Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

After roe, women are no longer free.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Infrastructure week. at last.

Bark louder, little dog.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Not all heroes wear capes.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

We still have time to mess this up!

You are here: Home / Sports / Superbowl Second Half Open Thread

Reader Interactions

314Comments

  7. 7.

    Alison

    So there will probably be fire-setting riots tonight in SF, but these will be angry ones instead of happy ones like after the World Series. I’m not sure what the difference is, though. More fistfights? Less dancing around the fires?

  12. 12.

    Suzanne

    I’m watching about half an hour behind, so I’m watching halftime, but I have to say that that desk the commentators are sitting at it about the ugliest thing EVAR.

  21. 21.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    Really? Power failure? Conspiracy to sell more beer and commercials? What happens now? I suppose there’s no rule like baseball when the score counts if you make it through the 5th inning?

  34. 34.

    PsiFighter37

    Not really sure I envision SF coming back.

    Does anyone think Alex Smith gets a look to save the game?

  36. 36.

    PeakVT

    Power for Ravens locker room is on, but not for the Niners (according to the radio broadcast I’m listening to). Nice.

  39. 39.

    Suffern ACE

    Can we talk about Dan Marino’s love child? I’d love the commentators to say “now that we’ve run out of things to say about a blackout, let’s talk about what happened to Dan this week.”

  40. 40.

    Punchy

    Someone’s so fired tomorrow. BTW, this EXACT thing just happed yesterday in the Man U soccer game. Odd that it happens 2 days ina row in such major events….

  41. 41.

    Sayne

    Pfff, what an embarrassment.

    At 9:00 I’m tuning to Downton Abbey. Much more entertaining than this.

  45. 45.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    God this House of Cards, plays the cynicism card. Oh btw I have a friend who lives in Gaffney S.C, I need to ask him if that is true what they call the peachoid?

  47. 47.

    drew42

    Considering that I don’t like either team, this power outage kind of makes me smile. It proves that even God thinks this year’s Superbowl sucks.

    I am a small man. A small, petty man.

  49. 49.

    Pete Mack

    Worst. Superbowl. Ever.
    Fans are flicking lighters and singing Freebird for second half-time show.

  51. 51.

    The Dangerman

    I wonder if Vegas had a prop bet on lights going out; some lucky betters just made a mint.

  54. 54.

    dance around in your bones

    Wow, this is so lame-o for the Super-bo.

    I’m saving Downton Abbey for 9pm left coast time. Meanwhile the TV is on mute. It’s amazing that these TV commentators can still get so worked up and excited-sounding over a power outage, but dang if they don’t give it their all.

  58. 58.

    JPL

    After the run back, I changed the channel and now I just tuned in again and nothing happened… What did Cole do now?

  59. 59.

    kindness

    Shades of the Giants World Series game where it was suspended because of the earthquake. Ravens are kicking the Niners asses.

  62. 62.

    rda909

    Worst. Network. Broadcast. EVAH! CBS should be banned from ever, ever broadcasting a major sporting event again. Forever. Jim Nantz is famous for golf announcing. WTF is he doing on a Super Bowl?!? Phil Sims is an absolute joke as an announcer. Horrible, horrible. Both of those guys are big Republican promoters too, so I guess it all makes sense…FAIL!

  63. 63.

    catclub

    Since it is open: Why so little coverage of Israel bombing bits of Syria? It is like a conspiracy of silence. Did it even come up friday at the Hagel beating?

  68. 68.

    catclub

    And I heard some crazy person ( at the barber shop, i look great, thankyou_) say that Israel had retaliated.

    Pre-emptive retaliation is apparently the best kind.
    Worked against the Liberty, too.

  69. 69.

    Heliopause

    What if Anonymous or China did this? What if Beyonce is a terrorist? What if some alien collective is warning us to give up our warlike ways? What if there is a quantum universe where Phil Simms isn’t an idiot?

  71. 71.

    PaulW

    Game back on.

    I hope someone gets all the #SuperBowlBlackout tweets organized into a nice website. Some of them were classics.

