What’s Next For Miley Cyrus?

With a risqué performance in the 2013 VMA’s and a matching risqué music video for her hit Wrecking Ball, can Miley Cyrus ever top these to further advance her musical career? 

By: Ringo Bones 

With a risqué performance at the 2013 VMA’s – as in that twerking that even grossed out Taylor Swift and more suited for the AVM awards in Las Vegas by some A-List porn star like Madison Scott, many popular music spectators now wonder if Miley Cyrus has become a “spent force” musically with nowhere else to go creatively. Does this mean it is only a matter of time before Miley Cyrus will fade into oblivion? 

Ever since her Hannah Montana days with the Walt Disney Corporation, many a pop music spectator had speculated that Miley Cyrus will soon fade into oblivion as soon as she becomes too old to play the iconic teen pop sensation with a Disneyfied puberty. But before all of this came to pass, she managed to boost her popularity by posing a series of age-inappropriate risqué photos with iconic photographer Annie Leibovitz for the iconic Vanity Fair magazine – with her father, the early 1990s country music phaenom Billy Ray Cyrus, nonetheless. So what’s next for Miley Cyrus before her risqué signature twerking at the 2013 VMA’s gets relegated as a largely forgotten historical footnote into the dustbin of history? 

Though emulating the recent rowdy antics of fellow male teen pop sensation Justin Beiber is out of the question, Miley Cyrus could resort to an untried risqué stunt – like what she did so effectively in the past - to yet extend the shelf-life of her popularity and “commercial viability”. How about the ultimate risqué “Father’s Day Surprise” set to music? Maybe a duet with her country music icon dad Billy Ray Cyrus with the 1993 era Motörhead hit single Don’t Let Daddy Kiss Me (from the Motörhead 1993 album Bastards) might do just the trick to extend Miley’s popularity shelf-life for another few months given that she’s somewhat obsessed with the resurgent redneck culture in the 21^st Century.    

Mr. T’s Mother: Unlikeliest Mother’s Day Hit Ever?

Said to be inspired by a tragic incident in the Chicago South-Side a few weeks before the Mother’s Day back in 1985, is Mr. T’s mid-1980s “hit-single” Mother the unlikeliest Mother’s Day hit single to receive continuous mainstream FM station airplay ever? 

By: Ringo Bones 

He might only be still remembered by those who grew up during the Reagan era 1980s who fell in love with him after taken under Sylvester Stallone’s wings after winning in an NBC TV special called World’s Toughest Bouncer back in 1980. Mr. T – born Laurence Tureaud back in May 21, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois – is probably more well-known by his fans for starring in the hit movie Rocky III as Stallone’s boxing nemesis named Clubber Lang back in 1982 (Mr. T’s fellow wrestling team-mate, Hulk Hogan, was also Stallone’s protégé). And then even becoming more famous for starring in various primetime TV shows like The A-Team and his very own TV series T-n’-T back in 1989. But if you happen to be an “unabashed” Mr.T fan, do you still remember his unlikely hit that became a Mother’s Day anthem back in the mid-1980s? 

When Mr. T’s hit single Mother became a runaway hit back around May 1985, legend has it that Mr. T was inspired to write a song after hearing of a drug related tragedy in his hometown of Chicago just a few weeks before Mother’s Day back in 1985. A 15-year old kid living in the notorious crime and narcotic infested Chicago South Side was trying out crack (back then it is a still brand new cocaine based street drug where baking soda is used as the free-basing agent). After the kid’s mother accidentally walked in into the kitchen and saw his son trying out crack cocaine  and was then suddenly stabbed 17 times by his own son after panicking while caught using crack. 

After Mr. T’s unlikely Mother’s Day hit became largely forgotten a few years later, the legend on the origin of that mid 1980s era hit single also faded into obscurity. Hopefully, maybe some of Mr. T’s fans will still remember  “Mother” this 2014’s Mother’s Day.Know of any newer Mother's Day themed hit singles?

Remembering Kurt Cobain

Do you still remember when you are when you heard the news of Kurt Cobain’s tragic suicide 20 years ago? 

By: Ringo Bones 

Strange how it was already 20 years ago when the tragic suicide of Kurt Cobain hit the news. At that time, it seems that I can’t get enough listening to every Nirvaana record ever released. Not to mention the odd audiophile recording or two – as in 200-gram vinyl LP pressing or Super Bit Mapped CDs of either Nevermind, In Utero or their Unplugged in New York. 

April 5, 1994 seems like any ordinary day in our increasingly cynical music scene of the mid 1990s. Kurt Cobain killing himself back then seems like an unbelievable tragedy. Though it is not as if just another tragedy in the making. Kurt Cobain deciding to no longer play Smells Like Teen Spirit during their European tour near the end of 1993 could be a sign of his inability to cope with fame. And this tragic loss to the music world is something everyone old enough to remember is still reeling to this very day.  

Did the Transistor Radio Help Spread Rock N’ Roll?

As the “lowly” battery-operated transistor radio turns 60 this 2014, was it instrumental on the spread of post World War II popular music – namely Rock N’ Roll? 

By: Ringo Bones 

Older audiophiles old enough to witness the consumer electronic market debut of the battery-operated transistor radio back in 1954 now listen to their premium audiophile vinyl pressing of Surfin’ Bird by The Trashmen – or other iconic Rock N’ Roll track from the Golden Age of Stereo – on their vacuum tube based single-ended triode hi-fi power amplifier, but unbeknown to them, it was the “lowly” transistor radio that was instrumental in making the now classic Rock N’ Roll works of Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Ritchie Valens and other Rock N’ Roll greats “go viral” like the Sputnik scare. Seven inch 45 RPM vinyl singles were probably a distant second on their role in spreading Rock N’ Roll music. 

Despite of what the Madison Avenue admen want you to believe, the first pocket transistor radios weren’t quite as small as they want you to believe. When the Japanese made Sony TR-63 shirt-pocket transistor radio arrived in the United States back in 1957, Sony’s American affiliates had to tailor shirts with oversized pockets for their salesmen in order for these “shirt-pocket” transistor radios to fit. And even though sound quality improvements will come years later, every one of us owes a debt to gratitude to the “lowly” transistor radio now celebrating its 60^th Anniversary for helping spread avant garde music that got made years ahead of its time. 

Remembering Lou Reed

Along with The Beatles – his days with The Velvet Underground and his subsequent solo career, did Lou Reed single handedly influenced the not so mainstream parts of Generation-X era popular music?

By: Ringo Bones

The short answer is an equivocal yes, without Lou Reed – as in his stint in The Velvet Underground and his subsequent solo career – alternative rock from 1980s era REM to Seattle Grunge period Nirvana would probably not exist and if it even exist at all, it might sound wholly different. And though he may had left a “mixed legacy” lifestyle wise as a role-model, it is safe to say that like The Beatles before him, Lou Reed did make rock music more than just post World War II / baby boomer bubblegum pop music. 

Born in March 2, 1942 – it wasn’t his stint as a frontman for The Velvet Underground during the latter half of the 1960s did the whole world became aware of his prowess as a really gifted songwriter and long after breaking up, The Velvet Underground became the most cited influence of every alternative rock and Seattle Grunge era alternative rock that had came since. After his departure from The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed recorded the following year his most well known song titled Walk On The Wild Side from the Transformer album and co-produced by David Bowie and ever since Reed became synonymous with the heroin and bisexuality scene of New York City. Though it wasn’t until in the early 1990s when he recorded Power and Glory did he regained his prowess as a gifted singer songwriter that brought to us Walk on the Wild Side. 

After getting a liver transplant in May 2013 after his old one gave out due to years of heavy drinking and intravenous heroin use, Lou Reed – after recovering – said he was stronger than ever and plans to do what he loves namely write and record more songs. Though it is not yet determined if complications arising from the recent liver transplant compromised his health, Lou Reed passed away in October 27, 2013 in Long Island.