Billy Corgan Sings Some AC/DC on the Street

Okay. So in Smashing Pumpkins’ early days, I really liked them. After awhile, they took a slightly different direction that I didn’t really find all that interesting and I stopped paying attention. However, even with all Billy Corgan’s faults, I still have to respect the dude and his own artistic endeavors – no matter if I find them appealing or not.

The cool thing about this is you can tell Corgan just improved this on the streets of Italy by chance. While one could never recreate the awesomeness of AC/DC singing their own songs, you have to give the guy props for doing it on a whim. I’m willing to bet he is a subscriber to XM Radio as they currently have a promotional all AC/DC station. Sirius might have as well, but I can’t confirm that at this time.

XM Radio’s Promotional Channels

Recently I posted about how I had just came across a nice little channel on XM Radio – channel 51. Soon after I had started checking that channel, they changed it to “30 Days of Coldplay” and I almost puked. I waited out the 30 days and sure enough they changed it.

Now it’s “Mandatory Metallica” which I can stand a whole hell of a lot more than Coldplay. The plus side of things is that you get to hear some of Metallica’s old / good stuff (1983 to 1988) – the stuff that rocked and is worth a shit. The rest of the crap (1991 – 2008) is just that, crap. I haven’t liked Metallica since their album “…And Justice for All” and from what I can tell, never will again. They sold out big time. There’s a fucking love ballad on their new album for shit-sakes. Their new stuff is so predictable, so cliche, and so untalented that you just can’t help but to cringe.

Anyways, the point is that I just found another new channel that didn’t used to be dedicated to any one band in particular. Now on channel 53 they have “AC/DC Radio” which as you can guess plays nothing but AC/DC. I’m sure this will change at some point, but the cool thing is that you can now listen to shitloads of AC/DC, good or bad.

Since XM Radio seems to dedicate channels to help promote some bands’ upcoming new releases, it has me wondering what in the blue fuck AC/DC could be coming out with besides a compilation album? So I decided to do a quick search and sure enough, AC/DC is releasing an album in this year 2008 called “Black Ice” due in mid October.

Son of a bitch. While I seem to be liking the dedication on certain channels to a band, I dislike that it’s for such a long period of time – which only means you get hear the songs everyone hates just that much more. I also don’t like that XM Radio so far only seems to do this for big bands with upcoming releases – which is basically just a marketing gimmick to help promote the bands’ new album.

At any rate, there it is. A channel dedicated to something new that you might sometimes enjoy and might not otherwise have known about.

30 Days of Coldplay – Dear God

So recently I had been listening to this XM station – XM Music Lab on channel 51. It was pretty good, played a good mix of music including Pink Floyd and Primus, and not just the “popular” tracks either. I thought I found my new station! Then I realized that the channel I was listening to online was not on the device in my car. Figures.

I had no other choice but to accept the fact that I could only listen to that station over the Internet – fine. Fast forward a few days and I click on channel 51 and I hear Coldplay. I let it play figuring the next song will be better. Nope, it was another Coldplay song. So open up my XM channel list and look to see what’s on. Sure enough, they took away the Music Lab and replaced it with 30 Days of Coldplay! Damnit! Thanks XM, you asstards.

Then I thought to myself, does Coldplay even have that many songs that it could possibly warrant taking over a station for entire month? As it turns out, no – they don’t. I decided to give it a try, maybe there are some Coldplay songs that haven’t been used in an iPod commercial or something that I might like, after all there are a few Coldplay songs I don’t mind. In 1.5 hours I heard that shit-awful song “Viva la Vida” 2 times! I had heard them talking about how Chris Martin had helped Jay-Z with a song. That sounded interesting, but they never played it.

I want my Music Lab back. Coldplay may be good, but they’re not that good.

XM Radio: Channels Online VS Channels In Your Car or Home

XM RadioI love my XM Satellite Radio, always have. I listen to it in my car, I listen to it online at work and at home. The days of commercial radio have long been gone for me. But there are a few oddities that I just don’t understand.

For instance, the channel options online are slightly different than the channel options on the device in your car or home. I actually first noticed it a year or two ago when me and wife were trying to listen to a hockey game. The channel couldn’t be found.

I noticed it again a few days ago. I had been listening to a station online and decided to tune it in on my drive home. The station couldn’t be found. They just straight up skipped the station and instead presented the next station after.

What’s up with that? You would think that this is satellite radio, all channels would be fed through the satellite. I’m guessing not all of them are though. Maybe some are streamed only online. If all stations were fed through satellites, why would you only pick up a station online and not in your vehicle or home? It just doesn’t make sense.

Another kind of odd, but totally explainable thing is that when you listen online, if there is no activity for 2 hours, the system automatically cuts your connection and you have to click the station again to restart the music playing. That only happens online. I totally understand the reasoning for it, but at the same time – it kind of gets annoying.

Still, I couldn’t imagine not having XM Radio. It’s obviously better than conventional radio, and personally I believe it is better than Sirius Satellite Radio as well. But that’s just my opinion.