WTF?

You know, I have had to endure a steroid shot in the right butt cheek to combat an asthma attack today, a steroidal breathing treatment, and a syringe jammed into my left arm to draw blood. All this to be diagnosed with a virus that no one has had yet and therefore it can't be classified as the flu or even pleurisy which is what the doctor thought I had at first (go ahead and laugh M! I did!). So, hopefully in the next five days the prednisone I have to take will kill whatever it is making me feel like I'm 90 and calm my asthma down. I gotta say, no matter what my body went through today nothing pissed me off more than finding out about the Hip Hop Tribute to Pink Floyd. Oh, you read that right.

Let's face it, Hip Hop artists tend to self promote A LOT. None of the artists are listed on the cd case, which makes me a little suspicious that we may be talking about some less than successful contributors: DiAnne Elaine (vocals); Ernie Laviolette (drums); Ryan Arthur (background vocals); Rhashidi (vocals); Cee (vocals); Brian Bart (bass instrument); GVL (vocals). Who?

Maybe they're studio Hip Hop musicians and are known in the industry, but are you really going to take C listers and cover holy ground? Was this really an idea that Tribute Sounds execs discussed during a planning meeting and thought "let's hit the Hip Hop button on the keyboard and rerecord some Pink Floyd Classics. This is gonna be HUGE" Um no! It's not. If you don't believe me, go over to iTunes and sample it.

I could barely take Scissor Sisters, a band I love, doing Comfortably Numb back in 2004 though eventually I came around. And yeah, I was totally into Taylor Hawkins covering Have a Cigar at the Double Door in Chicago. With both artists, you know the decision to cover Floyd is coming from a place of admiration and artistic inspiration. Tribute Sounds has released several tribute albums recorded by cover bands and whatnot, which is much easier to take because the soul of the music remains. They're not changing the sound of the song, really. Though if you want to listen to a cover band don't you just usually go to a local bar, get loaded and see a cover band perform? Do you buy cds to listen to cover bands? Maybe you do if you know the people in the band or something, but not usually. Regardless, Tribute Sounds released an unnecessary cd. Maybe their whole shtick is unnecessary. Well, except that the Club Mix Tribute to Fergie could have its uses (J, you know it's true after some wine, hahaha). The longer I do this the more I realize that there really is an audience for EVERYTHING. This PF tribute cd has sold, you know? Unbelievable, but true.

If you don't know Pink Floyd, go and seek out the original Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, and Wish You Were Here, all represented on this travesty. The originals might just change your life. If you like those, seek out Animals and Meddle as well.

While you're doing that I'm going to go lift my car and do some squats. -K