Something really bad in the works – censorship of the internet

Okay, normally the Wild Heart NEVER gets political. However, todays post, well, that isn’t the case. Why? Read on Wild Heart lovers!

Today,l I read that there has been a bill introduced to Congress called the Stop Internet Privacy Act, a.k.a the Protect IPAct of

You could see something like this next time you bring up your favorite website. Do you really want that?

2011. Sounds good at face value does it not? There’s where you are wrong. It’s basically an internet censorship bill.

An internet censorship bill would mean an infringement on the US freedom that we cherish the most: free speech. Also, what it would do is stop any sort of unauthorizd streaming of audio or video. In short, unless any sort of video you watch is from a major media network or Vevo for music videos as well as Pandora, Last.fm or iTunes for streaming audio – you can kiss the unauthorized videos of YouTube and basically all of Grooveshark goodbye. Also you can kiss sharing such “unauthorized” contraband goodbye too – you’ll be sent to prison.

Such popular websites such as Facebook, Mozilla, Paypal, LinkedIn, WordPress (where the Wild Heart calls her virtual internet home), and many others will either blackout or are considering a blackout on the day that the bill goes to the senate on January 24. Thus, the Wild Heart will be doing likewise on January 24.

This will also stifle small businesses because it threatens to shut down other places such as Etsy – an arts and crafts website where you can buy things such as a Michael Jackson softball or a purse made from a record, Grooveshark – where people upload music much like people upload videos on YouTube as well as YouTube itself. This is an assault on small businesses, up and coming artists (some of which do covers of classic songs and become famous themselves) just so that the already established businesses can keep making money.

Here’s a list of music industry SOPA supporters if you choose to boycott them:

American Federation of Musicians (AFM)

American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)

American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA)

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)

BMG Chrysalis

BMI

Capitol Records Nashville

CBS (and I would assume the people that own the rights to all things that were once CBS records)

Christian Music Trade Association

Church Music Publishers’ Association

Copyhype

Copyright Alliance

Country Music Association

Country Music Television

Disney Publishing Worldwide, Inc.

EMI Christian Music Group

EMI Music Publishing

Entertainment Software Association (ESA)

Gospel Music Association

Lost Highway Records

MCA Records

Mercury Nashville

National Songwriters Association

Provident Music Group

Republic Nashville

Showdog Universal Music

Sony/ATV Music Publishing

Sony Music Entertainment

Sony Music Nashville

UMG Publishing Group Nashville

Universal Music

Warner Music Group

Warner Music Nashville

Word Entertainment

Now the ways that you can help are this: write your senators as well as President Barack Obama and tell him that this bill is an infringement on your rights to freedom of speech!

Universal Music Publishing Group

Jon Bon Jovi doesn’t rest in peace because he’s probably being a doting daddy

So the big news story in the music world is that lead singer of Bon Jovi, Jon Bon Jovi has reportedly died. Guess what, he’s alive and kicking – probably spending Christmas with his wife and kids. So the rest of New Jersey can breathe now because their other son is safe and sound.

Apparently the dailynewbloginternational thinks hoax death announcements are funny. They really aren’t.

 With that said, Johnny is alive.

Styx sends a strong message to the religious right with “Kilroy Was Here”

You have to hand it to Styx, they are pretty bold and brash when it comes to politics for an art-rock band. On their concept 1983 release Kilroy Was Here, they don’t hold back on their anti-censorship stance.

Kilroy was Here follows the story of a former rock star, Kilroy (lead singer Dennis De Young), living in prison in a future where rock n’ roll is illegal due to the the hands of of the MMM (Majority for Musical Morality) and a fascist government. The album picks up in the future where robots manufactured in Japan, called Mr. Robotos, work nonstop in jobs once held by humans. In addition to this bleak future, there are the ever-present anti-rock music rallies where citizens literally burn guitars, records, and other rock paraphernalia.

However there is a rebel leader, Jonathan Chance (Tommy Shaw), who wants to bring back rock music. The album follows both Chance and Kilroy’s attempts to prove Kilroy’s innocence as well as break up the MMM.

Kilroy Was Here is a clear stab at the then-prevalent Moral Majority and Tipper Gore‘s Parental Music Resource Center – better known as the PMRC.  This is due in part to Christian fundamentalists branding their song Snowblind as “satanic.”

The album itself is a great album both musically and, for the most part, lyrically. On almost every single the synthesizer reflects the eerie time that this world could come to if such a power akin to the MMM were to be in power.

Overall I would highly recommend this album if you are a big musical fan, but otherwise forget it.

However, it is still entertaining to watch.

Related articles

• Styx (allsongsandlyrics.wordpress.com)
• Styx Confuses “Re-Recorded” with “Regeneration” (popdose.com)

We Didn’t Start The Fire, part 2

I love the song “We Didn’t Start The Fire” by Billy Joel. It’s like 40 years of history crammed into one song. However, it is now a little out of date because, let’s face it, alot has happened since the song’s release in 1989. So Mr. Joel, if you are reading this, here is a list of suggestions you can put in from the past 22 years.

1990

• Mandela freed – Future President of Africa Nelson Mandela is freed from a political prison.
• Gulf War – USand coalition forces invade Kuwait in order to get Iraqi President Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.
  

  Image via Wikipedia

• CGI – Computer Generated Imagery is further utilized in the film Total Recall.
• Unplugged – Mtv premieres the successful Unplugged concert series featuring Squeeze.
• Nirvana

1991

• Rodney King riot – After a videotape leaked of LAPD cops beating suspect Rodney King, the cops were freed. Rioting in South Central Los Angeles ensued.
• Mike Tyson – Boxer who was charged with rape as well as domestic abuse. He also won many fights and even bit the ear of fellow boxer Evander Holyfield.
• Truth Or Dare – Madonna documentary showing her during the Blonde Ambition World Tour. Was considered the highest grossing documentary of its time and is currently the 8th highest grossing documentary of all-time.
• Beauty and the Beast– 1st animated feature to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.
• Magic Johnson – NBA star that announced he had HIV

1992

• Apartheid Ends -White South Africans vote to end apartheid and have more racial equality in government in South Africa.
• EuroDisney opens
• Bill Clinton
• LA riots
• Boris Yeltsin

1993

• Monica Seles – tennis player that was stabbed during a match.
• Bosnia – lots of war between Muslims and Eastern Orthodox followers.
• Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell – Military policy enacted by President Bill Clinton that allowed closeted gays and lesbians into the military as long as they kept quiet about their personal lives. It was repealed by President Barack Obama in 2011.
• Schindler’s List – high grossing Steven Spielberg film about Oskar Schindler, a man who helped save many Jewish people during the Holocaust.
• Prince’s new name – Singer Prince changes his name to an unpronounceable love symbol.

1994

• Kurt Cobain blown away – lead vocalist for Nirvana commits suicide.
• Baseball strike – ends the season
• Forrest Gump – won Best Picture at the Oscars.
• Weezer
• Jenny Jones murder tv– On an episode of the Jenny Jones show entitled “Same Sex Crushes,” 32-year old Scott Amedure revealed to a heterosexual friend Jonathan Schmidz that he had a crush on him. A few weeks after the show, Schmidz killed Amendure with a shotgun at his mobile home.

1995

• Selena – extremely popular Tejano singer who was murdered by her fan club president, Yolanda Saldivar. This may not have been a big deal in the rest of the country, but it was a BIG deal in Texas and the Southwest, as the Wild Heart was born and raised here.
• Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee – Motley Crue drummer and a playboy model make a sex tape.
• Rox – 1st show broadcasted over the internet.
• Who Shot Mr. Burns – shocking Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns gets shot.

