Morning Music Notes – The Jessie J Olympics

Closing Ceremonies Were What Brits Feared Opening Ceremonies Would Be

I’ll admit – the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremonies were pretty good, especially considering they had to follow up Beijing’s insane opener. Danny Boyle did a good job of mixing the humour, music, and history of Great Britain, with a few cool surprises. Who knew Mr. Bean was still alive? I feared the worst for the Opening Ceremonies, but these fears came to life in last night’s pretty average Closing Ceremonies.

For those who missed it, there were no big surprises, few stand out moments, and WAY too much of mediocre pop act Jessie J. We had recordings of Kate Bush, Blur, John Lennon (and a creepy wall built that resembled Lennon), as well as a loop of already played songs by Pet Shop Boys and Madness. Also performing were Emeli Sandé (twice), George Michael (who did Freedom, and an an awful new song that lost the crowd), Elbow, the Kaiser Chiefs, that Ron Weasley twin Ed Sheeran playing a cover of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here (with Nick Mason on drums), Ray Davies from the Kinks, Queen with that awful Jessie J singing, Fatboy Slim DJ’ing in an octopus, a Spice Girls reunion, Beady Eye covering the Noel Gallagher penned Oasis tune Wonderwall, Muse doing Olympic anthem Survival, and everything closed out with The Who. They couldn’t get David Bowie to play during the musical tribute to British fashion (ya, I didn’t get it either) which featured David Bowie’s Fashion. We did get boy (now man) band Take That, minus Robbie Williams. If we could’ve minused the other 4 members, we would’ve been alright.

I lied – there was one stand out moment. Monty Python alumni Eric Idle sung Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, complete with the “life’s a piece of shit” line. He didn’t get the laughs that Mr. Bean did, and I would’ve preferred a Monty Python reunion over a Spice Girls one, but I’ll take it. Now – withdrawal time. I want to watch random sports that I can only watch every 4 years. There just instead enough dressage with moonwalking horses on daytime television to satisfy my cravings.

The Flaming Lips Are Doing a Musical – Of Course They Are!

One of my favourite albums, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, is being turned into a musical by its creators, The Flaming Lips (via NME). The musical will play at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California from November 6 to December 16, and if it’s anything like a Flaming Lips concert, it will be fuckin’ WEIRD great. Producers have said, “Yoshimi is a young Japanese artist facing the battle of her life: the battle for her life. Adrift from her family and lover, Yoshimi journeys alone into a fantastical robot-world where she wages a war with fate. Will her will to survive be powerful enough to master the evil forces that threaten to destroy her?”

So basically, a thrown together plot, ala American Idiot by Green Day, using the band’s appeal to attempt to milk another audience for some more money, amiright? The musical will have music from the Yoshimi album, as well as Soft Bulletin and At War With The Mystics.

MCA Wasn’t Lying – Beastie Boys Sue Monster Energy Drink

Adam Yauch (MCA!) from the Beastie Boys stated in his will that he didn’t want his image and art licensed for commercials after he died. Surviving Beastie Boys, Mike D and Ad Rock, sued Monster energy drink for copyright infringement, for unlawful use of up to 26 songs and use of their likenesses (via Spinner). Maybe you can sneak a song or two past a band, but 26? That’s just greedy, not to mention stupid.

Happy Monday: Download a Free Vaccines EP

The Vaccines are a band that likes to give you free stuff like herpes. After giving us a free EP earlier this year, the band have made their latest EP, Please, Please Do Not Disturb, up for free download. The EP features a cover of ABBA’s The Winner Takes It All, as well as covers of Wire, and Jonathan Richman. Grab it for free at the Vaccines’ website, or stay here and get nothing for free. Well, boredom isn’t exactly nothing now, is it?

Impressive: Drake Passes Jay-Z for Most Number One Billboard Singles

Jay-Z has been killing the Billboard charts for 15 years, racking up number 1 albums like I do indecent exposure charges. One area where he has been caught is in the number 1 singles department. Drake’s recent collaboration with 2 Chainz netted him his 10th number 1 single, putting him past Jay-Z’s nine number 1s (via Consequence of Sound). Of Drake’s 10 number 1s, 3 were for “his” songs, while 7 were collaborations. Jay-Z’s nine tracks had 4 of his own singles and 5 collaborative efforts. It doesn’t matter if you’re on the bench, as long as you have that gold medal, right?

Listen! DJ Khaled – Hip Hop (featuring Nas, Scarface, and DJ Premier)

Since we’re on the subject of hip hop, I figured we should end with a hip hop song, appropriate named We Should End Hip Hop. The track is by DJ Khaled and features the recent chart topping Nas, as well as Scarface and DJ Premier. The track is from Kiss the Ring, which is out August 21. I will not be kissing any rings, either jewellery or body parts, for the record.