Artist on Artist Scarlett Johansson - Debbie Harry
Actress and now songstress, Scarlett Johansson and Rock Hall Inductee and famous punker Blondie interview each other for a new series on MySpace: Artist on Artist.

The two gorgeous blondes discuss their mutual appreciation of one another, fan worship (Scarlett of Peter Falk and Blondie of Robert DeNiro), Scarlett’s new record, Anywhere I Lay My Head (a Tom Waits cover album) and a Blondie reissue of Parallel Lines, which coincides with tour to promote the album, one of their finest.

As I’ve mentioned before on this here blog, I am a HUGE fan of 80’s music a culture, which was heavily influenced by the greatness of Blondie. I am bummed they won’t be coming to Cleveland, but I encourage you to check the tour schedule for a concert near you.

Here’s one of my favorites - and I will be frightening the neighbors this summer with my own rendition of this classic. I might even break the internets and post it!

As for Scarlett’s debut, I gave it a decent listen and have mixed feelings. On one hand, she clearly has great taste in music. Tom Waits is classic singer/songwriter stuff and considering her very low, and gravely voice, Waits was a clever choice for Scarlett. She has a pleasant tone to her voice and with the right arrangement sounds pretty good, but she could use a vocal coach to help her.

While she isn’t “tone deaf” like I read some commenting at other sites, her range is quite limited and it shows in areas. I give the songs I heard, especially “Falling Down” a solid “B.”

With some practice, and good song choices, Scarlett could have a minor second career. I also like the behinds the scenes aspect of the video. The smiles that fade to sighs at the end say it all. Despite her inordinate beauty, I like Scarlett, she seems to have a fairly good head on her shoulders. She gets that it’s all a facade, even the fleetingness of beauty.

Yet another year has gone by and tonight we prepare for the next class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees, and as usual, it sucks huge donkey testicles.

I blame Jann Wenner, the simpering queen and publisher at Rolling Stone for his constant need to pass up the greats so he can cater to his friends and special interests of the marginally talented. Lest you think I am being too harsh, take a look at this year’s artists, compared to who has NOT been inducted yet.

2008 Performer Inductees

* John Mellencamp
* Leonard Cohen
* Madonna
* The Dave Clark Five
* The Ventures

With the exception of Leonard Cohen, who is an amazing singer/songwriter and likely should have been in YEARS ago, this is a list of *ehhh*, who cares. Sure, Madonna is a master of marketing and mimicry, and John Cougar Mellencamp has some great songs, but the Dave Clark Five? Give me a friggin’ break.

Ok, here’s a list of groups who’ve been completely ignored for years (and mind you, this is a tad heavy on the 80’s New Wave, but STILL…)

Roxy Music - It is a crime against humanity that Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music have been ignored for years, YEARS I tell you. I mean if we aren’t going to judge on artistic integrity, creative genius, and sheer longevity, then what’s the point. Roxy Music is one of the most seminal art-rock bands who crossed over into popular music that ever existed. Period, the end. Case closed. Jann sucks.

The Cure - What the F*CK excuse does the RH committee have for not including the Cure in the Rock Hall? The Cure were as influential to rock as REM, U2 and the Clash, three bands from the same era who are in, yet somehow they keep getting overlooked. I would like to punch Wenner in the ballsack for this oversight.

Rush - I don’t even particularly even LIKE Rush, but still, come on. Progressive rock wouldn’t be the same without them. In fact, there are no prog rock bands in the Rock Hall. No Emerson, Lake and Palmer, no Yes, no Moody Blues, nothing. Why? Because Jann Wenner sucks big hairy ones, as do all the toady lickspittles who kiss his ass. BTW, Jann Wenner likes Scientologists. A lot. He might even be one.

But wait, there’s more glaring omissions: Duran Duran, Joy Division/New Order, Depeche Mode, B-52’s, Tears For Fears - the list goes on as far as the New Wave/Electronic/Punk set goes. What about Cyndi Lauper even? These bands and artists were not only immensely popular, and most still are, but they had tons of hits and sold massive amounts of records.