  75. 75.

    gbear

    I heard that Obama released a PSA in New Orleans just before the power outage stating that people shouldn’t stick forks into electrical outlets.

  79. 79.

    scav

    Come to think of it, we had that outage here beforehand. A FYWP Bowl ! Cower before us, or, we is testing ground.

  84. 84.

    Schlemizel

    @efgoldman:

    Thats funny because I once called Sen. Klobuchar’s office to complain about her vote on an issue & the aid that answered the phone got the whole story wrong. I mentioned that there was a large story in both the DC Post and the Mpls StarTribune had the details.

    His response? “You don’t expect us to read all the papers do you?”

  87. 87.

    PaulW

    Niners get a TD. Making this a game now 28 – 13… but Ravens just gotta score on this drive to keep them in a comfortable lead.

    Gotta say that Ravens safety didn’t play harder to tackle Crabtree.

  90. 90.

    gian

    @efgoldman: if tebow can catch he might make an excellent tight end. Thing is he can’t get past his own ego long enough to admit it.
    Other thing is I can’t help but think that if he wasn’t a white evangelical poster boy that he would’ve been forced to face his inability to throw long ago

  92. 92.

    Jeremy

    Hey guys louisiana is one of the poorest and corrupt states in the union. So I was not surprised when the power went out.

  99. 99.

    PaulW

    Time for the conspiracy nuts to go, well, nuts. 14 unanswered points after the blackout, 49ers are back in it 28 – 20(? extra point yet)

  101. 101.

    Morbo

    Maybe it wasn’t fried squirrel after all; maybe Alex Smith threw himself over a transformer instead.

  113. 113.

    S. Holland

    Loved the Clydsdale ad! Weird, unbelievable game……power outage very strange…go niners!

  116. 116.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    @PaulW: Well I heard from a friend of a friend whose brother’s first cousin’s sister in law’s nephew is a Secret Service agent, says that President Obama has a platinum coin bet on the Niners, and had Seal Team Five Black Ops chaos team working in New Orleans.

  119. 119.

    TaMara (BHF)

    I finally looked up from what I was doing to see the game. My, my, the new flat screen I got for Christmas really shows off those packages. I might have to start liking football.

  124. 124.

    dance around in your bones

    @TaMara (BHF): And the butts? What about the butts?

    I love guys butts, especially in spandex. Well, jeans too. eta: I’m an xx, not that it matters.

  128. 128.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Sure made the game more interesting, but I’m already dreading all the stupid memes that will clog up the tubes.

  129. 129.

    Full Metal Wingnut

    Man the kick was completed. Why do over kick? I get that you have to deter future illegal conduct, fine. But an extra five yards? You’re already getting a second kick!

  133. 133.

    dance around in your bones

    @TaMara (BHF):

    Yeah, I don’t usually tell guys that’s my main reason for watching football. It’s my little secret. Go…whomever!

    HD rocks in that respect.

  138. 138.

    LanceThruster

    Sure thing praying field goal! How is that not cheating using performance enhancing dieties?

  140. 140.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    @PsiFighter37: I would love to see an OT SB, but in almost fifty games, not a one. WTH?

    On the other hand, FG for the Ravens, so OT still a possibility.

    [Edit – oops, eight point game, not seven. Ah, well…]

  144. 144.

    Cassidy

    And God decided that we needed someone to collect lots of money in subsidies, complain about the size of gov’t and vote for people who would block bills in congress that provided for the aforementioned subsides, so God made a farmer.

  145. 145.

    dance around in your bones

    Ok, what’s with the “ode to the farmer” on a truck commercial?? I bet 90% of the folks who drive a Dodge Ram pickup have nothing to do with a farm.

    never mind, I know the answer. Sigh.

  147. 147.

    The Sailor

    @dance around in your bones:

    “Yeah, I don’t usually tell guys that’s my main reason for watching football. It’s my little secret. Go…whomever!”

    I had a GF who knew the name of every center in the NFL and could identify them without seeing their jerseys. And she didn’t even like football.

    I love guys butts

    and you cannot lie.

  149. 149.

    Schlemizel

    @Suzanne:

    Its actually their jock strap – not sure if that makes it hotter or notter. If it helps imagine that there is no butt panel between those 2 straps you can see – because there isn’t, its just 2 straps. ;)

  156. 156.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    I loved how that truck ad was such a moving tribute to the migrant farm worker—oh, wait.

  159. 159.

    PsiFighter37

    They should have a play drawn up on. Suicide blitz like that.

    Nevertheless, that was a ridiculous display of speed. Wow

  161. 161.

    Donut

    Jeebus, that Kaepernick kid’s legs are so long, he covers tons of ground before the defense can even start to react. It’s nuts.

    I had a three hour layover at the Baltimore airport today, the mood was downright festive when I got on my plane to NY in the first quarter.

    I don’t think they are quite so jovial there now.

  163. 163.

    dance around in your bones

    @The Sailor: So, she recognized their buttprints? That’s an awesome talent!

    I usually get so distracted by the butts that I forget to read the jerseys. Don’t judge me harshly.

  166. 166.

    RSA

    So God made a farmer… You’d think He wouldn’t make the farmer miserable by killing off his livestock and such afterwards, but who am I to judge?

  168. 168.

    The Dangerman

    @efgoldman:

    Should have been two fifteen-yarders and an ejection.

    Refs have cleaned up the game nicely; all that early testosterone/chippiness has disappeared.

  169. 169.

    dance around in your bones

    @LanceThruster: Uh, really? Is there proof of that?

    Maybe I could send her a buttprint and see. (Jeez, I hope she’s still alive so I don’t seem like an insensitive jerk.)

  174. 174.

    Badmoodman

    NEVER go for the 2-pt conversion until you have to. Nev.Er.
    If Balt scores a TD the 49ers will be down two scores instead of one.

  175. 175.

    cckids

    OK, the Tide ad with the Montana stain made me laff. And I agree with the hate for the farmer ad. I grew up in Nebraska, I’ve known lots of farmers. Mostly, fuck’em

  177. 177.

    The Dangerman

    Well, Akers/Norwood shanked one, but the mulligan might be the game (since Baltimore’s D looks depleted).

  178. 178.

    PsiFighter37

    Does SF score a touchdown for a win?

    Either way, whoever bets on the Ravens covered the spread.

  181. 181.

    dance around in your bones

    @LanceThruster: Uh, I’ll pass (no Xerox machine handy), but thanks anyway :)

    I see the Rolling Stones have sold out once again for a freaking commercial.

  183. 183.

    Full Metal Wingnut

    @efgoldman: Eh I know that. Suck my fucking cock. I just think they’re overly punitive sometimes. There should be deterrence, but not a windfall for the other side.

  188. 188.

    gian

    @efgoldman: after the first half of this game if i was a coach at next year’s game id tell the players they won’t get ejected for playing dirty. I have no idea which team was dirtier overall. However shoving a ref is just not OK

  189. 189.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    Ugh, I hate being a Baltimore fan. Ever since the 7th game of the 1979 World Series, I expect them to lose. Even when they were up tonight 28 to 6.

  199. 199.

    dance around in your bones

    @efgoldman:

    You may be right, but (see here) I’d always heard Mick Jagger was a rather savvy businessman.

    I still remember being startled when Start Me Up was used in a commercial (not that I thought it was a great song or whatever).

    The weirdest was Janis Joplin’s “Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz” – that really shocked me, and I figured she was spinning in her grave to see it used AS a Mercedes Benz commercial.

  201. 201.

    Spaghetti Lee

    I actually liked the farmer commercial. I thought it was well-made. I’ve liked the deal with devil and the voodoo guy commercials too-good characters. But some real cringeworthy ones this year too.

  207. 207.

    WaterGirl

    Football people: i am trying to record elementary (to theoretically start at 9 central time after the Super Bowl). I extended it an extra hour (thru 11pm central) Will the post game stuff be over by ten central?

    Edit: I guess that’s in 15 minutes, so probably not. How about in 45 minutes?

  210. 210.

    Spaghetti Lee

    I think that safety means the Niners cover. I mean it did make sense for the Ravens, but as if the conspiracy nuts didn’t already have enough to talk about.

