Blink-182 and Selling Out

There is a prominent feeling that when a band decides to grow up and write more about real life, adult situations they have become a better band. A good case of this can be seen in the popular pop band blink-182.
OThere is a prominent feeling that when a band decides to grow up and write more about real life, adult situations they have become a better band. A good case of this can be seen in the popular pop band blink-182. Often known for their childish themes in songs early in their career, this band focused most of their attention on swear words and being naked in various situations. As their CDs grew in number, however, they began to write about suicide and other various harder topics in their music. Many fans of the band felt they sold out at this same time, becoming too main stream and overlooking fans of their previous work. So this article will address whether making meaningful lyrics goes hand in hand with selling out.

The first thing that has to be addressed is that there are some bands which start out playing meaningful lyrics from their very first single. Because it would be incredibly hard to call someone whose never been anything but mainstream as selling out to the mainstream, we will ignore this group for now.

The truth of the matter is that bands cannot make the same songs over and over again. Why would people continuously spend money on buying new audio CDs and going to concerts if all they were going to hear is the same old thing? That may work for diehard fans, but not the casual ones who pack most of the stadiums and concerts. Bands have to change and adjust, like everyone else in life do, to keep their career promising in the future.

It also doesn’t make sense when people accuse bands of selling out after they sign with big record companies and play on MTV. The truth is that every band is made to make the big bucks and to be famous. By refusing to go mainstream it would be hard for any band to do this.

That being said, making more sensitive and serious lyrics shouldn’t go hand in hand with selling out. While blink-182 may have been happy all the time and felt good enough to not have to write anything but naked humor early, it is likely they witnessed more and more bad events occurring around them as they grew into their later ages. It is hard to keep all your emotions bottled up when you want to express feelings, so it is not a big deal that the band wanted to use harder events in their lyrics. I don’t think that makes them sellouts, even though they are much more of a mainstream band than they used to be.

In the end, blink-182 broke apart and no longer play together anymore. Many fans still existed for the band and they are still looking for a reunion. While this may or may not ever happen, one thing is for sure. The blink-182 who used to have nothing to do but run naked down a street while passing hot girls is probably gone forever. But their lyrics will be something that will touch us all forever.

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BBC Banned Music: Top Singles Banned By the BBC

Here you can read about some the top singles that were banned by Auntie Beeb.
The British Broadcasting Corporation also known as the BBC is a public broadcasting corporation. Therefore, it allows itself to ban materials that deviate from certain standards of civility. During the years, many singles that were seen as too explicit, distasteful or bear the potential for offending the British public were banned from BBC airplay. Here you can read about some of them.


In 1977, when England was celebrating the Queens Jubilee, the Sex Pistols had released their second single titled God Save the Queen. The single includes controversial lyrics that rhyme the national anthem title with fascist regime. Moreover, the record cover displayed a picture of the Queen with a safety pin stuck in her nose.

The single was found to offensive to be air played by the BBC, but it did not stop it from reaching number two on the BBC official singles chart. According to the myth, God Save the Queen was the top selling single in the UK at the time, but it was held back of number one to avoid controversies.

Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin scandalous duet Je TAime ... Moi Non Plus, translated: I love you... me neither, was the first ever number one hit to be banned by the BBC. Although at the time of its release, in 1969, the sexual revolution was celebrated, the British radio still was not able to cope with such explicit lyrics, not to mention Birkins moans and groans.

The BBC ban and The Vatican denounce, did not stop Je TAime ... Moi Non Plus from being a top selling single in the UK and worldwide. In October 7, 1969, the single reached number one in the BBC official singles chart. At the same time, it had reached number 69 at the US singles chart.

Je TAime ... Moi Non Plus was a major influence on another BBC banned single, Donna Summers disco pioneer from 1976 titled Love to Love You Baby. After counting 23 faked orgasms performed by Summer in Love to Love You Baby, the British Broadcasting Corporation banned the song. However, it did not stop it from becoming a massive hit. Love to Love You Baby reached number four on the UK single charts but peaked to number two on the Billboard pop chart.

Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood is one of the most controversial singles as well as commercially successful singles in history. The BBC did not only ban the song it also did not stop BBC Radio 1 DJ Mike Read to publicly express his feelings of disgust from the single's explicit lyrics. In 1984, Relax stayed in the UK singles charts for 42 weeks. In five of them, it stayed in number one. By the end of 1984, embarrassed Auntie Beeb removed the ban. Relax is still very popular worldwide and it is one of the most recognized symbols of the era. The arguments on whether it gained such a huge success despite the BBC ban or the BBC ban helped promoting it have not been settled yet.

Paul McCartney and the Wings response to the 1972 Bloody Sunday events titled Give Ireland Back to the Irish, was banned by every media resource in the UK. It was forbidden from being broadcast by the BBC, Radio Luxembourg and the Independent Television Authority. In addition, the song title was not allowed to be pronounced on the air, so when it arrived to the BBC Radio 1 chart show it was presented as a record by the group Wings. However, Give Ireland Back to the Irish hit the top of the Irish singles charts.

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A New Music of the Orient: a Touch of the West and a Dash of the Divine

A new musical fusion has arisen in New York and it's not the kind you can catch for ten dollars at a club in the West Village. For the many thousands of Chinese immigrants trying to stay afloat in a new world and for those westerners who have always wanted to understand the Chinese but have shied away for lack of a way in--for anyone who has wondered where the two civilizations connect, the answer may lie not in words, but in music.

Lisa Li is a master of the pipa (Chinese lute) and a graduate of the Chinese Conservatory of China. She has composed and performed across Europe, Asia and the United States, and her playing was featured in the Academy Award-winning movie The Last Emperor.  Now, as one of the lead composers for New Tang Dynasty Television's Chinese New Year Spectacular, a grand scale performance of traditional Chinese dance and song, Lisa has created what she believes to be a new kind of sound--based on ancient Chinese folk and religious music, but going beyond either of them.

“Music is alive, because in the view of the Chinese ancients, every single object in the world has life. In fact, in Chinese, when we refer to a musical note we call it a ‘live note,’” she explains. But according to Lisa, it must be composed and played from the heart—sometimes in ways that sound foreign to the western ear.

But the melodies are far from random. Lisa’s music, like all traditionally composed Chinese music, is based on a series of pentatonic (5-note) scales. This system has its roots in Taoism, which teaches that all matter is formed from the five basic elements of metal, earth, wood, fire, and water. It teaches that in order for a being to be healthy, it must have all of these elements in balance. So, from the Chinese perspective, a song or piece of music must also contain a uniquely crafted balance of these elements. There are also eight note scales that relate to the Taoist symbol called the bagua, which is most commonly known in the West as part of the practice of fengshui, or geomancy.

An example of this is the piece she wrote for the dance “A Dunhuang Dream.” The dance is set against a backdrop of thousands of caves carved into the sides of cliffs as they are in the Moago Grottoes in the Dunhuang region of China. Seated at the mouth of each cave is a Buddhist or Taoist deity. As the dancers emerge, one can hear from the orchestra pit the voices of the erhu (Chinese violin) and guzhen (zither), but these are soon joined by the more recognizable resonance of cello, bass, oboe, and brass.  The result strikes the ear as achingly otherworldly and yet also solidly familiar.

In fact, the specific ya yue used in the score is the same as that found in the ancient pipa music written on scrolls that were discovered by archeologists in the actual Dunhuang caves years ago.

“I feel very deeply that music is a heavenly language, a divine language,” Lisa says. “It is able to uplift people’s hearts and minds. It is good for the soul.”
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