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Thursday, January 31, 2008

Burnin' For All That Is Whacky

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Mike Watt "Burnin' For You"

Mike Watt "Burnin' Up"

Minutemen "The Red And The Black"

If you've ever done any reading up on Mike Watt and the Minutemen, you probably know that they were all big fans of Blue Oyster Cult, specifically songwriter Richard Meltzer. Despite the stadium posturing and monster hits, the lyrics to many of their songs were quite well written and poetic. Here Watt nod in loving tribute to BOC with his version of their hit "Burnin' For You".

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And just because I like to be thorough here is Watt's version of Madonna's "Burnin' Up" from Ciccone Youth's The Whitey Album. There. That should cover all of Mike Watt's solo career cover songs that contain the word "Burnin'". Also for good measure I'll throw in the Minutemen doing BOC's "The Red And The Black" from 1985's 3-Way Tie (For Last) and this wacky wall walker at no extra charge.

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Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Legolas Got His Clubbin' Shirt On



This is so retarded it made me laugh.

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Marcus Pollard: Fantasy Draft Pick Of The Week

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Robert Pollard "I Clap For Strangers"

Robert Pollard "Spider Eyes"

Circus Devils "Pattern Girl"

Part of appreciating POP ZEUS! is my recognizing my unhealthy obsession with certain bands like Die!Die!Die!, Of Montreal and of course Robert Palmer. Oops I meant Robert Pollard. Uncle Bob is still going strong with three recent releases, although by the time I post this he'll probably have three more. I have to say his latest solo releases, Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love and Standard Gargoyle Decisions don't really do it for me. The two records could have been whittled down to a really good EPP. This doesn't mean the man has lost his touch however, on the contrary. Circus Devils' Sgt. Disco LP is a fascinating prog rock odyssey, and easily the most interesting thing Pollard has done in years. We may never get another Propeller or Same Place The Fly Got Smashed out of the man, but as long as he never stops releasing the music in his head I'll always be completely satisfied.

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Tuesday, January 29, 2008

The World Is My Toilet

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The Fucking Ocean "Literacy Test"

The Fucking Ocean "Adam"

The Fucking Ocean "Invisibleline"

On a drunken excursion to San Francisco once to see Die!Die!Die!, i happened upon the Bay Area's own The Fucking Ocean. Now while I was a bit too inebriated to remember much of their set, I did remember that I liked them. Rediscovering their music on emusic.com was a blessing in disguise, because while I was finding excellent new music from a band I knew little about it also brought to life my shameful behavior in the cit of San Francisco. I basically think of that city as my drunken playground. Since I'm not in Los Angeles I have free reign to do whatever I want and act like a drunken buffoon. So My apologies to The Fucking Ocean if I happened to get on stage during your set and sing the harmony parts to Journey's "Wheel In The Sky". Although, come one, that is a fucking good song, you have to admit.

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Monday, January 28, 2008

Pull Me Under I'm Not Afraid

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Lifter Puller "Lifter Puller vs. The End Of The Evening"

Lifter Puller seems to be an early incarnation of The Hold Steady with more of a Girls Against Boys feel to it. Somehow I missed out on 2000's Fiestas + Fiascos, but it certainly fits right in in with my vast array of indie rock.

What's funny about this is that as soon as I wrote that last paragraph I ran out of things to say about Lifter Puller and had to do a Wikipedia search on them. This is how I learned that the band actually did contain members of The Hold Steady, which I honestly did not know before writing this. See this is why this site is called POP ZEUS! because I know things before even looking them up by making assumptions. Like I know what you're about to do right now. You're going to navigate to a better music blog. Well I don't blame you.

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Sunday, January 27, 2008

Hercules: Not An Official Member Of NAMBLA

Sunday is tv theme song day here at POP ZEUS!

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Theme from The Mighty Hercules

Apparently I have an mp3 of a cartoon that I've never seen before here with the theme from The Mighty Hercules. First off, the song sound like it may have been written by Cole Porter. Secondly the lyrics go farther than just describing Hercules as a destroyer of the wicked but as a gay icon of sorts. The singer describes Hercules as having "softness in his eyes and iron in his thighs". Geez, dude if you love Hercules so much why don't you marry him? Oh wait you don't live in Massachusetts. Plus he's a fictional character. That's right, my bad.

