[youtube yP8QhblSkRI] Morphine has become somewhat of a legend since mysterious frontman Mark Sandman died onstage at a relatively early age in 1999. They have been dubbed with creating ‘low rock’, but really what they did as a band is make jazz more accessible to a general audience; specifically garnering high marks with the independent/alternative rock community of the 90s. Although their music sounds nothing like most of the 90s alternative rock, they were more closely followed by the alt-rockers than the jazz fans.
’Buena’ is the first song from their second album, 1993’s ‘Cure for Pain’. It is a good example of their unique sound, featuring Mark Sandman playing slide-bass, Dana Colley on sax and Jerome Deupree on drums.
[youtube 8FbdxIkJ9jI]Ministry was an industrial band from Chicago that were active from 1981 until 2008. They helped define the genre of industrial music, being amongst one of the first acts to combine electronic music with rock and heavy metal. Touring and performing, there have been dozens of members in the band, in the studio Ministry was really Al Jourgenson’s brainchild, with Paul Barker being the only semi-constant member in the group.
Lay Lady Lay is a cover of a Bob Dylan song from their 1996 ‘Filthpig’ album, and it shows us a more gentle side of Ministry. I really like the bass sound and textures used in this song, I think it does great justice to the original. The video seems to be following some kind of bad-acid-trip theme.
Ministry appears to have broken up recently, with 2007’s ‘The Last Sucker’ as their final album.
[youtube KyHBHB6P_Gw] Deftones are one of the few survivors of the late 90s alternative metal/rap-metal movement. Probably because their expiremental, atmospheric and ever-changing approach to music makes them stand out amongst the crowd. I think there is also a high level of musicianship that helped the Sacramento quintet stick out, especially Stephen Carpenter’s unique guitar sound and Abe Cunningham’s drumming; infamous for being incredible simple yet extremely consistent and often innovative. Chino Moreno also has a chameleon-like vocal style that helps the band reinvent themselves over and over.
This song, ‘Back To School’ is from the re-release of the 2000 album, ‘White Pony’. It was probably the second biggest single from that album behind ‘Change (in the house of flies)’. ’White Pony’ was probably my favorite Deftones album, although I have to admit that I never really listened to the Self-Titled album or Saturday Night Wrist. Deftones have a new album called ‘Eros’ coming out in late 2008.
[youtube -j39ABZyzek]This is a classic Metallica video from the ‘. . . And Justice For All’ album from 1988. Kirk Hammett’s solo from this song has since become infamous. This is the studio version of ‘One’ but it is chopped up with scenes from the film ‘Johnny Got His Gun’, a story about a soldier who comes back from war deaf, dumb, blind and missing his limbs. The film and book it was based upon were major influences for the song.
Metallica has a new album coming out soon called ‘Death Magnetic’; I’ve heard the singles they released called ‘Cyanide’ and ‘All Nightmare Long’ and I’m not impressed.
[youtube VBsbCMIyG6E] No Quarter is my favorite Led Zeppelin song by far. It was on their fifth album Houses of the Holy, which is considered by many to be the last great Led Zep album; or at least the end of the ‘classic’ era of Led Zeppelin. I like this transitional period best because I think they showed the most emotion and just the right amount of expirimentation here. The riffs in this song are pretty hautning and I think this song was the pinnacle of Jimmy Page’s career as a guitarist. This is a live video from 1973 and you can tell by the amazing ad-libbing that this is a band that really knows how to play together. They seem to use the original composition as a blueprint, particularly vocalist Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page.
Not only do I love to show you all Amazing Music Videos, I am also a huge show-goer. Living in the bay area, one has a large choice of venues from which to choose: Santa Cruz to Sacramento. That’s 146 mi. to cover! Since I don’t own a car, it’s sometimes difficult to use public transportation or borrow a friend’s car to see every show. I am hoping to have enough saved up in the next few years to purchase a motorcycle, but in the meantime, I must rely on renting cars.
There are a handful of rental dealers down the block to choose from, all with competitive prices and offer coupons online. It actually is annoying and a pain to compare all, especially with each company having a unique restriction. But for my week-long trips, Budget had the best deals. $30 off weekly rentals definitely allowed me to have a little extra fun at the shows as well as a t-shirt or poster. Anyways, I just wanted to share the good experience I had with Budget and recommend it to you readers. So if you need a rental car, make sure you get the best deal and look into these rental car coupons. Don’t know how long they’ll last, but at least through the New Year.