1996

• HDTV – 1st introduced in 1996.
• Taco Liberty Bell
• Evita starring Madonna, is released.

1997

• Surfing the web – term used to describe the fact that you were now on the internet.
• Princess Diana dies
• Titanic

1998

• Another Congo War
• El Nino – weather cell that wreaked a great deal of the west and south coast.
• Van Halen version 3 – Gary Cherone takes the seat of lead vocalist. It was previously held by David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar.

1999

• US President Bill Clinton admits he lied about having sex with Monica Lewinsky
• Woodstock 99 becomes known as “Woodstock Apocalypse” due to the raging bonfires, theft, violence, and rape.

2000

• New millenium
• Y2K
• Elian Gonzalez
• President George W. Bus vs. Vice President Al Gore in the election.

2001

• World Trade Center in flames – The World Trade Center and the Pentagon in New York City and Washington DC are attacked by terrorists piloting major airliners and ramming them into the buildings. The World Trade Center crashes to the ground. The US is DEVASTATED.
• Enron files for bankruptcy in Houston, TX.
• Clear Channel Memorandum – after 9/11 Clear Channel issues a memorandum containing a list of 150 potentially offensive songs in light of the terrorist attacks.
• US goes to war with Afghanistan.

2002

• U2 performs during the Superbowl Halftime show and pays tribute to those killed on September 11, 2001.
• The Lord of the Rings
•  Daniel Pearl

2003

• US goes to war with Iraq and captures leader Saddam Hussein
• Space Shuttle Columbia disentigrates upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
• The Station Nightclub Fire kills nearly 100 people attending a concert by Great White.

Anyways that is all I have for now. Tell me what you think!

5 recordings that beg to be in the National Recording Registry

The Wild Heart not to long ago came across the National Recording Registry, which is a branch of the Library of Congress. I must say, it’s a pretty cool ordeal because it seeks to preserve both historical recordings and essentially recordings that defined what life was like at the time of their release. According to their website, these are the qualifications that the recording must meet:

“Recordings selected for the National Recording Registry are those that are culturally, historically or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States.

For the purposes of recording selection, “sound recordings” are defined as works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds, but not including the sound component of a moving image work, unless it is available as an autonomous sound recording or is the only extant component of the work.

Recordings may be a single item or group of related items; published or unpublished; and may contain music, non-music, spoken word, or broadcast sound. Recordings will not be considered for inclusion into the National Recording Registry if no copy of the recording exists.

No recording should be denied inclusion into the National Recording Registry because that recording has already been preserved.

No recording is eligible for inclusion into the National Recording Registry until ten years after the recording’s creation.”

While some of the recordings (rightfully so) belong into the Registry, however the Wild Heart thinks they forgot a few while in the process.

1. The Concert for New York City – This recording became eligible a few weeks ago. However this was one of the things that brought the city of New York together like never before, but nevertheless after the tragedy of September 11, 2001.
2. Woodstock: Three Days of Peace and Music – This recording has been eligible for at least 40 or more years. This festival defined what the 1960’s were all about.
   
3. Woodstock 99 – If Woodstock 69 (mentioned above) was the embodiment of peace and music, Woodstock 99 was it’s evil twin. Take in mind the time of 1999: 2 of the major news events that happened were the impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton over his affair with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky and the school shooting at Columbine Highschool, which killed 15 people including the shooters themselves. There were also many copycat crimes as well. It was a rather violent time. Woodstock 99 was almost like a violent reaction to that time, however in the same violent vain.
4. Dreamboat Annie by Heart – This was released at the peak of the second wave of the Women’s Liberation Movement. If anything, the fact that not one but two women head up this band. History was made with this album.
5. 52nd Street by Billy Joel – If I ever want to know what life is like in the Big Apple, I just pop in one of his albums. This was, to me, what I picture Manhattan to be like at that time. Especially with such songs as Big Shot, Half A Mile Away, Zanzibar and the album’s title track.

10 best songs that can serve as anthems to a rebellion!!!

Some days you just need to stick it to the man! This is a day that is like that for the Wild Heart for reasons unspecified.

So here it is folks: the 10 best songs that bring out the rebel in the wild heart – or at least the angry side! Even more funnier is the fact that some of these have been used in film!

1) We’re Not Gonna Take It – Twisted Sister. One thing that Twisted Sister did best was portraying rebellion of any kind. However their specialty was teenage rebellion. This rang true in their classic videos on MTV when they cast Mark Metcalf (best known for his role as the sadistic asshole that is ROTC leader Lt. Doug Niedermeyer in the John Landis classic National Lampoon’s Animal House. I must say this has to be a sequel to Animal House – even though it says at the end that Niedermeyer was shot by his own troops in Vietnam. Sadly I guess he survived. 

2) Everybody Wants to Rule the World – Tears for Fears. If you have ever seen the film Real Genius with a very young (and handsome) Val Kilmer, you will know that this is the song that’s played at the end of the film. The film itself is about a group of Pacific Tech student scientists who are tricked into building a tracking device for a weapon. When they find out they were tricked, they exact a little revenge on the dean of students, Dr. Jerry Hathaway. Needless to say that due to his misdeeds (and felonies), he got what he deserved! On a more personal note, I had two of these in college. One was (I kid you not) a campus minister with the Baptist Student Ministry. Anyways, she would always act extremely rude to me and some of my friends. When I finally got the nerve to leave her group because of her sorry ass, she basically went from bad to worse: I joined another Christian group on campus and she tried to kick them out of the room (which the BSM owned) in the chapel at UH. She also asked friends of mine to leave the free lunch (which was open to the entire campus) that the BSM hosted just because my friend wanted another piece of pizza which they were throwing in the trash – why waste it? Thankfully she is no longer at that campus (they moved her to the UH Downtown campus) so its safe to say “good riddance” to her. The other one tried to falsely accuse me of something just to have me removed.

3) I Wanna Rock – Twisted Sister.  If you ever had a mean teacher like this in highschool you can totally relate to this!! I did. She was my highschool algebra teacher

4) Invincible – Pat Benatar. According to Pat Benatar’s autobiography Between A Heart & A Rock Place, this was filmed shortly after the birth of her first child. In other words, her record label back then, Chrysalis, didn’t give her any sort of maternity leave because they were absolutely against her and her husband/guitarist Neil Giraldo having a baby. They thought it would ruin her sexy-rocker persona. One can only imagine that the bite in her vocals maybe was aimed at those snakes at Chrysalis.

5) You Better Run – Pat Benatar.

6) Land of Confusion – Genesis. Probably one of the most creative yet creepiest music videos ever made. The video drew much criticism for showing then-US president Ronald Reagan as stupid and out of touch with the rest of the world. The video came from the hit British television show Spitting Image. The funny thing is that some of the stuff rings true today especially when it comes to how the US dollar is pretty much in the toilet, the terrible state of the US economy

7) Volunteers – Jefferson Airplane. Lead singer Grace Slick definetly lived up to this song. She was friends with the likes of Abbie Hoffman and once tried to spike then-President Richard Nixon’s tea with 600 micrograms of LSD.

8) Crazy On You – Heart. Suprisingly enough, this is actually a protest song! According to the Wilson sisters, this is a song that was written in response to the war in Vietnam. At the time of writing, their boyfriends were draft-dogers living in Canada.

9) Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who. This was probably one of the best performances the Who ever did. It was after the horrible events of September 11, 2001 where 3 hijacked commercial airlines hit Pentagon, the World Trade Center, and a field in Shanksville, PA – the latter was thought to be headed towards the White House. This was part of the Concert For New York City at Madison Square Garden. In some ways, this was the Who, as British citizens, were maybe saying “we are with you. Kill those terrorist bastards!” The Who themselves have said that this was one of their best performances to date. 10 years later we caught and killed the mastermind behind all of  the terror: Osama Bin Ladin.

10) Kerosene – Miranda Lambert. Word to the wise: don’t mess with Miranda Lambert! 

Guns & Roses: back on tour? Say whaaaat?!

Image via Wikipedia

So according to many sources including Ticketmaster, Guns & Roses are going back on tour. Now the question remains: will Axel actually show up to the shows? Also, will a riot happen?

Axel and friends usually have had nothing but fun and games. Riots, coming after fans taping the show, rants by Axel himself, fans fighting the photographer and Axel jumps in, Axel yelling SHOVE IT at random protesters (if there are any), and many more things. Basically its like a night with Courtney Love, but with more violence and destruction.

If I ever went to a Guns & Roses concert, well one can only imagine what kind of tweets/facebook posts I would be writing – let alone the comments. I think they would go like this:

Axel please don’t throw that human on me!

Did I just steal a Delorean and go back to Woodstock 99? Nope, I’m somehow in the middle of a riot. Thanx Axel!

Who concert 1979. G&R 2011. Same thing only the lead singer is a douchebag. I like Roger.

OWWWW!!

Heeelp!!!!!

The wild heart needs to get OUT of the jungle!

sfadkodasjklewklwekldhtbnlxflknsdfa (gibberish because I have a concussion at this point)

See what I mean wild heart lovers?

Would you go to see Guns & Roses? Take the poll and let the Wild Heart know!

Another major announcement from the Wild Heart!

Image via CrunchBase

Today has made the Wild Heart into one busy beaver so much that I have been working all morning!

First off, we have a new “like” button on the side so you now have no excuse except to like The Wild Heart on Facebook. Secondly, as I have learned at work, a company is nothing without a logo. Well I guess the Wild Heart is a somebody now that I HAVE A LOGO! Though it’s still a work ion progress (I need to work on the font though) I will still however be tweaking the font a little because it needs a title. All I know is that the font cannot look anything like the font used on the Stevie Nicks album cover of the same title due to copyright infringement.

Oh and we have a username on Facebook

The Wild Heart Presents: “A Quick Reference to Records and Guesstimating How Much It Is Worth”

A few months ago, an old highschool friend of mine named Trey asked me, the Wild Heart, about where to sell his parents records in Houston. I, of course told him to go to either Cactus Records on S. Shepherd and Portsmouth st. or Black Dog Records on S. Shepherd.

So I have decided to come up with a list of things you should look at when buying records. I am not one that assesses records regularly, but I do buy records on a semi-regular basis.

Here are some of the things that you need to look at when selling your records. However, one thing you are going to need is a knowledgeable friend who knows about the genres or superfans of the artist.

Notice that Stevie's name is misspelled - there is no "e" at the end of her name when there should be.

Misprints: Believe it or not, misprints, goofs, and misspellings will, in this case, work to your advantage when selling your vinyl records. These are mainly manufacturing goofs. A great example of this would be from the Wild Heart’s own record collection: an original copy of Buckingham Nicks, an album by Fleetwood Mac members Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who released the album in 1973 prior to their musical union with Fleetwood Mac. In the album’s linear notes, Stevie’s name is misspelled. A more famous (and funny) example of this would be the Beatles first album released in the US that contained a risque misprint.

Alternate album covers: Alternate album covers can automatically bring up the price of an album tenfold. In my opinion, depending on how rare the alternate album cover is. I would use this rule of thumb: if its an alternate album cover, as in it doesn’t look like the album cover everyone knows, then you should charge them more. Take for example CCM artist Amy Grant’s 1977 self-titled debut album. It wasn’t expected to sell as well as it did considering that Contemporary Christian music was considered a niche

The re-shot album cover for Amy Grant's 1977 self-titled debut album

The original cover for Amy Grant’s 1977 self-titled debut album

market and sold only in Christian bookstores. However, the album sold over 50,000 copies and launched her successful career in Contemporary Christian music and later, pop music. Therefore, possibly the original album cover was unappealing for the mainstream market, therefore they shot another album cover and that is what we know today. Either way it is now worth a pretty penny.