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Friday, January 25, 2008

You're Right. I Do Love Metal.

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H.I.M. "My Sweet 666"

Recently I did some work for the Finnish doom-rock oufit H.I.M. Its funny how after you hear a song over and over again, what was once something you despised starts to seep through and you begin to appreciate it for what it is. I have to say if "My Sweet 666" had been recorded by almost any band that didn't sell its Bam Margera-sponsored merchandise at a store called Hot Topic in the mall I would have discovered it sooner. That being said, I kind of like His Infernal Majesty now. They put on a great live performance, and even though their music is a little slickly produced and bombastic, I can't deny the catchy vampire hooks of "My Sweet 666". I even went out and bought Razorblade Romance on pink vinyl. Now bats are living in my house. Thanks, H.I.M!

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Thursday, January 24, 2008

Unbunnier Than You Are Dude

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Unbunny "I Leave Stones Unturned"

Unbunny "Nothing Comes To Rest"

Unbunny's Jared del Deo writes melancholy confessionals best described as akin to the likes of Elliot Smith, but with a bit more of a sense of humour. Parasol Records' Snow Tires brings us into a world of heartbreak and lonliness that we can all relate to at some point in our lives, but does so with a kind of confection that only a pop gunslinger like del Deo can. If Neil Diamond was still alive and writing songs (R.I.P. Neil), he might give us something like Snow Tires. Unfortunately its common knowledge that Neil Diamond was killed by pirates somewhere in the Pacific Islands in 1983. His head stills rest upon the barnacled helm of their pirate ship.

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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

You Know How I Know You're Gay?

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The Gay "Opulent Canine"

The Gay hail from Vancouver, Canada and I think they're moniker may refer more to the definition of "gay" that describes a happy and fancy-free feeling instead of, well, you know, dudes who fuck dudes. I gather this because their musical sound is that of infectious sticky sweet pop that won't leave yr head for days. This doesn't necessarily mean the lyrics make a lick of sense. What the hell is an "Opulent Canine" anyway? A rich, pompous dog? I don't know about you, but I would refuse to take care of a dog who thought he was better than me.

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Monday, January 21, 2008

You Can Finally Stop Beating It

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Dead Horse "The Latent Stage"

Good news for fans of the seminal Texas thrash band Dead Horse. It looks like a DVD documenting the band's legacy is on the horizon in 2008. Dead Horse is a tragically overlooked band in the history of metal that could easily walk amongst the likes of Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth through the pantheon of the metal gods. If you're wondering where the pantheon of metal gods is located, check Google Earth. I think it's near Fresno somewhere. Details are as follows:

Subject: Texas Thrash legends dead horsewill release a dvd in 2008
Body: The dead horse DVD IS MOVING FORWARD IN PRODUCTION IN 2008!!! WITH NO DEFINITIVE RELEASE DATE, WE WOULD LIKE TO ENCOURAGE ALL OF YOU GOOD FOLKS TO SHARE WITH dead horse YOUR PERSONAL dead horse SHOW IMAGES, VIDEOS, FLYERS, AND/OR OTHER RELATED MATERIALS, SO THEY MAY BE ARCHIVED AND POSSIBLY USED AS A CONTRIBUTION TO THIS DVD ANTHOLOGY PROJECT. CONTACT michaelhaaga@earthlink.net are contact ken mowe which is who is puttin this together @ ken mowe AND PLEASE BECOME A MYSPACE FRIEND AND SHARE YOUR dead horse COMMENTS AND STORIES HERE .

Official New Forum @


Here is the trailer for the up and coming dvd !

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Friday, January 18, 2008

Damn Where You Been?

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I apologize for the lack of post here at POP ZEUS! as of late. I really felt like Diamond Rexx was good enough to last us all at least a month. The truth is that my internets have been out of order for about a month now. Obviously they're up and running now, so expect a bit more frequency on the post side of things. Next week, as a tribute to my brethren over at The Record Robot, I plan on doing an all vinyl week. Expect to hear some of the worst shit ever committed to record, since its now become a hobby of mine to collect absolutely awful records.

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