October 14, 2009

Best album: The Big Pink - "A Brief History of Love"

At first glance, one might want to compare the English electro-rock duo, the Big Pink, to the '80s one-hit wonder. But be warned, there is "Tainted Love" and then there's the Big Pink's black leather, grainy photographed version of love. For their video, "Velvet," we get a more shots of scantly-clad women tied up than a Boy Scout handbook. For the video, "Dominos," we see ice sculptures of naked women explode into snowflakes around the band. Sounds edgy? Sounds uninviting? Well, here's the trick -- "Dominos" has one of the catchiest, most confident choruses of the year. And the rest of their debut album, "A Brief History of Love," lives up to the swagger and cockiness of its singles.

Now that Trent Reznor has put Nine Inch Nails on hiatus, the Big Pink's debut record should fill the void for catchy hard-rock laced with a bracing shot of electronica. From the hypnotic title track to the radio-ready hooks of "Tonight," the Big Pink show that while their image might go for the darkest corners of love, their music shoots for the stadiums. It's one thing to name a song, "At War With the Sun." It's an something else entirely to sound like they could put up a good fight if they needed.

-Andrew Mitchell

Best Viral Video: “Bacon is good for me!”

A quick rundown: This Wife Swap clip features Curtis watching in pain as his pristine new “mom” clears the kitchen of junk food, which is basically the entire contents of the refrigerator. The last straw? “I gotta tell you something, bacon is good for me.” After his tirade, Curtis runs away from home. “She was gonna try and stop me but she can’t run in those little high heels,” Curtis said.

Curtis has a ridiculous Southern twang that makes his meltdown so comical—aside from the fact that losing bacon privileges for a week is probably the most pivotal moment of his life up to this point.

The first time I saw this I was in tears from laughing so hard—my best friend peed her pants, but that’s customary for any event involving bacon and loud, chubby, Southern-raised children.

-Valeree Dunn

Worst Song: “Meet Me Halfway” The Black Eyed Peas

Okay, it’s not on my worst list yet but will be in about a week. This song has imminent excessive airplay written all over it—like every other Black Eyed Peas song ever made. Why won’t they just go away? If one more “I GOTTA FEELING” ringtone interrupts the computer lab again, a full-scale mutiny could be quickly approaching the UIS campus.

By any other artist “Meet Me Halfway” could be lovable, 1970s Soul Train spirit hands chorus and all. Unfortunately, and not to be cliché, Fergie really just ruins it for me. What happened to the days of mainstream lyrical genius—“My Humps” anyone? Eh… maybe not.

-Valeree Dunn