Video Essay: How Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teenage Spirit’ changed the world

Been on a bit of a binge recently with the musical analysis of Trash Theory which breaks down how beloved alternative bands impacted and influenced the world around them, which leads us to how Nirvana changed the world in early 90’s. They literally turned the music world upside down with one song in it’s striking sarcasm, biting guitar riff, and audible shift it made in culture from 80’s excess to a more introspective approach.

Check out this other grand video from Trash Theory that looks into how the Smashing Pumpkins ‘1979’ encapsulates the idea of chasing your youth. 

Queued Up #312 – 12.30.18

#312         12.30.18

Most Noteworthy of 2018

Hour 1

  1. YUNGBLUD – I Love You, Will You Marry Me
  2. Superorganisim – Everybody Wants To Be Famous
  3. Mt. Joy – Silver Lining
  4. The 1975 – It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)
  5. Mike Shinoda – Make It Up As I Go (feat. K.Flay)
  6. King Princess – 1950
  7. Dennis Lloyd – Nevermind
  8. Arctic Monkeys – Four Out Of Five
  9. Alkaline Trio – Blackbird
  10. Rainbow Kitten Surprise – Fever Pitch
  11. Donna Missal – Keep Lying
  12. Bloxx – Curtians
  13. Rex Orange County – Loving Is Easy
  14. Just Loud – Soul Train (feat. Debbie Harry)
  15. Interpol – The Rover

Hour 2

  1. CHVRCHES – Miracle
  2. The Glorious Sons – S.O.S.
  3. Billie Eilish – Come Out and Play
  4. SYML – Clean Eyes
  5. Gang Of Youths – The Heart Is a Muscle
  6. Grandson – Blood // Water (Queued Up Artist Showcase 3/12 Reggies)
  7. Pale Waves – There’s a Honey

Top 5 Albums of 2018

  1. 8. Muse – Get Up and Fight
  2. Teenage Wrist – Stoned, Alone
  3. Mumford & Sons – Beloved
  4. Failure – Distorted Fields
  5. Actors – Slaves
  6. The Interrupters – Gave You Everything
  7. Dreamers – Screws
  8. Meg Myers – Numb

Queued Up #311 Playlist – 12.23.18

#311         12.23.18

Hour 1

  1. The Raconteurs – Sunday Driver
  2. Allan Rayman – Rose
  3. SYML – Clean Eyes
  4. Broken Bells – Shelter
  5. Half Alive – Still Feel
  6. Gerard Way – Dasher (feat. Lydia Night)
  7. LANY – Thru These Tears
  8. Alice Merton – Funny Business
  9. Bad Suns – Away We Go
  10. Hozier – Movement
  11. Grimes – We Appreciate Power
  12. Queens of the Stone Age – Silent Night (with C.W. Stoneking)
  13. Matt and Kim – Happy If You’re Happy
  14. The Glorious Sons – S.O.S.
  15. Grandson – Despicable (Queued Up Artist Showcase 3/12 Reggies)

Hour 2

  1. Just Loud – Soul Train (feat. Debbie Harry)
  2. Keuning – Boat Accident
  3. Shaed – Trampoline (Queued Up Artist Showcase 2/24)
  4. Robert DeLong – First Person On Earth
  5. MØ – Blur feat. Foster The People
  6. Dominic Fike – 3 Nights
  7. The Interrupters – Gave You Everything
  8. The Unlikely Candidates – Father Christmas
  9. Matt Maeson – Cringe
  10. Rufus Dul Sol – Treat You Better
  11. Picture This – One Drink
  12. SEEB – Grip (feat. Bastille)
  13. Steve Aoki – Pretender (feat. AJR)
  14. Houses – Fast Talk
  15. The Raconteurs – Now That You’re Gone

 

There is a GoFundMe to buy out the contract of Bears kicker Cody Parkey

Not that this would go along with any rules of the National Football League….nor would the amount of money at the publishing of this article come anywhere close to the $9 million in guaranteed money that the Bears owe their kicker…but one fan in Kentucky has started a GoFundMe to buy out the contract of Cody Parkey.  [UPDATE:  I think we killed it — the campaign has since been removed]

Parkey missed another extra point during the last game of the season, a 24-10 victory over the Vikings.  That brings his season totals to 23-of-30 on field goals, good for 76.7 percent accuracy, and 41-of-44 on extra points (93.2 percent).

