I Want My Music Television: 7/17/2017

The Story of O.J. - Jay-Z


I remember reading an article a few years back where the reviewer in Rolling Stone calling every single album R.E.M. released in the new millennium the best R.E.M. since the mid-nineties. Basically trashing all the albums that at the time they were calling R.E.M.’s comeback. That came to mind after all the reviews calling it Jay-Z’s latest album the best since The Black Album. Now I have not listened to the whole album because I am certainly not signing up for Tidal to listening to it, but from what I heard, it is about as good as the post nineties R.E.M. album: not very.


Po-Dunk – Kid Rock


People have been theorizing who Trump would inspire to run for political office with no experience other than being famous. The Rock has teased a few times but Kid Rock is the first to actually say they are putting their hat in the ring. Sure hee has not officially signed any paperwork and his Rock for Senate website redirects you to his merch page on his label’s website, but I am a little worried. Of course a video like this may play in the South, but isn’t this just an advertisement as why not to vote for him in states above the Mason-Dixon Line, including Michigan, the state he is running for Senate?


OMG - Vic Mensa feat. Pusha T


Do no ask me why Vic Mensa recruited Carl Gallagher for his video, but thankfully he recruited Pusha T for the song because King Push makes everything better.


Sweat - The All-American Rejects


Does the world need an eleven minute music video featuring the dude from The All-American Rejects in drag? Probably not.

I Want My Music Television - 2/8/12

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

Gold on the Ceiling – The Black Keys



Why are The Black Keys not having their record release party in Akron? Seriously, Northeast Ohio just sat through another painful football season and you guys are all we have to get behind at this point. Come back home boys.


Beekeeper’s Daughter – The All-American Rejects



The latest video from The All-American Rejects reminds me of the old McG directed music videos from the late nineties which were heavy on dance sequences, all that is missing is brighter colors.


Calling Me Names – Good Old War



I like how Good Old War keyed us in on how they got their name; I would have guessed it came from the bandmate’s name. And the song is just pure bouncy fun.


Sense - Amanda Mair



Those crazy Swedes are at it again exporting yet another absurdly catchy pop singer. Just do not hold it against the seventeen year old Amanda Mair that she prefers the Spice Girls over Kate Bush because do not pretend like you do not have Wannabe on your iPod.

Nobody Wants to Hear You Sing About Tragedy

Just when you thought emo was dead and buried, Kanye West of all people made an album that rivals anything My Chemical Romance did in terms of whiney nonsense. Aside from Kanye’s lovelorn 808’s and Heartbreak the only other big emo albums released this year are by band that really are not that emo other than their penchant for eyeliner and tight leather pants.

Yeah Fall Out Boy started the trend of absurdly long song title that seem to go away in between Meatloaf albums and features more punctuation than daytime PBS shows. But there songs tend to be chipper especially compared to other bands that broke on the Warped Tour over the past decade. The Boys would like you to think they don’t care (as heard on the first single off Folie à Deux) but their problem is they care too much.

This is most evident on the opening song, Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes, song that could have been up their with othe rwannabe The Who rock anthems but they end up ruining by trying to hard to add too much too the song, specifically for the song with the silly chanting of “Detox just to retox” at the end of the song. And that goes throughout the album where they take a perfectly catchy song and tinker too much with it to the point the four lines Elvis Costello sings on What a Catch, Donnie comes and goes without you even thinking it was him.

Folie à Deux gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Then there are The All-American Rejects who have been thrown in with the emo crowd despite sounding more like a band on the Sunset Strip in the eighties than My Bloody Valentine. And like those eighties band, they may not be writing the most profound or musically challenging songs, but they aim to please which they do for their core audience with the addition of sing along choruses like in Give You Hell. In fact most song seems built for audience participation for their live shows.

But three albums in, the latest being When the World Comes Down, you can’t help but think the band has already run out of ideas like the guitars in I Wanna is only like a half a second different than those that start off Swing Swing. The Rejects do add the sweet title track to their repertoire and Catherine and Allison Pierce add some brevity to Another Heart Calls. But it was the lack of change that doomed those bands on The Strip to VH1 reality shows two decades later and if they don’t embraces change Tyson Ritter might be expecting a call form the channel in a couple years.

