So If Everyone is Giving Up Luxuries...

If you're even remotely interested in news - or the world around you - then you know we're all in some deep financial poop. It doesn't matter your location in the world - the economy basically sucks everywhere.

Next to the stock reports on cable news are stories of average people giving up major luxuries...and life's little pleasures. On CNN.com, people are leaving messages about giving up things like vacations and dining out. Most also mention music downloads.

Someone over on Metal Sludge started a thread along the lines of "Can Chinese Democracy Save the Economy?" Obviously, this person was being sarcastic - but the thread is actually steeped in truth. The amount of comments on yesterday's article tells me there's still a big interest in Guns n' Roses - even if it's just to stop and watch the band like a bad car crash. 

The point is this: Chinese Democracy is so highly anticipated, it will likely sell a lot of copies - even though we're all going through an economic downturn. A lot of us are lucky: a ten dollar CD isn't going to be the difference between making the mortgage or filing for bankruptcy. Still - no matter how we feel - music is not a necessity of life.

Things are going to get really bad for the already ailing music industry.

Yesterday, people commented about wanting to know the quality of songs before buying a CD. While I like discovering the B-sides, I'll agree I'm sick and tired of spending money on albums that are generally crap. No, ten bucks isn't much - but that amount over and over adds up. So, while I won't be giving up things like my morning coffee or downloads - I do plan on being a little smarter with my cash.

It will be interesting to see how concerts fare in the coming months. AC/DC are already doing well - for now. As the months wear on, I fully expect ticket sales to drop - even for major legacy acts. Festivals may hurt also. It just depends on economics - and our disposable income.

You may think it's free (not counting my time) to run Bring Back Glam! - that is very incorrect. More traffic  = an increased need for bandwidth to handle the load. I "rent" server space. No, I'm not giving up BBG! because the economy is crap - but I do think all of us have the impression of "hurt" because we've got so many extra expenses unheard of even a decade ago. Such expenses add up. Then there's the basic principle that albums cost more, T-shirts cost more, tickets cost more. You get the idea. And none of these things are required for life.

For my money - I'll give up other things before I cut music related expenses. I've already accepted the fact that I probably won't be able to go on four music related vacations next year, buy new clothes or get pedicures - but that doesn't mean I can't have new albums.

What will you sacrifice to save your music habit?

Ok, So Let's Say It's November 25th...

Picture it: November 25th. Thanksgiving time for us Americans. So, wherever you are in the world, you're waking up on November 25th, 2008. Is Chinese Democracy available? Is it on the shelves at your local Best Buy or online? Do you go crazy? Does the music world go crazy? Does anyone even care?

I've thought a lot about Chinese Democracy over the past couple of weeks. Rumored for release on November 25th exclusively through Best Buy, the album could shatter sales records for the year.

Or, it could tank.

On the surface, a lot of us still care about Guns n' Roses and the mythical Chinese Democracy. On a wider scale, most people only remember - or associate - Guns n' Roses with Appetite for Destruction. Very few people even know the band members these days. Hell, I don't. For my money, it's Axl Rose and some other guys. I still think Axl is a smart musician...but he's obviously very, very flawed.

Now that the global economy is in the toilet, simple luxuries are out. This includes dining out, going to concerts and movies and yes, buying music. While a lot of artists might suffer from reduced download and album sales, I think Chinese Democracy will still do well if it is actually released. I also predict that we'll all be seriously underwhelmed with the final song quality and lineup.

So, sound off. What do you think? Will Chinese Democracy break sales records? Will the normal consumer care? Will you stand on line at midnight to get your copy?

I can't wait for your opinions.

*No copyright assumed on photo above.

Update on Thursday, October 9, 2008 at 11:15AM by Allyson B. Crawford

Ok, apparently the album is NOW due out November 23.

From Blabbermouth:

According to Hits Daily Double, the companion web site of music industry tip sheet HITS, GUNS N' ROSES' long-awaited new album, "Chinese Democracy" (Geffen/Interscope) finally has a release date. The CD will hit all Best Buy stores, where it is an exclusive, on the Sunday prior to Thanksgiving, November 23, giving it a full seven days on sale before entering the chart on December 2. Best Buy's sales week runs from Sunday through Saturday night.