I will be at the Rock Hall tonight helping the publisher of Blogcritics.org, Eric Olsen, to cover the event for Cleveland.com. I will also be thinking evil thoughts about Jann Wenner, the sucktacularness of Rolling Stone, and his crappy taste in music.

Feel free to list bands who YOU think have been overlooked because the Rock Hall is run by a bunch of corrupt, scruffy-looking nerfherders.

It just goes to show that, for once, pretty pretty shiny shiny loses out to style and substance.  Yessssssssss!

Britney Spears, who’s latest CD “Blackout” is on sale at major retailers and music stores everywhere, has been beaten to #1 in the Billboard Top 100 by the Eagles, who’s current double CD “Long Road Out Of Eden” is available only at Wal-Mart.  Yes, that’s right…by confining their CD sales exclusively to one retailer and their website, the Eagles, who’s CD features their first original work in twenty-eight years, have whupped up on Brit, who’s album has to settle for #2 on both the Billboard charts and Nielson Soundscan.

The change comes about because Billboard has decided to allow sales numbers from music sold only at one retailer instead of mass market.  Wal-Mart shared their data with Billboard, and a star is born:

Early SoundScan numbers have the Eagles taking the top perch on The Billboard 200 with 711,000 copies sold, with most sales moved by Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores. For now, the only other U.S. outlets carrying “Eden” are walmart.com, where both physical copies and downloads are sold, and the Eagles’ own Web site.

“Eden” became available at the mass-market chain Oct. 30. Aside from two compilations, this is the Eagles’ first album since the mostly live “Hell Freezes Over,” which led The Billboard 200 for two weeks in 1994.

Britney Spears’ new Jive album, “Blackout,” which would have been No. 1 had the Eagles’ data not been reported, will open at No. 2 with first-week sales of 290,000 copies.

All that work Britney’s music team put into producing, mixing, tweaking, and dragging her Frapp behind into the studio, all the time and money thrown at it, all the electronic twiddling and computerized machinations, were not enough to secure the top spot for Brit.  Turns out a bunch of old guys, who’s band has been around since before Brit was born, who have arguably put out some of the best music ever heard, and who (gasp) actually play their own instruments and sing without the aid of computers, beat her…and beat her by a considerable margin.  By my calculations, they sold 421,000 more copies in the first week…and that’s nothing to sneeze at.

I can tell you why…the Eagles may not dance and writhe around (and let’s face it…who wants to see Don Henley or Glenn Frey flailing about in a spangly bra and hot pants?), but they sing live in concert, they play their own instruments, they have mad songwriting skills, and about a gazillion multi-platinum albums (Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 went platinum twenty-nine times!).  Genuine musicality and unparallelled singing wins over a circus freak show…whodathunkit?

Welcome to the Hotel TheyStillGotItfornia!

Every year at this time we get to celebrate who made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and I get to lament who has been sorely overlooked. AGAIN!

I have no real issues with this year’s inductees.  They each have merit, certainly some more than others. But I am convinced that those who vote are deeply biased against certain genres.  They HATE new wave, punk, rap, prog rock and metal.  Dorks.

This year’s inductees:

The always angry, former Rage Against The Machine’s Zach De La Rocha, will induct rock queen Patti Smith who is LONG overdue.

Rap mogul Jay-Z will induct Grandmaster Flash and Furious Five finally representing a segment of rock that has been ignored for the last 30 years.

Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder will induct R.E.M, whose record of hits and popularity is unquestionable. 

Swarthy pirate wanna-be Keith Richards will be inducting Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes which makes sense I guess (when’s Phil going to jail anyway?) 

And last, but not least, drug-addled Velvet Revolver will induct drug-addled Van Halen, who haven’t had a hit in more than ten years.

But what about those artists who have been overlooked year after year? 
But wait, there’s more…