The Grand Tour Drinking Game

As you may or may not know, the Grand Tour is the multi-year long, alpha/chronological play through or my music collection- estimated to be about 3500 titles, mostly physical CD with a growing number of digital albums as well.

Who needs retirement money?

Anywhoo… the Grand Tour is also a much neglected blog, and a running thread on my Twitter feed. And like any great entertainment endeavor, it’s needs one thing.

A drinking game. 

This game is not limited to my GrandTour. It can and should be used for your own tour of your music collection. And to make clear: if you for medical, legal, or personal reasons do not drink alcohol, beverages of your choice may be substituted. Also know when to say when. Drink and play music responsibly.

Just BUY music irresponsibly. There are starving artists and A&R people out there. SAVE THEM!!!

This game can be played while listening to your collection or blog. THE FULL LEADED BOOZEY VERSION CAN NOT BE PLAYED WHILE DRIVING OR PILOTING. If you are playing while on public transit, you may have a problem. If you are playing while your chauffer is driving you… dude, pay him or her better.

If you are playing the game while your parents are drving you… you may have a problem.

I’m not judging. I just care.

Eponymous-  Drink.

If an album is named after the band or artist, that’s certainly cause to drink. Use ‘eponymous’ in your own writing.. it makes you feel like a real big deal music critic.

Plus, if you are playing R.E.M.’s ‘Eponymous,’ drink twice to Michael Stipe, the clever bastard.

Live  Album- Drink. If actually better than the studio albums,  drink twice. If worse, chug.

Live Albums exist to fulfill a) contractual obligations, b) the artistic ego or c) the desire of fans to experience live performance without paying the full god damn price. TICKETS ARE EXPENSIVE!
They also vary wildly in quality. Some catch a band playing with all the energy and fervor the Producer tried to kill. Some catch a band showing why they should stick to studio work.
Special Edition/Remaster- Drink. Another way artists and companies cash in on old material and b-sides. I mean re-introduce their material to new listeners with new technologies
Special Edition/Remaster- Drink. Another way artists and companies cash in on old material and b-sides. I mean re-introduce their material to new listeners with new technologies

Multiple Discs- 1 drink per additional album or cd. If it’s a download that doesn’t have ‘discs’ or ‘parts’ then drink for every full hour after the first hour. It doesn’t matter if the additional disc is more of the album,b-sides, other content.

 Cover Songs- 1 drink. Now,if you are listening to a covers album, or a “Standards” or “Tribute” album, just chug. We are enabling you. Not trying to kill you.

Artist Re-Recording Their Own Material – Drink. This is increasingly common as artists can’t get their original recordings back, but still want to make money off music the FUCKING MAN OWNS!

The fucking man ,man.

Soundtracks/OST/ Original Score-  Drink. If this is a score or OST from a movie, play or tv show, drink.

If it has one or more volumes, drink per each full volume.

Some movies need multiple soundtrack discs to cover the full score and selected songs. Sometimes a movie ‘inspires’ new songs. Even songs that have been out decades before the movie. Most often, this is about cash on the brand name. For example, did “Hackers” or “Dazed and Confused” need 2 cd’s? Did Mortal Kombat need 3-5? No.

Did I buy them and not regret it? Yes.

If it’s an Alan Silvestri Soundtrack- CHUG. Alan Silvestri frigging rules OST’s and Scores for Films.  Check out the job he did on the Sylster Stallone  ‘ Judge Dredd’ sound track if you don’t believe me.

Side Projects/ Spin Offs- Drink.

Pop Music is full of side projects and spin offs… Green Day has had at least 1500, as of last count. Side Projects are when the band stays together- for example, Mick Jagger having a solo album while the Stones tours are all the only thing they have going for them. Spin offs are when the bands breaks up into smaller bits- like Blink-182 becoming +44 (really good) and Angels And Airwaves (kill me, now.)

If the Side Project/Spin off is better, drink once. If it is worse, drink twice. And if it is Angel and Airwaves, for GODSAKE STOP LISTENING AND PUT ON BLINK! And chug,

To forget.

Second Generation Artist/Band- Drink.

If this is either a band made up of children of a previous act or star- (Neneh and Eagle Eye Cherry, for example) or a band whose children are now playing in it (Led Zeppelin) Drink. Or think Ziggie Marley or

Julian Lennon or Sean Lennon.  

Prefab/ Reality Show- Drink. If this is a band or artist who were either put together by management, or are the products of a reality  show.

