When I heard the venerable Lou Reed was working with Metallica I immediately chuckled.  Not because I thought it was silly.  More for the fact that it made perfect sense that these grizzled veterans probably think taking risks are like taking a pee at this point.(for Lou it may be a little more challenging of a risk)  Lou Reed has made a career out of taking spastic, erratic, disjointed musical turns.  From the ground breaking Velvet Underground through his solo work he has remained unpredictable and undaunted in his mission to not just push but rip up the envelope and tape it back together to form something to his liking.  Not to mention his adventures into the world of chemical and physical abuse which no doubt influenced his creative decisions at times.(see “Metal Machine Music” or “Street Hassle”) 

The Velvet Underground’s “White Light White Heat” could arguably called one of the first experiments that lead to the creation of Heavy Metal with it’s guitars distorted to the most extreme and it’s freight train beats.  Lou’s never been afraid to turn it up.  That’s why the Metallica collaboration makes sense.  In a way, Metallica’s musical path is similar to Lou’s in the sense that they established a signature sound and then blew that formula to bits and hammered it to an arena friendly smooth groove with the “Black Album” and “The Loads”, teetered on self-parody with a symphony orchestra, made the space saving covers album, went through a deconstructionist period with “St. Anger” that also had the painful documentary complete with rehab stint and hovering  psychiatrist.  In other words, they spent a lot of time trying to not be Metallica.

After playing together at the Madison Square Garden Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Show in 2009, Lou’s hunger for heaviness must have been re-ignited.  Lou says “Lulu” was inspired by German writer Fran Wedekind’s plays “Pandora’s Box” and “Earth Spirit” which are about a dancer dealing with abusive relationships.  I know, HI-larious and Creepy!  He originally wanted to take these plays and make a new theatrical production but thought the Tallica’ boys could take it to a new level.  The album “Lulu” will be out on November 1st.  Check out a clip for ”The View” below.  Lou does his half venomous sing/talking and then makes way for James Hetfield to let loose on what might be a chorus.  Apparently the tracks on the album range from 8 to 19 minutes long. I also posted a video of Metallica from the recent Yankee Stadium Big 4 show. (Kirk and Robert give a tour of Lars’  drum space which is pretty funny) and there is a sweet version of all the bands doing Motorhead’s “Overkill”.

On a side note, it also makes sense for Lou to work with Metallica because he looks like a Pushead drawing come to life.  Which makes it extra creepy.

The PJ 20 Soundtrack comes out today(9/20/11).  I know I’ve been loading up the Blog Colon with lots o’ Pearl Jam but I’m very excited about this project.  I’m a fanboy and a Ten Club Member and have been following the band since day 1… so suck it.  Director Cameron Crowe was given a couple thousand hours of archival footage to work with for the film.  If you’re an AAF Army Member you can turn in points for passes to see a screening at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge this Friday here.  The soundtrack is a double with one disc of live stuff from the past two decades and the other full of demos and rarities including a couple of rough Temple Of The Dog demos.  Get the full track list here.  Below is another clip from the film from the 1998 Monkey Wrench Radio Sessions:

Huzzah!

Let me preface by saying I believe The Westboro Baptist Church is a European Art Performance Group who thinks they’re holding up a fun house mirror to America to show us how they think the rest of the world views us.  This is the greatest performance art project since Andy Kauffman wrestling women and Manny Ramirez parodying professional Baseball Players.

Now the Foo Fighters can be counted as contributors to this project by countering the WBC protest at their show in Kansas City with a performance of the poignantly inclusive country dittie called “Keep It Clean(Hot Buns)”.  See the hilarious video below.

The WBC was protesting the Foos because they are injecting babies with heroin and then eating them to power their gigantic Satanic rock shows….. Actually, the real reason is the Foos made a video to promote their latest tour that could be perceived as a homo-erotic trucker fantasy.  You can also view that video below. 

All I have to say is, and don’t get me wrong because I think the guy is a legend, thank baby Jeebus that Pat Smear didn’t get naked.  But that’s beside the point.  The WBC decided that the Foo Fighters were promoting the #1 thing they think is bringing down the Kingdom Of The Lord.  Any suffering in this country is caused by our acceptance of homosexuality according to their shepherds.  So now the Foos are in God’s cross-hairs.  Which I’m sure is a huge relief to their publicists who are probably thanking the WBC for the free press.  Or…maybe the WBC is a Marketing Firm!  That has to be it.  They promise they’re clients excellent coverage by international news organizations by posing as psychotic bigoted Jesus freaks.  I hope that’s true.

Every day up until the release of the documentary “Pearl Jam 20″ the band is releasing a nugget on their website.  Here’s a sweet film of the band doing an acoustic version of “Thumbing My Way” from a 2002 session in Seattle. Director Cameron Crowe had access to over 1200 hours of archival PJ footage to work with. The PJ20 Documentary comes out on September 20th.

Musical peregrinator Les Claypool comes back to the first ship that carried him into the stratosphere today newly upholstered with “Green Naugahyde”.  Primus’ first studio album filled with new nuggets since 1999′s Agitpop.  Apparently the return of drummer Jay Lane inspired some new ideas on the road that the band has incubated into this new release.  Check out the track ”Tragedy’s A Comin” below. Primus will also be freaking out at the Orpheum Theater in Boston on September 23rd.  Always use your protective eyewear and gloves.

Primus – Tragedy’s a’Comin’ by ATO Records

Chris Cornell is a busy man.  Not only is he working on Soundgarden's first album in 15 years but apparently has been doing a little solo work.  "The Keeper" will be included on the "Machine Gun Preacher" soundtrack which will be out on September 20.  Check out the song and the movie trailer below.

Rolling Stone is streaming the entire soundtrack to the Pearl Jam 20 documentary here.  It’s a great collection of rare live, b-sides and demos.  As a PJ freak and Ten Club Member I was very excited to crank this up when I got into work.  Especially the Temple Of The Dog Demos.  The Documentary hits the Brattle Theater in Cambridge on September 20th(the soundtrack is out the same day) and you can see it again on the PBS series “American Masters” on 10/21 at 9pm.  Check out the trailer below:

Watch the full episode. See more American Masters.

Pearl Jam debuted a new song called “Ole!” on Jimmy Fallon last night.  Eddie Vedder also helped Jimmy with his BP protest song “Balls In Your Mouth”.   You can get a free download of the studio version at Pearl Jam’s Website.

What exactly is the thought process here?  Are you so fucking important that you can commandeer two spaces for your shitty ride?  We’ve all seen this before.  Usually the toolbag has a new Lexus or something he doesn’t want dinged up so he takes up two spaces.  But these fucks don’t even have that excuse.  Did the “No Child Left Behind” program find it’s way into the Registry too?  You have to be a real arrogant ballwasher to just pull in and not even friggin’ care.  The most fucked up part about this is when I came out after about 90 minutes the Honda was in the same space, parked the same exact way.  Then I thought there might be something in the way.  But there was nothing!  The reserved for shitheads sign must have fallen down.

 Or maybe I’m being too harsh. Maybe this is a new program by the state to give blind people the chance to drive?  It wouldn’t fucking surprise me.  We let child rapists back into society.  I mean really!  Were these people transporting fresh organs for transplant?  Were they being chased by Ninjas?  I always consider vandalism when I see this but that wouldn’t prove anything.  They would be too stupid to make the connection.  And leaving a note just doesn’t get across the rage.  It would probably end up on some Tumblr blog titled, “Bitchy Messages From People Giving Me A Hard Time About My Organ Transplant Delivery Job”.