  211. 211.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    Punter in the end zone reminded me of the football game in the movie M*A*S*H. Comical, but still, damn effective.

  215. 215.

    James E. Powell

    Well that was kind of a sad way to end the game. I’d have preferred a SF score followed by a desperate drive by the Ravens. Sort of like the first Patriots-Giants Super Bowl.

    But, have to give it up for the Ravens. They beat ’em on that last drive when they kept them from scoring.

  217. 217.

    Donut

    @efgoldman:

    I guarantee you that Jagger/Richards control their publishing. The Beatles’ situation was self-inflicted. Lennon/McCartney sold their rights to a publisher, in like ’63, probably at the time they thought they should take the dough while the getting was good. They both kept a significant percenage of the rights, but not enough to control what happened down the road. Anyway, the publisher eventually sold the company and therefore the Beatles lost majority control of the publishing.

    Lennon’s estate and McCartney both still receive royalties as songwriters. All Beatle members and/or estates also get mechanicals on actual units sold. That alone is worth truckloads of cash.

    I don’t understand how it is perceived as “selling out” when the music has always been for sale in so many different ways.

  218. 218.

    The Dangerman

    Oopsie; first F-bomb from Flacco.

    ETA: It may have been “I’m fucking going to Disneyland”.

  224. 224.

    James E. Powell

    @Donut:

    I don’t understand how it is perceived as “selling out” when the music has always been for sale in so many different ways.

    It’s a residual of the 60s, when the movement and the music were one.

  226. 226.

    LanceThruster

    I remember the LA Rams of old being exciting win or lose, but I also liked the George Allen maxim of telling his team to play so decisively that bad calls cannot take you out of the game.

    Easier said than done.

  227. 227.

    The Dangerman

    BTW, for those experiencing Ray Lewis hate, I went back and read the trial transcripts. It was fairly clear he was guilty of obstruction of justice (as charged), not murder.

  228. 228.

    FridayNext

    Someone in this space 2 weeks ago said the 49ers would crush The Ravens. How’s that prediction working out for you?

  229. 229.

    lol chikinburd

    @gbear: For this Packer fan, that exact thing is what I’m happiest about. I should further add that BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.

  230. 230.

    max

    I woulda thought SF would’ve called fair catch and either gone for the field goal (wildly unlikely) or give the back to the offense for a Hail Mary. Hoping for a runback never works.

    Oh, well. WOOO! I figured the Ravens were DOOMED after Cole picked them.

    max
    [‘Phew.’]

  231. 231.

    Nom de Plume

    Congratulations, Cole, the Steelers are still the only team with 6 rings. And they needed help from the refs both times.

  235. 235.

    Eric

    Dangerman,

    There is also the fact that a 37 year old just came back in 10 weeks from an injury that usually takes 6 months, it was already suspect and then his name is tied to a con man that sells PEDs, but no one wants to talk about that…

  237. 237.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    Can Obama just drone bomb the Go Daddy HQ, already? I promise not to get all firebaggy butthurt about it. Promise!!

  238. 238.

    dance around in your bones

    @dance around in your bones: This kinda redunkolous:

    The Sun, a national tabloid, reported that lead singer Mick Jagger set a price of $12 million.

    “When Microsoft approached Mick, he quoted a ludicrous amount of money thinking they would turn him down,” an unidentified Stones source was quoted as telling the newspaper. “To his surprise they agreed almost immediately.”

    Have no idea if that 12 mil was actually paid.

    eta: oops, that was a reply to Lance Thruster. I blame the vodka/orange juice. Or the Superbowl. Or Obama, what the hell.

  240. 240.

    The Dangerman

    @Eric:

    There is also the fact that a 37 year old just came back in 10 weeks from an injury that usually takes 6 months…

    If there’s proof, let it come out; right now, it’s all supposition and smoke, not much fire.

  242. 242.

    patrick II

    @Donut:

    Early in his career, Michael Jackson asked Paul McCartney for some investment advice. McCartney told him to invest in something he knew. When the early Beatle songs came up for sale Jackson outbid McCartney for them and I don’t think McCartney ever forgave him.

