Alexie Davis pointed us to this week's pick for the musical countdown: Radioactive by the Imagine Dragons (Off their Continued Silence EP recording). An Indie rock band, Imagine Dragons first appeared in the local music scene of Provo, Utah. By 2009, they were based in Las Vegas, NV and made their first studio recordings there - - released in the following year. In Nov. 2011, Imagine Dragons signed a contract with Interscope Records leading to their first extended play recording being released on Valentine's Day in 2012 - - it included our current pick, Radioactive.
Waking up to ash and dust,
I wipe my brow but I sweat my rust,
Breathing in, the chemicals. Aahh - ahhhhhh.
Breaking in, shaping up, but I'm checking out on the prison bus.
This is it, the apocalypse. Woa-oh.
I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones.
Love to make my systems go.
Welcome to the new age, to the new age.
Welcome to the new age, to the new age.
Whoa-uh-oh.Whoa-uh-oh. Radioactive. Radioactive.
Whoa-uh-oh.Whoa-uh-oh. Radioactive. Radioactive.
Raise my flags, don my clothes,
It's a 'cupolution' I composed.
We'll paint it red, to fit right in. Woa-oh.
Breaking in, shaping up, and I'm checking out on a prison bus.
For sure, you don't want to miss this one. This could be the last BIFF. Erh, that is if the prophesies for 2012 are accurate? Dropping back to 1986 for this week's Countdown tune that was written by Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Michael Rutherford.
The song, Land of Confusion, came out on Genesis's album, Invisible Touch. You may remember its music video on MTV. The video featured bizarre puppets that were caricatures of the band members and included puppet versions of Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Collins commissioned Peter Fluck and Roger Law of the British television show Spitting Image to create puppets of the entire band, as well as all the characters in the video. See how many famous, contemporary and historical people you can identify, world leaders, and hang on til the very end of the video clip when then President Reagan awakes from his dream.
I must've dreamed a thousand dreams
Been haunted by a million screams
But I can hear the marching feet
They're moving into the street
Now did you read the news today
They say the danger's gone away
But I can see the fire's still alight
There burning . . into the night
There's too many men, too many people
Making too many problems
And not much love to go round
Can't you see this is a land of confusion?
Well this is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given
Use them and let's start trying
To make it a place worth living in
Ooh, Superman where are you now
Where everything's gone wrong somehow?
The men of steel, the men of power
Are losing control by the hour
This is the time, this is the place
So we look for the future
But there's not much love to go round
Tell me why this is a land of confusion
This is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given
Use them and let's start trying
To make it a place worth living in
I remember long ago - - when the sun was shining
Yes and the stars were bright, all through the night
And the sound of your laughter, as I held you tight So long ago
This week's countdown song, London Calling, is by the British punk rock band, The Clash. It was released as a single from the band's 1979 double album London Calling. This apocalyptic, politically charged rant combined the band's famous reggae basslines with punk electric guitar riffs and vocals. The urgent first chorus finds Joe Strummer snarling his way through a grim little warning: "The ice age is coming" . . . The second chorus adds another cataclysmic possibility to Strummer's list of worries: a nuclear error, perhaps inspired by the recent meltdown at Three Mile Island. The line, "London is drowning and I live by the river" came from the belief in England that if the Thames river ever flooded, all of London would be under water.
Surprised? There you were - - just swinging to the beat, maybe not aware what the lyrics were all about!
Written by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones (1979) London calling to the faraway towns
Now war is declared and battle come down
London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls
London calling, now don't look to us
Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust
London calling, see we ain't got no swing
Except for the ring of the truncheon thing [Chorus]
The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in
Meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin
Engines stop running, but I have no fear
Cause London is drowning and I . . . live by the river London calling to the imitation zone
Forget it brother, you can go it alone
London calling to the zombies of death
Quit holding out - and draw another breath
London calling - and I don't want to shout
But while we were talking - I saw you nodding out
London calling, see we ain't got no highs
Except for that one with the yellowy eyes [Chorus]
The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in
Engines stop running, the wheat is growing thin
A nuclear era, but I have no fear
Cause London is drowning, and I . . . I live by the river The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in
Engines stop running, the wheat is growing thin
A nuclear era, but I have no fear
Cause London is drowning, and I . . . I live by the river Now get this
London calling, yes I was there too
And you know what they said? Well, some of it was true!
London calling at the top of the dial
After all this, won't you give me a smile? London calling I never felt so much a'like, a'like, a'like . . .
It's time for another musical edition to be added to the 'Musical Countdown" to the Bicknell International Film Festival (BIFF). Going way back to 1969 and a song written by John Fogerty and performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival. CCR consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, his brother and rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty, bassist Stu Cook, and drummer Doug Clifford. The music makes this song sound like a happy tune but if you listen to the lyrics - - one hears bleakness and coming events of apocalypse! “Bad Moon Rising” rose to #2 on the charts, but soon after reports began to surface that the CCR was experiencing serious artistic differences and might breakup. The group officially stayed together, but tension, dissension, and discord prevailed. In 1972, the run ended for the CCR musicians. People often mishear the phrase "There's a bathroom on the right" (mondegreen) instead of "There's a bad moon on the rise." Fogerty himself has been known to occasionally substitute the "bathroom" version of the lyric as a joke during his live shows, including on his 1998 live album Premonition (Listen for it in this version).
The musical countdown to BIFF continues: This week's song is by AWOLNation, an Indie electronic, pop, rock band formed by Aaron Bruno in 2010. The band's first single, "Sail" debuted at #30 on the U.S. Billboard chart and was included on their debut 5-song album. Knights of Shame was cut on their first full-length album, Megalithic Symphony in 2011 - - it may be the longest cut selected for the Countdown, coming in at over twelve minutes.
Knights of Shame (Link to higher quality but edited version with interview segment)
Who is counting down the weeks until the Bicknell International Film Festival? Are you with us or are you doomed (Doomed to miss out that is . . . on one of the most fun, unique and sometimes quirky event in all of Southern Utah)? Festival co-founders Trent Harris and Lory Smith called this "the largest international film festival in southern Utah" and "the smallest international film festival in the world."
Checklist:
Have you got your costume planned or put together?
Two great bands are lined up for the Friday & Saturday night parties, food, fun, festivities, and more. There will also be a few surprises this year; you don't want to miss out! Now this week's music selection: World Destruction by Time Zone. Time Zone was an electro band headed by Afrika Bambaataa, an American DJ from the South Bronx, NY - - an originator in hip-hop music and culture, instrumental in moving the street gang, the Black Spades, into the music and culture-oriented Universal Zulu Nation. Bambaataa worked with different musicians for each Time Zone project. This song, a collaboration with punk-rocker John Lydon, is Time Zone's most well-known single. It was later used on The Supranos - in the first episode of the fourth season. The song played at the beginning of the episode as Tony gets his newspaper and again during the closing credits.
World Destruction (1984) by Time Zone
Speak about destruction. (x3)
This is a world destruction, your life ain`t nothing.
The human race is becoming a disgrace.
Countries are fighting with chemical warfare.
Not giving a damn about the people who live there.
Nostradamus predicts the coming of the Antichrist.
Hey, look out, the third world nations are on the rise.
The Democratic-Communist Relationship,
won`t stand in the way of the Islamic force.
The CIA is looking for defectors.
The KGB is smarter than you think.
Brainwash mentalities to control the system.
Using TV and movies - religions of course.
Yes, the world is headed for destruction.
Is it a nuclear war?
What are you asking for?
This is a world destruction. Your life ain`t nothing.
The human race is becoming a disgrace.
The rich get richer.
The poor are getting poorer.
Fascist, chauvinistic government fools.
People, Moslems, Christians and Hindus.
Are in a time zone still searching for the truth.
Who are you to think you`re a superior race?
Facing forth your everlasting doom.
We are Time Zone. We`ve come to drop a bomb on you.
World destruction, kaboom, kaboom, kaboom!
This is the world destruction, your life ain`t nothing.
This was a busy week. Tickets for BIFF are now available for purchase online, and the first selected movie for the festival has been announced. Learn about that and more at Are You Ready for Doomsday 2012? And here is this week's installment for the musical countdown to BIFF!
Written mainly by Keith Richards but also credited to Mick Jagger, Gimme Shelter is a churning, mid-tempo rock song about apocalypse. During a climate of social and political unrest - the late sixties amidst the violent Vietnam War, Gimme Shelter first appeared on the Stones' 1969 album, Let It Bleed. Richards strummed the opening on an electric-acoustic guitar modeled after a favorite of Chuck Berry's. In an interview for Rolling Stone magazine, Jagger confirmed "That's a kind of end-of-the-world song, really. It's apocalypse: the whole records like that."
