If this list of the 100 best songs of last decade by Rolling Stone is any indication, the new decade can only be better cause it sure can’t get much worse.

(Hat tip: Rae.)

Sure took ‘em long enough!

(Via Damian Penny).

Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has banned Western music from Iran’s radio and TV stations, reviving one of the harshest cultural decrees from the early days of 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Songs such as George Michael’s “Careless Whisper,” Eric Clapton’s “Rush” and the Eagles’ “Hotel California” have regularly accompanied Iranian broadcasts, as do tunes by saxophonist Kenny G.

But the official IRAN Persian daily reported Monday that Ahmadinejad, as head of Iran’s Supreme Cultural Revolutionary Council, ordered the enactment of an October ruling by the council to ban Western music.

Cause after all, everyone knows that the saxophone stylings of Kenny G. contain hidden Zionist brainwashing propaganda.

Though we may scoff, cultural restrictions are key components of Ahmadinejad’s renewed fanatical war on the West and against any kind of freedom or reform for his people. One only wonders how far he can push before the forces for change in Iran push back.

Disposable camera purchased after realization that camera was forgotten at home: $12

Dinner at a tourist trap where a local radio station was holding a pre-show and contest to win wristbands to go up on stage during the show: $30

Winning said wristbands and being close enough to actually strum on Jon Bon Jovi’s guitar: Priceless.

(Photos to follow… once they’re developed.)

Most of mine, not too surprisingly, are cross-outs; songs that do well on the charts rarely appeal to me. Especially by 1997, when all the early-to-mid 90s good music was over. But here goes:

1. Candle In The Wind 1997, Elton John – I liked the original but the remake in the wake of Princess Diana’s death was cheap and exploitive.
2. Foolish Games / You Were Meant For Me, Jewel
3. I’ll Be Missing You, Puff Daddy and Faith Evans – this was when he was still called “Puff Daddy” and was just discovering how filthy-rich you can make it in the music biz by ripping off someone else’s work. At least Elton John (see #1) was only plagiarizing himself.
4. Un-Break My Heart, Toni Braxton
5. Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down, Puff Daddy
6. I Believe I Can Fly, R. Kelly
7. Don’t Let Go (Love), En Vogue
8. Return Of The Mack, Mark Morrison
9. How Do I Live, LeAnn Rimes
10. Wannabe, Spice Girls – I actually had a whole website at the time dedicated to my hatred of the Spice Girls… and of the Backstreet Boys (see #11).
11. Quit Playing Games (With My Heart), Backstreet Boys
12. MMMBop, Hanson – a classic SNL skit defined “torture” as being forced to listen to this repeatedly.
13. For You I Will, Monica
14. You Make Me Wanna…, Usher
15. Bitch, Meredith Brooks – Yep, that’s me
16. Nobody Keith Sweat
17. Semi-Charmed Life, Third Eye Blind
18. Barely Breathing, Duncan Sheik
19. Hard To Say I’m Sorry, Az Yet Featuring Peter Cetera
20. Mo Money Mo Problems, Notorious B.I.G.
21. The Freshmen, Verve Pipe
22. I Want You, Savage Garden
23. No Diggity, BLACKstreet Featuring Dr. Dre
24. I Belong To You (Every Time I See Your Face), Rome
25. Hypnotize, Notorious B.I.G.
26. Every Time I Close My Eyes, Babyface
27. In My Bed, Dru Hill
28. Say You’ll Be There, Spice Girls
29. Do You Know (What It Takes), Robyn
30. 4 Seasons Of Loneliness, Boyz II Men
31. G.H.E.T.T.O.U.T., Changing Faces
32. Honey, Mariah Carey
33. I Believe In You And Me, Whitney Houston
34. Da’ Dip, Freaknasty
35. 2 Become 1, Spice Girls
36. All For You, Sister Hazel
37. Cupid, 112
38. Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?, Paula Cole
39. Sunny Came Home, Shawn Colvin – this won the Grammy that year if I recall correctly; I still can’t figure out why, cause it’s fairly mediocre
40. It’s Your Love, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
41. Ooh Aah… Just A Little Bit, Gina G
42. Mouth, Merril Bainbridge
43. All Cried Out, Allure Featuring 112
44. I’m Still In Love With You, New Edition
45. Invisible Man, 98 Degrees
46. Not Tonight, Lil’ Kim
47. Look Into My Eyes, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
48. Get It Together, 702
49. All By Myself, Celine Dion
50. It’s All Coming Back To Me Now, Celine Dion – it’s all coming back to me just how much I can’t stand Celine Dion
51. My Love Is The Shhh!, Somethin’ For The People
52. Where Do You Go, No Mercy
53. I Finally Found Someone, Barbra Streisand and Bryan Adams – normally I like Bryan Adams but come on
54. I’ll Be, Foxy Brown Featuring Jay-Z
55. If It Makes You Happy, Sheryl Crow
56. Never Make A Promise, Dru Hill
57. When You Love A Woman, Journey
58. Up Jumps Da Boogie, Magoo And Timbaland
59. I Don’t Want To / I Love Me Some Him, Toni Braxton
60. Everyday Is A Winding Road, Sheryl Crow
61. Cold Rock A Party, Mc Lyte
62. Pony, Ginuwine
63. Building A Mystery, Sarah McLachlan – I’m a fan but this isn’t one of my fave songs
64. I Love You Always Forever, Donna Lewis
65. Your Woman, White Town
66. C U When U Get There, Coolio
67. Change The World, Eric Clapton
68. My Baby Daddy, B-Rock and The Bizz
69. Tubthumping, Chumbawamba – gave Hanson a run for their money for most annoyingly awful song of the year.
70. Gotham City, R. Kelly
71. Last Night, Az Yet
72. ESPN Presents The Jock Jam, Various Artists
73. Big Daddy, Heavy D
74. What About Us, Total
75. Smile, Scarface
76. What’s On Tonight, Montell Jordan
77. Secret Garden, Bruce Springsteen
78. The One I Gave My Heart, w Aaliyah
79. Fly Like An Eagle, Seal
80. No Time, Lil’ Kim
81. Naked Eye, Luscious Jackson
82. Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix), Los Del Rio – was this the remake? I remember the Macarena being earlier than 1997.
83. On and On, Erykah Badu
84. Don’t Wanna Be A Player, Joe
85. I Shot The Sheriff, Warren G
86. You Should Be Mine (Don’t Waste Your Time), Brian McKnight Featuring Mase
87. Don’t Cry For Me Argentina, Madonna
88. Someone, SWV
89. Go The Distance, Michael Bolton
90. One More Time, Real McCoy
91. Butta Love, Next
92. Coco Jamboo, Mr. President
93. Twisted, Keith Sweat
94. Barbie Girl, Aqua
95. When You’re Gone / Free To Decide, Cranberries
96. Let Me Clear My Throat, DJ Kool
97. I Like It, Blackout Allstars
98. You’re Makin’ Me High / Let It Flow, Toni Braxton
99. You Must Love Me, Madonna
100. Let It Go, Ray J

As I suspected, that’s 85 strikeouts on a list of 100 songs. Of those I didn’t strike, I was generously indifferent in several cases and only found two I could tentatively underline; even those were a stretch.

I move that 1997 be nominated the worst year in music history.

Update: On second thought, there was plenty of excellent music in 1997. None of it made the charts, though. But I was having a very good music year in my personal history then. I attended my first three Collective Soul concerts that year, for example. The problem wasn’t with the music, it was with the charts. That’s my theory.

Sometimes, Murphy takes a nap.

The new legislation will contain rules that will make it illegal to hack or break into the digital locks often used to prevent the copying of movies and software – although it will remain perfectly legal in Canada to copy a CD for personal use.

“The digital locks themselves can be used to take away rights that users already have,” University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist told CTV News.

The legislation also sets up what is called a notice-and-notice regime to handle complaints of copyright infringement.

Under this system, an Internet service provider will receive a notice from a copyright holder complaining about violations from its provider’s customers. The ISP would then send a notice to that customer.

Hahahaha.

Full disclosure: Yes, I download and share music. Yes, I’ll buy a CD if it’s really really good… but I admit I buy very few these days as compared to what I download.

I’ve long maintained that there’s no legislative solution to a technological problem. Copying technology will always be ten steps ahead of methods aimed at curbing it.

Record companies have tried everything: lobbying for legislation, introducing copy-protection technology, flooding download sites with false versions of popular songs, and even suing teenagers. None of it has made an iota of difference. Downloading is even more popular than ever.

This latest pitiful effort by the Canadian government to pretend to be doing actual work is just a finger in the dam, but it will do nothing concrete to close the floodgates.

Sooner or later, record companies will have to recognize that they were selling water in the desert, but it’s been raining for quite some time. Either they switch to selling umbrellas or they’re going to put themselves out of business… soon.

Today, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that ISP’s don’t have to pay royalties to musicians to compensate them for the lost revenue from people downloading their music for free:

The court ruled that companies that provide access to the worldwide web are “intermediaries” who are not subject to copyright law.

[ . . . ]

“This decision is a victory for Canadians who have come to rely on the Internet as an increasingly important part of their daily lives,” said Jay Kerr-Wilson, the society’s vice-president for legal affairs.

This one, I agree with. Should we fine Canada Post for the costs of mail fraud? Should Bell Canada have to pay for people using the telephone to run scams? All the Supreme Court did today was reaffirm the principle that a technology is neutral, and that it is the responsibility of the people using it to obey the law, not of the ISPs to pay for those who don’t.

Both made contributions to the cultural tapestry of Israel, particularly in the 1960s. Their voices will be missed.

That’s marketing 101. Sometimes you have to rethink your business because of changes in demand, trends, or technological developments.

The major record companies haven’t seem to have caught on yet. Like the British, unwilling to see the pink sky indicating the sun setting on their empire, the record labels are reacting to online file swapping in a reactionary, defensive, scrambling way that’s sure to only alienate their market in hopes of hanging onto the disappearing role of a retail middleman for as long as possible.

So by suing hundreds of fans, the major labels are choking out their last gasp in trying to tell us that in order to have the privilege of listening to music, we must pay them billions of dollars a year to make it available to us.

Is online file-swapping stealing? Sure it is . . . from the artists. But the RIAA, which has launched the lawsuits, represents the largest record labels in the United States. These are the companies who have been ripping off artists for years, and have nice big fat legal departments mainly because they’ve been at the receiving end of so many lawsuits themselves. They convinced the musicians that they were absolutely essential if they wanted to get a record pressed, played, and purchased. And they convinced retailers and, ultimately, consumers, that it was their way or the highway.

Then along came the highway – the information superhighway, to borrow a bad cliché – and suddenly the demand end stopped needing the labels. The record buyers could be record freeloaders, thanks to a click of the mouse. And yeah, it was stealing and all, but it didn’t seem much different from taping a song off the radio, or a movie off TV with a VCR.

The artists, however, are still convinced that they need the labels, because what online file-swapping has yet to do is to set up an alternative business model that will make them any money. So they cling to the labels like life-preservers. Still, such a model will evolve. It’s bound to. Because any model that relies on something artificial like lawsuits to try to put the genie back in the bottle must be on its way out.

The artists are necessary in the business model because they create the music. The fans are necessary because they consume the music. But the labels? If we no longer need them to create and distribute the CDs, then they’ll need to find other uses (they’re still important in terms of artist promotion and building image and hype) or shut up and get out of the game. And don’t let the door hit ya on the way out.

Also on the bill are the Guess Who, AC/DC, Rush, Blue Rodeo, the Tea Party, the Flaming Lips, Montrealers Sass Jordan and Sam Roberts, and . . . Justin Timberlake? (Yeah, seems a bit out of place doesn’t he? Can you picture all the 50+ concert-goers dancing to his brand of pop?)

Anyway, all of these bands for only $21.50 seems like a pretty decent deal, which is probably why they’re flocking from all directions and filling up Toronto’s hotels and restaurants, which have been standing pretty empty since the SARS epidemic.

All good news for Toronto. And a pretty spectacular music event if I do say so myself, even if it did cost the government a fortune and Ticketmaster is going to reap most of the profits. I’m sure it’ll be lots of fun.

But Justin Timberlake???

Well, except for the last track, an anti-war anthem called “What are we Fighting For?” that just makes me want to scream at Ed, hey, you’re fighting for the right to sing a song called “What are we Fighting For?”

Aside from that, though, it’s a top-quality CD. Highly recommended.

The original report claimed the banned songs included Give Peace A Chance by John Lennon, Soldier Boy by The Shirelles (a love song), Revolution by The Beatles and One Tin Soldier by The Original Caste.