GUNS manager Andy Gould reportedly told 900 Best Buy employees at "vendor convention" held by Best Buy last month in Dallas that a new GN'R song called "If The World" will play under the closing credits of "Body of Lies", the new film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe due out on October 10. That news was confirmed online at film web sites whose representatives had attended a press screening of the flick. "If The World" will not appear on the film's soundtrack album.

"If The World" features the guitar work of Robin Finck and Buckethead, who have both since departed GUNS N' ROSES.

Another new GN'R song, called "Shackler's Revenge", appears on the Rock Band 2 video game.

"Chinese Democracy" has been more than 13 years in the making, with every original member of GUNS N' ROSES except for frontman Axl Rose long since gone from the lineup.

Pick a Song, Make a Video

If you could make a video for any B- side, what song would you pick? That’s right, the stipulation here is that the song cannot be a single and already have a video clip.

I bet you think I’d just pick “Danger” and call it a day. Nope.

It’s hard for me to pick just one song out of the entire Glam catalog…but my self imposed rule limits me to just one track.

It’s “Black Widow” by Motley Crue, natch. It’s on the Red, White and Crue double disc if you are not familiar.

First off, “Black Widow” is one of Motley’s best songs – quite frankly, it’s better than half their singles. Glam knows it blows much of the most recent stuff  – and we’re going back to Generation Swine here – out of the water.

I could make such a beautifully Gothic video for that song. Nice and dark. Dirty and dark.

I’d totally put everyone in black hair, black clothes, black makeup. I wouldn’t even need the band to make a hot video for “Black Widow.” Just a haunted house and some hot women. And men.  The entire set would be like one big Halloween factory explosion – even Alice Cooper would be jealous!

Actually, that’s it! The entire “Black Widow” video would be a Halloween theme. There would not be any random cut away shots of a band playing live. For the most part, I hate it when bands use canned live clips to pad videos. No, this video would have a complete story with a beginning, middle and end. Or, maybe there would be a cliff hanger, thus begging for a second clip. Or third. I do love me some video trilogies.

Glam, if I had the money, I’d sponsor a video making contest and give away fancy prizes. I truly believe the best talent in writing, music, directing, editing (and on and on)…is undiscovered. The same small group of people has a lock on the waning video market – and I’m sure most of us could do better. Actually, I know we could.

So, what is your obscure song and video concept?

The ABCs of Glam

A is for Allyson, who writes Bring Back Glam!

B is for, naturally, Bring Back Glam!

C is for Chinese Democracy

D is for the Dirt

E is for Eyeliner

F is for "Fallen Angel"

G is for Gibson. The weapon of choice

H is for Heineken (as in cold, cold Heineken!)

I is for Indecent. As in, indecent exposure

J is Jackyl

K is for Kix. Duh!

L is for Limousines

*M is for Mall hair. The bigger, the better

N is for Night Ranger

O is for Open Up and Say...Ahh!

P is for Pretty Boy Floyd

Q is for Quaalude 

R is for Royalties (usually conveniently lost)

S is for Sunset Strip or Sweden. It's a toss-up

T is for Tommy Lee

U is for Universal Records

V is for Videos. Lots and lots of big hair videos

W is for Whisky a Go-Go

X is for XYZ

Y is for Y&T

Z is for Zebra

Just a list of some of the words that epitomize Glam. There are so many. What would you pick?

*Don't you like how I didn't choose Motley Crue? Makes you crazy, doesn't it? Bwahahahaa.

Update on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 10:44AM by Allyson B. Crawford

Sorry, I did miss Y. I was watching television while writing. I have added Y&T based on the suggestions...

It's Not Even Halloween Yet...

It's not even Halloween yet but stores are already shoving their Christmas merchandise out on the shelves. It comes as no surprise, then, that bands are starting to announce holiday albums.

Canadian rockers Helix just released a Christmas album. It's called, naturally, A Heavy Metal Christmas.

I don't know how many times I can reiterate the point that I absolutely despise Christmas albums. Christmas music in general makes me want to gouge my eyeballs out with a spoon. It's all heinously manufactured and fake. To this day, the best Christmas song I've ever heard is Danger Danger's "Naughty Naughty Christmas" -- only because the lyrics are risque and I think my mother-in-law would be annoyed if I insisted she play the song during the family dinner.