Drink twice if they are actually good. If you are listening to the Monkees, and feel shame… chug. You really need to relax. THE MONKEES ROCKED!

Foreign Language- If you are listening to a group and have no idea what they are saying, drink.If you’ve researched lyrics that don’t come with the album, drink twice. If you have researched Sigur Ros lyrics, slowly sip in a blissful state.

If you have researched Rammstein lyircs, CHUG YOU DIRTY ANHAGER! CHUG! CHUG!!!!!!

This isn't a complete set of rules, but a good starting point. Now go forth, listen and sip deeply. 

Have an All-American Rejects 4th of July Weekend!

Occasionally, barely updating your music collection blog can lead to fortuitous coincidence. Like.. writing about the All-American Rejects 4th on the All American Holiday- July 4th!

Well, at least starting to write about them. I'll probably get this post up by the 6th. BUT DARE TO DREAM!

The Rejects first appeared to me on MTV, with the delightful 'Swing, Swing.' This was from their eponymous first CD. ( And as per the Grand Tour Drinking Game Rules, every time I write 'eponymous'... DRINK!) Clearly, a nice bit of pop rock, Blink-182 meets Emo, but actually rocking. And of course, there was the immediate fangirl swooning over Tyson Ritter. 

But the band grew legs. They kept going, and continually put out solid music. AAR was a group I might not have searched out, but swinging by the new disc racks at the Best Buy or catching a new tune on radio ( oh, radio it's true. Someone still loves you, but I just miss you while playing Pandora.) I'd be happy to see them, and would pick 'em up.

The follow up 2005's 'Move Along' featured this little ditty, 'Dirty Little Secrets.' The secrets video gave a nice shout out to postsecret.com. You haven't gone since the video? Go. People are still just as conflicted, torn, and fucked up. Maybe more so. Only judge every fourth post when you do.

It also featured 'Move Along,' which was as good as any post-9/11/ post-Dubya still in office/ post-depressive raise your spirit anthem out there. You know it? No? Find it yourself. I'm already doing the hard work for you. And take out the trash while you're at it.

With 2008, 'When The World Come Down' came out. This one featured the full 2nd 'Best Buy Exclusive' cd. Maybe a bit much, but what the hey? Fun with bad relationships continues,and the band continues to have a sense of humor. Important for alt/indie gone corporate rock:  don't take yourselves to seriously. 

DID YOU HEAR ME 'ANGELS AND AIRWAVES?'

A good example was the song, 'Gives You Hell.' You may have heard them on 'Glee' but don't hold that against them. 

I recommend them. They may not  be a necessary part of any collection, they are solid American rock with heart, and a band that deserves to keep on going. I'll be picking up their 2012 'Kids In The Street' and do a follow up then.

Happy Independence Day, and remember: Let the pros do the fireworks. I mean, the ones that go boom in the sky. If you are at bbq and your friends are going through emotional fireworks, sit back, watch and imagine the heartfelt, rocking tune the All-American Rejects would make out of it.

I gave all their albums 4 stars. Playable and re-playable, good to mine for mixes and parties, and just all over rocking.  

Artist: The All-American Rejects

Album: The All-American Rejects

Year: 2003

Date Listened in Tour: 7/23/2008

Rating: ****

Best Songs: 'Swing, Swing', 'My Paper Heart'

Album: Move Along

Year: 2005

Date Listened in Tour: 7/24/2008

Rating: ****

Best Songs: 'Move Along','Dirty Little Secret'

Album: When The World Comes Down

Year: 2010

Date Listened in Tour: 1/29/2009

Rating: ****

Best Songs: 'Give You Hell', 'Another Heart Calls'

Go Ask Alice... wait, is she on X? Or Special K? or Alice DeeJay

Svengali in the back. Babe of beauty and hopefully vocal skills in the front. This is the formula for.. well, a hell of a lot of pop music. 

"Who Needs Guitars Anyway?" was a 1999 cd, with DJ Jurgen (we'll see him again later) and Alice. Alice, is a a particularly attractive young lady, who after her time in techno, became part of a Dutch reality celebrity making show. So maybe Alice Deejay didn't set the world aflame.

However, at least one of the songs lasted. You've heard it. And if you haven't seen the video, well.. WELCOME TO DUTCH PEOPLE BEING INDIAN AND MANIPULATING SOME DUDE IN THE DESERT! 

