Rockin' Out: Bruce Springsteen @ Giants Stadium 09/30/09

I really need to start bringing my digital camera to shows because my Blackberry camera is just the pits. Anyway, my friend offered me a ticket to the opening night of The Boss' series of show bidding farewell to New Jersey's Giants Stadium and I gladly accepted. I have a TON of friends who consistently sing the praises of The Boss and his live shows, so I was finally going to see it for myself. I'd seen Bruce Springsteen two times before, but one was a solo acoustic show and the other was when he was on tour for his Pete Seeger covers record, so I had yet to experience the full-on Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band live show. On this particular night, he would be playing Born To Run in its entirety, so that was a big plus as I consider that to be a pretty good album.

We headed to the Giants Stadium parking lot to tailgate for a few hours before the show and even though it was freezing and I was under dressed for the weather, that wound up being one of the highlights of the show. Maybe it was all the hype I've heard over the years from my friends who worship at the altar of Springsteen or maybe it was all the drunken New Jersey-ites in Eli Manning jerseys [I should clarify that I am a huge Washington Redskins fan and therefore hate anything and everything about the New York Giants], but I found the whole experience to be a snoozefest. Bruce Springsteen recently celebrated his 60th birthday, so I give him and the rest of the guys all due credit for still rocking out, but the whole thing just struck me like old guys trying too hard to be younger, rather than embracing their age. I own five Springsteen albums (and enjoy them) and have heard most of the others, so I recognized a healthy majority of the songs, but nothing got me fired up...not even "Atlantic City" which is easily one of my favorite songs of his. I spent most of the show playing on Facebook and texting/BB messengering friends about how boring I thought it was. The best part of the night may have been the conversation with two drunk Joisey women who were standing in front of us in the beer line. They (unsolicited) explained to us that they had just been released from police custody after being detained for (unwittingly) buying beer for minors...and one of them was a school teacher. Classic. The second best part was probably leaving before the encore, so that we wouldn't be stuck in post-concert traffic.

I hold no ill will towards The Boss and won't stop listening to Nebraska because of a bad concert experience, but never again will I bother with seeing him live.

"Dancing In The Dark"



"Atlantic City"



"Racing In The Street"

Rockin' Out: Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Music Hall of Williamsburg 09/29/09

The above picture is definitely my best terrible Blackberry camera shot of a concert thus far. Fortunately, the show was the polar opposite of my photography skills. In a previous post, I wrote about my great fondness for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and explained the poor luck I've had in my attempts to see them live. Well, last night I experienced them in all their glory at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. It was awesome to not only see them live, but in a venue that is significantly smaller than they would normally play. With a giant eyeball hanging above the drum kit, sporadic confetti explosions, a funky light show and the enigmatic Karen O. charging around the stage spitting water and wearing crazy masks that lit up (for a song or two), the show was a spectacle to behold. That being said, all the bells and whistles in the world won't make a show great if the band's musical performance sucks and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs most definitely did not suck. They played all the "hits" and kept things moving along quickly. I'm not sure how long they played because I was never bored enough to check the time, but it felt like it all went by in about 5 minutes. Definitely over too fast. I'll be seeing them again this weekend at the Austin City Limits Festival. It'll be interesting to see what they do on a larger stage, but hopefully they will own it just like they did last night.

[Side note: Maybe it is just me, but I swear the Yeah Yeah Yeahs drummer looks like a young Max Weinberg and coincidentally, I am going to see Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band tonight which of course features Max Weinberg on drums. Coincidence? Or is the universe trying to tell me something?]

"Zero"


"Gold Lion"


"Maps"

Crazy Old People / Those Crazy Kids

I just got back from a trip to Best Buy to purchase the new A.F.I. and Alice In Chains albums. On the top floor near the cell phone accessories was a display ad for the new Mariah Carey album. It was a variation of the above picture (I couldn't find the exact picture online, but it was the same outfit minus the print and a slightly different pose). Mariah debuted in 1990 at the age of 20. 29 years later and she is still running around in her underwear striking sexy poses (with obvious photoshop action happening) to try and sell records? Really? She obviously isn't a bad looking woman, but at this point we are all numb to the sight of her cleavage and abs. It's like Playboy putting Pamela Anderson on the cover for the 1000th time...no one cares because we've all seen her naked about 10,000,000 times. Put on some clothes Mariah and start acting like an adult. Class up your image...you can be sexy without looking like every other cookie cutter 20 something pop star that you influenced. Of course when this album tanks, the label and Mariah will blame it on internet piracy and not the fact that nobody cares about her anymore.

