Category Archives: Music

The secret to having a hit record is all about “Treating the radio guys nice.”

By web gangsta | Published: July 23, 2011


Hey Mr DJ I Thought You Said We Had a Deal by They Might Be Giants
Buy this TMBG album for the song
“HEY MR DJ, I THOUGHT YOU SAID WE HAD A DEAL”

Rock band THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS wrote a song all about what it allegedly took to get a song on the radio, aptly entitled Hey Mr DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal.  In it, the lyrics read, in part:

I struck a bargain with my radio DJ
I said I’d like this song to be number one
He said I’d really really like to help you my son
And then I knew that I would have him to thank
Because he asked me how much I had in the bank
…
He said the record wouldn’t have to be hot
And no one ever seemed to care if it’s not
It would depend on something else that I’ve got
…
Hey Mr. DJ, I thought you said we had a deal
I thought you said, You scratch my back and I’ll scratch your record
And I thought you said we had a deal

And while it may appear that TMBG is talking about PAYOLA – paying money to a DJ to get a song on the airwaves — what they could be talking about is just THE BUSINESS OF MAKING MUSIC.

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Video Fun: Rebecca Black FRIDAY Mashups

By web gangsta | Published: July 1, 2011


Saturday (A Parody of Rebecca Black's FRIDAY)
Saturday (A Parody of Rebecca Black’s “Friday”) -- Single

It’s Friday, Friday -- Gotta get down it’s Friday!

Here are some FRIDAY mashups you may not have heard yet. And while you’re listening to this songs, why not pop over to BENNI CINKLE’s website “THAT GIRL IN PINK” and say “hi”.  Be nice to her -- she’s written a book on cyber-bullying that all parents should know about.

Who’s Benni Cinkle?  She’s the girl dressed in pink in Rebecca Black’s FRIDAY video.  Yeah, the one who’s dancing.  Gotta give her credit for making something out of what was probably just a “hey, this sounds like fun thing to do”.  Good for her.

Crappy Friday

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Flashing your boobs at a concert can get you in trouble

By web gangsta | Published: June 5, 2011


FLASH! Bars, Boobs, and Busted: 5 Years on the Road with Girls Gone Wild
FLASH! Bars, Boobs, and Busted: 5 Years on the Road with Girls Gone Wild

Canadian music fan Andrea Irwin has an incident on her permanent record , just for attending a Kid Rock concert.

It’s not unusual for people to be arrested at a Kid Rock show – it’s mostly out-of-control drunks and the occasional fight in the pit.  Web Watch has seen it first-hand — Rock puts on a great, entertaining and engaging show.  He’s a showman. His fans really get into it.

But to kick Andrea out of the building for merely enjoying herself and getting caught up in the moment?  That’s not right.

So what did Andrea do that was so horribly, horribly wrong that got her in trouble at a Kid Rock show?

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If you can read this, you’re old

By web gangsta | Published: May 14, 2011


Over the Hill Party Songs
Over the Hill Party Songs

Web Watch wants you to feel old.

That’s why we get so much amusement out of this list of 40 THINGS TO MAKE YOU FEEL REALLY, REALLY OLD.

It’s like that line from the TOO MUCH JOY song, TRAIN IN VAIN: “The Playboy centerfold is younger than me.. I don’t think I can ever feel the same again...”  Yeah, this list of things to make you feel old is kinda like that.  Let’s take a look at some of those 40 different items, shall we?

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Overthinking the Death Star, Ke$ha’s Tik Tok

By web gangsta | Published: May 12, 2011


Star Wars Death Star PEZ
Star Wars Death Star PEZ

You know how you and your buddies all sit around on lazy Sunday afternoons just drinking a few beers and watching the game when one of you comes out with some random-ass deep thought about some TV show or movie or something, and it makes complete total sense to everyone else in the room where everyone says, “yeah, why is that, Dude?” and you all nod your heads in agreement but when it comes the next day nobody remembers what the hell you guys were talking about in the first place?

Then OVERTHINKING IT is a website for you.

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The official Royal Wedding album to be released May 10

By web gangsta | Published: May 1, 2011


The Royal Wedding - Official Album
The Royal Wedding – Official Album

If you spent this weekend watching your TiVo’s recordings of The Royal Wedding, then you can rest assured – the entire audio program is being released on CD, vinyl, and as a digital download on May 10th, 2011.  That’s a pretty impressive, fast turnaround time for something that was watched by over 2 billion people worldwide.

Those of you who are into vinyl may want to splurge – that edition will include a special collector’s booklet.

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You can’t be a successful musician until you’ve gone bankrupt at least once

By web gangsta | Published: April 24, 2011


The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop
The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop

There are lots of financial obligations when you’re a solo musician or in a band.

You have to worry about getting gigs, writing music, obtaining copyright or other legal paperwork.  Then there’s the infighting, splitting appearance fees, and paying for samples in your hit song that borrowed liberally from clips you found on YouTube.

Yeah – music royalties may not pay a lot, but they do end up paying something.  But sometimes, what you get from those royalty checks isn’t enough to make ends meet.

But all is not lost if you have to file for bankruptcy.   All sorts of extremely successful and well-respected artists have had to make that financial sacrifice in order to continue their careers later.  If you end up having to file bankruptcy, at least you’d be in good company.

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The Top 100 Greatest Jewish Songs (by Jews, as Jews, for Jews, etc)

By web gangsta | Published: April 19, 2011


Neil Diamond - The Jazz Singer
Neil Diamond – The Jazz Singer

When you think Jewish musicians, you may think of the obvious: Barbra. Dylan. Sandler.

But Jewish music is much more than that.  According to Curt Sachs, “Jewish music… is music created by Jews, as Jews, for Jews”.  In other words, to qualify as Jewish music, it wasn’t necessary to have Jewish musical roots as long as the feeling and intent – or the performer – was there.

So with that in mind, you may be interested in this list of THE TOP 100 JEWISH SONGS OF ALL TIME.  Sure, we won’t list all 100 of them here, and the descriptions of what makes each song inherently Jewish are awesome — but you may be surprised at what songs are considered great Jewish classics.

Maestro?  Hit it…

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How much money is Rebecca Black making on YouTube?

By web gangsta | Published: March 24, 2011


YouTube: An Insider's Guide to Climbing the Charts
YouTube: An Insider’s Guide to Climbing the Charts

How much money is Rebecca Black making with her YouTube video FRIDAY?  That seems to be the question on everybody’s mind these days, regardless of what they think about the quality of her song.

As WEB WATCH COVERED PREVIOUSLY, YouTube videos can make hundreds of thousands of dollars for their owners.

So when we see reports that Friday has only earned around $45,000 so far, Web Watch begins to question who is right when it comes to calculating payouts and royalty checks for viral YouTube videos.   So let’s take a look at this again, shall we?

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You know who’s starting to dislike Lady Gaga? Gays.

By web gangsta | Published: March 8, 2011


Lady Gaga - Born This Way
Lady Gaga – Born This Way

Web Watch won’t get into the controversy surrounding whether Lady Gaga’s most recent hit, Born This Way, sounds too much like some old Madonna song.

Hey, both have good beats and you can dance to ‘em.  To the casual listener, that’s what’s called win-win.

But not everyone is in love with Lady Gaga, no matter what she does or says.

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10,000 Fake Band Names

By web gangsta | Published: February 28, 2011


Songwriter software - create sheet music
Songwriter software: Create your own sheet music

So now that you’ve written your songs, it’s time to get the band together.

And the hardest part about getting the band together is not picking out who the drummer or lead singer are going to be, but what the band name will be.

Because a good band name can make or break you.  We all know some bands that can’t get any promotion because they decided to be “edgy” and pick a name that has foul connotations.  Think about it – if you can’t tell your band name to your grandmother (like LMFAO did, whose grandmother approved of their choice), then maybe you’re not thinking down the line enough about the important stuff – like getting paid.

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The Platypus Song

By web gangsta | Published: February 11, 2011


I Love Axtell
I Love Axtell

AXTELL is a unique entertainment company.

They make a variety of ventriloquist products, from ventriloquist dummies or puppets to animatronic devices that a performer can interact with.  America’s Got Talent winner TERRY FATOR is promoted on Axtell’s site for using at least one of Axtell’s creations.

In other words, they’re pretty good.

But we’re not hear to talk about the cool stuff that AXTELL makes (and trust Web Watch – that ventriloquist drawing board setup they have is pretty nifty; just watch that video)

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The Worst Song of 2010? TRAIN’s “Hey, Soul Sister”

By web gangsta | Published: December 27, 2010


The VILLAGE VOICE has named their TOP 20 WORST SONGS FOR 2010, and TRAIN’s “Hey, Soul Sister” topped the list as the worst song of the year.  Here is the rest of the bottom 10:

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2010 Christmas Trends – name your favorite holiday activities, music, and movies

By web gangsta | Published: December 24, 2010


A Christmas Story Leg Lamp (Fragile)
A Christmas Story Leg Lamp (Fragile)

A recent survey of over 2000 adults asked what the respondents’ FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT THE  HOLIDAYS WERE.  Here is what they found:

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KE$HA tops LAST.FM’s Best of 2010 list

By web gangsta | Published: December 21, 2010


KE$HA - Animal
Ke$ha – Animal

If you’re into listening to a customized playlist based on a core set of your own personal favorite artists, give LAST.FM a try.

Because if you take a look at LAST.FM’s BEST OF 2010 artist list, you’ll get a handle on what else other Last.fm users are finding interesting enough to listen to over and over and over again.

And looking at who made the top of LAST.FM’s chart, Web Watch doesn’t disagree — we find these top artists to have put out some quite entertaining music this year.

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