Hey John

How’s it going? Are you watching your legacy from up there?

If only you’re still with us good music wont be on its deathbed and listeners wont be suffering because of the sound of Justin Bieber invading the airwaves. By the way he’s a twelve years old singing and dancing pop superstar with hairstyle almost recognizable as your mop tops.

Going back to your legacy, three decades from that sad day that old sport (I know you wont be proud if I call him psycho) Chapman’s gun stole you from us, the number of you and your bands fans have swollen, but of course I’m not one of the fans, I’m one of the believers. Your photos had been printed on shirts that indie, skaters, hippy kids wore. See, you bind stereotypes. Every kid knows one or more of your songs, partly because most of new bands made covers of them. There’s this crunk core band Never Shout Never that I didnt like but when they made a cover of Yesterday it made them seem awesome. Yeah, it might be Paul’s song but its still your band who originally sung them. Still my favorite cover of your song is Aerosmith’s Come Together, that song is really yours. But dont get me wrong, nothing beats the original still. Your band had been the most popular icon of pop culture. You’re on Rockband too. You’ve been quoted in a lot of movies and books, I tried to keep track of them but its impossible, they’re just gazillions. There’s this movie, Chapter 27, they focused on what was inside Chapmans mind why he hated you, they made it as if your last days were the last chapter of Catcher In The Rye and Chapman is Holden Caulfield. You are literally everywhere, even Google celebrated your birthday this year by changing their logo incorporating your doodled face on it. They say you were overrated, its okay at least they dont call you sellout.

Your music had been celebrated but your causes seemed forgotten. People never gave peace a chance. A lot happened, lots of people took the issues to the streets but there are a lot more powerful people who’s selfish wants opressed the helpless. Its depressing I know. Fortunately there are still a few who never got tired of saying no and still imagines what you have imagined.

Above all of these Mr. Lennon, what matters most is people still remembers not just who you are but what you are. You’re legacy is not with your songs but with their messages, not with the notes but the emotion it creates, not with taking a stand but with making a change. Long live your legacy that will forever immortalize you.

We all love you John.

(posted on another site as tribute, hauled to WP late)

A Dire Important Question: Lennon or Dylan?

Who is the better songwriter? Bob Dylan or John Lennon?

While you are weighing the greatness of these two legends, my friends let me take you down to Strawberry Fields err memory lane.

Long ago when man is still living in the remnants of world war II, a Swiss chemist conceived what he did not expect to be a hallucinogenic drug.  He took some for himself and eureka! the first ever LSD high known to man is recorded.  Our friends over at Wikipedia said that the effects of it are, in all quotes verbatim “Some psychological effects may include an experience of radiant colors, objects and surfaces appearing to ripple or “breathe,” colored patterns behind the eyes, a sense of time distorting (time seems to be stretching, repeating itself, changing speed or stopping), crawling geometric patterns overlaying walls and other objects, morphing objects, a sense that one’s thoughts are spiraling into themselves, loss of a sense of identity or the ego (known as “ego death“), and powerful, and sometimes brutal, psycho-physical reactions interpreted by some users as reliving their own birth. Many users experience a dissolution between themselves and the “outside world”.This unitive quality may play a role in the spiritual and religious aspects of LSD. The drug sometimes leads to disintegration or restructuring of the user’s historical personality and creates a mental state that some users report allows them to have more choice regarding the nature of their own personality.”  And it is being use for medical purposes and for art projects.  Art projects epecially rock musicians.

What exactly is rock music?  No I dont want to give a genre description to it because I dont want an uproar of disagreement for we all know since its berth its scope had been disputed.  Anyway I’ll just bravely declare that the greatest rock bands of all time are The Beatles for creating a vast theme on rock songs;  Led Zeppelin for revolutionizing the sound of rock;  The Who for the fiery stage performances; The Rolling Stones for if we dont have them we surely wont have Aerosmith and the likes and The Jimi Hendrix Experience for giving us Jimi Hendrix.  If they did not exist probably we will be stuck in a world of guys chanting about how flashy their blings are.  Thanks to them we had Panic! At The Disco, Oasis, Greenday, Fall Out Boy and the list of their obviously influenced band goes on.  Their music lives on not only in the hearts of their living hardcore fans but also in the younger generation.  Rock as they say is the music of the philosophically gifted and it has definitely altered how generations behaved.  It would only take a poet like Bob Dylan to put into words the greatness of rock music.

The heyday of rock music, the popularity of LSD and the height of the youth’s idealism for freedom mix them all and you get an intensified era of creativity, revolution, greatness and acid rock.  Acid rock or psychedellic rock is a form of rock music in reference to LSD, acid being the slang for LSD and psychedellic being the term coined describing LSD’s effects.  It can also connote music recorded under the influence of LSD or intended to be experienced in conjunction with LSD.  These associations can be a matter of the musicians intention, the listeners intention or even just a general perception of the person using the term.  The lyrics often deals with drug induced psychological themes as well as references to mind altering techniques often characterized by offbeat style, vivid imagery and sometimes musical or sound effects.  Acid rock contains that hypnotic groove that the musician singing it and the listener can “get lost” within a song.

Get trippin with some of the high-ly listened acid songs:

Purple Daze- The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Progressive Acid- Pink Floyd
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds- The Beatles
Light My Fire- The Doors
Brain Damage- Pink Floyd

We might not have LSD today(though we still have cannabis) but we still have the music almost similar to the effects of any drug meant to alter mental states.  Well as someone I cant remember said it before “music is a safe type of high” thats what we have today and in some ways I could say thats the edge of our generations rock music over the past sex and drugs rock music. Although I could also say that the discovery of LSD is certainly one of the defining moments of rock music.

Going back to the best songwriter, I’d vote for Bob Dylan.  How bout you?

Dude These Beatles Covers Rock!

Ask ten people what is the greatest band in the world, 100 percent will answer The Beatles and I bet my loser ass on that.  Mainly because of the influence on other succeeding bands, they made rock ‘relatable’ opening it to a wider audience.  So as a tribute here are the awesomest of all awesomes.  The greatest Beatles covers ever.

Across The Universe-  Fiona Apple

You probably heard it from Pleasantville soundtrack.  Fiona Apples vocals could take you to a dreamy world, well the song itself is already psychedelic but her vocals amplified the songs trippy impact.

Across The Universe- Rufus Wainwright

You probably heard this from the I Am Sam soundtrack.  What separates this version from other versions is Rufus Wainwright made it more mellow and sadder.  The song was written by John Lennon when his wife was blabbing at him and it ended up as the most metered lyrics ever written, I mean from that the song was given another feel on this version.  It becomes more meaningful just listening to it.  This song sends chills.

She Loves you- McFly

What I particularly like about this song is it makes you sing along to it and then you’ll end up singing “She loves you, yeah, yeah” in the showers.   Bottom line this version is contagious.

Help!- Deep Purple

From a great band to another great band, see this is exactly the greatness that Im talking about and you probably know it already.  Deep Purple made the song shall I say dramatic.

It Wont Be Long- Franz Ferdinand

Well as the main object of covers, Franz Ferdinand put their synthesized sound on this catchy song without murdering it.

Come Together- Aerosmith

Hellsyeah.  When you saw the title you thought about this song being in this list right?  one of the best covers for any song of all time.  Steven Tylers suspenseful vocals ride along swiftly with the songs beat.

Come Together- Soundgarden

Here’s a grungy way of putting it.  This heavy and angsty interpretation is more 90’s I say.  Chris Cornell’s growl are just enough for the songs message.

All My Loving-  Helloween

For all you metal suckers out there.  Its pretty sweet song for a metal but the band didnt ruin the song at all.  Justice was given and the song is worth more than a listen.

Across The Universe-  The Smiths
Here’s a closer to the Beatles version. I didnt know that this cover actually exist but here it is.  It sounded more Beatles-ish only a cleaner one.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds- Grateful Dead

Still the same trippy feel when you listen to this song.  It still makes you high.  I’m not really a Grateful Dead listener but yeah this song had been on repeat on my playlist.

Here Comes The Sun- Belle and Sebastian

One of the most catchy songs from the Beatles.  George Harrisons masterpiece is even made more irresistible, it will make you sway your shoulders while listening to it.

Yesterday- Never Shout Never

For all you pop punk kids out there who loves The Beatles.  I have to say its a decent cover from the later bands.  Though the vocalist dragged the lyrics, uber slow, I’m kinda looking for that past paced, quite snappy Yesterday.  But yeah since somehow its a sad song so its a good interpretation.

I’m A Loser- Sum41

Since the title really belongs to punk here’s a punk band covering it.  Its just like every Sum41 song, yeah even the message, so if you love Sum41 you might want to listen to this.

Whew.  There are other great covers out there, if you know one kindly let me know.  And by the way don’t trust my musical preference.  And don’t take drugs.

peace and love