Another thing that (unfortunately) caught my eye at Best Buy was an album cover on one of the endcaps. There is a relatively new genre of music called "crunkcore" which is crunk/hip-hop mixed with hardcore. It is widely panned as being complete and utter crap (and from what I've heard, deservedly so), but it has a loyal following and some of the bands are actually shifting units. I'm assuming all the fans are 12 - 14 and will grow out of it pretty fast (hey, we all make some poor musical choices at that age), but I've done such a good job of avoiding the genre that I had managed to never see an image of one of the bands involved. Brokencyde is, I believe, the biggest band in the genre. Check out the album cover above. Don't you just want to kick those kids in the nuts? If you are thinking to yourself "How bad could it really be?", then all you need to do is watch the below video. If you make it longer than 45 seconds, then you are a stronger person than me.....

Foo Fighters Shiny New Wheels

I love me some Foo Fighters. In my eyes, they really can do no wrong. Dave Grohl is probably the best rock frontman going today and will certainly go down in rock history as one of the best. Pretty impressive for a guy who was the drummer for one of the biggest rock bands of all time with one of the most iconic frontmen of all time (if you don't know who I'm talking about, then you should be ashamed of yourself). He had a HUGE shadow to emerge from and boy, did he ever. Speaking of drumming, his guest drums spots on great albums by Queens of the Stone Age, Killing Joke, Cat Power and Nine Inch Nails are all pretty undeniable and being a huge metalhead, I loved his metal side project Probot. I'm also very curious to hear what he does with the new "supergroup" Them Crooked Vultures, who I will be seeing live two nights in a row later this week.

Anyway, I love every Foo Fighters album, all the songs contained within those albums and have yet to hear a b-side of theirs that doesn't stand up to the material on their full-lengths. While I'd love to see a release that gathers all their b-sides and rarities into one collection (much like the absolutely amazing, brilliant and essential collections B-Sides And Rarities by Deftones and The Masterplan by Oasis), I am instead going to have to settle for the release of a greatest hits collection on 11/03/09 - cleverly titled "Greatest Hits" - that contains two new songs recorded specifically for this release, "Wheels" and "Word Forward". "Wheels" is already available for purchase on both iTunes and Amazon, so I snatched it up right away. The song is, of course, fantastic. It leans towards the poppier side of their sound and has a catchy as hell hook. Hopefully when the album is released "Word Forward" will be available for individual purchase and not as "Available with album only"....I hate it when Amazon and iTunes pull that shit, but that is another blog in and of itself.

"Wheels"

Rockin' Out: Sunny Day Real Estate @ Terminal 5 09/27/09

Two crappy Blackberry camera pictures this time! You know you are psyched.

Joining the seemingly never ending parade of reunions by 90's band is Sunny Day Real Estate. I missed this band on their initial go round, so I was quite happy to hear that they would be doing a tour with the original line-up. Often cited as being godfathers to the "emo" scene, SDRE are mercifully 1000 times better than any band they have influenced (I personally can't stand the vast majority of emo music and it's sister genre "screamo"). And they feature Nate Mendel from the mighty, can do no wrong Foo Fighters on bass, so that is additional bonus points right there.

Touring behind the re-release of their first two efforts Diary and LP2 (more commonly referred to as The Pink Album), I was hoping that they would stick mostly to songs from those albums as I am not as familiar with their other two albums, How It Feels To Be Something On and The Rising Tide. Those are not bad albums, but the first two are so strong that they are my go to records when I am in the mood to listen to SDRE. Much to my delight, my hopes were fulfilled as 13 of the 15 songs they played came from those albums. The other two songs were "Guitars & Video Games" from HIFTBSO and a new (I believe untitled) track that the band wrote before they went on tour. The new song sounded pretty cool, but let's face it, me and the rest of the crowd were focused on hearing the classics. "In Circles", "Shadows", "Seven" and "Friday" all sounded great. My favorite part about the set was that they played for one hour and 15 minutes...they came out, played the songs and left the crowed wanting a little more, but not disappointed at all. Kind of like when you eat just the right amount of food at dinner and feel perfectly satisfied.