“No songs have been banned on 1050 CHUM — none,” Brad Jones, the station’s program director, said yesterday. The station yesterday even played at least two of the purported banned songs, including Give Peace A Chance.

Rob Farina, program director of 104.5 CHUM-FM, said his station also has not banned any war- or peace-themed songs.

Jones said pulse24.com’s story was the result of a breakdown in communication during an interview between a pulse24.com reporter and CHUM-FM music director Barry Stewart. The reporter asked Stewart which war-themed songs were being pulled. Stewart thought the reporter meant pulled off the shelf for broadcast, whereas the reporter meant pulled from the playlist.

I’m certainly glad that the rumours turned out to be false. But the fact that the media was so willing to believe and publish the story in the first place raises an interesting question: where does the line get crossed? Being sensitive to controversy is one thing, but I could never condone all-out censorship, and neither could most people.

But while this report was false, reports that MTV Europe is practicing censorship unfortunately seem to be true:

MTV has banned music videos with war-related titles, lyrics or images, including Paul Hardcastle’s 19 and Outkast’s Bombs over Baghdad, for the duration of the conflict in Iraq.

The leading music channel will not show pop promos that feature “war, soldiers, war planes, bombs, missiles, riots and social unrest, executions and other obviously sensitive material”, according to an internal memo seen by MediaGuardian.co.uk.

[ . . . ]

“MTV, like many other broadcasters, feels content should reflect audience sensitivities at this time of war,” an MTV spokeswoman said.

“Any changes to playlists are only a temporary measure,” she added.

I sincerely hope that this policy is reconsidered. After all, isn’t freedom of expression one of the things we’re fighting for?

I’ve always been a little bit of a closet Bon Jovi fan . . . it’s one of those guilty pleasures, like eating raw chocolate chip cookie dough. I’m one of the only people I know who not only owns, but actually listens to These Days. My copy of Crossroad is almost entirely worn out, and my Keep The Faith CD isn’t far behind.

The concert itself was great – the Goo Goo Dolls played an incredible opening set that was practically worth the ticket price on its own, and Bon Jovi’s music is tailor-made for large arenas. Of course, with such a large repertoire of hits, disappointments were almost a guarantee. Notably absent from last night’s setlist were such hits as Keep The Faith, Bed of Roses, Blaze of Glory, and the song that turned me into a huge fan at age fifteen: Always. Among others. The band played for two hours and squeezing in all their great songs would have taken at least twice that.

No political commentary, though. Just rock n’ roll. Gotta appreciate that.

But then Raine Maida had to interject a comment about how he wishes our prime minister “would get some balls and tell the US to stay the fuck out of Iraq!” The band then proceeded to play a cover tune (Drive, by the Cars – which seems to have no relation whatsoever to Raine’s political commentary). I’m not sure if all the people who cheered at that comment agreed with him or were just cheering because they’d scream at anything he said. Not that it matters.

Of course, he’s entitled to his opinion. And I guess I’ve known for a while that he and his wife (Chantal Kreviazuk, whose music I also love) have been involved in organizations to end the sanctions on Iraq, and other related activities. But I filed that away someplace at the back of my mind, figuring it shouldn’t affect my enjoyment of OLP’s music.

As it well shouldn’t. Except that I was really enjoying tonight’s concert as a form of escapism from everything. And just at a point when I was most into the music, this threw a bucket of wet sand on everything. Suddenly, it was an in-your-face challenge: how to scream and cheer for music sung by someone who just lost all my respect from a political point of view.

This is what’s wrong with celebrity politics, in a nutshell. I can’t stop listening to all music or watching all movies by musicians and actors with whom I disagree politically . . . or else I’d have nothing left to listen to or watch. But it does present a challenge.

What ever happened to the days when fame was based on talent, rather than the other way around? When artists were expected to be able to sing, write music, and play instruments? When image was a consequence, not a cause, of fame? When music had depth?

For those unaware souls, packaged music is a pet peeve of mine. But, combined with another pet peeve (reality television), it’s all that much worse.

I know it sounds strange for me, as a marketing person, to complain about this. But come on, American Idol is nothing but a glorified karaoke contest. We’re already so close to the point where creativity and art stop mattering in music. The “day the music died” doesn’t seem so far off anymore, and it’s a really dismal prospect to think what music will sound like in another ten years.