By the way,

I was right about The Hives. They do rock. The White Stripes do not. Dissent from this viewpoint will not be tolerated.


While trying to avoid the same commercials over and over during the “No Boundaries” marathon yesterday, I kept flipping over to VH1 Classic for snippets of old videos from the ’70s and ’80s that alternatively gave me a warm fuzzy (I mean, c’mon, A Flock of Seagulls’ “Space Age Love Song” did not suck) or filled me with revulsion (any song even vaguely associated with the movie “Footloose,” for example). Sometimes they cheated, showing a Meat Loaf Storytellers clip from a couple of years ago but plunking it down in the ’70s show. Yes, he was singing a song from the ’70s, I know. But really. Some elements of my musical purism remain, even though it’s been years since I had the luxury of fading down the stereo instead of just turning it off.


At some point over the weekend, I also stumbled upon something that was hypnotic and terrifying. It was called “Brian Wilson Presents Pet Sounds Live,” and featured odd, grainy black-and-white and primitive color footage of beach and surfing scenes overlain with what was apparently the Brian Wilson of today trying to sing his songs of 36 years ago. I know he’s had a hard life, but there was really no excuse. I was afraid the kids would hear his geriatric version of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and go running from the room. Judging by some of the reviews of this I just Googled up, others did not feel as I did. Those others would be wrong.