Wednesday 23 March 2011

A Musical Miracle

It was just the other day that I found myself thinking about how I'd like to go and see 30 Seconds to Mars again whenever they next decide to grace our land with another tour. This is despite having seen them twice in 2010 - They really are that great a live act. Their level of greatness in the live arena proved itself even further to me just this morning in a rather random moment that I have taken time to consider (what with my hectic schedule and all) and decided was a miracle... A Musical Miracle (hence the title).

'What was this miracle!?' I hear you all crying out from across the land. Well, allow me to fill you in...
Stacey had stayed over the night, and in the morning she was up and getting ready for work while I lay in bed dozing. I wasn't dozing out of total laziness I swear, I mean I worked the night shift tonight, so I needed to be well rested so as not to be tired come 10pm. Anyways, at some point Stacey all of a sudden shakes me and out of the blue tells me that she'd really like to see 30 Seconds to Mars again. She goes on to tell me that she thought they were pretty incredible and that she thought Jared Leto was very entertaining. Now here's the miracle part: We agreed fully with each other and had a conversation about how they were the best live band either of us had seen.

Let me tell you that this is a rarity. If you were to go through my iPod, you'd find mostly radio unfriendly rock, metal, and heavy metal, with 30 Seconds to Mars, Linkin Park, AC/DC, and Red Hot Chili Peppers probably being the most mainstream things I listen to, aside from the odd piece of popular music that I find myself humming along to, making it eventually worthy of a place in my playlist. On the other hand, Stacey is into eighties stuff, and essentially whatever is currently popular. She doesn't follow the charts religiously or anything, and will moan about some of the more annoying tunes out there from some of those rapper guys, but she does like a lot of what's played regularly on MTV or Radio One, stuff that makes me groan.

There are indeed artists that cross the boundaries between my iPod and Stacey's one. She does enjoy some of the more generally accepted alternative acts, while as I've mentioned, some pop music can find its way to my iPod if it is deemed good enough by myself. But, for us to agree that one band is that great, and for us to both rank them as our 'Number One' in any list is pretty amazing. I've said it before, and I'll reiterate it now: 30 Seconds to Mars are terrific live, if you haven't seen them live I urge you to go when you get the chance. If you've never heard of them or any of their stuff Youtube them now for Pete's sake! We'll most definitely be seeing them again in the future.

While on the topic of music, I struck up another musically based conversation with Stacey last night. I asked whether she thought any of the current crop of music talent out there could ever be as big as Michael Jackson. Her reply was a stern and sharp 'No'. I then asked if she thought there would ever be anyone; ever as insanely big a star as that again. Again, her reply was a stern and sharp 'No'. I still find it rather - I want to say heartbreaking, but in not so much a wussy way...checks thesaurus... crushing? No. Deflating? Too far the other way, not enough emotion.. Devastating? Bit dramatic I suppose, but let's run with it, I'm getting tired! - Devastating to think that we had tickets to see The Late King of Pop live on the first night of his big This Is It comeback at The O2 Arena. I fully expect that the gig would have blown our socks off, but alas we'll never truly know, and it is 30 Seconds to Mars who indeed sit atop the throne of our live acts list.

Is there anyone out there who can be as big as MJ was though? I'd make an argument for Jared Leto and Company (30 Seconds to Mars in case you haven't been paying attention), but you'd all laugh and point at me. Some may put up their own argument to Madonna being the Queen of Pop, and while she's been able to adapt and evolve over the decades, she's never quite been as tall in her throne as Jackson was, and in death still is. So for now all we can do is wait around and see how the music scene continues to change. I personally would love to see a rock revival, a rock revolution, but I know it won't happen. And it won't happen for the very same reason that I don't think there'll ever be somebody big enough to fill the role of the 'second coming' of Michael Jackson. That reason is that things are so diverse these days, and everybody is into such different, niche things (in all aspects of life and entertainment, not just in music) that no one act can truly reach that height of fame anymore. There's just too much out there to choose from. It's why television ratings are way down from the heights they reached in the 80s and 90s, because there's so much more choice with different channels, and new fangled inventions such as videogames and the Internet. If X-Factor (which I hate by the way) were on in the 90s, it would have drawn in a much larger audience than it does.. Hell, I'd probably have given it more of a shot seeing as how I wouldn't have as much choice in individual activity.

On an unrelated note, I feel like writing briefly about all the small things that happened today that made my day a smiley, shiny, happy one in the life of me. I awoke to the musical miracle which inspired this blog, I then got up and watched Machete on Blu-Ray which was fantastic for anyone who likes over the top violence and a true badass of a character. Robert DeNiro also does a fine job appearing in the film as a Senator, while many other familiar faces turn up in different roles. Highly recommended movie fans! I then spent my afternoon reading and finishing Mick Foley's Countdown to Lockdown, which was a fine set of memoirs, and the fourth to come from Foley. Now you may be thinking that four memoirs are somewhat excessive, but the fact is that Mick Foley has an enormous wealth of interesting tales to tell, and he shares them in an entertaining way, so it's fair to say that he is far more deserving of four autobiographies that Jordan, or Katie Price, or whatever we're calling it these days. Oh, and even more impressively, Mick Foley writes all of his books all by himself, and by hand with a good old fashioned pen 'n' paper. Upon finishing the book, and laying it to rest and to gather dust, I went to work and enjoyed a nice quiet evening there. On my break I went to Sainsbury's to get some food, and used the self-service checkouts which are always fun. They even gave me a coupon for 50p off of HP Guinness flavoured BBQ sauce, which has me intrigued... Anyway, I feel this may be becoming rather boring now, so I guess it'll be time to log off and go to sleep.

To play us out, here's 30 Seconds to Mars with their video for The Kill. This video is definitely one for Stephen King fans!



Bury Me! Bury Me!

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