While most of my Football Friday posts focus on the National Football League, I don’t want to forget the college game. After all, that’s where American football got its start — and where it was most popular up until about the mid 20th century.

So for something a little different, I’ve pulled together a gallery of vintage college football sheet music covers, most of which feature timeless school fight songs. Why sheet music, you ask? Honestly, I have no idea. But you know I love old ephemera, so that’s all the reason I need really.

“The Victors” is the fight song of the University of Michigan.

“On Iowa” is one of three fight songs currently used by the University of Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band, along with “Iowa Fight Song” and “Roll Along Iowa.”

This is the title song from a 1930 movie starring Joan Bennett, Joe E. Brown, and James Hall. The draw here was the inclusion of 11 members of the 1929 College Football All-America Team, seen on the cover.

I’ve been listening to A Different Kind of Truth regularly since it came out. Despite being an excellent album, I still read a lot of griping from Van Halen fans about how it’s not really Van Halen because Michael Anthony’s not there. I can see where they’re coming from, but I think that’s stretching things a bit.

But really, people have been arguing about Van Halen for years. If it’s not Michael Anthony, it’s the vocalists. So I decided to go through the Van Halen catalog and perform a scientific analysis of their sound. I wanted to know — what really makes Van Halen tick? What, more than anything else, really makes a Van Halen record sound like Van Halen?

Is it Mikey’s signature background vocals? Eddie’s guitar pyrotechnics? Alex Van Halen’s thunderous drumming? David Lee Roth’s showmanship and antics? Sammy Hagar’s singing and lyrics? Gary Cherone’s… well, let’s just forget about Gary. Nice guy, though.

So here it is, the definitive answer to the question — What makes Van Halen great?

Granted, I may be off by one or two percentage points.

And now, for absolutely no reason, here’s a stock photo image gallery of people holding their headphones while listening to music. Because apparently this is the universal way to represent people enjoying music. Closing your eyes is optional, but it seems to be the way to go based on the majority of these pictures.

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You have been and always will be missed, Farrokh Bulsara (aka Freddie Mercury). Has it really been almost twenty — that’s 20 — years since you left us?

Well thanks to awesome tributes like the latest Google doodle — featuring the Queen classic “Don’t Stop Me Now” from the Jazz record — you will also always be remembered.

This is so cool I won’t even quibble over the fact that Freddie didn’t sport a mustache when this song was released, and therefore the part with him riding the tiger is incorrect. Aren’t you glad I didn’t bring that up?

On a more serious note, please take a minute today to at least stop by the website for the Mercury Phoenix Trust — helping in the fight against AIDS.

Related articles

• Remembering Freddie Mercury: 5 Videos to Celebrate His 65th Birthday (newsfeed.time.com)
• Lotus shows Evora S Freddie Mercury Edition, hopes it makes the rockin’ world go ’round (autoblog.com)
• Coming Soon: Freddie Mercury: The Definitive Biography by Lesley-Ann Jones (booktopia.com.au)
• Queen fans say the chorus of Don’t Stop Me Now is band’s best lyric (mirror.co.uk)

Another day, another listening booth, another great concert for your listening enjoyment. Today I offer up a recording of Peter Gabriel at the seventh annual Rock Werchter festival in Belgium. Gabriel took the stage on July 3 with four solo albums behind him, most recently 1982’s Peter Gabriel (aka Security in America).

Gabriel was already popular in his native Britain after his time as the lead singer of Genesis, but was just now on the verge of stardom in America thanks to the “Shock the Monkey” single. Remember, although everyone loves “Solsbury Hill” now it wasn’t a hit when it was released in 1977.

Gabriel and his band are in excellent form here, and the mixture of songs from the first four LPs is great. We even get a preview of “We Do What We’re Told (Milgram’s 37),” which wasn’t officially released until So in 1986. The set leads off with “Across the River,” which was the B-side of the “I Have the Touch” single from ’82. This is a HIGHLY recommended show for Gabriel fans, casual or hardcore.

(These are all in .mp3 format by the way. If you want .flac files, I’ve split the show into 3 pieces and uploaded to MediaFire. #1 | #2 | #3)

Set list for Peter Gabriel at Rock Werchter — July 3, 1983:

1. “Across the River”
2. “Intruder”
3. “Not One of Us”
4. “The Family and the Fishing Net”
5. “Humdrum”
6. “Shock the Monkey”
7. “We Do What We’re Told (Milgram’s 37)”
8. “Family Snapshot”
9. “Solsbury Hill”
10. “San Jacinto”
11. “On the Air”
12. “Biko”

The band:

Peter Gabriel — vocals, synthesizer, piano
Jerry Marotta — drums, percussion, backing vocals
Tony Levin — stick, bass, backing vocals
David Rhodes — guitar, backing vocals
Larry Fast — synthesizer, piano

Related articles

• Peter Gabriel – 1978-09-15 – Essen, Germany (DVDfull pro-shot) REPOST (theultimatebootlegexperience2.blogspot.com)
• Peter Gabriel Creates Amazing DJ Booth With His Old CD and Cassettes (treehugger.com)

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I really should know better by now than to predict how much I’ll like an album based off one song. I was certain Mastodon’s last album, Crack the Skye, would be a total face-melter, but I was sadly wrong. But I do have renewed hope for their upcoming LP, The Hunter. Why? Check out the first single, “Black Tongue.”

Aw yeah! This sounds like the Mastodon I love – heavy and vengeful, but still melodic. The Hunter is out September 27.

Related articles

• New Mastodon! “Black Tongue!” Full Song! Listen Now, You Fools!!! (metalsucks.net)
• Mastodon Roar Back With Monster Metal Anthem (spin.com)
• Mastodon’s B-Sides Are Better Than Most Bands A-Sides. (popblerd.com)
• Mastodon Releases New Song, Forgets They’re Mastodon (allmetalresource.com)

Hot off the presses (or whatever the music equivalent of that is), it’s the lead single from Trombone Shorty’s upcoming album, For True. Here’s “Encore”, co-written by Trombone Shorty and the legendary Lamont Dozier, and featuring Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers Band, Gov’t Mule) on guitar.

Encore by knitstitchmedia

For True (Verve Forecast) drops September 13. Here’s hoping it’s every bit as awesome as Backatown was.

Related articles

• Trombone Shorty: New Album in Sept (jambase.com)
• Trombone Shorty rocks the Cistern (charlestoncitypaper.com)
• Another Day, Another Trombone Flamethrower (geekologie.com)
• Warren Haynes: Sept. Tour (jambase.com)

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I’ve been hearing about Spotify, one of the seemingly endless number of music listening applications and sites out there, for months. But as it was not available in the U.S. I didn’t pay it much mind.

But that all changed today, as Spotify is now available to us here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. And like every other service I’ve ever used, Spotify promises to change the way we listen to music. Just like their nifty little promo video says:

Sounds good huh? I decided to take the plunge and download Spotify, so I could see just how much my world would be rocked. For reference, I already use the following services to one degree or another:

• Last.fm
• Rhapsody
• Slacker

All of those services have their good and bad points, and between the three of them I pretty much get what I need as far as music. Based off my limited experience with Spotify, here is how it measures up…

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“Why the hell should I like… ?” is an experiment of sorts between Popblerd and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. What we’re going to attempt to do is to pick 10 songs from our favorite artists — one for which the other has professed dislike or disinterest — and show them why they’re wrong.

On June 25th, 2009, the world lost one of the greatest entertainers of all time — Michael Jackson. Although recent history had not been kind to Michael, after his passing it seemed like a light switch went on in the collective mind of the American public and they began to view him with respect again.

Because let’s face it, despite his obvious issues, the man was a one-of-a-kind talent. A fantastic singer, a great dancer, a solid songwriter and producer, and, if you look over the current pop music landscape, certainly the most influential musician of his time.

Unfortunately for Michael, he lost his “cool” card somewhere in the mid ’80s. Once Thriller became a phenomenon, it became uncool to like MJ. He was yesterday’s news. You know the routine — we build people up only to tear them down. So, despite the fact that he put out quite a bit of good music in the twenty-seven years between the release of his landmark album and his tragic death, much of it doesn’t get the respect it deserves. Not that he was the only artist to have that problem.

For example, think about Stevie Wonder’s run of classics during the ’70s. Anything he released was going to pale in comparison to Talking Book, Innervisions, and Songs in the Key of Life, right? It’s why albums like Hotter Than July aren’t regarded as classics, even though they would be had they been recorded by anyone else.

Anyhow, Stevie’s another topic for another time. Let’s go back to the King of Pop. I was challenged to pick ten songs from the post-Thriller era that I felt would most convince someone of the validity of Michael’s later work. Here are the ten songs I came up with.

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1. “Tell Me I’m Not Dreamin'” (1984) — When big brother Jermaine left Motown and signed with Arista, he figured out pretty quickly how to make a seamless label transition — cut a record with the hottest pop star in the universe, who just happened to be his little brother. “Tell Me I’m Not Dreamin'” is pretty ordinary ’80s synth-funk, but Michael’s vocal performance is positively electric. It sounds like all of the confidence he gained immediately following the success of Thriller manifested itself in his vocals on this song. Jermaine sounds like a guest on his own record. And to add insult to injury, allegedly Michael wouldn’t allow Jermaine and Arista to release this song as a single. It wound up hitting #1 on Billboard’s dance chart and earning a Grammy nomination anyway.

2. “Torture” (1984) — Jermaine’s release from Motown also allowed him to return to the Jacksons after a nine-year absence. “Torture” is the only track on the Victory reunion album to feature a lead vocal from the older brother, and he and Michael’s chemistry is put to much better use on this song. Translation: Michael played nice and didn’t kick his big brother’s ass all over the song.

3. “The Way You Make Me Feel” (1987) — One song that proves Michael’s worth as a singer. I have a relatively boyish speaking/singing voice, and I can’t go near the notes Michael hits here. Almost makes me wonder if certain songs on the Bad album were sped up, seeing as he usually dropped this song (in particular) a step or two when performed live. Still — a stone cold dance groove, at least partially inspired by Stevie Wonder’s “Go Home” (at least if you believe Stevie).

4. “Man in the Mirror” (1987) — Interestingly, the song that came to define Michael the most post-Thriller was one of the few songs from that era that he had no hand in writing. He proved himself to be a sympathetic interpreter on songs like these, going for a reflective tone in the verses to straight-out gospel testifyin’ in the song’s coda.

5. “Smooth Criminal” (1987) — You know, I wasn’t so crazy about this song until recently. This was the beginning of Michael doing the whole “singing through clenched teeth” thing that he was so fond of in his later days. Still, great melody and totally danceable, too.

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