  244. 244.

    Donut

    @James E. Powell:

    Which is a bunch of bull – fucking – shit. Music is a business and the companies in that business do what companies do – try to make as much money as they possibly can.

    I used to make a living playing in a rock band. Touring, recording. Everything is for sale in the music biz, always has been, always will be. Selling physicl product is not quite the money-making juggernaut it used to be, but it’s still pretty lucrative for a certain number of people.

    Jagger/Richards never showed up to a gig just for the fuck of it. Nobody does. Even if you’re only making gas money to get to the next town, with just enough left over to hit up the closest Taco Bell, which is how most of my mostly less-than-illustrious career went, you still got to get paid something.

  245. 245.

    Narcissus

    Little did we know that when Dr. King talked of “reaching the Mountaintop”, he meant the Superdome

  246. 246.

    Nom de Plume

    @MikeBoyScout: Eh, the Niners still have 5 trophies of their own to visit. They’ll get by. I was actually trying to cheer up Cole, because I know Stillers fans hate the Ravens more than life itself.

  248. 248.

    Donut

    @Donut:

    Also, too: many of your favorite bands and musicians are incorporated, or at least organized into LLCs. Very few of them file their taxes as Sole Proprietors. That alone tells you that musicians seek the same protections and rights that any other corporation or partnership seeks, in any other business space. Just sayin.

  251. 251.

    Raven

    I won $25 in my own pool and people loved the tamales. Half the crowd watched Downton Abby in the other living room and were shocked when they turned it back on.

  252. 252.

    rda909

    Loud and proud Republican Jim Harbaugh lost the Super Bowl for San Francisco. What a freaking douche. You have 4 tries within the 10 yard line and never try one, one misdirection with blocking scheme for Kapper to run it in. Colin is truly unstoppable (ask the Packers) when given enough space. Jim Harbaugh doesn’t give him one, single chance to run it in on his athleticism. Typical Republican…FAIL!

  254. 254.

    James E. Powell

    @The Dangerman:

    BTW, for those experiencing Ray Lewis hate, I went back and read the trial transcripts. It was fairly clear he was guilty of obstruction of justice (as charged), not murder.

    Thank you. I’ve been making that point for a number of years, but I never get anywhere with it. The prosecutors charged him to force him to cooperate.

    Also too, as I understand what happened, it was a bar fight. Hard to say who started it.

  259. 259.

    The Dangerman

    @James E. Powell:

    Hard to say who started it.

    Not really; per the evidence, one of the Dudes that eventually dies attacked one of the Lewis party with a bottle (and another of the party of those that died was packing as there was a shot at the limo as it was going away).

    Not saying it justifies the killings, but the evidence was fairly clear that the aggressors were the ones that eventually had two of their own killed.

  262. 262.

    Closeted epistemic (formerly Lojasmo)

    That ended up pretty exciting. I thought the niners would pull it off untill the last couple minutes. Oh well.

  264. 264.

    dance around in your bones

    Will no one rid us of this almost 300 comment thread? Surely there must be a Front Pager awake and alive so we can get through the night?

    Ok, I sound pathetic. But sometimes I can’t sleep and one thing I can usually rely on is middle of the night BJ threads to read.

  265. 265.

    Donut

    @MikeJ:

    Ha.

    Fugazi is always held up (often by ignorant fans) as this awesome standard that bands should be held to, for some stupid purity bullshit reasons. They are a unique band, in every way. Literally, they are the one in a million that could do what they do, how they do it. Good for them, but their way is unworkable for most musicians, IMO.

  266. 266.

    Thlayli

    The Niners tied the SB record for highest point total in a loss, set by the 1978 Cowboys who lost 35-31 to somebody or other.

    The Niners and Giants are a combined 0-2 against the Ravens and 9-0 against everyone else.

  267. 267.

    arguingwithsignposts

    You know what everyone who’s not a football nut is going to remember, that damned Paul Harvey/Dodge Ram commercial. It’s already all over my FB.

  269. 269.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @dance around in your bones:

    I see the Rolling Stones have sold out once again for a freaking commercial.

    I’ve knocked around in fine art for years. Quite often an artist is branded as a sellout when he or she starts making decent money for their work.

  272. 272.

    James E. Powell

    @The Dangerman:

    Yeah, I read that, too, but chose not to mention it because I’ve been in this argument too many times. By “started it” I did not mean who struck the first blow that anyone recalls. It seems like something going on inside moved outside. So I can’t say for sure what was going on or where the blame lies.

    And another thing. I am not a lawyer in Georgia and I have never read their statutes, but a bar fight is usually manslaughter, not murder. What’s up with that?

  273. 273.

    James E. Powell

    @rda909:

    Totally agree. All four play calls were strange. Why rollout? The end zone is small enough without cutting it in half. And on fourth down you aren’t ready for the all out blitz? Whether it was recklessness or hubris, the Football Gods were not amused.

  275. 275.

    dance around in your bones

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:

    I get your point, but I have been under the impression that The Rolling Stones have made some beaucoup bucks over the years with their music. I mean, it’s not like they are some obscure garage band from Nowheresville.

    Not that I begrudge them making the mucho dinero – it’s just a bit jarring to me to see music from my youth sold to the highest commercial bidder.

    It meant something back in the day and now it’s a commercial? Maybe it’s just me.

  276. 276.

    The Dangerman

    @James E. Powell:

    …but a bar fight is usually manslaughter, not murder.

    Your pushing the limits of my knowledge here, but the not-Lewis Party was never in the bar. There was an altercation outside the bar (that was broken up) and the Lewis Party was entering the Limousine when they were jumped. It was the second altercation where things went to shit.

  278. 278.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    @Cermet: I’m not even really mad about the Niners loss. A little disappointed, sure, but they’re probably third on the list for me on the sports team list.

  279. 279.

    Jay C

    Yo! Late to the chat, but I was busy: watching a football game, I think…
    SB XLVII was definitely one of the lesser-interesting ones of late: two mediocre games in one (as has been noted) – says something when a half-hour power outage is the most interesting thing about the game: Beyonce was OK as the halftime gig: nowhere near as good as Madonna last year, though IMHO: few decent commercials (Zombie Paul Smarmy Harvey? Oh, puh-leeeze!!) Overall, a C- at best.

    One good thing: we had some friends come over, so we got a (quite small) Super Bowl party this year after all: One PITA: CBS didn’t start “Elementary” til 11:18 ET, so I had to wait up and manually record and re-set the bastard: better than relying on TiVo for everything, I guess.

  280. 280.

    James Hare

    @dance around in your bones:
    Try listening to popular music today — it’s pretty much immediately in a commercial. At least the Stones selling their music for commercials doesn’t involve touring long past when they should have stopped.

  282. 282.

    dance around in your bones

    @James Hare:

    At least the Stones selling their music for commercials doesn’t involve touring long past when they should have stopped.

    Heh heh, good one.

  283. 283.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @dance around in your bones:

    My generation has figured out a way to avoid that: make music that meant nothing and was worth nothing to begin with.

    I mean honestly, I can get kinda weird about commercialization sometimes, but it’s not like your enjoyment of the music is retroactively ruined. FTR, I thought that was one of the better commercials-good production values and such. At least your song wasn’t used by GoDaddy.

  284. 284.

    dance around in your bones

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    I guess I grew up in a generation that – at least to ME – felt like the musicians we listened to and loved were like US – you know, dirty fucking hippies. I guess I will sound like a naive whatever, but the music seemed to spring from the people (before it got taken over by the record companies and corporations) and it belonged to US in a way.

    This is not to deny any musicians their just compensation for their hard work and innovation, not at all. It’s just jarring for someone of my generation to hear some of these songs used as a way to sell stuff.

    I guess I sound crazy, but it was an ethos, in it’s own way.

  286. 286.

    Corner Stone

    @Donut:

    I know. I’m kinda drunk, and alone in a hotel on Long Island.

    Good God. Please don’t do anything stupid. There are people that love you, I’m sure. I seem to recall a mention of a great rack.
    You have reasons to live! To live!!

