Morning Music Notes – A Super Bowl For the Birds

Super Bowl Summary

If you’re reading this in the afternoon, congratulations, you’re likely hungover from the Super Bowl! If you think the Super Bowl is some new band, well, all hope is lost. So yesterday was the NFL’s final game, the Super Bowl, and with it comes all sorts of music news. Madonna was the half time show act, with her new, youthful sidekicks, Nicki Minaj and M.I.A., plus additional guests in Cee Lo Green and LMFAO. Surprisingly, no controversy from Madonna – what did the bookies pay for that?! She just sort of tripped on some bleachers that were part of the stage, but her skirt didn’t fly over her head (for once). However, M.I.A. caused some problems, flipping the middle finger to impressionable youth worldwide. NBC and the NFL apologized on M.I.A.’s behalf, so now she can sleep at night.

If you missed it, and want to hear a few Madonna songs AND be flipped the bird by M.I.A., there are 13 minutes of viewing for you below. Seriously though, flipping the bird is nowhere near as bad as a nipple. And both are laughable in Europe as offensive – you can buy The Daily Star newspaper in Britain and see a pair of tits on Page 3 (this might be part of my daily routine). Watch NBC try to blur the action about a second too late. Someone is fired!

M.I.A. Gives You (Yes, YOU) The Middle Finger
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Super Bowl Halftime Show in Full
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Okay, enough about the “controversy” over one finger. How about those commercials? We showed you the VW dogs barking the Imperial March from Star Wars. You can now see Samsung’s latest in the long line of making fun of Apple and their fanboys series (via iPhone in Canada). Samsung even released a different version in both Canada and the US, the difference being the names of the cities. I feel so special, knowing that us Canadians weren’t marginalized and ignored by the mighty Americans (for once). The commercial also features a bizarre and spontaneous mass breakout into The Darkness’s I Believe In A Thing Called Love. Check out the advert below.

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Saturday Night Live: The Other Water Cooler Topic

If the Super Bowl didn’t provide you enough news to seem topical around the water cooler, let me tell you about Saturday Night Live. Lana Del Rey recently played the show and was panned by lesser acts worldwide pretty much everyone. SNL actress Kristen Wiig hits the nail on the head when imitating Lana Del Rey and the backlash over her performance, by saying “I must’ve clubbed a baby seal while singing the Taliban national anthem” (via ChartAttack). The defense of Lana Del Rey is brilliantly done, and you can and should watch the video, before NBC pulls it.

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Bon Iver showed up and did a couple of songs, both Holocene and Beth/Rest. You can watch Holocene down below. Sadly, Justin Vernon did NOT flip the middle finger to the video cameras, missing out on headlines worldwide.

Bono To Get Rich – Again!

Do you remember when U2’s Bono bought a stake in Facebook, and we were all wondering why an old man who doesn’t have a Facebook account would purchase something he is so clearly clueless about? Well, maybe I was just wondering that. It turns out that Bono’s 1.5% investment will net him just under $1 billion (via NME). Sometimes, life just isn’t fair! In 2009, Bono invested $90 million for the shares, netting him a profit that makes me want to cry. Of course, this is just all paper money. My piggy bank has I.O.U.s worth over a quadrillion zillion trillion dollars, so suck on that, Bono!

Another One Bites The Dust: Torrent Website btjunkie is No More

Recently, my favourite website mainly illegal file sharing website, Mega Upload was shut down by the FBI, which included arrests of those involved with running the site (including the enigma that is Kim Dotcom). Now, btjunkie has voluntarily shut their, um, doors this past weekend (via Slash Gear). btjunkie, which was the 5th most popular torrent site in 2011, didn’t host files like Mega Upload, but searched the web looking for these torrents. The statement on their website read:

““This is the end of the line my friends. The decision does not come easy, but we’ve decided to voluntarily shut down. We’ve been fighting for years for your right to communicate, but it’s time to move on. It’s been an experience of a lifetime, we wish you all the best!”

Will more dominoes fall? Will we have to legally purchase music and movies once again?!