When the World Comes Down gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

I Want My Music Television vol. XLI

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


The Fear - Lily Allen



I had some fear that Lily Allen would hit a sophomore slump after deciding not to work with Mark Ronson on her second album (she eventually did), but those fears were subsided with a solid debut single off an album you can find sometime in February. And she hasn’t mellowed much as she rightfully put Katy Perry on blast for ripping her off but without actually writing her own songs. Oh snap. And for those that like to participate in Lyric Quizzes, you may want to pay close attention to this song).


You Found Me - The Fray



Also coming out with a new album in February (and you also want to pay close attention to the lyrics) is The Fray. Sophomore slump is also a concern for the band, but this song has grown on me since I first heard it in the cheesy Lost promotion.


The Weight of Her - Butch Walker



One song you won’t find in this month’s Lyrics Quiz is by Butch Walker though I did plan on including the line about the girl making mixtapes even though she was born the year he graduated high school. As obsessive compulsive (no seriously, check out my iTunes playlists sometime) I am about stuff like that, even I forget things sometimes.


Gives You Hell - The All-American Rejects



A week from today I will unveil the Best Albums of 2008 and I may have a review from The All-American Rejects before then although I am not entirely sure they will make the list. But as I compile the list I have come to the conclusion that there were plenty of great songs this year but really no great albums.

We on Award Tour: 2006 VMA Predictions

We are a week away from the 2006 MTV Music Awards and I have to say that I’m actually excited. Yeah the last two installments suck and many of the performers are frontrunners for my “Worst of 2006” list, but I still have a sense of optimism. First is that the show was routinely panned by everyone the last two years while exiled in Miami, you know something big will go down as the show goes back home to New York City, hopefully that surprise isn’t as big of a let down as the Guns n’ Roses comeback three years ago. Second is that the first time since the last time Chris Rock, MTV has tapped a host that will actually be entertaining in Jack Black who did a great job co-hosting the Movie Awards a couple years back and hopefully this year’s monologue is Tenacious D heavy.

When I first reported the nominees to the VMA’s oddly enough the only category you couldn’t vote on was the Viewer’s Choice Award, but that is now up including a cool game where you can get extra points for the video of your choosing, so hear over to MTV for that. I also wonder in that post what happened to the MTV2 Award. Apparently that are indeed doing that again and you can go over to MTV2 to cast your vote, but a look at the nominees, you may just want to abstain. Personally, I voted for the award much like I’ve voted for president lately going with the one that sucked the least (for those keeping track at home, that would be Taking Back Sunday) but here are the nominees:

Stay Fly - Three 6 Mafia
The Kill - 30 Seconds to Mars
Fireman - Lil’ Wayne
MakeDamnSure - Taking Back Sunday
It's Goin' Down - Yung Joc


Also since my original post, the performers and presenters list have grown. Set to hand out the Moonmen are Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey (hopefully together so they can just get that out of the way), Jennifer Lopez (crap, she’s still around), Chris Brown and Ne-Yo (aren’t these the same person, I can’t tell them apart), Missy Elliott, Fall Out Boy, Rihanna, Busta Rhymes (well unless he’s in jail at the time), Lil Jon, Amy Lee of Evanescence, Jared Leto of 30 Seconds to Mars (actually I think people would more recognize the name is they said “of My So Called Life” instead), the cast of Jackass: Number Two (crap, their still around, who would have though out of all of them, Don Vito would be the only one currently in jail) and Shaun White. Joining this group is these artist jjust announced today including 50 Cent, Kanye West, Diddy, Snoop Dogg, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton (again hopefully together, seeing them catfight may be the only why I can stomach them), LL Cool J, The Pussycat Dolls and Axl Rose (seriously?). Then there are performers who I’ll predict what they will be performing (I am under the impression that The Raconteurs are the house band as that is what they were originally booked as, but recently they have been listed under performers so who knows):


Beyoncé: This should be interesting because, as my sources tell me, she already debut her new single on the BET Awards so I’m betting she shows off her new all-female band with a medley of songs of her yet to be released album while everyone is at home is bored because they don’t recognize the song. It may be saved as the performance screams surprise guest, and I’m not talking Jay-Z.

Justin Timberlake: Speaking of yet to be released album, it’s a lock that JT will lip-syncing the cheesily named SexyBack with Big Head Timbaland doing his part. Much like when he debut the uer-horrible Like I Love You a couple years back no guest appearance can save this stinkfest, even a dude on dude kiss from Lance Bass.