Import: If the album is considered an import, as in its from another country, then tack on at least $10-15. If you can remember where you got the album, then you should probably note it. However usually there is a way to tell and it’s located on the back of the album. It may say “Germany” or whatever country it is from. For example, if you got a Beatles record in Australia, you can make the buyer pay well for that one.

Buckingham Nicks was originally released in 1973 but went nowhere. However, in 1978 after the success of their union with Fleetwood Mac, Polydor decided to re-release the record in 1978. Note that on this album it says 1973, making it an original release.

Year & record label: This is probably the thing you wanna check first. This will tell you if it is a reissue or an original pressing. An original pressing is a good thing, you want this because it will get you more money. Reissues will get you nothing.

Popularity of the artist and the record: This is perhaps one of the most important things to look at. The more popular the artist, the more worth the album will be. One thing I would look at is this: are they in some sort of hall of fame? If they are, it would be safe to say that you can ask for more money. Also, you need to know how popular the record was upon first release. For example, if you have a copy of Synchronicity by the Police, you can sell it for a good price. However, if its something non-legendary such as Heartbeat City by the Cars – then you can virtually give that one away.

And last but not least…..look at the condition of the record. If it repeats or skips on any song, you’re better off making it into a DIY project. Don’t sell it. People don’t wanna buy a scratched record.

WARNING! Parental Advisory!

Nearly 27 years ago, a mother listened to her daughter’s copy Prince’s Purple Rain and came across the song Darling Nikki and heard the lyrics which talk about sex. This mother, Tipper Gore, was upset at what she heard. So, being the wife of US Senator and future Vice President Al Gore (D-TN), she teamed up with the other politicians wives to form the Parental Music Resource Center.

The PMRC is essentially a censorship watchdog group hopped up on a great deal of power that seeks to censor music.

However, one must wonder if it is a violation of our 1st Amendment Rights? It is because it is a double-edged sword. What maybe objectionable to one person may not be objectionable to another. Take for example the song 666 by Christian rockers DeGarmo and Key.It was banned due to violent content, even though Mtv has aired equally violent or more violent videos at the time that the song came out. Actually, it’s not that violent when say, compared to other music videos such as Be Chrool To Your Scuel by Twisted Sister or even the Michael Jackson classic epic Thriller. But perhaps it could be because of DeGarmo and Key’s strong Christian lyrics. We will never know.

Additionally, lyrical meaning can be misinterpreted. This always seemed to plague early rockers such as the Beatles – whose song Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. The song was about a painting John Lennon’s son brought home from school. Everyone else thought it was about drugs because the song spells out the acronym “LSD.”

Also, is it needed nowadays with digital downloading and youtube? Instead of your parents putting down the gauntlet saying “you can’t listen to country music or other nonchristian music” when they themselves have a sizable record collection consisting of nothing but the Who, Pink Floyd, Heart, the Doors, Bad Company, etc. Now, if a child wants to listen to something the parent considers objectionable, they can always do one of these things:

• Go to YouTube and watch a performance of the objectionable song. This is perhaps the easiest way for them to do this. If you have internet filters at your house, who is to say they don’t watch it at school, their smartphone (if it doesn’t have filters), a friend’s smartphone?
• Internet radio. They can look up the objectionable song or artist by getting an account with Grooveshark, Last.fm, or even Pandora.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

With that said, I think that it should be up to the parent, not the government, to allow the child to listen to whatever music. Because free speech is subjective. Now for me, if stuff like Katy Perry and Lady GaGa are still popular when I have children, I won’t let my children listen to them. But I will train them in right and wrong.