I caught a little bit of Good Rockin' Tonight, the documentary about Sun Records on PBS last night. It was interesting when it focused on some of the older, lesser known recording artists who never quite made the big time. But far too much of the show is devoted to today's mediocre pop stars butchering classic songs: Live sucked the life out of "I Walk the Line" and Third Eye Blind doing "Cry, Cry, Cry" would have made me shed tears of rage if I hadn't changed the channel. Both bands seemed completely oblivious to the original appeal of the songs. And if their horrid musical interpretations weren't bad enough, I got to listen to these idiots offer their cliched and uninformed opinions on artists they couldn't hold a candle to. I will say that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page did an enjoyable and respectful version of "My Bucket's Got a Hole In It." I was mildly surprised by this as I am no Led Zep fan--perhaps in their old age they have outgrown Hobbits and Aleister Crowley.
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Rockin' Tonight--Good and Bad
I caught a little bit of Good Rockin' Tonight, the documentary about Sun Records on PBS last night. It was interesting when it focused on some of the older, lesser known recording artists who never quite made the big time. But far too much of the show is devoted to today's mediocre pop stars butchering classic songs: Live sucked the life out of "I Walk the Line" and Third Eye Blind doing "Cry, Cry, Cry" would have made me shed tears of rage if I hadn't changed the channel. Both bands seemed completely oblivious to the original appeal of the songs. And if their horrid musical interpretations weren't bad enough, I got to listen to these idiots offer their cliched and uninformed opinions on artists they couldn't hold a candle to. I will say that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page did an enjoyable and respectful version of "My Bucket's Got a Hole In It." I was mildly surprised by this as I am no Led Zep fan--perhaps in their old age they have outgrown Hobbits and Aleister Crowley.