Last night was the first night of an eight night stretch in which I will be seeing live music every night save for one, so this was an ideal way to start it....something quick, fun and rockin' (I'm looking at probably 3 hours of Bruce Springsteen on Wednesday night and then a full 3 days of festival going in Austin this weekend with more bands playing that I want to see then I can even bother to list right now). This is one reunion tour you don't want to pass on.

"Seven"



"In Circles"

North Carolina Loves The Nature Boy

Ric "The Nature Boy" Flair is one of the most famous professional wrestlers of all time.....but really only in the world of professional wrestling fans. He never had the type of mainstream recognition that someone like Hulk Hogan achieved. That being said, Ric Flair seems to be a fairly high profile celebrity in his home state of North Carolina. In 2000, I was in Charlotte for an Ozzfest and remember seeing a billboard at the venue advertising a business (a bank I believe) that prominently featured Flair. Now, it appears that he has his own scratch off lottery tickets for the North Carolina Education Lottery. The commercial is hilarious (more so if you are familiar with Flair and his trademark strut and his infamous "WOOOOOO!"). The North Carolina Education Lottery donates 100% of the net proceeds to state education expenses, so he is also supporting a good cause.

Worst Song Ever?

Music industry pundit Bob Lefsetz recently sent out one of his newsletters with Trailer Choir's "Rockin' The Beer Gut" as the main subject. Bob, in closing, had this to say about the song:

"This is a track that you can't stop playing. Not quite as good as Joe Nichols' "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off", but not every track is legendary. But "Rockin' The Beer Gut" was made not by machines, but real people. And that's what we love about you, your imperfections. The looseness of this track is its appeal. It's not about getting it seamless, but making sure the life is retained. Life, humanity, laughs, good times are baked into "Rockin' The Beer Gut". I love it!"

My curiosity got the better of me and I clicked the link to the YouTube video:



Dear Bob,

Your taste in music is awful, even bordering on abhorrent.

Love,

Me

Rockin' Out: U2 @ Giants Stadium 09/23/09

Review of the U2 concert at Giants Stadium on Wednesday September 23, 2009:

Fucking. Amazing.

1. Breathe
2. Magnificent
3. Get On Your Boots
4. Mysterious Ways
5. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
6. She's The One (Bruce Springsteen cover) / Desire (snippet)
7. Elevation
8. Your Blue Room
9. Beautiful Day / Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (snippet)
10. No Line On The Horizon
11. New Year's Day
12. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
13. The Unforgettable Fire
14. City Of Blinding Lights
15. Vertigo
16. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
17. Sunday Bloody Sunday
18. MLK
19. Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
20. One / Amazing Grace (snippet)
21. Where The Streets Have No Name / All You Need Is Love (snippet)
ENCORE
22. Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
23. With Or Without You
24. Moment of Surrender

"With Or Without You"



"Beautiful Day"



"Magnificent"



"Mysterious Ways"



"New Year's Day"

Ear Candy Classic: Sugartooth

So many albums come out every year, that it is impossible for even the most enthusiastic music nut to keep up with all of them. This is especially true these days with music being so readily available over the internet and being so portable via all the various devices you can listen to your MP3s on. That being said, in the early to mid-90s it was still impossible to keep up because labels were just shoving releases out into the market. One simply couldn't afford to buy every CD that came out, nor did you want to. Record labels had lost the consumer's trust by releasing so many albums with one great song surrounded by filler. You had to be cautious about what albums you spent your money on because there was NOTHING worse than getting home, popping that CD in the stereo and being wildly disappointed in every track except for the single you saw a video for on MTV. This is of course one of the main motivations that led to the explosion of file sharing...people were tired of spending a lot of money on poor product and wanted to get just the songs they already knew they liked...and for free. If record companies had embraced (and purchased) Napster in its early days as a way for consumers to sample product before they purchased, then perhaps the state of the industry would be different today, but I'm getting off topic....

