Rebecca Black (and her affiliates) and Justin Bieber must die.

I've just realised that I'm missing a chance here. Music is what I know most about, and, as previously hinted, I always have an opinion, usually constructive but not afraid to hold back if needed, so as such I'm not going to ignore music on this blog anymore.

I'll probably mention some lesser known / lesser liked music along the way too, because that's what I love, but, am pretty sure that being a cynical misanthrope, most of my rants will be against music (and the people making it) that should be, quite simply, deleted from history, and the sooner the better.

I also won't be afraid to say what I feel about more generally accepted, popular sounds, especially if they are, indeed, utterly shit. There is a lot of damaging music out there, and the mass media seem to believe it is metal and its sub-genres that causes the problem. To be totally honest, it saves more problems than it causes, giving the kids that get into it more of a focus, release, self-worth, an outlet. There's just a few incidents that hit the headlines because those that do the crime listen to metal. Big deal. There are more serial killers, rapists, generally bad people that DON'T listen to metal. I'm pretty sure that Colonel Gadaffi doesn't sit in his room on a night and listen to Mayhem, or Pol Pot didn't listen to Venom, or Jeffrey Dahmer didn't listen to Cannibal Corpse.

On Friday night I was introduced for the first time to the sounds of Rebecca Black, who is currently first candidate in my list of people to be evaporated with flamethrowers. Although, really it should be the writers of the pop idiocy that is 'Friday'. The lyrics make me despair for all humanity. It is disgraceful that there is such knowledge and intellect out there in this immense planet to be hoovered up by the miracle that is the mind, and that this is the best some people can come up with. It sounds like, and lyrically is so infinitely patronising, that it's music for two year olds.

These actually genuinely are the lyrics in this song!

'Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday
Today i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin’)
We-we-we so excited
We so excited
We gonna have a ball today

Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes after...wards'


...all delivered in sickly sweet, safe sounds that make me wish I could self-lobotomise, in ice pick through the eyeball fashion (yes, this is true, here is a video, and also a still I grabbed to prove it).

Video from a documentary about Lobotomies



I don't even need to explain myself with this one why it is more of a bad influence on 'the youth of today etc' than even the most violent death or black metal music, I think the terrible grammar and patronising words speak for themselves.

I hate myself for this, but here is the video (I wish there was a way for you to watch it without actually having to watch it. It's not a good experience. It's not even funny it's that appalling)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0
I'm sorry.

At the time of posting, this video has had OVER 100 MILLION VIEWS!!! I wonder how many of those are to see the absurdity of it. I fear not enough. That figure though simply explains why I'm pissed off about this. I don't understand how people can justifiably get rich from nonsense like this, it's simply not deserved. The creators will have made more from this in one horrible swoop than I make in many years of full time, life draining work.

I had a read on the Wikipedia page about her. The full story is that her parents paid for her to have this video made, sort of more for themselves and her friends, so, in essence it started as a bit of fun that suddenly went 'viral'. Amazing how close the word viral is to virus eh? The fact that now, everyone involved is going to make a fortune, probably even fuelled by the likes of me ranting about how bad it is, so more people look, so more people know, is utterly devastating. Hopefully one day, people in general will look and stop entertaining this garbage.

According to the page, she is keen to do a duet with Justin Bieber. Hopefully that means they will both be in the same room at the same time, making a lot easier to get rid of BOTH OF THEM AT THE SAME TIME! Someone please do this planet a tiny favour and eradicate both of these vermin when that happens. PLEASE!?



Here is the death-core parody by TOTALITY, which, whether you like death-core, death metal, metal at all, you've got to admit this is funny, AND, for all those who continually say 'Oh, how can you listen to that garbage, it's just noise and you can't tell what they are saying', YOU can't tell what they're saying, but once your ears tune in to the style of it, OR if you have a lyric sheet, OR if, like this it's a cover, then YES, you can tell they are saying something, don't be so pathetic. It's MEANT to not be heard properly by people who don't like it. That's the point, it's meant to be extreme sounding and exclusionary. Deal with it. Death-core by the way, for those who don't know, is a mix of death metal and hardcore, much maligned en masse by the death metal elites out there, but, still has plenty of good things within its style. I'm not necessarily saying this band, or this song (in its own right) is particularly awesome, but, it's a damn sight better than the original, and the idiots who are listening to the original and liking it should like this instead. I know that will never happen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi00ykRg_5c

Also, here is The Inbetweeners bus wanker short mash up, which I think is class!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwmLfoxSVkw

Die. All of you responsible for this abomination. You don't deserve to exist.

So, just who the hell do you think you are?

I'm not going to use this as an opportunity to promote lots of projects necessarily (although I will briefly mention names of things, just so you get the full expanse of what I have been involved with over the years), but, I thought I should really give you something of an introduction to ME. A little self-indulgence never hurt anyone. Well, it probably hurt lots of people, but then so many things do, so am pretty sure by now, this will make no difference. It won't hurt ME then, let's say that instead.

Here is a (semi) brief life story. I say 'semi' because I can never really do things totally in brief, much as I try to, or would like to sometimes... which is proven in point right there. In fact, I can probably bet confidently now that it will turn out totally the opposite, so let's just forget this paragraph even happened... except for that last bit confirming that it WON'T be brief!

