iTunes Top 50 6/13/07 45-41

45. You Know I'm No Good- Amy Winehouse

TKG: Do I blame Christina Aguilera and DJ Premier for this? I mean there has to be some explanation for this type of retro-torch singing being embraced by the mainstream. I guess I should admire that she's doing it without the Aguilera need to package it in retro fashion. I like me some rockabilly revival, as musical form that I felt still could speak to current era...never liked people who needed to wear retro costumes while doing it. I don't know. Amusing that the backing bands attempts to do jazz drumming hip hop beats results in really Phil Spectorish pop drumming. You get the sense that Winehouse desperately wants to be Eartha Kitt for the hip-hop era. Instead she is hiphop era's poor woman's Darlene Love.

PAS: It is amusing to think that after such a long career, DJ Premiers lasting influence is going to be on female pop music. Honestly his kind of New York rap production never really was more then a niche thing. Gangstarr and Nas never really had a hit as big as "2 Step" much less "Walk it Out", however this torch singing shit looks like it is going to be legitimately big. As far as Amy Winehouse goes, she really isn't even Butterfly and is a giant step below whichever member of En Vouge was in Lucy Pearl.

44. Last Night-Diddy featuring Keyshia Cole

PAS: This is really clearly Diddy's attempt to do fake Prince, the beat is a fine fake Prince beat, and Diddy's fake Prince vocals are sort of inoffensive. What really fails is Keyshia Coles real vocal gymnastics. Female singers on Prince tracks are always girls like Apolonia or Vanity, women he is fucking, he doesn't pick singers for their vocal chops. So vocal chop singing doesn't work for this type song.

TKG: It's Diddy. Why use fake Prince instrumental instead of just using the actual Prince backing track? It's not like Prince needs the money but neither did Robert Plant or Sting. Unless Diddy was worried that the royalties would go to Warner Bros. Diddy is all about divestment from companies that benefit from "slave" labor?

43. Summer Love-Justin Timberlake

PAS: This is really the most N'Sync sounding of the solo Justin Timberlake singles. Did Lou Pearlman produce this in exile like Roman Polanski?

TKG: Most of Timberlake's current stuff seems like it's aimed at women, this really feels like it’s aimed at highschool girls. "Summer's over for the both of us, but that doesn't mean we should give up on love". Her going back to school in the fall shouldn't break up the couple? Her being school age should break them up. Timberlake breaks up with mid thirties Cameron Diaz and now wants to re-embrace Chris Brown's fans?

42. Face Down-The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

PAS: It is a pretty sad statement about the castration of today’s youth, that the worst thing Red Jumpsuit Apparatus can imagine to happen to the abuser is that "SOMEDAY SHE WILL SAY SHE DOESN'T LOVE YOU." At least Aerosmith had Jamie Get a Gun.

TKG: This is just a bad idea all around Using the second person is grammatically difficult but also demands that you only do it with one character. Song starts with singer telling how " He sees whats going on" and then he shifts to telling the story in the second person. "Cover yourself up with make up in the mirror, you cry, you tell yourself it will never happen again" followed by "Do you feel like a man when you push her around". I guess this could be a song about a lesbian BSDM relationship gone bad or it could be about an abusive boyfriend who brushes on foundation to cover the bruises on his knuckles. but more likely its just poor song craft. You can tell the story of abused girlfriend in second person, you can tell the story of abusive boyfriend in second person. But you can't do the two at the same time. There can only be one "you" in a song.

41. If Everyone Cared-Nickelback

TKG: So the premise of this song is that the guys telling his girlfriend that if all the world was like their "perfect relationship" that there would be no death. Ugghhh. I mean Mick Jagger singing about pretending he was Satan to get pussy was pathetic. But this guy singing about pretending that his love is God is a whole other level of garbage.

PAS: I think the plot of the new Fantastic Four movie has Reed Richards love for the Invisible Woman save the planet from the Silver Surfer. So I imagine if this song is used as the credits for that, its awful rock hubris makes sense.