Back to Helix.

Here's the track listing on the new holiday CD:

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
Santa Claus is Back in Town
A Wonderful Christmas Time
Jingle Bell Rock
Happy Christmas (War is Over)
Sock It To Me Santa
Jingle Bells
Silent Night
Christmas Time Is Here Again (original)*

Is it statistically impossible to release a holiday CD without including the 9,876th version of "Jingle Bells?" Good grief. I'm sure Helix would have done a great job had they decided to add a second original to their holiday release. "Jingle Bells" may very well be the single most overrated song in the history of the world. Gah.

I wonder if our favorite Glam bands watched quietly as Twisted Sister shot back up the charts, thanks to their 2006 Christmas release? Suddenly, Twisted were hot again among the non-diehard Glam crowd. I guess the universality of Christmas music helped bridge  the gap between former fans and soccer moms. Suddenly, popping Twisted Sister into the minivan CD player was cool. At least it help shut up the kids for awhile.

So, we're circling back to Helix again (cut me a break. It's Monday). If you visit Helix's official website, you can buy the new Christmas album. You can also hear song samples. The best track - for my money - is "Happy Christmas (War is Over)." This song best demonstrates Brian Vollmer's vocal range. Over the years, Vollmer has remained the one constant in Helix.  Vollmer and the  rest of Helix will perform at next summer's Rock Gone Wild festival in Iowa. No word yet if they will play "Jingle Bells." If they do, you'll find me hiding in a port-a-let. Gah.

Helix: A Heavy Metal Christmas, retails for $14.99.

In My Life (Ozzy Can Sing - If He Tries)

We all know Ozzy Osbourne sounds like a bumbling idiot most of the time these days. His voice is near incomprehensible - and his backing band is tuned down about as far as musically possible...without going to sludge. So, imagine my surprise when I literally stumbled on a clip of Ozzy and Slash performing together back in 2005.

The performance honored the Beatles - and the video clip blew me away. If Ozzy can sing "In My Life" - and do a great job by the way - why can't he do this all the time? Is he trying to act stupid when he slurs his words? Is he lazy? Maybe Ozzy was just trying a little harder since the song was part of the Royal Variety Performance - attended by Queen Elizabeth II. At any rate, watch for yourself. I await your feedback.

Chip Away...Chip Away at the Stone...(Or, Censorship Sucks)

Buckcherry is apparently playing a G-rated concert tonight in Mobile, Alabama. In fact, the band is apparently contractually-bound to keep their rock antics "Disney" appropriate. The show is part of  BayFest 2008.

I think this is a load of crap.

How can a band - that has gotten famous off songs like "Crazy Bitch" and "...Too Drunk to Fuck" - play a G-rated show? Moreover, how can this same band even agree to such a proposition? Oh yeah. Money.

Money rules all. How silly of me to think a band's creative expression might be important these days. Buckcherry can just go out, stifle their live show, change up the lyrics to their songs and Josh Todd can say "Golly gee, Mobile! How 'ya 'doin tonight?!"

Not Glam, people. Not Glam at all.

To Buckcherry's defense, Josh Todd did sort of say something like the band likes to do the same show every night. Translation: they like to swear and talk about sex. Quite frankly, it's also easier to do the same show over and over. Tours are highly scripted events, despite what any of us want to believe. So, on top of the censorship - the band is going to have to actually think a little more tomorrow night. Oh, the drama.

My thought is this: if you are promoting a festival or concert of any type, you better 1) consider your audience and 2) consider the bands that fit that audience. If the two don't gel - circle back and figure out a lineup that works. There's a reason most music festivals are geared toward adults: shows are rowdy, music is loud, tickets are expensive. Plus, you might hear an F-bomb. Or seven. When lawyers get in the way and start censoring live shows - and don't even get me started on the "clean" versus "explicit" lyrics on CDs - we've got a major problem. Live shows are the last place a musician can truly express their art. Sure, you hear some raunchy stuff on CDs - but when you get a band live - they are in their element. Litigate the hell out of a live show and you start chipping away at our already eroding civil liberties. 

I wish Buckcherry had refused to perform the G-rated show. Of course, I wish I didn't have to do half the crap my employer says is part of my job description. At the end of the day we've all got bills. It just plain sucks.

Thoughts?