I was born in Leeds, New Year's Eve 1976, late on at night. I was born caesarean section because the doctors and nurses wanted to go to their NY parties. I think it's had a massive bearing on some parts of my life that I was pulled out early.

I don't believe I developed any sort of real consciousness and awareness to my existence for a long time. Maybe this was a good thing. I hated most of school. I was bright, intelligent, knowledgeable, more than most in my schools, but the education given to me and the atmosphere I was suppressed within broke my desire to learn more, teaching me nothing but anxiety, hatred, cynicism, the knowledge of wanting to escape rather than join in. I guess when they say school shapes who you are as a person, they were right! For most of the rest of my time since then, I've been trying to undo what school did to me, and in recent years, my thirst for intellect has come back, so now I immerse myself in words and sound to gain a higher sense of self to keep me alive and sane.

I played a lot of snooker at home on a small, half-sized table in a back bedroom, I listened to the radio lots and discovered the music I wanted to follow up on for life earlier than most, I kept myself mostly to myself, and it was usually better that way. Other people were (usually) just trauma or saddening. At the age of about 10 or 11 I started playing on full-size tables in clubs with my dad, and I got pretty good pretty quick. I don't play snooker any more, it's been a few years but that part of my life is now dead and buried. I did win, and am very proud to say it, a lot of regional competitions, trophies, club knock outs and such like. For anyone who is interested in snooker, I was, at one stage in the top 8 in Yorkshire, won the Leeds City Championships, I once played Paul Hunter when we were much younger and won a frame, and have a highest break of 136. I'm pretty damn certain I won't beat that before my death.

I've been involved in bands and musical projects since the age of about 16, so now more than half my life. Amongst the gigging bands have been Bathroom City, Canvas, Tangaroa, Narcosis, Reth, and now Diascorium. I've played around 300 gigs all over Europe. I've also done recordings under the guises of Eye Of Phetkanha, Incandescence, Cerebral Constriction, Fucking Hostel, Sloth Hammer, as well as a few other jams / gig stand-ins and contributions to things. I also ran the Raw Nerve Promotions website / forum / club night / gig promotions outlet, as well as Lovely Time Promotions gig organisers / music blog, and was part of the team that put on the Devastator and Arise club nights here in Leeds. Busy, awesome, frustrating, life-affirming nights have been had over the years, and, whilst now I am only involved in a couple of things, I hope it can continue for a little longer.

I met Sarah in 2003 and, amazingly it was one of those 'Yep, she's the one' type feelings. I pestered a friend who I knew knew her for her number, and got in touch. We'd both been intentionally single for a while before this night, and so we started chatting but without any sort of inclination for getting together, just because it was 'right' to be talking. I knew though, and happily we got together not long after, bought a house a couple of years after, and got married a couple of years after that. As everyone does, we have our ups and downs, and we sometimes drive each other mad, and sometimes make each other sad, but then most of the time we make each other feel a lot better about life, our existence, our battles uphill against all things that come at us, and we love each other hugely.

Yes, I am a soppy git, and I don't care who knows it.

I've had tons of jobs in my life, many a year at the snooker centre where I also played in a team, I've done loads of agency work, doing cleaning, warehouse picking and packing, being a driver's mate (although that didn't go too well as I managed to get us lost on a trip to the midlands, and ended up not completing the job until gone midnight! That was one long day I can tell you!), doing security patrols, working in pubs, clubs etc., working for magazines and now, I work for a newspaper, designing adverts, proof reading etc. I've been doing this since around 2003, and, whilst it's not too bad, if I wasn't able to listen to music whilst at work I would have killed myself, killed others, smashed things up, for the atmosphere and tensions in an office environment can be a fair bit soul destroying.

So,
now you're a bit more up to date, probably bored, but hopefully not, just in case though, I will lighten things up with something ludicrous...



A few other things to mention. I am a total grammar nerd, have OCPD to the extreme, I enthusiastically love all manner of musical styles, from classical, ambient, prog etc., right through to the harshest, most horrible extreme metal (death, black, grind, gore, sludge, doom etc.), I used to be a total number geek as well, bordering on autistic, but, I've not had to practice it so much in the second half of my life, so I'm losing my touch with that.

I wrote a book. If you'd like something fairly in-depth, intense, weird, surreal, prophetic, with complex grammar and rambles, then click on 'Day One Promise' on the right hand side. I hope you enjoy. It's not overly long, but I am most proud it eventually was completed exactly how I wanted it.

I am an antitheist, the quote that sums this up for me best is by Christopher Hitchens, (yes it's on Wikipedia, but it still does echo my sentiments most concisely) and he says 'I not only maintain that all religions are versions of the same untruth, but I hold that the influence of churches, and the effect of religious belief, is positively harmful.'

Finally, I promise to not close with a George Carlin video every time to back up whatever it is that I've just rambled about, BUT... how could I resist including this one. Utterly inspired. Click the logo please.



This is me.
Hello.
I hope you take sufficient interest in my words to stick around and see what other inanities I may utter.