"Who Needs Guitars Anyway?" is a fun little CD. A bit of techno history and pop ephemera, but worth a listen, if not a must have in the collection. A solid 3 out of 5, which if you like your techno, is replayable, worth grabbing for mixes, and occasionally wondering just what drugs they were on, and if not.. WHY WEREN'T THEY?


Artist: Alice Deejay       

Album: "Who Needs Guitars Anyway?" 

Year: 1999

Date Listened in Tour: 7/25/08

Rating: ***

Best Songs: "Better Off Alone."

Video Catch Up- (500) Days of Summer & +44

So.. when you catch up on an (up-to know) under maintained music blog, you think.. well, HOW DID I GET HERE?!?!

Actually, you think what you could have done differently to make it better.

Why.. VIDEO'S OF SOME OF MY SONG PICKS OF COUSE!

Let's get this multimedia.

And since I have a back log I want to pad, Let's start with the song pick from the (500) Days of Summer soundtrack, which somebody whipped into a decent video for The Smiths's 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.'

Ah, the love of the hip, not quite hipster, watered with the wine of decades old, decades strong Moz and the Lads.

No one ever called them that? Ah, well.

And another Video Catch Up, +44's 'Make You Smile.' While YouTube offered no official video ( and a Sims video I was tempted for out of sheer why-the-hell-not) I went with this live show. Note the shout outs and people having fun. Compare this to when we get to Angel and Airwaves and Tom DeLonge SINGS FOR THE WHOLE GORAM 'VERSE!

(A Firefly reference was so, so needed.)

Again, +44 may not have rocked the world as hard they deserved, but respect to them.

Well, thanks for joining in for the first Video Catch Up. 2005 thanks me for embracing it's technological advances, and we tour ONWARDS!

I wanna be an Airborne Toxic Event Ranger, I wanna live a life of danger!

You know when you were little, and adults looked like they had it all under control? 

Then you were a teen, they were revealed to be less in control, some really screwed up, and you... You, YOU were holding it together in varying degrees, hoping you'd figure it out eventually.

And then at any point between 25 & 45 you have the hormonal drive of a teen but the pad and easy credit of a grown up, and were on or hungover from something light and recreational while lost over some girl or guy who broke your heart, and OH GOD THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE EASIER!

Welcome to the world of The Airborne Toxic Event.

Airborne may be one of the last bands MTV/VH1 ever break for me. In the rush before work, the video for 'Sometime Around Midnight' was played during the few programming hours dedicated to music. It just grabbed me.. the sheer amount of feelings that one song generated, stopping me for a moment while I was on the rush to work. I was happy to hear them start popping up in other places. Seeing them on 'Friday Night Lights'.. altmusic heaven.

Did they or the album become one of my all time faves? Not quite. I think Airborne are a band you need to see live, and explore more of before becoming a true faithful, That being said, their debut is a rocking album, with good diversity. And any album with 'Sometime Around Midnight' on it gets a bump up out of the pretty darn good, to solid rock.

4 out of 5, with a recommendation for follow up exploration if you like your rock with all the feelings, decent use of strings, and no shame about either.

'Some Time Around Midnight'

'Happiness Is Overrated.

Artist: The Airborne Toxic Event           

Album: The Airborne Toxic Event 

Year: 2009

Date Listened in Tour: 8/14/2009

Rating: ****

Best Songs: 'Some Time Around Midnight', 'Happiness Is Overrated.

Je peux le sentir venir dans l' AIR ce soir, oh seigneur

When you start a blog following a GrandTour of your music collection, you have to do two things.

1) Listen to your music collection in alpha/chrono order.

2) Blog it.

I did the first. A good 1140 cd's worth.

In the mean time, I found while catching up that I had blogged about A Fire Inside.

Twice.

Twice, man. I mean, I like them, not quite that much.

Why you work the program. WHY YOU WORK THE PROGRAM!

Ok. So game on.

Let's talk about: Air.

First off, Air is the French Pink Floyd.

True, they didn’t name themselves after American bluesmen. They don’t have a lost member trolling around a French university town, running from fans seeking out his mad genius. And neither of them are the arrogant sumbitches Water or Gilmour are.

But yeah, French Pink Floyd. Long form music, ties with cinematic artistes (Sofia Coppola, you may not have made a good movie since ‘Lost in Translation’ but  you gave us Air) and even though they are largely known for one pop music genre - dance - they pretty much do whatever they want.

So yeah, Gallic Pink Floyd.