I want to talk about an album from the early/mid-90's that flew under everyone's radar. Sometime in 1994 I saw a video on Headbanger's Ball for a song called "Sold My Fortune" by a band called Sugartooth. This was the era of massive popularity for Nirvana, Pearl Jam and grunge music in general and bands like Soundgarden and Alice In Chains who were lumped in with the grunge sound, but made no attempts to hide their metal influences in their sound were able to appeal to both mainstream audiences and metalheads alike. [Not that hard rock/metal bands reaching wide audiences hadn't happened before and doesn't happen all the time still. I could name a million examples, but Black Sabbath, Kiss, Metallica, Motley Crue, Guns N Roses, Stone Temple Pilots, Godsmack, Slipknot and Tool all illustrate the point. For purposes of this blog though, Soundgarden and AIC are perfect representations of what kind of sound the major labels thought was "in" at the time.] Because of this major labels began signing every band that fell under the hard rock-metal-grunge umbrella...and with mixed results. Certainly some great bands were discovered, but a lot of them seemed to present marketing dilemmas. Does this video belong on Headbanger's Ball or 120 Minutes? Specialty metal shows or mainstream rock radio? Do we try to get them on tour with Slayer or Sponge? And thus, a lot of great bands fell through the cracks and went unnoticed by the public at large (which is of course simply the reality of the music business). Sugartooth was one of them.

Sugartooth's self-titled release doesn't redefine music or even the hard rock genre, but it is a really great record that begs repeated listens and has aged nicely in the 15 years since its release. If you like bands that walk the line between hard rock and metal, then this release is for you. Certainly if you are a fan of Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Tad, Danzig and Kyuss (coincidentally, the drummer served a stint in Danzig and is now a member of Queens of the Stone Age), then this is worth hunting down. The albums is long out of print, but I can't imagine it wouldn't be available somewhere out there on file sharing sites. [Fun fact: The singer/guitarist and bassist contributed the music to Howard Stern's "Tortured Man" that was put together by the Dust Brothers for the Private Parts soundtrack and is still featured in the outro to Howard's show everyday.]

"Sold My Fortune"



"Sheffield Milestone"

Slash + Duff + Dave Grohl = Probably OK At Best

My friend forwarded me this Twitter from Slash that went out today:

SlashHudson Doing a track for my record with Dave Grohl on drums & Duff on bass tonight, it promises to be killer. #fb

That sounds absolutely "killer" on paper, but given the output of most Guns N Roses alumni (and "Guns N Roses" ie. Axl and hired hands) I am extremely skeptical about this being any good. The album is currently titled Slash & Friends and is set for release in 2010. You can read the full (not necessarily confirmed) details here. Slash is obviously an amazing guitar player, so of course I'll be curious to hear what he does on this record with a variety of guest vocalists ranging from cool (Chris Cornell, Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper) to um, well, I don't know what to say about one of rock's most revered guitarists asking Fergie and the dude from Maroon 5 to be on his solo record. [Then again, he did do a song with Michael Jackson, so you know.] I won't say they are bad singers, but their presence certainly gives me very little hope that Slash is taking this album in a good direction. I don't think even the presence of cool cats like Dave Grohl, Steven Adler and Flea will lift this album above being at best simply "OK".

Let's look at the track record of Guns N Roses alumni (and I'm including Axl in that category):

• Slash's Snakepit? Honestly, I never even bothered to listen to it and that kind of says it all right there.
• Velvet Revolver? A couple cool songs, but it seriously lacked any balls (although to be fair, I think that mostly falls on Scott Weiland).
• Axl Rose's solo project, um, I mean Guns N Roses after everyone quit? The album Chinese Democracy wasn't as dramatic a musical failure as many thought it would be, but it was nowhere near being worth a 15 year wait. I listened to it a few times and tucked it away in my CD collection to collect dust (and deleted it from my iTunes).
• I know Duff McKagan has a new project Loaded, but like Slash's Snakepit, I simply have no desire to hear it.

I know that isn't a complete list, but those are the highlights with one glaring omission: Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds. I couldn't include that in the above list because it is actually GOOD! Their 1992 self-titled debut album (which surprisingly is still available in CD format on Amazon for the reasonable price of $10.98) was a wonderful slab of rock n roll not far off from what The Black Crowes were doing at the time. Izzy handles the vocals (which we already knew were good from the songs he sang on the Use Your Illusions) and guitar with a more than capable backing band behind him. Check out the first single from the album, "Shuffle It All", here. He has had 5 releases since, but I am not really familiar with them. In writing this blog entry though, my curiosity has been piqued and I'm planning on hunting some more of his material down.

