First, the recently (and unfortunately) broken up White Stripes live on Conan O’Brien back when they had just released their 4th album Elephant. The Stripes were music guests for an entire week, treating all of us late night TV viewers with 5 epic performances. This here is the final one. They electrify with an older song with Jack playing guitar on Conan’s desk until it dies out (probably from it getting unplugged), then concludes the song by singing with only Meg’s drum to accompany him.

Next is a classic from 1997 by Green Day. I never saw this live since it aired from an Australian kids show (!!), but I had read about it at the time, and it sounded like a riot already. The band was supposed to only appear for an interview until the band abruptly hijacks some other band’s gear to play a non-single filled with tonnes of cursing. The kids cheered, the host was shocked (probably scared too), and the band grinned as usual.

Yeah, another band sadly now defunct here and a performance while on the brink of self-destructing. All the evidence is in this clip. Singer Cedric and 2nd guitarist Omar who went on to form The Mars Volta clearly were on an entirely different playing field from their bandmates (they would form Sparta). Omar’s guitar goes out of tune in the beginning and a switch of the axe is shown even though it seems like playing the song was never a motivation of his by the end. Cedric starts kicking around a chair by mid-song as well, leaving for a very sloppy, but entertaining conclusion by a band who always killed it live.

Here’s an obvious, classic clip circa 92 during the MTV Video Awards. Kurt starts things off with a few lines from the then unreleased Rape Me that must have caused near heart attacks from the squares at MTV who got their panties in a bunch over censorship crap. Apparently, Kurt wanted to perform Rape Me in its entirety, only for those said squares to balk at that suggestion. By the end, Krist tosses his bass in the air only for it to land right on his head, knocking him down, and Dave mockingly calls out to Axel Rose.

Finally, a less obvious choice of mine, but definitely the most outrageous. The Vines during the height of their hype of them being hailed the next Nirvana and saviors of rock. While they weren’t able to accomplish either feat, they’ve still made (and continue to do so) some damn fine albums and frontman Craig Nicholls was out of control live. By the middle of this rendition of Outtathaway, he abandons his playing completely resorting to zany howls and barking. I don’t think host Jools Holland, anyone watching or even his bandmates knew what to think, but nonetheless it provided for a memorable clip.

So there you have it – five of my fave rock clips that I’ve managed to scour from the net. Please feel free to respond with your faves as well!

For this entry, I’d like to rave about everyone’s favorite nerdy underdog: Michael Cera.  Most of us were first acquainted with him as the awkward, cousin-loving George Michael Bluth from Arrested Development. Since that show was unjustly canceled (why Fox, WHY?!?), Michael has successfully invaded the big screen with many hilarious roles and even became the subject of a recent meme (see below):

Here are my top 5 favorite Michael Cera movies:

#5. Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist:  Cera plays Nick, a recently heartbroken teen trying to get over his ex-girlfriend, Tris and even swamps her with pitiful mix cds. He also rocks the bass in a drummerless, and otherwise all-gay band. During his band’s show he serendipitously encounters Norah, who also happens to dislike Tris.  Norah convinces Nick to kiss her and pretend to be her new boyfriend that night strictly to show up Tris. A wild ride of hilarity ensues with many ups and downs for the couple, a mission to catch their favorite band in a secret show, and tracking down the whereabouts of Norah’s drunk friend.  It all takes place in the span of one eventful night and until the end you’ll be wondering if Nick and Norah will ultimately hook up.

#4. Superbad: Starring alongside Jonah Hill as two long-time buddies facing high school graduation and splitting to separate colleges come fall. But before that there’s a party to hit, alcohol to be consumed illegally, and girls to target in hopes of losing their virginity. I believe the success of this movie started the current trend of “bromance” movies in the comedy genre with other popular films proceeding like The Hangover and I Love You Man. The writing and appearance of Seth Rogen laid out the blueprint for this comedy to be a hoot, but the effective performance of the two main stars and especially Cera made this a winner.  Much like in Nick & Norah, he reprised his ability as playing the underdog you laugh at, but also root for.

#3 Youth In Revolt: For this movie, audiences got the opportunity to realize that there’s more to Cera’s acting range. His role as the neurotic teen in love, Nick develops an alter-ego who is also played by Cera and sometimes appears simultaneously on-screen. This alter-ego’s name is Francois who is the polar opposite of Nick; a French bad boy equipped with a slick ‘stache and a much deeper voice.  Francois’ influence throughout the movie gets Nick into trouble to allow for him to live with his father instead of his mother and remain closer with Sheeni. It was wicked to see another side of Cera filled with confidence and attitude.