  288. 288.

    Donut

    @hilts:

    Densmore is a millionaire many many times over because zillions of people around the world paid his record company a lot of money to buy his records, and paid him a lot of money to watch him play live, and paid lots of money to him for the privilege of owning a t-shirt or a poster that says, “the Doors” on it. Whatever. It’s good for him he’s got the money in the bank to be able to say “no” when someone wants to license a song. His choice. I support that, but I don’t support judging every artist by the same standard.

  289. 289.

    dance around in your bones

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Oh gawd, I know that – but in the 60’s and 70’s it ‘felt’ different. Like I said, perhaps I am naive, but it seems to me that the music sprang up from the people (not micromanaged by record companies) somewhat in the way that punk/grunge/rap did before they were seized upon and taken over.

    I could be entirely wrong, but that’s how it felt to me at the time. Hell, maybe teenagers felt the same way about Frank Sinatra for all I know.

  291. 291.

    Corner Stone

    That little rat bastard Scaepernick. If he never opens his stupid falsetto speaking mouth again I’ll be ok with that.
    He sounds like the voice actor for the piggy on the GEICO commercials.

  292. 292.

    rda909

    @James E. Powell: Against the Packers, he didn’t just beat the the rushing record for playoff yardage….he shattered it for THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF ALL NFL GAMES. In addition, Kap has an incredibly accurate arm, and is clearly a transcendental quarterback. Jim Harbaugh has been wasting this talent the last couple of games, yet they’ve still won or almost won (today). If Kap was used properly, the 49er games wouldn’t even be close. If I owned the 49ers, Jim Harbaugh would’ve been fired before he ever left the Superdome today.

  293. 293.

    Donut

    @Corner Stone:

    The owner of the rack is, like, a thousand miles away right now. I’m in bed with the a/c cranked, even though it’s like 20 degrees outside, because it’s always weirdly hot in this hotel. That’s as dangerous as it’ll get, man. I’m gonna be okay. Really okay.

  294. 294.

    FlipYrWhig

    @dance around in your bones: I think the difference was that record companies cared a little more about the quality of their product. (Probably because they were enjoying a drug and sex-fueled lifestyle that made them less concerned about short-term ROI.) So IMHO it was less that it was noncommercial–far from it–but that it was commerce aimed at making quirky and interesting stuff. Book publishers used to have a similar ethos. Maybe less sex, though.

  295. 295.

    Donut

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Thank you. I’ve always fucking hated that band.

    Manzarek did an awesome job producing the first X records, though, I’ll give him that.

  296. 296.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @dance around in your bones:

    I think that’s one of those things that everyone thinks was better when they were a teenager and experiencing it for the first time. (And I’m not trying to be snotty-I do that myself a lot, and on certain subjects I will never be convinced I’m not objectively right.) I mean I don’t know a hell of a lot about pop music history, but Elvis and the Beatles both had every possible thing you could imagine licensed with their image-posters, toys, etc. Industry execs bossing musicians around to record this or wear that wasn’t invented in 1980.

    And I’m not trying to criticize you. I’d prefer to have been around in the 70’s. Nowadays it seems like pop stars have no illusions they’re making anything but completely disposable product, and it shows-most of it is crap. Like Donut said, music is a business and stars expect to get paid, so eventually you’re going to see the ugly side of the coin surface in terms of commercialism, but I’d rather have that than a coin where both sides are the ugly side.

    It’s really bizarre when you think about it. Even in the 80’s, albums like Synchronicity and Gabriel’s So hit number one, and that’s some relatively intelligent stuff. Our standards sure have fallen far in the meantime. I don’t mind stupid pop music, but that doesn’t mean it has to actively try to be as stupid as it can.

  297. 297.

    FlipYrWhig

    @rda909: one of the announcers pointed out, and I thought it was actually interesting, that Kaepernick doesn’t work very fast. I am super impressed with his speed and his arm accuracy. I don’t think he has (yet?) great football instincts, though.

  298. 298.

    Donut

    I need sleep. Screw you all, I’m outta here.