Christina Aguilera: Since no other man was performed at the Movie Awards, the safe bet is that she will perform the new single Candyman next week. With the 50’s feel (in fact it blatantly steals from a song from that era I’m too lazy to look up) I wouldn’t be surprised if the turn the screen to black and white throughout the performance.

Panic! at the Disco: Since I’m not a fourteen year old white girl, I could care less but most likely will be the song that got all the nominations.

T.I.: Since I’m not a fourteen year old white girl, I could care less but will most likely be the song where he steals a line from A Tribe Called Quest (didn’t he make his career stealing a line from Jay-Z?).

The Killers: With there album not out yet, the new single, When You Were Young will get the nod. With Brandon Flowers talking about all the Bruce Springsteen influences on the new album, will The Boss pull another Wallflowers?

Ludacris with Pharrell: Yet another performer whose album has yet to be released, but since the Neptunes produced his new song, it will be that.

The All-American Rejects: Odd choice here as they really don’t have the stature of the other bands something big maybe brewing here with a guest coming onstage with them. I believe the guitarist has tattoos all of his body of band logos from various inspirations and they did do the VH1 Rock Honors performing Def Leppard’s Photograph. I don’t understand how lead nominees Red Hot Chili Peppers aren’t on the performers list, maybe they will jump onstage here and recreate their Give it Away performance from the early nineties.

Shakira: Not only will they be battling for Video of the Year crown, Shakira will most likely try to have more weird performers than P!@TD (is that the right shorthand for the band, and by asking, I just defeated the purpose of the shorthand, but anyway) as she tries to recreate the Carnival theme of Hips Don’t Lie.

OK Go: Just announce the internet phenomenon will be taking the VMA stage. Just like the R.Kelly performance from last year, this performance will disturbing and be thoroughly entertainment at the same time. This maybe the only band that can get away with lip-syncing as long as they are doing some silly dancing, but I have a feeling they will be playing while others will be performing their treadmill opera but times ten.

You can check out the whole list of nominees from my original post - We on Award Tour: 2006 MTV Video Music Awards Nominations and you can also check out my list of best VMA performances I did last year which would most likely be unchanged - Best of the VMA Performances. And you can watch the VMA’s August 29 at 8:00, with the pre-show at 6:30.

We on Award Tour - 2006 MTV Video Music Awards Nominations

A day before their twenty-fifth birthday, which I’m sure they will celebrate with a marathon of The Hills rather than break out Thriller one more time, MTV has announced it’s nominations for its annual Video Music Awards. For most of its existence, the award show was ground breaking and even influenced older one. But lately it has just been a forum for artists to hype their latest endeavors. But with all the complaints, I’ll surely be turning in this year much like I have since I first got cable.

Even though the nominees were announced today, there is still no word on a host yet. You’d think after the debacle two years ago where they were host-less, they wouldn’t let that happen again even if that meant bringing in the unfunny Jimmy Fallon one more time. And after the poor performance the extremely boring Diddy last year that they would throw all their money in the budget at Chris Rock for one more go around. But some performers have already been confirm with Justin Timberlake who may or may not have the first dude on dude kiss in VMA history with former boy bander Lance Bass. Oh wait; Ben Affleck and Kevin Smith already did that, never mind then. Also scheduled are The Killers, Beyoncé, Ludacris, T.I., and five time nominee Panic! at the Disco, you know, that band with that horrible song and cheesy Ringling Brothers in a church video, they got more nominations than everyone but Shakira and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And there wasn’t even a new category for band that best ripped off Fall Out Boy’s sound. The Raconteurs will provide the soundtrack for the event, not that I have a clue what that means, are they the house band or something?

In an odd change in VMA format, you actually have a chance to vote this year. This was put near the end of the press release from MTV with little explanation. So I’m not sure if the fans have total control or if we get one vote total. Either way, I this is a bad idea to end all bad ideas because as a wise man once said, “The world is full a stupid people.” So the winner won’t be the ones that deserve it rather those who have fans with absolutely no lives who have nothing better to do than sit on the internet and vote all day. But if you would like to vote, head over to the MTV website. Now on to the nominations for the awards that will be handed out August 31 (if you are interested in buying the video, click the song name where available in iTunes, if you just want the song, click the artist's name):


Video of the Year
Christina Aguilera: Ain't No Other Man
Madonna: Hung Up
Panic! at the Disco: I Write Sins Not Tragedies
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Dani California
Shakira f/ Wyclef Jean: Hips Don't Lie

Who Will Win: Dani California
Who Should Win: Hips Don’t Lie
Should Have Been Nominated: Gnarls Barkley: Crazy

I already stressed my dislike for Panic! and another head scratcher is Madonna. How does a chick on the wrong side of forty in a leotard get a Video of the Year nomination? And it wasn’t even a down year as Crazy, Gold Digger, Wake Me up When September Ends, Doesn’t Remind Me by Audioslave could have been in here.


