I Heart Black Sabbath

I harbor a secret fantasy in which I'm paid large sums of money to expound upon the genius of Black Sabbath. Unfortunately for me, that ain't never gonna happen. Luckily, though, there's this interweb thing and blogs and stuff. I can sit here drinking shochu and expound upon Black Sabbath until the cows come home. It doesn't pay much, but damn if it ain't like the real thing! And really, it begs the question, doesn't it? Why can't we all have fun and make friends blogging about Black Sabbath? After we stop nodding our heads and staring blankly into space... (Whoa, I gotta tell ya, blogging about Black Sabbath while you're actually listening to them is harder than it sounds. It's difficult, too.)

Anyway, I remember my own rollercoaster ride regarding listening to Black Sabbath. First, I hated them, because I didn't like heavy music so much when I was 13. By the time I was 15, though, I loved them because I really loved heavy music then. Later, though, I didn't like them so much, because most of my friends were listening to really cool bands like Chicago and The Doobie Brothers. At the time I liked these bands, too. And really, who would deny the lasting impact of these musical giants?

There was a brief period in the mid-80s when I liked Black Sabbath again, but I'll be damned if I can remember why...

I guess it was around the early 90s when, working in the kitchen of a bar in Halifax, I discovered that Black Sabbath was cool again. I mean, everyone was copying them, and even bands that pretended they weren't really were! Ha ha! Who was cool now!? I was! I knew all about Black Sabbath. Fuck, was I ever cool then....

Below is an incredible video of Sabbath performing "War Pigs." It's brutal. Bill and Tony in particular are smokin'. It's 1970, and this performance vaporizes anything that comes later, by any band.



Yeah.

I Am Iron Man

You know how when you put your mouth up close to an electric fan, and then speak into it, it makes your voice sound kinda machine-like? This might sound weird, but whenever I'm in that situation I can't resist the urge to say, "I Am Iron Man."

I hesitate to say how much doing this pleases me and, to be honest, I have a hard time identifying with anyone whose first words into a fan wouldn't be "I Am Iron Man."

I mean, what, you wanna quote Shakespeare or something?

Black Sabbath-Iron ManAlt. Link

Yeah.

Random Ramblings

It's after 1:00 AM here. I've been up since 4:30 yesterday morning, because my daughter's kindergarten had their undokai ("sports festival") on Sunday. I suppose a sensible person would be in bed sleeping right now, but I'm drinking beer and listening to tunes. And blogging...

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Have you seen that video clip from the weekend where John McCain tells some deluded wingnut that, no, Barack Obama is not "an Arab" and is, in fact, a "decent family man" with whom he has some disagreements? Does anyone else get the feeling that McCain, whatever else you might think about him, is getting tired of pandering to this mass of complete fuckheads?

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I remember one time being fired from a band by a fucktard who wanted to replace me with someone who would play for less money. The night he came over to my place to deliver the bad news he brought his six-year-old son with him. Fucking coward. I only mention this because I read today that Sarah Palin was roundly booed when she dropped the ceremonial first puck to open the Philadelphia Flyer's hockey season. Apparently wingnuts are upset that Palin was booed even though she took her kids out on the ice with her. In fucking Philly. She's a coward, too.

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Speaking of hockey, I'm somewhat surprised that my fantasy team is in third place even though the bums have only scored three goals so far.

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It's a national holiday here tomorrow. Lucky for me...

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He was turned to steel
In the great magnetic field
When he traveled time
For the future of mankind

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than being able to sing those lines about myself. (I sense that some of you think I'm kidding. You don't know me very well...) Please enjoy Black Sabbath performing "Iron Man":

Iron Man lives again!

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I was at an electronics shop today and saw a 3-in-1 printer/copier/scanner, made by Canon, for about 200 bucks. I thought that was a pretty good price. I'm not a communist, you know...

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Now I'm listening to The Allman Brothers band. The best American band. Ever. The reason I say this is: there is a certain point where playing trumps song-writing. These guys can play better than anyone else can write songs. The best song in the world ain't worth shit without a good band. [Note to self: next time just say "singer not the song" or something.]

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My in-laws are staying tonight (here for the undokai). I'm trying not to laugh because the dog (a Corgi) just went into "attack" mode when my father in-law got up to go to the toilet.

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Still here? Good night!

Background Music Makes My Ears Bleed

I came across a very interesting article over at collision detection about how "loudness wars" are killing today's music. It's a bit technical, but not so much so that a science dimwit like me couldn't catch the drift of it (there are links to more a technical argument from which this article was drawn). Basically it explains something that older music listeners like yours truly have been noticing for years now: older albums, particularly on vinyl, have a much broader dynamic range than music recorded in the last 10 years or so. Newer music just doesn't seem to have the peaks and valleys, the dynamic highs and lows of the old albums we love and cherish. Newer music does, however, seem more intense, and is more apt to grab your attention more quickly, mainly because compression has made it louder. But now an apparent paradox comes into play. Sure, the music is louder and more immediately noticeable, but because it doesn't have much in the way of dynamic range, it's not actively listened to and effectively becomes background music.
I've likely botched this, so please check out the article for yourself.

And, speaking of music that's loved and cherished, please enjoy "Supernaut" by Black Sabbath, accompanied by scenes from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

The Black Sabbath Show!

This must be seen to be believed. A Black Sabbath cartoon...