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Musical key characteristics are something that are never talked about for some odd reason. It's not like professional songwriters choose a random key and slap some random chord changes in there and magically end up with the perfect feeling that matches the lyrics. It's not some hidden secret. I can almost guarantee you most songwriters think "Is this a positive emotion or a negative one?" […]
Musicians (including myself), I hate to break it to you... it's time to stop crying and start playing by the different and new set of rules. You're not going to get paid more for your streams, and even if companies pacify you by doubling the amount they pay you, that's still negligible. Nobody is going to say "Yay, I'm getting two-one-hundreds of a penny instead […]
This post isn't your typical "Culture" post on Ledger Note. This has more to do with various sub-cultures smashing together and solidifying Japan's spot as #1 in weird! Meet BabyMetal... BABYMETAL is the next level heavy metal devil stuff. Some mad genius in a laboratory deep in the bowels of Japan decided to take the metal culture, dash in some karate, and take the prototypal […]
If ever there was an inspirational story, the story of Scatman John as told through his own lyrics fits the bill: Everybody stutters one way or the otherSo check out my message to youAs a matter of fact, don't let nothin' hold you backIf the Scatman can do it, so can you Scatman John's Early Life The Scatman was born as John Paul Larkin on […]
In my adventures through the cynical side of the internet, I came across an interesting conspiracy idea that strikes at the very core of Western music. The concept is that there has been a deliberate shifting of the fundamental frequencies of our Western scales away from an ancient and sacred 6-tone scale of solfeggio frequencies towards a less auspicious set of tones... While there's a […]
The Sumerian culture was this planets first true civilization, as far as we know thus far, to spring up around the 14th century B.C.E. It grew around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southern Mesopotamia. In modern times this would be in southern Iraq. The civilization flourished in what we call the Copper and Early Bronze ages. That's over 3,300 years ago! This is what […]
Ariana Grande has had a long career, being raised and promoted as another Disney darling (that never ends well, there's some real creepy stuff going on over there behind the scenes). I don't know if they pick these kids based on talent or groom them for it (or grow them in a lab), but they did a great job with Ariana, especially in the music […]
Few people live a life of such authenticity and genuine realness that it impacts entire cultures. Even fewer do that while sharing positivity with the entire world. The Bruddah Iz's Backstory Israel Kamakawiwo'ole has quite the name, which is why people took to calling him Bruddah Iz. He was born on May 20th, 1959 and passed away on June 26th, 1997. Iz came up in […]
I'm not hating on Madonna. She knows how to play the media game and stay relevant. But sometimes that leads to faking the funk and it comes back to bite you. Some groups simply won't welcome a pop star to declare herself the poster child for their movement. The Background to Madonna's Hack Madonna had been working on her album and wrapping up the music […]
Big money making artists are ripe for the pickin' when it comes to idiots wanting an easy pay day. Think about musicians like Michael Jackson, Eminem, Elvis, and on and on. Even the Blue Man Group can't escape the idiocy. Those guys look real malicious, playing around with Nickelodeon Gak and playing PVC pipes like xylophones. Suing the Blue Man Group That hasn't stopped a […]
Once upon a time in 1985, a bunch of wives with nothing to do but crave power created what was known as the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). Take a look at this line-up and see if it even remotely feels legit to you: Tipper Gore, wife of Senator & Vice President Al Gore Susan Baker, wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker Pam Howar, wife […]
Guitar Center is at it again. We're all familiar with the corporate screw job in the music industry, but it extends beyond recordings. Guitar Center's upper echelon is known for its less-than-friendly practices towards its employees, and this week only took it to the next level. There's the level of record executives making millions off of their cookie cutter pop stars, which is fine to […]
Once upon a time, there was a band called the Creedence Clearwater Revival. They did quite alright for themselves, for a while anyways. Known as CCR, these four fellows put nine songs in the Billboard Top 10, five of which were in the Top 2. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Rolling Stone named them among the top 100 […]
Believe it or not, there's a boatload of sub-genres in Dubstep, which is itself a sub-genre of Drum & Bass. You could go as far as to call these sub-sub-genres, or as I like to call them: Sub-Dubs. It wasn't always this way. I blame the advances in computer tech. Everyone and their mom can now buy dubstep creation software for cheap, watch a few […]
For the music industry and especially guitar enthusiasts, Christmas 2015 was a smash hit. Man, I'm funny. Twas on that fateful day that many of us witnessed the destruction of antique Martin guitar pulled straight out of their museum. The catch was that none of us would realize what we saw until the Martin Guitar Museum's director Dick Boak released an official statement: "We were […]
How different would the world be, not just the music world but the literal culture of the planet, had there been a Fifth Beatle? That is a question that has been fantasized about countless times by countless people. "Who would you add to The Beatles?" and on and on. Little do people know that there were several times in the band's history that a fifth […]
An oft wondered phenomenon in the music universe is "What the heck is up with lead guitarists' faces during solos?!?" We know all of the magical rituals surrounding solos. For instance, you must hold your breath during a guitar solo, out of respect for the guitarist but also so you aren't cursed for eternity. You can't change the radio station during a solo. You know, […]
With the new Ghostbusters film announced and on the way, this is as good of a time as any to laugh at one of the classic instances of ridiculousness within the music industry. In 1984, Ray Parker, Jr. topped the charts with his smash hit "Ghostbusters," the theme song from the movie of the same title. It entered the Billboard charts on June 16, 1984 […]
Ahhh yes. This conversation! Every fan of music has spent countless hours over the years asking their buddies and fantasizing about forming their own music supergroup. So the question is... You just won the lottery of 100 billion dollars! You can finally afford to do it: pay your favorite musicians to be in the perfect supergroup! But who is allowed in? I want you to […]
My first RPG ever was the original Final Fantasy on the NES, and so without further ado (and with a nod to the Final Fantasy series), we bring you the world's first RPG guide to choosing a musical instrument: Please feel free to post this infographic on your own website using the code below: There are other things than RPGs that musicians (such as Syd […]