Live Lounge Allstars – Times Like These

Why does a charity single have to be a dirge?

I saw Rapino’s tweet about this yesterday. And Michael rarely does tweet, so I paid attention, but when I saw it concerned the Foo Fighters I tuned out. In the early seventies, the Foo Fighters would have been seen as being on the same level as Grand Funk Railroad…overhyped, serviceable band embraced by the heartland but despised on the coasts ultimately releases a couple of good tracks and then disappears. Yes, I’ll admit to liking “I’m Your Captain (Closer to Home)” and of course Grand Funk truly achieved greatness with the Todd Rundgren-produced “We’re an American Band,” but Little Eva did the definitive version of “Loco-motion” and the rest was dreck, their double live LP was one of the worst ever, if you saw it in someone’s collection, you judged them negatively.

Same deal with the Foos. “Learn to Fly” was excellent, both the song and the video. But I stopped paying attention long ago.

All to the point that I did not know that “Times Like These” was a Foo Fighters song! But after listening to the charity single I went on Spotify and found out it had 86 million listens, which puts it at #10 in Foo plays on the service. No wonder I don’t know it.

So I played the original. It was fast! That kinda shocked me. I figured it too was a dirge, but NO! And the groove and the changes were there, but the Live Lounge Allstars version is so much better.

WHO?

Les Garland e-mailed me about the video. And I trust Les, anything he recommends I’m gonna check out, so I watched it and…

Found it a slow dirge, like I said above. But as it was playing in the background, as I’d already formulated an opinion on it, that it was lame drivel, IT GOT GOOD!

Once again, it’s the changes that got me. And they were good, so that’s why I looked up who wrote them and was stunned to find out it was a cover of the Foos tune.

But it gets even worse… WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

Thank god, I scrolled down and the first comment was by one David Little. I’ll reproduce it here:

Hailee Steinfeld – 0:02
Dua Lipa – 0:21
Anne-Marie – 0:37
Ellie Goulding, Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters) – 0:43
Simon Neil (Biffy Clyro) – 0:50
Ellie Goulding – 0:53
Biff Clyro – 0:54
Jess Glynne – 0:57
Sam Fender, James Johnston (Biffy Clyro) – 1:02
Simon Neil – 1:07
Mabel – 1:09
Dan Smith (Bastille) – 1:14
YUNGBLUD, Dan Smith, Luke Hemmings (5 Seconds of Summer) – 1:19 Simon Neil – 1:25
James Johnston – 1:29
Ben Thatcher (Royal Blood) – 1:32
Rita Ora – 1:34
Mike Kerr (Royal Blood) – 1:44
Simon Neil – 1:49
Dermot Kennedy – 1:50
Taylor Hawkins, Ellie Goulding, James Johnston – 1:56
Sigrid – 1:58
Ellie Goulding – 2:02
Sigrid, Rag‘n’Bone Man, Grace Carter, Dan Smith, Ellie Goulding, Woody (Chris Wood, Bastille) – 2:03
Ellie Goulding, Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) – 2:09
Dua Lipa, Dave Grohl, Grace Carter, Ben Johnston (Biffy Clyro) –
2:14 Rag’n’Bone Man – 2:21
Zara Larsson, YUNGBLUD – 2:26
AJ Tracey – 2:29
Sean Paul – 2:45 Celeste – 3:01
Paloma Faith – 3:07
Dan Smith, Luke Hemmings – 3:17
YUNGBLUD – 3:23
Rita Ora – 3:30
Paloma Faith – 3:32
Everyone – 3:33
Chris Martin (Coldplay) – 4:02

To tell you the truth, I knew the majority of the names, but I couldn’t pick most of these people out of a lineup. And I felt so old and out of it until…I realized this is now the human condition, we’re all out of it, and if these performers were as famous as the media and their handlers think they are there’d be no need for this listing, never mind the 272 replies thanking David Little for delineating the performances.

So, the song does start like an irrelevant dirge, but then it gets hypnotic, you want to hear it again, and when was the last time you wanted to hear a charity single more than once, if even that much?

Now I recognized Dua Lipa. Quite possibly the hottest woman on the charts today. You get her, and everybody else falls in line, she deserves to be the first singer, and she nails it.

But I had no idea who the follow-up was, Anne-Marie, who had a rich powerful voice that reached me.

And Ellie Goulding, I recognized her, she was more than serviceable.

But who was this red-haired nymph Jess Glynne with the color in her voice? Actually, she’s never had a hit in the U.S., so I’m not gonna feel bad about being clueless.

I’ve been e-mailed multiple times about Sam Fender, good to see him sing, he’s got pipes.

But who was this woman Mabel? I hated that she appeared with her dog, that’s such standard-issue celebrity behavior, but she too could sing. Should I have known her? In the U.S. last year her album went all the way up to #198! She had a single that went to #66!! Whoo-ee!

Now to tell you the truth, most of the performances were interesting, but singling out a few more that truly struck me, besides Anne-Marie and Jess Glynne…

James Johnston was the rock singer Dave Grohl wished he could be.

And Mike Kerr of Royal Blood represented the rockers well.

And I always love seeing Rag’n’Bone Man, who added bottom with his rich voice.

The rap break was superfluous, but Sean Paul totally delivered!

And Celeste was really good, but Paloma Faith killed it. She’s got those deep pipes of women who front rock bands who steal boys’ hearts.

And when everybody threw in… It was not bogus like “We are the World,” but rich and satisfying.

Forget the obligatory Chris Martin ending. He’s the bridge between old and new, along with the Foos, but they were included because it was their song.

Now it comes down to songs, and this is one that’s almost twenty years old. Without songs, it doesn’t matter how much vocal talent you have.

But watching the performances in this video you get excited, it’s the younger generation’s time, and these performers have talent. Some have had great songs, others are still waiting for them.

So I’m stunned that the YouTube video only has 5+ million views, especially since it’s been out since April 23rd. That’s how slow things move today, you make a charity record that includes the singing of the hottest stars of today and still…nearly crickets.

One thing about Bob Geldof, he was a great promoter. Today, if you do it, they may not come. You need people to know about it and to be incentivized.

After watching this video I’m incentivized to check out further music of those who impressed me in it.

It’d be interesting to see what response a hip-hop charity video in the U.S. would have.

Then again, in the U.K. a broader swath of musical genres is exposed.

If you’re a rocker, if you like songs that touch you and set your mind free, if you’re wowed by talent, you’ll be surprised this reaches you.

Or maybe you’re one of those people still living in the last century, believing that you know all and your tired tiny genre is the only one that deserves attention and you have to denigrate everything else, but the joke is on you, because if this video hasn’t spread, what are the odds your music will, NIL!

And music is best when it’s universal. When it reaches a large audience. I don’t mean dumbed-down for everybody, but special enough that it will rise above and will generate a mass following, a group of people who believe they’re part of a club, who feel united in their faith in the music and those who perform it.

That’s what unites us. The music.

But when you shoot low, when you hype that which has no substance, you’re evidence of internet culture.

And when you get stuck in your tribe, you’re evidence of political culture.

But when you nod your head and smile, feel that there’s hope for you and the world, that’s MUSIC!