Best Male Video
Busta Rhymes f/ Mary J. Blige, Rah Digga, Missy Elliott, Lloyd Banks, Papoose & DMX: Touch It (Remix)
James Blunt: You're Beautiful
Kanye West f/ Jamie Foxx: Gold Digger
Nick Lachey: What's Left of Me
T.I.: What You Know

Who Will Win: Kanye West
Who Should Win: Kanye West
Should Have Been Nominated: Jack Johnson: Upside Down

A poor category, they didn’t even nominate the right Busta Rhymes video (should have been My Chick). Then throw out the two wusses and the Antoine Merriwether look alike, and the only worthy video here is Kanye.


Best Female Video
Christina Aguilera: Ain't No Other Man
Kelly Clarkson: Because of You
Madonna: Hung Up
Nelly Furtado f/ Timbaland: Promiscuous
Shakira f/ Wyclef Jean: Hips Don't Lie

Who Will Win: Ain’t No Other Man
Who Should Win: Hips Don’t Lie
Should Have Been Nominated: Fiona Apple: Not About Love

Again with the old chick in the leotard, but she doesn’t have chance anyways. Nice to see two dudes in the Best Female Category like in previous years. Clarkson’s daddy issues video and is too depressing to win (Walk Away should have been here instead), so between the two hot chicks and the drag queen I’ll go with the best hip shaker to win (although the drag queen will win).


Best Group Video
The All-American Rejects: Move Along
Fall Out Boy: Dance, Dance
Gnarls Barkley: Crazy
Panic! at the Disco: I Write Sins Not Tragedies
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Dani California

Who Will Win: Dani California
Who Should Win: Crazy
Should Have Been Nominated: Death Cab for Cutie: Soul Meets Body

Death Cab for Cutie released two great videos in the past year yet neither got any love, except from me. I’m convinced that Panic! and Fall Out Boy are actually the same band so they cancel each other out so I think muck like the old guard Green Day were the big winner last year, the Red Hot Chili Pepper will get it this year.


Best Rap Video
50 Cent: Window Shopper
Busta Rhymes f/ Mary J. Blige, Rah Digga, Missy Elliott, Lloyd Banks, Papoose & DMX: Touch It (Remix)
Chamillionaire: Ridin'
T.I.: What You Know
Yung Joc f/ Nitty: It's Goin' Down

Who Will Win: What You Know
Who Should Win: Nothing

First off, there’s a rapper named Nitty? If you are on a song with some dude named Young Joc and you have the wussier name, that’s not a good sign. But anyways. It’s been five years since they introduced the Best Hip-Hop Video award but I still have no idea what the difference between these two awards yet. None of these videos or songs are any good so like my mom told me, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.” So I’ll just go to the next category.


Best R&B Video
Beyoncé f/ Slim Thug: Check on It
Chris Brown: Yo (Excuse Me Miss)
Jamie Foxx f/ Ludacris: Unpredictable
Mariah Carey: Shake It Off
Mary J. Blige: Be Without You

Who Will Win: Check on It
Who Should Win: Be Without You
Should Have Been Nominated: Prince: Black Sweet

Another pretty sad category with only Mary J. the only thing worth watching here. Remember the good old days when there weren’t any rappers in R&B videos? No? Well it has been a long time.


Best Hip-Hop Video
Black Eyed Peas: My Humps
Common: Testify
Daddy Yankee: Rompe
Kanye West f/ Jamie Foxx: Gold Digger
Three 6 Mafia: Stay Fly

Who Will Win: Gold Digger
Who Should Win: Testify
Should Have Been Nominated: Heard ‘em Say: Kanye West &Adam Levine

Um, the Black Eyed Peas are considered hip-hop? Yeah, okay. Kanye will run away with this award anyways, but Testify had a much more entertaining storyline with actual actors, not just eye candy. In all actuality though, Kanye could have been nominated three times over here.


