “The National Anthem.” Unfortunately for Blind Melon, their iron lung didn’t get a chance to sustain them long enough to make a greater impression.  So I’m going to try to do my part to share something else.  Also their cover of the Schoolhouse Rock classic “Three is A Magic Number” and, because I mentioned it, “The National Anthem.”

 Blind Melon - Vernie [3:16m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Blind Melon - Three is a Magic Number [3:14m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Radiohead - The National Anthem (Live) [4:58m]: Play in Popup | Download

So I had admitted earlier that I felt a fair amount of trepidation regarding last night’s Stone Temple Pilots show.  I’d read bad things,  I kind of floundered to come up with an ideal setlist, and, in doing so, I came to terms with how I really feel about Stone Temple Pilots.  But in the end I think these things just served to keep my expectations in check, which turned out really well for me.
I already expected them to open with “Big Empty,” having read more than one account of things happening this way, and I was really okay with that.  I thought it was a good way to ease into the show, and Dean’s guitar on that one is well highlighted.  “Wicked Garden” was next, and the first of eight (8) songs from .  Eight.  Including two that I didn’t even recognize (I’ll post a complete setlist once I figure out what they were).  I find this notably odd, especially when compared with the Smashing Pumpkins only playing one song that was even from the Gish era (Of course the Pumpkins had something to promote, STP were just there to play and try to be famous again).
Scott didn’t seem to be under the influence of anything, but I’m a horrible judge.  I just figure he always minces about like that, palm out, twisting in his Beatle boots.  If he muddled the words to anything, it was to songs I don’t know the words to, either (and likely while I was trying to sing along to said songs).  His voice sounded okay, a little nasal on “Big Bang Baby” but that’s his choice.  It was pretty nice, actually, to hear some of those early songs sung with the more distinct voice Scott cultivated later on.  I’d also read complaints of Scott rambling on between songs, and he was fairly talkative early on, mentioning how they didn’t usually make it through SLC when they were touring before, but beyond that not much.  Nothing distracting.
Overall it was a good show.  Worth my $10 discount ticket.  Probably not worth full price, but that’s me.  The breakdown of albums represented was a little telling: 8 from Core (9 if you count playing “Wet My Bed” over the PA as they took a curtain call), 4 from Purple, 3 from Tiny Music…, 2 from No. 4, and 2 from Shangri-la Dee Da, and only one from last Friday’s list (”Too Cool Queenie,” it kind of made my night).  It appears we did it to ourselves, as the STP website has a feature that invites you to build a setlist.  It’s the right way to do a tour like this, and I really wish I’d taken some initiative with that, but alas.  Looks like Vegas on Saturday is going to have a much better set.  I approve.

I wasn’t planning on seeing Stone Temple Pilots on their reunion tour. I saw the Smashing Pumpkins last September, Meat Puppets & Built to Spill in March, and my roomate just saw the Breeders a couple weeks ago, so I figured we had our reunions shows taken care of. I mean, I love STP, they were my first proper alt rock band, I own all their albums (though Core was just taped from my friend’s copy, I’m fine with that, though), but I’ve never considered them a live band. Still, when I was presented with a chance to buy tickets for $10 a piece, I couldn’t pass that up at all.

And then it hit me that I never really thought about STP in a live setting. I know they’ve been on the Family Values Tour (though I always cringe a bit when I’m reminded of Scott Weiland’s brief association with Fred Durst). I’ve seen pictures of Scott Weiland dressed flamboyantly and brandishing a megaphone on stage. I just never stopped and pondered how great “Interstate Love Song” must be live. It hit me today that I don’t know what song to expect, or even what I really want to hear. The radio spot promoting the show uses “Dead & Bloated”, “Wicked Garden”, “Creep”, “Sex Type Thing”, “Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart”, “Vaseline”, and “Interstate Love Song” but I can’t imagine the show being so Core-centric. What with the band growing and maturing beyond their pretty straighforward and oft-bland first album. I see STP as having peaked at Tiny Music… and the slumped until the break up, but still ending as a much better band than they started as. Still, the only post-Purple song on the ad is the STP song from Guitar Hero II. But then you really shouldn’t take those spots too seriously.

So I decided to put my mind to it and present you with a bunch of songs I want to hear at Tuesday’s show. I wanted to do this with the Pumpkins show, but those would have been total longshots given the depth of the Pumpkins’ catalog. STP only had five albums, and they aren’t promoting new material and they aren’t known for prolific B-sides, so I feel good about this. My biggest trial coming up with this list is trying not to simply put up all thirteen tracks from Tiny Music… I mean all of ‘em, too, even the simple instrumental segues “Press Play” and “Daisy.”

Anyhow, here are some STP songs I’d love to hear (except “Christmas Time is Here”, but it was too cool to pass up). But doing a little research before the show, looks like I’m in to be disappointed. But hey! Artie Fufkin promised that if (when) Weiland gets put back into rehab and has to cancel the concert, then we’re having a Stone Temple Pilots Singalong at his house.