    I say that with all kinds of anonymous Internet love in my heart.

  300. 300.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Donut: X! Been a while since i saw them get a mention. I still have a tape of _Los Angeles_ somewhere in my parents’ house.

  302. 302.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @LanceThruster:

    Yeah, I don’t get why so many people hate the Doors. The response I often hear is that Morrison is pretentious, I guess as opposed to all those subtle, understated rock stars out there.

  303. 303.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Spaghetti Lee: people love to hate Coldplay, but they’re almost direct descendants of that Police/U2 middlebrow rock lineage. I think Thom Yorke would hate being told this, but Radiohead is like that too. But there’s also a factor at work: how many people still even buy whole albums anymore? I feel like we swung back to singles, which accounts for a lot of that feeling of froth and frivolity crowding out Ye Artistic Ambition.

  304. 304.

    dance around in your bones

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Do you really think the record companies cared more about the quality of their product or that it would sell well? I just can’t shake the impression that I got (admittedly shaped by my age and time) that the music sprang up on it’s own and was later taken over by music companies. I suppose it was ever thus.

  305. 305.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @FlipYrWhig:

    And U2 gets a lot of haters too, and Radiohead in certain circles. I’m going to sound like an absolute snob here (I like all three bands) but I think some of it is resentment, sublimated and redirected in various ways, that they’re trying for something more than ass-shaking music, and lots of people get nervous when something doesn’t appeal to the lowest common denominator. Lots of smart people get nervous when something popular doesn’t appeal to the lowest common denominator, because they’re in danger of losing their cred, as well as having a trash culture to compare themselves positiviely to.

    Totally agree about the album/single thing by the way. Not that there wasn’t smart pop music before the mid-60’s, but I think there’s a pretty big correlation between the rise and fall of both the intelligent pop song and the album.

  306. 306.

    dance around in your bones

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Oh gawd, I loved X. Saw them live many times in the LA/SD area. Still one of my favorite bands.

    ETA: The combination of John Doe and Exene Cervenka’s voices is one of the greatest duos ever.

  307. 307.

    FlipYrWhig

    @dance around in your bones: I think there were more people working in the music business who believed in making money by nurturing talent and putting out interesting-sounding stuff, and would stand behind personal favorites and freaks and weirdos even when they weren’t pulling in buckets of cash–not out of the goodness of their hearts but because they thought it would make them more buckets of cash later. But there were always pop stars who copied one another and churned out songs about pretty girls and dancing, and always more of them than people trying to innovate.

  309. 309.

    dance around in your bones

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    You make a lot of good points (I’m trying to watch Downton Abbey while replying to this endless thread, so excuse me if my reasoning is facile) – I guess I just think my era was different in some way. A lot of experimentation and innovation going on independent of the record companies who later throttled the same. Or perhaps the record companies were more forgiving of that experimentation in the hope of making the big bucks eventually.

    Gads. What the hell do I know?

  311. 311.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Badmoodman:

    Paul Harvey! ‘Mericun Cars!!

    The combo of the Jeep and Ram ads makes me think that the Italians at the top of Chrysler Group LLC want to be very clear that they’re making American cars for Americans in America that are American. Perhaps a little too much.

  312. 312.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Goddam, do I miss the small-ish indies (Elektra, Island), the artist-owned (Reprise) or artist-run (Apple, Rolling Stones) and major-owned-niche-labels-given-over-to-good-A&R-people (IRS)! They did nurture and grow acts. Today it’s all run-it-through-the-algorithm-to-determine-if-it’s-LCD-enough-to-make-us-boatloads-of-cash-instantly.

  313. 313.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    That ad’s been raked over the coals here but I liked it. I think it was actually pretty dignified, and I don’t think it was fake. I mean the message was pretty much ‘being a farmer is hard as shit-have the right tools to get through it.’ That’s not exactly an obvious cheap money-grab, I don’t think. Anyway, it was more interesting than the groin-shots and softcore peepshows.

  314. 314.

    dance around in your bones

    @hilts:

    I’m sure you will never see this, but thank you for that link. Zappa rocked in all the ways a person can rock.

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