Listening
lounge
By Ryan Ritchie
On-line Forty-Niner
 Crazytown
— “Darkhorse”
Listening to this CD is torture. Forget
the gas chamber; give inmates of death row
this CD and they’ll be begging for death.
Why Weezer front man Rivers Cuomo ruins
his reputation by playing a guitar solo
on one of these things Crazytown calls songs
may be the biggest mystery since Jack the
Ripper. Avoid this at all costs.
 Kelly
Osbourne — “Shut Up”
This is easy to dismiss, this as the brainchild
of someone looking to make a quick buck,
but in all fairness, it’s not that bad.
Kelly Osbourne is in no way shape or form
a legitimate singer, nor does she seem to
possess any kind of real talent, but she
somehow manages to have a pretty decent
song here. All bets are on she didn’t write
it, but she’s credited with contributing,
so maybe the Osbourne clan has more talent
than just Ozzy. This sounds like a real-life
version of the Josie and the Pussycats soundtrack
and as cheesy as that make-believe band
was, they ruled.
 Pearl
Jam — “Riot Act”
Contrary to popular belief, Pearl Jam got
better after their first album. Once they
faded into oblivion, they started making
real records and not just hair metal in
flannel. This record lacks the abrasiveness
of previous records, but Riot Act is far
from a sleeper. Eddie Vedder shows all the
Creeds and Nickelbacks out there who does
the deep voice better than anyone and the
band sounds like it’s finally found a niche
to call its own.
 V/A
— “8 Mile Soundtrack”
Needless to say, Eminem steals the show
on this one. Say what you will, but the
guy’s talented and his songs on this are
just another defining moment in his career.
The songs are inspired by the film “8 Mile,”
and Eminem has to ditch his Slim Shady persona
to make the music match the movie. Like
everything else he does, he succeeds on
the five tracks he’s featured on. The rest
of the CD is worth a listen, but Eminem
raised the bar to an unprecedented level
on this one.
 Busdriver
—“Temporary Forever”
Stop the presses; the world has a new talented
rapper whose wit should propel him into
fame and fortune. Oh wait, the radio won’t
play songs like that. In order to have a
successful rap song, the choruses need to
be sung by someone else and the artist has
to have guest appearances all over the place.
I guess Busdriver is out of luck. He’ll
probably be stuck doing really good songs
with insightful lyrics and good beats that
only a handful of people who like good music
will get into.
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