#2 Juno: Released merely a week after Superbad, both movies were Cera’s first forays to the big screen after Arrested Development, and making a name for himself along the way.  It couldn’t have hurt that it was impossible to not love this movie about teenage pregnancy and its consequences, making for one of the smarter comedies this decade. Writer Diablo Cody won an academy award for the script, Cera and his co-star Ellen Page both received many award nominations (Ellen won 3). Cera really paved his way as the awkward nerdy guy here, and in my opinion it’s his best rendition of it. I’m sure practically everyone has seen this movie since it’s 2007 release, thus I need not say more. The only common criticism this movie received that I agree with is the absence of any scenes Cera shared with Jason Bateman, his Arrested Development dad!  But to heck with esoteric semantics, this movie rocked!

#1 Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World:  His latest and in my opinion greatest movie.  Scott Pilgrim is based on a comic book bearing the same name. As Scott, Cera plays a 20-something slacker bassist on a quest to win the girl of his dreams, who he randomly encounters. Yes, this may sound similar to Cera’s role in Nick & Norah, but only superficially.  Scott Pilgrim in order to maintain his new romance with Ramona must do battle with her 7 evil exes; all possess super powers old-school video game style.  Cera combines the innocence of his past roles in the beginning as his dates with Ramona begin awkwardly and clumsily. But while doing battle, he steadily becomes more of a bad-ass for each fight until the very end. Cera plays this progression splendidly in what I believe is his most well-rounded performance. The supporting cast also lend a lot of laughs; especially Kieran Kulkin as Scott’s wisecracking roommate Wallace, and Jason Schwartzman as the evilest of the exes. An awesome soundtrack motors this movie along that features Beck, Broken Social Scene, Metric, The Black Lips and Frank Black (Pixies!!!).  Certainly director Edgar Wright brings this comic to life and fills this movie with a treat of video game visuals throughout!  Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World comes out on Blu-Ray & DVD on November 9th and I’ll definitely be picking it up.

While Cera hasn’t hit a huge variety of roles yet, it doesn’t matter! He’s already been in a few highly successful films with his performances receiving award nominations and critical acclaim. The guy is only 22 too. “Why fix what ain’t broke?” , I say. I’ll be looking forward to Michael Cera’s future roles, which will include a just confirmed Arrested Development movie (woo hoo!) and could only further solidify his career.

(Here’s another candidate for best performance in late-night TV history.)

Before a couple of hours ago, I wasn’t even aware that Andrew WK was on Twitter. Very pleased that he is. With the above message, he’s brightened up my day. I know I can do anything with Andrew WK cheering me on!

You should have seen this coming. I like metal, I like comedy, and I like comedy metal. Eventually, I was going to talk about Austrian Death Machine, the side project of Tim Lambesis (As I Lay Dying).

It’s an Arnold Schwarzenegger-themed metal band. Yup, you read that right. In July of 2008, the band released its debut album, Total Brutal. Here’s the fantastic video for “Get To The Choppa”, from that album:

They also played a few shows. Not many, mind you, but a few. I wish they’d do more, ’cause… well, rocking out to “Who Is Your Daddy And What Does He Do?” just looks plain awesome to me.

Anyway, they put out a new album last week, entitled Double Brutal. Yes, that’s the cover art at the top of this post. It is damn awesome. This album is two discs and the second of which is full of cover songs, including their amazing take on Agnostic Front’s “Gotta Go”. Check it out, immediately.

I am not the coolest person going to see Metallica this month, it’s Margaret Priebe.

I’m not one to just steal other people’s work, so please just go read this article. If anyone ever asks you when you’re going to “grow out” of heavy music, tell them you’re going to stay with it till at least 85. Hell yeah.

You might be unaware that they recently performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Anyway, they killed it. Here are the videos:

…THIS:

Yup. That’s an amp. The box for Backtracks is an ACTUAL WORKING AMP. Brilliant. I am absolutely horrible at guitar and the amp I have is probably superior to this, but whatever. I still want it. So damn cool. Yet another reason why AC/DC is undoubtedly one of the best rock bands ever.

(H/T Metal Insider)

…I fully endorse it, though.

The above is, obviously, Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister. I’m not going to say much about the man here because, if you don’t already know about Lemmy, I don’t really want you reading this blog.

The man’s a legend. When I first heard that a documentary about his life was in the works, my interest was piqued. I got legitimately excited, to be honest. How could this not be awesome? It’s Lemmy!

…then, I didn’t hear about it for a while. The website hasn’t been updated for a long time and the trailer up there is over a year old. I had forgotten about it altogether until I read this story from the Calgary Herald today.

Anyway, I want to know what’s going on with this thing. Apparently Lemmy’s only seen parts of it, but it’s still listed as coming out in 2009 on IMDB and wikipedia. It’s almost October, though. Seems a bit late to not have a firm release date or, really, any news at all. Let’s all hope nothing has gone wrong here. The world needs a Lemmy movie.