The Right Brothers are a sappy power-pop group with a syrupy guitar tone, a chirpy lead singer and lyrics that could have been penned by Ann Coulter. They've put out a body of work that has spanned the spectrum of right-wing concerns, from the anti-John Kerry anthem "The Waffle House," to the aggressively pro-abortion song "I Want to Live." Their newest release -- coming at a good time for President Bush, whose approval rating keeps on slipping -- is "Bush Was Right" (MP3, short sample only). It's a pro-war call to arms (not literally), chastising everyone from Cindy Sheehan to France for not believing in the president's vast wisdom. A sample of the lyrics:
Freedom in Afghanistan, say goodbye Taliban
Free elections in Iraq, Saddam Hussein locked up
Osama's staying underground, Al Qaida now is finding out
America won't turn and run once the fighting has begun
Libya turns over nukes, Lebanese want freedom, too
Syria is forced to leave, don't you know that all this means
(Chorus)
Bush was right!
Bush was right!
Bush was right!
Ted Kennedy: wrong!
Cindy Sheehan: wrong!
France: wrong!
Zell Miller: right!
And now the Right Brothers, along with conservative blog RightMarch.com, are launching an effort to get a video of the song on MTV's "Total Request Live": "We're putting together a 'kickin'' music video right now, and we're preparing a HUGE grassroots campaign to get hundreds of thousands of people to request 'Bush Was Right!' on MTV's 'Total Request Live' show ... leading to our demands for it to be played in regular rotation! If they DON'T -- then we'll hit the media in a BIG way, showing how MTV plays left-wing videos while CENSORING conservative videos!"
Given that the Arctic Monkeys have only recorded five songs to date, it's little surprise they haven't found time yet to shoot a proper music video (or, apparently, grow any facial hair). But this video at least shows them moving and singing their hit "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor." And at 18, Hilary Duff is only a bit younger than the Monkeys (they're all 19 or 20), but at least she can afford to put together a ridiculously slick video for "Beat of My Heart."
Pitchfork has posted a long survey looking back on the worst record covers of all time. It's not only a mildly informative primer on the history of album images, it collects an array of images that will frighten you, shock you or simply Corey Feldman you. Enjoy browsing.
Kudos to Bob Lefsetz, whose blog at Rhino was singled out this week by the Wall Street Journal as a must-read music blog. Lefsetz has been around the industry forever, and has recently been posting a lot about labels' attempts to control the spread of online music, including Sony's recent snafu with selling copy-protected CDs that put consumers' PCs at risk by making them vulnerable to viruses. His posts vary, from casual strolls to angry polemics, or as the WSJ put it, "wide-ranging, stream-of-consciousness rants."
Google's launch of its classified advertising system, Base, won't just have an effect on newspaper revenues and eBay, it also provides the newest platform for vinyl-grubbing record collectors, who can now deal their rare Jimi Hendrix bootlegs, old jazz posters and John Lennon memorabilia directly to the public. The service's selection still isn't great, and a lot of the links just take you to an eBay auction, but it will be interesting to see how the newest member of the Google family affects the secondhand music trade.
-- Scott Lamb
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