Best Dance Video
Madonna: Hung Up
Nelly Furtado f/ Timbaland: Promiscuous
Pussycat Dolls f/ Snoop Dogg: Buttons
Sean Paul: Temperature
Shakira f/ Wyclef Jean: Hips Don't Lie

Who Will Win: Hips Don’t Lie
Who Should Win: Temperature

Two of the video don’t even want to make me dance (Madonna, Pussycat Dolls) and it’s odd that the other ones were all featured in a cell phone commercial (good marketing ploy though because I can’t remember which one) so I’d give this to Sean Paul solely because of the bowling dude in his ad.


Best Rock Video
30 Seconds to Mars: The Kill
AFI: Miss Murder
Green Day: Wake Me up When September Ends
Panic! at the Disco: I Write Sins Not Tragedies
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Dani California

Who Will Win: Dani California
Who Should Win: Wake Me up When September Ends
Should Have Been Nominated: Pearl Jam: Life Wasted

Holy Jared Leto sighting! How did he sneak in here? Looking at these nominations, it looks like rock is truly dead. Where’s Pearl Jam, U2 or Snow Patrol? Seriously, will anyone care about Leto, AFI or Panic! in a year or two? Well at least there was no Nickelback.


Best Pop Video
Christina Aguilera: Ain't No Other Man
Madonna: Hung Up
Nelly Furtado f/ Timbaland: Promiscuous
Pink: Stupid Girls
Shakira f/ Wyclef Jean: Hips Don't Lie

Who Will Win: Hips Don’t Lie
Who Should Win: Hips Don’t Lie

Wait, isn’t this the same as the Best Female Video? Although why switch in Pink for Kelly Clarkson?


Best New Artist in a Video
Angels and Airwaves: The Adventure
Avenged Sevenfold: Bat Country
Chris Brown f/ Juelz Santana, Run It!
James Blunt: You're Beautiful
Panic! at the Disco: I Write Sins Not Tragedies
Rihanna: S.O.S.

Who Will Win: S.O.S.
Who Should Win: None
Should Have Been Nominated: Crazy

S.O.S. is the best video here, but I swear Rihanna was nominated in this category last year, so I refuse to put my support behind it. The rest of the nominees are all contenders for making my Worst Songs of 2006 list.


Viewer’s Choice
Chris Brown f/ Juelz Santana: Run It!
Fall Out Boy: Dance, Dance
Kelly Clarkson: Because of You
Rihanna: S.O.S.
Shakira f/ Wyclef Jean: Hips Don't Lie

Who Will Win: Dance, Dance
Who Should Win: Hips Don’t Lie
Should Have Been Nominated: Crazy

Again, this award typically goes to the artists whose fans are the biggest losers, so naturally Fall Out Boy will win. Oddly, the only category you cannot vote on as I write this is this one. All in all, this viewer chooses Gnarls Barkley as the best video of the past year. And not that I miss it, but what happened to the MTV2 award?


Best Direction in a Video
10 Years: Wasteland (Director: Christopher Sims)
AFI: Miss Murder (Director: Marc Webb)
Common: Testify (Director: Anthony Mandler)
Gnarls Barkley: Crazy (Director: Robert Hales)
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Dani California (Director: Tony Kaye)

Who Will Win: Dani California
Who Should Win: Testify

Testify could win a short film award, it’s that good. But in a measure of full discloser, I’ve never heard of 10 Years, let alone seen their video.


Best Choreography in a Video
Christina Aguilera: Ain't No Other Man
Madonna: Hung Up
Pussycat Dolls f/ Snoop Dogg: Buttons
Sean Paul: Temperature
Shakira f/ Wyclef Jean: Hips Don't Lie

Who Will Win: Hung Up
Who Should Win: Hips Don’t Lie

Déjà vu all over again as these videos were all nominated in the Best Dance Video category too. I’m sure Madonna will get one of these awards just to get her to show up and more out with more video hofessionals bevause that was that last time anyone actually talked about the VMA’s aside from how bad they were.


Best Special Effects in a Video
Angels and Airwaves: The Adventure
Beck: Hell Yes
Missy Elliott: We Run This
Pearl Jam: Life Wasted
U2: Original of the Species

Who Will Win: Life Wasted
Who Should Win: Original of the Species
Should Have Been Nominated: Crazy

A hard one between U2, Pearl Jam and Beck (which I though was last year though), but how was the Rorschach inspired Crazy not get a nod?