Anyway, let's face it....when Izzy quit Guns N Roses things went downhill fast for the band, so it doesn't take a skilled detective to put together that he was an integral part of Guns N Roses and probably more so than Slash and Duff. In a discussion about Guns N Roses earlier today, a reliable source told me that rumor has it that Izzy "co-wrote ten songs with Slash and Duff that were supposed to be the first Velvet Revolver album, but Weiland wouldn't sing on any of the songs because he thought they sounded too much like GN'R. Slash says the demos are basically the best GN'R record never released". Like my friend who shared that with me, I find that totally believable. I can see Weiland being a huge baby, ego maniac, whatever you want to call it and refusing to sing the songs. Wouldn't it be sweet if that stuff got released someday though? Preferably with Izzy on vocals of course.

But enough with the speculation and conjecture about what could have been, what might be and what will never be because all we really have is what already happened and that is the awesomeness of Guns N Roses in their glory years....

"It's So Easy"



"Patience"



"Double Talkin' Jive"



"Yesterdays"

You Get Your Fried Oreos To The Wall Man

I've been up since around 8am this morning after falling asleep around 1:30am or so last night. 6 1/2 hours of sleep sounds like plenty right? Well, that is not the case as I woke up at least once every hour and was having weird dreams all evening. I wish I could say this was an isolated incident, but that is just how Sunday evenings work for me. But instead of crying "FML", I got out of bed, grabbed a quick shower and commenced my day. Having spent the weekend eating like a cross between a health conscious person and Jabba The Hutt (The gluttonous items on the weekend's menu were as follows: Friday night: sausage and peppers drown in whiz on a hoagie roll, a cannoli and three deep fried Oreos; Saturday night: McDonald's double quarter pounder and fries [around 3am, which somehow makes it worse]; Sunday: Brownie a la mode), I deemed it mandatory that I not use my building's elevator all week and opt for the stairs instead. I live on the 6th floor (which in actuality is the 7th floor as the lobby is really the 1st floor...got that?), so this can be a significant little bit of exercise over the course of a week. The problem is that in my exhaustion I forgot that today I desperately needed to grocery shop and do laundry...lots of laundry. 5 trips down and 5 trips up with grocery bags and laundry bags got me a little worn out, but a run of at least 5 miles was still going to be necessary to further work off this weekend's gluttony. I spent a few hours trying to fire myself up with Revocation's Existence Is Futile, Repulsion's Horrified, Pentagram's First Daze Here (The Vintage Collection) and Brutal Truth's Sounds Of The Animal Kingdom/Kill Trend Suicide while scouring the internet for employment opportunities and goofing off on that maddeningly effective time waster Facebook, but to no avail. I still felt tired and really wanted to sit on my sofa and watch Uncle Buck. Then I noticed Accept's Balls To The Wall sitting by my stereo right where I had left it on Saturday. I popped it in and finally found the proper musical motivation to shake out the cobwebs and get myself out the door for a run. Mercifully, unlike fellow Accept lover Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke's character in The Wrestler), I did not suffer a heart attack from overexerting myself.

And if I never see fried Oreos again, then it'll be too soon.

Ear Candy: Megadeth's Endgame and Shadows Fall's Retribution

Whether you love or hate metal music, there is no denying that it is not an easy style of music to play and that some degree of technical proficiency, inventiveness and (perhaps most importantly) heart and feel is required to be considered one of the premier players in the genre (or any genre for that matter). From Jimmy Page and Tony Iommi to Eddie Van Halen and Ace Frehley to Dimebag Darrell and Kerry King to relatively newer faces like Mark Morton and Alexi Laiho, metal has produced and will continue to produce many a guitar great. Two recent releases are prime examples of overall great playing from a metal band, but more specifically, really great technical guitar playing that has all the flash and over-the-topness traditionally associated with the genre without being gaudy.

I've loved Megadeth since I was in junior high and picked up a copy of their album So Far, So Good...So What! Megadeth is considered part of the "Big Four" (along with Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax) of the original thrash movement. And for good reason as Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? and Rust In Peace are landmark metal albums. In 1999, Megadeth derailed with the release of their 8th studio album Risk. I had been a fan of every Megadeth album up until this point, but the album was panned so badly by critics and fans when it came out that I never even bothered listening to it. By all accounts they "sold out" and went for a commercial hit with disastrous results. The band released three studio albums after Risk that were all a return to their metal roots, but nothing that quite captured the magic of the glory days (and some may argue this is due to the departure of original bassist Dave Ellefson Jr., but Megadeth has always been singer/guitarist Dave Mustaine's band). Now comes the fourth release since Risk, Endgame. While not quite back to the glory days, Dave Mustaine and his band of hired guns are certainly pointed squarely in the right direction on this album. Marrying the thrash assault of Rust In Peace with the more commercial leanings of Countdown To Extinction and Cryptic Writings, this release is probably the most listenable Megadeth album since the aforementioned Cryptic Writings. If you are a fan of the band's studio efforts up to, but not including Risk, then this is an album you must check out.

"Head Crusher":



In 2000, a friend working at the label Century Media sent me a couple new releases that they had recently put out. One of them was Of One Blood by the MA band Shadows Fall. I put on the cd not knowing or expecting much, but it wound up being love at first listen. While not technically their debut album, it was the first with new singer Brian Fair (they had one album prior to this with a different singer) and the band would release two fantastic albums after it, The Art Of Balance and The War Within, that firmly established them as leaders in the New Wave of American Heavy Metal movement. Growing record sales, bigger tours and video airplay led to the band signing with a major label and in 2007 they released Threads Of Life on Atlantic Records (who, major label or not, have released some legendary metal records over the years). It wasn't a bad album per se, but it just didn't feel like the logical next step in the direction that had been established by prior releases. The band wound up leaving Atlantic and starting their own label, Everblack Industries, for which they partnered with Ferret Music to release their latest album Retribution. Not unlike Megadeth (but not nearly on the same scale, as Threads Of Life was not even close to as dramatic a failure and fall from grace as Megadeth's Risk was), Shadows Fall is releasing an album that is a step back in the right direction. I like that they made a solid 10 song (is anyone else sick of these 14 - 16 song albums...it's too much!), straight to the point quality metal release. The band is known for playing thrash mixed with touches of hardcore and tastefully incorporating plenty of melody into the mix. Most of these newer metalcore bands incorporate melody into the mix and it sounds formulaic and uninspired, whereas the Shads use of melody comes from a clear and obvious admiration for the great (and talented) hair metal bands of the '80s and thus sounds unforced and genuine. The guitarists, Matthew Bachand (who provides the clean vocals) and Jonathan Donais, are absolute shredders and put on quite the show on this release. Highly recommended whether you already dig the band or have never heard them before.

"Still I Rise":

Lips On Fire

I had no idea The Flaming Lips were putting out a new album this year, but was pleasantly surprised to see that not only are they releasing something new, but that it can be streamed in its entirety on The Colbert Report website. It is called Embryonic and will be officially released on 10/13/09. I never heard/saw the last release which was the Christmas On Mars DVD/CD (they made a movie and created an accompanying soundtrack) and had trouble getting into the album before that, At War With The Mystics, so I do have skepticism about this release. That being said, their albums Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots and Transmissions From The Satellite Heart are both so ridiculously good that they make most anything new The Flaming Lips release worth checking out just to see if it is on par with those.

"Do You Realize??"



"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt. 1"



"She Don't Use Jelly"

Movin' To The Country

Peaches are a delightful fruit. They are right up there with green apples, strawberries and cantaloupe on my list of fruits I enjoy. Just a few minutes ago I was thinking to myself "I'm going to eat that peach in my fridge right now" and that in turn got me singing The Presidents Of The United States Of America 1995 hit "Peaches". What an insanely catchy song and it is also delightful like the fruit it is named after. Enjoy:

Facebook In Real Life

This video is from last year, but it is still hilarious and certainly topical:



As are real life Facebook mishaps like when someone responds to a lover's email in their status update instead of in a private email thread or when a mom mistakes someone else for her son (courtesy of untag.us, facebook's unofficial hall of shame). CollegeHumor has also found some awkward moments where the "Like" button was hit: