Happy New Year From Glam-Racket!

So Happy New Year and all of that shit. The reality is that this was written well before New Year's Day and I'm probably sleeping right now, so what is it that brings you to these neck of the woods?

This blog started as Brave Battles In The Mixing Place, the name of an album I did under the moniker Stover and was the result of a few years of counseling in which one of the therapist told me that I should start a journal. So I did, the wife (at that time) found it, freaked, and then we got divorced. I then began doing the journal thing again, except this time on-line (brilliant) to which the ex-wife (at that time) found it, freaked, and then I had to do a huge purge of the majority of the posts because (and don't tell her this) I did agree that it wasn't entirely ethical of me to have a blog where the vast majority of the posts were essentially rants against someone who couldn't defend themselves against.

Plus, I had gotten over the entire thing and the "venting" that was the majority of those posts served their purpose, but I was mentally in a different place at that time.

The blog renamed to "Glam-Racket" after a kick ass song by The Fall and because I was totally into T-Rex at the time that this place opened up shop. I decided to turn it into more of a music oriented stop, whereby I go a review albums in my collection (an endless task), opine about music (ditto) and occassionally throw up a review of a new record that has come across my world. You'll notice that the total post counts from the first two years are way low, and that's the result of my purge of more personal related posts. It is true that the post counts have increased yearly, and I guess the idea was to do at least 15 per month on average. Some months more, some less, as I have a life outside of this.

Speaking of...

Last year, I started doing more personal posts again because 1.) People wanted to know but couldn't figure out how to use the phone (or I let it go to voice mail..I'm on the phone all day, so I prefer face-to-face chats, dig) and 2.) I don't have to maintian a second blog on some douchebag social network site and 3.) It was kind of the original intent all together.

With that being said, it's kind of a scatological place around here. To clue you in, here's a Baker's Dozen of the most popular posts here at Glam-Racket:

1. The Baker's Dozen Greatest Rock Drummers Of All Time-You'll notice two things about this list: One is that readers of Glam-Racket love lists (who doesn't?) and they are opinionated about drummers. I can't find any links to this particular post that explain the high view rate, but apparently people just type in "Best Rock Drummers of All Time" and end up here. Then they read the list and get pissed at me. According to the comments, the who Moon/Bonzo thing is a healthy topic for arguing while my inclusion of AC/DC's Phil Rudd was not welcomed.


2. The 2006 Baker's Dozen-The year end lists are popular, but for some reason the year 2006 was more popular among readers than other years. Personally, it's the one that doesn't sit well with me and I've made a few revisions of it. Why I included TV On The Radio's Return To Cookie Mountain on there is beyond me. Don't bother looking for it. I knocked that fucking this off of there.


3. The Smiths-Live Review-It was nearly a quarter-century ago, but people apparently enjoy my accounts of a Smiths show from Southern California. I recently scored by locating a bootleg copy of the show on Soulseek. It's totally surreal hearing a show that you saw so long ago and being able to recount many of the same emotions you felt when you were there. But the reality holds true: you had to be there.


4. Lou Reed-The Bells-Lou Reed fans are a strange lot. They're as douchey as Lou himself it seems and don't like it when you criticize him. This wishey-washey review drew the most hits and the most angry replies. Most of them didn't comment, but a few went out of their way to point out that I'm a fucking idiot. Never mind that if you check my last.fm profile, you'll notice that the title track "The Bells" is the most spun Lou Reed track around here. I love that song but thought the album was one of Lou's lesser efforts. Strangely, I raped Mistrial more, but people didn't give a shit about that one.


5. Planet P Project-Pink World-Yes, this cult curio from the mid-80's draws a lot of views, and many of them get angry at what they see. Fuck 'em. It sucks.


6. Spoon-Live Review-If I recall, this took place about a week before the actual tour began, and a lot of people wanted to check out the setlist, the demeanor, and what to expect from the band before seeing them for themselves.


7. Rush-Live Review-I originally did this for Glorious Noise and then reposted
   it here. Rush fans followed.


8. 2007 Baker's Dozen-People love looking at lists. It's science.


9. Jani Lane Tells Las Vegas "Let's Go Get Some Fuckin' French Toast"-I just thought the story....posted one month after the event happened...was hiliarious. People didn't seem to mind that this blog was late to the game on Jani Lane's drunken exploits. Perhaps it was the post title that captured the hearts of Googlers across the globe.


10. H.O.L.S.-Live Review-There are a few readers from Iowa, or perhaps ex-pat Iowans, that stumble across here. Statehood pride aside, House Of Large Sizes were one awesome band that were actually quite unique in a sea of alternative sameness.


11. Baker's Dozen Best Rock 'n' Rolls Films-This list was total bullshit. I literally just started writing down a bunch of rock films down in the order that I liked and posted it. I'm sure the list will change the moment that I begin watching some of the recommendations that people comment on. Believe it or not, I had a companion list(s) of fictional rock 'n' roll films and another one that listed the worst rock 'n' roll films ever. The latter began an internal debate, one along the lines of "Is the Sgt. Pepper movie really a rock 'n' roll film? After all, it has fucking George Burns in it." These internal debates cause me to lose interest and forget about posting it. Maybe one of them with resurface next year.


12. Todd vs. Todd -People like Todd Rundgren. No, I mean really like him. All I have to do is post something like "Todd Rundgren is a fag for agreeing to join the New Cars" and people will respond in kind. This post documents my dealings with the other Todd, and a few folks apparently read it.


13. Rush - All The World's A Stage-Further proof that there's a bunch of Rush fans out there. Making out with a chick in my bedroom after school when my parents aren't home while a Rush live 8-track plays in the background. That's right, I said "8-Track." It's the American dream.


Honorable Mention:

To The Paramedic Who Saved Nikki Sixx-This one ranked high on the old blog, but then I removed it for this one as it also contained some personal information on there. Essentially, I chastised the paramedic, a Motley Crue fan, who saved Nikki Sixx after he O.D.'ed on smack. Then, we all had to listen to the story over and over again. A few Crue fans didn't think it was too funny and commented accordingly. I did another post, one that maid fun of Tommy Lee and a Crue fan got bent out of shape on that one too. Is any member of Motley Crue fair game? Come to think of it, I'm sure I posted some mean-spirited shit about Mick Mars and not one goddamn Crue fan came to his defense.

So there you have it, a few of the posts around here that have caught the eye of friends, relatives, rock fans, and internet surfers from around the world. Stop by often and click some of those ads so that I can get some additional revenue from them.
Oh wait....