 Stone Temple Pilots - Adhesive [5:35m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Stone Temple Pilots - Art School Girlfriend [3:35m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Stone Temple Pilots - Christmas Time is Here (live) [3:33m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Stone Temple Pilots - Ride the Cliché: Play in Popup | Download
 Stone Temple Pilots - Too Cool Queenie [2:48m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Stone Temple Pilots - Kitchenware & Candybars/The Second Album [8:06m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Stone Temple Pilots - Pop's Love Suicide: Play in Popup | Download
 Stone Temple Pilots - Meat Plow [3:37m]: Play in Popup | Download

I was working on a project for my wonderful LtM counterpart, Jen, when I came across some really weird covers using Skreemr. Turns out nobody has a regular album version of “Mr. Crowley” on Internet, but they do have Ozzy covering “Stayin’ Alive.” Yeah, that “Stayin’ Alive.” This simply seemed strange at first, until I thought about the history of things, the Bee Gees released “Stayin’ Alive” back in ‘76 while Ozzy was still with Black Sabbath. I really don’t want to ponder the significance of this, but I hope it’s no more than, “Hey, wouldn’t it be funny to get Ozzy to sing a disco song? We could even get Frank Zappa’s kid to play guitar! It’s so wacky!” Those are my hopes.

After I found that, I had to do a little research and discovered that Dweezil and his brother Ahmet covered Britney Spears’ breakout hit “Baby, One More Time” for the film Ready to Rumble. This doesn’t strike me as nearly so odd, since it’s been done by Travis and Fountains of Wayne, but I think it serves the post well.

Still could not find the album version of “Mr. Crowley.”

 Ozzy Osbourne w/ Dweezil Zappa - Stayin' Alive [4:42m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa - Baby One More Time [4:11m]: Play in Popup | Download

I am generally pretty trusting of Jen and her sources, but I had to double check to make sure I saw that right. Metallica. At Bonnaroo. I still associate the ‘Roo quite a bit with its jam band roots and it’s location in Tennessee, it’s kind of hard to fathom. For those of you who didn’t see that Behind the Music (I watched a lot of Vh1 in the late ’90’s), Metallica have allegedly calmed down and stopped drinking & breaking stuff all the time, but they will still, I assume, be playing Metallica songs. There have been pretty heavy acts gracing the Bonnaroo stages in the past, Pearl Jam this year, Tool last year for example, but there’s something about them that still “fits” y’know? PJ are politically active, Tool are notorious stoners. Metallica’s bound to harsh someone’s mellow, but if metal’s your thing, this is the ‘Roo for you, as indie kids’ favourite makers of modern metal, Mastodon, will also be killin’ buzz at this year’s festival.

For those unfamiliar with either band, I’ve included some examples of what will be sharing stages with Ozomatli, Béla Fleck, and freaking Iron & Wine. I don’t think I need to remind you how far beyond mellow Iron & Wine are. Playing the same festival as Metallica & Mastodon.

Also, interesting is that Lez Zeppelin will be playing, and possibly confusing people into thinking that Led Zeppelin will be playing, but Zep frontman Robert Plant will be there performing with Alison Krauss.

Bonnaroo Official Site | Metallica Official | Metallica Myspace | Mastodon Official | Mastodon MySpace

 Metallica - Master of Puppets [8:31m]: Play in Popup | Download
 Mastodon - Blood and Thunder [3:48m]: Play in Popup | Download (1767)

So, Godsmack put out a greatest hits comp, Good Times, Bad Times…Ten Years of Godsmack, today, one more in a line of bands (Creed, Blink 182, Korn) that I feel have done this prematurely. Richie had an advanced copy on his desk and, because I occasionally feel the need to revisit my metal years, I listened to it yesterday. I can proudly say that I only recognized the singles from the first album, but I am also ashamed that i recognized Godsmack singles at all. They were one of the bands that came along right before I stopped paying attention to that particular genre because the new bands were no longer interesting to me, but I really liked “Voodoo” and thought it was funny how anti-social that first album was (the chorus of “Whatever” instructing the listener to go away, “Keep Away” being similarly themed). After that first album, though, it seems like Godsmack just stopped trying to be interesting, seeing how other uninteresting mainstream rock bands (Creed, Fuel, 3 Doors Down) were increasingly popular. Listening to the collection, my views haven’t changed, really. The last half of the album (from “Awake” to “The Enemy”) just kind of blurs together, except for “Running Blind” from their acoustic The Other Side EP. Even that one sounds a little cliche because Staind made acoustic numbers the mainstream hard rock standard. They’re cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times, Bad Times” is pretty decent, if a little middle of the road, but if you just want something loud to listen to, you could do a lot worse.
One final note: The title of the disc indicates “Ten Years of Godsmack,” which didn’t sit quite right with me initially because I distinctly remember Godsmack coming relatively late in the game for me, which would place the first album around ‘99. Sure enough, the back of the case says when each single was release and “Whatever” hit the airwaves in February of 1999. The newest single, “The Enemy,” was released February of ‘07, which smells a lot more like eight years to me. If you’re going to be slightly misleading like that, you could at least do a better job of it by not discrediting your album’s title on its packaging. Judging by the writing style in the liner notes, though, somebody doesn’t quite expect the average Godsmack fan to notice.

Godsmack // MySpace // Buy Good Time Bad Times 

 Godsmack- Good Times, Bad Times [2:56m]: Play in Popup | Download