Still better than last year’s kicker — Connor Barth only hit about 68% of field goals, but missed less extra points — generally thought to be “gimme” points in the NFL.

COME ON, CODY!  Pull it together in the playoffs and leave the regular season behind….#BearDown  — [eric]

[UPDATED 1/6/19:  Doink, Doink]

[📷 : Pexels]

New Year’s themed “Stranger Things” trailer drops clues, release date.

Stranger Things is back to tantalize us, with this New Year’s Eve-themed trailer (oh, hi Dick Clark).  Season 3 will debut on Netflix on July 4th, 2019.  Beyond that:

HERE’S WHAT I KNOW: 

  • It’s gonna take place during the summer of 1985.

HERE’S WHAT I *DON’T* KNOW:

  • “WHEN BLUE AND YELLOW MEET IN THE WEST.”  — “SilverCatFeeds.exe” ???

These two things popped up in the trailer and I don’t know what they could possibly mean.  Maybe you can figure it out —- I’ve got screen shots after the trailer.  — [eric]

CTA offering free rides on New Year’s Eve

CTA is giving free rides for New Year’s Eve. From 10 p.m. Monday until 4 a.m. on New Year’s Day, you can keep your Ventra card in your wallet when you get on trains or buses.

On top of that, CTA is also offering extended service on several lines. This is all an effort to give people healthier commuting options on one of the biggest drinking nights of the year.

The CTA’s Near Year’s Eve free rides are sponsored this year by Miller Lite.

Ladt year on NYE, CTA provided nearly 91,000 free rides on New Years Eve.

If you are going to be out there tonight just be smart in general, and don’t try to ride ON TOP OF A CTA TRAIN like this guy did.

GALLERY: Where to watch 101WKQX artists play on NYE.

Here’s where to watch some of your favorite 101WKQX artists ring in 2019 — preferably with the optimum amount of reverb.  Happy New Year!  — [eric]

Weezer

New Year’s Rockin’ Eve (Times Square) / ABC

Bastille

New Year’s Rockin’ Eve (Times Square) / ABC

Foster The People

New Year’s Rockin’ Eve (West Coast) / ABC

Florence + The Machine

New Year’s Eve w/ Steve Harvey / FOX

Lyrical breakdown: How Smashing Pumpkins ‘1979’ represents our collective nostalgia

Trash Theory made this wonderful lyrical breakdown video on the Smashing Punmpkins ‘1979’ and how it represents the collective youthful exuberance we seek to regain only when we’ve grown away from it. It’s got some NSFW language, but it’s a well-woven piece that shows how the song’s message permeates in other movies and music while being one of the Pumpkin’s best tracks. The video also notes how Pumpkin’s leader Billy Corgan was bringing the band in a different direction on ‘Mellon-collie and the Infinities Sadness’  and artistically stopping one formula that they grew tired of one their earlier records.

One thing this video gets wrong in my opinion, is where it claims the band has not been able to strike the same glory since this period which is just aggressively esoteric. If you are going to praise the band for encapsulated the ideal feeling of youth, why you would then not allow the same artist to grow?

No matter what you think of this video, maybe you will love this: Our epic Lounge session withe Smashing Pumpkins where Billy and company share stories of growing up in Chicago and more.

 

There is a ‘professional’ mini-golf tournament

Yes, this is real. In Myrtle Beach, an owner of a mini-golf course wants to raise the past-time to the ranks of televised sports with legitimacy that parallels the PGA. Vice News was there to document the weird yet passionate pursuit of these putters who ply their craft.

Nirvana sues Marc Jacobs for ripping off smiley face design

The representatives for the alternative icons Nirvana let it be known you can’t take the band’s art and make a knock off t-shirt. The band’s reps are suing Marc Jacobs, the beauty product company for their release of t-shirt that clearly yanks the band’s memorable ‘zonked out’ smiley face and replaces Xs with an M and a J. It’s not original in the slightest way. TMZ has more in the link above.

 

2019 is going to be a great year for Star Wars…(which includes Chicago, too)

Coming in 2019:  Episode IX (in theaters December 20th), Celebration, a full-fledged Star Wars convention at McCormick Place (April 11th-15th), and last but not least — Galaxy’s Edge, an immersive attraction coming to both of the Disney parks (summer, to Disneyland and fall, to Walt Disney World).

Check out this newly released video giving you a behind-the-scenes look at the new world.  I’m already planning my trips….both local and otherwise.  — [eric]

[📷 : Star Wars Celebration/Press Kit]

‘Black Mirror’ returns

A full “Black Mirror” movie arrives on Netflix TOMORROW. Check out the trailer:

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Police break up dinosaur flash mob

On Sunday, more than 100 people in dinosaur costumes gathered in downtown Kansas City for the second annual March of the Dinosaurs. Unfortunately, police weren’t in the mood for a parade.

The estimated 100-120 people, many dressed in inflatable T-Rex costumes, marched for about 25 minutes before police broke it up, saying the parade was blocking traffic and causing a safety hazard.

The event’s organizer, Jacob Honnold, says he got a ticket and that police are reviewing the parade for possible criminal charges.

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Customs dog finds hitchhiking millipede from South Africa

Hope this good boy got a steak dinner for his keeping the nation safe from invading insects. A customs agent sniffed out a “hitchhiker” earlier this month who caught a ride in a passenger’s baggage.

While on duty at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Regal the beagle discovered a six-inch millipede that found its way on to a flight from South Africa.
According to the Customs and Border Protection agency, while the bug is prohibited from entering the United States, it will find itself residing in “a local insectarium,” says the Charlotte Observer.

Carey Davis, Atlanta CBP Area Port Director, figuratively patted Regal on the head, posting to the CBP website, “Our beagle sniffing out this millipede highlights how valuable our canine members are to protecting the U.S.”

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The keys to a longer life: booze, coffee and overeating

If you want to live into your 90s, eat, drink and be merry.

That’s the finding of a new study by the University of California, which reveals people who regularly drink moderate amounts of alcohol and coffee tend to outlive people who don’t. The study also reveals people who are overweight in their 70s have a better chance of living another 20 years than those who aren’t.

The study’s results, which were released today, were determined by surveying more than 14,000 nonagenarians about their lifestyles.

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Gaming builds grey matter, makes you wicked smart

Now you get to tell everyone that your gaming habit — is just making you smarter.  Two universities joined forces on a study that showed that between two groups of players — one made up of about 30 experts who played often vs. 30 who didn’t play so much — the group that logged more time “had enhanced functional connectivity and gray matter volume in insular subregions.”

Bigger and better.  Now, I’m not a scientist, but that certainly sounds smarter.  I’ll go log more hours on the console and come back to you when I can fully explain this.

In the meantime, check out Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco.  He played a Christmas-skinned Fortnite map the other day on Twitch. — [eric]  

Watch Xmas Vibes from brendonurie on www.twitch.tv

[📷: Pexels]

VIDEO: Green Day take on Nirvana’s “Drain You” in cover gig

The Coverups are basically Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt, along with some of their tech crew and friends.  Guess what music they play?  Yup….cover tunes.

On December 19th, a YouTube user captured the group taking on Nirvana’s “Drain You” during a secret show in California.  Might we have the guest vocalist the next time Nirvana decides to do a reunion gig?  — [eric]