Rebel Pride And Victory, Unity As One/You Can All Just Kiss Off

I hate the city of Champlin. I hate pretty much every thing about it, from its "trying to be a small town really fucking hard" attitude to its hard assed cops to its love for its Ruby Tuesday and its movie theatre. I always used to joke about how hick-ass Champlin was about 99% white, and now I know I was wrong. It's only 95% white, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. Oh, and to all those who called it "Brooklyn Dark" when I was in high school, we actually are 78% white, which doesn't mean anything. I just wanted to call out the bastards who called it "Brooklyn Dark."

In a happy note, I bought the new Alien Ant Farm. I listened to it twice in a row, which is one time more in a row than last weeks purchase of the Thom Yorke solo album. Thom Yorke does rule, although anything that Radiohead does is usually a difficult listen (except for the first two albums). Alien Ant Farm is incredibly poppy and also does rock substantially, which should make them as big as Journey (or at least Cheap Trick). But, unfortunately, they are not. The Alien Ant Farm cult seems to consist of only my immediate group of friends, their roommates, and a few kids who were on the North Hennepin North Star staff with me in 2003. I just do not get it. There are so many fantastic songs.

There is another band that didn't get the love that they deserve in their time that I am a huge fan of. That band is the Marvelous 3. The Marvelous 3 actually sounded like Cheap Trick, but their lyrics were much more witty and the bassist looked like Keanu Reeves. Radio played the hell out of "Freak Of The Week" off of their first album, and then...nothing. A few local stations, 93X and maybe Zone 105, played "Every Monday (off the first album) and "Sugarbuzz" (off of ReadySexGo). I assume that the lyrics were just too damn glam for the "Mommy I hate daddy/My anger faded and fell away from me" era of Korn and Staind. But then Butch Walker (the M3 lead singer) went solo and still can't get airplay on his solo stuff. Sure, he produces everything under the sun, but dammit, someone should be playing his solo stuff too, cause its good. And don't even get me started on Talib Kweli, Lyrics Born and J5 getting no love...