Best Art Direction in a Video
10 Years: Wasteland
Common: Testify
Panic! at the Disco: I Write Sins Not Tragedies
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Dani California
Shakira f/ Wyclef Jean: Hips Don't Lie

I think I’ll just end the commentary here because I don’t really care about the technical awards and I didn’t play any of the video games, but again, the awards will be handed out on August 31.


Best Editing in a Video
The All-American: Move Along
Angels and Airwaves: The Adventure
Gnarls Barkley: Crazy
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Dani California
U2: Original of the Species


Best Cinematography in a Video
AFI: Miss Murder
Ashlee Simpson: Invisible
James Blunt: You're Beautiful
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Dani California
Prince: Black Sweat

Okay one more comment: seriously, Ashlee Simpson?


Best Video Game Soundtrack
Final Night Round 3 (Electronic Arts)
Burnout Revenge (Electronic Arts)
NBA 2K6 (2K Games)
Driver: Parallel Lines (Atari)
Mark Ecko's Getting Up (Atari)


Best Video Game Score
Hitman: Blood Money (Jesper Kyd)
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (Tom Salta)
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (Even Magnet Johansen)
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Jeremy Soule)
Electroplankton (User Generated Soundtrack)

For Those About to Rock

One of the shows that has quickly become must see television has been VH1’s Hip Hop Honors that for the past to years have given props to the genre’s founding fathers with performances by the artists and tributes by rappers of today. So to capitalize on that success, about a month back VH1 announced that is was going to do its first ever Rock Honors. I was a little skeptical when I heard this because, just from a logistical standpoint, it much harder to pull off. All rappers need are two turntables and a microphone. To have the band, and another as doing a tribute, there will be a lot of time devoted for changing between bands. So instead of paying tribute to about eight rappers, all we get are four bands. And those four inaugural bands: Hendrix? Cream? Zeppelin? AC/DC? Well, nope, nope, nope and nope. Here are some thoughts on the first Rock Honors:

- Jamie Pressly is are host most likely because she looks like every woman you see at Ozzfest, well the ones you see backstage at Ozzfest (which I know from experience). The best part of the whole show is when that huge nerd who comments for I Love the (Insert Decade) tells her “My name isn’t Earl, but his is” when he points to, well, Little Earl.

- The first honoree is Queen who performs a couple songs with Foo Fighters and some dude not named Freddie Mercury. Queen was always a little too theatrical for my taste. But anyways. They did do a really cool version of We Will Rock You with three drummers. I seriously doubt that any song will dethrone that song as greatest stadium anthem ever. And even the dude not named Freddie Mercury can’t screw up the song because it’s all about fan participation.

- Next up is Judas Priest who is preceded by having Godsmack do a medley of their songs. Seriously, if it weren’t for Beavis and Butt-head, I probably would never of heard of Judas Priest. And watching his leather-clad performance, you gotta wonder, much like George Michael, how no one figured out Rob Halford was gay. And add this to the previously honored Freddie Mercury; this is turning out to be a pretty gay show. Well this is VH1.

- The All American Rejects are next to pay tribute to Def Leppard with Photograph. This ended up being the biggest of their songs performed tonight.

- I have to say, when I think of rock, the first thing that comes to my mind is the chick from American Dreams. Although I guess it’s only appropriate that she introduces Def Leppard because throughout their career, their main fan base was teenage girls. And I may be dating myself, but whenever I hear that German opening, my first thought isn’t Rock of Ages, but rather Pretty Fly for a White Guy. Then for some reason in lieu of Pour Some Sugar on me they perform 20th Century Boy, the old T-Rex song. Oh, that’s right; the song is part of their new cover album that everyone ignored when it came out last week.

- To honor the final group, Kiss, VH1 assembled an all star lineup that included Rob Zombie, Slash, and Scott Ian, who happens to currently be staring in VH1’s reality show, Supergroup, as well as Gilby Clark and Tommy Lee who will be participating in the next Rock Star incarnation coming this summer on CBS (by the way both VH1 and CBS are owned by the same company). Boy and girls, today’s word of the day is synergy.

- Closing out the show is Kiss. I wanted the best, but all I got was a bunch of extremely old dudes in face paint. I’m not sure what is more sad, the band or the old dudes who still worship them. An anticlimactic end to a mediocre show.

- Hopefully next year they ask for my input on whom to honor. If for some reason you want to see the show, you can watch it anytime on VH1’s broadband channel VSPOT which includes four performances that weren’t even good enough to make it into the broadcast version.