That’s not a bad thing. Floyd, even if they became the spark that launched a thousand punk bands, was part of the expansion of rock’s possibilities. And Air likewise expanded the possibilities of 90’s to Aught’s dance and electronic/dance/chill. They seem to come out of an alternative-Euro 70’s that never ended, and avoided all the really bad drugs.

Plus, let’s face it.. in the early 21st century, when we were getting used to the true wired frenzy of the internet non-stop world, starting off on endless war, and realizing how truly fucked as a species we might be, Air had a place. We needed intelligent chill. We needed people who could calm us without knocking us out.

Thanks, Air. Well done on that.

Across the board, I give Air 4 out of 5 stars. As great as they are, they seem to miss a final, transcendent spark that pushes them up to that final notch. Their music, by design, isn’t about hooks or grabbing you. In fact, it demands a little more attention than you might be ready to give. But buy, listen, ideally on a long trip, somewhere you can look out the window, and let the words and music full your headspace.

Like a good Floyd album. With sexier vocoder.

The essential buys are Moon Safari and Talkie Walkie. You like those two, fill in the rest. The quick reviews I did while writing this reinforced the band’s consistency. Grab the two, grab the rest.

Artist: Air           

Album: Moon Safari
Year: 1998
Date Listened in Tour: 7/17/08
Rating: ****
Best Songs: All I Need, Kelly Watch The Stars, Ce Matin La

Album: The Virgin Suicides - Score
Year: 2000
Date Listened in Tour: 7/19/08
Rating: ****
Best Songs: Playground Love/Highschool Lover

Album: Talkie Walkie
Year: 2004
Date Listened in Tour: 7/17/09
Rating: ****
Best Songs: Cherry Blossom Girl, Run, Alone In Kyoto

Album: Late Night Tales
Year: 2006
Date Listened in Tour: 7/19/08
Rating: ****
Best Songs: Lovin’ You- Minnie Ripperton, Let’s Get Lost- Elliot Smith, The Old Man’s Back Again- Scott Walker

Late Night Tales is compilation series featuring mixes by different artists, which I recommend tracking down the series when you get the chance.

Album: Pocket Symphonies
Year: 2007
Date Listened in Tour: 7/19/08
Rating: ****
Best Songs: Left Bank, Photograph, Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping

Album: Love 2

Year: 2009
Date Listened in Tour: 9/20/09
Rating: ****
Best Songs: So Light is Her Footfall. African Velvet.

Vocoder Heaven. I imagine them partying with Daft Punk at some point, and ‘Love 2’ being the goody bag.

And now.. ONWARDS WITH THE BLOGGING!

A Fire? WHERE? INSIDE! Really?

You need to forgive me for two things. One, of course is for not writing in this blog for just over a year. Two, for being out of order.

Hey, it happens.

You don't have to forgive me for writing about A.F.I.... or A Fire Inside. Now, let's get the wise cracks out the way first.

Yes, this band should be played if you are doing hardcore Vampire: The Embrace Larping. This band does go well with black eyeliner and feelings of angst and loneliness well past high school. This band is great if you are lifting weights and need really good music to get angry with but not so angry with that you throw them around and and end up hurting something.

In it's own way, AFI is corny and sincere as all hell. And guess what.. that's why they rock.

I heard the name on radio a couple of times, and saw some concert postings in NYC, but never really knew them until they appeared on The American Music Awards, and gave a pretty solid showing.

Leading to "Oh, so that's who these guys are?" And a two album investment.

A.F.I. it seems has a long history, incredible groups of fans who they give a hell of a lot back to. This is a band that if you sink your teeth into.. vampiric imagery unavoidable... you may just hit a throbbing vein of rock and emotion that will carry you away.

Or, you may just get a pretty good band worth checking into.

A.F.I. can be heard in many groups out there.. intentionally or not. Linkin Park and Evanesence have them in their DNA, for example. And while I wasn't ever really drawn in, I'm glad to have them in the collection.

That's why both CD's get 3 stars. Solid rock albums, cool stuff on them, but I haven't replayed them much since. Worth experimenting, and not letting the stereotypes stop you.

Artist: A Fire Inside

Album: Sing The Sorrow
Year: 2003
Date Listened in Tour: 7/16/08
Re-listened: 8/13/12
Original & Standing Rating: ***
Best Song: Silver and Cold

Artist: Afro Celt Sound System

Album: Vol. 3
Year: 2001
Date Listened in Tour: 7/17/08

Re-listened: 8/13/12

Original & Standing Rating: ***

Best Song: 37mm