Is SPIN really circling the drain?

(Btw, J0hn, do you ever read music theory? There was an all-rock issue of Music Theory Online some time ago you might like.)

rarely, but it's always something on my "more of this" list, which every year looks more and more like the "list of things you're going to rue not doing more of on your deathbed" list. given that about 70% of my listening is classical now & the other 30% is largely stuff by dudes whose work will be enriched by deeper grounding in theory, I kind of ought to get my theory chops in better shape

i've always felt there was some interesting music writing to be done by the right person about the intersection of high-level music theory stuff and 80s metal guitar playing, like it was so odd in retrospect, all these dudes in what was perceived as sort disposable noise that were digging into (in strange sort of misguided or superficial way) into like modal scales and shit like that...like as a kid i couldn't really play for shit but somehow I knew all the modal scales like from guitar mags

who got hard rock guitar headed down that road, zappa? van halen?

definitely Van Halen

yeah EVH is a pretty major touchstone. I feel like 70s post-Hendrix dudes like Robin Trower also sort of are important to those guys, like they're listening to that stuff & Black Sabbath & playing scales and it all comes together in a giant frenzy of awesome

EVH has readily identifiable precedents but none of them had the similar "classically trained" + rock cred combo that spawned the industry as we know it

oh you know what? I didnt end up reading all of it, but that whole E-Hazel-&-Prince-but-not-Hendrix would've been redeemed if SPIN had included Trower as well, but I'm guessing that didn't happen...?

I like that the "most heroic moment" listed for Zappa is a Beefheart showcase song with no guitar theatrics to speak of.

who got hard rock guitar headed down that road, zappa? van halen?

― some dude, Monday, May 7, 2012 6:37 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'd guess Ritchie Blackmore, he was the first guy that made a big deal about being classically influenced, and I'd say that if Iommi was the prototype for metal riffing, Blackmore was just as much the prototype of metal soloing

^^^yeah can totally get with that. Blackmore was def on some "check out at ye olde medievel melodies in yonder solo" schtick. somehow his appeal and range seem more, I dunno, restrained? limited? than EVH. Blackmore wasn't pop the way EVH was.

You can throw Uli Jon Roth in the mix too. He's a logical precursor to EVH and that pop pyrotechnic style.

FUCK YOUR BLUES-ROCK PARADIGM!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpxMr6J3UHM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hugY9CwhfzE

iirc i'm waiting for the man was written in a 12 tone scale

i remember buying my first Velvet Underground comp because they were so progressive and influential on alternative music and everything that wasn't a boring german ballad was pretty basic competant rock n roll.

Btw, I agree that Blackmore and Roth are good antecedents. What about Steve Hackett? He was doing some two-hand tapping early on. I could see the lead parts in "The Musical Box" as an antecedent to Iron Maiden in a way.

I can't offhand think of any theoretical writing that's really specifically about 80s hard rock but these guys have written about metal or prog:

http://web.gc.cuny.edu/music/faculty/pieslak.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/johncovach/JCmain.htm

Pieslak's Meshuggah article is pretty good.

hell0 whiney u need to sort ur website out

i'm trying to read an article and it keeps redirecting to the home page halfway through

it did it to another one i tried to read to

i pretty much hate the entire design of the internet these days

actually, i was having problems with that re: accessing the guitarist list.

i wish everything on the internet looked like ilx tbh

instead of overloaded cluttered pages full of crap that feel like you're barely in control of your own internet experience

^^^ t-bomb

he is right you know

just fire the web designers and get some bloggers to do it for free. this IS 2012 after all.

i actually know two amazing web designers by the way. one of whom is an ilxor if spin needs some help. cuz that site has always been a nightmare.

ha ca you imagine if whiney had the spin site redesigned to look like ilx

its right up there with movie company websites (almost always horrible and straight out of 1992) and big label music company websites (ditto). media people strangely have a hard time with the whole website thing. which is kinda ironic, dontcha think?

http://i46.tinypic.com/dzujah.jpg
This Waka cover gets lots of attention sitting on my desk.

is WAKA the one after the Sleigh Bells? I need to pick that up.

your desk is hella clean

Yeah, I keep it fresh.

i HAVE been reading Spin lately. just so you know.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/149757_10150880715772137_686202136_9783605_1527284945_n.jpg

Old Spin! What a fantastic magazine it was.

picturing people in business casual walking by spottie's desk, looking down and screaming "GROVE STREEEEEEEEEET" or "WAKA! FLOCKA! WAKA! FLOCKA!"

lol. All I've gotten so far is a couple "cool, who is that" comments.

i wish everything on the internet looked like ilx tbh

― liberté, égalité, beyoncé (lex pretend), Wednesday, May 9, 2012 7:24 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

instead of overloaded cluttered pages full of crap that feel like you're barely in control of your own internet experience

― liberté, égalité, beyoncé (lex pretend), Wednesday, May 9, 2012 7:25 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i would fight and die for this

OTM

isn't that what like instapaper and a million other apps do basically?

do go on...?

ha ca you imagine if whiney had the spin site redesigned to look like ilx

― some dude, Wednesday, May 9, 2012 10:52 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

do it

jon lewis: http://getpocket.com/

works for your computer too. you just need to find single page sites for long form.

lol Spottie I have those Run DMC figures on my desk at home

it's tricky to rock a desk iirc

Readability is an app that strips extraneous shit from web pages.

I like using the Reader button in the Safari app for this purpose.

lol Spottie I have those Run DMC figures on my desk at home

― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, May 9, 2012 4:57 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Fist bump.

I am still waiting for my issue in the mail :-( shouldn't it be here by now if it's already on newsstands?

might want to revisit the calendar poster...

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/522167_10150890037502137_686202136_9804387_263236603_n.jpg

hey whiney i've been listening to stuff off the spin best albums of 2012 so far thing, some good tunes maaan

tried reading that & just got caught on a loop of action bronson -> addison groove -> action bronson -> addison groove