“Girl! I wanna take you to a gay bar.”

With that immortal opening line, Electric Six both garnered their biggest hit and assured their future failure. You see, there is nothing worse for the longevity of a band than starting a career with a novelty hit — it’s almost a guaranteed ticket to one hit wonderland. Think about it: Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy,” Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back,” Nada Surf’s “Popular” — all songs that were major hits, but were too quirky, funny, or generally off the wall to let the bands break free from their goofball shackles.

And the truth is, most bands that begin with a novelty hit will take a few more stabs at another success and then fade into obscurity. However, in the five years following debut album Fire, Electric Six pulled out four more records — most of which were actually pretty effin awesome. While their first album was mostly dancefloor fun, later work became more genre spanning, and, as a lyricist, singer/principal songwriter Dick Valentine proved he had something of a knack for cultural satire. (more…)

With Halloween quickly approaching, I thought I’d take a look at one of the scariest things on the internet – homemade band merchandise being sold on eBay. A look through the listings for any popular artist will reveal an assortment of extremely unofficial merchandise featuring an array of poor artwork, misspellings, and general bad taste. Let’s take a look at 10 of these gems available for purchase on eBay right now… (more…)

Per·fect song - /pur-fikt sawng/ : 1) A song that you find to be perfect; one in which you would not change a single note, beat or word. 2) A song that you connect to emotionally, or attach to a memory, a special person, or an experience. 3) Songs that speak directly to you or about you.

We here at Blendetta have decided to compile a top 50 list of what can only be described as perfect songs. No two people will have the same reasons as to why they find a song to be perfect, so we made two separate lists. So without further ado, here are the songs and the reasons why they are perfect, to us: (more…)

Most musical artists change somewhat throughout their careers. (Unless, of course, you’re AC/DC.) Names like Madonna and David Bowie usually come to mind when thinking of the music industry’s chameleons, but there are many others who’ve made significant changes, both in look and sound. Read on for a list of 10 current artists who’ve completely transformed themselves for both the better…and the worse. (more…)

Seeing that yesterday Ben Folds released a new album, Way to Normal, made me reminisce a bit about when I first discovered Folds, back when he, Darren Jesse and Robert Sledge made up the alliterative but innacurately-named Ben Folds Five. Back when I was in 10th grade, I recall seeing the video for BFF’s “Battle of Who Could Care Less” on MTV’s late great 120 Minutes show. A little bit Joe Jackson, a little bit Pavement — hell, a little bit Billy Joel -– Ben Folds Five’s piano-driven indie pop was a unique gem back in those days, before bands like Cold War Kids had CDs available in Target.

“Battle of Who Could Care Less” was the first single off Whatever and Ever Amen, an album that would become hugely popular a few months later when “Brick” became a soft rock radio hit. But it was this first single that drew me in and sent me down to the indie record store. Listening to it now, lines like “See, I’ve got your old ID and you’re all dressed up like The Cure,” seem all the more genius.

Ben Folds Five: Battle of Who Could Care Less: